#my aspect is “heart” which represents the soul and identity

[starlight-archer]

@netflix

Greetings,

I am writing to you with hope in my heart, to implore you, from the bottom of my heart and with the utmost sincerity, to please reconsider your decision to cancel your critically acclaimed new show Dead Boy Detectives.

This show has touched a lot of people's hearts and souls, my own included. It has generated countless rave reviews, massive online buzz and an amazingly active and dedicated fan base that continues to grow.

This series has done something truly incredible and meaningful, and I think you have something remarkably special with Dead Boy Detectives. I have so many reasons why this show is worthy of your investment, faith, and more than worthy of a second season. In this letter, I will attempt to narrow it down and list a few of them.

Firstly, a fantastic foundation has already been laid down from the start with it's incredibly compelling and well-rounded characters. Each of them feels very nuanced, natural and whole in a way that succeeds in making them all widely relatable despite their distinct individuality and complex differences.

There is a rare kind of beauty to the way that these characters have all been written and then brought to life by the cast in such a genuine and heartfelt manner.

Secondly, the natural and loving way in which POC, women and queer people are represented is second to none.

You have an amazing example of a strong and powerful female lead in Crystal. She is layered and does her best to be better than she was in the past. She is realistically flawed and so resilient that it is impossible not to root for her. She is smart and empathetic, and puts in effort to understand her friends, even when they butt heads.

The fact that her powers can never truly be taken away and that she can always connect to them through herself and through the support and live of her female ancestors is a thoroughly wonderful detail that leaves you with a deep sense of hopefulness.

Niko, who is far from home and starts off all alone after losing her father, finds kinship and courage through the support of her friendships with Crystal, Edwin and Charles,and shows her unwavering strength through her continual acts of natural kindness. She is sharp and observant, and she utilises that yo be amazingly caring.

Charles' story is also incredibly relatable and meaningful. The way that he overcomes his painful history with his parents through kindness, and does this again and again, despite still dealing with so much trauma and hurt is astounding. I, and many others long to see his story at continue.

Now, Edwin and his relationship with his queer identity...

The way in which the queer representation has been handled in Dead Boy Detectives is leagues above the vast majority of other shows that share its target audience. It feels so authentic. Something which is unfortunately hard to come by, which this show pulls off spectacularly.

Edwin's personal journey with his sexuality is done with so much care and raw honesty that it is impossible not to appreciate everyone in the writers room who was responsible. George Rextrew's portrayal of Edwin in this aspect (and frankly all other aspects) was simply phenomenal. The way that he discovers more of himself through his relationships with his peers is done so incredibly well. Charles, Crystal, Niko, Monty and The Cat King all play a significant role on his self-discovery - be it directly or through showing their support - in a way that I am sure many of the queer viewers long for and relate to.

There are so, so many people who feel seen because of Dead Boy Detectives, myself among them, and that is something that is immensely and inherently valuable.

Furthermore, the realistically nuanced way in which the show depicts the characters dealing with different kinds of grief and trauma is unbelievably refreshing. To show each unique situation and natural, emotional and internal responses in a way so grounded in reality is a true achievement. One that every member of the cast and crew should be celebrated for. As someone who has experienced tremendous loss, I can confidently say that the way these things are depicted in the show is highly accurate and resonant.

Aside from these aspects, I am of the firm belief that timing and lack of appropriate promotion harmed the number of streams in its initial days of release. It was put out right before/during exam time from American viewers, meaning that all of the teens who might have been binge-watching, were stuck cramming for tests. Additionally, while I do think that focusing so much fantastic promotion and marketing on Tumblr was a stroke of genius, not matching that across other platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and TikTok was a gross oversight that significantly limited reach and harmed viewership.

All of this on consideration, please, please reconsider the cancellation. Dead Boy Detectives has so much potential and deserves a real chance to grow and succeed.

There are thousands of people who share my sentiments of devastation and disappointment, but also hope and massive amounts of love.

It is well evidenced that sharing this show has created a wonderful communuty and brought droves of people together. Drives which I am sure that you have seen sharing their sorrow, frustration, and their dedication across social media.

Saving Dead Boy Detectives is worthwhile and just makes sense at this point, especially given it's role as an extended part of your well-established hit IP The Sandman, and the current proximity to Halloween, when a show about ghosts will be so seasonally and culturally relevant.

I am begging you, alongside thousands of others to bring Dead Boy Detectives back for a Season 2. Please hear our voices and restore our faith in you as a platform.

It is not too late.

#SaveDeadBoyDetectives

Sincerely, one of countless dedicated fans.

"It's not what you did, it's what you do that matters." - Edwin Payne (to Crystal, The Case of The Devil House)

[the-virgoperspective]

The Signs As The Most Iconic Albums of The 2010’s (IMO)

Aries: DAMN by Kendrick Lamar (2017)

This album brought heat. Heat that could burn this planet straight to ashes. It’s confrontational, angry, fast-paced, and entirely innovative. There were levels upon levels upon levels to the songs that embarked you on an exhilarating auditory adventure. It’s an aries album! Specifically aries moon and ascendant (this is not a biased decision) because of how each house I feel is represented here. If you really listen to the lyrics and notice the flow of how Kendrick placed each song; there’s no question about it. It covers self identity, finance, communication, family, birth, love, death, travel, community, and the subconscious. It. Covers. Everything. There is a bold confidence here that almost seems like overcompensation for vulnerability/fear in some songs. It focuses on black on black crime, it goes back to its roots, and it’s downright funky (very aquarius in 11th vibes). It’s brash, bold, fiery, and energizing! I could go on about this album for days. It literally won 11 awards in one year! There’s just so much to it!

Songs I Recommend: BLOOD, ELEMENT, PRIDE, XXX. (FEAT. U2.), & DUCKWORTH

Taurus: Ego Death by The Internet (2015)

Sheeeeesh! This album is spectacular! There is such a romantic and smooth vibe to every single song; even the ones that aren’t particularly loving in its lyricism. The r&b/soul elements are alive and well here. The Internet brought the true feeling of that genre back with their own modern and homely twist to it. There is a lot of focus on devotion to another, strong love, physicality, situationships, the low key grind, and enjoying the finer things in life. It has a very venusian vibe but not in an airy way; more so steady and sensual. You can’t help but to move your body in whichever way feels most natural to this album. It’s rich, it’s svelte, it’s earthy, decadent, and simply smooth as butter. The taurus energy is just so strong here, esp taurus sun and venus, as there is a consistent and calming energy within this album. I heavily associate it with this sign because it also speaks to an element of hedonism, as there are clear indications of money/material belongings/love never being enough from life, but I’d consider that aspect to be an extreme.

Songs I Recommend: Gabby (feat. Janelle Monáe), Under Control, Palace/Curse (feat. Steve Lacy & Tyler, The Creator), Get Away, + Girl (feat. KAYTRANADA)

Gemini: Notion by Tash Sultana (2016)

If you have never heard of this artist or album, I implore you to give them a listen, especially if you are a lover of true musicians. This album is difficult for me to describe, mainly because it renders you speechless (which I find funny for a gemini album). It is very mercurial. Tash (this artist is genderfluid and goes by they/them pronouns) was groundbreaking with this album, with it only having a mere 6 songs, and they each hold a different tone yet carry the same message. Tash really shows how exploratory/changeable they are when it comes to various sounds and emotions throughout one song. This album is so varied, tantalizing, and profound. It’s even more mind blowing knowing they created all of these songs on their own and played every single instrument themselves. No joke. Bonus points for Tash being a gemini sun! The lyricism is also very powerful here, as they discuss topics of coming into oneself, paving new paths, and the ramifications of toxic love and habits. This album carries so much versatility and musical passion and that’s really all I can think to say. Such a fantastic introduction. Bravo.

Songs I Recommend: Jungle, Synergy, Notion, Gemini, + Big Smoke

Cancer: + by Ed Sheeran (2011)

Ohhh my. This album still has my heart under lock and key. I had to give cancer (specifically moon and asc) this album because it’s just so delicate and so extremely precious. This album feels like drinking a warm cup of tea while wrapped in a blanket and it’s drizzling outside during fall. Literally. The water/cardinal element and energy is very present here. The way Ed put each song in order to flow so perfectly and cover nearly every emotion was just beautiful. The feeling in this album is very heavy and raw, discussing deep traumas, heartbreak, grief, and addiction; yet also focuses on the sheer joy/love of life and the confidence that can be found within it. This album screams cancer. Bonus points because Ed is a cancer ascendant! He really poured himself into this one and dug very deeply into his own heart. I just feel like this one isn’t debatable or even should be explained. It’s soft, saucy, simple, solemn, and comforting. Honestly, what more can I say? It’s just a perfect cozy album especially if you need a good cry or have been bit by the love bug.

Songs I Recommend: Lego House, Grade 8, Kiss Me, Give Me Love, + Sunburn

Leo: Electra Heart by Marina & The Diamonds (2012)

This is another one of my favorites. It’s timeless, satirical, and downright genius if you ask me. It has a nuance of impulsivity and pomp that is so electrifying; paired with heavy bass and powerful pop beats. It’s leo energy! One thing I have always personally associated with leo placements is power; not only career wise but in their movements, their way of life, and the way they carry themselves. This album was and is powerful! It has carried its popularity through two generations of teen/young adult populations and it’s going absolutely nowhere. I still see memes and references to it circulating! The lyricism is what stuck the most for me (personally) as the entire album is a reflection of what society expects and at times demands from young womxn. It is also a reflection of young womxn trying to figure out who they are, to find themselves, and trying to love. It demands you to look at societies’ expectations and how damaging it can be to a person, and that brings forth (imo) a lot of emotion and self reflection.

Songs I Recommend: Teen Idle, Power & Control, Primadonna, Sex Yeah, + Radioactive

Virgo: channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean (2012)

Oof. Okay, here we go. This album carried me through a lot and I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little biased. It’s difficult to describe this album and how it makes you feel. It covers so many things, loneliness, love, desire, addiction, nepotism, etc. Frank has a criticizing lyricism in some of his songs while also being extremely articulate in the delivery (huge virgo energy). There isn’t a single word that is sung or spoke that I don’t understand. This album is quite varied in feeling and carried a lot of mutable energy to me. It is very intellectual, calm, caring, engaging, and changeable. There is an anxious feeling to it as well and it showcases vulnerability in a way that is inviting yet compelling. You can tell Frank put an incredible amount of thought and time into making this album and that speaks so much for virgo placements to me. I’d associate virgo mercury and venus more than the others but they all still apply. Such a thorough and beautifully constructed album. It’s an A+ and always a classic.

Songs I Recommend: Sweet Life, Crack Rock, Thinkin Bout You, Pink Matter (feat. André 3000), + Forrest Gump

Libra: Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay (2011)

I already know I might get shit for this but let me explain myself. This is such a libra album mainly due to its strong focus on being with someone (companionship). There are many songs that focus on being in love and in a relationship. It also focuses on the beauty and pleasure of life and love, which is very venusian. This album takes you on such a beautiful auditory journey that you really never want it to end. It hits the highs and lows, as libra is not always all about love and light, as isn’t any other sign. The band touches on impulsivity, indecision, relationships, and the strength/health of those relationships. Despite its jovial sounds, they can be discussing such deeply poetic subjects. They can really make anything sound pretty; even ones that are really meant to be sad but are still so stunning in its delivery. Coldplay absolutely did something with this one, as it brings forth such an array of emotions and daydreams. Their music (imo) is made for movies (specifically romances or romcoms).

Songs I Recommend: Hurts Like Heaven, Princess of China (feat. Rihanna), Us Against the World, Paradise, + Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall

Scorpio: AM by Arctic Monkeys (2013)

Let me start by saying that this is one of my favorite albums and I still have every song in my library, so obviously, I’m still obsessed. Which leads me to my next point, this album screams “be in love with me, obsess over me, tell me I’m yours and you’re mine” in nearly every song. The lyrics are a bit possessive, very detail oriented, and make many references to knowing something beforehand or finding something out that they already know (intuitiveness). This is scorpio through and through in my opinion. It’s dark, it’s powerful, it’s sly, and it’s captivating. Alex Turner and his leather clad band were honestly the cherry on top of their sound. They looked the part, with their smoldering gazes, gelled and curly classic hair do’s, and black and white filters in their music videos. They also blew up the alternative scene when it came to western style alternative music, so they had a very distinct sound that set them apart from everyone else. Verrrry scorpionic and yes, once again, I am still obsessed.

Songs I Recommend: Arabella, One For the Road, Do I Wanna Know?, Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?, + R U Mine?

Sagittarius: Tourist History by Two Door Cinema Club (2010)

Alright folks, this is another one of my favorites. This is an album that you can dance and/or lose your mind to. There are a lot of metaphors in the lyricism and TDCC did a great job of portraying their messages without revealing much; really leaving it up to you to interpret them in your own way. This album is hard to pin down (much like sagittarius) but focuses mainly on change, passion, independence, travel, taking charge, appreciating life, and appreciating the people you may encounter in your life. It has a very approachable and energizing feel to a lot of the songs and carries that jovial/jupiterian energy that is associated with sagittarius placements. This album has high energy songs and even the low energy ones still have a high to them; much like a rollercoaster. In my opinion, it’s a strong portrayal of the fluctuation of feeling and time, just with its melody and song. This one is very special to me for many reasons, but the biggest one is it just makes me so happy!

Songs I Recommend: What You Know, This Is the Life, Undercover Martyn, Cigarettes In the Theatre, + I Can Talk

Capricorn: Ctrl by SZA (2017)

What a beautiful album. This one I also had on repeat constantly and I know I’m not alone. SZA brought the subjects of internal pressure/expectations of the self and the huge importance of self-worth to the forefront here. It has a huge cardinal energy to it. This is such a coming of age album and focuses a lot on growth of the self and the heart. She really poured herself into this one. It feels very personal, like she is singing straight to you at times, and feels very down to earth as a whole. This album I associate with capricorn asc and venus more than any but I feel like it could apply to other placements as well. Bonus points since SZA is a capricorn asc herself! She used many sound bites of her mother giving her words of true wisdom throughout the album (saturn energy/wisdom from elders) that added a very familial aspect. This album got personal and was very suave and casual in its delivery. It feels like your closest homegirl made it just for you. She was so real for that.

Songs I Recommend: Doves In the Wind (feat. Kendrick Lamar), Prom, Go Gina, Anything, + 20 Something

Aquarius: 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole (2014)

Y’all, I had this album on repeat constantly in high school. This album is so well rounded and touches on some compelling wordplay; and it’s very poignant and intelligent. J. Cole touches on important topics that most rappers would find difficult or uncomfortable to speak on in their music. This album is very indicative of love/faith and the lack thereof within the self and the community. There are songs that are uplifting, nostalgic, introspective, and at times comical and sexual. There are songs that focus heavily on the rigidity of hyper-masculinity and how hard it can make someone, especially when considering their environment and upbringing. He touches on the hood lifestyle and mindset, growing up in poverty, being the odd one out, and struggling throughout life. This album is two sides of the same coin, casting light on the restriction of the mind, heart, and soul (strong saturn energy) and the beauty of healing. In conclusion, wow, this album opened me up in a way I didn’t think was possible.

Songs I Recommend: Apparently, G.O.M.D, A Tale Of 2 Citiez, No Role Modelz, + St. Tropez

Pisces: Hozier by Hozier (2014)

Where do I even start?! This album is absolutely everything and a bag of chips. It’s affectionate, it’s ethereal, it’s watery, at times lonely, and haunting. The pisces energy is so heavy in this album! It feels like you’re traveling through a forest in search of a lover from a past life; pining, crawling to the one you love. I heavily associate pisces venus with this album (esp with it being exalted in venus). Hozier’s lyricism is poetically profound and transports you to another time with nearly every song. This album has so many elements to it, paying homage to bluegrass, folk, r&b, and fables from his homeland of Ireland. He nurtures the themes of life and death, love and hate, and how they like to mingle with each other. The love he sings for is dreamy and purely devoted, with depth in its rhythm. It’s such a great album to use as an escape as well! This album is incredible and was truly a gift to us all. What an introduction, Hozier.

Songs I Recommend: Run, Cherry Wine, It Will Come Back, Work Song, + In A Week (feat. Karen Cowley)

☥ ombré divider by @cafekitsune ☥

[dogandcatcomics]

#repost @groovygnome Yui Sakamoto (practicing in Mexico, b. Japan, 1981-). My Soul, 2023, oil on canvas, 47.25 x 47.25 in. Thanks to @bendergallery for the tip. This work includes a dog (specifically a kei ken 甲斐犬, one of the original dog varieties of Japan) and the bottom features a jaguar, which represent different aspects of Sakamoto's experience and identity.

[tasmiq]

Jumu'ah Sohbet: 23 August 2024

This week proved the richness that I have gained through our Tariqa as a family of spiritual misfits. Let me recount the sense of emancipation that I gained out of gratitude that I am nestled at the heart of what I have always craved as a 'globe trotter' ... home!

#1. Anne (our spiritual mother) recapped on the notion of our haq (truth / reality) of die before you die! In the Sufi classical sense, we think that we face death, either physically or through a hāl (a special purpose or temporary sense of consciousness). It could even be through an illness, where death becomes imminent as the moment where its realisation sets in.

However, before one's real death, one's ego must die is what the first instance relates to. Anne choked up, referring to a cherished ilahi, which refers to cutting off your attachments. Once our egos die, our inner light comes on, and then we can finally return to Allah. She then referred to Shaykh Taner's heart piercing poetry, where he'd relayed:

Death is losing your identity. Dying before you die is losing your identity in this body. Being reborn is attaining Allah's identity. Only with Allah's identity, you live forever!

That's if you are after that, of course. However, in this world, we have to assume Allah's desired survival strategies to ensure that we stay whole. The first instance of die relates to other forms that define our egos. Like Shaykh Taner, Anne said that the first instance of dying is about being reborn to a new aspect of life. As your Ammu almost physically died, but was miraculously raised out of a two-month coma (with deep gratitude to our Tariqa), and subsequently faced numerous deaths of her ego before she truly dies and returns to Allah!

#2. These were some of our deeply soulful reflections on these processes of our spiritual and physical deaths:

- I am hearing Shaykh's voice in my head telling me that we're here to learn and grow, so don't waste your time before it runs out!

- When we die physically, we leave with nothing. When we die before we die in the spiritual sense, we leave all the preconceptions, thoughts, references, fears and perceptions behind. We then only perceive Allah!

- We mustn't think about what we don't have and rather be grateful for what we do have!

#3. Anne thereafter spoke about the sacredness of the body and all its parts as a receptacle of Allah's light. Our bodies allow us to experience Allah here in this world. We experience Allah within and, with and through the body through our five senses. She asked us to ponder on the prominence of seeing and hearing, which is often mentioned together in the Qur'an. This is the very observation that I queried your Wakil Abbu earlier this year. Shukran Ya Allah (Divine gratitude) for Shaykh Taner and team's translation of the Qur'an that enabled me as a former Qur'anic Arabic student the richest connection yet, with the understanding of Allah's words.

Our Wakil Rosieçim reflected that we see and hear with both our physical senses and afidah (spiritual perception points, heart). That is how we perceive Allah all around and within us, through the Zahir (external / manifest / exoteric) and Batin (inner / hidden / esoteric). Anne, at one point, poetically declared that the palace of Allah in our body is the heart. I recall Shaykh Taner reflecting that our hearts are our inner Kaaba as the house of Allah. Be it a Palace or humble Kaaba, it is the home to our beloved Allah.

Thereafter, our spiritual sisters Dilarum and Begum reflected that when Allah commanded Kun! (Be!) to mankind at our genesis, it represented Allah's generative will through sound. Therefore, sound came first, followed by sight. Seeing represents mankind's pursuit of Allah's wajha (face, countenance, or personal being). Wakil Amina thereafter reflected how hearing and seeing subtly connects us to sound, vibration, frequency, and foresight. We aim to connect to the Allah frequency within us. Anne added that this is why we're constantly doing Zikr to 'wash' away anything that is not Allah from our frequency! This is how your Ammu, as an accident survivor, developed spiritual 'wings' after willingly distancing herself from the sounds and sights of nafs. And, instead, immersing herself in the constant remembrance of Allah, not always but often ...

In conclusion, I was left with deep gratitude for connecting to not only our spiritual mentors but wider spiritual family too, with all our Nur (Divine light) and darkness, through the passage of time:

Virtual group hugs!

[outerloop]

An Appetizing Aesthetic: The Food of Thirsty Suitors

Last week, we talked about the evolution of how our cooking gameplay works in Thirsty Suitors and how the mechanics and narrative come together to help us tell Jala’s story.

We’re continuing further down the rabbit hole of food and cooking in Thirsty Suitors, this time by diving into the actual food you’ll see throughout the game.

Similar to the various forms of iteration that took place to get our Cooking sequences to where they are today, the same is true about the food.

Composing our Recipe Book

Thirsty Suitors has a variety of South Asian inspired dishes that all hold meaning for Jala, her family, and her exes.

We believe that food is more than just something that sustains us. What we eat also gives insight into our identities, where we come from, socioeconomics, history, and much more. In Jala’s family, her father, Arvind, is Sri Lankan, and her mother, Rukmini, is Indian. 

So, Jala’s grown up with dishes from both countries and these two places compromise the majority of the cooked food you’ll make in Thirsty Suitors.

You’ll be able to cook 13 different South Asian inspired dishes throughout the game, each with their own unique story sequences related to the characters.

In our blog from last week, we talked about the evolution of cooking and our move away from making the act of cooking the recipes 100% accurate in favor of highlighting our narrative goals.

Our Art Department, however, has found unique ways of still making the recipes representative of their real world counterparts. 

Take a look at the recipe book screenshots and you’ll see that in addition to the gorgeous paintings for each dish in the book, the ingredients on the left-hand side of the screen dynamically change to showcase key aspects of each recipe.

Creating an Appetizing Aesthetic

Creating great looking food is not an easy feat in any video game. A lot of time and iteration was spent throughout the development of Thirsty Suitors to land on the vibrant, graphic style in the game.

Our Art Director, Vijay Krish, talked a bit about how he approached creating the aesthetic for the food in the game. “First and foremost, the goal was to make the player hungry when they engaged in the cooking segments. Ideally, they’d want to eat the food at the end of every cooking challenge,” Vijay said.

But that isn’t as easy as you might think. Vijay and the team cast a wide net during the research of the various foods in the game to help with representing them in the best light possible: 

“On one hand, we've got such rich source material for the various cultural dishes in the game. They’ve been perfected over many generations which by themselves makes them look visually stunning.  On the other hand, Thirsty Suitors has an incredibly vivid palette and style we’re working within. The challenge was to combine the two and represent the food in such a way where the people who've grown up eating the dishes are able to relate to it. My intent was to represent them as faithfully as possible.”

Nailing the authenticity while also staying true to the exuberant artistic style we landed on for Thirsty Suitors was an interesting challenge. These constraints in design make you think more creatively and force you to find the “heart” of everything you’re making.

We see this idea even come through in the various cooking utensils you’ll use to make each recipe. While the dishes in Thirsty Suitors use a wide variety of cooking techniques and equipment, it wasn’t possible to include all of them.

We chose to approach this challenge by thinking about what were the key utensils we can highlight that speak to the soul of the dishes we’re representing, while also allowing us to create fun, over-the-top animations for Jala to perform.

The Final Dish

Another key element during the development of the food in Thirsty Suitors was nailing the look of the final dish.

At the end of each cooking gameplay sequence, Jala presents the final dish to her Mom or Dad for evaluation. Initially, we tried showcasing these dishes by modeling them in 3D, but doing so presented a number of challenges that you might underestimate in the creation of food in games.

Eventually, we realized that actually creating 2D illustrations opened up a much greater possibility space for our Art Department to experiment and achieve the results they were looking for. 

Vijay shared some thoughts on this process too, “Initially our first iteration of what food would look like started with an illustration of Kiribath. When we took it to a full 3D render with the help of 3D assets from our incredibly talented Character Artist, Emma Koch, we realized we weren't able to control the shadows and the slight hue variations present in the dish to the extent in which we could in 2D.”

In addition to the challenges with shadows and hues, there was a process reason that also helped in making the decision to move to 2D. 

Game development moves quickly and is very fluid, using 2D illustrations allowed the team to more more swiftly and streamlined the process overall  to take the expertly composited 2D illustrations from our Creative Director, Chandana Ekanayake, and push them to the final versions present today. 

Outerloop Games Recommends

Step by Bloody Step

We asked Vijay to offer a recommendation to y'all this week, and what better than to highlight a work that is using it's visuals to tell a complex story.

One comic in particular keeps drawing him in Step By Bloody Step by Si Spurrier and Matias Bergara. The series follows armored giant guarding a helpless child through a dangerous overgrown world.

Vijay really appreciates Bergara's visual storytelling, and the entire 4 issue comic is told without the use of written words.

Thirsty Suitors Releases on November 2, 2023

We recently announced our release date with a sizzling new trailer that we’re excited about. You can check it out below:

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LIj46_R62M&t=4s

If you’re excited about Thirsty, we’d appreciate it if you Wishlisted the game on Steam, it helps put the game in front of more eyes. 

Wishlist on steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/1617220/Thirsty_Suitors/?snr=1_5_1100__1100

You can also join our Discord, and follow us on Twitter @outerloopgames. 

Thanks for reading, until next time!

[dfroza]

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures

for the 15th of August 2024 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New Covenant) of the Bible

[The Letter of James, Chapter 5 • The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 13]

along with Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms with Proverbs 15 and Psalm 15 coinciding with the day of the month, accompanied by Psalm 57 for the 57th day of Astronomical Summer, and Psalm 78 for day 228 of the year (with the consummate book of 150 Psalms in its 2nd revolution this year)

A post by John Parsons:

In Hebrew, the “heart” of something represents its core. center, and essence. Revelation is a matter of the heart, written by God's Spirit, yielding a life of praise and thanks to the Lord...

====

Our Torah reading for this week (i.e., Vaetchanan) includes the first part of the Shema (שמע): "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God; the LORD alone, and you shall love (וְאָהַבְתָּ) the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deut. 6:4-5). During its recitation we traditionally pronounce each word very carefully while covering our eyes with our right hand, focusing on the sovereignty of God and our primary need to love Him with our whole being.

Yeshua taught that the Shema was the “first” or “great” commandment of Torah (see Mark 12:28-31). Note that the opening declaration of the Shema includes three Divine Names: Lord (יהוה), God (אלהים), and Lord (יהוה) again, which suggests the multiplicity-in-oneness (unity) that the word ��echad” implies (see below). The two letters Ayin (ע) and Dalet (ד) are written enlarged in the opening verse of the Shema. Together, these letters form the word 'ed (עֵד), which means "witness," suggesting that we recite the Shema to testify of the greatness of God and our duty to love Him bekhol levavkha, (בּכָל־לְבָבְךָ) with all our being.

The Shema is commonly translated as: "The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (יְהוָה אֱלהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד), though the word “one” here (i.e., echad: אֶחָד) should not be thought to imply “pantheistic monism,” that is, the idea that everything ultimately is God or that everything is a mystical “oneness.” In Hebrew, the word echad (אֶחָד) implies unity in diversity, not absolute numerical identity (the word for one and only one, i.e., "unique," is yachid (יָחִיד)). For example, in Exodus 26:6 the parts of the Tabernacle (Mishkan) are to be constructed so that "it shall be one (echad) tabernacle," and the prophet Ezekiel spoke of two "sticks" (representing fragmented Israel) as being reunited into one: "and they shall be one (echad) stick in My hand" (Ezek. 37:19).

Echad can also mean “first” or “preeminent,” as describing “the first day” of the creation as “yom echad (יוֹם אֶחָד) in Geneis 1:5, and this, I believe, is the sense of “echad” used in the Shema, since it affirms that that the LORD alone is God and there is no other god beside Him.

Moses further used the word echad in Genesis 2:24 to describe the depths of love: "And they (husband and wife) will become one flesh (basar echad)." God’s attributes as Compassionate Source of life, Eternal Judge, and Savior, are unified and affirmed in this verse. Ultimate Reality is multidimensional, personal and loving, and that is part of the very essence of God.

The kabbalistic (i.e., neoplatonic) view that the “LORD is one” suggests that good and evil are “coequal” aspects of oneness, and that “God” is more like Hinduism’s univeral soul than the transcendent personal Creator who made everything and who reigns over all possible worlds as Master and King. "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!" (Isa. 5:20-21). Good and evil are not “emanations” or “sefirot” that are resolved into cosmic oneness. Philosophically considered, there is no such thing as a "person" - either human or Divine - that exists in an absolute vacuum, outside of relationship. The doctrine of oneness as “absolute monism” is inconsistent with the idea of Divine Personhood, just as Aristotle's "Unmoved Mover" is a logical absurdity.

There is a “three-in-one” (שׁ��לוֹשָׁה בְּאֶחָד) sacred place of the heart (represented by the inmost chamber of the Mishkan called the Holy of Holies) which contains the “three-in-one” sacred Throne of the Divine Presence (represented by the Ark of the Covenant covered by sacrificial blood that signifies the cross of Messiah), before which the “three-in-one” blessing of God is heard (represented by the priestly benediction when the Sacred Name YHVH was uttered), as we affirm the great “three-in-one” affirmation of faith known as the Shema: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is One LORD,” which declares our duty to love God with the “three-in-one existence” he has given us: with all our heart (be’khol levavkha), with all our soul (be’khol nafshekha), and with all our strength (be’khol me’odekha).

At the revelation at Sinai, “the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven” (בָּאֵשׁ עַד־לֵב הַשָּׁמַיִם), wrapped in darkness, cloud, and heavy mist” (Deut. 4:11). Yet what is this divine Fire if it is not the very passion of God - a passion that descends from the “heart of heaven” to the place of revelation within the human heart? Indeed the fire is none other than the Word of God, “the Voice that speaks from the midst of the fire” (קוֹל אֱלהִים מְדַבֵּר מִתּוֹךְ־הָאֵשׁ) the truth revelation (see Exod. 3:2, Deut. 4:33). As the Spirit asks: “Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his Son's name? Surely you know” (Prov. 30:4).

Yeshua is the Center of Creation - its beginning and end. As it is written: אָנכִי אָלֶף וְתָו רִאשׁוֹן וְאַחֲרוֹן ראשׁ וָסוֹף / "I am the 'Aleph' and the 'Tav,' the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Rev. 22:13). "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36). Indeed he is called מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים / Melech Malchei Hamelachim: The "King of kings of kings" and the LORD of all possible worlds -- from the highest celestial glory to the dust of death upon a cross. Yehi shem Adonai mevorakh (יְהִי שֵׁם יהוה מְברָךְ): "Let the Name of the LORD be blessed" forever and ever (Psalm 113:2).

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Deut. 6:4 reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/deut6-4-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/deut6-4-lesson.pdf

The Shema Reader (pdf):

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/shema-reader.pdf

For more information see:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Torah/The_Shema/the_shema.html

8.14.24 • Facebook

from Today’s email by Israel365

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

[myweeklyblog]

Manifesto of the Inner Reflection

Art is a reflection of the human experience, emotions, and even identity; as a result, there is a great depth in art. This semester, I chose a set of works that clarify this notion in detail. The overarching theme of my picture, ‘Inner Reflection,’ explores the inner journey, the relationship between art and consciousness, struggles and turbulences, identity, and the experience of all emotions, both deep within and in various aspects of psychology. This manifesto aims to refute superficial interpretations that downplay the significant effects of art on the human soul while also highlighting art’s ability to connect with the deepest parts of our being and encourage self-discovery and emotional resonance.

Statement of Intent

The “Inner Reflection” credo aims to keep the focus on artistic investigations of multi-leveled human consciousness, which is needed to create deeper understanding and empathy. This movement pays tribute to creations that explore beyond aesthetics, enquiring into the inner aspects of ourselves regarding gender, emotions, and struggles. Adopting introspective art in our society will enhance empathy and personality detail, allowing us to understand ourselves and others better.

Opposition

This statement opposes the art of producing aesthetics that engage the mind and sensitiveness more than one’s sight. It excludes works that present the subject without making the audience reconsider their existence and perception of reality. In addition, it opposes the commodification of art, as this kills the possibility of change and instead turns art into an embellishment.

Examples and Analysis

1. Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait”

In my blog article, “Frida’s Gaze: An Ekphrasis and Analysis of Kahlo’s ‘Self Portrait,’” I explored the profound emotional depth depicted in Kahlo’s self-portrait. Kahlo’s self-portrait has her painted in front of a mirror wearing a typical Mexican dress, which symbolizes internal struggles and commitment to roots. The ekphrasis poem I wrote describes the primary character’s emotions in a way that does not upset the plot’s equilibrium; concurrently, it exposes the torment and love buried deep down in her character’s heart using comparable images. Therefore, to demonstrate the “Inner Reflection” concept, this piece reflects and narrates the artist’s personality and ethnic background.

2. Devo’s “Jocko Homo”

In my analysis of Devo’s “Jocko Homo” music video, I delved into the band’s exploration of the concepts of de-evolution and the annihilation of humanity. Viewers are prompted to consider the direction of human advancement by the surrealist motifs, clinical atmosphere, and repetitive dance, which all communicate a sense of separation and retreat. Using irony and comic elements, the film confronts the audience with concerns regarding civilization and scientific forecasts, challenging people to look at manners and personal values from a different perspective. The use of art to encourage reflection and critical thought about the human situation is consistent with the “Inner Reflection” philosophy.

3. Act III, Scene IV: The Queen’s Closet from Hamlet

Hamlet and Gertrude are engaged in a fierce psychological and emotional battle that is highlighted in the Queen’s Closet scene. The scene is built around such themes as betrayal, loss, and lunacy, which make people appreciate their relationships with others and approach the world with fear and suspicion. Therefore, analyzing the dialogue between characters and their movement on stage, I was able to understand and distinguish how Shakespeare’s machinery and language used in the play established a level of passion and authenticity. The emotions and impressions recorded in this scene represent a struggle within the protagonist and the consequences of family bonding; thus, this scene best matches the “Inner Reflection” topic.

4. Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight”

In my analysis of Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” I focused on themes such as hope, the quest for self-discovery, and identity. The depiction of Chiron’s life cycle of childhood, adolescence, and maturity in the movie highlights the challenges regarding accepting one’s sexuality and gender. The movie’s use of close-ups, light and dark settings, and first-person angles effectively conveys a highly believable display of emotions in every scene. Moonlight demonstrates the ability of art to change lives by depicting the outside world as hard and brutally honest about people’s fight against themselves, which is characteristic of the “Inner Reflection” movement.

In conclusion, the ‘Inner Reflection’ ideology celebrates works that are aesthetically beautiful and confront and stimulate the essence of an individual’s consciousness and sensibility. This statement enhances the beauty of mirror art by analyzing stable artworks such as Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait,” Devo’s “Jocko Homo,” the Queen’s Closet scene in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet play, and Barry Jenkins’ movie “Moonlight.”

[starfilled-galaxy]

scratches at my walls, bangs my head on my desk..

if i were to assign spaceboy and sweetheart a homestuck classpect, they’d be a prince of breath (spaceboy) and thief of heart (sweetheart), which is ironic seeing as sweetheart is the supposed royalty and pirates well.. steal.. giggles and teehees

uh, okay rudimentary explanation time, a thief of heart is a player who.. well, steals the heart of others for their own benefit or advantage (heart being the aspect connected most to emotion, identity & souls) i don’t think i even have to explain why i chose this classpect for her after that explanation lmao..

no classpect in homestuck can be really deemed evil, but i mean- sweetheart would be a less than good one seeing how she treats her suitors in canon..

i dont really know how to explain the prince of breath assignment for spaceboy? i just gave him my own-

but, ahem.. princes in homestuck are destructive classes, destroying or destroying with their aspect, so a prince of breath would destroy or destroy with breath- breath being a aspect that represents freedom, flexibility and direction- princes often ghost their opposite aspect, which in breath’s case is blood (a aspect represented by bonds, unity and loyalty)

spaceboy, as a prince of breath, would ghost his aspect, acting more like a blood player- he destroys his own freedom and independence (destroying what breath symbolises).. it also parallels my own hero classpect.. who i made an actual blood player..

anyway FUUUCK spoons, spoons died, blows up

- @space-captkin / lovfurboy

WOAH

steals the heart of others for their own benefit... you sure this isn't inherently evil? /j

but yea that rlly fits sweetheart omg

and prince of breath... woag i dont even have words for that, thats just cool!!

They fit rlly well :D

[disruptivevoib]

Some Design Notes/Intentions/Symbolism whatever:

- Whole has each color of Mind/Heart/Soul around him! As well as he wears black, white and gray clothing (Mainly got this from Whole's presentation in the actual videos. Wearing mind's pants + necklace, soul's jacket and a white shirt for heart.) His hair is the most like Chonny because i mean, he IS Chonny. Main reason for the void face is identity symbolism + light/night vid reference.

- Mind in the half shadow as per usual. Also idk I think the whole "in the mind's eye" is neat so i kept that concept in mind. His hair is neatly pulled back yet he still slouches on occasion. (He has a crown and sun thing just not in this, the layers were turned off)

- MOON BLINDFOLD. Heart strings! In my design, he is typically tangled up in them, representing how tangled up he is in his emotions. He probably tangles Soul and Mind up as well. He has scars from the blinding. His hair is fluffier and messier than the others. Soul has longer poofy hair but it's probably not as messy in vibe.

(both Heart and Mind's hair being slightly different is based on how CJ styles his hair for both of them. His hair is less poofy but still curly for Mind, and way more poofy for Heart)

- Trident has a tine for each member besides Whole bc well, yeah. Each member I assigned a shape, and thus their designs reminisce those shapes and the tines point them out. Symbolic but impractical.

- Soul's /soul/ (lol) is represented by a star with some scribbles in it. I added a necklace to him post this that was noose-reminiscent. The soul star thing has a string layer to it. Not symbolic more for fun. One arm from Heart, one from Mind. Mask which presents a purely grey face, yet when removed and as seen on his hands, he isn't as such and has a split between black n white. (Still gray in representation though. Tine crown! The Mind arm's nails are purple and the Heart arm's nails are blue :)

Pant leg designs are mostly just for fun things to set them all apart. Hole in Mind's pants probably could rep again that he's not as perfect as he makes himself out to be. Minds jacket also comes off! He has a t-shirt sweater combo thing going on underneath. Hearts lack of shoulders and Mind's disconnected hands don't have any full symbolic meaning to them, more so an aspect of haha fun character design.

Here is soul's face plus the noose necklace thing.

Weezer Joke

Mind and Heart both have different clothing for Light and Ruler of Everything/some fun stuff. Soul’s mask is removable, stuff like that. 

[gribouillenotes]

Second post on this because I can’t stop thinking about it

I can deal with the slow writing and plot holes for season 3 because I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece anyway, but the Umbrella Academy needs to work on representing diverse cultures better because so far they have been pretty shit at it.

I think they’re better with handling stories about people of color in an American context, which is to be expected since it’s an American show. But just running it off the top of my head:

The Handler being a villain who’s part of a secret organization that controls a huge part of the world, and speaking Yiddish

The Swedes sucking at Swedish and being one dimensional characters

The Handler sucking at Swedish (lmao)

Some of the Swedish dialogue being written poorly

The Korean subway scene as a whole: The train not looking Korean, the girl’s school uniform looking Japanese, etc.

The Korean girl’s family having a Chinese kitchen knife

Grace writing “Allah” on the floor which is disrespectful to Muslims and their religion

Door on Hotel Oblivion’s side having the rising sun symbol (i have to skip over the parts that show this door whenever i try to rewatch because it sickens my Korean soul. this is actually the worst)

Hotel Oblivion and all its pointless Japanese visuals like why the fuck were there samurais guarding a space machine that could reset the entire universe? Why was there sushi? Was Reggie the earliest weeb known to mankind??? Don’t even get me started on the Asian gong sound when they ring the bell

And probably some other issues that I missed or don’t know about, I could only speak from a Korean perspective

Like…… idk what their deal is. TUA seems to take pride in promoting itself as a woke, diverse show. It does very well with handling LGBTQ+ topics, judging by how well their LGBTQ+ fans react. They have interesting characters who are people of color (who I guess could’ve been fleshed out a bit better in season 3 but that seemed to be a problem with the story itself as a whole). They probably worked super hard to get the whole Civil Rights Movement right in season 2.

But this is such an American show in all aspects that it’s offending at least one group of people per season.

It’s not hard to get someone who’s fluent in Swedish or Korean! Bless Justin’s heart, but having a Korean American in the main cast doesn’t mean you as writers and directors and designers can rely on that one guy to appeal to your Korean audience! The random, unexplainable Japanification of “strange, exotic” settings and people is overdone! Get rid of it! Koreans have been protesting the use of the rising sun symbol in popular media for decades now so it could’ve been avoided by doing brief research!!

It’s so annoying whenever I see American shows botch foreign languages or representation of global cultures because like….. these are paid professionals working in Hollywood or something, research is just a Google search away, you can ask people who know about the language/culture for advice. It’s that easy and they’re still fumbling over everything?

If you’re too lazy to do proper research into cultures you couldn’t give two shits about, just don’t include them! Just give me a plain old time travel alien family show set in Wisconsin and have everyone eat at Culvers. Have Hotel Oblivion be identical to Obsidian except the colors are inverted.

If you Americans want the aesthetics you’re gonna have to fucking earn it. Do better

[flickeringart]

Neptune in aspect with Mars

(Read my post about Sun and Moon aspecting Neptune and Mercury and Venus aspecting Neptune)

These planets aspecting each other makes for a curious connection, because in a sense, they represent opposing principles; Mars represents the personal drive and the ability to spring to action, the force that works to impose one’s independent will on the world – Neptune represents the inner urge for emotional unity and the religious/spiritual experience of being merged with the source of life. When these planets are in aspect in the natal chart, the personal ability to carry out one’s will is inextricably linked to redemptive longings. Simply put, Mars-Neptune individuals will put their energy into fulfilling the ego ideal, the perfection of potential that existed before the personality began to form. The personality cannot assert itself in a way that would crush the dream of perfection. Neptune is the dream of purity, the undifferentiated beauty of never having left the garden of Eden. Mars on the other hand is the agent of independence and self-motivated action – he has the purpose of fighting for the individual self which is antithetical to the Neptunian principle of surrender. While the Moon and Venus are quite social; the Moon represents nurturing and care-taking of needs, Venus represents the ability to be loving, affectionate and gracious; Mars is selfish and to a certain extent anti-social – most definitely anti-Eden and its eternal bliss. Subsequently, Neptune paired with Venus or the Moon is a little less of an obvious conflict than Neptune paired with Mars.

The conjunction of Neptune-Mars might cause considerable frustration and unconscious manipulation, because one cannot assert oneself, which is to declare separation, without feeling a deep sense of guilt and shame. It’s a little bit like the Bible story of Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit and immediately becomes aware of sin. This is certainly not an easy phenomenon to deal with. The impulse to avoid accountability for one’s actions can be overwhelming, even if the consequences are perceived to be good. There can be a tremendously inflated sense of righteousness accompanying every move the individual takes because deep down there’s the feeling that one has committed a terrible trespass, that one will be unable to atone for. While the softer aspects, the trine and the sextile, more easily lend themselves to genuine selfless acts and natural inclination to fight on behalf of every bleeding heart and soul in the world through acts of sympathy and kindness, the conjunction usually brings more troubles. There can be an overwhelming feeling of having to do certain things because one cannot stand the idea of being separate from other people. One finds it easy to identify as the martyr or victim, unwilling to take radical responsibility for one’s actions – or if one does it’s in order to self-sacrifice. Often the individual will adopt any ideology that promotes the mass before the individual – often socialism or marxism fits the bill. Neptune is symbolic of undifferentiated reality, blurred edges and passive surrender. It’s not a planet that promotes autonomy and individuation. Not uncommonly, decisions and actions are referred to as byproducts of societal or larger-scale units that have little to do with the poor self. These individuals are usually profoundly dissatisfied with the ways of society because on some level they believe that individual autonomy and agency is a sin – and that the only way to redeem oneself and humanity is through some kind of chaotic dissolution of difference. This urge is seldom conscious, but it is there none the less. Vladimir Lenin had this conjunction and he wanted to revolutionize society to fit the marxist ideology, but really what this means is to overthrow the upper class – to punish those that seem to revel in the delights of Eden, to get rid of the internal shame of being excluded from paradise.

It seems like Neptune-Mars shows up in individuals with the capacity to move a crowd, perhaps most importantly, with the capacity to be the front figure and leader of the masses. Vladimir Lenin certainly affected the masses and so did Napoleon I with the same conjunction. Hassan II of Morocco, known to be one of the most severe rulers widely accused of authoritarian practices and abuses of civil rights had this conjunction as well. These examples are far removed from Neptune’s reputation for denoting empathy, soft-heartedness and sensitivity. However, it might be precisely because of the refusal to abandon the hope of the sweet sweet nectar of paradise that can only truly be accessed in a state of pre-birth if even then, that the outrage is so total. Most children scream when they are born, and this is probably the kind of terrible rage caused by separation that lingers in these people. The sign the conjunction falls in will certainly affect the expression the energies filter through – Lenin had the conjunction in Aries, Hassan had it in Leo and Napoleon had it in Virgo. Virgo is a much more analytical and practical sign than the prideful fire signs of Aries and Leo – consequently Napoleon is famous for his fine skill for method and strategy in war. On his Wikipedia page, it states that Napoleon had a hypnotic effect on people and could bend the strongest leaders to his will in one-on-one conversations. Hypnosis is a marked Neptunian phenomenon. What happens is that the person is able to gently infiltrate the other person’s will – which is quite extraordinary. If someone is receptive and open enough to suggestion, the opportunity and the invitation is there to mold the other through unconscious communion. Since there’s no obvious forcing taking place under hypnosis, the hypnotized person must cooperate on some level – yet it’s not a conscious cooperation which is why the whole phenomena of hypnosis is so unnerving. In general, people would like to think that they are in complete control of themselves, but it’s more of a fancy fantasy rather than an actual reality. We don’t know what we are receptive to and Neptune reminds us of this. He seeps through the most tightly shut doors.

(Buy products with my art)

My own family is quite Neptune dominated and what often happens is that I feel subtly manipulated, yet the manipulation is never fully conscious on the part of the individuals so it becomes difficult to confront them. The times I have, they either take offense or seem genuinely perplexed. It is impossible to confront Neptune, because he works underneath the surface, below the threshold of consciousness. When confronted these types are deeply disturbed that they could’ve imposed something on someone – they either go into a introspective mood, become appalled or proclaim their love and sympathy in an attempt to restore union. My mother has Mars in the 12th house and although it’s not aspecting Neptune, Mars is placed in the house pertaining to this planet and she has Neptune in her 1st house. She never gets angry but people around her certainly do. She is eternally understanding of everyone else’s anger and has acceptance for it, yet she doesn’t respond to any of it on a personal level. She apologizes every time something upsets her. She is never aggressive, yet she does instill subtle guilt through little cues and hints every now and then because it is a sin to have a will that does not align with the crowd that one finds oneself in. Sometimes, when things aren’t the way she wants to see them she doesn’t see them. She presumes that on the most basic level, all people want the same thing, which is probably true on a “soul level”, but sometimes it doesn’t translate to everyday matters. People’s personalities contradict each other and this is no trivial matter – people can and do clash because of individual differences and it can be detrimental to one or all of the individuals involved. However, Neptune doesn’t like to see a clash as a clash – that would be to treat it as a definite fact, which would contradict the fluidity of oceanic union. The frustratingly passive statement “It’s everyone’s fault” or “It’s everyone’s responsibility” is the attempt to not deal with cause and effect while establishing the fact that some abstract common force is always at work. This is neither true nor false but this attitude conveniently keeps everyone ��unified” and dependent upon each other.

Admittedly I went with the most gruesome examples when writing about the conjunction, but it goes without saying that not all people with this aspect is going to be a Lenin type – Ryan Gosling, Avril Lavinge and Timothé Chalamet all have this conjunction and they’re all quite popular entertainers in their own ways – they move the masses on some level. Ryan Gosling has a Pisces Rising so his chart ruler is Neptune which makes it particularly strong. He gives off that pure hearted watery eyed look that is extremely mesmerizing to the public – he portrays himself as sweet and compassionate, he seems to have a marked innocence and purity to his outward projected identity. Avril Lavinge has her Sun-Mercury in the 12th house squaring her Neptune-Mars conjunction in the 3rd. She has more of an edge to her personality with a lot of planets in Scorpio but she certainly comes off as a chaotic, intense and absent-minded creative which I would attribute more to Neptune. Her strong rebellious “I don’t care” statements through her music resonates with a lot of people, but so does her more sentimental songs. Timothe´ Chalamet has his Moon in Pisces sextile Mars-Mercury-Neptune and he is quite the stereotypical Neptunian boy – he looks delicate, introspective, dreamy and androgynous, more like an ethereal creature than an earth-bound human. With the conjunction in the 5th house there’s no wonder that he can act and express himself in a very fluid way. Acting and performing musically are the specialities of the Neptune, and if enough components in the chart support the endeavor one might just become famous. The trine and sextile aspect also lend themselves well to these kind of occupations. These people can effectively gain the sympathy of the public because people recognize something of themselves – something pure and unborn, a mutual feeling.

A good example of someone with the trine aspect between Neptune and Mars is Russel Brand. He is quite the Neptunian with an angular 10th house Neptune opposing his Sun and trining his Jupiter-Mars-Moon planets in Aries. Even though he certainly has the fire and energy of an Aries Mars that can sometimes be a bit too much for people he is not only fighting for himself he is fighting for all people. In many ways he’s embodying  universal hope and rage. He is fiery but also very receptive and deeply concerned with not causing any damage or hurt despite his characteristic blunt and direct approach. He has a marked religious/spiritual inclination, which is usually the case with a strong Neptune in the chart. In his early years the longing for Eden was sought through drugs, alcohol and fame, while it has now shifted to a more healthy inner exploration and focus on being of service to people. The soft aspects between Neptune and Mars-Moon-Jupiter planets in his chart helps him to cope with the disturbing Sun-Neptune opposition. In recent interviews, he admits that he still feels the pull of fame and success, yet he knows that if he goes down that path he will lose himself (his Sun) and will ultimately end up disillusioned and dissatisfied. I have the trine in my own chart, and I float aimlessly through life with the notion that things will work out and my actions will come to me, because I can’t plan or control anything. I have learnt that I have to trust the way things unfold, because I have a clear sense that my forced actions won’t lead me anywhere except to frustration and a sense of isolation. The sextile aspect seems to function a little bit more as an asset and a skill for the person to use. Politicians like Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande all have this aspect and they can effectively use their receptivity to the masses and people in general to inform their actions.

Now to the harder aspects. Britney Spears is a good example of the dilemmas created by the Neptune-Mars square. Her Neptune squares Mars in the 12th house, the house belonging to Neptune and Pisces. Because of mental instability in her twenties she was put under a conservatorship which is essentially the equivalent of giving up personal control of one’s personal matters in order for an outside source to manage them until one gains some foothold. Mars is one of the prime factors of personal ambition and autonomy, but when it’s in the 12th it is given up – it is essentially a slave to the undifferentiated realm and subjected all the forces of the unconscious. A 12th house Mars in itself doesn’t have to produce the mess that Britney found herself in, but with it squaring Neptune, Mars is going to get swamped, mislead, confused, manipulated and subtly coerced because of the need for fusion, into doing things that will pull her further away from independent action. Another good example is Kylie Jenner. She has Neptune in her 1st house squaring Mars on the MC. She is publicly known for being part of the Kardashian-Jenner family, but she’s also gained attention because she skillfully created her own brand Kylie Cosmetics and became very “successful” (as in earning a lot of money) due to her own independent action and initiative. However, Neptune is anti-independence – and curiously enough there’s always some dishonesty involved when Neptune makes any hard aspects in the chart. She was declared the youngest self-made billionaire by Forbes in 2019, but, she has later been accused of forging tax documents to appear to be a billionaire. Neptune simply can’t let her be all that her Mars wants to be – a successful business woman with a clean record. Self-sabotage is almost always the case, however minor with this aspect, because Neptune refuses Mars’ need to be potent in the world.

The opposition creates a different dynamic although the dilemma is similar to the square. The person can be called to completely abandon an independent will to take action in favor of the glamour and blissful archetypal experience, not unlike the example of Russel Brand and his indulgence in fame and crowd-pleasing at the expense of his sense of self. The difference between having Sun opposing Neptune and Mars opposing Neptune is that in the first instance one is prone to give up a sense of self in favor of Neptune’s waters, while in the second, one feels the urge to give up the ability to direct one’s own life in order to merge with life around oneself. The opposition usually lends itself to extremism because the two polarities, in this case Mars and Neptune, can’t coexist. Queen Elizabeth II has this aspect, Mars-Jupiter in the 1st opposing Neptune in the 7th. She is on the one hand seen as an archetypal figure, immortal and divine and blissfully kept out of the real world in order to serve as a symbol and a fairytale for people to feel spiritually connected to. She’s non-aggressive, forgiving and compassionate, transcendent of the fuss of the world yet overseeing it all with care. She is essentially functioning to satisfy the religious/spiritual instinct of the masses, although it’s certainly done at the expense of her own selfish wants and needs. Luckily for her, her Mars drive is quite global and collective in nature considering that it falls in Aquarius and is conjunct Jupiter – it keeps her objective and less personal in her martial assertion. However, I’m sure she struggles with the contradiction between her own will and her role as an immortal unreality that would seem to activate itself in the interaction with other people (Neptune in the 7th). Edward Snowden also has this opposition falling in the same houses. His Mars-Sun conjunction opposes Neptune, and he famously leaked information about mass surveillance programs to the press. Neptune has everything to do with leaks and the dissolution of boundaries. He’s both been called a hero a traitor – which perfectly fits with the contradiction that the opposition represents. He certainly made a personal sacrifice by revealing the things he did so he is perfectly shouldering the martyr cape. In any case he did what he did for the public with the concern of other people in mind (Neptune 7th house) he took a non-selfish stance for the sake of a higher ideal and ethical conviction. Both Queen Elizabeth and Edward Snowden are quite extreme in their Neptunian capacity and has taken on fates of mythic magnitude.

[somnianus]

On Chinese and Eastern Dramatic Acting vs Western

Part 1    Part 2

Mostly in ref to the Untamed/Word of Honor, but applies to a lot of East Asian works-

I’ve been getting the sense that people I know from the west (also being Asian-American myself) often interpret Chinese/Japanese/Korean drama and theatre to be too corny/cheesy/over-acted. A quick search on some internet forums confirms this. Maybe it’s because I used to watch a lot of C-dramas when I was a kid (Legend of the Condor Heroes/Return of C Heroes/Journey to the West/The Reincarnated Princess/etc), I personally did not notice that the acting was over the top. 

I don’t really speak for the quality of acting of these actors because I barely follow them in their careers, but I do know that some of them are immature actors or don’t have much formal training (which may cause the cheesiness above). However, Eastern dramatic acting in general does seem like a common complaint, so I decided to look into it - this is all coming from someone who JUST recently got back into watching C-dramas btw, doing my own research so don’t mind me if there’s some incorrect things down here, I am by NO means at all an expert in drama and theater (lol):

^Villains are often depicted with very exaggerated facial expressions (Above, Xue Yang, The Untamed)

Part 1

1. Chinese concept of mo vs western equivalent of “mimesis” or “imitation”

From this, an excellent chapter on Chinese theatrical concepts vs Western concepts.

Mo plays a significant part in traditional Chinese theatre, usually held to be antithetical to the realism of Western theatre because of its emphasis on theatricality. 

Mo means mimesis or imitation, but in a very different sense from the Western concept. One of the first Chinese scholars to use this term, Fu Sinian, used it to compare Western theatre to Chinese theatre:

Presenting a real event and performing an entertaining show are not compatible. The former emphasizes imitation (yige zhong mofang^b); the latter stresses spontaneity and entertainment. The former performance produces a lifelike image; the latter has nothing to produce. The former puts emphasis on the plot; the latter puts emphasis on theatricality. Therefore they are completely contradictory to one another.

This guy actually goes onto critique Chinese theater, saying it should be more like Western realism, so that there will “be no singing, and the acting will imitate people’s real gestures.” However! Other Chinese critics tried to approach Western vs traditional Chinese drama as two DIFFERENT but still valid forms of art. For example, Yu Shangyuan (1927) said western performance is “writing realistically” (xie shi) and chinese performance as “writing suggestively” (xie yi). Western dramas really rely on an accurate/semi-accurate representation of life and realism. Traditional Chinese drama and acting relied on the “symbolic and imaginative.”

Then what is mo? It is the emotional display, the emotional revelation, that is shown on stage. Starting from the Yuan dynasty, the Chinese drama was thought to be a continuation of poetry rather than its own independent stage art.

Poetry is where the intent of the heart goes. Lying in the heart, it is “intent”; when uttered in words, it is “poetry.” When an emotion stirs inside, one expresses it in words; finding this inadequate, one sighs over it; not content with this, one sings it in poetry; still not satisfied, one unconsciously dances with one’s hands and feet. [anonymous, 1975, from Shi Daxu 200 BCE]

Chinese drama with dancing and singing, was the most expressive product of poetry. The importance of mo cannot be stressed enough - it is the measure by which traditional Chinese drama was judged, how well this drama make you feel? Love, pain, loss, guilt, happiness? Plot becomes something that doesn’t matter as much (more on that later).

^Beijing/Peking Opera - highly stylized, emotive, “unrealistic” performances

To emphasize how central and important this concept is, it’s thought that a good Chinese playwright never fails to “seize a highly dramatic scene to stage an elaborate presentation of an emotional state.”

Love is of source unknown, yet it grows ever deeper. The living may die of it, by its power the dead live again. [Peony Pavilion, Mu dan ting]

This quote really shows how important it was to show these emotions on stage, to inspire the audience to feel deeply. Chinese critics believed that the best part about drama was how efficient it is to display emotion. Playwrights should “depict extreme bitterness, extreme happiness, extreme silliness, and extreme sobriety; imitate these feelings to the utmost (miao mo jin xing^p).”

Such performances are not necessarily accurately mimicking reality, but they are obtained through the “revelation” of a character’s internal emotional world.

2. Mo vs the depiction of reality or theatrical truth

The Chinese concept of aesthetic truth relates a lot to theatrical truth. In a lot of traditional Chinese art, painting, poetry, etc, aesthetic truth is not empirical, and doesn’t have to be accurate to life, or realistic. It’s a “truth that lies beyond mere superficial likeness.”

To the Chinese artist, an accurate resemblance between art and reality is not only superficial but often distorting. Chinese artists hold a dialectical view on the “form” (xing) and the “spirit” or “content” (shen) of an artistic object. According to them, xing  and shen are not always complementary. On the contrary, they often stand in opposition to one another. (referenced in the chapter above)

Traditional Chinese artists would rather represent the object with the wish that their representation matches its spirit, or abstract identity, than its actual form because a “photographic image is a shallow image.” It’s easy to draw a picture of something realistically, but it’s much harder and more satisfying to depict its nature, its feeling, its spirit.

This also naturally affects theater and dramatic performances.

Dramatic writing can be divided into two types: “a painting-like work” or a “transformed work,” in which the latter has higher artistic value because it reaches more towards the essence of dramatic object. Realistic imitations are fine, but they’re not really enough to reveal the mo or true feelings of something.

In addition, traditional Chinese dramatists believe that “all dramas are nothing but allegories. One need not ask about their origins in actual life.” You might be able to see, then, that these older playwrights and critics really fancied the overdramatic depictions of emotions.

a. The Chinese notion of theatrical truth/aesthetic truth vs European

Onto what we, as part of the Western audience, are more used to:

For Italian neoclassical critics, the pleasure of a drama hinges  on how accurate, how realistic, the depiction is. Castelvetro, the leading Italian Neo-Classical critic and creator of the concept of “the three unities,” claims thus:

We cannot imagine a king who did not exist, nor attribute any action to him.

Another Italian critic, Robortellus, said that a creative/imaginative story with no “verisimilitude” (truthfulness, in this context, realism) is less appealing than one that imitates a real-life event:

Thus if a tragic plot contained an action which did not really take place and was not true, but was represented by the poet himself in accordance with verisimiltude, it would perhaps move the souls of the auditors, but certainly less.

So basically, it’s fundamentally the opposite of Chinese theater. Italian dramatic works prized being realistic, being properly adapted from reality and real events. Chinese dramatic works, however, enjoyed the emphasis on heartfelt emotional demonstrations, or mo. Even in critical writings, the word “truth” is used, but it is usually used to modify the word “heart” or “emotion.” It is very concerned with the internal, the truthfulness of heartfelt emotional expression.

Taken these contexts, you can see why the Chinese stage/dramas are wholly “unreal” as Tao-Ching Hsu puts it. Everything, the makeup, the costumes, the props, is expressive and suggestive rather than imitative.

b. Bejing/Peking Opera, jingju

A famous example is the Beijing/Peking Opera, jingju. The makeup and costumes themselves are fantastical representations. The colors and patterns suggest different moods, temperaments, characters, and even changes in emotions. Actors would make distinct movements to depict distinct emotions with varying levels of energy. The stage itself may be sparse, because it is not as important as the expression of emotion and drama. 

The stage is sparse not because of the lack of technology or funding, but because it leaves room for the actor themselves to fully express their internal thinking/feeling/emotions. Characters can cross hundreds of miles in a few steps or may take the whole stage to cross a supposed road. This representation looks “unreal” to a realistic-minded audience, but it is very genuine to a Chinese audience.

Summary (so far)

This crucial understanding of the concept of mo (the emotional revelation), and the way traditional Chinese drama depicts life and stories, informs how their modern works are also portrayed. Coming from a Western dramatic background, where realism and plot are the most important aspects of a work, it can be very confusing, right? Even Chinese scholars began to judge their own dramatic works through a Western lens.

How does this traditional background affect modern Chinese dramas and works? I think it still has a very large effect, even though much of Western ideals about dramatic works have been heavily integrated into modern Chinese dramas.

Part 2: On Theatricality and how it transfers into Chinese Cinema

[wannabemasterofwindintraining]

WELL LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HOMESTUCK !

First off there's 2 sides to this class and aspect

Basically Aspect is what magic do you have and class is how can you use that magic

So going in order of which one i though about first

Clay: knight of blood

Starting with class aside from the obvious thing of clay being a knight Knights are a serving class and the passive counterpart (i know some ppl see page as the passive one but i personal see knight as the passive one) passive meaning they use their magic to help others

Also knights are losers how have their life falling apart but pretend that everything is fine cause they'd rather die than open up about their feelings

And on the blood side this aspect while yes can mean literally blood it also means bonds and relationships also blood players are leaderly types

So that makes clay one who serves bonds to others or serves others through bonds meaning he is dedicated to helping his loved ones and in turn his relationships with those loved ones make him stronger

Macy: maid of hope

Maids are one of the maker classes and the active one meaning they use their magic for themselves

Also maids often struggle with the world giving them a hard time and them having to fight to get what they want

As the description suggests maids can make their magic and often seen as being made from their magic hence why the made of hope thing

Hope is basically determination from undertale if you believe in yourself you can do anything

But also i see ppl say that it has connections to sexuality and i honestly have no idea why they think that and I'm so confused

Anyways as a maid of hope macy is literally filled with determination no she IS determination itself she is so determined and she's gonna fuck shit up

Aaron: rogue of heart

Rogue is the passive stealing class aka basically Robin hood

Rogues are rebellious and honestly overall chaotic i love them they're the best

Breath is air almost all breath players can fly and breath also symbolises freedom breath players are also leaderly but less of the commanding type and more of leading by action type

Also breath is the opposite of blood isn't that neat

As a rogue of breath Aaron could just yoink your freedom it's his now

And if he felt like it he could give your freedom to his friends as a fuck you or some sadistic shit like that

Or he just steals your breath away *finger guns*

Lance: Sylph of heart

Sylph is another maker class and the passive counterpart

And like look I'm not really satisfied with his class i had a hard time deciding and this is probably not the best choice but i don't wanna put more thought into it

Sylphs are nosy and very mentally ill about their interests and also healers most of the time for some reasons i know this may not sound like him much but this is the best i could do

Anyways heart represents the self this is the self-obsessed aspect you can see why i choose this for him and also heart has to do with souls and as a sylph that just sounds like he could rise the team's spirits lol

Also heart can mean literally love wish is so funny to me cause look at this aroace guy getting the love magic

As a sylph of heart he can give ppl identity or raise their spirits ig

Or maybe he heals them by being emotional support which is kinda funny imagine lance as a therapist

Or maybe he's cupid

Axl: witch of space

Witch is a controller class and they're active

Witches are often the ones getting shit done and honestly he doesn't do much in show but this is what axl is like in my head

As far as I'm aware space represents the physical and metaphorical space around you

Space playes like to take things slow and are very "maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way" kinda ppl

Which is also just axl in my head

The show doesn't really give him a personality so all of this is based on my headcanons

There's already a witch of space in the comic and the way she uses her powers is she just makes stuff bigger and smaller

Which is so lame i feel like powers are cooler when you get into the metaphorical meaning of the magic like imagine it applied to physical space as well like axl could make the space between stuff smaller or something he could literally pull thing to him isn't that cool

Jestro: page of rage

Page is an active serving class (in my opinion) but he's not serving anything he's the one getting served

He's a sad little baby boy who can't do shit until he unlocks his true potential which seeing as he's a page might take a while

That's kinda a page thing they're often weak and helpless at the start but if they focus on their skills they can be real powerful

Rage is well anger and genral chaos the aspect also has to do with lies which is real interesting cause the book is always lying to jestros literally serving him lies

Btw rage is the opposite of hope you may interrupt that however you like

So Jestro is served rage he is getting angry at the world Monstrox goes up to him like aren't you tired of being nice? Don't you wanna go apeshit? And Jestro is like i AM tired of being nice i DO wanna go apeshit and basically the plot of nk happens

Ava: theif of mind

Thieves are active blah blah stealing

Thieves are blunt and straight to the point which is so autistic of them i wouldn't be surprised if they're hoarders as well with all of that stealing

Contrary to what the name might suggest mind isn't the knowledge aspect there's another aspect for that nerd shit

Mind has more to do with thoughts ideas and memories ya know literally brain stuff and it's the opposite of heart

When thinking of the aspect in relation to the class i got a lil confused cause why would ava steal thoughts and ideas? She's smart she can make her own

Then it hit me

What does she do the whole show? Dig through Merlocks memories she is literally stealing his thoughts

Robin: Heir of time

Heir is another controller class a passive one and like i said this is the blorbo class for the blorbo ppl

Another cool thing about heirs is that they can become their aspect tho unlike maids who are made from their aspect heirs aren't made from it they can just change into it

Heirs just generaly have a change theme going on and with Robin being a young kid possibly around puberty age change is kind relevant to him

Time is just time all time players can manipulate time in some way but also time has to do with death which implies that Robin might someday die

Time and space are opposites why? Don't ask that's just what it is

So as a heir of time Robin can change time which is the boring option let's talk about death

There's the obvious of Robin can commit murder but changing death can also mean he unmurders ppl he could use his time powers to go back and prevent ppl from dying or maybe just reverse their death

That would've been very helpful throughout s3 and 4

I know Robin looks up to clay the most but i accidentally gave him more similarities with axl with the 2 of them having classes of the same group and having opposite aspects and i honesty don't know what to do with that information

Merlock: muse of life / Monstrox: lord of doom

Putting them together cause i only thought of their aspects in relation to each other

Nk is basically Merlock vs Monstrox but using their kids to fight for them

Muse and lord are the commanding classes which means they are literally gods over their magic with muse as the passive and lord as the active

While passive and active do relate to if you use your magic for yourself or others the literal meaning of it can apply to them with Merlock passively watching the fight from the side occasionally providing the knights with a power up and Monstrox actively going out and causing chaos

Also life and doom are opposite aspects with life being life and nature and healing and doom being pain and suffering and hurt and everything nasty (also fate ig)

So Merlock commanding life and nature to help the knights in battle against evil and Monstrox who's said evil commanding pain and misery to help him defeat the knights like aaaa why does this work so well

Anyways this is way to long oops

Yall like homestuck?

Well I'm not waiting for an answer here are some classpects

Starting off with some gay ppl Jestro is a page of rage i was considering page of breath for him but i decided that rage fit's him better

And clay is a knight obviously how could you look at this man and give them any other class like come on they were made for this

Anyways clay is a knight of blood aka basically karkat

Aaron is rogue if breath

Breath cause come on look at this man he's basically flying around during the whole show also rogue cause idk i just felt like it

Macy is a maid of hope or as others might say made of hope

She is basically the hope driving her friends forward or that's how i loke to think of her idk

This man gave me a real hard time deciding on a class for him

Like aspect? Easy heart but class? I had to go over every class thinking of which one fits best and even the one i settled on feels off

Anyways he's a sylph of heart

Then there's jade harley i mean axl

I love putting this man in skirts and dresses

His aspect probably makes no sense if you're only viewing the show axl but bases in the axl in my head this is him

Then i also classpected the kids cause i love them

Ava is obviously a mind player cause duh have you seen ava?

Thinking of her as a mind player and as a theif separately made sense but when i tried to think of her aspect as a whole it started to feel kinda off

But then i thought about it more and i decided yeah it's alright

Robin is a heir cause that's the blorbo class for the lil blorbos my sweet sweet blorbo Robin <3

Also he's a time player cause... idk not every classpect needs to make sense sometimes you just go off of vibes ya know?

Speaking of vibes

At first i didn't think of Merlock and Monstroxs classpects in relation to their characters i just thought it'd be cool for Merlock to be a muse of life and Monstroxs to be a lord of doom cause of yin yang parallels or whatever

But the more i thought about the more i realised that actually this vibes only classpects kinda works with their characters?

With them both being commanding classes but Merlock as a passive class just staying in the fortrex while Monstrox as an active class actually doing the evil stuff (kinda he mostly gets Jestro to do it for him but he's very active in the destruction)

And Merlock wanting to save life while Monstrox wants to doom life like i literally bullshited this classpect why does it fit so well

[genshinbent]

okay first off thank you for saving me from having to make an entire blog dedicated to this. secondly. i have Thoughts.

first off, the disclaimer: everyone has different interpretations of characters and different ideas on how classpecting works and yadda yadda. i just happen to have Opinions

1. venti is a time player. i almost talked myself into making him a blood player in explaining how not a breath player he is. the ideal of freedom in genshin context isn’t necessarily the same as breath in the homestuck context. i’d almost say rogue of time due to his role as a guide for the traveler? shenhe on the other hand is definitely a breath player (as are kazuha and at a first glance, scaramouche). i will avoid going into more detail about venti unless asked bc when i tried to write out my thoughts i ended up with like three pages of stuff

2. while i can understand a light or void albedo, to me, he’s definitely a space player. i think he’s either maid/witch/seer/mage. i think makoto would also be a space player. i originally put sucrose down as space too but i don’t really feel this necessarily fits her? i’d almost suggest hope but i don’t really know. yelan would be void, though. maybe thief? i also like sylph!barbara although i haven’t closed in on aspect due to me not knowing her super well. my first thought would be life or hope. blood!zhongli works out great; i think he’d probably be something like a lord, though. making the rules for it and all. space/light/void works well for mona; i’m leaning towards light or void for her. i think chongyun fits rage better than hope. i would actually suggest heir of breath for kazuha, actually. i feel like diluc and kaeya both have a lot of light/void theming in their lives, so they could both fit either one. diluc also fits hope/rage and kaeya blood/breath. fischl is definitely a heart player. i’d almost say rogue? she begins with an excess of identity/soul/inner self/etc and currently hasn’t gone much from there, but rogues tend to start with an excess of their aspect and have to learn how to redistribute it to other ppl to even themselves out, if that makes sense. knights/rogues/pages/thieves all tend to have personas. lisa strikes me as a light/void as well, but like, in a negative context. hu tao is like, a maid or sylph of doom or time. jean strikes me as blood but i don’t have any ideas beyond that, really. i could see ei as either a prince of heart or mind (which really comes down to how she’s approaching it due to them being opposites and all). bennett would also make a very funny void player. knight and doom almost fit separately for xiao but together they just strike me as wrong; not entirely sure why. he has a front but i wouldn’t say he’s insecure about it, per se— he knows what he’s good at and what he’s not. he’s just… blunt, and standoffish in a manner of speaking due to him not having been very super social and as such, largely lacking social skills, on top of all the shit he’s been through and friends he’s lost. my thoughts would be like, a maid of doom.

anyways this is a lot of words to say half of this is just off the top of my head and most aren’t super thought through yet. we probably classpect differently too, tbh; i tend to be more fluid with fanon analysis on what classes represent and focus on the themes and how characters interact with their aspect. like how aspects should come up everywhere in the theming and life of a character and all that. alas, a large portion of genshin characters have personas which complicates everything for everyone. my thoughts on these are also liable to change depending on the day, and the only one that has remained the same has been time!venti bc it’s just… so obvious and also inarticulable to me

Yesssssss this is my favorite thing to see in my inbox hahaha

1. Personally, I would love for you to go into more detail in Venti as a Time player! It's an idea I definitely haven't heard before, but I'm interested in hearing what makes you think that

I don't know enough about Shenhe or Scaramouche (I wonder if I should start saying Wanderer instead...) to say for certain, but I agree with Kazuha being Breath. I'm debating between mostly Rogue or Mage for his class tbh. Heir fits symbolically with his family history and all, but I don't see it otherwise.

2. Space was my other contender for Albedo, but it seems closer to a byproduct of his circumstances? His worldview seems very Light/Void centered, even though he employs a lot of Space techniques and themes. The way I see it, the art of alchemy in general is a very Space-centric skill but that doesn't mean that every alchemist is a Space player.

I don't know enough about Yelan and I haven't dug really deep into Sucrose yet but I've considered Space or Life for her. Maybe Light but eh.

I considered Life for Barbara but she's not super big on, like, growth and assertiveness and whatnot, but she is big on sheer optimism so Sylph of Hope was pretty clear to me.

I'm pretty hesitant using the master classes as we don't have a lot of information on them, but even so, I'm not feeling Lord Zhongli. He's definitely competent with his aspect, but his big choice was letting other people make the rules and hold the reins, and he seems satisfied with his new life. Even before that, he was never really a hands on leader- the Tianquan made most of the decisions.

I'm very torn between Space and Light for Mona honestly, I can see and argue for both pretty equally which is kind of frustrating, and I'm not sure between Seer or Mage either but I'm leaning towards the latter.

Okay I'm glad someone agrees with Rage Chongyun rather than Hope lmao. I was thinking it fit, but I know that some people really only see Rage as the crazy destructive aspect.

Yeah Diluc to me fits the Hope/Rage spectrum best. I am feeling Hope because I think that would be at his best and most comfortable in life, but I think he rejects his aspect (and his instinctive desire for optimism) and leans into Rage fairly often.

I'm with you between Light/Void and Blood/Breath for Kaeya. I haven't dug into him yet because I know I'm gonna have to do a lot of rereading his wiki due to all the mystery behind him and I've been putting that off honestly.

Yay another vote for Heart Fischl haha. I've hesitantly used Knight for her class, but I'm not super set on it. Rogue could be a contender too, not sure.

I don't know Jean well enough as she's the only standard character I haven't pulled yet. I'm not sure what you mean by "in a negative context" for Lisa but I'm imagining 'Light player (derogatory)'. I'm pretty certain she's a Mage, but I'm not certain of her aspect. Light/Void at a first glance sounds good as a prized pupil if the Akademiya, but the fact that she just... stopped... when realizing how dangerous that knowledge is dissuades me. I'm thinking Space, unless I see a really convincing argument for Void

I definitely had Time for Hu Tao. I'm actually hoping to pull for her on her next rerun so I've been holding off on scouring her wiki for details into her class until I can read the voice lines and such myself 😅

Yes I had some trouble going back and forth between Heart and Mind for Raiden Ei tbh. I settled on Mind, because her worldview doesn't seem to be very settled on the self, even though a lot of her actions are. I think it would make sense if her sister Makoto was Heart, as a primary influence over over Ei, but I'm not actually going to guess at Makoto's character.

Yeah Bennett as Void is pretty clear cut haha. An argument could be made for Doom but I don't think it fits as well. Misfortune and bad luck is different from bad situations.

I can see where you're coming from wrt Xiao not fitting the Knight archetype of insecurity and while I agree, I also want to point out that this dude is two-thousand years old. After a certain point, insecurity in interpersonal relations can easily hide behind the self-confidence of spending millennia not dying or going insane. I've gotta consider that teens are gonna portray the same classpect differently from adults, and adults are gonna portray their classpects differently from immortals.

I tend to go back and forth over character's classpects for a while before I make an actual decision bc like you said, my opinions can vary day-to-day. I read a lot of the fanon theories and understandings but I don't ascribe to any particular one, I just cobble together my own understanding haha

But yeah! I welcome any thoughts on these and I am definitely interested in hearing your Time!Venti theory if you want to share it :D

[touch-me-oooo]

All HS Aspects Breakdown

To me, all of the aspects together represent the experience of a play. In that, Breath is the drive. The wind in our sails. It's the imagination. Being there, but not bound to anything. Free-flowing conscious, unable to be grasped, only able to be invited in by the vacuum. It's a driving force, lovingly pushing that which tries to remain still. It's irresponsibility, and agency. Breath pushes things around and around, and inspires wherever it goes. It is free of suffering, because it cannot be bound.

Life, is the energy of Breath, harnessed and made into something else. Life is organized, feeding and growing in power. It's the way your DNA is coiled, it's patterns repeated, it's boundless, complex perfection that spreads infinitely in fractals. It's turning formless into form. Through Breath it is driven. It is breaking the law of anarchy, the basic state, and rebelling against simply having an ideal, and actually fights to get it. It is eating the apple in the garden of Eden, and disrupting peace in having nothing to hold and thus being free. It does this in favor of the struggle where you must hold on, you must survive somehow. It's greedy. Life is the aspect of fighting to be able to have agency while not being fragile enough to simply have it be taken back. Life is fortified, intelligent, and hungry.

Light is all that is observable. Light is the spotlight above the stage, showing you the main events. Light is objective. It's relevance, and importance. It's showing you something. It's correctness. It's showing you the character at their most crucial moments, it's showing you success and the most pivotal moments that led to it. To view and understand Light as a whole is to see that it is lines within lines within lines within lines, forever and ever, showing you all that you'll ever be able to know until...

Time. Time is deciding where the lines end. It is commonly seen as decay. The Finite. Good old Mortality. Time decides where the lines of light begin and end. It is the pacing of the play, placing ends and beginnings here and there. The birth of a character, their events, and the death of that character is all thanks to Time. Time is also the aspect of the self experience(Heart). A good way to think about Time is to look at any tool. A hammer, just as an example. A hammer is forged, used, and eventually broken, perhaps even several times if it is repaired repeatedly(Life). You can even think about the idea of hammers. Hammers are invented/discovered, used, and eventually forgotten about. Then the next rendition of hammers begins, perhaps they're called something different or shaped in another way or used for another purpose. But the thing that Time teaches us is that every play is really the same. Every story is a rendition of the original story(Light). The story of experience. Birth, events, then death. Beginning, middle, and end. You may stuff the most random things in between, but if you zoom out, all stories are identical, and they stop only to begin again and again.(Rage?)

Heart is a difficult one for me to understand, and I don't really get other people's views on Heart when I do my research. But, I'll try my best. The general consensus is this: Heart is the aspect of Personality. It governs impulses, emotions, and the "soul", or your being, however you wanna look at it. I imagine it's role in the figurative play as a character's traits; their strengths and weaknesses, their bonds, and their romance. I guess Heartbound are particularly interested in feelings and impulses, specifically how they control people's actions. The aspect of Heart is a character's perception of the world based purely on feelings. It responds to stimuli, totally unconcerned about objectivity. But, it's also about being someone, and coming to terms with that. Or at least, that's how I understand it.

But now, Rage. Rage is the aspect of waking up to the lies. Seeing structure and recognizing that it wasn't meant to be like that. Everything is supposed to be free, I shouldn't have a body, I shouldn't even be thinking thoughts right now, this is all preposterous and I'm going to return things to their rightful states. It's seeing an ideal, A hope, being lured in, lured in, reaching out to grab it, but. You can't take it. It's only a hope. It's not real. It's the feeling of heartbreak, when you thought it was meant to be. But it wasn't meant to be, and it never was. Because it didn't happen that way. It's waking up to that, to rejection. It's a feeling of being bound, being unable to have the fake ideal even though it would be so great to have it. It's even coming to terms with that firstly, then doing something about it. Whether that be to make right the wrongs, or to impulsively destroy it all.

Blood. Blood is the aspect of relation, and how those relations bind together. It's a life of service to the tribe, in hope that you'll all eventually make it to the end happily. Think of Breath and Blood as different kinds of priests. Breath is the priest that liberates you, and sets you free. Blood is the priest that takes you in, and holds you as you both read scripture by candlelight, finding solace in service to the deities, where all else is pain and suffering alone. It isn't capture, necessarily. It's family. Sometimes family is a chain like capture, sometimes it's an anchor that holds you in place and calms you. Hugs my dude. Bloodbound sometimes have to suffer though, finding that chains can be broken, either by choice or circumstance, and when your relationships are severed, or damaged, it hurts. Being alone in a world of suffering is hard, and Bloodbound know that more than anybody else. So, depending on how Rage or Doom leaning the Bloodbound is, they may help others in taking them in to accept suffering, or taking them in to become a team, and fight against the suffering.

Doom is being bound. Bound and suffering, or bound and cared for. Often both. But either way, Doom is the aspect of giving in to the limitations. Life goes on, refusing to die as long as it has control, denying limitation and saying "I CAN". But it wont always have control, and thats because of Doom. Doom is recognizing the inevitability of not being around forever, and being okay with it. It's saying "I CANNOT", and just chilling while the fire consumes them. It's knowing there's no chance of Hope, it's knowing that no amount of Rage will turn things around, and it's knowing that the ends of Life's ever-growing fractals fizzle out into Void eventually. It recognizes that there is no amount of detachment that can unbind the Doombound from Death. Time kills all, so one way or another, bound or unbound, we will all recede into...

Void. Void is where the spotlight doesn't touch. It's further back than that. It's what the audience can't see. It's the backstories nobody knows about. It's irrelevant information, things the story doesn't go over. It's everywhere the current setting is not. It's the darkness at the corner of your eyes. You can turn your head, get mirrors, record, analyze, or guess or do whatever you can try to attempt a glance into that dark spot. But you won't ever see it for yourself. You can't even imagine it. You can try to know everything, but Void teaches that the first step to doing that is to recognize that you know nothing. Voidbound's Hearts aren't all there. They give in to the Void voluntarily. Think about how modern astronomers are mapping the stars, diligently building better and better tools to see further and further out and tracking what they can see. Then notice how unlikely it is that humans will ever see every last detail of it. We don't even know every last detail about Earth, though we record as much as we can about our discoveries. We dismiss any discovery we deem irrelevant, too, because we're so focused on what's in the spotlight. Void is realizing that the whole thing is too big, and too deep, and too detailed to ever possibly truly understand it. And so, taking Doom's advice, any Voidbound person in their right mind would just... Not try to do anything about that. And so we just leave Void to being nothing.

Where Time is the aspect of the play's pacing and events, Space is the stage and setting. Space is your mommy. Your real mommy. Forget what you think you've got. Space is the one that really made you. Space is artistic, it wastes so much Time to build little intricacies, all of them. Remember Void? Remember how I talked about all those little details you'll never know about? Space made those. Space is the mom of all of that. Sure, Time conducted some stuff in the background, yeah, but Time also left to go get cigarettes, and you don't think Time is coming back to see it all grow up. Time is coming back to end it later. What a dick. But Time might come to see your basketball game. Maybe. If Time thinks you'll win. What a fucking asshole. Anyways. Space builds on objective laws, and turns a lot of little nothings into something. It turns a lot of dust floating around into big rocks called planets, where things happen and stuff is born, then raised, and eventually dies if it happens to have the right chemicals on it. This is about as much as I'm willing to write about Space with this crummy English language. I could go on and on about Space.

Mind. Mind is the other aspect on looking at all this stuff. Where Heart looks at things with subjective feelings, Mind looks at things with objective fact. Mind excludes feelings, and in that way it is unbound and capable of doing what is objectively right. It doesn't concern personality or romantic impulses. If it's evil, destroy it. Period. Enter. Indent. Mind considers consequence, it sees what could happen if X. Heart doesn't care what the consequences are, it feels something, so it must follow it, regardless of X. What I'm saying here is that these two aspects both draw upon Light and Void, where Mind draws upon Light to see and choose the objective, and Heart draws upon Void to choose the subjective. Both are seeking the ideal, which is on the aspect wheel as...

Hope. Hope is that the person you like will like you back. It's that Santa Claus is actually real and isn't transphobic. It's that you have magic powers for real bro. It's the idea of matter from nothing, similar to how Space turns a lot of debris into something. But with Hope, it's taking concepts of nothing and turning it into something. It's that the ideal will present itself when all seems lost. That something will appear out of nothing and save you. But Rage shows us that fundamentally, Hope is nothing but ideas. It's fake. But... It's also... Fucking real???? Hope is the aspect of Hope, in that you HOPE it's real, and if you believe it, and really really do, it could become real??? When Santa Claus is standing in front of you, do you still Hope he's real? No, because he's literally right there! You can't hope he's real because he IS real, you're with him right now! Hopebound are theoretically capable of using Hope and Belief to fabricate and bring forth fake things as real things. I don't understand Hope completely, I'm just telling you what I think it is based on research and long hours pondering. It doesn't really make sense in some ways, or it doesn't function like the other aspects in that one particular part about being fake, but also real? I think it's kind of like, the driving fuel behind powerful things. It inspires things to be real, I guess?

That's it then. All the aspects on the aspect wheel. Thank you for reading my aspecting breakdown. I hope it helped you, or was at least entertaining. If you have input, or you can clarify or enlighten me on any of the aspects, don't be afraid to make contact with me. Peace. (:

[thevibraniumveterans]

I'M STARTING WITH THE MAN IN THE MIRROR...

I'm asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you want to make the world a better place Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

-

A couple of points to make.

1. Loki and identity

According to head writer Michael Waldron, "in a series that, to me, is ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself, it just felt right that that would be Loki's first real love story." 

Loki learning to love himself, reflecting on who he really is as a person, and forgiving his past misdeeds, is the ultimate character growth, something that the TVA was hell-bent on preventing because it did not line up with how they saw Loki to be. Loki seeing himself in his mirror and realizing that he needs to change? Yeah. That's the big thing going on here.

According to Tom Hiddleston, "I don't think Loki's relationship with himself has been very healthy. Trying to accept those aspects of himself, which he's been on the run from, was a way of thinking about that in a really interesting way."

Think about how Loki praised Sylvie for being amazing because she's been running rings around the TVA. Again, it's a metaphor, because Loki has never in his entire life, honestly praised himself and talked about himself in a good and honest way. I will talk about how Sylvie is Loki's mirror and metaphor later, because this is important. It's also the reason why I started this post off with the chorus of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror". It's relevant, okay?

According to director Kate Herron, "The whole show is about identity. It's about him, and he is on a very different path, and he is on a different journey." And it is! It's kind of how the saying goes, when one reaches rock bottom, there's nowhere to go but up, right?

2. "Love is a dagger."

Terrible metaphor it may be, according to Tom Hiddleston of what Loki says to Sylvie in Ep3, "They were having a talk about love and trusting other people, and not being able to either love or trust for whatever reason." The dagger, then, would represent "Loki's experience of love, I suppose. He certainly feels like it's not been something he's been close to. It has been some sort of illusion that he has trusted and been let down by."

(https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-love-is-a-dagger-sylvie)

3. "Love is… uh, something I might have to have another drink to think about."

Interestingly enough, I've had several thoughts on the relationship dynamic between Loki and Sylvie.

Yes, Mobius did describe it as "Two Variants of the same being, especially you, forming this kind of sick, twisted, romantic relationship", but even I'm having opinions that would start to contradict each other.

At first I went around saying that the dynamic between Loki and Sylvie are strictly platonic, and I pointed out that to me, the Nexus Event might've been honesty and truth, because according to the "Sacred Timeline", those are two things that nobody associates with Loki, and the fact that in that short amount of time, Loki realizing that he needs to be honest with himself throws the entirety of TVA into disarray. It's a chance for Loki to be honest with himself and really come to terms with who he is as a person.

Now where does Sylvie fit into all of this?

In my opinion, even from Episode 3, I saw Sylvie as a mirror, Loki's perfect metaphor. Why do I say this? Remember in Ep2 when she told Loki, "If anyone's anyone, you're me"?

I had jokingly thought to myself that Loki was just about to tell Sylvie how he feels about her and himself (because Loki talking about his feelings is rare, as he himself said, “this is new to me”), but then I thought a little deeper and went, “hmm, this doesn’t have to be taken in a romantic way at all, Sylvie is not a love interest (because to me that’s just weird, no offense, unless the circumstances were super different, under which I think it might’ve been okay then and depending on the situation, but not here in these circumstances) it’s just Loki admitting what kind of a person he is, and if he can be better, it’s just Loki figuring himself out.” (I'll talk about why I have conflicting thoughts later.)

Even Tom Hiddleston, in a recent interview with ComicBook.com, had specifically stated about his character: "It will be interesting to see what happened when Loki can't talk his way out of a situation, as is his dominant strategy in most encounters. I am most excited for fans to see what happens to Loki when he has nowhere left to run, when he can't delude himself anymore." That last bit with Sylvie? Yeah, Loki coming to terms with himself, being honest, not being able to delude himself anymore. He had nowhere left to run.

I know I did say that at first I did not see Loki and Sylvie as having any romantic tension between them, but please, hear me out first. 

According to Classical Mythology, PSYCHE is "a personification of the soul", which is exactly what Sylvie is to Loki. It would make the "if anyone's anyone, you're me" comment make way more sense. Remember how I said Sylvie is Loki's mirror? Loki getting this close to talking about his (what I see as non-romantic) feelings about himself, how he sees his own person, talking about himself in an emotional way, really admitting to his mirror that reflects the deepest parts of himself who he really was, and then just STOPPED before he could do so was so heartbreaking.

I had said that he was not gonna tell her he loved her because that’s so messed up (I get that narcissism is loving yourself but Sylvie is NOT Loki, nor is Loki Sylvie, they’re two different individuals), but Loki was just about to reveal his true feelings, his real emotions that he’s been trying to hide from himself all along. Loki can no longer run away (remember this comment from one of the interviews?), from himself, his emotions, there’s nowhere for him to run, it was time to be honest with himself.

Somewhere I made a comment that went like this:

Loki finally finding a connection with someone who is so much like him, yet so much unlike him is rare. ("Sylvie's not Loki. Sylvie is Sylvie" and "while they're the same, they're not the same" - Hiddleston / "She is him, but she's not him." - Herron) In that Loki has always been alone, and everything that he did was a cry for help that he never received, while Sylvie had been alone for so many years she's had to rely on herself to survive.

It makes sense then, that both Loki and Sylvie see themselves in each other ("I see a scheme, and in that scheme I see myself" from Ep2) and acknowledge that they are both lonely survivors who made it through so much, that they had each other for even that short amount of time.

That connection they had, that emotional attachment that they came to share, was not romantic in any way. (I'll get to why I’m conflicted about this, and why I may come to be okay with it, in a bit.) I read somewhere that the Nexus Event was not as Mobius described it, but was that Loki finally knowing that he'll never be alone, that he's honest with himself, which is something that goes against the TVA's dictates. THAT's the Nexus Event!

According to the TVA and Ravonna, Loki can't be caring! He can't change from being a homicidal maniac! He can't change! But we know Loki can. Loki himself knows that he can change. This knowledge and acceptance was enough to cause the damn Nexus Event, because the Timekeepers did not decree it! Even in Ep1, Loki declared that he would not let the TVA dictate how his story ends. It's clear that Loki's story is nt over yet.

Two lonely survivors find each other, so it's not surprising that Loki himself was THIS close to finally admitting the truth about himself, admitting and being honest with himself... until Ravonna pruned him.

Ravonna has always been pro-TVA and anti-Loki, so it's not surprising that earlier when she was speaking to Mobius, he's like, "Loki can change" but she's like "no because the TVA said so", so therefore when she hears that Loki is finally being honest with himself (through almost revealing his feelings to Sylvie), Ravonna cannot take it and obliterates him herself. According to her, which says that according to the TVA, Loki having an honest and real change of heart is the real Nexus Event and as such, must be prevented.

Now, about love, I guess, new to Loki as it may be. 

(Talking points from https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-sylvie-in-love)

Here's where I think I can explain why though I'm not 100% on board with Loki being romantically involved with Sylvie I might warm up to the idea, the possibility of them being kind of a thing. I'm a little divided on it myself, but here goes.

First and foremost, here's something that head writer Michael Waldron says about the possibility of a romance: "That was one of the cruxes of my pitch [for the series], that there was going to be a love story. We went back and forth for a little bit about, like do we really want to have this guy fall in love with another version of himself? Is that too crazy?" Maybe, maybe not.

You see, as you know, Sylvie is a version of Loki, but is not Loki. Mobius describes them as "Two Variants of the same being." Director Kate Herron notes, however, saying of Sylvie about Loki that "she is him, but she's not him. They've had such different life experiences." Tom Hiddleston chimes in with "Sylvie's not Loki. Sylvie is Sylvie. I think he realizes, and she realizes, that while they're the same, they're not the same."

But what about the love story?

Mobius concludes through context clues that Loki is "an incredible seismic narcissist! You fell for yourself!" He taunts Loki, "You like her! Does she like you?"

Here's where it gets interesting. Loki had reassured Sylvie that people like them don't die so easily, they survive. He had praised her for running circles around the TVA, calling her amazing (again, another metaphor, but I think I've covered that), after which she had placed her hand on Loki's arm. Notice his reaction - he looks down at where her hand had made contact with his arm, shifts in a way that suggests his surprise. He's like, 'Is this warmth I'm feeling? I've never felt someone's gentle touch before. I think she cares for me, is that even possible for someone like me?'

He looks up at her, and though his story differs from Sylvie's, he recognizes that though he may have suffered, she had been physically on the run her entire life, whereas Loki had been mentally and metaphorically on the run from himself. We see from the look on his face that though Loki and Sylvie had spent less than 12 hours in each other's presence, he's come to respect her and her courage to do what he could never have. "You're amazing," he says.

Michael Waldron continues, "The look that they share, that moment, [it started as] a blossoming friendship. Then for the first time, they both feel that twinge of, ‘Oh, could this be something more? What is this I'm feeling?’ These are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another. That's a straight-up and down branch, and exactly the sort of thing that would terrify the TVA."

Sylvie's not sure if she's got any sort of feelings for Loki, but she does ask if he's okay after they reach the golden elevators that would take them to the Timekeepers. Anyway, after the time loop punishment on Asgard, during which Lady Sif tells him, "You deserve to be alone and you always will be", Loki realizes that he's scared of being alone. He hopes that there might be someone out there with whom he can connect on a deeper level.

Director Kate Herron points out, "Who's a better match for Loki than himself?" Or Sylvie, for that matter. But because "but she's not him. They've had such different life experiences," it would make so much sense and would totally be in character for Loki to connect with someone he sees himself in, again, metaphorically speaking.

This is the ultimate journey of "self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself", as Waldron puts it, so for Loki to come to terms that he might possibly love Sylvie is a metaphor for accepting himself as he truly is, not what or who he projects himself to be. It's about being kind to himself, because as he reflects on this new feeling about Sylvie, he's also reflecting upon himself and whether or not he can keep running from his emotions, as Tom Hiddleston says. The answer is no, he cannot run any longer from his acknowledgment that he's got feelings for Sylvie than he can run from his own realizations about himself. He forgives Sylvie as a metaphorical way of forgiving himself for his past misdeeds, like admitting that cutting off Sif's hair was not funny at all. It would make sense then, according to Waldron, that "that would be Loki's first real love story." Not a story about a narcissist, but a story of identity and self-acceptance and honesty.

The fact that Loki and Sylvie are two COMPLETELY different people who are so dissimilar except for the fact that they're two lonely survivors, could possibly result in them having a relationship.

Hear me out on why.

You know how Loki had said to Sylvie at the end, "this is new to me"? He means that he has never before known how to express love and care because he's never received any of either. For all of his life, he had been treated badly by all except perhaps his mother, but as in Ep3, he agrees that though he's had courtships before, none of those relationships, none of it included any type of love that felt tangentially real to him. Loki doesn't know what real love is... until Sylvie comes along. She does not make him know what love is, because he comes to terms to his feelings all on his own.

Tom Hiddleston says, "When Loki meets Sylvie, he's inspired solely by curiosity." Herron adds, about the relationship, "It was just about giving it the space to breathe and digging into it in a way that felt earned." And I think that I might come to accept that it is earned, in some way.

Two lonely survivors who quite literally run into each other, who recognize each other for who they really are, who accept each other and themselves, and who can finally be truthful and honest with themselves and each other. It's not always a game of checkers or chess. Sometimes, it's a maze of metaphors and mirrors.

I understand that this relationship between Sylvie and Loki is controversial for some, cute for others. If I hadn't already made myself clear, I was never really against the pairing, just that I was never 100% sure I'd board that train myself. I was initially of the opinion that their dynamic was strictly platonic, but because I'm open to different interpretations, I decided to have a look at why people saw the relationship between Loki and Sylvie as a beautiful one.

The conclusion I came to, is that there definitely is more than one interpretation of Loki and Sylvie's dynamic, and that I'm okay with both. We've got two episodes left, so I'm curious to see how Sylvie and Loki's dynamic plays itself out.

Ultimately, this story is about Loki.

Loki has to start with the man in the mirror. The person he metaphorically sees himself in is Sylvie, his perfect mirror, and he's asking himself to change his ways. No message, no relationship, no reflection, no realization, no feeling could have been any clearer. So, if Loki wants to be a better person, which we know he can and will be, he will take a look at himself in his mirror and make that change.