#re dracula critical

[xserpx]

Catching up on Re:Dracula and yesterday's (18th September) episode was, dare I say it, bad. The latter half was OK (though I have beef with Jon Simm being too monotonous), but the first half with the zookeeper drove me nuts. Audio levels all over the place, the disparity between the reporter's crystalline ennunciation and the zookeeper's barely audible mumbling was jarring, and frankly I just really didn't enjoy listening to the zookeeper's weird delivery, which was like Mary from Ghosts trying to be spooky. It didn't work for me at all.

Idk. I like the concept of Re:Dracula, but I'm just really not a fan of the hammy style. "This is spooky so we have to sound spooky" makes it sound too unnatural when it really shouldn't. I wish there was more attention paid to emotion - especially the joy and humour - rather than atmosphere. I want more camaraderie, which is a highlight of the book, but I don't really feel like there's much connection at all being expressed in the audio.

[marghen]

'22-'24 Draculart Dump (Jumpscare)

Not an April Fool's joke. I really just posted a bunch of my old art and I didn't have a breakdown about it, so that's big for me.

[meerawrites]

Re: Lucy Westenra & Mina Murray-Harker

It is that time of year again, folks!

[yallemagne]

I feel the thing with Mrs Westenra is that she's that specific brand of entitled old lady that keeps harming those around her with her own beliefs while having her own fragility used as an excuse. Its like someone punching a friend "for their own good" and then going "pwease dwont hurt me im so delicate n frwagile :("

She works well as a character as in she's basically another way societal expectations and lack of communication are a cog in Dracula's machinations, but on my personal opinion she's really frustrating. (Hehe my rambling got a lil long sorry abt that)

Yes, what pains me so much this that Mrs. Westenra is such a real person. I have suffered such real people in my life, some I love dearly, some I love out of obligation, and it is painful to see what Lucy is going through, to see her be punished again and again by her mother's willful neglect, and she cannot even muster the will to be angry with her. Lucy has been stripped of any ability to speak out against her mother, even in her most private of musings, because her mother is so highly prioritized over herself. Lucy's suffering must always be kept out of view, and she never has the self-preservation to just snap and say "no, I am a human being".

Mrs. Westenra's a cog in the machine of the plot. She was written this way purposefully. No matter how much damage she causes, you're meant to feel bad for her, because if you don't, you might demand to know why Bram hasn't just killed her already. The reason is that he never even intended for his readers to feel this resentment. Her behaviour is not meant to be taken seriously because she's a poor old woman who just doesn't know any better. She's allowed and expected to be ignorant, and if not her, there would be some other person, a maid unknowingly throwing out the blooms.

But it hurts so much more for it to be your own mother who hurts you. Your feelings don't matter to her except as an extension of her own. She finds the flowers that you love, and ignoring the clear signs of your contentment with the flowers, she projects her negative feelings onto you and throws them out. Then, self-gratulatory as ever, she brags to your doctors that she knows better than them when she can't even recognize how close you are to death. She has willfully abandoned you because your sickness stresses her, and she would rather leave you without a goodbye than face you like an adult and admit she is dying. And worse than that, she doesn't pull away enough to make room for the people who are actively trying to save you, no, she still intercedes, making their jobs harder and your life worse, and no one dares to correct her in any meaningful way because if she knew she wasn't perfect, it would kill her.

I'm not so naïve as to say that because I have such deep-rooted trauma surrounding personalities like this that I am sooo smart and right to take such issue with this fictional character. It is a bit of an overreaction. But you could say my feelings towards this entire novel are an overreaction. I know other people have probably experienced this behaviour, and their reactions to it aren't mine. There are most definitely people who have suffered this kind of neglect but their impulse is instead to forgive and defend Mrs. Westenra, and I cannot deny someone that.

But I hurt so deeply for Lucy. I recognize Mrs. Westenra's hurting but I cannot place it above Lucy's. I value Lucy so much more, and I don't feel a lick of guilt about it.

[sexiestpodcastcharacter]

Is Re: Dracula separate enough from the novel to count?

I have received a couple submissions from Re: Dracula, and I am wondering if they qualify with the "Must be from an audio-only show" rule. My understanding of Re: Dracula is that it is closer to a time-dispersed audiobook than an adaptation, but I haven't listened to it.

[moonchild-in-blue]

It's me, I'm girls.

[stupidvampires]

Listened to Re: Dracula's September 13 entry today!Mrs Westenra sounds very much like one of those kind of annoying, scatter-brained older woman: absolutely no clue anything is wrong. I felt a kind of numb horror at her part like it felt inevitable something else would go wrong for poor Lucy! If not this then another thing would happen to derail her progress.Seward's and Van Helsing's performances were very moving. Seward sounded so resigned but his distress showed through in so many places. Van Helsing sounded so distraught but then he bounced back wonderfully & was so very determined to help save Lucy. This entry & the voice-acting made me want to cry for Lucy & everyone struggling against the seemingly unrelenting illness plaguing her. "Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him all the same." is such a good line & voiced so well. One of many lines in the novel that perfectly sum it up.

[fandom]

Web Series

You have so much fun on the internet watching other people have fun on the internet.

Hermitcraft +2

Dimension 20 +5

The Amazing Digital Circus +11

The QSMP Minecraft Server -2

Dan and Phil +20

Critical Role -5

Homestuck -3

Fantasy High: Junior Year

The Magnus Archives -1

The Magnus Protocol

Helluva Boss

EPIC: The Musical

Game Changer +10

StarKid Productions +13

RWBY -10

The Welcome Home ARG -10

Watcher Entertainment

Malevolent +10

The Life Series SMP

Nerdy Prudes Must Die +2

Dracula Daily -12

Crow Time +10

Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware +10

Shen Comix -5

Smosh

Alien Stage

Inanimate Insanity

Marble Hornets +8

The Dream SMP Minecraft Server -14

Dungeons and Daddies -13

Lackadaisy -7

Sun and Moon Show

Make Some Noise

Thomas Sanders -4

Pusheen

Desertduo Vigilante AU

Battle for Dream Island

Re: Dracula -12

Parkour Civilization

Animator vs. Animation

Eddsworld +1

The Walten Files

Redacted ASMR -3

Drawfee

Misfits And Magic

Red vs. Blue

Florkofcows

The Adventure Zone

Ghost Files -29

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures -1

The number in italics indicates how many spots a series or group moved up or down from the previous year. Bolded series or groups weren’t on the list last year.

Do you love to yell with other fans on the internet about your favorite series on the internet? Well, here's a bunch of The Amazing Digital Circus Communities to get you started.

[whitehairandtraumatized-bracket]

WHITE HAIR AND TRAUMA BRAWL ROUND 2!

Polls are gonna be posted in sets of 8 this time around, eight groups of 8!!

As usual, voting is based on level of swag, trauma, and blorbo fave

We love propaganda, especially for those without!

Round 2 will most likely begin sometime late June!! I got finals coming up which makes working on this a bit trickier atm

MATCHUPS

Jonathan Harker (Dracula) vs. Klaus (Klaus)

Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul) vs. Orion Lake (The Scholomance)

Asra Al-Nazar (The Arcana Game) vs. Gen Asagiri (Dr. Stone)

Norman (The Promised Neverland) vs. Senku Ishigami (Dr. Stone)

Danny Phantom (Danny Phantom) vs. 2B (Nier: Automata)

Lysithea von Ordelia (Fire Emblem) vs. Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome To Night Vale)

Jean Valjean (Les Miserables) vs. Zane (Ninjago)

Henry (Fire Emblem) vs. Black Jack/Kuro (Black Jack)

Jason Todd (Batman/DC Comics) vs. Loop (In Stars and Time)

Shigaraki Tomura (My Hero Academia) vs. Thief King Bakura (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs. Emet-Selch (Final Fantasy XIV)

Astarion (Baldur’s Gate 3) vs. Hero (The Property of Hate)

Fenris (Dragon Age 2) vs. Chat Blanc (Miraculous Ladybug)

Ginkgo (Mushi-Shi) vs. Yuji Kiba/Horse Orphnoch (Kamen Rider 555)

Anna (Frozen) vs. Bagi (QSMP)

Griffith (Berserk) vs. Seidou Takizawa (Tokyo Ghoul)

Siffrin (In Stars and Time) vs. Qifrey (Witch Hat Atelier)

The Princess (Slay The Princess) vs. Tommy Shepherd (Young Avengers/Marvel Comics)

Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson) vs. Ariane Yeong (Signalis)

Ekko (Arcane) vs. Niko Sasaki (Dead Boy Detectives)

Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane (Voltron) vs. Natsume Takashi (Natsume Yuujinchou (the manga)) 

Killua Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter) vs. Tam (Aurora)

Silver the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs. Agito (Origin: Spirits of the Past)

TommyInnit (Dream SMP) vs. Estinen Varineau (Final Fantasy XIV)

Kanade Yoisaki (Project SEKAI: Colorful Stage) vs. Ethoslab (Life Series SMP)

Lucretia/Madame Director (The Adventure Zone) vs. Ryou Bakura (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Gojo Satoru (Jujitsu Kaisen) vs. Max (Sam and Max)

Itona Horibe (Assassination Classroom) vs. Michel Bollinger (The House In Fata Morgana)

Kakashi Hatake (Naruto) vs. Kiana Kaslana (Honkai Impact 3rd)

FitzChivalry Farseer (Realm of the Elderlings) vs. Rin Okumura (Blue Exorcist)

Nagito Komaeda (Danganronpa) vs. Bepo (One Piece)

Vergil () vs. Carl Fredricksen (Up)

Shion (No. 6) vs. Riku (Kingdom Hearts)

Eda Clawthone (The Owl House) vs. Magneto (X Men)

Weiss Schnee (RWBY) vs. Mithrun (Dungeon Meshi

Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher) vs. Nate “Near” River (Death Note)

“Godot” Diego Armando (Ace Attorney) vs. Asuka R. Kreutz (Guilty Gear)

Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) vs. Haruka Sakura (WIND BREAKER)

Lu Guang (Link Click) vs. Aziraphale (Good Omens)

Gorgug Thistlespring (Fantasy High: D20) vs. Lady Maria (Bloodborne)

Simon Blackquill (Ace Attorney) vs. Simon Petrikov/Ice King (Adventure Time)

Kaworu Nagisa (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Sabitsuki (.flow)

Boothill (Honkai Star Rail) vs. Thancred Waters (Final Fantasy XIV)

Princess Yue (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. Hoid (Cosmere)

Dave Strider (Homestuck) vs. Captain Ahab (Moby Dick)

Hearthstone “Hearth” Alderman (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) vs. Kuga Yuma (World Trigger)

Edelgard von Hresvelg (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) vs. Cellbit (QSMP)

Santa Claus (Christmas/Pop Culture) vs. Kouji Ibuki (Cardfight!! Vanguard)

Percy de Rolo (Critical Role) vs. John Oliver (Last Week Tonight)

Claudia (The Dragon Prince) vs. Storm/Ororo Munroe (X-Men)

Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians) vs. Thistle (Dungeon Meshi)

Daenerys Targaryen (A Song of Ice and Fire/game of thrones too ig)  vs. Csevet Aisava (The Goblin Emperor)

Santa/Aoi Kurashiki (Zero Escape) vs. Roxy Lalonde (Homestuck)

Guts (Berserk) vs. Liv Moore (iZombie)

Alina Starkov (Shadow and Bone) vs. Remnan (Gnosia)

Ranboo (Dream SMP) vs. Utatane Piko (Vocaloid)

Atsushi Nakajima (Bungou Stray Dogs) vs. Jean Pierre Polnareff (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Emilia (Re: Zero) vs. Kochi Haruno (ZENO Daily Life)

Inuyasha (Inuyasha) vs. Neo Queen Serenity (Sailor Moon)

Kida Nedakh (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) vs. Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)

Shoto Todoroki (My Hero Academia) vs. Susan Murphy/Ginormica (Monsters vs. Aliens)

Hakuri Sazanami (Kagurabachi) vs. Dr. Two Brains (WordGirl)

Allen Walker (D. Gray-Man) vs. Mytho (Princess Tutu)

White Lily Cookie (Cookie Run: Kingdom) vs. Kazumi Onimaru (Cardfight!! Vanguard)

polls might not be linked this time around cuz I don't want the post to explode like the first one did,,,,. will still try to update it in some way shape or form however

[spider-xan]

I'm happy to see all the meta this year, re: the parallels between Jonathan and Dracula at the castle versus Renfield and Seward at the asylum bc last year, it wasn't really a popular topic of analysis from what I remember, and without spoiling anything, I do think doing a read-through of Dracula last year put Renfield in a different light on a re-read, and it's honestly a relief to see Renfield being treated with more respect and sympathy this time around, as opposed to him being a joke character, prop for Seward's storyline, or his mental illness being stigmatized as something that makes him evil, creepy, and undeserving of sympathy and compassion.

Likewise, as someone who does like Seward as a complex and very flawed character, I'm glad to see more discussion about the way he and Dracula are foils to each other instead of such posts being dismissed as character slander - a lot of characters in the novel parallel Dracula in unique ways, so it's a legitimate topic of analysis if approached in good faith! - as well as viewing his treatment of Renfield in a more critical light bc while he isn't actively malicious in terms of intent, it was a little frustrating last year to see some of that critique reduced to how it's unfair to hold him to modern standards when his actions still nevertheless caused harm and some Victorian contemporaries would have seen them as wrong, not to mention that many of our 'modern' standards regarding mental illness are not progressive at all.

[meerawrites]

Consuming the Vampire

[another-chaotic-bisexual-vampire]

just read that one of the first reviews of Bela Lugosi in the Broadway premiere of "Dracula" had this exact quote from The New Yorker's drama critic:

Ye who have fits, prepare to throw them now.

and I'm fully obsessed with this quote and so upset we haven't been using it to discuss Dracula Daily / Re: Dracula this whole time

[faggotbeloved]

🖤⚰️🕰️ INTRO / NAVIGATION 🫀🕸️🍷

└───────────────────────┘

📕->📗->📘->📙

📕 VOLUME 1: ABOUT ME / DNI

My name is Remy, I am an autistic, unlabled 23 year old trans man*. [He/Him] I write for AMAB male reader primarily, but will write FTM male reader, or GN / genital nonspecific reader upon request or on a whim. I typically write MLM, but will sometimes write WLM (MReader). I do write yandere and smut, and for that reason all of my work is 18+, and though I am aware that I can't police minors on what content they consume, I still will block any blogs I find out are minors.

As for DNI, I do not want minors interacting in any way because I do write sexual content. I do not want proshippers interacting with me because I find the majority of them use it for things such as blatant pedophillia or incest. That, along with basic criteria (Zionists, homophobes, transphobes, racists, et cetera) wraps up my DNI.

I am aware I write morally gray ships, but I write to enjoy the psychological aspect and not to romanticize harming people. I don't particularly care what label that gives me.

*I'm agender, but I feel most comfortable with masculine descriptors, titles, and names.

📗 VOLUME 2: WORKS AND RULES

Rules:

Rules for requests are simple; I write for the yandere trope, am open to most kinks, but I will not write pedophillia, incest, rape (even cnc), uncomfortable age gaps, feces or emeto, etc.

I will write for prompts requesting specific features, such as a certain race or body type or mental illness, but I have a limited scope in these and am very open to constructive criticism of me misinterpreting something. I write smut, fluff, angst, and anything in between.

If you want to request a kink and a character I can do that, but I prefer more in-depth requests. I'm a tiny blog, so I'll reply to everything, including non-prompt asks.

Works:

Original Characters Masterlist

Fandoms

- Resident Evil

Albert Wesker x Reader Masterlist

- Mouthwashing

Curly x Reader Masterlist

Anons:

Love Anon

📘 VOLUME 3: FANDOMS

*R! and P! are shorthand for romantic and platonic.

• My own OCs

• Phantom Of The Opera (R!All; I'll write for most any version of Erik. I tend to prefer Cherik, Leroux, and most of all Karimloo's Erik. Will also write for Raoul.)

• Other literature (R!All; Atticus Finch, Jeckyll and Hyde, Count Dracula, Jay Gatsby, maybe some more?)

• Baldur's Gate 3 (R!All; I've only played act 1 so far, though.)

• Mouthwashing (R!All Actor AU, R!All but Jimmy canon, will not hard dom Anya.)

• Fallout 4 (R!All; Hancock, Valentine, maybe more not sure)

• Skyrim (R!All; Argis, CICERO YES CICERO, Brynjolf, Mercer, Vilkas, Farkas, more)

• Marvel (R!All; Most characters but I'm very much not caught up)

• DC (R!All; 2022 Riddler (♡), generic Batman, generic Superman, etc. I don't know the difference between any of the Robins, sorry :P)

• Hannibal NBC (R!Hannibal, R!Will, R!Bedelia, R!Matthew, R!Francis.)

• Slashers (R!All; Brahms Heelshire, Billy + Stu, Patrick Bateman, Michael Meyers, etc.)

• Call of Duty (R!All; including Makarov and König.)

• Resident Evil: (R!All; Wesker, Leon, Ada, Chris, Heisenberg, and more. I've barely begun to get into RE, bear with me.)

• RDR2 (R!All; most men. Won't do Micah, sorry Micah enjoyers ^^,)

• And more! Go ahead and ask whatever you're thinking of, there's a good chance I'll like the prompt enough to research your guy.

📙VOLUME 4: NAVIGATION

Rules -> This post. Likely not going to be used again.

Announcements -> Updates on posting, fics, and more.

Organization -> Masterlists and more.

My Works -> Complete or multipart fanfictions that I came up with myself.

My Asks -> Asks that are not about fanfiction, i.e., life updates or greetings.

My Requests -> Asks that are about fanfiction, i.e., a request for a character headcannons.

Misc -> Anything else that I find important to post in this account rather than my other account. Polls, art, etc.

Character tags -> May it be ocs or featured characters, I'll include a tag to filter out or look through.

┌───────────────────────┐

[annabelle--cane]

okai renfield 2023 thoughts: the critical consensus is correct, this is not a very good movie, but I found it a lot of fun and if you're a dracula enjoyer who doesn't mind constant action scenes that are gory to the point of farce then I'd recommend giving it a watch.

and for some longer thoughts (ft spoilers):

not a whole lot of black characters for a movie that takes place in new orleans.

I liked how they leaned into the bela lugosi pastiche, they really went for it with dracula's design and the few re-made scenes, I found that really fun.

like many other tumblr users I have Problems with the way "narcissism" has entered the pop psychology lexicon, but I like the overall premise of reading dracula as a very mundane and recognizable kind of abusive boss.

I don't think this could have been handled well in a movie like this so I'm glad they didn't go for it, but I personally think there was room to do something interesting if they had adapted in renfield's psychosis. like, psychotic people are particularly vulnerable to getting trapped in abusive relationships and dracula wields a lot of "the outside world will hate you, only I truly care" over renfield's head, I think a more indie project with a similar premise could have really gotten into the weeds with that and said something meaningful about ableism and this "simpering minion" archetype which renfield has been assigned by pop culture.

I don't usually care about this too much but I noticed some fairly poor shot-to-shot continuity across a few scenes. ex., before the restaurant fight kicks off, rebecca steps directly up to the barrel of ted's gun and almost presses it directly into her forehead in a big emphasized act of defiance, but when we cut to different angles she's standing a good few inches farther away.

there was some fun set up and pay off, ex. the ant farm, the cocaine magic circle.

I enjoyed the evil milf, I must say. wish we got more of her but she just kind of disappears at the end

the fight scenes bored me at first but eventually they crossed the gore event horizon and became hilarious. sure, the sense of stakes kind of gets lost when our protagonists are regularly dropping like twice the bodies of the antagonists, but more importantly, renfield ripped a guy's fucking arms off.

I am absolutely begging to know what the thought process was behind the quinc(e)y morris allusions. I would assume that the implication is that rebecca and her family were distantly related to book quincey somehow, but then why do they have his first name as a last name and not his actual last name? why was her dad called morris quincy? I am flummoxed.

would love to do a proper comparison with bit 2019, focusing on how they play with the dracula mythos and portray vampirism as power imbalance, but that would require brain cells and I am sorely deficient on those.

[fandom]

Web Series

Featuring not one but two digital versions of a book published in 1897. Great job.

Critical Role

The QSMP Minecraft Server

Hermitcraft

Homestuck +2

RWBY +4

The Welcome Home ARG

Dimension 20 +6

The Magnus Archives -1

Dracula Daily -5

Puppet History +22

Helluva Boss +1

The Limited Life SMP Minecraft Server

Welcome to Night Vale +16

The Amazing Digital Circus

The Dream SMP Minecraft Server -13

The Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cass Apocalyptic Series AU

Dungeons and Daddies +16

Generation Loss

Shen Comix +4

Ghost Files -12

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

Nerdy Prudes Must Die

Game Changer

Lackadaisy

Dan and Phil

Re: Dracula

StarKid Productions +7

Malevolent

Minecraft Championship -15

Sanders Sides -14

The Double Life SMP Minecraft Server

Crow Time

Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware -11

Hazbin Hotel -8

Tumblr Top 5

Marble Hornets +1

Mystery Files

The Adventure Zone -17

The New Life SMP Minecraft Server

Redacted ASMR -13

Defunctland +4

Eddsworld -12

Decked Out 2

Homestar Runner

Dimension 20: Dungeons and Drag Queens

Buzzfeed Unsolved -31

Unus Annus -22

The 3rd Life SMP Minecraft Server -29

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures -31

The Last Life SMP Minecraft Server -40

The number in italics indicates how many spots a title moved up or down from the previous year. Bolded titles weren’t on the list last year.

[marinersubmariner]

Empress Rey art notes/process post

I'm not usually a fan of extremely feminine Rey fashions, mainly due to personal preference and because it doesn't fit with how I view her character. Even when re-envisioning something for dark Rey—which could conceivably be more out of character—there isn't a lot that really works for me. But I was struck by some inspiration and felt the urge to try putting her in something glamorous in a way that is intentionally counter to what I think of as her more authentic presentation.

I admittedly never hated her white outfit as much as a lot of people—I did find it to be a nice refinement of her previous outfits—but I also definitely agree with the criticism that the pure white is symbolically a regression for her character, cloying and infantilizing and impractical. (yeah the sand gremlin always covered in grease, blood, sweat, and dirt is gonna dress in white. yeah. great.) So as with many things in TROS I think it's more interesting to deliberately play up the wrongness of it. Warping the white into something too white, a false signaling of purity that tips over the edge into uncanny. A wolf in sheep's clothing. (classic Palpatine)

As far as direct inspiration, the Praetorian guards have always reminded me of Eiko Ishioka's costume designs, and ever since that realization it's been stuck in my mind that her style is something that would have been really cool and weird for Empress Rey. I hadn't thought beyond that into visualizing anything, until it hit me that rather than going typically dark I could reference something like vampire Lucy in Dracula (1992), all in white but obviously monstrous.

Specifically within Star Wars I find that concept of "darkness presented as light" most effective and haunting in Screecher's Reach with the Sith Mother. Light and salvation as horror; "going toward the light" as a metaphor for death; Kylo fighting so desperately against the pull to the light; searing, blinding brightness being just as maddening as impenetrable darkness.

Here are some examples of what I was pulling from:

1. Bram Stoker's Dracula 2. The Fall 3. The NeverEnding Story 4. Dune: Part Two 5. Screecher's Reach 6. Givenchy 7-8. Iris Van Herpen

I was trying to avoid being too reminiscent of anything Padme wore, but she covered so many different types of royal outfits and head adornments that there's not much way around it with this type of thing.

I didn't look much at real-life crowns (aside from material reference for sparkle/shininess rendering) because I didn't want to be derivative or appropriative of any particular cultural dress, but there's likely some inadvertent similarity simply because ornate headdresses already exist in so many forms. My goal was just to appeal to my own affinity for linear patterns and geometric shapes.

Sketches from trying to figure out a crown design. I wanted more stuff hanging in her face—I had envisioned chains or a veil because I like the mysteriousness of obscuring some features and the hostility of making it cumbersome for the wearer and inscrutable to the viewer, but since her eyes are kind of the only indicator of evilness here (and a subtle one at that) I couldn't bring myself to cover up too much. When I tried veils it looked too bridal, which I also didn't want, so I ultimately landed on the partial open veil/cowl.

The emblem in the tiara and hidden in the back of the headdress is the Sith Eternal insignia from TROS. And I did give her Sith eyes but may have gone too understated with it—I was trying to do it in a way that's more golden and less cartoonish than they typically look. (the bright yellow and red is. a lot. and changing iris colors is a tricky balance to strike because it can get tacky really quickly. uhhhh full offense @ live-action Ahsoka Hera and Ezra)

I got hung up on this for a long time because of the outfit rendering—I finished the portrait months ago and then got overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to refine the headdresses and clothing. Just getting the outlines shaped in a way I liked took a long time, and then I had no idea how to achieve the crystalline headdress or how to balance looser rendering with such an extensive amount of detail. I tried it with dashed vector lines, which gave a decent effect but was too uniform and busy, so I jumped off from that and redrew it by hand. It's still not really what I wanted—I had hoped for something sleeker and maybe more opalescent than just "idk diamonds or whatever"—but at least it kind of looks like it's made out of crystals.

I'm actually happiest with the clothing, what little of it is visible—I loooooove pleats (sharp lines! geometry! Issey Miyake!!) and wanted the fabric to appear translucent and somewhat iridescent and I'm pretty satisfied with how that ended up. Also a slight nod to The Locked Tomb's Lyctor cloaks. :) The Emperor's fists and gestures. :)

Once again I had higher aspirations to weirdness than what I actually achieved because my aesthetics tend toward simplistic and boring, and things that seem good in theory don't always work in practice, but anyway, that's the stuff that was going through my head. Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn, etc.

One final fun thought I had: what if the headdress crystals are shattered bits of kyber screaming in agony? What if Rey Palpatine is completely out of her gourd