#purple bunnies are Very Significant to me for Reasons

[f0restteeth]

thinking about rabbits…. thinking even more about jackalopes…. i know this is a predator blog but what if???? what if there are two wolves inside me but one of them is a werewolf and one of them is a funny little jackrabbit creature

[bynineb]

my favorite & least favorite Pokemon from each generation!

GEN 1

FAVE: VENONAT

my lovely buggy boy! this is partly for nostalgic reasons as my very first slot car i built with my father was called VENOM, and had a little Venonat figurine perched on top. but the design is also precious, a Kuriboh style fuzzball gnat in a whimsical purple. also when it runs it hops!!! like a bunny!!!

Runner Ups: Nidorino, Poliwhirl, Porygon, Charizard, Haunter

LEAST FAVE: GOLDUCK

a wet fart of an evolution that loses all of psyduck's walleyed charm and replaces it with... nothing. it has no identity. even its pokedex entries are lame - it can swim fast and that's it. usually the simpler gen 1 pokemon still appeal to me just due to sugimori's art style, but no such luck for the duck.

that being said, i don't completely hate it. it just needs more to latch onto design-wise

Runner Ups: Rapidash, Hypno

(the rest is under the cut!)

GEN 2

FAVE: FLAAFFY

once my all-time favorite pokemon, although that has since been ceded to Venonat, i adore Flaaffy to bits. it has that perfect amount of cuteness and patheticness that endears me to some of my favorite designs, said patheticness owing to its stubby arms, mangy coat, watery eyes, and peculiar bowed stance when it stands up. i love the striped horns and tail, the colors are very pleasant, and the wool gives it a je ne sais quoi that the otherwise similar Ampharos lacks, almost like a wooly muffler and hat. (not knockin Ampharos btw, love it too). there's a reason Fynn took so much inspiration from this fluffy fellow!

(also, the rental Flaaffy in Pokemon Stadium 2 had Thunder Punch and Fire Punch. considering the sorry state of rental movesets in that game, and my lack of an N64 link cable, Flaaffy carrying me through those fights may have helped cement our bond!)

Runner Ups: Skiploom, Dunsparce, Forretress, Unown, Magcargo

LEAST FAVE: TYROGUE

not only does it not really resemble the hitmons - maybe hitmonchan? - it's just not a flattering design. the bandages and ear guards give it some definition and trainee-like character, at least, but the colors are gross, and frankly it just looks too much like a human being. in general i dislike pokemon that too closely resemble humans and Tyrogue is one of the biggest offenders. even its name is dumb! it's not roguish at all! what a hitmonchump

(also the beta version was so much better imo. linked art by @racieb)

Runner Ups: Qwilfish, Smoochum, Noctowl

GEN 3

FAVE: DUSKULL

aww duskull... what a charmingly spooky spirit. the single red eye behind the skull mask is a killer design motif and i love its fishlike phantom body, arms tucked behind its back in eternal contemplation. so halloweeny!

Runner Ups: Trapinch, Lunatone, Illumise, Shedinja, Tropius

LEAST FAVE: DELCATTY

it lacks in personality, and i don't think the color scheme looks good. its head shape also freaks me out the longer i look at it... but i do like that its neck resembling a pincushion, that's clever

Runner Ups: Castform

GEN 4

FAVE: REGIGIGAS

hey look, it's game freak's favorite whipping boy! i'm a sucker for hulking construct-type designs and regigigas is such a thoroughly excellent example of one. the black runes and mossy accessories give it a feeling of ancient, unknown significance. unlike a lot of gen 4 legendaries, it doesn't feel overly busy but still feels complex enough to have that "legendary" impact

Runner Ups: Giratina, Carnivine, Torterra, Bastiodon, Gliscor, Drapion

LEAST FAVE: AMBIPOM

i have to say gen 4's designs usually feel distinct, particularly the new evolutions for older pokemon, which go out of their way to differentiate themselves from their previous form, for better or worse. not so for Ambipom, though!- which is just Aipom but worse in every single way. its once nimble fingers reduced to swollen udders, its cheeky grin slackened into a vacant smile and marred with an unpleasantly singular nostril, that dreadful haircut, and even the introduction of elbows to its vestigial arms that further emphasize the seeming impracticality of those wretched bulbous tail hands. and maybe even worse, it doesn't evolve the base concept in any way, aside from doubling the number of party balloons that limply float behind it, possibly the least interesting iteration on the existing concept

nothing unique to it is good or interesting, and that to me is way worse than a design that tries something new and fails

in terms of what i like about it... i guess it does seem like a pretty friendly guy. maybe he does tricks at parties. and it's nice that they can hold hands with one another in a group

Runner Ups: Gallade, Lopunny, Magmortar, Glaceon,

GEN 5

FAVE: HAXORUS

god if this thing isn't cool! the exquisite color palette, the subtle contours of its armor, the bloodred axe-tusks... elegant simplicity in a terrifyingly brutal beast. it feels out of time, jurassic yet medieval...

Runner Ups: Roggenrola, Heatmor, Scolipede, Cofagrigus, Mienshao

LEAST FAVE: GURDURR

there are very few pokemon that make me feel disgusted by looking at them, but here's one of them. its creepy lumpy head and bulging veins make me deeply uncomfortable. i must give credit for the base concept of a clown-ogre-construction-worker... that's ambitious, at least, and i think it pays off pretty well in Conkeldurr.

Runner Ups: the monkeys, the genies, & the musketeers... the fillerest of filler

GEN 6

FAVE: GOURGEIST

SUCH a fun design. it blends a candle and a jack-o-lantern into its own original creature with a very unique shape, and what a cutie at that! it coming in multiple sizes like a real pumpkin would just seals the deal. another perfectly halloweeny 'mon, it and Duskull would be best friends

Runner Ups: Avalugg, Barbaracle, Clawitzer, Espurr, Trevenant

LEAST FAVE: VOLCANION

one of the pokemon i forget about the most, and i am never happy to remember it. what a waste of the first fire/water type! its face looks constipated, its colors are lame, and it doesn't do jack-all with the concept besides the most obvious "it can shoot out steam." at the very least, though, i can say it has a unique silhouette. i think the design has potential, it's just that a lot of the particulars are very clunky and lame

(also, give me the fireball seal from the beta game freak!!)

Runner Ups: Hoopa, Braixen

GEN 7

FAVE: CHARJABUG

BEEP BEEP!!! oh how i adore this little battery buggy. i didn't think much of it back when it was first revealed, but as soon as i heard its cry i immediately fell in love. it really is unique, too - no other pokemon has this shape. even cooler it has a support-based playstyle unique from its evolution based around its Battery ability, improving its allies' damage passively. thanks charjabug : )

Runner Ups: Type: Null, Celesteela, Bruxish, Stakataka, Melmetal

LEAST FAVE: LYCANROC-DAY

i don't particularly dislike Lycanroc really (Alola's designs are bangers), but the rock typing is so thoroughly phoned in. and if you get rid of that you're just left with a wolf, an animal i don't care about. midnight form is fun though!

Runner Ups: Passimian, Toucannon

GEN 8

FAVE: SNEASLER

this pick is probably not too popular, but i can't help but love Sneasler because it looks so much like what i would doodle in my high school notebooks, monster people with huge claws and wicked eyes. it's a cringe OC and that's badass. it carrying you around in a basket is also just precious...

special mention also to legends arceus for making the diamond/pearl legendaries look way cooler. to me, anyway, i just think they're so much more fun in this surreal state

Runner Ups: Carkol, Cursola, Falinks, Ursaluna, Hatterene, Toxtricity

LEAST FAVE: CINDERACE

i generally don't care for the set of designs made for sword and shield. (my favorite gen 8 mon isn't even from sword/shield!!) it feels like over half of the dex is either a guy with a job, or tries way too hard to be "memetic" and funny. cinderace falls into the former camp, an uncannily humanoid and unnatural design. i also don't like the colors used... that being said, it's going for a very different aesthetic than what i prefer, so i can imagine some people loving this design just as much as I dislike it.

i think the idea of kicking a pebble that becomes a blazing fireball is rad though, and Court Change is a sick move

Runner Ups: Boltund, Eiscue, Kubfu, Coalossal, Skwovet, Greedent

GEN 9

FAVE: GLIMMORA

this perfect angel was one of the most unexpected delights of my scarlet playthrough. i love how otherworldly and surreal it is, its beautiful flower-like blooming petals that conceal its deadly poisonous nature, and its barreleye-fish-like-eyes that are at once adorable and haunting. it's amazing that we're 1000 designs in and game freak's artists are still able to create wholly new feeling concepts that are this cool...

Runner Ups: Slither Wing, Espathra, Houndstone, Ogerpon

LEAST FAVE: RELLOR

WHY DO YOU HAVE THE FACE OF A HUMAN, RELLOR?! WHY!?! i am begging gamefreak to stop giving so many pokemon mustaches and beards. i also don't like the weirdly smooth dunkin-donuts-lookin' dung ball and how none of its colors match the bug's colors... that being said, it does at least have personality, i can't deny that...

Runner Ups: Iron Jugulis, Frigibax, Iron Crown

well that was cathartic! to end on a positive note, i must say that I think Pokemon's overall design track record is very good. most designs have a likeable quality to them, and so many are bursting with creativity and charm. honestly even the ones i just criticized are probably some people's favorites, and they're not wrong to think so. thanks for reading!

[miiilowo]

so uh thoughts?

i assume youre talking about ruin, so. i have a few? gripes? i guess? but a lot of praise as well. i dont hate it thats for sure, its put together far better than the base game, though it does get incredibly repetitive, even just to watch. the parts that are supposed to be scary are effective enough i think, and i really enjoy the darker environments and the general tone a lot more

the AR vanni mask is weirding me out, though it IS cool and a lot of the ar environments are surreal in a way i enjoy. i feel like it definitely has significance to help wanted since thats the same mask we see IN help wanted, and that we'll get more answers once help wanted 2 comes out. i love the purple and the stars and whatnot

im a big fan of all the designs, but security breach has always been good with designs, so no surprises there. the. glitchy rabbit thing could've been done differently but he's not particularly egregious as is. since all he does is summon animatronics he doesn't really need to be super threatening i guess. i really like his design too its freaky i like. genuinely love it

the other side we get to see of roxy was cool, i actually felt kinda sad when that whole interaction w cassie happened. itd be especially fucked if the friends that didnt show up to her party were the dead kids lmao

the most hyped i got during this whole experience was when i saw candy cadet show up ^_^ im serious. i dont know why but i got so fucking excited when he appeared and while im sure his story is significant to the lore i did not get enough sleep to bother even thinking about decoding whatever the hell that means right now

the mimic :( i dont like the mimic :( its better than afton but i dont like the mimic :( at least its not gregbot. and at least the mimic (seemingly) isnt directly related to burntrap or glitchtrap. thats something we're also gonna have to wait and see on. im guessing everybody jumped ship when the pizzaplex collapsed and afton is tucked in somewhere in vanessas house thats my headcanon now

(which also leaves the question of whatever the hell the glitchy bunny is. is it glitchtrap? i donr. know)

i didn't have high standards for it for obvious reasons, and it has exceeded them for obvious reasons. it is just a dlc afterall. a very involved dlc but a dlc nonetheless. however, i have one major complaint and its that theres NO FUCKING VANNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MISS HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE IS SHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH STOP TAKING HER AWAY FROM THE SPOTLIGHT STEEL WOOL I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU

[xthe-writing-vampirex]

DJMM trying to hide his s/o from Vanny and panicking because he could accidentally hurt them if he tried to hide them under his hand(s), his hat's to small to keep them hidden, being behind the booth can only do so much and he doesn't have enough time to go into his tunnels so he just… panic noms

So one of my ideas for DJMM is that he makes little beeping noises along with other mechanical noises with different tones to communicate, kinda like Bumble Bee in Transformers. His S/O will be very accustomed to their meanings after a while. Anyway I hope you enjoy this💕

DJMM x S/O! Reader (⚠Safe Vore)

Word Count: 728

Warnings: ⚠Soft Vore⚠, Mentions of killing reader because Vanny, slight fear

Fandom: FNAF Security Breach

Pairings: DJMM x Reader

————————

You met DJMM when you started hanging out with Freddy and the gang after hours, the night shift got pretty boring after all. At first the giant, spider-like animatronic absolutely terrified you, honestly who wouldn't be afraid of something like that. After joining Freddy for a bit of dancing every few nights however, you began to develop feelings for the quiet DJ.

Now here you were, a few months after you'd first met, dating the animatronic you once feared. He's gentle, kind and gives the best cuddles. Your favorite time of the night is when you simply get to go into the holes in the walls with him and cuddle up in his nest. He kept pillows and plushies of all shapes and sizes in there so you would always feel safe and comfortable. After all, the spider boi wanted nothing more than to protect his little butterfly.

So when the whole fiasco with Vanny began you can bet your life that he was panicking over you. You'd been going all over the pizza plex trying to help find a certain naughty little kid, that is…..until you started seeing someone in a bunny suit with a knife running around. This had just turned into an incredibly dangerous situation and when the bunny locked eyes with you your heart sank. There was only one safe place to go now. Running as fast as your legs would take you, you make your way to the Fazcade and the main animatronic you trust to help you.

As you burst through the doors and run up to DJMM his black eyes widen. What could be causing you to react this way? He doesn't have to question your reaction for long because soon enough a certain skipping murderous bunny makes her way in. MM looks around the room, trying frantically to find some way to hide you from this person who clearly had malicious intentions. The lights glinting off of the knife in her hand told him that. Unable to think of anywhere else to hide you and more or less having a panic attack the DJ picks you up in his gloved hand, carefully putting you past his rows of teeth that are always visible.

At first you have no idea what's happening, you just kind of end up in an odd dark place the color of MM's eyes. Then you're pushed down a type like structure of the same color until you fall into a soft and rather large and hollow space. It's not until the walls start to glow with a swirling purple light that you're able to stop and actually think about what just happened. The last thing you saw was what looked like MM's teeth closing back into place. That's around when the reality of your situation hit you. He had literally swallowed you. You'd come to him for help and for some reason this is what he thought of. You sit frozen in place for a moment before you hear him make a few noises, they're usually the ones he makes when he's concerned about you.

"You ate me! What made you think this was a good idea?" You say, terrified while also being a bit annoyed at your significant other. Your question is answered with a few more concerned boops and beeps. You can't help but sigh, looking up at what you guess must be the entrance to his esophagus. That must have been the tube you fell down. As you look around the glowing cavern you notice just how soft and warm your surroundings were. Despite your fear you had to convince yourself he hadn't done this to harm you. "You're not going to hurt me…..right?" You ask, needing some type of confirmation. MM makes a sad beeping sound and then a slight, almost purr like sound that he usually does to comfort you. That was as close to a no as you're going to get from the silent DJ. After all, he wasn't programmed to speak.

Putting a hand on what you assumed was the stomach wall you try your best to calm down. The silk like texture that moves and dips under your hand makes this all the more real to you.

"Just…..remember to let me out when it's safe." Your request is met with a few more gentle beeps.

————————

[greenshirtimagines]

Tamaki x Painter!Reader

A/n: I absolutely suck when it comes to art but I got this idea and couldn’t stop myself. I also imagine the painting to be like something you would see in Red Swan (the 1st op for Aot s3)

Fem!Reader

(Masterlist)

Word Count: 1.4k

“I love you.”

Three short words that held a world of significance.

And you were dying to say them.

Tamaki and you had known each other since middle school, and had started dating almost half a year ago. But despite your history together, and the endless support from Mirio and Nejire, you were too shy to admit how much you really cared for him.

Even if you had loved him for years.

You glanced over at Tamaki, once again wondering how he would react to your confession.

The two of you were currently having a picnic at the park near UA together, Mirio and Nejire having suddenly bailed at the meeting time, offering up random excuses that made no sense when put together.

It shouldn’t have been awkward in the slightest, after all, before you were a couple you had been friends.

But you felt tense as you couldn’t think of anything but those three words, wondering when would be the appropriate time to say it and fearing the outcome.

“Huh?” Tamaki’s little utter of surprise broke you from your thoughts.

You looked questioningly over at him, only to see a small purple butterfly landing on his finger. He looked at it in wonder, a small smile growing on his face as he lifted his hand closer to his face, his eyes tracing over every line and pattern on its wings.

‘Woah…’

It was magnificent. Not just the butterfly, but Tamaki.

The gentle rays of the sun shined down upon him, giving him a mesmerizing glow as he smiled down at the butterfly.

‘I love you.’

The words were at the tip of your tongue.

‘I love you.’

Why couldn’t you just say it?

“I-”

“Oh, it flew away,” Tamaki sighed, looking after it as it flew towards a flower.

“Oh.”

Tamaki turned to you, and noticed your disappointed face.

“Hey, is everything okay?” He asked, becoming concerned.

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine,” you said, forcing a laugh. “You just looked pretty cute,” you teased.

“Huh? Ohh, b-bunny, d-don’t say that,” he stammered, looking away in a sad attempt to hide his blushing face.

You chuckled a little, feeling a little less awkward. You did like teasing him from time to time.

If only... you could tell him your deepest feelings.

**

A blank canvas. So many possibilities.

You sat in front of your easel, pondering what to put on the white canvas before you. Whenever you felt confused with life, you felt that painting could always help you. Maybe it didn’t always present an answer, but at the very least, it helped you calm down and think.

But every time you put your brush up to the canvas, you stopped, the image of Tamaki at the park flashing before you.

‘That memory is the only thing I want to paint.’

But wouldn’t that be creepy?

You huffed, two parts of your brain debating whether it would be creepy to paint your boyfriend or romantic.

‘Tamaki would have a heart attack if he ever saw it.’

‘But he doesn’t have to see it.’

‘Okay that just makes it sound even creepier!’

‘Okay okay okay, I’m not going to do it!’ You finally thought, deciding to do something else instead.

But before you knew it, you were standing in front of the easel again.

‘Maybe… it won’t be so bad… I can just say it’s for practice…’ you reasoned with yourself.

And so you grabbed your brush and dipped it in paint...

**

“Did I do something wrong? Is she upset with me?”

Recently, you had started spending less and less time with Tamaki, always shooting down his attempts at asking you out with one excuse or another.

“I guess, it was only a matter of time before she got tired of me,” he murmured to himself. “I knew I wouldn’t be a good boyfriend.”

He stopped in front of your dorm room, trying to summon the courage to knock. Mirio and Nejire had both told him to talk to you if it was really bothering him, and although he knew they were right, he didn’t want to. He was scared of what you might say.

He was scared that you would acknowledge his failure as a boyfriend.

But he knew he would have to face the truth sooner or later.

Maybe it was better this was happening before he even got to say I love you.

Reluctantly, he lifted his hand and rapped his knuckles against the door.

“(Y-Y/n)?” He called out, not hearing a thing.

‘I guess she’s not here. I should probably just come again later,’ he thought, happy to have an excuse to avoid confrontation.

‘Unless…’ the voice in the back of his mind whispered, ‘she’s just ignoring you.’

“Ignoring… me?” He said out loud, his heart starting to crack. ‘Maybe she is,’ he thought mournfully. ‘Maybe she feels too guilty to tell me right now that she wants to break up. Maybe she’s hiding in there waiting for me to go away so she can finally feel at peace. Maybe-’

*Crash*

“Huh? (Y/n)? Are you okay?” He yelped, running back to the door.

Again you didn’t respond, and now he was becoming afraid that you were too hurt to say anything. Acting out of pure instinct, he forced the door open, eyes frantically searching for you.

You weren’t there.

Instead, he found your easel in the corner of the room, a canvas resting on it while being covered with a cloth. On a cabinet nearby, an empty jar had tipped over, dropping your paint brushes all over the ground.

‘So it was just her paintbrushes,’ he breathed in relief. ‘I wonder what she’s painting.’

Tamaki had always loved your art. He thought it was so beautiful, almost magical.

Kind of like you.

As he gathered up the paintbrushes from the floor, Tamaki heard a soft thudding noise, and noticed the gray cloth covering the canvas right in front of him. He glanced up, finally seeing what you had painted.

It was him.

He felt his heart skip a beat as he stared at the painting in awe.

‘She painted me? And am I holding a butterfly? Wait… did she paint this after seeing the butterfly land on me at the park? Is this why she’s been avoiding me? Not because she’s mad at me?’ The thought of you not being upset with him lifted a weight from his shoulders, but at the same time, he felt a little confused.

‘Is that really how she sees me?’ He wondered, staring at the way you had portrayed him. ‘Or maybe I just looked that way in the light?’

He couldn’t deny that the painting was beautiful. The way you had painted the golden rays of sunshine basking the viridescent blades of grass in light was breathtaking, and he could tell you had taken special care in painting the delicate violet wings of the butterfly.

But the main focus of the painting was him, smiling in a way he didn’t realize he could.

‘Is that what I look like when I smile?’

With just a few strokes of your brush, you had managed to capture the wonder and warmth Tamaki had felt in that moment, emotion flooding from the painting in waves.

“Tamaki?!”

He jumped, and whirling around, came face to face with a very panic-stricken you.

“Uh, listen, about that painting I, uh… you totally feel creeped out, don’t you?” You asked, crossing your arms and looking away dejectedly.

“No, of course not!” He panicked, not wanting you to get the wrong idea. “I… I don’t know why’d you want to paint me, but I feel honored,” he blushed. “It’s a really beautiful painting. You did a great job. I almost feel like it’s too pretty to be just me.”

“Too pretty to be just you?” You choked, your look of dejection being replaced by one of disbelief. “Tamaki you’re gorgeous. And I mean it. You don’t realize just how handsome you are.”

He turned completely red, starting to tremble slightly.

“B-butterfly don’t-”

“When I saw you holding the butterfly, I knew I had to paint that scene because in that moment, you were the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” you confessed. “It’s only a beautiful painting because I painted beauty itself.”

He stared at you in shock, his brain going numb.

You took a step closer to him.

“That… and… I put all my love into every stroke,” you said shyly.

“All your love?” He repeated, his heart racing as he started understanding the situation. Were you going to say you loved him? Were you going to say the words he’d been dying to hear, and the ones he’d been dying to say?

“Yes, my love, Tamaki,” you smiled. “I love you.”

And in that moment, you were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Tamaki may have missed out on a lot of things due to his anxiety, but he wasn’t a fool. He wouldn’t miss out on this moment or your love.

“I love you too, butterfly.”

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 10x14: Look at the Flowers - First Thoughts

How did everyone like the episode? I have to say, me and my fellow theorists were really worried this would be a supremely boring episode for TD. The spoilers were just so lack luster. Nothing like last week when we found out about Rick’s boots, you know? So we just hoped we would see some good symbolism. The kind of stuff the spoilers wouldn’t ever touch on.

I’m happy to say that there really is tons of good symbolism in this episode. It does feel a bit like a filler episode, because nothing huge happens. There are basically two story lines going on here. Eugene’s group heading out to meet Stephanie, and in that respect it’s a bridge to that story line because we only see them traveling but they don’t truly “get there” before the end of the episode. And the rest is a huge turning point in Carol’s arc. Which is great, but something like that is always going to be a little less interesting to us TDers. But, thankfully, I saw plenty of things that made me super excited for what’s to come.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x14. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***

Eugene, Yumiko and Zeke:

I’ll give you the best one first. Out of a clear blue sky, Eugene starts taking about CHOCOLATE BUNNIES for Easter. Not only has the rabbit symbolism been around since S4, but Eugene actually mentions Easter. And what does Easter celebrate? Resurrection. The Stephanie expedition is SO gonna lead to Beth. Plus, they were next to a set of train tracks during this convo, and Eugene even points that out, so I think that’s important.

When Zeke’s group reached the city, there was tons of pink and purple galore. And that’s because of the Princess character, but those colors are important. There’s the pink theory, of course. But there is also lots of purple and fuchsia. Purple is actually a big color when it comes to the Christian holidays of Advent and Lent. I’ll get into more of that tomorrow.

Furthermore, a lot of the walkers the Princess has dressed up and chained up look exactly like the Rich Bitch walker from Still.

Also, with the police walker? They find a car with a walker cuffed to the steering wheel and the cop walker cuffed to the front buffer. The car’s airbags are deployed. Not only is there an imprisonment theme going on there, but it reminds me of Carol getting hit by the Grady car. And also of the sighting of Emily being seen driving one of the cop cars around. It’s almost like the Princess set this up like a humorous scene. A car hitting a cop. And they draw attention to it by having Zeke laugh at it. That just screams Grady to me.

Along the way, Eugene’s group saw walkers in cages with a bird. Mostly, I think it was a foreshadow of imprisonment. And specifically, an imprisoned bird.

Let’s talk Zeke for a minute. They are SO setting up his death fake out. While I still can’t say exactly when it will come, I do suspect that he won’t make it back from this trip in a conventional way. I think Yumiko and Eugene will “lose” him and think he’s dead and return to tell Carol that he’s “gone.” And then, because she finally decided to get it together and start again, she’ll have tons of guilt and grief. 

I just felt like everything about Zeke’s stuff here was heavily foreshadowing that. They camped under a bridge. There was a flower graffitied on the pillar of it. Reminded me of the one by Carol and Tara in s8. His horse died of a walker bite. (And you know, this is a minute detail, but I’m wondering if it won’t be a matter of someone simply using radiation to heal his cancer, but rather, like the other fake outs, there will be a walker bite and they’ll be treating him specifically for that and sort of heal his cancer by accident.)

When his horse dies,  Zeke kills it and is very emotional and wants Yumiko to promise that if he falls while in the city, she’ll leave him behind. She says no, but just feels like a really obvious foreshadow.

I also had a thought about Eugene. My fellow theorists and I have often discussed the scene from 5x05 when Eugene sits on the fire truck and reads the book, “The Shape of Things to Come” and then Maggie talks to him about Sampson. It’s just such a blatant biblical reference and we’ve always struggled to understand its significance for Eugene. 

So, it occurs to me that Eugene used to have short hair and now it’s super long. Like all the way down his back. He used to be weak and afraid but he’s kind of become a badass in his own right. At least, as far as killing walkers goes. His speech about being the fool brought Sampson to mind because Sampson is often seen as Delilah’s fool. I’m just wondering if Eugene has become Sampson and Stephanie will be his Delilah.

Beta:

So Beta’s back and probably wants revenge for Alpha’s death. Dude is definitely not going gentle into that good night.

The place Beta went to definitely smacked of the golf club, and there were tons of important symbols in there. (Booze, crosses, a guitar, etc.) I’ll get to more of them tomorrow.

The song lyrics have some interesting themes.The first one is Emily’s Turtle and Monkey song. The last one is too, I believe. The one in the middle is different. I have a lot to say about the song lyrics. I’ll get into that tomorrow. 

And it occurred to me that we once again have a representation of Alpha and Beta being an evil twin version of Beth and Daryl. Beta breaking the guitar could represent Beth getting shot, and he’s lost Alpha in much the way Daryl lost Beth. Then, at the end, he wears some of Alpha’s face, which is a sick, twisted version of Daryl keeping Beth’s knife. Carrying a part of her with him. Then he marches off to war, just as Daryl would participate in AOW and the Whisper Wr.

Carol:

Let’s talk Carol first. While I know the shippers are running wild, I don’t even particularly feel like addressing that. They’ll always come up with something totally ludicrous. And remember, they believed this was the episode where Daryl and Carol would hook up or declare their undying love. Or…something. Once again, that didn’t even come close to happening.

But I’ll point out some things here that will show how exactly the opposite is happening. While this is a major, turning point in Carol’s arc, she’s also a proxy for Beth here, and I’m pretty sure she returned to Alexandria to patch things up with Zeke.

Okay, Carol does mental battle with herself in the form of Alpha, right? And it’s actually really interesting if you listen to what’s being said. Everyone Carol has ever lost is mentioned, including Lizzy, Mica, Sophia, and even Ed. Alpha razzes her about being a defective parent and says Ed was right about her. It’s pretty brutal, but obviously Carol doing battle with her own soul.

Then she gets trapped under the boat and the debris from the shed. Alpha encourages her to just accept her death and let it bite her. (Insight about that in a minute.) Carol, of course, breaks free and kills the walker, saving herself. She says, “it’s never too late.”

So, I think this is very much an epiphany moment for Carol and she’s probably going back to start over, patch things up with Zeke and try to be human again. She doesn’t say that or anything, but it says a lot that she was trying hard to leave the group (a la S5-s7) but after this breakthrough, so goes back to Alexandria of her own accord.

Honestly guys, this gives me a little bit of hope for Carol. I’ve been thinking lately that she’s on a Shane-esque downward spiral that she’s really not ever going to recover from. Up until now, she’s been so all-consumed with killing Alpha, that she really couldn’t focus on anything. But now, some part of her recognizes that it’s not too late and probably wants the happiness she once had with Zeke. It’s a big enough part of her that she actually went back to Alexandria. That’s good. That’s a big change for her.

Do I think she’s going to get the happiness just yet? Mmmm….no.

I’ll talk about this more below, but I’m pretty sure Zeke’s death fake out will come before he returns from his trip with Eugene. So just when Carol gets it together and wants to patch things up with him, she’ll find out he’s “died.” Yeah, everyone’s life sucks. But it will just be a death fake out. Still, this mentality from Carol is a step in the right direction.

The insight I mentioned above? The” look at the flowers” line comes from Alpha when she’s encouraging Carol to let the walker bite her. She says, “you should just look at the flowers.” And she’s encouraging her to accept her death. I’d never thought of it quite that way before, but that phrase doesn’t just mean death. It means to accept death and not fight to live. If you think of how it was used before with Lizzie and Mica, that was true too. But Carol fights to live and kills the walker and goes back to Alexandria to start again. That’s why it’s such a big deal for her. She chooses to move forward instead of running away again. And only when she does that does Ghost Alpha disappear. Just thought that was interesting.

Okay, so how is Carol a proxy for Beth. Watching the episode the first time, I was a little mystified by the ending. It almost felt like a time jump. We see Carol say, “it’s never too late,” and Daryl and Negan decide she won’t be returning to the boundary, so they head home. 

Then we see her approaching the gate of Alexandria and Daryl is already there. It was just kind of…abrupt. We didn’t see them journey home. So not a huge jump. A few hours or the next day, but still. We don’t really know if the Hilltoppers went to Alexandria or not (I’m gonna assume they did, until we find out otherwise). We don’t know if Negan is there too (again, I’ll assume he is because he was with Daryl). And we still don’t know what’s up with Aaron, Alden, baby Adam, Luke, or Lydia. It’s like they jumped way ahead in the story for some reason.

Then I rewatched it, and a particular line jumped out at me that sort of brought the entire thing together. Let’s backtrack for a minute. So, when Carol gets trapped under the boat? I pictured it differently after reading the spoiler. I assumed it would flip over and land over her and she’d be trapped in the natural dome of space beneath it, created by an upside down boat. But it’s not just the boat that falls. The entire shed collapses and there’s heavy debris resting on her chest and pinning her painfully to the ground. I had the thought that visually it looked a lot like the trapped walker Morgan killed after the credits in Coda.

But what made me really consider it was Negan and Daryl’s convo. Negan says “not to spin a broken record, but I don’t think she’s coming back.” Obviously the record thing stood out to me (and Beta also plays a record so there’s a music/record theme going on). But not until watching it the second time did the entire line of dialogue hit me.

He’s obviously talking about Carol, but the line could be applied to Beth. And should be because of the record reference. “I don’t think she’s coming back.” To which Daryl replies, “I know.” Then he leaves, rather than waiting for or searching for Carol. So, he accepts that she’s not coming back and moves on (kind of like he did with Beth). But after that, at a later time and completely independent of him, Carol shows up at Alexandria. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Meanwhile Eugene and Zeke are headed toward Grady. Um, I mean, some random hospital. ;D

Okay, I’ll stop there for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with details. What did you think of the episode?

[cosmosbunnies]

How Fire Emblem Fates tried, and failed, to live up to Awakening.

Fire Emblem Awakening was a tonal and mechanical masterpiece. It set a new bar for Fire Emblem games and the like, so Fates had a lot to live up to. And boy, did it try. And fail. I've got about a million complaints about this game, but I'll list my top three here:

Setup

Fire emblem awakening's avatar, Robin, was relatable. Not in deep ways, but we could sympathize with their situation. They knew exactly what we knew about the world – nothing. They awoke with amnesia and were found by the royal family. Amnesia is a wrote plot point, but its popularity is not baseless. In games especially, dropping the player into the second act allows for swift action, and playing catchup in the story comes for naturally to a player who knows everything their character does, meaning dialogue and exposition can come across as being natural and not ham-fisted.

On the other hand, we have Fates. Mind you, I have only played Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, but I believe these problems extend to Birthright as well; the setup is bad. Instead of giving our player character no knowledge of the world around them via amnesia, they use a different method; seclusion. Corrin as a character is locked away inside of the Nohrian castle throughout their entire childhood and is only allowed in the outside world during the rising action of the story. This, akin to Robin, gives them no knowledge of the world around them. There's one key distinction, however; the family. In Conquest, Corrin knows their family well, and there is an existing dynamic that was built up long before we, the player, entered the scene. So, while Corrin knows nothing of the war and the land, they know much of these characters – and we do not. This flows very poorly. The characters end up awkwardly barking out their relationship to our main character in expositional dialogue before we ever end up even fighting alongside them, instead of having those relationships grow in real-time as we play and allowing us, the player, to form a relationship with the cast based in mechanics while Corrin gets to know them in the narrative. Corrin already loves the cast, regardless of what we think, and we have no choice in the matter. Fates makes the erroneous assumption that the player's interest in the world around them exists in a vacuum, but in reality an average player is interested in how the world exists in relation to the established characters and mechanics, not in the Deep Lore. In fact, Deep Lore is called just that because players who desire knowledge of the world are willing to go to greater lengths to uncover it than players who do not care. This is what in-game history books are for.

Marriage

Fire Emblem Awakening introduced a new mechanic: marriage. Your characters' relationships would grow organically as they fought, and this would eventually lead to (straight) marriage, which would eventually lead to children. The plot of the game involved time travel, and thus a new system was born; the child soldiers. Children are born of your units, your units die in the future, and those children grow up alone and scared, learning to fight for themselves. Eventually, they all get together and use the fire emblem to go back in time. They meet their parents. They introduce themselves. They fight, as they always have, but this time with hope renewed. This created a fantastic dynamic; a younger solider in their prime, with a child they know they'll eventually have but are meeting for the first time. Throw in some well written, natural dialogue, a few fun time travel jokes, and you've got yourself a compelling personal story. It also tied into the main plot in a significant way, having Lucina be a product of this same time travel fiasco. Fire Emblem Fates takes a… different approach. Halfway through act II of the story, you enter an alternate universe. The place is strange, scary and full of mindless evil entities. You meet a character who had been presumed dead, and you fight your way out with him in tow. Upon leaving, you're informed that if any of your characters mention this alternate reality to anyone, they will cease to exist. The point is then dropped, and the unrelated story continues. This puzzled me… A lot. Why did this exists? Was is setting up a structure for a future plot point? Was it world building? I had no idea, I was completely confused.

And then Corrin married.

This was my first marriage in the game, as honestly, none of the characters (save for Niles/Odin, and Effie/Mozu) had what I saw as a real connection, so I waited some time. Corrin and Keaton got married. A popup appeared onscreen afterwords. “A baby was born. The baby is placed in an alternate reality to grow up safe from harm, but a side effect of this reality is that time flows differently, making the children grow up very quickly.” Ah. I see. It makes sense now – the alternate universe is a plot contrivance, created in service to the brand of “You can have children and fight alongside them.” So then you pluck these kiddos from their isolated homes one by one, skipping over the major plot hole of 'Corrin spent nine months fighting while pregnant and then had a baby in the middle of a war? How long did this war take?' and jumping right to “Let's recruit child soldiers.” And so you do. You recruit every child to fight, much to the apparent behest of the mother and father. There is no reasoning to explain why these sensible adults are asking young teenagers to fight in a deadly war. It's simply a fun mechanic, and the game does not expect us to think about it. Except it strips the system of its most important aspects: A) The children do not HAVE to fight to save a doomed world, and B) The parents and the children know one another well. This has removed both the believability of the plot point and the charm in the interactions, leaving us with strange relationships bland dialogue that has an overabundant use of the word “daddy,” which should be purged from every writer's page as it is written.

Incest

You can just. You can just marry your siblings in this game. And have children with them.

At first I though Camilla's apparent attraction to the player character was simply because she was explicitly designed for horny fans to drool over. While this is still true, it's not the only reason she shows an interest in her sibling, as she's more than willing to marry and have children with them. “Oh, it's fine!” You might say. “They're not siblings by blood, you see, so it's morally fine!” Which is the stance the game seems to take. I am not going to explain why incest bad. I will also not drone on about how in the game's counterpart, Birthright, your player is related by blood for plot purposes, but as not to miss out on banging your siblings, each sibling will explain just before marrying you that you're actually not related to them by blood either. Nope, definitely not going to touch that subject.

Small gripes:

I lied about only listing three things. Here are a few notable issues

-You can dress your characters up in stupid looking accessories that add nothing to the game and 95% of the time clip heavily inside the character's model. The characters ASK you to dress them up, and some of them even comment on how silly this is during a war.

-“A+” rank is a cop-out created in an attempt to appease the Queer community without alienating any fans, and the fact that they couldn't be bothered to write any dialogue for the A+ rank relationships shows their lack of interest in queer representation while they sit back and get praise of major publications for “progressivism”

-In the Japanese version you pet your friends on the face Pokemon-Amie style to get them to like you more. I am glad they removed this for the western release

-In the final cinematic, they paid a team of animators to animate your character's first-person experience as they run face-first into their sisters boobs, which joyfully go “Boioioing” and shake like maracas as you reel.

-Sometimes you walk in on your allies naked in the hot springs. You walk all the way in, sit down, relax and stare at the naked peer for seconds before they say “Hey I'm uh… Naked here.” As which point Corrin goes “Sorry!” and sprints out of the room with the speed of a cheetah. I do not know why this happens.

-Keaton is unreasonably erotic when you marry him. Fully voice-acted, he whispers sweet nothings into your ear as the screen fades to black. He is a furry's wet dream. This is not a complaint.

-The story toys with this “abusive father with a family of children who are closer for having a common enemy with whom they have a love/hate relationship” thing, but fails to say ANYTHING meaningful on the subject. It's just empty story dressing

-At one point, you have to choose to either kill or spare a person who just tried to kill you. If you spare him, he joins your party. This goes nowhere, and puzzles me as a narrative choice. He doesn't even bother to betray you or anything, he simply stops mattering.

-Nohr should be dark, gloomy, fun and interesting, and instead it fails to spark the imagination even slightly, instead being “Bland fantasy setting but some of the trees are dead.” Give me some purple and black in that color palette! C'mon!

-There are two wolfskin characters. They are different genders, different heights and weights, but use the same exact model in wolf form. Compare these to the bunny people in awakening who have my heart forever, and this is a major insult.

Thanks for reading

[criticalpracticeabigailmorton]

My significant thing : chosen object 

Context Analysis

The Opuntia Microdasys, also known as the bunny ear cactus or angel’s wings originates and can be found growing in Mexico due to the intense heat and hot climate of the country. It is a small cousin of the more commonly known prickly pear cactus. The bunny ear cactus gets its name from the distinctive circular pads that take a similar shape and form of that of a rabbit ear. The addition of the glochids, which from afar look like fur. This creates an illusion, giving the cactus a fluffy appealing appearance, which again suggests a bunny correlation. However, these glochids are actually tiny spikes that when in contact with skin can cause an irritating pain. Therefore, when handling the cactus, it is highly recommended to wear thick gloves. This particular cactus is a great house plant and in fact is significant to me for this very reason. It was a moving gift I received from my mother. It’s an easy house plant to look after as its main requirements are a sunny window ledge and seldom watering, especially in the colder months of the year. When found in the wild, its often observed that these cacti can grow beautiful yellow flowers in the summertime and produce circular purple fruits as well.

Formal Analysis

The object stood in front of me is visually alluring and inviting. It stands tall, formed from a series of bulbous green growths. Round like discs they spread up and out, multiplying and duplicating their shape and form. The cluster of circular dacrocyte shapes screams health with its magnificent green. As you look closer you can see a perfect pattern of scattered yellow fluff in a polka dot formation. The soft appearance of the small mounds in contrast to the glossy smooth green skin invites me to feel its texture. It is anti-climactic to touch, in fact there was no sense of a warm fuzz. Ironically, I realise that the fluffy texture I once believed existed has pierced my fingers and left me with an irritating pain. These splinters are so minute I have to skint my eyes to focus closely on their shape. Tiny microscopic knifes have engraved deep into my skin.

[heravenueexpert-blog]

Queens of Mewni & Their Cheek Symbol

So, I just thought to make the list of the cheek symbols of the Queens of Mewni for my next analysis (the significance of these cheek symbols). The first column were the image of the queens, second is their cheek symbols, third is symbolism’s meaning I got from the internet, and fourth is what traits I think you needed to get that symbol in the SVTFOE universe (in short, what the symbol signifies). 

SVTFOE Card Suite Symbolism speculation:

Heart - people with this symbol are very lovable and has a distinguishing “charm” that naturally attracts people and come to her side. They prioritize their relationship with others compared to anything else and usually let their heart dictates their action (emotional). They are often found as center of the group

Spade - people with this symbol wields strong and fearsome power, even more powerful than normal and typical queens.

Diamond - people with this symbol have the tendency to take the center of command and shoulder the burden and responsibility by their selves. They dress in jewelry and finery, conducting their selves as befitting of nobility.

Club - people with this symbol have the “common” mindset. They appreciate the values that works for the greater whole of society and hates anything that could destroy the social order they are comfortable and grew up in already.

Color symbolism speculation:

Shades of purple - elegance, nobility, regal

Yellow - bright, lively

Pink - lovely, feminine, 

White - harmony, power, everything (as it is combination of all colors of light. That’s why Moon said you must give everything if you want to “dip down”)

Queen’s Traits Analysis:

With exception of Queen Bunny, Skywynne and Celena (due to the fact we don’t know much about them), the rest do have some sort of basis. Now to explain. . .

Queen Bunny - unknown name and history, I suspect that this girl might actually be the first queen of Mewni. Her character design looks adorable, so I put it there. Her cheek symbol is the bunny, which isfluffy and cute. Not to mention, bunnies are connected to moon in some culture and moonlight gives off a “gentle” vibe. This is why I guess that she might be a gentle character. On the other hand though, she may be cruel and such (the one who established Mewni Kingdom). I imagine this character to be the opposite of Eclipsa. While Eclipsa is the “Darkness” that rules the night, she might be the moon’s “Light” that illuminates and fights off the darkness the night wields (aka monsters and such which is not necessarily a good thing).

Queen Eclipsa - probably most powerful queen we’ve known so far (Star is still a princess). I remember reading once that “Spades” is considered the most “powerful” card (particularly, the King of Spades. And Ace of Spade is traditionally considered the highest card in the deck though it depends on the game). Spades is speculated to be derived from “spada” which means swords, and is represented by knights and nobility. And considering it also represents winter and the power of darkness, I think the symbol is pretty fitting for her.

Queen Solaria - honestly she reminded me of Star’s personality a lot and I expect that this would be Star’s path if it weren’t for Marco (just look at Mr. Candle Cares). A warrior-type who kicks monster’s asses and very strong and chaotic? Yup, sounds like Star. The fact that Star’s Princess song states that she’s a “bolt of lightning”, further proves that people with this symbol brings destruction and chaos in their wake. I guess the reason why Star’s symbol is “Heart” instead of lightning bolt is because her caring and love towards her friends and family are stronger than her destructive nature. Now as for the internet meanings. . . A symbol of loss of ignorance: “a castle stormed is a hero born” the castle was stormed before she became a hero that’s bound for many tragedies that can make one lose innocence (besides, I doubt you can be called ‘innocent’ if you keep crushing monsters). Represents punishment of humans from gods: in this case, she represents the Mewmans who rule Mewni (also possibly influence even the heavens and other dimensions)·and “punishes” the monsters. In dreams, lightning is a symbol of terrible event and negativity: she’s the nightmare for her enemies.

Queen Celena - I know there are others who headcanon that her cheek symbol were crescent moons. However, I think “?” would be more fitting since it’s “unknown”. Question mark is usually used symbol for mystery and curiosity. Although I just used that as a default for unknown. Besides, their cheek symbols would usually have nothing to do with their names (although it may show in their wands). Great example is Star Butterfly whose cheek symbol is a heart, while her wand’s head has a star. Celena has diamond for a head jewel with moon crescents on the fan. But if I have to make a guess, the likely symbol Celena’s cheeks bear might be a book. To be more specific, the shape on her plaque description:

This speculation is base from the fact that Solaria's plaque is on the shape of her cheek symbols:

Queen Moon and Eclipsa doesn’t have their plaques in the shape of their cheek symbol but their symbols are diamond and spade respectively. Maybe those with card suites have a different kind of plaque as symbol. Anyways, it’s just speculation and this is the only basis to back it up.

Queen Festivia - similar to Moon, her cheek symbol is seen as “diamond” though there are subtle differences such as the difference in color shade and that Moon’s diamond is straighter while Festivia is more curved inwards making it look like a “four pointed star”. I find Festivia and Moon similar in some aspects such as their way and principles when it comes to ruling. They both choose to shoulder the responsibility and the burden of the country alone, letting the people live in ignorant bliss. The difference is that people are aware of the situation in Festivia’s case, she just choose to “party” to divert their worries away and make them forget they are in a perilous situation. Meanwhile, Moon just didn’t mention that there’s a national problem (having the heritage book stolen and the most powerful, all-knowing being taken by the bad guys) to keep the peace and not cause panic, intending to take it back by herself and smooth everything over as if nothing happened. Going back to Queen Festivia, she sounds very admirable to me and from her description, gives a vibe of what a queen should be. This is why I gave her the poise, elegant, and regal in my description (traits she shares with Moon). However, the difference is that Festivia knows how to have fun. She has the relaxing feeling of nobleness and grandeur to it considering that her wand is a chalice and she parties. She’s quite the opposite of Moon in this aspect, as Moon is more serious, strict and can be pretty unemotional sometimes. Her cheek symbol can actually be a “sparkle”, something that which symbolizes her grandeur and extravagant way of doing things.

Queen Skywynne - not much is known about Skywynne. The only thing I can come up with her personality is that she’s very knowledgeable and organized considering that she created A LOT of great spells in the book which mostly involves time and movement. It’s safe to say that her forte is “space time”. Which reminds me, I suspect that she’s actually the one who wrote the “Table of Contents” in the middle of the book. The Book of Spells looks very unorganized as the previous queens and princesses just jotted down their spells on the book. Maybe realizing this, she wrote the table of contents (which would explain why it’s in the middle of the book) to organize it and help future generation of princesses. Her symbol is the Hourglass, which is connected with time. I guess that I see her trait as “organized” is not only because she looks responsible and knowledgeable (the head of the class/ smart student representative type), her symbol is time which you can connect with “time management”. Besides, you need to be in good control and organized the variables in your mind to mess with time and space, right? If you mismanaged it, things will get really messy with time loops and plot holes. So that’s the basis for the assumption why she is an “organized” type of person. The “J” in myer’s briggs.

Queen Moon - in the beginning of the series, Moon is shown to be the perfect example of what a perfect Queen should be described by the textbook (it’s to the extent that Star calls her old-fashioned for how she keeps traditions and everything). This is why poise, elegant, and regal is in her immediate description. However, as shown later on, you will see that she is not really “perfect”. She has her flaws as you would see in the later episodes where Glossaryck even scolded her for interfering with Star’s training, when Star herself would often get in disagreement with her mom to the point where she get “mother issues”, and when the citizens got angry at her for omitting facts. Nonetheless, she may not be perfect, but she’s still a good character who is trying her best to keep everything together (even though some won’t agree on her ways). She is very responsible in the sense that she tries to take all the burden on herself to the point that she denies herself of “happiness” as she finds it only trivial compared to the duty of a Queen. And even though she can be unfeeling sometimes and despite how many times she get into disagreement with her daughter, you can also see how much she cares and loves her family. She also shown to show care for children such as Ludo who lost his path and the “shame” of the family. I compared her to Festivia earlier, and although they both have “diamond” shapes, Festivia’s line is curved making it look more like a sparkle (maybe that’s where the grandeur and fun way of living came from?) while Moon is more straight diamond shape (showing that she’s much more strict and serious).

Star, Future Queen of Mewni - her symbol is pretty fitting since she is “The Heart” of the series. The story focuses mainly on her adventures with Marco and the plot moves along with her actions. But not only she is the “center”, plot-wise, she is also became the “center” in her social groups. Marco wouldn’t have gotten closer with Jackie if not for Star pushing for it. Starfan13 and Oscar never really has direct relation to Marco aside from Star. And although Janna does show interest in Marco, it’s not to the point where she can visit his house or anything until Star came along and formed the group of friends. Not to mention, Star is also the “lynchpin” to many of Marco’s friends and acquaintances, especially to those who came from the other dimension of wonder and adventures (Glossaryck, Ponyhead, Tom, King Butterfly, Buff frog, etc). Despite being chaotic and destructive, you will easily find Star in the center of social groups and can get along fine with almost anyone. She has this “charming” nature in her. It’s the kind that gives her a very amiable vibe and lets any people feel accepted and have a sense of belongingness in her presence. I think this is why she easily finds friends who has great attachment and loyalty to her (Marco and Ponyhead being the biggest example. It’s to the point that they can get along even if the are total opposite of each other with personalities clashing against another). She has a big heart that can accept anyone for who they are. Even if you are a troublemaker (Ponyhead), a stalker (Starfan13), a weirdo (a lot, but let’s go with Janna), or whatever kind of person that would usually make people judge you, she will treat you in an open and equal manner. The only thing is, don’t threaten her or suppress her. This is Queen Moon’s and Tom’s (and sometimes, Marco’s as when he stopped Star from doing something dangerous and they got into a big fight for it) biggest mistake. She hated her mom for trying to force her in doing things she didn’t want to do, and she broke up and refused to talk to Tom anymore for his anger issues (from the looks of it, he blows up when Star doesn’t do things he wanted her to do). Star loves freedom and hates suppression. However, she has one weakness and that is her “friends”. Loyalty is her strong point, but people can use “friendship” to make her do their bidding as she is the type who is willing to bend down and do anything if it’s for the sake of keeping her friends (something which Glossaryck often exploited).

=

Bonus:

Star symbol - people at the top. They can be either be famous or notorious (the “star” personality). It’s a symbol for power too. Example is Aunt Etheria (who is in a position to advice Moon against her decisions. Having enough screentime and lines, it’s safe to assume to be among the distinguished and influential personalities in the Butterfly family). The other example is Ponyhead who has this symbol in her eyes. I am guessing people with this symbol easily attracts people’s attention or among the top people on the food chain. Last example is Star’s wand which also have a Star symbol at it’s center (in Star’s case, I think that means her magic is “specially” powerful even among the previous queens). It doesn’t necessarily mean that people with these symbol will be “Top 1″ though, it’s just that they have charisma to stand along the top people. To put it simply, they have the “star” factor.

(Note: I only made the first picture with paint, so don’t judge the pic).

[ne1comics]

My Gender

​I've been having a lot of trouble writing lately. Whatever, it happens. It's not like I'm doing it for a living or even for any money at all anyway. But yesterday I started writing this. I think if I get this all out I'll be able to write again like I used to. It started as a poem but I hated it. I don't know what to call it now. It's not a confessional. It's not coming out. It's not educational in any way. I'm just talking. I know lots of you are tired of hearing me talk about gender. Or you love when I talk about gender because hey, at least Connar isn't talking about politics for once. The truth is, although I've come out of Facebook, most people I talk to don't know I'm genderqueer, they just think I'm a guy who dresses odd even feminine sometimes, they don't believe there's more than 2 genders or a combination of all 3. The only people left in my friends list are people who haven't outright expressed views that make me feel unsafe which isn't a whole lot of people. Worse than that, I don't know if my parents know yet. I've made the information available. They have Facebook. I express my gender in how I dress around them. I've just never had a conversation about it with them. They are great parents who support me no matter what, but we don't talk about personal stuff ever and both of them drop casual transphobia and misogyny without realizing they are doing anything wrong. Shut up, Connar, no one wants to hear about that. This isn't my back story about coming to terms with my queerness, although I guess it is. This isn't me dissecting everything I did as a kid and how it should have been obvious to me sooner, although I guess it is. This is about me writing a thing down because I need a therapist but you guys will have to do, although I guess it's not. It's easy for me to write this then dissociate long enough to hit post than it is for me to just talk to anyone about any of this in real life. Trust me, I'm going to want to delete this in embarrassment in a day, a week, a month, a year. I'm not going to let myself do that so just do me a favor and don't read this. Especially the bad poetry. It's such bad poetry. My gender is pedals arranged from lightest to darkest before a breeze washes them away. It's a box of chocolates that are sometimes reese's and sometimes dark caramel. A tadpole swimming away as you place a bare foot in the cool rushing water. Not many people know this. I'm not sure why they would. I don't tell people and I don't talk about it. Maybe I'm embarrassed because it's unofficial. I'm definitely embarrassed for a ton of other internalized stuff. I have self diagnosed dysphoria and dissociation. The dysphoria I've had for a long time, a very long time in fact. I was only able to confidently identify it in myself in the past 2 years or so. None of that should be all that surprising given that I came out as genderqueer last year. The dissociation I have known about longer but told fewer people about. My gender is the trees you can't see as the dawn blinds you. It's the active volcano 150 years past its last predicted eruption. The black marching jacket bought as a Halloween costume and worn year round. I used to have a temper when I was younger. Looking back, it's kind of obvious now that I was lashing out from being frustrated by the dysphoria. I was frustrated by a lot of thing actually. I wouldn't just throw tantrums when I didn't get my way. I was quiet most of the time. The tantrums were thrown when I would try to speak and got interrupted. The tantrums were thrown when I would try to use reason like the adults told us to use and was ignored even by those same adults. Then of course, if my logic was wrong, I would argue it anyway, hating not being right. Friends aren't easy to keep when you act like that. I kept that temper for a long time but somewhere along the way, where tantrums would have been, dissociation took their places. My gender is the bear explaining that its cubs are nearby as you continue to approach. It's the phone going to voicemail but not leaving the message. The blue bleeding into the purple but only on a field of black. Sure, my temper still flared sometimes in middle school and high school. If you beat me at any game, you ran the risk of seeing it resurface. I really was a sore loser. Unfortunately, my classmates saw a major meltdown when Mr. Sullivan taped a childhood picture of me in a pink bunny costume on the board. But for the most part, my mind removed me from lots of situations. Dissociation doesn't mean I sat there zoned out. I would continue conversations, participate in group settings, interact with classmates the same, but it wasn't me. I remembered things that happened as if I was looking at myself from the outside. There was no emotion attached to anything I was saying or doing. So much became about a performance of what I thought other people would do in situations without draw any attention to myself. Marching band made it easy to justify to myself that this was what everybody did. I still felt different, but I was playing a part just like everyone else. My gender is a gesture to three stars saying, "there's orion's belt, and his legs there, and that's his sword." It's never being able to pick out another constellation. A retreat from the aliens before the ship opens. As I began to recognize I was dissociating, a lot of things became easier. I mislabeled things I did because my brain was refusing to feel fear, or disgust, or shame in those moments. Then, when I was dissociating, I could do some things again because I knew I had already done them. Mislabeling emotions became too commonplace. Even now I'm still reassigning the correct emotions to past relationships. I had friendships that I realize now may have been attraction. I had girlfriends who I wasn't attracted to, to me strictly platonic so I accidentally lead them on. I made enemies and straight up hated people I actually maybe cared about keeping in my life. My gender is a conspiracy theory about the mechanics of time travel. It's disguised as novel, no, a comic, no, a TV show, no, a novel. The funds being spent on rent but the theory proven correct in memories being reframed. A pretty great thing about dissociation is the lack of ownership of my body. My pain tolerance is pretty astronomical if I know the pain is coming. This was ideal for playing cymbals in drum line, carrying around the largest saxophone, and getting hit in the face with a soccer ball. I could do anything to my body without much thought. My sister pierced my ears in our parents' bathroom. I stretched those to 1/2" guages. I dyed my hair crazy colors. I grew it out. I shaved it into a Mohawk, then bald the day before my driving permit picture. I got a tattoo as soon as I turned 18. I don't regret any of that, though I guess I do want to change the male symbol on my back to something more accurate. Planning is something I did for a lot of stuff, but when big stuff was happening in the moment, my dissociation would say "just do it, that's not even you anyway." My gender is holding the door open, not for a significant other, anyone a different gender than me, or the group I'm entering with, but for everyone. It's ordering food and asking 4 times who wants the last piece. Guilting someone who won't finish their food into offering the rest. And it wasn't me. I'm beginning to think that's why the dysphoria didn't bother me that much. Actually I can say with some confidence that I know that's why my dysphoria never got the better of me. It's also why I'm coming to terms with my gender identity so late in life. If you knew me in high school or before, you know I hated pictures of myself. I didn't let them happen. Dissociation let me do anything in the moment, but a picture was a record. It would come up again and I'd be told by the act of seeing the picture that "this body is you." I never I had the context for it then but that was my dysphoria kicking me repeatedly in the head. Now, I can look back at those pictures. If I knew then what I know about myself now, I could have morphed that body into one my gender dysphoria would be okay with. I could have had a goal for all those changes I made to it. Maybe I wouldn't have looked like a completely different person from year to year. I'm getting a handle on it. My gender is being socialized as a boy and performing toxic masculinity to form romantic bonds with platonic friends. It's only feeling a connection to an item of clothing the first time you purchase from the women's section. Wobbly eyeliner smudged to look straight. My gender isn't for anyone but me.

[archive-of-fics]

All I Need - Yu Kanda

The swish of the bed sheets cracked the sweet silence, pulling on your dull attention. You groaned slightly in your sleep as you rolled over, slipping under the pillow.

Suddenly, something soft touched your cheek, stroking you gently. Your eyes opened slowly, peering up through blurry vision. Long, silky hair hung over you slightly, his dark eyes gazing at your features.

“…Kanda?” As soon as he heard your voice, his hand retracted from your face and fell into his lap. You prop yourself up on your arm and rub your eye. “

What were you doing?” You asked sleepily. His cheeks were dusted in a light red as he turned away.

“Nothing, now get up and get dressed,” he grunted. You shook your head and sat up fully, leaning your forehead against his shoulder. “But I’m tired… Can I have five more minutes?” You asked quietly.

“No, the others will be here soon.” You groaned and fell back onto your pillow, laying your arm across your head. “It’s too early…” You whined. He stood up and walked to your dresser, pulling it open and started searching for your outfit.

 “Kanda..?” You asked hesitantly. There was no response. “Kanda!” You shot up and stared at him while he rummaged through your drawers.

“Are you going to pick out an outfit for me, Yu?” He suddenly went stiff, hearing you use his first name.

“Uh… Yeah, I am,” he replied slowly. You smirked and stood up, the blankets pooling to ground from your body. As he turned to you, his face reddened a significant amount. You were wearing one of his long sleeve button-up shirts.

“P-Put some pants on!” He said loudly, turning away from you and frantically searched for something for you to wear. You chuckled and hung your arms loosely around his shoulders, teasing him.

 “Awh, c’mon! You don’t really want that, do you?” You giggled. His face looked like it were about to burst. Suddenly, the door to your right swung open. You whipped around to see a very shocked red head standing in the doorway. He shook his head and grinned, holding up his hands with presents in them.

“Sorry! Sorry! Didn’t mean to interrupt…” His eyes drifted from your faces downward. He swallowed hard before someone got a hold of his shirt collar.

“Get out until she’s done…” Kanda growled threateningly. Lavi smiled uneasily and began to back out of the room. “I’ll be out here!” He chuckled. Kanda slammed the door shut furiously, breathing heavily through his nose. You shook your head with a grin and walked over to him.

“Where’s my outfit?” You smirked. He glanced down at you with cold eyes. He sighed and his face softened as he walked to the dresser. He pulled out a black crop top and some very, very short shorts. Your eyes widened as you shook your head.

 “You really think I’m going to wear that in front of them, let alone in the middle of winter?” His face darkened as he turned away, shoving it back into its place. He hid his face with the next shirt, which was a dark red sweater. You smiled and grabbed it from him.

“That’s better, now where’s the pants?” He nodded and pulled out a pair of leggings. “Thank you!” You said cheerfully, taking them and slipping them on. “Are we really going to let Usagi in?” He asked. You nodded and opened the door. “Alright! Come on in!” Lavi had a wide smile on his face as he ruffled your hair.

 “Did Yu make a move?” He asked teasingly. “Shut up!” Kanda growled. You laughed and let Lavi through, watching him sit as Allen hugged you. “Merry Christmas!” You smiled and pulled away.

“Happy birthday!” You patted his back as he walked through. You turned and hugged Lenalee tightly. “Everyone’s here now!” Lavi took seat on the floor next to the couch, which Allen and Lenalee sat upon. You straddled Kanda’s back, who was lying on the floor.

 “Lavi, you go first!” You beamed. He nodded and reached under the small tree, pulling out a random present.

“I guess the game has begun!” He grinned, tearing the wrapping paper off. Allen’s eyes widened as the present was revealed. One side of the plate held chocolate dipped pretzels with peppermint sprinkles while the other side had sweet dango. Lavi’s eye went directly to Allen. He handed him the plate.

 “I believe this one is Allen’s gift from…” He examined the room until his gaze landed upon you. “_____!” You clapped your hands together and nodded. “Good! You figured it out!” You leaned forward, squishing Kanda slightly, causing him to groan.

 “Hurry up…” He grunted. You chuckled and reached under the tree, pulling out a bright green box.

“Here, Lavi. This one’s yours,” you grin, handing him the gift. He tore it apart and smiled at you as he held up bunny ears and three books. You pointed at his head. “Put them on!” Lavi nodded and stuck the ears on his head, causing everyone, besides Kanda, to begin to laugh.

You leaned down by Kanda’s face and glanced over. Although he didn’t want anyone to see, he was indeed smiling. You pressed your head against his as Allen got up and crawled under the glimmering tree, pulling out another gift.                                    ***SMALL TIME SKIP*** The floor was covered in brightly colored wrapping paper and ribbons, hanging off the arms of the couch and finding their way into everyone’s hair.

 “It looks like there’s another gift under there.” Lavi said, pointing behind the tree. “Oh, I thought we were done…” Suddenly, you felt yourself falling back; Kanda was getting up. You slid off of him, grinning. “Ah! Kanda hasn’t had a turn yet!” He strained to get behind the tree and grab the little box. You sat back and looked at Lavi, who was stifling his laughter. You shook your head as Kanda scooted back out from under the tree. He turned around and held it out to you. Your cheeks darkened slightly, taking the gift.

 “I… thought we weren’t getting each other gifts…” You whisper, tugging on one end of the golden ribbon. He gave you warm smile before scooting closer to you.

 “The reason why I said that was because I didn’t want anything. I have all I need,” he said quietly, his hand reaching over and resting on your leg. You smiled as you opened the deep purple wrapping paper carefully. When you opened the box, your eyes drifted up to his.

“Yu… It’s beautiful…” You lifted up the beaded bracelet. “Do you… like it?” He asked nervously, looking away from you. You slipped it on your wrist and grabbed a hold of his neck, pulling him into you. His eyes widened as he pressed up against you.

“I love it…” You say gently, leaning your head against his. Slowly, he gave in and smiled. He pressed his lips against your cool skin, wrapping his arms around you. “Thank you so much,” you whisper softly. He continues to hold you, leaving little kisses on your neck.

 “Look at her; she has Yu wrapped around her finger!” Lavi whispered playfully to Allen, who grinned evilly and nodded. Kanda pulled away and glared daggers at the two of them.

 “Shut up, Moyashi…” Allen’s face suddenly twitched as he went stiff. “The name’s Allen, Bakanda!” He retorted. You laughed and pulled Kanda back so he fell into your lap. He looked up at you, slightly irritated, slightly content. You gave him a smile and patted his chest.

“Come on, it’s Christmas…” You say gently. He sighs and looks away, toying with the bracelet on your wrist. “You guys are too cute,” Lenalee giggled. Immediately, your face went red and you looked away. Inside, you smiled.

“I know…” you whisper to Kanda. You leaned down as he reached up for your cheek. He gave a tender kiss upon your lips, letting your warmth seep into his skin. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I love you,” you say softly.

 “Keh, who said I didn’t want to hear it?” He said with a grin. “I guess I should say it back..?” You sit up and twirl strands of his hair between your fingers.

“That’d be nice, yeah,” you giggled. Allen tapped Lavi and whispered something. You looked away and gazed down at Kanda.

“Then… I guess I love you too.” He says quietly with a smile. “Aweeeeee~!” Lavi and Lenalee said in unison, while Allen had a mischievous glint in his eye. You looked at Allen nervously.

“What?” You asked. Suddenly, Timcanpy flies out from nowhere and lands on his head.

“I got that on tape, and now the whole Order knows Kanda has a heart!” Immediately, Kanda’s face burst into a dark red as he sat up. “Moyashi…” Lavi’s face changed from awestruck to sudden fear.

“Oh no. We gotta go!” He grabbed Lenalee’s wrist, pulling her off the couch and running towards the door.

“Wait for me! I don’t want to be caught up in that!” You shouted, reaching out and grabbing a hold of Lavi’s shirt. As you all ran out of the room, you could hear the sound of the Christmas tree bursting into flames. “Oh what has he done?” You laugh.

[dippitydoes]

Tradition

It has been noticed that both Easter and April Fool’s Day landed on the same day this year. Not that April Fools would ever fluctuate seeing as how it is always on the first day of April. And it is not that I’m making a mockery of the Easter celebration coupled with the Fool’s day. It’s more so my focus on how holidays are supposed to be meaningful, yet they are remarkably a consumer tradition driven by a marketing machine. Cynicism aside there exist those who value Easter for the day that it is—the day Christ rose from the grave. No matter how many times we shift that date in order to fit our Sunday schedule, as that day is a . . . holy day. Do you see where I’m going with this?

My question for this holiday in particular is: Why? Why do we celebrate with bunnies, candies, egg hunts and the marketing machine that drive us to believe we need to put on a feast of ham with all the trimmings. I’d seen a coupon for spices with the title ‘Give Them a Roast They’ll Toast’. The pressure to ‘live up to’ is upon us and we scoop it up like eager kids at an Easter egg hunt. I understand very well that it is a time of gathering with family, and of course a time of reflection on the resurrection of Christ. But it all gets muddled somewhere between chocolates and buying an Easter outfit for that one time of year a person attends church.

I’ve been onboard with both scenarios. At a time when I followed my x’s ways and thought I was deemed a BornAgain! Christian I gave it my best shot at showing reverence for this day. I thought he (x) would be proud. I bought into the idea that I needed to put on the great family feast and be the dutiful church goer. I attended church even though I’d rather be at home with my boys watching them play. Once we were out of eyesight of the church crowd, x became an irritable, disdain filled narcissist. The shell was cracked then arguments would arise where I would be the problem and it was then my fault he was acting the way he was.

So the question still lingers. Why? I see why we attend church on this day. For some it’s to erase that quiet guilty conscience, for others it is a true act of devotion. But still, why does the day move from one day to another as if the significance is only on a Sunday (holy day) and no other. Why this reverence isn’t practiced every day puzzles me? Why the marketing machine has its claws on the holiday is a no brainer. But why do we fall for it year after year?

There was a time when my boys were little that the joy of Easter egg hunting was a delight. I really did enjoy that time, and I have to admit it was more meaningful than going to church. To see their anticipation and excitement with the fun of hunting eggs was cherished. My influence in this tradition is of course based on my own traditions experienced as a young girl. We always received a solid milk chocolate bunny that I would gnaw on for weeks after. I remember taking a bite one day and then replacing it on the top of my dresser and thinking, isn’t this getting a little gross? Our exposure to the real reason for this day was limited. I remember seeing the influx of ethereal pastels of purple, pink and yellow dresses in the stores, newspaper inserts and television ads that influenced me as a little girl. My thoughts were that I wanted that pretty little dress, and why don’t we participate in the Easterly tradition of attending church that it seems like other people are doing? Again, the meaning of the Easter holiday gets muddled between the joys that are expected and the traditions established eons ago.

I worked in the yard yesterday and I had a feeling of organic naturalness. Not knowing a better way to describe it, I guess I could say I felt at home. I was at peace with my hands in the soil, the bird song and the fresh air. Cleaning the debris from trees I love could be equated with a tradition and reverence for God, as it is a yearly duty I do year after year, but the peal that rings true in that situation is that it is not consumer driven. My toiling with the earth does not have seasonal items I need to buy in order to make the event meaningful. There are no expectations on how that time is to be used. My work in the yard is not driven by a particular date on the calendar.  I can immerse myself with intention and still experience the same joy on any given day.

These reflections, observations and apparently my own cemented traditions carry on year after year--except this year. This is a year that I’ve chosen to step back and only experience what the day holds. No expectations, nothing to present, no baskets to fill and no services to politely attend. It’s just me on this day as in any other day. And as I wrote early on, I don’t view this as an insult to the meaning of the holiday as I am a woman of faith. I’m just not a woman of conformity, because I’ve done that before, year after year.

[sophiem-bct]

Shared Playgrounds Week4

This week: 

We entered the Xchallenge. 

Contacted schools about getting some drawings from children for ptototyping. 

Individually selected our best research points from each topic. 

5 main research points from each person, and my thoughts on the information selected/found.

Kylie’s: top 5 facts for Prisoner Integration and Rehab:

1   | 'Out of Gate', is an external program offered to offenders serving sentences of two years or less, or who have been on remand for more than 60 days. From this program, 67% of prisoners who complete this program, remain out of prison for six months and 53% for 12 months, which is a small-scale reduction against a sample of comparable offenders who did not engage in the service.

2  | The period of transition from custody to community can be very stressful. The period of incarceration may itself have had several “collateral effects”. They may have lost their livelihood, personal belongings, ability to maintain housing for themselves and family, and lost important relationships and social networks. This can result to homelessness/lack of motivation to change.

3  | Since 1990, an average of 590,400 inmates have been released annually from state and federal prisons. The Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has estimated that nearly three quarters of all released prisoners will be rearrested within five years of their release and about 6 in 10 will be re-convicted. 

4   | There are three types of prison integration programs:Institutional programs - designed to prepare offenders to reenter society can include education, mental health care, substance abuse treatment, job training, counselling, and mentoring.     Surveillance-based programs - centered on supervision of offenders in the community following release from confinement. On their own, with advice. (Parole) Assistance based programs - Offenders afflicted by mental illness encounter particular problems upon release into the community.

5   | The conventional wisdom is that post-release employment is one of the most important elements for an ex-offender to successfully transition back into the community. Released prisoners frequently identify employment as one of the most important factors in their efforts to stay crimefree after incarceration. Five studies examined the effects of programs that provided job training and/or post-release employment services for prisoners. Of these five studies, only two found that the program helped reduce recidivism, though neither program had a significant effect on post-release employment.

Katriel’s: Top 5 Facts for Sustainability & Materials: 

1. Using a special machine called a Protocycler, recyclable plastics (such as plastic bottles) can be ground up and extruded into spools of filament to be used in 3D printing machines. 3D print offcuts and unwanted 3D prints can also be used, creating a "closed loop" system of production.

2. Tyres are a major problem in New Zealand currently because there is no solid recycling scheme in place to deal with them. Mountains of them are collecting in landfills and hidden areas of the countryside, posing a fire hazard and leaching harmful chemicals into the soil. Meanwhile, overseas, tyres are actually being recycled to make rubber mats.

3. Recycling 1kg of cotton saves 20,000 litres of water - as cotton is a very water-intensive crop. It also accounts for about a quarter of the pesticides used in the US, which directly impacts bee populations - so recycling cotton is particularly helpful in reducing environmental impacts. 

4. The creation of synthetic fibres - such as polyester - produce harmful emissions including volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases such as hydrogen chloride, all of which can cause or aggravate respiratory disease, which serves as another reason we should be recycling synthetic fibres.

5. Ministry for the Environment figures show 100 million kilos of textile waste is thrown into the country’s (New Zealand's) rubbish dumps yearly. That’s the equivalent of every person in New Zealand chucking about 145 medium-sized men’s T-shirts a year.

Amanda’s: Top 7 points on poverty:

1.    Child poverty “can lead to serious and prolonged mental illness in children” (Feek, 2017), that can eventuate into a problematic adulthood that has a negative effect on both the individual and society as a whole (Peters & Besley, 2014). 2.    Poverty rates are consistently higher for those aged 0-11 years old, compared to children 12-17 (Feek, 2017). This is Doodle Dolls target market.

3.    Child poverty rates are increasing at a rapid rate. As Roy (2016) states, “one-third of the country’s children, or 300,000, now live below the poverty line – 45,000 more than a year ago”

4.    Stuff (2016) estimates that “…90,000 kids are living in severe poverty” and that “New Zealand has a goal to halve poverty by 2030"

5.    Peters & Besley (2014) state that “New Zealand has substantial rates of child poverty and material deprivation. These rates significantly exceed those of many other developed countries and, at least on some measures, are much worse than three decades ago. The evidence suggests that child poverty, especially when experienced in early childhood and/or when persistent and severe, can be very damaging —both to the children directly affected and society as a whole. Amongst other things, child poverty contributes to the large educational achievement gaps between children from lower and higher SES backgrounds. For such reasons, there is a powerful case for reducing child poverty. I have argued that decision-makers have the available policy tools to alleviate child poverty and mitigate its effects–at least to some extent. The issue, in other words, is not the means, but the political will.”

6.    Sadly, “NZ has the worst teen suicide rate of the developed world, with 16 suicides per 100,000 in 2016" (Fyres, 2017)

7.    Feek (2017) suggests that “Prevention is the key; which can be aided by policies that support better incomes…“. Hopefully Doodle Dolls will be the beginning of a solution to end New Zealand’s dismal child poverty rates.

Sophie’s: Top facts/info for child Psychology and Toys. 

1. Children’s Drawing development at each age (finding the perfect age group) 18m to 3 years = scribbles 2 to 4 years = more complex, still unrealistic (colors don’t match objects eg. Grass drawn in purple) 5 to 8 years = Colors match and everything is generally more realistic and proportional. At this age children often draw things the same each time e.g. a house. 9 to 11 years = they become easily frustrated when cant draw things realistically and will likely state “I cant draw.” (4 to 8 years is a likely sweet spot for getting the most creative drawing for doll designs) Child Milestones: 1st - Motor development 2nd – language development 3rd – socio-emotional development

2. Children with access to a variety of toys were found to reach higher levels of intellectual achievement, regardless of the children’s sex, race, or social class (Bradley 1985, Elardo 1975).

3. The availability of toys intended for social play increased social interaction by disabled children in an inclusive preschool (Driscoll 2009).

4. Variety is the key. Children play longer when a variety of toys is available. The careful selection of toys can lead children to play with others, to cooperate, or to develop particular skills.

5. Play has been defined as any activity freely chosen, intrinsically motivated, and personally directed. Play is the lens through which children experience their world, and the world of others. If deprived of play, children will suffer both in the present and in the long term. Play increases brain development and growth, establishes new neural connections, and in a sense makes the player more intelligent. It improves the ability to perceive others’ emotional state and to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. Play is more frequent during the periods of most rapid brain growth.

6. What is acquired through play is not specific information but a general mind set towards solving problems that includes both abstraction and combinatorial flexibility where children string bits of behaviour together to form novel solutions to problems requiring the restructuring of thought or action… A child who is not being stimulated, by being ... played with, and who has few opportunities to explore his or her surroundings, may fail to link up fully those neural connections and pathways which will be needed for later learning.’ (Sutton-Smith 1997).

7. Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp found that play stimulates production of a protein, ‘brain-derived neurotrophic factor’, in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, which are responsible for organising, monitoring, and planning for the future. In one study, two hours a day of play with objects produced changes in the brain weight and efficiency of experimental animals (Panksepp 2003, Rosenzweig 1976).

8. “Between the ages of around one and twelve, many children manifest a deep attachment to a stuffed soft object, normally shaped into a bear, a rabbit or – less often – a penguin.” “Children invent identities for their soft toys giving them voices and ways of addressing them. They often have conversations with their toys in a tone that they subconsciously crave to hear (compassion). Mental wellbeing depends on your inner voice so if you speak to yourself with love then you will feel loved.” ‘No one else can understand me like bunny can. We should honour stuffed animals for what they really are: tools to help us on our first steps in the vital business of knowing how to look after ourselves.

9. color affects us in many areas of life, including our health, our sense of well being, and our feelings.

...............................................................................................................

Below is the email I sent to the head of Michael Park Primary School asking to meet with some student and get them to draw a creature/character for us to get a better understanding of what children can produce and at what age. As well it gives us some designs to do our prototyping with. I made it very clear that we would not be taking their designs and making them into dolls for free, only for prototyping.

Hi there Donna Bainbridge,

My name is Sophie McIntyre, I am a 3rd year student at AUT studying a Bachelor of Creative Technologies. I also went to Steiner kindergarten and primary school, then Waiheke High for Secondary education.

I am collaborating with 3 other students on a project called "Doodle Dolls". Doodle Dolls is a socially and environmentally sustainable business that makes soft toys, created to look exactly like characters young children creatively imagine and draw for us.

Our aim is to select New Zealand children with financial hardship to design these toys. A percentage of the revenue made from selling these toys will go towards a future fund for these children to help support them with fundamental needs such as food and education. The second main element of this business idea, is that we intend to make these toys out of recycled and sustainable materials.

"We want this business to give as much as possible and take as little as possible".

We are currently in the research and development stage of the business and are looking for young (under 10 year) children to participate in drawing characters for us, so as to gage an idea of what we may receive in the future. Meaning if students at Michael Park participate their drawings will be used for prototyping and will not be used to create dolls to sell.

It would be greatly appreciated if students in class 4 or below (preferably a mix of 4-8yrs) could take a short amount of time this week to participate in drawing a wonderful, colourful imagined character/creature/animal.

The reason why I would love to get MPS students designs (for the prototyping stage) is because steiner's philosophy and curriculum has a really big focus on imagination and creativity. To add to this we are aiming to have the designs lovely and colourful (no black), as colour stimulates creativity and influences emotions. So the fact that Steiner Students only use vibrant colour crayons and pencils is perfect.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards,

References: 

[chuicide]

Ramblings From An Alpaca Farm In South Wiltshire: June 2017

Do you see my downside? They all look the bloody identical. I imply they all have the identical father (Qjori) but actually! These two girls for instance, anyones guess. Willow and Umbria I believe but I could also be fallacious. You see out of the 6 female cria, four of them are black. Which we all know is the new brown! This is three of them, but I am unable to tell you who is lacking! All I can say is that they are all stunning! On a sadder word, we came dwelling on Monday to find that our lovely brown girl Spirit had given beginning whereas we had been out and the cria, a phenomenal brown male, was lifeless. He should have had one thing worng with him I suppose however we are each kicking ourselves for not being right here. I buried him beneath a tree in the sector and cried buckets while doing it. Alpaca Knitwear alpaca clothing & wool (why not try these out) People who know us and browse this tripe will know that we will fight and combat to keep our alpacas alive but this time we just weren't right here. I do know we will not watch them on a regular basis however I can't shake off the feeling that I have let Spirit down. I'll hurt for a while over this one, I'm welling up once more now, she deserved extra, we must always have been right here.

I might recommend attempting both and determine what works out best for you. You should purchase hen feed, pellets or mash, online or from agricultural merchants. In addition to either mash or pellets, chickens can even benefit by small nutritional additions to their feed. Sunflower seeds are a superb instance. The chickens love them and they are an incredible source of omega6. Nonetheless, as with anything, you don't wish to go over the top with the sunflower seeds. Chickens aren't often too fussy about what you feed them however they actually do get pleasure from some greenery being added to their weight loss program. It is good to grasp up a lettuce or some other vegetable for them to peck at occasionally because it provides them some amusement. Feeding chickens kitchen scraps is mostly high-quality, so long as you might be selective. As a degree of curiosity, once we bought our Marans we were advised by the farmer to not feed them any kitchen scraps in any respect and to stick with rooster feed. No such warning was given when we bought our Black Rocks, who've a popularity for being bomb proof.

When constructing a hen coop, run room is necessary. Chickens are like another animal. To stay wholesome and comfortable, they want room to maneuver round and be chickens. Any good coop will give the chicken locations to roost, locations to scratch, and loads of room for particular person space. Crowding too many chickens right into a small space will enhance the stress degree on them. This results in pecking and apparent signs of dominance display. This results in injuries on the chickens and solely adds to the stress levels. Should you need a wholesome contented flock, you'll want to plan the run as you do the nesting areas. A superb rooster coop run needs to have solar light. Chickens lay extra eggs once they get regular exposure to the sun. Sun additionally retains the bottom drier and helps break down hen droppings sooner. This retains the run healthier for the chickens and their proprietor as nicely. She would not belong to us, her owner now lives in Australia. Judy has been with us for nearly three years and has been a relentless bother to deal with. She is petrified of human contact and can do just about something to get away from me in particular. This isn't good as I obviously need to inject, drench, clip, shear and generally look after her. She doesn't make it simple. A few months in the past she coated me in spit for daring to attempt to inject her. I literally needed to manhandle her away in order that I may get on with the rest of the herd. I used to be not a happy bunny. Since then I have been working very hard to keep her calm by acting very calmly around her. I all the time have her penned with half a dozen different women so that I can kind of sneak in and jab by stealth. It appeared to be working and I used to be joyful that we have been making progress.

Wentworth selected to have Suri alpacas, that are native to the Andes, because they are “cool” and “different.” She retired and wished something enjoyable to do together with her time. Alpacas, every with their very own distinct personalities, require hours of consideration each day. Their fiber can be used for making heat clothes and rugs. At her farm, Wentworth currently has 11 alpacas, six feminine and five male. They each have a name and reply to her calling for them. Marilyn Wentworth feeds her alpacas at Phoenix Hill Farm in Athens on Monday. Rocko is the boss, and Nero offers him a hard time occasionally, however they agree that Rocko is the boss,” Wentworth said, laughing. The opposite two males often “act like teenagers,” Wentworth said. They usually battle and spit at one another. Some days, she stated, their necks shall be lined in every other’s spit. Wentworth playfully yells at them and plays mediator when the two are preventing. Publisher: Bill Boren Whenever you first develop your chicken coop plan, offering for proper housing and related features is absolutely obligatory to keep your chickens in wonderful physical form, contented and completely satisfied. You will do best in your efforts in case your chickens are as "contented as a cow," so to speak. Publisher: Bob B Hayes Hen home choices are fairly straight forward structures that are made use of because the coop location for rooster. Hen Homes carry out a significant position in rendering safeness in your hen chickens along with holding it pleased and even well-balanced. Reasonably priced Chicken Coops That Keep Your Chickens Completely happy! Writer: C. Brendan Reasonably priced rooster coops are a giant help in getting you began on elevating chickens and eggs. Fortunately, there are several ways to keep the prices down and nonetheless keep the chickens pleased. Let's take a look! Publisher: Dean James What you have to take into consideration earlier than you begin building of a small hen coop in your backyard. Consists of information on fashionable kinds of smaller-sized coops and the deserves of every design.

Nevertheless, they comprise arsenic, a human carcinogen and runoff from farm factories can contaminate meat and floor water. What does this tell us? Nature has a inbuilt intuition that causes animals to keep away from foods derived from unnatural sources, an ingenious characteristic. Nonetheless, we humans appear to lack this genetic trait as we have been consuming just about every thing we've been creating with reference to meals manufacturing, medicine, chemicals and now GE and GM foods. Furthermore, this essential tell-tale sign is being ignored and these poor animals are being forced fed through tubes to ingest GE and GM meals. How can this not disrupt the legal guidelines of nature when it's already changing into apparent? As a result of those compelled fed strategies, animals already have turn into diseased or have died. Now let's add GE feed to this disgusting listing of the above elements regulation allows into feed already. They're stuffing these animals with just about anything and every part that can be scooped up mulched and recycled into the most horrifying edible meals invention identified. They are sometimes misunderstood creatures, which have an extended historical past with people that's antagonistic at finest. Gray wolves had been all however wiped out in the decrease 48 United States, although in recent years, breeding programs and strict legal guidelines regarding hunting has helped grey wolf populations bounce again. Sadly, grey wolves didn't survive in Europe, but they can nonetheless be present in Alaska, Canada, and Asia - there are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 wolves living in Canada alone. In 1980, wild pink wolves in the United Said became extinct. With a small number of captured crimson wolves, scientists had been ready to establish breeding packages after which efficiently reintroduced the animals in North Carolina. At this time, purple wolves are residing in the southeastern U.S. Wolves stay in families called packs that encompass a male, a female, and their pups which have been born several years earlier. Wolf plush might further curiosity a child when they study concerning the wolves social construction; they can relate wolves again to their very own household (father, mom, siblings).

[albino-ottsel]

Ramblings From An Alpaca Farm In South Wiltshire: June 2017

Do you see my problem? All of them look the bloody similar. I imply all of them have the identical father (Qjori) but actually! These two girls as an illustration, anyones guess. Willow and Umbria I believe but I could also be unsuitable. You see out of the 6 feminine cria, four of them are black. Which everyone knows is the new brown! Here is three of them, but I am unable to let you know who's missing! All I can say is that they are all stunning! On a sadder notice, we got here house on Monday to seek out that our lovely brown girl Spirit had given birth while we had been out and the cria, a phenomenal brown male, was lifeless. He should have had one thing worng with him I assume however we're both kicking ourselves for not being right here. I buried him under a tree in the sector and cried buckets while doing it. Alpaca Shop (why not try these out) People who know us and browse this tripe will know that we are going to combat and combat to maintain our alpacas alive but this time we simply weren't here. I do know we can't watch them all the time but I am unable to shake off the feeling that I have let Spirit down. I will damage for a while over this one, I'm welling up again now, she deserved extra, we must always have been here.

I might suggest trying both and determine what works out greatest for you. You should buy rooster feed, pellets or mash, online or from agricultural merchants. As well as either mash or pellets, chickens can even profit by small nutritional additions to their feed. Sunflower seeds are a superb instance. The chickens love them and they're a terrific source of omega6. Nevertheless, as with something, you do not wish to go over the top with the sunflower seeds. Chickens aren't usually too fussy about what you feed them but they actually do enjoy some greenery being added to their weight loss program. It is sweet to hang up a lettuce or another vegetable for them to peck at on occasion as it gives them some amusement. Feeding chickens kitchen scraps is generally nice, so long as you are selective. As a point of interest, when we bought our Marans we were told by the farmer to not feed them any kitchen scraps in any respect and to persist with rooster feed. No such warning was given once we bought our Black Rocks, who have a reputation for being bomb proof.

When building a hen coop, run room is important. Chickens are like every other animal. To stay wholesome and glad, they want room to maneuver round and be chickens. Any good coop will give the chicken places to roost, places to scratch, and loads of room for individual area. Crowding too many chickens into a small space will increase the stress level on them. This leads to pecking and apparent signs of dominance display. This results in injuries on the chickens and only provides to the stress levels. For those who need a healthy contented flock, you want to plan the run as you do the nesting areas. A very good hen coop run needs to have sun gentle. Chickens lay extra eggs once they get regular exposure to the solar. Solar also retains the bottom drier and helps break down chicken droppings quicker. This keeps the run healthier for the chickens and their owner as properly. She doesn't belong to us, her proprietor now lives in Australia. Judy has been with us for almost three years and has been a constant trouble to deal with. She is petrified of human contact and can do nearly something to get away from me specifically. This isn't good as I clearly need to inject, drench, clip, shear and usually look after her. She does not make it easy. A number of months ago she lined me in spit for daring to attempt to inject her. I literally had to manhandle her away so that I might get on with the remainder of the herd. I was not a contented bunny. Since then I have been working very onerous to keep her calm by acting very calmly around her. I always have her penned with half a dozen different girls so that I can sort of sneak in and jab by stealth. It appeared to be working and I was comfortable that we had been making progress.

Wentworth chose to have Suri alpacas, which are native to the Andes, because they are “cool” and “different.” She retired and wished something enjoyable to do along with her time. Alpacas, every with their own distinct personalities, require hours of consideration every day. Their fiber can be utilized for making warm clothes and rugs. At her farm, Wentworth at present has eleven alpacas, six feminine and five male. They every have a name and respond to her calling for them. Marilyn Wentworth feeds her alpacas at Phoenix Hill Farm in Athens on Monday. Rocko is the boss, and Nero gives him a hard time sometimes, but they agree that Rocko is the boss,” Wentworth mentioned, laughing. The opposite two males typically “act like teenagers,” Wentworth mentioned. They often fight and spit at one another. Some days, she mentioned, their necks will probably be coated in each other’s spit. Wentworth playfully yells at them and plays mediator when the 2 are preventing. Publisher: Invoice Boren Whenever you first develop your chicken coop plan, providing for proper housing and related features is completely needed to keep your chickens in excellent physical shape, contented and joyful. You will do best in your efforts in case your chickens are as "contented as a cow," so to speak. Writer: Bob B Hayes Chicken house options are pretty straight ahead constructions which are made use of because the coop location for rooster. Hen Homes carry out a significant position in rendering safeness to your hen chickens along with holding it pleased and even nicely-balanced. Reasonably priced Chicken Coops That Keep Your Chickens Blissful! Writer: C. Brendan Reasonably priced chicken coops are a giant assist in getting you started on elevating chickens and eggs. Fortunately, there are a number of methods to maintain the costs down and still keep the chickens pleased. Let's take a look! Writer: Dean James What you might want to take into consideration earlier than you begin building of a small rooster coop on your yard. Consists of information on in style forms of smaller-sized coops and the deserves of each design.

However, they comprise arsenic, a human carcinogen and runoff from farm factories can contaminate meat and ground water. What does this tell us? Nature has a in-built instinct that causes animals to keep away from foods derived from unnatural sources, an ingenious characteristic. Nonetheless, we humans appear to lack this genetic trait as we've got been consuming nearly every part we've been creating in regards to meals manufacturing, medicine, chemicals and now GE and GM foods. Moreover, this essential tell-tale sign is being ignored and these poor animals are being forced fed via tubes to ingest GE and GM meals. How can this not disrupt the legal guidelines of nature when it's already changing into apparent? Consequently of those compelled fed methods, animals already have grow to be diseased or have died. Now let's add GE feed to this disgusting list of the above ingredients regulation allows into feed already. They're stuffing these animals with absolutely anything and every part that can be scooped up mulched and recycled into probably the most horrifying edible food invention identified. They are often misunderstood creatures, that have a protracted historical past with humans that's antagonistic at finest. Grey wolves were all but wiped out in the lower forty eight United States, although lately, breeding applications and strict laws relating to searching has helped gray wolf populations bounce back. Sadly, grey wolves didn't survive in Europe, however they can still be present in Alaska, Canada, and Asia - there are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 wolves living in Canada alone. In 1980, wild pink wolves within the United Stated grew to become extinct. With a small number of captured crimson wolves, scientists have been ready to establish breeding programs and then efficiently reintroduced the animals in North Carolina. In the present day, purple wolves are dwelling within the southeastern U.S. Wolves reside in families known as packs that consist of a male, a female, and their pups which had been born several years earlier. Wolf plush may additional interest a toddler once they study concerning the wolves social structure; they are able to relate wolves again to their very own household (father, mother, siblings).

[madrmia]

The link between Bugs Bunny and Delft

How? What kind of madness is this? First things first, a little patience, please.

The city of Delft, about halfway between Rotterdam and The Hague, being much smaller than these, however has great historical significance. Perhaps it is known among some tourists for being the origin of the famous blue pottery (Delfts Blauw) that people often linked with Amsterdam, but few imagine that the small town of Delft (just one hundred thousand inhabitants) was in a way the first capital of the Netherlands. And even less than Bugs Bunny owes much to this city. I explain

La conexión ¿secreta? entre Bugs Bunny y Delft

¿Cómo? ¿que clase de locura es ésta? Vayamos por pasos, un poco de paciencia, por favor.

La ciudad de Delft,casi a medio camino entre Rotterdam y La Haya, siendo mucho más pequeña que estas, tiene, sin embargo una gran importancia histórica. Quizá es conocida entre algunos turistas por ser el origen de la famosa cerámica azul (Delfts Blauw) que la gente relaciona a menudo con Amsterdam, pero pocos imaginan que la pequeña ciudad de Delft (de apenas cien miil habitantes) fue en cierto modo la primera capital de Holanda. Y menos aún que Bugs Bunny le debe mucho a esta ciudad. Me explico

The reason for it to be - de facto - the capital: the city was chosen as a residence by William of Orange, after declaring the independence of the Dutch provinces from the Kingdom of Spain, after The War of 80 years. Other highlights of Delft are their channels (the town itself has its origin and owes its name to its main channel).

El motivo de que fuera de facto la capital: fue la ciudad escogida como residencia por Guillermo de Orange, tras declararse la independencia de las provincias holandesas respecto al reino de España, tras la Guerra de los 80 años. Otros aspectos destacados de Delft son sus canales (la propia ciudad tiene su origen y debe su nombre a su canal principal).

The Surrender of Breda / La Rendición de Breda  (Velázquez. 1634)

Returning to the subject. The dynasty of Orange-Nassau was born with William I of Orange (known as "the Silent" or "Father of the Nation." The city of Delft was habitual residence of the House of Orange since the sixteenth century. The orange color of the House of Orange would symbolize the revolt against the kingdom of Spain, which joined several Dutch provinces, leading to a new independent country.Since then the orange color would be not only the House of Orange-Nassau, but also from the Netherlands and its people.

 - Ok, ok, but what about Bugs Bunny carrots?

- Wait a minute, we're almost there.

Volviendo al tema. La dinastía de Orange-Nassau nació con Guillermo I de Orange (conocido como “el Taciturno” o el “Padre de la Patria”. La ciudad de Delf era residencia habitual de la Casa de Orange desde el siglo XVI. El estandarte -color naranja- de la Casa de Orange  lideraría y simbolizaría la revuelta contra el reino de España, que unío varias provincias holandesas, dando lugar a un nuevo país independiente. Desde entonces el color naranja sería el color no sólo de la Casa de Orange-Nassau, sino también de Los Países bajos y sus gentes..

 - Ok, pero que pasa con las zanahorias de Bugs Bunny?

- Un momento, ya casi estamos.

People desssed for The King’s Day / Personas disfrazadas para King’s Day

The rest of the story is almost logical; Dutch farmers learned very well how to cross tulips for varieties of all colors. In the sixteenth century they did that with carrots, which until then were purple, white, yellow or red. That nice patriotic act ended popularizing the orange carrots we all know, rich in carotene. Bugs Bunny ate them because they are the easiest to find.

El resto es casi lógico; los agricultores holandeses aprendieron muy bien cómo cruzar tulipanes para obtener variedades de todos los colores. En el siglo XVI hicieron lo mismo con las zanahorias, que hasta entonces eran púrpura, blancas o amarillas. Ese simpático acto patriótico acabó popularizando las zanahorias naranjas que todos conocemos, ricas en caroteno. Es lógico que Bugs Bunny comiera de éstas, pues son las más fáciles de encontrar.

Carrots of old colors: light and dark purple, almost black, white, etc. have turned into fashion.

Actualmente se han vuelto a poner de moda las zanahorias de colores antiguos, purpura claro y oscuro, casi negro, blanco...

It is surprising to see how many houses are literally stuck in the water, with windows at very few centimeters above the level of the channels. This is why the tower of the Old Church is angled in such a defendant (and spectacular) mode; no less than 2 meters deviation from the vertical. .

Resulta sorprendente ver como muchas de las casas se encuentran literalmente metidas en el agua, con ventanas a muy pocos centímetros del nivel de los canales. Este es el motivo de que la torre de su Iglesia Vieja se encuentre inclinada de un modo tan acusado (y espectacular); nada menos que 2 metros de desviación sobre la vertical. .

Waterways, bicycles, medieval churches, nice shops ...; so is the old town of Delft / Canales , bicicletas, iglesias medievales, bonitas tiendas...; así es el casco antiguo de Delft

Many locals earn some extra space on the outside, placing a floating terrace on the canal. / Muchos locales ganan algo de espacio extra en el exterior, colocando una terraza flotante en el canal.

New Church has the second highest tower in Netherlands. Faced with this, a monument to prominent citizen of Delft, Hugo Grotius, perhaps the most significant figure in the history of law in Europe.

La Iglesia Nueva tiene la segunda torre más alta de Holanda. Frente a esta, un monumento a eminente ciudadano de Delft, Hugo Grotius, quizá la figura más significativa en la historia de las leyes en Europa.

City Hall (Ayuntamiento) Deltt

Houses whose foundations are literally submerged in water

Casas cuyos cimientos están literalmente sumergidos en el agua

Waterways even have traffic lights to regulate the "traffic"

Los canales incluso tienen semáforos para regular el “tráfico”

In the background, the tower of the Old Church, visibly inclined

Al fondo, la torre de la Iglesia vieja, visiblemente inclinada