#or for plot reasons. but women are more fun to draw to me partially *because* theres such an under representation of them

[snekdood]

gonna be very annoyed if ppl insist on tryna turn all 5 of my dude characters into women when the majority of other characters in my comic already identify as women

[clock-work-crow]

I don’t care about DNA

So it's probably a terrible idea to post this, but it keeps taking up space in my brain that could be used to plot the next chapter of my story. Also I’m waiting for roadside assistance to come change the tire on my car. So here we go.

I'm a Sylki shipper, and I don't care at all if they have the same DNA or not. It does not matter to me. It matters to antis because they want to invalidate the ship. For you other Sylki shippers out there, maybe this post will help you also not care what the antis say about Loki and Sylive's DNA, because as soon as you examine the concept to carefully it all becomes absurd.

The first and most important reason I don't care is that a romantic and loving relationship is totally valid even if there are no biological children. It doesn't matter if it's a m/f couple who choose not to have kids or any kind of couple straight or queer that can't have biological children. Children do not validate a relationship.

But okay, for the rest of this post, let's assume that Sylvie and Loki have exactly the same DNA. They still are not siblings. They were not raised together, and they don't have the same biological parents. They are the children of two different men called Laufey, who also happen to have the same DNA.

And I know at first glance that may seem to indicate they are siblings, but here is the thing. If Loki's Laufey and Sylive's Laufey have exactly the same DNA, and that makes two people siblings, it means both Laufey's are also brothers. So now, not only are Loki and Sylvie siblings, but they are also first cousins on both their mother's and father's sides. So without doing anything, Loki and Sylvie are already about as inbred as a person can be, especially because so are their parents and their parent's parents, and everyone else in every timeline.

You can't draw cross-timeline family trees without complete and utter nonsense happening.

So they are not siblings.

Okay, but what if you are a Sylki shipper and you'd like a story where they have children. Welcome to the beautiful world of fanfic. There are two obvious answers, adoption, or a Modern AU, where they are just ordinary people because self-cest is not a thing that exists in the real world.

But what if you still want them to be their MCU selves and have kids? Here's where things get fun. If they have the same DNA, then any child either of them has with a third party is exactly as genetically related to Loki as to Sylvie. So go wild. This is perfect for an OT3, because no one is left out of being related to the child.

Is that not your thing? What about the story where Loki and Sylvie try to convince Tony Stark to be a sperm donor? Or the story about them interviewing women to be a surrogate?

Also, they are gods, so let's talk about mythological stories for a moment. We don't know what it means to be a God in the MCU. In the first Thor movie, there's the implication that the Asgardians just have more advanced technology, and so to humans, it looks like magic, but that's clearly not the case. Thor is the God of Thunder, not the God of Hammers. He doesn't have some sort of device that lets him summon lightning the way Stark uses his lasers/beam weapons. There is something innate to Thor's being that allows him to bring storms. Does that mean he has lightning DNA? No, there's no such thing.

And Loki is a shapeshifter. Does he even really have the same physical form the rest of us do? Our physical bodies are partially the expression of our DNA. So does that mean that Loki's DNA is as mutable as his form? The mythological Loki had a child as a horse, so that Loki must have had horse DNA.

Okay, I said I would assume they have the same DNA for the rest of this, but clearly, that makes no sense when you think of them as Gods and mythological beings.

So let's end on some weird sci-fi stuff that I can't help thinking about. If we pretend (because you know it's all make believe) that they are ordinary biological organisms with DNA they still aren't human. They are Frost Giants, and we don't know anything about Frost Giant biology. Loki says he was "created by a Frost Giant." Not by two. Probably he's just showing the male bias of his culture because a moment later, he credits Odin with being the one to raise him. But maybe not. Maybe he's hinting at something he knows about Frost Giant biology. Possibly they reproduce asexually? Who knows. It's up to the writer to decide.

Also, for those afraid that Loki and Sylvie will accidentally conceive an inbred child, I feel like I have to point out that birth control does exist in the MCU. I feel like Sylvie uses something (probably not the pill, how would you keep track of when to take it while time traveling?) because she couldn't let a baby slow her down as she ran from apocalypse to apocalypse.

But also again, she's a Frost Giant, there's no way they live thousands of years, but about every 28 days, the females become fertile. If they had the same reproductive cycle as humans, Jotenhiem would have been overrun with Frost Giants, and there would have been no elbow room.

Also, fun fact, human females are atypical. Unlike most other animals on earth, we don't let our potential mates know when we are fertile. We don't even know. Some animals go into heat, some animals have very specific mating seasons, just to name a few examples. So maybe Frost Giants know precisely when they are fertile, making it easy to avoid conception. (Bonus fact, menopause is also very rare. We only know about five species that go through it.)

The point is if you want to worry about DNA and sci-fi, then go crazy with it. They are not terrestrial creatures, and so there's no reason to think their reproductive systems are the same as our human ones.

And the thing is, Marvel/Disney is never going to tell us about their DNA. They don't care. The MCU isn't that kind of science fiction. The fact that they allowed them to be a cannon romantic couple makes me believe that the official stance is that they do not have the same DNA. Actually, I suspect the official view is that Marvel/Disney does not care. Regardless Loki and Sylive's genetic makeup is whatever the writer of a given story wants it to be.

And that's the point of this long ridiculous post. It does not matter. If you want to ship Sylki, then do it. Please don't feel bad about it. Don't feel like you have to justify the ship based on weird DNA arguments. Because the more you get into them, the weirder they get. If you don't like the ship, that's fine, but don't moralize about the DNA of imaginary gods from different timelines.

[moriganstrongheart]

On Firefly, Mediocrity and Problematic Media

When I first set to writing this, I intended to write a review of Firefly. I had recently rewatched Firefly and its tie-in, semi-sequel movie Serenity with my fiancée, and I wanted to express my thoughts on it. But I put the original first draft aside after writing two sentences and did not revisit it until months later. By then, I found I was no longer interested in reviewing Firefly, opting to explore issues of underlying misogyny and mediocrity in media instead. I think that Joss Whedon’s work is a good case study for these problems, as he exists simultaneously as a folk hero of sorts when it comes to speculative fiction, and as the harbinger of the now divisive Marvel Cinematic Universe. And Firefly being so beloved by its fans, I think it's worth diving deep into its problems to illustrate my points.

Perhaps the best way to demonstrate Firefly’s problems is in how it appeals to its fans. While I find the character interactions the best aspect of the show, I’m sure that quite a few fans—primarily young, white males—are attracted to the space western setting of the show and all the trappings that come with it. The Verse is filled with guns, alcohol, rape, savages and prostitutes—everything a new frontier needs, or so I expect is the intent. I don’t think these are ever the focus of the show, nor are they something Whedon ever places on a pedestal as ideals to strive for. But they are a part of the worldbuilding, and so were included with intent. There has been a debate for several years among fans of speculative fiction on whether worlds inspired by historical periods or specific cultures should include these so-called “less favourable” aspects of that period or culture, or if the speculative nature of the fiction should allow for their exclusion. I want to make it clear that I am in the second camp; I don’t believe that just because a fantasy world is set in a medieval time period that women shouldn’t be allowed to be knights, or that aliens or people of colour have to necessarily be slaves in a colonial space opera. It is speculative fiction after all, and we are under no obligation to hold ourselves to any supposed cultural or historical accuracy.

This is, of course, ignoring the fact that the cultural and historical accuracies being strived for have flawed origins, having been decided by academics with their own bias, or even maybe their own agenda. I would make further arguments that historical fiction and literature are themselves often coloured by the author’s intent, and so certain aspects are accentuated while others are ignored or downplayed in order to tell a specific story—often to the detriment of minority groups. It’s impossible to divorce bias from one’s work, no matter how objective the work claims to be. This has been proven time and again, evidenced by the revision of textbooks throughout the years.

Regardless, counter arguments to the exclusion of “less favourable” elements are normally that doing so waters down the source material, diminishing its authenticity and, more interestingly, it represents a disagreeable emotional sensitivity on the part of the opposition. This point of view assumes that the opposition is averse to certain perceived realities in the world, and that the narrative they want to ascribe themselves to would be unrealistic and, as such, not entertaining. In reality, all parties are involved in some form of escapism. The outcry for realism is a smokescreen for the desire to keep a specific form of escapism, one which can only be described as a violent, misogynistic power fantasy. The source of this outcry—again, predominantly young white males—sees the inclusion of bigotry and sexual violence as essential to their viewing experience, as they take enjoyment out of them. That isn’t to say that having violence, sexual themes or social inequality don’t have a place in fiction; they just need to have a purpose. Without purpose, they are only there to service the twisted fantasies of the target audience.

For an example that brings us back to Firefly, it never really feels like Irana’s career as a courtesan serves any other purposes than as an excuse for partial nudity, sex scenes and for Malcolm to call her “whore” on the regular. There are times where her position as a high-ranking courtesan opens doors for the Firefly crew, but this is a contrivance of how courtesans work within the Verse, and not a part of the skillset she has accrued to become a courtesan. The only true exception to this—that I can remember—is her role in grooming the magistrate’s son in the episode Jaynestown, which directly affects the primary conflict. Apart from this instance, none of her meaningful contributions to the plot necessitate her being a courtesan. She could have just as easily been someone with social or political clout. However, this wouldn’t have allowed for her to be the ship’s prostitute, there only to drive Malcolm up the wall and have someone he could call “whore” without guilt. As such, it became necessary for Whedon to not only make her a sex worker, but to create an entire system around her which would give her importance to the plot. In essence, he wanted his cake and eat it too. It’s disappointing, as the idea of having a sex worker being an important member of the main cast is interesting enough as a concept to explore. Ideally, this person would be treated with respect by others for their work, and their value should come from them as a person, not from a fabricated social status.

As a side note, I acknowledge that most people in the show respect Inara, but it is because of her fabricated social status and not because of who she is as a person. The only people who respect her for who she is and what she does are women and the one person of colour on the crew.

There are a lot of other small decisions within Firefly that show Whedon’s intent, such as the characterizations of River’s mental illness and Jayne as a character. I can’t help but wonder if Firefly were produced today on HBO or Netflix, if the showrunners would have allowed the inclusion of far more sexual violence and bigotry in hopes of attracting a larger audience. Because while we have collectively become much more cognizant of issues like diversity and the portrayal of women in media, shows with portrayals of sexual violence and bigotry tend to perform better overall. Unfortunately, the vocal minority shouting their preferences on social media only helps to reinforce this trend.

However, I don’t want to make the wrong impression. Sexism, racism, violence and bigotry are not the focus during Firefly’s runtime. In fact, Whedon generally does a good job of representing healthy relationships, strong female characters and positive representation of people of colour. For example, Zoe and Wash’s relationship is very admirable, and Kaylee is perhaps the best character on the show. The problems exist beneath the surface, informing everything from story conflicts to character motivations. Whedon comes off as a guy just wanting to have some fun, someone who is cool and trendy, just rude enough to be interesting, but knowing where to draw the line. Really though, he’s just the best of a bad lot within the entertainment industry. A lot who are, unsurprisingly, white men catering to their younger selves.

As a white man myself, I am constantly checking myself and the works I create to ensure I am providing a compelling story while avoiding trappings indicative of a male power fantasy. Because of the environment I grew up in, it can be easy to rely on tired old tropes instead of thinking of meaningful and interesting things to write. Does that mean that catering to the needs of a diverse audience is too difficult, and as such, is detrimental to the creative process? I don’t believe so, despite what many may believe. If anything, it forces writers to think of novel, more captivating stories that don’t rely on tropes and power fantasies to work. I believe that the reason people have become so weary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and similar works is because they all rely on a power fantasy to function. I myself have grown tired of seeing the same story over and over, and it is only in the last decade that I realized the reason for this is that most people behind the works I consume are—again—white males catering to their younger selves.

This has led me to question if it’s right for me to have my voice heard at all. Would I not just be another straight, white male entering a space already filled with the same? Perhaps, but I don’t think the intent of fostering diversity in media is to exclude white people. In fact, if people like Whedon were the worst in terms of what white males have to offer the entertainment industry, I think we’d be in a better place. The problem is that the majority of the media we consume today is problematic and doesn’t allow for any variance from what’s trending among a young white male audience. All I can do is hope that shows like Firefly can be used as a learning experience for creating more compelling and varied stories. Stories should rely on interesting characters, worlds and the interactions in between them to be entertaining, and not on fulfilling the twisted power fantasy of the audience under the guise of realism.

[bpdanakins]

Name ten favourite characters from ten different things (books, tv, film, etc.) then tag ten people

I was tagged by the dear @gffa who clearly enjoys making these lists and seeing everyone else also struggling with just choosing ten. It’s hard but I shall do my best sdfk <3

1. Lara Croft - Tomb Raider Okay, let’s just get it out: I prefer reboot!Lara. idk I know some people think she sucks and the games suck for whatever reason, but I found the games and their mechanics super fun, and Lara’s story really compelling. She was a young girl who was determined to make her own way in the world, and instead went through something extremely traumatizing. She kept pushing through, kept getting back up no matter what the world threw at her. She went on this clear journey that was compelling and fun and messy. She wasn’t perfect. She pushed people away, she fucked the world up because she was determined to find the answers she felt would make all she went through make sense. Her survivor’s guilt was present really well in RotTR but most especially in SotTR. People were dying but she was so focused on finishing her personal mission. She was numb to it despite the fact it still horrified her. And her arc ended well. She finally was able to reach a place where she was able to let go of her losses and try to join society again. And I’m gay for her. So, you know.

2. Senua - Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice I cannot recommend this game enough. It’s tough to play bc it’s not just a horror game but you feel a lot of Senua’s anxiety, which is part of the point to the game. Senua’s a Celtic warrior who suffers from psychosis, and the game devs worked directly with both professionals and those who experience psychosis. There’s a whole mini doc to it which is great, even if you can’t stomach horror. You’re in Senua’s head with her throughout the game. You see what she sees, you hear all she hears, and she talks to you directly at times. But the beauty of the game is Senua’s true journey. She goes on a quest to try to rescue a loved one she lost to Vikings, but the real story is about a girl realizing she’s not a monster for seeing the world differently. That the abuse and ableism she faced weren’t her fault at all. There’s so many little things I can point to in this game that just made me so emotional, and it’s such a beautiful and necessary story to tell. Senua is great and deserves a hug.

3. Anakin Skywalker - Star Wars If you asked me at what point in my life Anakin became one of my favourite characters, to the point I frequently talked about him even on my main blog at random intervals, I couldn’t tell you. I haven’t the faintest idea; he just was. And if you asked me why he was a fave early on, I also couldn’t tell you lmao. It might partially be that I grew up on the prequels, and maybe at such a young age I didn’t really grasp at first that this was a story about a guy who was already revealed to be a villain, but I haven’t the faintest clue. He just is now, and I’m so passionate about his story. He’s complex and difficult and written so well. You want him to be happy, you feel heartbroken seeing a good character fall so deep, and you want to smack him upside the head a whole lot. You laugh at his silly dialogue (which he has as Vader too smh), you cry when you see him struggling, you become horrified by his actions. His story’s also a great inversion of the Chosen One trope - whereas usually we see Chosen Ones struggle, become imperfect and undoubtedly traumatized, they remain heroes the whole time. Anakin doesn’t. He becomes the bad guy, one of the worst in the series (Palps takes the award tho). But even then, when you think this guy has nothing to offer but an intimidating villain, he’s shown to have good. And then we see how much good he had all along, the good he forgot and was punished for and hated himself for. His heart that had good intentions but he chose the worst actions. He’s complicated and I love him. And more over, I love how many people who struggle or have mental illness can relate to him. I love that he wasn’t treated as a guy whose actions were glorified, but that were honest in both the good ones and the bad ones. Anyone can fall, and anyone can get back up, if they choose to. I just. Love him. He means a lot.

4. Commander Shepard - Mass Effect I know that Shep is technically the player’s character and can be any combination of person, but anyone who’s played Mass Effect would get why they were put here. The original trilogy for Mass Effect touched on so many things, and was a really emotional one. You had your great moments with friends, you had your struggles against both unknown horrors, and horrors close to home (so to speak). There are so many small moments that stick out to you, and idk how many people can say that playing this story didn’t impact their life in a meaningful way, bc I can’t see how it couldn’t. I’ve played the games many times, but even after all of this, there are moments that I not just still get emotional to, but take on new meaning as I go through my life. And Shepard’s the hero of the story. They’re not perfect, and they can downright be an ass if you play them that way, but their story is one of perseverance, of fighting on even when entire worlds are being lost and everyone is still looking to them. Everyone needs them to find a solution. But even then, it’s a story about friendship too. About tons of amazing characters that all have their own motivations, their own pasts and goals and hopes and failures. About how all these varied characters become a found family. And so Shepard’s the hero of the story, but their companions aren’t just there to be sidekicks, but end up with all their own accomplishments and arcs and you go on this journey with all of them. idk the whole series is great dsalkkljads

5. Lexa & Clarke - The 100 Let’s not talk about how terrible this show got and how messy it was because we all know. But it started with a really compelling story that was interesting, and to see two characters on screen who were flawed but understood each other, and to have them both be women - one who was a lesbian and one who was a bisexual?? It made me so excited and it’s a really flawed show but it meant a lot to me at the time to have a couple like that on a tv show, and so despite all its flaws, that relationship still means a lot to me. 

6. The BAU team - Criminal Minds Yeah, I put the entire friggin team down, and that means all of them. There was only maybe two or so characters that were on it I didn’t like so every iteration is put down. Criminal Minds isn’t exactly a complex show; it’s a typical crime drama, and its unique feature is that it looks into the behaviour and minds of criminals instead of finding the science, like we saw with CSI. But the episodes were compelling and entertaining to watch, and, what do you know, there’s a found family at the center of it all and naturally I’m a sucker for it. Strangely enough this show is kind of a comfort one to me, bc it’s entertaining but not always overwhelmingly emotional. I can put it on at any time and just have it on in the background, or when I’m not feeling well, and I’ll enjoy myself. Also strangely enough, I’ve seen almost every episode enough times that there’s a game in my house to see how long it takes for me to recognize the episode and its plot once a rerun is put on lmao. There’s a lot of good shows like this out there - I enjoy SVU a lot too - but something just draws me to the characters on this one. We’ve been with them for, what, 14 seasons?? And we’ve seen them go thru some shit, we’ve seen them grow and change and they’re all really unique. It’s not a complex show but it is good enough to just binge. A part that plays in it is probably the time in my life I started getting into it too, but I’m alright with standing by it.

7. Korra - Avatar: The Legend of Korra I probably don’t need to wax poetic about atla or atlok much at all. I just love her journey, as a brash and overconfident girl who realizes that being the Avatar is hard, the people expect so much and there’s a lot put on your shoulders. That, when things go wrong, people will blame you. She went and became this giant blue monster thing, but her struggles were all human. Her PTSD was shown really well, despite it being a kid’s show. She’s fun and her journey is lovely and it’s definitely true that Korrasami did it way better, and both characters are bi women too (◡‿◡✿) We Do Not Talk About That Dumb Love Triangle Nonsense Though

8. Chloe & Max - Life is Strange What can I even say about this game? I don’t know. If you’ve played it, you’ll know why it’s here. It’s.... way deeper than you’d think it’d get at first. I love the story, and I love the journey Max and Chloe go on together. I love their friendship, how Chloe was always trying to uplift Max and encourage her to follow her dreams, and Max just doing the impossible for Chloe. I love their relationship, because it was built on support and love and struggle. I love their complexities, their flaws, their strengths, their times together. I just fskljdjlksfd love them, I love this game and all its various stories and character arcs. It’s all so beautiful and raw and unique and yay, another pair of ladies loving each other is on this list.

9. Solas - Dragon Age: Inquisition Okay. There’s a TON of characters I adore in Dragon Age, and to be honest, I don’t know he’d be my absolute top one. But I do like his story. I love Dragon Age companions, because, like in Mass Effect, they’re all their own characters with their own stories and journeys. Solas is flawed. Like, really flawed. Here’s another guy on my list who went and fucked up the world a bit. His worst actions (and the consequences of them) were built on good intentions, on his desire to help his people. We can get into the way this direction BW went with the elvhen religion was icky, but it’s a different conversation. I adore elvhen lore and I love exploring theories on it all the time. For Solas, I just like that he’s complex. I mean, he’s still silly and kinda weird, and he loves to hear himself speak on topics and loves Lavellan for encouraging him to never shut up, but most of all I kind of like their relationship? A friendship with Solas is still great, but I like that it’s an asexual one (don’t fight me on this, idc, it’s how I see it). It’s soft, built on mutual respect, one with no pressures or expectations. Solas asks for time and Lavellan gives it. There’s no fade to black s.ex scenes that so many times aren’t optional in BW games. I just really like my asexual wolf god egg ok

10. Mulder & Scully - The X Files Okay, it’s super hard to choose characters for this holy heck. BUT I really, really, really love their relationship. Mulder is an idealist who believes in the supernatural, and Scully his pragmatic scientific counterpart. And we could talk about how Scully’s character as a woman in science meant to a lot of people, and how Mulder’s tenacity to not give up on his beliefs is a nice one (when it’s not getting him into trouble). Their relationship is the slowest of slow burns in television history, I think. But it’s good that way. Scully starts out thinking Mulder’s just a delusional guy, one who’s intelligent but wastes his accomplishments, and he knows that. Then they go through shit, they’re a team and many times it’s them against a whole bunch of unbelievable stuff (and their own government). What I loved most was also their son, and I’m literally deleting all knowledge of the new seasons from my brain bc I think it was gross and took away from the story, but I liked that they were so close, loved each other so much despite there not really being a romance yet, that Scully trusted to go to Mulder to donate to her bc he was the only one she could think of for this. It’s another asexual relationship on screen, and it’s built on a love that happens over time. I just fljksdfkjl could go on about it too.

-

This was hard lmao. I wanna give an honorary shout out to Peggy Carter since she had wonderful lines like: “I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.” Which is *chef’s kiss*. Peggy was the true unsung hero of the MCU and they gave her and Steve a weird ass ending.  

idk who to tag bc I’m not sure who’d be into this, but if you’re willing, I’d love to hear from @sapphicfinalpam, @mariaromanovs, @vinterskald, @zombiefishgirl, @nb-aziraphales, @serkonans and anyone who feels like doing it. Feel free to obvs ignore this, or only make a list without rambles, idk. I am never too sure about who’s into this or not, but if I didn’t tag you and you wanna do it, you can just say I tagged you and I definitely wanna read what you have to say!

[kechiarts]

Warning!! Long post ahead (LOL)

I’ve been meaning to do one of these for a while now. Quite a few friends and followers have asked me ‘what big influences can you think of that have inspired you as an artist/creator?’

A lot of movies, games, books, tv series, artists, and writers have influenced my drawing style and storytelling - some of them more so than others. (As represented by the larger squares in the image)

So here we go!! The numbers for each inspiration were chosen at random, the order doesn’t have any significance lol

1. Cardcaptor Sakura - (and the works of CLAMP in general I suppose because I read them all) Cardcaptor Sakura wasn’t my first manga but it holds a really special place in my heart because it’s lore and depictions of love has influenced my storytelling a LOT. I was obsessed with CLAMP and their art style when I was young to the point I would trace their drawings to learn and emulate their style.  To this day I feel like it left a big impact on my art style especially.

2. Cyborg 009 - When I was a kid my parents told me and my brother that we couldn’t afford cable TV and reduced our service to the news channels and public broadcasting.  We didn’t have cable TV for several years and when we finally got it back when I was 12, one of the FIRST TV programs I saw was Cyborg 009. I was just beginning to understand what anime was, since the only anime I’d seen was before our cable got cut, and I was so young I didn’t know it WAS anime. I immediately fell in love with Cyborg 009. I  loved the characters, the story, everything - and I still do! It was the beginning of my exploration of the anime genre as a whole haha

3. ‘The Twelve Kingdoms’ book series  - Around the same time I started watching Cyborg 009, I began getting into manga. While browsing the section in the bookstore one day I came across the first novel in The Twelve Kingdoms series. I was surprised to find a novel in the manga section and decided to browse through it. I couldn’t put it down! The rich world building and storytelling pulled me in and left me wanting more. I devoured the entire book series and the way the world was brought to life really stuck with me and influenced my own world building.

4. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - my very first Final Fantasy game, and it was a spinoff title to boot! I was drawn in by the dark, melancholic world and cute graphics. I played this game a lot with my friends and even though multiplayer was a nightmare to set up, we had so much fun. I wasn’t able to beat it until I was 16, and the story left me in tears. The Crystal Chronicles games as  whole have left a HUGE impact on me, but the first one especially so.

5. Sonic the Hedgehog - My first game ever! My brother and I first played Sonic the Hedgehog 2 when we were around 3 or 4 years old. We were hooked on our parent’s Sega Genesis system and Sonic was our favorite! When we’d get home from school we’d fight over who got to play first in single player, eventually we settled on a system, My brother would play sonic, and since Tails couldn’t die even if he ran out of rings, I would fight all the boss battles as Tails while my brother tried to keep Sonic out of the way. Using this system we made it all the way up to Metal Sonic but could never beat him. We’d have 99 lives too because we knew ALL the secrets of the game LOL. I’ve played most of the Sonic titles since then, including my favorite, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.  

6. Sailor Moon - my ‘first’ anime. I was very young when I first saw this anime. I didn’t even know what anime was! But the portrayal of girl power and how strong all the female characters were really stuck out to me, raised as I was in a women-are-inferior-and-should-serve-their-husbands religious household. Sailor Jupiter was my favorite because she was a tomboy and wore ponytails just like me haha

7. Fullmetal Alchemist - I think I’ve touched on this before, but I have had really weak bones since I was a little kid. In middle school I was constantly on and off of crutches or in and out of wheelchairs with broken bones and such. (I blame being a huge clutz) It got to the point my classmates started calling me ‘calamity Jane’ and making fun of me. To that dorky middle school girl with crutches and leg braces, Edward Elric was my HERO. Disability representation matters folks! It certainly helped me through a rough time in my life.

8. The works of Studio Ghibli - My first Ghibli movie was My Neighbor Totoro, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I actually managed to get my mom into them too, so now we can have mother/daughter quality bonding time over new Ghibli movies when they come out. It gives us a lot of fond memories together and I enjoy those times I get to spend with her. Mom and I may not see eye to eye all the time, but I truly treasure the memories I have of watching Ghibli films with her.

9. Odin Sphere - This one is more recent, and one I blame @heebiejeebiejade for. I love everything about it. The story, the art, the characters!   It tore my heart out and the writing is just superb I love it so much. and the ART my god it’s so beautiful.

10. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles the Crystal Bearers - I decided I needed to make this one separate from the earlier Crystal Chronicles section. Mostly because this game HEAVILY influenced and changed my life. Not only is it my favorite game ever, it brought me to many of my current friendships! If not for this game I never would have met @heebiejeebiejade @killerkitty4 @indestructiblemoog @shadyfolk @ninjamonkeystudios and SOOOOO many others. These friendships mean a great deal to me. They’ve changed and shaped who I am today and I’m truly grateful for them, and they never would have been possible without Crystal Bearers.

11. Dragonball - Another one of those I never knew it was Anime cartoons I watched as a young child. I loved Dragonball and later Dragonball Z. The characters, the storytelling, the fight scenes, I loved it all because it was so different from what I was used to seeing in American cartoons. My brother and I would have Super Saiyan battles in our backyard throwing Kamehamehas at each other and laughing and generally annoying our neighbors XD

12. Over the Garden Wall - Another more recent influence. Over the Garden Wall was one of the first new cartoons that grabbed my attention due to it’s great pacing and creepy Americana storytelling. Mysteries, ghosts, the afterlife, purgatory, this show dealt with a lot of creepy things while simultaneously making it funny and endearing. I rewatch it often and it’s one of my favorites.

13. Legend of Mana and the Seiken Densetsu Series - Again, I blame @heebiejeebiejade entirely for this. She sent me a huge box with every game in the Seiken Densetsu series in it along with the guidebooks saying “you HAVE to play these.” I knew she liked them so I gave them a try and YEP as per usual with anything Jade introduces me to, they COMPLETELY DESTROYED ME. Love, sacrifice, life, death, and rebirth, are a huge part of these title’s storytelling and they drew me in completely. Legend of Mana and Dawn of Mana especially. Their world building and plot devices may or may not have heavily influence my own XD

14. The ‘Stravaganza’ book series - The first time I picked up a Stravaganza book title was when I was twelve and found this really shiny book in a used bookstore for $3. It featured a picture of Venice, and a pair of violet eyes staring at you from behind a shiny silver mask on the cover. I’m not sure why It spoke to me, it just did. I bought it and finished it within a day. That book was titled City of Masks and I loved it a lot! And then I found out there were more! An entire series! The books featured time travel and dimensional travel, espionage and intrigue! I read and devoured them all and to this day I hold out hope for a final volume to finish the series.

15. Avatar: the Last Airbender - At age 12 I dismissed Avatar as a kid show originally. I scoffed at it and laughed at my little brother for being so into it. Then I saw the first episode. And it was then that I knew what a mistake I had made. I know a LOT of people love Avatar, and for good reason! I don’t have to go super in-depth here because I’m sure most of you already know how great it is. It’s definitely influenced both my art style and my storytelling.

16. Hikaru no Go - This one’s special. When I was in high school I was bullied a LOT. Like, people writing DIE YOU WHORE in my textbooks and putting thumb tacks in my gym shoes kind of bullying. They’d touch me and then pretended that they’d die of the plague. That if anyone had a crush on me they were worse than trash. The kind of bullying that made me a bit suicidal in my teen years. Lucky for me my mother had bought me a copy of Monthly Shonen Jump in early 2005, She knew that I liked manga and thought it would be the perfect magazine gift for me for valentine’s day. Boy was she right and one of the manga featured in it was Hikaru no Go. I loved the art style, and the storytelling. I was instantly captivated by the characters and I wanted to know what happened next. I soon subscribed to SJ monthly and eagerly awaited the next installment each month. What this meant was that whenever I was feeling like I wanted to end it all, I’d remember that I didn't’ know what happened next and would wait. I honestly believe that Hikaru no Go is at least partially responsible for me making it out of high school alive, and I treasure it to this day. (Also I’m on anti-depressants now so don’t worry about me y’all okay? XD) There was another manga like this, but I'mnot sure how to feel about that one anymore :(

17. Magic Knight Rayearth - I know I’ve already listed CLAMP as a heavy influence on me, but I felt Magic Knight Rayearth deserved it’s own place because it was my first manga ever! I’d seen the commercial for the anime on one of my old DVDs way back when, and I was already intereseted in it when I happened to find the manga in a bookstore! I bought it and reread the first volume a dozen times before I even found the second ahaha. I must have read the complete set a hundred times now and let me tell you the twist ending of the first part kills me every time! The first of my manga obsession ahaha

18. Tales of the Abyss and The ‘Tales of’ game series - Tales of the Abyss was my first (and still my favorite) Tales game, and since then I’ve played almost all of them! They definitely influenced my character designs, most of my friends comment on how Tales-like my costumes are ahaha

19. The 'Riyria’ book series - The most recent novel series I’ve read. It’s got everything I’d ever want to see in a novel, it’s so great and the story is so deep and intriguing! I recommend everyone to read it, it’s a MUST READ for sure!

20. Journey - The first time I played this game I cried for three hours. I felt like I’d just had a religious and spiritual experience far beyond what I’d ever experienced in a video game before. It was just something so… beyond me. I recommend everyone to play this game at least once in their lifetime. I can’t really form the words to express what it means to me. It’s just something you’d have to experience for yourself.

21. Ico: Castle in the Mist and Shadow of the Colossus - Another famous one lol a LOT of people love these games but In particular I want to bring attention to the Ico novelization, Ico: Castle in the Mist. I really enjoyed the novel and it’s worldbuilding. The games will always be special to me, but that novel man. That novel.

22. Yu Yu Hakusho - One of my guilty favorites! I first saw Yu Yu Hakusho when I was 16 and I’ve loved it ever since! I’ve always been fascinated with spirits and the occult, but I definitely had to hide this one from my religious parents.

23. Black Cat - Honestly this one surprises me. I love those secret identity and hidden horrible past animes and this one definitely fits that bill. I think this one established my favorite tropes in my life more than anything else.

24. A Bride’s Story - Two words. THE ART. MY GOD THE ART. This manga, in addtion to being a really great read, has some of the most detailed artwork I’ve ever seen. It’s influenced me greatly and I encourage everyone to read it.

25. Bravely Default - Bravely Default definitely influenced my story building and characters, it was one of the first 3DS games that really captivated me and drew me into its world!

26. Yu-Gi-Oh!! - Another series I had to hide from my parents ahah This anime was something I really loved in my childhood. Again, I really love ghosts and spirits and things like that so this anime was probably what started it all!

27. Fire Emblem Awakening and the Fire Emblem Series - Awakening was my first Fire Emblem game (Cue whining from the FE purists LOL) but since then I’ve played them all! (Including the JP only ones don’t start with me haters ahahahaha) The storytelling and bonds between the characters really resonated with me and it’s become one of my favorite game series!

28. The ‘Legend of Zelda’ game series - The repeating themes of good vs evil throughout the Legend of Zelda games really struck a chord with me, especially when I was young. Twilight Princess and Wind Waker especially influenced me. “A Sword has no strength unless the hand that wields it has courage.” Is something that has suck with me for a long time, and something that encourages me and helps me get through my everyday life.

29. The Final Fantasy Series - Final Fantasy has had a HUGE impact on my life. I already gave Crystal Chronicles it’s due, now it’s the numbered titles turn! Final Fantasy has influenced my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined ten years ago even! I’ve played them all (Except 11, curse having no internet as a teenager!) and they’ve definitely shaped my lore and world building skills!

30. Naruto - Okay I’ll admit it! I was Naruto weeboo trash in highschool!!! Oh woe is me!! Just kidding! I honestly still love Naruto, and it’s something that really stuck with me for a long time, since it’s one of the first anime I saw (after learning what anime was ahaha)

31. Gravity Falls - How can I put this… Hmmmm. Gravity Falls has heavily influenced my character building. I love it’s characters. Don’t get me wrong I love the story too! But the characters are honestly what kept me coming back for more! Not to mention that epic foreshadowing in season one. Yep.

32. Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning - Another one of my favorite manga in Highschool that oddly helped me through my depression. The main character’s struggles sort of resonated with me and helped my healing process in my late teens and early twenties.

33. Final Fantasy XII - Okay WORLDBUILDING. Let’s talk about worldbuilding because MY GOD has Final Fantasy XII have it. I love the Ivalice games in general, but the amount of effort put into 12 having a world that feels like it’s alive is astounding to be honest. The world truly feels like it’s alive, and it drew me in for over 400 hours of gameplay on Playstation 2. To this day it’s the game I have logged the most hours into.

34. Radiant Historia - What drew me in here was TIME TRAVEL and STORY AND WORLDBUILDING. This game is a hidden gem in the Nintendo DS’s extensive library. It doesn’t have the best graphics or even the best gameplay mechanics, but it didn’t matter to me because the story kept me coming back for more! By far one of my favorite games ever. (Pssst go play it, it got a remake for 3DS)

35. Final Fanasy XIV - This one is a favorite, not just because of it’s story and world building - both of which are excellent btw - but because of the connections I’ve made through it. I have made so many friends online through this game, friends that make me feel better about myself as a person, and who’ve stuck with me through the hard times along with the good.

36. Mushishi - We’ve established that I love ghosts and spirits and things, but this series made me love connecting it with nature, something that has heavily influenced my writing and my own webcomic!

37. Voltron - Mostly the first two seasons. Beast King Golion was one of my first super sentai anime as a child, and I loved seeing it remade! It was like getting to revisit my childhood

38. Gundam SEED and the Gundam Series - Okay Gundam has influenced me throughout my life, starting with Gundam Wing when I was six years old, and continuing on to this day. The one I’ve watched the most times though, is Gundam SEED, and it’s influenced my characters and storytelling a lot!

Wow, congrats to whoever manged to read this far. You’re really determined I’ll give you that! Thanks for reading!

[aion-rsa]

Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Many Influences of Indiana Jones

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When Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981, it was like a jolt of lightning from out of the past. As with George Lucas’ Star Wars before it, here was a throwback to many of the cinematic touchstones high and low that Baby Boomers grew up with: Saturday morning serials, prestige Oscar winners from yesteryear, and even boys’ pulp magazines were sifted through, borrowed from, and recontextualized into one of the most thrilling action-adventure movies anyone had ever seen. Somehow Lucas, who was a producer on the project, director Steven Spielberg, and the whole Indiana Jones team were able to craft a movie simultaneously retro and new.

Of course the younger generations who were swept up in Indy’s adventures may not have noticed any of this. They were here to see Indy outrun a boulder. And as the years have passed, Raiders of the Lost Ark and the whole Indiana Jones trilogy has become its own influential touchstone, passed from one era to the next. But for that very reason, it’s fun to revisit where this now seminal classic in its own right came from 40 years later, and how it’s kept Hollywood traditions alive well into the next century.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

The first of several Michael Curtiz movies that will appear on the list, The Adventures of Robin Hood offers subtle influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark. And you can see it clearly in the scenes set at Marion Ravenwood’s bar in Nepal. First Indy enters the establishment by casting a large, heroic shadow on the wall; the sequence then relies on yet more shadows as the Nazis follow suit, projecting a looming darkness across the room; finally the scene ends with Indiana Jones shooting one of those baddies, and audiences only see the Nazi’s shadow die.

This is all inspired by Curtiz’s famous use of shadowed silhouettes during the climactic sword fight between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in the best Robin Hood movie.

Busby Berkeley Musicals

The musical sequence that opens Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is centered around the song “Anything Goes,” which was written for Cole Porter’s 1934 stage musical of the same name. It was adapted into a 1936 Paramount Pictures spectacle starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman, however the way Spielberg stages the Temple of Doom sequence has more in keeping with 1930s musicals choreographed and/or directed by Busby Berkeley at Warner Bros.

As the filmmaker who pioneered the imagery of dozens of dancers and showgirls forming elaborate geometric patterns and kaleidoscopic shapes, Berkeley relied on complex overhead shots filmed from cranes. Eventually such elaborate staging fell out of favor in lieu of singular song and dance pairings like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers later in the decade, but in his time Berkeley was responsible for famed dance sequences in 42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935), Footlight Parade (1933), and Stage Struck (1936). Spielberg obviously wanted to pay homage.

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard play with horses at the Encino ranch in 1939.

Carole Lombard

Less a direct cinematic influence than a source for characterization, Carole Lombard’s on and off-screen image as a tough-as-nails glamour girl was written into Marion Ravenwood. The character was of course eventually played with her own spark by Karen Allen, but Spielberg and company originally looked toward screwball comedy star Lombard for inspiration during the writing and casting stage. Spielberg even said about Allen that “Karen was the clear favorite because she had spunk and was a firebrand, and she reminded me of ‘30s women. She had that Irene Dunne and Carole Lombard [energy]. She seemed perfect for the part.”

Lombard is a particularly interesting comparison because the ‘30s and ‘40s actor got her start in Hollywood as a starlet who appeared in drawing room dramas, but then carved her path to stardom by playing fast-talking women in Ernst Lubitsch and Howard Hawks comedies, with the latter urging her to carry her own off-screen persona into her characters. Athletic, foul-mouthed, and able to keep up in terms of drink with the men in her life, she brought as much of that into her comedies as censors would allow. Also, perhaps coincidentally, her tragic death in a plane crash drove her husband Clark Gable into World War II with an alleged death wish, which somewhat mirrors a plot point in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Casablanca (1942)

As yet another Michael Curtiz film, the impact of Casablanca is all over the Indiana Jones movies. A sweeping love story and terrific World War II melodrama filmed during the actual war, Casablanca is generally considered the best movie produced under normal circumstances during Hollywood’s Golden Age. It’s thus an easy touchstone for Spielberg, who emulates many ideas from the picture.

Likely the most noticeable is how both movies communicate international travel while filming on a backlot. Casablanca is not the first movie to show a map onscreen and then draw a moving line across it, which is then juxtaposed alongside international stock footage, but it’s the most famous movie to do so. You can see Casablanca’s influence every time Indy got on a plane, boat, or submarine.

Additionally, much of the relationship between Indy and Marion feels partially inspired by the wounded romance in Casablanca. While, as indicated above, there is not necessarily a lot of Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa in Marion, Ilsa’s embittered bad blood with Rick (Humphrey Bogart) after a failed relationship is an obvious influence on Indy and Marion. Indeed, Allen’s first line to Ford in Raiders is “Indiana Jones, I always knew you’d come walking back through my door.” It seems a blatant riff on Rick saying, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

Gunga Din (1939)

The plot and much of the imagery in Temple of Doom is lifted nearly top to bottom from George Stevens’ Gunga Din, including many of the elements now cited as problematic in both pictures. In Gunga Din, audiences follow Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Victor McLaglen as a trio of British officers in 19th century British India. Over the course of the film, Grant’s Sgt. Cutter and his Indian sidekick Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe) discover a secret Thuggee cult, even though the religious order was thought to be extinct. Worse for the colonial powers, the Thuggee intend to expel British rule by following a fanatical, human sacrificing leader (Eduardo Ciannelli) to war.

Read more

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Raiders of the Lost Ark Has the Greatest Exposition Scene in Movie History

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Almost all of the second Indy movie’s story about a hidden temple with an Indian cult leader who tortures white heroes comes from Gunga Din, as do several set-pieces and gags. Like Temple of Doom, Grant and Jaffee’s characters struggle with an elephant transporting them through the countryside, and much of the third act pivots around a rope bridge in which Thuggee followers are trapped as the ropes are broken, leaving the fanatics flal to their deaths.

It should be noted Thuggee gangs, which were said to practice ritualistic murder as a part of highway robberies, did probably exist in 17th and 18th century India, although they did not scheme for world domination, nor did they rip hearts from victims’ bodies. Some modern Indian scholars have argued their alleged religious practices were exaggerated or invented by the British authorities who used propaganda while stamping out 18th century gangs.

James Bond Movies

It’s no secret that 007 was a major influence on Indiana Jones. Spielberg originally wanted to make a James Bond movie in the 1970s. After Eon Productions turned him down—so as not to relinquish creative control to the new popular director of Jaws—Lucas pitched his buddy on the concept of what became Indiana Jones.

Elements of Bond still found their way into the Indy movies. Each film is a standalone adventure, and at least three out of four of them follow a rhythmic pattern where after an opening sequence shows the tail-end of Dr. Jones’ previous adventure, we return to his day-to-day life back home. Authority figures then arrive to assign his next quest. Also during all three of the original Indiana Jones movies, Indy had a new love interest from the start.

The influence is so blatant for Spielberg that he came up with the idea of introducing Indiana Jones’ father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade… and having him played by Spielberg’s favorite 007, Sean Connery.

King Solomon’s Mines (1950)

Indiana Jones is unquestionably influenced by Alan Quartermain. Whether intentional or not, most fedora-wearing adventurers and great white hunters of western fiction derive from this 1885 literary creation by author Henry Rider Haggard. So the question, then, is which version of Quartermain most directly influenced Spielberg and Lucas? While perhaps the 1937 movie adaptation produced by the Rank Organization (more on them below) was on Lucas’ mind given his nod to the company in Temple of Doom, the most famous iteration of Quartermain’s adventure in King Solomon’s Mines for Baby Boomers comes from a 1950 MGM movie released during Lucas and Spielberg’s youth.

That picture starred Stewart Granger as Quartermain, a white hunter living in what would become South Africa during the 19th century. There his services are requested by an English noble to retrieve his missing brother from the mysterious African interior and to find the legendary mines belonging to biblical figure King Solomon (sound familiar?). The 1950 film made plenty of changes, such as adding a female love interest for Quartermain and reducing the prominence of any black African characters in the already racist Victorian novel to even more primitive stereotypes. It also hasn’t aged particularly well. But it’s probably the closest to a “definitive” cinematic variation on the first adventure novel which created the concept of a “lost civilization” with connections to the Bible, a theme which Indiana Jones would return to time and again.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

As the beloved epic from most older Baby Boomers’ childhoods, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia is a gargantuan spectacle unlike any other. Filmed in breathtaking 70mm and in the actual deserts traversed by T.E. Lawrence, its visuals are still astonishing 60 years later. Particularly since they really went to those places.

Spielberg attempts to homage that mythical quality repeatedly in the Indiana Jones movies. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy standing tall in the low light of a sunset as workers excavate the Well of Souls visibly emulates the majesty of Peter O’Toole’s Lawrence standing atop a train as men cheer his backlit silhouette. More directly, the final image of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a pure reversal of the most magnificent sunrise you’ve ever seen. In Lawrence of Arabia, Lean captures the sun slowly unfurling over Arabia’s dunes before Lawrence and a companion travel across the sand. In Last Crusade, Indy and multiple companions ride directly into a sunset, which recreates the famous Lawrence of Arabia shot.

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Arguably the first film noir ever made, The Maltese Falcon made Bogie a star and John Huston an A-list director. It also is a smaller influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Maltese Falcon begins as a murder mystery before giving way to a larger plot in which a sordid collection of gangsters and criminals fight over a MacGuffin called the Maltese Falcon. Alleged to be an ancient, bejeweled prize from antiquity hidden beneath a common-looking facade, men kill and die for it as it’s passed back and forth, a la the Ark of the Covenant.

At the end of the movie, it’s revealed the Maltese Falcon is actually a fake—a forgery made from graphite. While the MacGuffins are a lot more powerful in the Indiana Jones movies, the idea of a magnificent ancient prize driving men mad carries over from The Maltese Falcon, and both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade riff on the reversal, with the Nazis initially finding only dust in the opened ark in Raiders, and the villain of Last Crusade being fooled into thinking the Holy Grail would be made of gold and covered in jewels.

Plus, Peter Lorre’s slimy and giggling depiction of the character Joel Cairo in this movie (as well as several others) appears to be an inspiration for the Nazi played by Ronald Lacey in Raiders.

The Man With No Name Trilogy

Sergio Leone’s seminal Spaghetti Western trilogy—which includes A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)—were a significant inspiration for Spielberg when he first imagined Indiana Jones’ personality. While there’s more than a hint of Humphrey Bogart to how Harrison Ford plays Indy, there’s also a darker menace, particularly in his first outing. During Spielberg, Lucas, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan’s famed story conference for Raiders, the transcripts of which have been saved for posterity, Spielberg name drops a lot of influences for Indy’s personality, including Toshirô Mifune, who starred in multiple Japanese movies directed by Akira Kurosawa. He also mentions Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name.

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In truth, the Man with No Name is directly inspired by Mifune’s samurai in Yojimbo (1961), but we felt the final allusions in Raiders more overtly leaned toward Leone’s Westernized interpretation of the desperado. You can see it in the first scene when we’re introduced to Indiana Jones through a series of rapidly edited together close-ups of an enemy drawing a pistol, Indy’s whip (as opposed to his own revolver), and finally an extreme close-up of Indy’s eyes, shaded beneath a fedora, as he steps into frame while disarming a foe. It’s Spielberg’s version of countless Leone shootouts starring Eastwood. To further accentuate the influence, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is filmed in the same Spanish desert as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly when Indy and his father travel to a fictional Middle Eastern country on their quest.

The Rank Organization Logo

A small nod occurs at the top of Temple of Doom when the Paramount Pictures logo turns into an engraving of a mountain on a Chinese gong that is soon rang in. This is an overt homage to the opening title card of movies produced by the British film studio the Rank Organization, which began with a man also hitting a gong. The studio produced early Hitchcock classics like The Lady Vanishes (1938) and seminal ballet ghost story, The Red Shoes (1948). We imagine Lucas and Spielberg were winking at some of Rank’s pulpier material though, like the first adaptation of King Solomon’s Mines (1937).

Republic During the 1930s-1950s

Admittedly, I’m no expert on the weekly serials that ran in movie houses each Saturday morning during the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. However, George Lucas clearly is since they visibly informed Star Wars as much as Indy, what with interstellar adventures like Commander Cody. On the other side of the paradigm there were a cornucopia of mid-20th century Republic serials about adventurers and masked superheroes fighting Nazis that clearly made an impact. One that seems like a specifically heavy influence is Secret Service in Darkest Africa, a Republic serial from 1943 which despite its title is set in a largely lily-white Casablanca (original, ain’t it?).

Over the course of its week-to-week adventures, American secret agent Rex Bennett (Rod Cameron) infiltrates the Third Reich by posing as a Nazi officer in the SS. However, his cover is blown when he goes to Africa to beat the Nazis from discovering an ancient Muslim Tomb which is said to have a scroll that will tell “the Muslims” how to fight in World War II (yep). With incidents like Rex out-swimming German boats to impersonating German personnel, it all has an air of Indy.

Another serial with special consideration is Republic’s Zorro’s Fighting Legion (1939). One of the more popular serials from the FDR years, this classic more than any film I’ve seen likely inspired Lucas for emphasizing Indy’s bullwhip. As with the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Zorro uses his whip to disarm foes, swing out windows, and even escape an avalanche. But the stunt that most clearly inspired Indy is a scene where Zorro falls between the horses and under the wheels of a stagecoach, hanging by his trusty fingers. He then catches the back of the carriage and climbs on top to reach the driver’s seat. It’s spectacular, as seen in the above clip, and more or less taken whole cloth for the same stunt from Raiders.

Secret of the Incas (1954)

I’m not sure if Lucas ever publicly spoke about Secret of the Incas, but this Paramount Pictures pulp had a heavy, heavy influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark. Like the Indiana Jones movies, the filmmakers behind it were clearly big fans of The Treasure of Sierra Madre (more below). Also like Indy, they took it in a decidedly more Saturday morning direction. A young Charlton Heston stars in this movie as Harry Steele, a fedora-wearing, leather jacket sporting, adventurer who is after fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory. When Harry gets wind that some dastardly archeologists are on a dig down in Peru, having discovered a lost ancient kingdom, Harry gets the bright idea of sneaking onto their dig site and stealing a golden sunburst right out from under them.

Sounds familiar, eh? It’s nowhere near as exciting as Indy, but the basic framework about a gold-seeking cad in a fedora fighting rivals over a buried, priceless MacGuffin is all from here, complete with a love interest who is wooed by Harry’s rival.

Ursula Andress in She (1965), Hammer Studios’ campy adaptation.

She (1887)

This 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard is considered one of the first and most influential adventure yarns ever written. It’s also an incredibly racist work authored by a Victorian Englishman who spent seven years living in South Africa, making it a prime example of what’s now dubbed “imperialist literature.” Nonetheless, it influenced many other authors, including Rudyard Kipling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Graham Greene, and others who’s work, in turn, influenced Indiana Jones.

She is worth separating from Haggard’s other most popular novel, King Solomon’s Mines, because unlike that story, there was never really a definitive film adaptation of this book. However, Merian C. Cooper of King Kong fame (also an adherent to Haggard’s adventure stories) attempted an Art Deco interpretation of the text in 1935.

In the original story, readers follow the adventures of Horace Holly, the ward of explorer Leo Vincey. Together they discover a lost city in the African interior in which primitive natives worship an immortal white woman whom they refer to as “She Who Must Be Obeyed.” In fact, she is so beautiful that any man becomes her slave after one look into her eyes. Curiously, the Indiana Jones movie which most emulates this is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in which a lost “kingdom” hidden in the Amazonian jungle is protected by primitive natives who worship, if not a white woman goddess, then crystal skulls and the godlike alien beings they belong to. Also if you look into those crystal skulls’ eyes for too long…

The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)

Reportedly Huston’s favorite collaboration with Bogie, The Treasure of Sierra Madre is the most influential work on Indiana Jones’ appearance and devil-may-care attitude. This post-war picture stars Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs, a fedora-wearing, hard-drinking, malcontent who becomes obsessed with finding buried treasure. Also prone to wearing a nice weathered leather jacket, Dobbs is a nastier piece of work than Indy. When we meet Dobbs, he’s a drunk with a violent temper. After he and business partners discover gold up on the Sierra Madre mountain, he becomes consumed by greed and ultimately attempts to murder his only friend. He also challenges bandits to a shootout to protect his prize, which eventually results in his death.

Indy never goes so far—which may be why he doesn’t end up getting macheted. But Ford’s visage, as well as the world weary grumpiness he reserves for Belloq or his father, is taken straight from life up on the Sierra Madre.

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Cerebus #1

This is the Biweekly version of Cerebus because I do not have access to what you humans call "money."

When I first encountered Cerebus, I must have been twelve or thirteen years old. It was probably 1984, possibly 1985. I had just purchased the Elfquest Role Playing Game and my mom was driving us home as I eagerly dove into it. I had only been reading Elfquest via the collected color editions even though a kid in my 6th grade class had mentioned to me that the series came out in black and white issues every few months. I probably didn't really believe him at the time because I rarely believed anything anybody told me if I didn't already know it. How I learned anything at all, I'll never know. Unless maybe I haven't learned anything? Anyway, as I perused the gaming book, I noticed a picture of Rayek speaking with Ekuar. What the hell? Rayek was dead, wasn't he?! What is this? Suddenly there were pictures of other elves I didn't recognize, elves in furs riding elk. "Oh my God! Those are the elves at the end of Elfquest Book Three!" I somehow didn't say out loud, completely boring my mother with my passion for all things elves. I was seeing spoilers! I shut the book, turned to my mother, and said, "We have to go to a comic book shop!" I don't remember if I already knew about Brian's Books on Calabazas Boulevard or if we looked it up in a phone book. I feel like we immediately went there because we were on El Camino already. Just trust me about the geography; it all works out! I could go into deeper details but I'm no Alan Moore or James Joyce. I'm not going to write a book that describes my hometown so well that any casual reader could suddenly find their way around the place. Brian's Books was my first real comic book shop. I had been reading other comic books picked up, half bent over, from the racks at the local 7-Eleven. But learning about Brian's Books changed that. Never again would I own a creased comic book! I went there to pick up the single issues of Elfquest that Dan assured me existed. One full shelf at Brian's Books was dedicated to Elfquest. He had copies (mostly reprints, probably) of many of the nearly twenty issues (I don't think the entire story had been completed at the time. But it was close!). Directly across the aisle from the Elfquest books was a number of shelves full of a comic book with a funny looking aardvark wearing a helmet and wielding a sword. I was instantly intrigued. But I never picked it up. At the time, I had a weird thing about adults knowing I was reading things that were kind of adult. I guess I was embarrassed for some reason. Maybe I thought I'd get teased. It was like that with Piers Anthony's Incarnation of Immortality series. I felt odd picking that up, as if I were trying to get away with being cheeky or naughty. Cerebus looked adult in that way that would embarrass me if my mom saw me buying it. So I didn't pick it up. Also, it was well into its 60th, 70th, or 80th issue (I don't remember exactly but it was pretty high up there already. I suppose it was being published for about 8 years by then with a year or two of those being bimonthly? So maybe around 80 or 90?). To me, all comic books were one continuous story. It was inconceivable to begin reading that far into the story. Not that I would have tried anyway; did you see that cover with that buxom woman in the chain mail bikini?! My mom would definitely ask me embarrassing questions! Several years later, at a different comic book shop in Saratoga (possibly one of the ones I was picking up Magic the Gathering cards at), I saw Swords of Cerebus. It was Cerebus but collected in one book and starting at the beginning! And I had stopped caring what mother thought about what I was reading! I believe I purchased the first three Swords of Cerebus collections and fell in love with it. It was hilarious and fun and it was spoofing Conan, books which I had been reading without fear of embarrassment for years. Probably because the covers had skeletons and fighting on the cover and not Conan ravishing topless women. Begin Digression: I got into He-Man and the Masters of the Universe because I saw a Skeletor figure in the toy department at Mervyn's with my grandmother. It reminded me of the cover of one of the Conan books I'd been reading at the time.

I wanted to say it was Conan of Cimmeria but then I looked it up online and discovered this was the cover of the version I read. Not the one that reminded me of Skeletor!

It's possible Skeletor just reminded me of a scene in Conan of Cimmeria with a skeleton on a throne that maybe he had to battle. Or it was just another of the books. Anyway, I begged her to buy Skeletor for me and she did and I played with just Skeletor for I don't know how long. This was before the cartoon even existed. Believe it or not, the figures did come first! End Digression. Not long after I purchased those Cerebus books, I discovered the huge Cerebus phone books. I don't know exactly when Dave Sim began publishing those but I believe a few were already available when I discovered them. I just happened to stumble upon his initial try at compiling his stories (Swords of Cerebus) first. At that point, it was over. I bought all that I could find and finally began reading the Cerebus monthly issues. It was some point during the "Mothers & Daughters" saga. If I had begun at "Melmoth," I'm not sure I would have continued with it! But will get to that eventually! For now, let's remember how the whole thing began.

One dollar. Can you believe it?!

This is Cerebus before he loses his helmet, his necklace, and 2/3 of his nose. You know how people sometimes have some major body changes or their heads kind of reshape as they age? I figure this is late teenage Cerebus who matures across the next twenty or so issues until he finally assumes his adult form. That's the in-continuity reason for his appearance change. I know the real reason is that Dave Sim refined his style while gaining valuable experience and practice over time. I don't remember when it happens but at some point Cerebus goes from looking like a slightly amateurish independent comic book to a gorgeous, expressive, Gerhard-backgrounded beauty of a book. Elfquest didn't go through nearly the same dramatic difference in its twenty issues. I guess when you've got three hundred issues to write, you have to get started before you're really ready. Unlike Wendy Pini who was all, "I only have to do twenty of these?! Let me get in some practice first! I don't want Cutter looking like a completely different character a third of the way through the story!" I'm not saying there aren't obvious aesthetic differences between the elves in Issue #1 and the elves in Issue #20! I'm just saying those differences are way less dramatic! The original Issue #1 came out at the end of 1977. I think these first issues were published every other month. According to a note from Sim's wife at the time, Deni Loubert, Cerebus came about as a logo for Aardvark-Vanaheim Press. And it was meant to be Cerberus but she spelled it wrong and also I guess Dave Sim couldn't draw a three-headed dog so he drew an Earth pig. I don't know. I'm doing a synopsis of the "Note from the Publisher" on the inside front cover which is just about as long as my synopsis and totally different. Because I have a habit of explaining things poorly, partially because I'm dumb and even more partially because I think it's funny. If you want the truth, get off the Internet and go fucking meditate. This biweekly issue also includes the introductory essay to the first Swords of Cerebus compilation written in 1981. Dave Sim also explains the origins of Cerebus, more accurately than I did although nowhere near as succinctly.

You don't have to read all that. I just wanted to show you how much Dave Sim had to write to get across the same idea that his then wife took a few small paragraphs to say. This theme will reappear later (much later, thankfully. I'll have my work cut out for me then).

As you can see by having not read that previous essay, Dave also explains his process. If you're interested, go ahead and maximize your browser so you can read the essay. If you're not interested, I won't bore you with another shitty synopsis. The issue begins with a narrator explaining Cerebus's arrival on the scene. Not an omniscient narrator. It's the voice of just some jerk in the city who was all, "That weird little guy who arrived at dawn? He'd be remembered as the finest warrior even though he was short and deformed." I like to believe that the person telling the story is Techot Thal, the guy who gets his hand cut off by Cerebus on the next page (the narrator talks about Techot in the third person but Cerebus does that with himself as well, so why can't Techot be telling the tale?). He probably begs for gold crowns outside of the local tavern and when somebody asks him about his hand, he begins the story of Cerebus. He probably tells all three hundred issues of the story. Unless he's telling it to a woman and then she walks off disgusted around Issue #186.

The first page tells the potential buyer everything they need to know about the comic book they're about to read: whimsical with pretty accurate depictions of horses.

Cerebus has come to town to do a Conan parody. Remember the part of the first Conan movie where they raid the tower and kill a giant serpent and steal a jewel or something? That's pretty much the plot of this issue. I'm not saying Oliver Stone and John Milius stole the story from Cerebus! It was just easier to say, "Hey, remember that scene in that movie that came out after this comic book?" I figure more people will identify with that than if I'd said, "Remember that Conan story by Robert E. Howard that you probably read when you were a twelve year old nerd who couldn't find anybody to play Dungeons & Dragons with them? Oh wait. I bet a lot of you would have identified with that too! I shouldn't be so quick to assume shit. Cerebus teams up with some thieves to raid a wizard's tower to steal the Flame Jewel. They've got it all planned but Cerebus is less a patient strategist and more a Leroy Jenkins kind of aardvark. He rushes into the tower heedlessly. Maybe his plan is to get his comrades killed so there's more Flame Jewel for Cerebus.

Do we ever find out who Clovis is and how many body parts he has?

Cerebus and his comrades are attacked by a shadow monster on their way into the tower. It's the first real example of Cerebus's skill with a sword as he defeats the monster. But it also shows that he's not overly powerful, and that he just barely wins the battle. He is vulnerable but strong willed and skillful! There remains doubt as to whether Cerebus can succeed at this mission! Also, it's just the first issue. It's not like the reader knew the story was going to go for 300 issues yet. It was possible, picking this strange new comic up off the shelf, Dave Sim would have realized how much work it was by the end of it and just let Cerebus die on the last page.

The wizard gets the first mention of Tarim (also his incantation earlier mentions "Terim" (which might be important later?)).

As of now, you'd think Cerebus worshiped somebody named Clovis and the humans worshiped somebody named Tarim. But we'll see later that Cerebus is into Tarim too. And maybe Clovis is just some hero myth of the barbarians? Next, Cerebus is attacked by an animated skeleton! They fight in a pitch back corridor because Dave Sim had yet to partner with Gerhard and drawing backgrounds is probably boring and/or time consuming. After defeating the skeleton and a ceiling of hallucinogenic petunias dropped on them, Cerebus's companions suggest they flee the tower. But Cerebus forces them to go on, seeing as they promised him a pouch of gold for helping them get the Flame Jewel. What a shrewd negotiator! Even if the Flame Jewel winds up being a cheap knock-off or legend (which it totally will be!), Cerebus still gets paid! Eventually, Cerebus encounters the wizard and his pet dragon (which I misremembered as a giant snake. Eh, it's similar enough to the Conan story!). Cerebus realizes the dragon is an illusion and closes his eyes as he approaches the wizard. He's all, "I'm just going to keep walking forward swinging my sword like this and if some dumb wizard just happens to get in my way, it's not my fault if he loses his spleen!" Cerebus, ignoring the beast so that the beast must ignore him, marches up to the wizard and kills him. He sure does understand magic! The thieves pay Cerebus after which Cerebus is all, "You guys should check out the Flame Jewel now! And also remember this old aardvark saying, 'No takesies backsies.'"

Ho ho! What a twist! What a wise aardvarkian warrior! What a realistic looking horse!

Cerebus rides off into the sunset leaving the thieves to declare their hatred for aardvarks. Because even thieves in fantasy novels only consider white men as individuals. Everybody else simply represents their entire race. Unless they do something kind or good or smart. That's when they declare them an anomaly. At the end of the issue are the "Aardvark Comments," the letters pages. I will be reading and discussing these to some degree since so much of the controversy that Dave Sim eventually had to deal with began life in this section. But that's a topic for another time, something like 185 issues from now. Here's another bit at the end of the Biweekly edition of Cerebus: The Single Page.

Another reason to love Dave Sim's independent spirit and artistic ethos.

Dave Sim had no need to put other people's work in the back of the Cerebus Biweekly to fill space or to sell issues. He did it simply to support other independent artists. How many mainstream companies would simply use this as an excuse to get people to send them free art just so they could see it in print? Sim is offering artists $150.00 for their efforts. Seems like a pretty generous offer for what basically amounts to exposure. In his later years, he might let his perception of reality as a conflict between men and women ultimately shape his spirituality and the way he read The Bible and The Quran (I mean, the scripture depicts two voices of God, a bad female one and a good male one? Come on, Dave! Hoo boy!) but he was always true to his independent publishing beliefs. Cerebus #1 Rating: B. A solid B effort here at the outset. I can't begin by giving this issue an A knowing how fucking terrific this thing gets not too far down the line. Besides, it doesn't deserve more than a solid B. The art tells the story of a better than amateur but not quite yet nailing it artist developing his style. The story isn't much more than a Conan fanfic rip with a talking animal shoved into the lead. It's got a few moments where the wit really shines and you can see shadows of Sim's really clever writing. And I don't mean to suggest the art is in any way bad; he's got some terrific panels and creatures in this thing. It's just it gets so much better! And the lettering! Come on! I never comment on letterers but Sim, having complete control of his story telling, knows exactly how to visualize the dialogue and sound effects. This isn't the kind of comic book where you think, "I have to read #2!" Mostly because it's a complete story in itself. But it is the type that will make you remember it when you see #2 on the shelf causing you to automatically pick it up.

[moiraineswife]

Hi! First off I love ur blog and Im not meaning to start anything at all, Im simply just curious because I just read your thoughts on how ur upset over SJM's actions on writing a world in which Mor can't come out comfortably rather than over Mor's actions herself. I was just wondering if you think SJM's intentions could lie in creating a character that her non-heteronormative readers could relate to, and how a lot of times in real life people are scared to come out for similar reasons? Thoughts?

Right, this is not going to be a popular opinion, but it’s all I’ve got. My issue is that Mor’s story is so framed by heterosexuality that at this point it feels like it’s written for straight people more than queer people. 

Think about it. Mor’s story is bookended and influenced entirely by straight men. The first choice that she’s able to make about her body and her sexuality, this grand life-changing statement that she makes in order to escape marriage to another man because she can’t stand the idea of becoming a broodmare for him (largely, according to acowar, due to her identity as a queer woman) is to have sex with a straight man. 

Her relationship with Andromache comes to an end partially because of the war but mostly because of...Another straight man/the need for the queen to have children. Which she does. 

She doesn’t come out/isn’t open with her lovers in part because of homophobia (which is...a straight thing. The entire concept of coming out/remaining closeted is for straight people. It’s not for queer people. Being closeted isn’t doing me any good, I don’t do it for the fun of it, I do it because I have to...Because of straight people’s reactions. This is a reality of this kind of story.) 

And in part because of Azriel’s love/lust for her. Azriel. A straight man. Whom she can’t be with because of her sexuality. Because he has assumed that she is straight and therefore interested in him. And here’s where I have a huge issue with the heteronormativity argument. 

Mor’s story, the way it’s written, is not something for queer people to relate to in-terms of heteronormativity. It’s something for straight people to relate to. 

Consider: Straight man falls in love with a lesbian, assumes she’s straight, and therefore he has a chance with her. Lesbian informs straight man she’s a lesbian and therefore she can’t be with him. Straight man is sad because heteronormativity has fucked him over and all the hot girls are lesbians, how dare queer people exist and trick him into thinking they were fuckable!? 

This is like...Mor’s narrative with Az (and the readers) in a nutshell. Azriel falls for Mor and the reader ships Moriel (as intended by SJM in ACOMAF (I will fight on this point. She set this up as a ship. She set this up to be shipped. I don’t give a fuck if Mor never outright said she loved Az or however else you want to argue it. She. Set. This. Up. To. Be. Shipped.) 

Then Azriel and the reader get fucked over/upset by heteronormativity. Both assumed that Mor was straight/would be interested in Azriel. Both are wrong and upset when Mor comes out as queer because their expectations were ‘ruined’ by Mor’s sexuality. 

This looks a heck of a lot like the disgruntled straight dude complaining that the girl he was hitting on was gay but hot and dared to make him like her because he assumed she was straight. This story is a lesson in heteronormativity for straight people. Because it’s ‘haha, look at that you shipped the queer woman with the straight dude but she’s not interested what a great plot twist right!!!’ 

Wrong. 

Mor’s narrative is framed by heterosexuality. She sleeps with Cassian to avoid a marriage to a man. Her relationship with Andromache is ultimately doomed because she gets married to a man and has his children. She remains closeted from the Circle because she’s petrified’ of coming out to Azriel. She continues to sleep with men that she appears to not want to (regardless of what she SAYS I am looking here at what the narrative SHOWS us and that is, three times, that Mor looked ill and tortured after sleeping with Helion. She did not enjoy that. She did not do that for herself. She did that to keep Azriel at bay) 

So, yes, there’s heteronormativity involved in Mor’s narrative but it’s from the POV of a straight person when it comes to it? If this was a story about drawing the problems queer people face with regards to heternormativity then we might actually have some commentary on Mor apparently getting nothing out of sleeping with men but doing it for Az, and her saying that she ‘find pleasure in it’ wouldn’t feel like SJM was throwing that in there just to try and make her (disgusting) narrative of a queer woman sleeping with people she doesn’t want to to reinforce her boundaries between the straight man who hasn’t gotten over her after 500 years because oh no quick! Mor gets something out of this too!!! But that’s what it feels like. And it doesn’t line up with what the narrative has actually SHOWN us (ie - that Mor isn’t getting anything out of sleeping with men at all) 

And when Mor comes out...What she gets as commentary for her being closeted all these years is “It’s good enough” (which is...the more I think about that line the more I utterly fucking despise it, just putting that out there) While Cassian and Azriel get, oh the poor things, she’s stringing them along, she’s hurting them, that’s what the narrative gives us. 

And fandom does this too? The overwhelming response to Mor is not ‘the poor girl has been alone and isolated for 500 years, has gone through things like the death of Andromache alone, working out her sexuality in the first place alone, hiding herself alone, not being able to have a lasting relationship with anyone because she can’t be open about it alone’...No what we have is ‘poor Azriel :(’ ‘Poor Cassian :(’ ‘How will the others react to her coming out? :( they’ll feel all bad that she didn’t trust them :(’  

It’s just....Mor’s queerness does not feel like it was written for queer people. Mor’s story feels like it was written by a straight person with a straight person’s pov and “”””struggles”””” with queer people at the forefront. It feels like a sloppy tick in the diversity box that got shoehorned in there to generate Angst and Conflict. 

The biggest problem I have with this is that, FOR ME, Mor’s story...Does not feel like it’s about Mor. It does not feel like it’s about queer people; it feels like it’s about straight people.

 It’s about Feyre, and Mor coming out to her as like...An apology or something? And then it’s about her being so Good and Accepting and promising not to spread Mor’s secrete around like this makes her the greatest person ever when all of the above is basic common decency. 

It’s about Azriel and how upset he’ll be that he can’t be with the girl that he loves, nevermind that he’s trapped her in a deeply unhealthy place for five centuries. 

It’s about the Inner Circle and how this will change their dynamic and how it’s ruined everything because this is not a safe space or a place of love and support any more. It can’t be.

It’s about Cassian and how Mor apparently needs him to buffer her and Azriel and therefore he can’t be with Nesta. (The biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever had the misfortune of laying my eyes on, btw) 

It’s even about Eris and how this gets shoehorned into his retconned redemption because it’s implied that he knows and wouldn’t have raped a queer woman because he’s That Good A Guy. 

It’s not about Mor. It’s not about her struggle finding herself. It’s not about her struggle overcoming the homophohbia she lived with and learning to love with. It’s not about the women she can’t be with and how this hurts her. It’s not about the men she forces herself to sleep with and how fucked up that is. It’s not about her feeling unsafe and unable to be herself around her family and how fucked up that is. It’s not about heteronormativity confusing her and making it difficult to understand what she wants and who she loves.

 It’s not about her. It’s not about her identity. It’s about how everyone else reacts to it, how everyone else affects it, how she affects everyone else because of it. This is not a queer story. This is the story of a queer person and the angst, conflict and drama their identity can cause for the straight people. 

Mor’s story could have been about this. Mor’s story could have been about how queer people are raised in abusive, homophobic environments and escape them, find safe spaces, find love and acceptance, but it’s not. It’s about a woman who apparently owned her body, her life, her choices, but has in fact never escaped the abuse she suffered because it’s still ruling her. 

This is something that real people experience, yes. Mor is not a real person. Not in this regard. Mor is a fictional character and with that comes a certain responsibility of representation. You cannot just brush aside queer pain with ‘well people experience it in real life I’m just making it realistic!’ Because this is not real life. This is not even the real world. This is a fantasy in which the only ‘reality’ that can apparently exist for queer people is pain, isolation, fear and being alienated from those they’re closest to because of their sexuality.

Mor was presented to us as a confident abuse survivor who is empowering and inspiring for the characters (and readers) of the books who are still recovering from what they’ve been through. She is presented as having complete control of herself and her choices. She has a family built up of supportive, empowering individuals who support her, give her power over her abusers and allow her to be herself. 

This entire narrative is undone in ACOWAR because she has not escaped her abusers. She is still being ruled by them. She does not have power over them. She does not own her body, her life and her sexuality, because the narrative has been forcing her to live a lie her entire existence. Straight men own her sexuality and her body and her life. Because she sleeps with people she doesn’t want to to appease them. This began with her sleeping with Cassian to escape Eris and her father’s will and continues right up to present day when she’s sleeping with Helion to push Az away. 

Mor has no power in ACOWAR. She is not allowed to be herself around her family. She is not allowed to make her own choices because she is ruled by her being closeted. She does not have power over her abusers - Rhys takes that away from her. She does not have a safe space as an abuse survivor or a queer person either in Velaris, which is taken from her, or even in her Circle, because she cannot be herself around them. 

And what does ACOWAR have to say about this? What does the book that tore Mor to pieces and shredded the inspirational symbol it created of her have to say about the way she’s treated by the author because of her sexuality? 

“It’s good enough.” 

That’s the message this book sends to its young queer readers. It’s good enough. She can’t be herself but it’s good enough. She isn’t accepted but it’s good enough. She’s trapped in a relationship with a man who loves her that she can’t escape because she won’t hurt him and that’s good enough. She sleeps with men and doesn’t get any pleasure out of it to keep her safe from another man’s attentions and that’s good enough. She cannot have fulfilling relationships with women because she cannot be open but it’s good enough. She is closeted and petrified and still suffering from the abuse she endured years ago, without any power, without any agency over herself, but it’s good enough. 

It is not good enough. It is not nearly good enough. This kind of reality does not have a place in fiction. When your reality comes from a place of hate and oppression it is not something that I want to see again in fiction. I do not want to see queer women forced apart by straight men/their obligations to bear children. I do not want to see queer women closeted and terrified and not able to be out because of the effect her abusive family has over her. I do not want to see a queer woman sleep with men when she gets nothing out of it but feels she has to do it to stop anyone looking too closely. I do not want to see queer women experience tragedy in fiction.

 I already see this every day IRL. I know what this is. I know what it feels like. I do not need to be educated in this. I do not need to have a straight person try and tell me my own story.

 I do not want to read about this in a work of fiction that is, by its nature, an escape from the real. I don’t want it to be an escape from the real in every single way except this one because this, gay pain, gay angst, gay tragedy, is something that must be preserved because how else can we tell gay stories? 

Fiction has a chance to change what is wrong with this world. Fiction, especially fantasy, like these books, has a chance to explore different options. Fiction cannot simply reflect what it sees IRL because that tells me nothing, it does nothing, it changes nothing.

 Fiction has a chance to tell the stories that we want told in this world but sometimes find it impossible to do so because of the way it is.Fiction should be progressive. Fiction offers a chance to be better than we currently are, to change things, to move things forwards.  

TL;DR: Mor’s story is not about Mor. Mor’s story as a queer woman is about the straight people around her. Her entire narrative is framed, driven and ultimately controlled by straight people and straight responses to her identity, not her identity in and of itself. 

This was not written for queer people. This was, at best, a sloppy tick in the diversity box because ‘look she’s queer what more do you want?’ and at worst a damaging and misguided insight into how SJM sees queer people and their stories. 

And no, it is not “good enough”. Mor deserved better and the queer fans that this story should represent deserved better. End of story. 

[atamascolily]

Episode Review - Adventures of Sinbad 1x09 - “Double Trouble”

In which there's an all-powerful MacGuffin that is really besides the point, and Rumina gets a pet cat, has excellent taste in decorating, and excels at identity left. Also, Sinbad discovers what it's like to be one of the "little people" for a change, Maeve gets a mentor, and all the latent sexual tension EXPLODES.

Suffice to say: Hijinks ensue.

(Photos from Far Far Away. )

This is one of my favorite episodes - and, broadly speaking, seems to be one of the all-time favorites of the fandom, so it's not just me talking here. In part, that's because it is well-written and truly funny(especially if you like "awful" puns; I love "awful" puns). The special effects hold up pretty well. We meet some interesting new characters. But really, the big draws of this episode are a) watching Zen Gessner, the actor playing Sinbad, have the time of his life being evil and b) all the shipping going on between Sinbad, Maeve and Rumina. Whatever your major het ship for the season is, there's plenty of fodder for it.

We open in a city scene at night, full of fascinating and interesting things - snake handlers, contortionists, levitating children that transform into old men and vice versa. Two veiled women are walking through the crowded streets, discussing rental lodgings. The one rocking the purple headgear and carrying a cat looks a little familiar...

Unfortunately, for Rumina, she gets recognized RIGHT AWAY by another woman, who calls her true identity out. At first the landlady tries to back out -- "I run a clean establishment," as if dark magic were along the same lines as drinking, smoking or prostitution - but when Rumina offers gold in advance, the landlady is all for it. So much for principles, right? We never see the landlady again, so whatever. 

The room is empty, so Rumina decorates it with magic. It actually looks pretty good. Certainly a lot homier than that skull-shaped rock cave she was living in with Turok. I'd live here in a heartbeat.

Rumina's looking in her magic mirror for our macguffin of the week - a stone obelisk that will give her ultimate power at last. She has time for a good laugh and to play with her cat while she waits. Meanwhile, the mirror switches back to the Sinbad channel, which I guess is what Rumina has playing in the background as a default. Seriously, Sinbad needs to have Maeve or someone put up some magical shields so he can get some privacy here.

Meanwhile, on the boat, Firouz has invented bowling - er, "Rolling Ball and Falling Dragons". If you're wondering how this relates to the larger plot, the answer is that it totally doesn't. But everyone's having fun and those little bronze dragons are cute!

Exposition time, everyone! Doubar wants to know why Omar of Basra confiscated a magical obelisk owned by the Caliph of Baghdad - and we do, too, actually. Sinbad explains that there was a terrible war when both rulers were impetuous young men, and that Omar has offered to return the obelisk as a peace offering. Firouz remarks that the obelisk is Egyptian, the most important magical object during the reign of Ramses II and supposed to give you ultimate power. But of course, that's only a legend, right? Right.

Meanwhile, Maeve is engrossed in her magic book:

Sinbad wants Maeve to play bowling, but it turns out she's reading the Lonely Planet Guide to Basra Dim-Dim's notes on the city. Turns out Basra is where all the magicians go to hang out (sure isn't Baghdad!) Dim-Dim writes of a woman "who far exceeds the boundaries of womanhood” “and reaches into the spheres of the masterful knowledge of the ways of magic," and Maeve thinks she could really help the crew out. Oh, and teach Maeve more magic.

Sinbad shrugs, and tells Maeve she can take the side quest while he deals with the political situation. What can possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, Omar "The Savage Sultan" of Basra is monologuing about the past, with occasional interjections from his two fawning advisors. Omar really can't remember what all the fuss was about the obelisk and looks forward to making peace once Sinbad shows up.

Rumina, spying on Omar with magic, (you'd think the all-powerful ruler in a town full of magicians would have his palace/person shielded from magical spying, but no), hears a mention of Sinbad and her ears perk up. This is going to be good, she tells her cat whose name is Cicero.I'm not 100% sure if Cicero is a real cat or a transformed human or a construct, but it doesn't really matter because he's awesome. Any pet named after classical figures and/or chickpeas (really!) is okay with me.

Another reason why this episode is awesome: so many different Rumina outfits. But I digress.

The crew is carrying gifts for Omar up the beach - because a big city like Basra doesn't have a port, but okay. Sinbad asks Maeve to be careful, and she turns it right back at him.

Omar is lounging in his palace when Sinbad and crew are announced. Sinbad shows up with a gift for him...  Apparently, no one's ever seen an umbrella before. (Thanks, Firouz!)

Turns out the Caliph contracted Firouz to make gifts, so we get a whole bunch of Firouz inventions this episode... some more useful than others. A most glorious montage ensues. 

Rongar has an excellent career as a model to fall back on if he ever decides to stop adventuring with the crew.

This is a fan, in case you were wondering:

Seriously, who does all the glass-blowing and lens crafting? Not to mention the metalwork? Firouz is good, but does he really have all the necessary equipment on the boat? I hypothesize the Caliph gave them the commission and they stopped in at Firouz's old workshop for some custom jobs. Either that or Firouz directed the Caliph's artisans. Nothing else really makes sense here.

Also, Firouz is so happy here explaining things and basking in Omar's wonder; it's adorable.

Suffice to say, Omar is super-impressed, and orders his staff to give the crew “every possible pleasure” during their visit. He gives Sinbad a medal to symbolize their friendship, which Sinbad correctly recognizes as a great honor.

He then takes Sinbad to see the macguffin they've come to collect - the obelisk. How phallic is that? asks Omar.

That's pretty damn phallic, Sinbad agrees with a smirk.

It's so phallic, in fact, that in the thirty years Omar's had it, everyone's tried to steal it, so he's just happy for Sinbad to take it back to the Caliph and get it off his hands. The medallion is Sinbad's safe passage so he can collect it without the guards slaughtering him for attempted theft.

Rumina, watching from the mirror (seriously, Omar, beef up your security here!) cackles, pleased that Sinbad's presence is going to  make the heist job even easier for her... so she can get ultimate power and finally date-rape Sinbad. I mean, probably she'll revive her evil dead father, too, but Sinbad first.

(NB: The whole issue of magic and consent and power in this series is a whole post in itself, so forgive me if I don't expound upon it too much right now.)

Meanwhile, Maeve finds the woman she was looking for.... who was expecting her.

Her name is Caipra, and she is awesome, just like Dim-Dim said. Oh, and Dim-Dim told her Maeve was coming, because Dim-Dim is so awesome like that, except for the whole being stuck in another dimension by a monster Sinbad was able to kill in one episode bit. Awkward, that. But Caipra is genuinely awesome, as we shall see.

Caipra turns out to be the mysterious woman who IDed Rumina at the beginning of this episode, too, so you can tell this is going to be good.

Back at the palace, Omar is throwing an awesome party for the rest of the crew. Sinbad keeps checking out the belly dancer, so Omar decides to provide Sinbad with "every possible pleasure" and has his assistant set them up for a tryst outside.

Sinbad pulls back her veil and reveals... Rumina!

Rumina propositions Sinbad, but he rejects her, so she throws magic in his face, yanks the medallion from around his neck, and shrinks him.

Then she picks him up in a handkerchief, tucks him into her shirt, and magics herself back to her apartment in town.

Okay, honestly, given that she can magic herself in and out of OMAR'S PALACE and the obelisk room has no protection against magical spying, I'm not really sure why Rumina needs all these shenanigans, except than she can and it's fun. Moving on... Rumina traps Sinbad in a vase so he can't escape. Cicero wants to eat whatever small moving creature is in the vase, but Rumina won't let him.

Then she transforms into evil!Sinbad, who looks just like Sinbad only with Rumina's taste in jewelry. Rumina gloats over the helpless Sinbad, reminding him that if she steals the obelisk using his image, Basra and Baghdad will go to war, and the Caliph of Baghdad is, in her eyes, at least partially responsible for Sinbad killing her father. Also, it will be a lot of fun. She vanishes, leaving a distraught Sinbad to contemplate his next move.

Which involves a lot of shouting.

Cicero is intrigued by the noise and starts to investigate. 

Meanwhile, Caipra and Maeve have a heart-to-heart. Caipra knows about Maeve's vow to destroy Rumina, and tells Maeve that it's Rumina's self-confidence and belief in herself, as much as any technical knowledge, that gives her powers.

We get confirmation that Dermott is indeed Maeve's brother and that Rumina transformed him into a hawk. Caipra agrees that Maeve is the only one who can restore him.

"What if I'm never good enough?" whispers Maeve. "What if my heart isn’t that strong?"I just want to give her a hug. 

Cut to the next morning. The crew finally notices that Sinbad's missing.

Rongar's having a great time, though!

Evil!Sinbad shows up and starts insulting everybody and everything.

The hell, thinks Rongar.

Omar is not amused by any of this.

Evil!Sinbad is condescending to Firouz.

Okay, now you're going too far, Rongar thinks.

Omar's really not amused by evil!Sinbad's insults and orders his guards to arrest them.

Everyone escapes out the window just in the nick of time. Doubar confronts evil!Sinbad, who continues to be a jerkass about everything. Omar's guards chase everyone, but evil!Sinbad escapes.

Back in the vase, Sinbad tied his sash to his sword, tossed it up over the top and is attempting to climb out.

... but is interrupted when evil!Sinbad abruptly returns.

Rumina transforms back into her own body and torments Sinbad for a while by telling him about her escapades. She then decides to take a bath, because, you know, she really worked up a sweat running away from the guards.

She leaves the medallion hanging, and gets undressed behind the screen, which the camera luxuriously focuses on.

Sinbad takes advantage of her distraction to escape! But what's that behind him...?

For some reason, I am reminded of Monopoly here. Was I the only one who enjoyed using the shoe token?

Fortunately, Dermott shows up for no obvious reason while Cicero is stalking Sinbad.

Tiny!Sinbad yells to Dermott to go get Maeve. Never mind that Dermott has excellent vision, can SEE Tiny!Sinbad perfectly and could pick him up and carry him away. Or Tiny!Sinbad could climb on his back. Anyway, Dermott shows up and Sinbad's first thought is "Maeve! Maeve!" Make of that what you will. Dermott vanishes, presumably having gotten the message. 

All the noise drags Rumina out of her bath. She is not pleased to discover her captive is missing. Cicero is the obvious suspect, but she checks his mouth (and talks to him?) and knows the cat didn't eat Sinbad. So where is he?

A manhunt ensues.

Meanwhile, in the dungeons, Omar demands that the crew give Sinbad up or be tortured. They refuse, so Omar orders them stretched in the noon-day sun, starting with Doubar.

Meanwhile, Rumina is continuing to search. I'm not sure why she doesn't use magic here...

There's a knock on the door. It's Maeve! Looking for her hawk, of all things, which is so transparently a ruse. But she seems genuinely surprised that Sinbad answers the door. It's evil!Sinbad, of course, but she doesn't know that. 

Evil!Sinbad hits on Maeve with some delightfully bad Irish-inflected innuendo.

When Maeve ignores the "subtle" attempts at seduction, evil!Sinbad gets more aggressive. "I know you want me! I’ve known it from the very beginning. You and me, on the open seas, making magic together!"

Tiny!Sinbad's watching the whole thing, and freaking out.

Evil!Sinbad tries to kiss Maeve...

... and she knocks him to the ground, because this is NOT OKAY and SHE KNOWS IT.

...  evil!Sinbad transforms into Rumina....

Poor Maeve is even more freaked out by this. Not only did her comrade attempt to sexually assault her, but it was actually her sworn enemy in disguise the whole time!

Hey, Maeve, over here! yells tiny!Sinbad from the windowsill.

Maeve finally hears his calls and comes over to investigate... but turning your back on your sworn enemy is a really bad idea...

Yeah, that went well.

Rumina is about to drain Maeve's life force, but Sinbad throws his tiny sword across the room in a desperate attempt to stop her...

Suddenly, Dermott appears in the windowsill again!

There's a blinding flash of light at the door, Rumina is pinned to the wall with magical bonds that appear out of nowhere....

Caipra sure knows how to make an entrance.

At first, I thought Dermott must have gone back to Caipra's to get Maeve, only to discover that Maeve was gone, and got Caipra to come instead. This means that Maeve didn't reach out to Dermott using their mental link, which is just stupid. So I think Caipra and Maeve went into this together, since Caipra knew where Rumina lived, and let Maeve go in first, only intervening when things went poorly. But that exact sequence of events is never made clear.

But alas, Rumina slips away again, because Caipra cannot, for some reason, stop her. We also learn that Dim-dim is Caipra's husband. Maeve is startled by this - clearly it's something Dim-Dim never mentioned to her, either in person or in his book. Either Maeve hasn't been training with him for very long, or he keeps his apparently long-distance relationship quiet. If Sinbad is surprised by this news - and keep in mind, Dim-dim RAISED him and Doubar - he doesn't say. 

Back in Caipra's rooms, Maeve tries to restore Sinbad back to his normal size but things don't go well. "Stop acting like an old married couple," chides Caipra, which does not end the snarking. Caipra attempts to motivate Maeve by remindin her that Omar is going to go to war with Baghdad and their friends are being tortured even as they speak...

... so Caipra surreptitiously give Maeve a boost.

Maeve can't believe she actually did it!

Spontaneous hug of joy! The grin on Caipra's face is the best part here. 

Of course, once the rush wears off, both of them are appalled by the thought of touching each other again. Right, right, where were we? Business. Oh, yeah. Right, right. 

When Maeve leaves the room, Sinbad thanks Caipra, but Caipra just smiles. "I did nothing. It was all Maeve." When Sinbad leaves, Caipra remarks to Dermott, "I can see why Dim-Dim was so fond of them both. The old softy," and laughs to herself.

(SEE, CAIPRA AND DIM-DIM TOTALLY SHIP THIS AND THEY TALKED TO EACH OTHER ABOUT IT BEFORE DIM-DIM VANISHED. How awesome is that?)

Noticeably, Maeve's magic does improve dramatically in later episodes, probably as a result of this confidence-boost, although it's never directly stated. What a sneaky - and clever - teaching move.

Meanwhile, Doubar's being tortured in Omar's dungeons so it's not all fun and games here.

Happily, Maeve and Sinbad to the rescue! Look at that teamwork!

"SCIENCE!" yell Doubar and Firouz together in one voice, in a moment that I hope to immortalize forever with GIFs someday.

Doubar is understandably pissed off, Sinbad tries to explain and fails, so he rushes off to deal with Omar and leaves the explanations to Maeve instead.

Omar's angsty about war, but doesn't really know what else to do when his honor's insulted. He doesn't believe Sinbad's explanations about identity theft until his advisors enter, surprised to see their boss in two places at once....

When Omar goes to investigate, and sees himself trying to enter the obelisk room, suddenly Sinbad's stories start to seem a lot more credible. The advisors, of course, are confused. Which sultan is real?

Sinbad knows how to solve this dilemma!

As we learned in "Little Miss Magic," Rumina can't do magic and kiss Sinbad at the same time. Clever Sinbad!

Also, while they're making out, Sinbad nicks the medallion from Rumina's neck. When she pulls away from the kiss and realizes all is lost, she vanishes, vowing revenge.

Please just take this phallic symbol and go, okay, says Omar. No hard feelings.

No hard feelings, agrees Sinbad.

Cairpra gives Maeve some parting advice: "Read, practice, meditate. But the most important thing you need to remember is that the magic comes from you. Believe in yourself." Which is excellent advice for everyone, actually!

Also, Caipra has a more personal request: "When you do find my husband, tell him his dinner’s grown quite cold."

I mean - CLEARLY there must be some reason why ONLY Maeve and Sinbad can rescue Dim-Dim, but it's never really explained, only hinted at. Dim-Dim seemed to know it was coming, and Caipra seems to expect it - since it seems to be Rumina/Turok's doing and for whatever reason, she's leaving that business up to Maeve and Sinbad to sort out. But still. It makes me grumpy that that the "Retrieve Dim-Dim" story arc is never adequately addressed, except as a continual macguffin plot.

But this moment between Maeve and Caipra is so sweet and I love Caipra a lot and I wish she had more of a role in this series because I love their relationship (and since she and Dim-Dim are married and Dim-Dim raised Sinbad and Doubar and Maeve and Sinbad are constantly shipped together, that would make them all one big happy FAMILY with only Firouz and Rongar not directly related through blood or marriage).

Maeve, quite rightly, doesn't believe him, and we end the episode with them arguing back and forth like an old married couple like bickering children as the ship sails off into the sunset... which is not the good ship Maeve/Sinbad, no sir, nothing to see here. 

So, as I've noted, there are some HUGE GAPING PLOT HOLES in this episode, but it's hard to really care because it has everything else I want in an episode of this show.

10/10. SO AWESOME. WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

[gascon-en-exil]

The Not Really Definitive Ranking of the Zelda Series: #13

#19 - Four Swords

#18 - The Adventure of Link

#17 - Phantom Hourglass

#16 - Four Swords Adventures

#15 - Spirit Tracks

#14 - The Legend of Zelda

#13 - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

Even if they aren’t talked about very often, the two Oracle games made for two very curious entries in the franchise. They were the first (canon) Zelda games developed by a company other than Nintendo - Capcom, who would also go on to develop The Minish Cap - they are the only games joined together in both plot and gameplay (via a password system, one that will make you thankful they scrapped the idea for a third game early on), they were the first 2D games produced after the series made the leap to 3D in grand style, and partially as a result of that they’re arguably the first games to make obvious callbacks to previous games in the series. Numerous minor NPCs in the Oracles like Malon and Talon, the windmill organ grinder, the postman, and the hand in the toilet come directly from the N64 games, the eponymous oracles are women named after the now-established creator goddesses of Hyrule, and the overarching antagonists of both stories are Twinrova, Ganondorf’s surrogate mothers from Ocarina of Time. This never really detracts from either game, but it’s interesting to bear in mind considering how self-referential the Zelda series would eventually become.

As with Four Swords Adventures the Oracles deliver an overall serviceable experience, but in this case the expansion upon the game engine of Link’s Awakening and their own dual nature makes for grander and more involved games. They improve upon some of the technical limitations and minor annoyances (*cough*I can’t lift pots without an item, thanks for telling me for the 50th time*cough*) of LA while also focusing the gameplay on either tougher combat (Oracle of Seasons) or harder puzzles (Oracle of Ages). There are also the animal companions, who only get used about two times in each game but are nevertheless entertaining additions: Dimitri, the Dodongo who can swim up waterfalls but can’t breathe fire (what); Moosh, the not remotely aerodynamic flying blue bear (what); and Ricky, the boxing kangaroo with gender confusion issues comparable to Yoshi’s (I reiterate, what). Hey, I said they were entertaining, not logical.

The question now though is why I placed OoA lower than its counterpart, and from here on I’ll have to talk about the differences between the two games. Despite what their packaging might suggest, the Oracles are not comparable to a generation of Pokémon with two or three games identical but for a few unique species and maybe some slightly altered plot elements. These games are set in two separate countries with eight unique dungeons apiece (nine if you count the bonus dungeon in linked games), present two separate but interrelated plots, and make use of two entirely different gameplay mechanics. As mentioned OoS purports to be combat-intensive whereas OoA focuses more on puzzles, but I distinguish them more by the games they are most directly attempting to emulate. OoA draws more influence from the N64 games, with a slightly deeper plot and more prominent side characters (Ralph, Queen Ambi). Additionally, like both OoT and Majora’s Mask OoA revolves around a time travel mechanic, which for the third game in a row begins to wear a bit. Sure, the scope of time travel here is much larger than OoT’s seven years or MM’s repeated three days, but that just means the difference in time periods is more notable in Labrynna’s changing geography and political landscape (for the Hylians/humans at least...the resident Gorons and Zoras seem remarkably unchanged after four hundred years, and the latter even hint at their very long-lived nature before Breath of the Wild made it fact).

Also I’m somewhat certain that some of the Zoras don’t actually move between the past and present. Talk about static NPCs!

Joking aside, the span of time traveled in OoA leaves no room for the sort of emotionally-driven character studies seen in MM’s frantic three final days of existence or even in the long-delayed reunions of OoT’s timeskip. I suppose it’s an interesting tidbit when Ralph learns he’s a descendant of Ambi, but the force of that reveal comes not from his meeting his great-great-...great-grandmother but from the possibility that Ambi may have to be killed because she’s been possessed by the sorceress Veran - which would cause Ralph to cease to exist. That’s something, I guess?

Even if you find that moving, though, OoA calls back to the N64 in other areas as well, and almost always to its detriment. This game’s version of Jabu Jabu’s Belly represents pretty much all the worst of both of OoT’s water dungeons with none of their highlights, hunting for stray fairies has been turned into an awkward, pace-breaking side story on the way to one of the midgame dungeons, and the construction and transformation of the Black Tower over the course of the game just doesn’t land as strongly as OoT’s depiction of the (partially) ruined Hyrule of the future.

But those are all my reasons for placing OoA below OoS. This is still a fantastic handheld Zelda, with a villain who’s both well-designed and fun to fight, an engaging overworld that alters itself drastically but logically over the centuries, a large ocean area and two water dungeons (even if one does kind of suck) to satisfy my water level-loving self, and a ton of puzzles that can be very satisfying to work through.

Though it could maybe have done with fewer of those “walk on each tile exactly once” rooms.

Next time: Oracle of Seasons, duh.

[raitrolling]

i fucked up and answered the wrong symbol but fuckit im still doing this

☾ - What was the first idea that inspired the creation of each of your trolls, and do they still embody that idea now?

listed in order of creation, and some of these answers are gonna get really fuckin long so prepare yourself for masses of textwalls

charon: ive gone over his history in this ask here, so tl;dr version: i wanted to make a light greenblood who was creepy and loved blood and fighting. thats it. why people like this guy even though his origin is literally being Edgy(tm) is beyond me. while blood and fighting are still his main interests, his creepiness is no longer being creepy for the sake of being ‘ooh hes so evil and InSaNe xD xD xD’ to actually having motivations and becoming a legitimate threat to others.

skathi: I DONT THINK IVE EVER ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT OLD!SKATHI BEFORE SO ONLY FORMER MSPAF MEMBERS REMEMBER THAT DUMPSTER FIRE LMAO. but basically skathi’s original concept was vaguely inspired by The Importance of Being Earnest since i was studying that play at the time, but rather than being a british gentleman who invents an alternate identity as an excuse to fuck off to the country or invents a sick relative as an excuse to avoid boring social events, she was a lowblood posing as a highblood because people she fucked over burned down her hive. however that idea didnt work at all because she was complete shit at hiding her blood so that got scrapped, and shes been completely remade twice. now the only concepts that have stayed through the revamps is that she’s an axe-wielding Flarper who uses poisons and got her hive burned down.

cvetka: cvetka’s another character who’s been completely revamped and reset, but her concept hasnt really changed as much. originally she had chlorokinesis that went awry all the fuckin time because whatever man im 16 i can write whatever bullshit i want (aka no reason at all). also she was inspired by the Victorian Era + the language of flowers because i was studying that at the time (you will see this becomes a common thing). then i cant remember if it got confirmed in the comic or if it just because a commonly accepted headcanon on mspaf that highbloods didnt have psiionics at all (whats a vriska) so that got scrapped. then in her revamp she became a complete recluse because pacifism is a no-go on alternia, and while i find that shes become a much better written / well-thought out character as a result, my chances to rp her have become severely limited.

katrin: was my self-insert. originally she was painfully shy and couldnt really talk to anyone without get super embarrassed, and also she was an artist instead of a writer. then everything changed when the fire nation attacked she got a boyfriend. its kinda funny tho because she had no interest in working or getting rich until she met gerrel, yet she ended up on the complete opposite path to him by becoming a thief and running scams with her moirail at the time. then a shitload of events occurred (most of them retconned out of her backstory but their effects on her character still remain. also we dont talk about 90% of those events because i was a Bad Writer at the time and im embarrassed by everything and nearly anxiety-vomit whenever people go ‘hey remember this’ BYE) and we got the piece of shit raccoon thief we all know and love. also ive mentioned this heaps of times before but at one point she had robolimbs cuz both her arms got shot off but i retconned that to having the bullets graze her because i hated drawing her cybernetics lmao. the only things that’ve really stayed with her is that she’s still really awkward and a little shy, as well as still retaining a lot of my negative traits from her self-insert days.

viltau: ive also talked about vil’s history in another ask, but tl;dr wanted a Gatsby troll cuz i was studying the book at the time, ended up making an Edgelord. he’s still pretty gatsby-esque, being a rich guy who worked his way up to the top (tho nowhere near as drastically since he’s already a highblood) and throws a lot of parties, but since he’s a huge literature nerd now he’s a lot more self-aware and aims to purposely embody tropes from his favourite novels. i still like the idea of yellowblood!viltau (and his old sprites are adorable i mean look at him), but i have a lot more fun writing him as he is now. he’s almost a parody of himself, yet simultaneously played completely straight.

somerl: he was originally inspired from me going through my photo albums from times ive been to Hamilton Island on holiday, and in particular the one night i went on a cruise on The Banjo Paterson. i liked the idea of a cute sailor troll, and that was all he got characterwise. then, like katrin, he developed as a result of a bunch of events occurring to him and that’s how he gained a personality. he’s still a cute sailor troll, but now he’s a paranoid insomniac sailor troll with an obsession for superstitions and hatred for seadwellers and women. seadweller women are his worst nightmare.

dismas: his origin is actually kinda funny cuz i was watching this amv, and around about the time that Birthday Massacre song starts playing there’s this white-haired kid who appears and i thought he was the coolest thing ever. to this day i still have no clue who he is or what anime he’s from. also because it’s still 2011 and I Was A Teenage Edgelord i had an embarrassing obsession with Izaya from Durarara so of course dismas had to be an informant who fucks with everyone. originally he was yellow!viltau’s assistant who carried out all the shady jobs and was my go-to troll for killing off ocs i got bored of but they had history with other people’s trolls so i couldnt just get rid of them. then his original concept got combined with vil when i retconned vil into being an indigoblood. when i brought him back i kept the informant stuff and the Edgyness, but now he’s edgy to make fun of the fact he was a legitimate edgelord played 100% straight back in the day. also his roboarm switched sides because i forgot which arm he lost lmao.

aegiel: did a complete 180 in terms of character concept, and went through a bunch a revamps before i even started rping her. originally she was inspired by Hollywood Undead (particularly the song city), and was actually a super hemorebel who managed to escape capture and culling by having probability manipulating psiionics that ensured luck was always on her side. then i scrapped that entirely because at the time i was studying the Chinese revolution and the topic of the cultural revolution came up. so then her concept switched to being based on the Chinese Red Guards, as well as partially the Russian Cheka since i studied the Russian revolution the semester prior. I thought the concept of a super hemoloyal lowblood with a fanatical dedication to the Empire would be interesting, since most hemoloyalists tended to be highbloods. the only things thatve stayed from her original concept are her name and symbol, as well as her laughing quirk being a remnant of how her lusus was originally a cheshire cat.

aiolos: i dont really remember where his original concept came from, apart from i remember seeing a fanart of a 1920s style Scout from TF2 and liking the idea of a courier troll. i know i drew his original design in history class while watching Doctor Zhivago but i dont remember anything about that movie to know if that had any bearing on his character lmao. originally he was pretty rude and kinda sleazy, which ended up morphing into the sass you see today. he hasnt really changed much from his original concept, but its more that his character has grown over time.

kalpan: ok i have a confession to make. the reason why i made kal was because there were a shitload of anonbloods on mspaf that were either A. really bad at hiding their anonblood status, or B. were all almost always tyrianbloods in disguise who would pull rank every time someone gave them shit for being anon. and me, being the egotistical piece of shit i am, decided that i wanted to make a good anonblood. so kal’s blood was kept secret and she stayed out of trouble so that itd never get revealed, and her reasoning for being anonymous was just that she didnt really care my dude. she hasnt really strayed too far from her original concept, but rather expanded on the reason why shes so casually apathetic and gave her more of a backstory.

leithe: leithe’s original concept was something i dreamed up, no joke. from what i remember from the dream, i went to like a superhero school or something, and there was this one kid whose power was to cancel out other people’s powers so he’d be the one to save other kids when they lost control of their powers. his power also looked like a bubble that’d envelop himself and the other person whose powers he was cancelling out, so when i made him a fantroll that turned into an invisible field in which his psiionics were constantly active. and instead of being a hero, leithe was just an average dude who’d take up odd jobs here and there so he could have the skills to get a good job in the fleet. conceptwise he hasnt changed much, although hes become less tolerate of other lowbloods over time and he grew 500% more eyebrow.

pratap: was the first new troll i made after starting this blog. his first idea was a cute little seadweller who didnt really understand why other trolls were suspicious of him and his innocent offers to take them to his cafe for coffee. then shortly after making him, I studied Great Expectations in my uni literature class, and loved the idea of pratap getting a mentor who turns him from an innocent little kid to a typical shithead member of high society. that plot was going pretty well but fell through because of Reasons (read: i no longer associate with the other rper), so now he’s stuck in limbo characterwise but id love to pick it up again sometime.

errett: i say this every time i bring up errett’s history but haha remember when this guy was supposed to be cute. so errett was supposed to be in a group of trolls inspired by the four main elements from the game OFF., but pwo and i never got anyone to fill the spots for the elements of metal and plastic so it was just errett and his troll karnvr. and yeah, errett was supposed to be cute and his rudeness was meant to just be cutesy ‘ill puff up my cheeks and get angry and everyones gonna think im adorable’ but that got thrown out the window the moment i started rping him and he became a complete cunt. then we started thinking up a backstory for him and he became even more of a Bitter Angry Baby, so now the only elements that’ve really retained are his design and references to the game OFF..

sigrun: was inspired by those gifs of penguins falling over and the fact that i fucking love penguins and cry whenever i see cute penguin-related things. apart from being a bit more aggressive in their first draft, they havent changed much at all (probably because i never use them ever oops).

kisert: i have another confession to make. the reason why i made kisert was because i thought the whole ‘creepy little kid who talks to ghosts’ troll was overdone to hell and back so i wanted to make a parody of it by making a troll who pretends to be creepy and talks to ghosts to con people. he’s always been a massive childish brat, but his brattiness and childishness has gotten even more apparent over the years. tho at the same time, because those tendencies have been played up, he’s become a lot more emotionally stunted and stuck in the past as a result, which i think is more interesting than his original concept.

raesul: also hasn’t really changed from her original concept. i had the Danger Days album on repeat and really liked the idea of a hemorebel radio host, and so rae was born. she’s also partially inspired by Motorcity which i was watching at the time (and never finished oops), hence her radio station being called radio BRNR, after the Burners group. while rae was always supposed to be completely different from her miss summertime identity, the differences have become a lot more pronounced now that rae is super awkward and insecure while miss summertime is loud, proud, and always in control. also miss summertime’s wardrobe went from being super girly to more punk and rock-and-rock inspired, originally i wanted to avoid that because i thought itd be too cliche but then somewhere along the line i decided ‘lol fuck it’.

shirei: is based off the pokemon pangoro, cuz one of it’s pokedex entries states how its tough and aggressive but doesnt tolerate bullies, so i thought the idea of a tough but almost motherly gang leader would be neat. i was also watching Kill La Kill and Revolutionary Girl Utena at the time, so she gained some tomboyish but also princely/fairytale-esque qualities as a result. she hasnt changed much in terms of concept and ideas, but she kinda retroactively got inspired by quite a few of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure protagonists (particularly Jolyne and Giorno, but also a bit of Josuke) because they were kind of similar in concept.

redeti: was made as being a part of a group for trolls based on santa’s reindeer that i was doing with pwo. red is a combination of the ideas i had for Dasher and Vixen, and when i first designed him we joked that he looked like a lovechild between viltau and kitaer, so his interests became snowcones and murder to reference that. while he’s still a part of the Northern Lights crew with all the other reindeer inspired trolls we made, he’s become more detached from everyone else as a result of making friends with people outside the community. but in terms of original concept and ideas, he hasn’t really changed apart from probably becoming a lot more naive and dense over time.

fannar: is another troll from the Northern Lights crew, although they were made about a month after. they were kind of based off my idea for Donner, but also a mix between one of my older trolls i got rid of and my old Hetalia oc Antarctica. since they werent going to be a reindeer troll, i wanted them to be an outsider to the group, hence their polar bear lusus and their sickly constitution making it difficult for them to live in their current environment. originally they legitimately hated redeti’s guts and wanted him dead, but over time it’s become more of just a simple blackcrush that’s made them very protective of him.

nancor: ive mentioned this before, but his original concept came about because of this video and me deciding i really liked xatu. i had also seen The Book Thief recently, and loved the character of Death (i havent read the book yet tho dont judge me), so that’s where nan’s whole ‘pleasant but morbid angel of death’ came from. he’s also somewhat based on a couple characters from Hamatora (which is an alright series but the 2nd season is a complete dumpster fire and you should only watch if you want to watch a show fly so far off the rails it becomes hilarious), such as Ratio’s power requiring him to cover up his eye, and Moral’s design (as well as Izuru Kamukura from Danga Ronpa being another design insp). he’s always been kind of a silly character with his dumb puns and the fact that he walks around wearing a blindfold and fights with semaphore flags, but the more serious aspects of his personality didnt come in until much later.

eichio: another troll that started out as a huge fuckin joke, i saw this vine and wanted to make a troll who used noisemakers as their strife weapon. his mimicry and talent with musical instruments was just random brainstorming, and his whole ‘mimicking other trolls so he can learn how to act properly and pick up their behaviours to become likeable’ became a thing because i didnt know what personality or interests to give him. then i really started to explore the concept of a troll who has been raised to be nothing but the perfect people pleaser and even more perfect servant, and the effects that would have on someone’s mentality. he also developed an anxiety disorder cuz i got diagnosed with GAD and realised how much of myself id unintentionally put in him. its kinda amusing how a character who was originally supposed to just be a blank slate ended up so complex, but i really like how much hes grown as a concept.

davitt: dav was made for that meme that went around where you and a friend had to come up w. 2 ocs in secret and not reveal them until they were both done, and then you had to figure out how to ship them together, so i came up with him while pwo made walker. i was watching How To Get Away With Murder at the time, so i really liked the idea of a corrupt lawyer who used loopholes to get all his clients out of being found guilty, and was only in the job field for money and the fact it was really easy for a tealblood to become a Legislacerator. but, since im incapable of making trolls that arent also huge fuckin dorks, he was also a huge lazy piece of shit cat who hoarded random garbage and came up with dumb ways to be efficiently lazy. over time his corrupt and greedy ways have fallen to the wayside in favour of the more comically serious side to his personality, though they’re still slightly there since he is primarily a defense lawyer and we all know those types of lawyers are the devil.

ananta: ana is based off the game OneShot, which i played and fell in love with instantly. a lot of their concept stems from the game, ranging from superficial stuff such as their appearance resembling Niko and how their strife weapon is a lightbulb, but also the technical aspects of the game such as their unforgiving personality being a reference to how you only get one shot at the game, and their hobby as a hacker referencing how the game does shit to your computer as part of a puzzle. the resemblance was apparently so close that the creator of the game reblogged my concept art for ana, which im both still flattered and embarrassed about. like a lot of my recent characters, their core concept hasnt really changed, but rather ive focused a lot more on aspects of their personality like their extreme bitterness to hide their vulnerablity, and their loneliness as a result of the events in their life and the facade they put up.

soroll: is a literal meme. hes based off the ‘scream at own ass’ opossum meme, and is part of a group of meme animal trolls owned by pwo, who is also a huge memer. again his concept hasnt really changed since hes always been kinda dumb but with a huge heart, but over time hes become more of a mother hen type since he ended up unintentionally gravitating towards trolls who never took care of themselves so hed fuss over them. also i have no clue what happened to his quirk over time or even what accent its meant to resemble now lmao.

benrii: is based off Sanetoshi Watase from one of my favourite anime of all time, Mawaru Penguindrum. like ana, he’s not so much a direct rip of the character (apart from appearance) but more of an amalgamation of references to the series, so you have things like his obsession with fate mirroring the theme of the show, his apple bombs referencing the symbolism of apples that appears constantly, and the fact that he’s 9.5 sweeps refers to the 95 arc number in the show. also at one point i fell into a huge rabbit hole and ended up reading up about cults and biblical shit so that’s where his god complex came from. the whole ‘being addicted to praise and acting out for attention’ aspect of his personality didnt come about until much later, and thats now the dominant part of his character as a whole.

rosato: is another troll based on memes and joke posts on tumblr rifp, but this time its those posts on modern vampires and people not recognising they’re actually vampires and seeing things like their sudden aversion to the sun and garlic to just be weird coincidences. so then i came up with the idea of a forgetful rainbowdrinker who refused to believe theyre actually dead because they forgot how they got killed and assumes all the associated Weird Vampire Shit are just coincidences. he’s also got a shitload of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure references in him because this was around about the time i got into the series. after errett failed, rosato was my second attempt at making a shy and cute but kinda mean troll, but once again he ended up becoming a full-blown rude asshole.

zotick: i was reading Vento Aureo and thought ‘you know Gold Experience is a fuckin cool power, what if I tried to make it less OP and turn it into a fantroll’. thus, zot was born. like rosato, his design and personality are a bunch of references to Giorno, and his love of bugs/scorpions/lizards/etc came from the fact that whenever Gold Experience turned something into an animal, its always something gross and dangerous. like eichio, i couldnt decide on any interests so i took the cheater’s way out and made it that he got bored easily so he doesnt stick to any main hobbies apart from bugs and pranks. Over time, he became more obnoxious and annoying, which was mostly because every single bug-related post on this site i could find was a fuckin meme.

Indi and Kaiman: im putting these two together because i came up with their concepts at the same time. firstly, i wanted to make trolls who were interested in the paranormal and aliens and shit, and secondly, i wanted them to be not quite siblings but grew up so closely they could basically be considered the Alternian equivalent of brothers. They were supposed to look similar in appearance and clothing too, but when i drew my first concept of indi i really liked what i came up with but it didnt suit how i envisioned kai so they ended up becoming completely different. i also wanted indi to be the quiet one and kai to be the loud one, but then i liked the idea of them being completely conflicting in terms of first impressions and ‘real’ personality. while their concepts never strayed away from their original idea, they definitely became a lot more developed and evolved once i started talking about them to ez, who was designing mauban at the time. from their interactions with mau, indi became a lot more extroverted but also trusting and optimistic, whereas kai became more judgmental and standoffish than i had initially intended, which i thought was a neat contrast.

mikiel: he’s Ghiaccio from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. that’s it. character analysis over. ok i lied, but a lot of his character concept came from the fact that i really loved Ghiaccio’s design, personality, and powers, and really wanted to make a troll like that. funnily enough his gang affiliation is not a reference to Passione / La Squadra, but rather because i wanted to add more characters to the red scarves. the whole mutant thing is because i really wanted him to have psiionics but also wanted him to be a blueblood, and the fact that his powers are nigh uncontrollable is me reusing original!cve’s chlorokinesis idea, this time the reason being because his body cant handle an ability that supposed to be only seen in lowbloods rather than just Because Shut Up. he was actually supposed to be aggressive and Angry(tm) all the fuckin time, but after a while i considered that his life is actually really fuckin depressing so he gained ‘depression’ as his second emotion. now i try to focus more on his defeatist nature as opposed to anything else because otherwise he feels just kinda one-note.

aislin: is based on Alphys from Undertale, because i really like making characters based on my fav indie rpgs apparently. i got to that part in the game when you realise that alphys has been watching you from the very beginning, and thought a troll with surveillance-based psiionics would be a really neat concept over making Yet Another Geeky Scientist (although ais is interested in science to reference alphys, she just doesnt practice it). in terms of personality, she’s katrin 2.0, because as much as i love kat how she is right now, i really missed her adorably yet painfully shy personality that she used to have. i am also v. protective of ais and the types of trolls she interacts with because i refuse to have another Incident. so its more of a return to original concepts that earlier characters once embodied.

lanthi: came about because A. I was watching Owarimonogatari and i fuckin love Ougi and B. it was finally time for me to make a subjug. her chucklevoodoos are a play on the fact that Ougi is scarily good at prompting people into figuring out the exact answers they’re looking for, and especially in the Sodachi arcs how she was able to make Araragi remember everything about his past that he’d blocked out of his mind just by asking the right questions and the right time. for lanthi, i interpreted that as fabricating memories through suggestion, so her targets become more receptive to listening to her since they suddenly recall her as a familiar face they can trust. i havent really done much with her so i dont rly have anything to say, other than i still have no clue what the fuck she is.

velour: oh boy, velour. i had so many concepts for this fucker that it was hard for me to settle on one. along with being a celebrity fashion designer and vlogger who happens to be a lowkey con artist, other concepts i had in mind were a matchmaker, and a borderline yandere who uses his celebrity status to lure in targets to fall in love with him. i scrapped the latter two ideas (tho now the yandere thing gets referenced by the fact he gets fans paying him to act out their own weird celebrity stalker fantasies LMAO), and somehow managed to mash together all my concepts into an actual troll. he took the longest for me to figure out, and it wasnt until after i made liiore and gave him a past with him + mikiel where everything started to click, but now everything works and im super happy w. him.

liiore: was somewhat of an offshoot of my many velour concepts, since along with the celebrity idea i was also thinking of an ex-celebrity concept as well. also one night i was reading the PokeSpe page on Bulbapedia and it mentioned one of the main characters being an ex-celebrity who became a shut-in after he got too overwhelmed by the lifestyle, and i really liked that concept. so then liiore was born. he was also my 3rd attempt at making a cute shy boy character, except this time i nixed the ‘but also grumpy in a cute way’ so i wouldnt end up with Yet Another Errett or Rosato. now hes a huge dopey ball of adorable shyness.

daimon: so when i first played Awakening i made a Fire Emblem-inspired troll who didnt really click with me so i scrapped them almost immediately. then Fates came around and I fell in love with every single archer but especially Niles and Takumi, so i was like ‘yknow what lets try round 2 for an FE troll’. so dai is a mishmash of all the Fates archers (but Niles remained the main inspiration so that’s why his appearance and personality is closest to him), as well as kinda more Arthur than Setsuna simply because i thought a troll with impossibly bad lukc would be hilarious. and also hilariously tragic, hence his backstory. since i havent really rped him that much he hasnt really changed in concept, but he also became inspired by Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine after i started watching that and now i cannot unsee dai in jake help me.

callan: is based on a combination of ‘The Phantom Thief’ trope, Bungou Stray Dogs (particularly Dazai and Chuuya in terms of design), and the fact i was talking about my faceblindness issues with my parents and thought ‘hey a character who no one can remember what they look like would make a great thief’. and i was thinking about rosato’s backstory and really wanted to make an npc to fill in the gaps re: how he died but whoops i got attached to the concept and now ive got a legit troll on my hands. i was also thinking about how i have way too many pretty + well-dressed + cultured male trolls so i kinda made callan a different spin on my own predicability by making him look smart and cultured but really not giving a shit about anything of the sort. he loves the theatre but only if theyre musicals with a lot of comedy, he steals art and knows his art history but only so that he can definitely steal something of worth that isnt going to end up a forgery, he’s sharp dressed because it attracts attention given his caste, and he drinks beer because he looks like a guy who’d prefer wine.