#sometimes i just can't think of good captions for art

[namu-the-orca]

Arctic Odontocetes

And here's the three other Icelandic whales poster illustrations. All true Arctic species, roaming the frigid water of the high north. While Atlantic white-sided dolphins can occasionally be spotted along European shores, Narwhal and Belugas roam the true ice seas.

Narwhals are famous for their rather striking dentition: the huge, up to 3 meter long tusk, is hard to miss. It's actually their left canine tooth - every once in a while the right canine erupts too, making for a double-tusker. It's usually only males who are so adorned, as only a very small number of females (15%) bear tusks.

The exact function of the tusk is still debated: originally thought to be a simple weapon, now it is mostly thought to serve as a secondary sexual characteristic, inducing status in the bearer. The bigger the tooth, the sexier the man. However, researchers suspect they may have many more functions. Through the tusk run thousands of nerves which enable Narwhals to sense differences in water temperature and salinity. On top of that tusks have been observed to aid hunting and social interactions between males, and perhaps more. And the occasional Narwhal has been found with a broken tusk embedded in their cheek. So perhaps some good ole fashioned fighting happens after all, though no one has ever observed it happening.

The tuskless females survive just fine without them though and often live to be even older than males (up to 115 years!), so the advantages can't be that critical. Nevertheless it's fascinating to think about. Somewhere out there in the ice cold seas where we would freeze to death in an instant, swim whales - fellow mammals - sensing the waters with their 3 meter long canine tooth, occasionally slapping a fish unconscious. A wholly alien experience lived by an animal not so essentially different from us.

Atlantic white-sided dolphins may be far less mysterious, but nevertheless amongst my favourite delphinids. They've such beautiful markings. And the beluga... no doubt well known too as living marshmallows. I must say that youtube videos of their melons and fatty flabs being wobbled is great watching material.

Also - the "Whales of Iceland" poster is officially up for sale! You can nab one at Pappyr's website here. Not sponsored or anything, I just think the poster turned out super neat.

[solargeist]

i keep mistaking some of ur kidxelqua art for ur grian art so i have to stop and read the captions/tags every time 😭😭 is there a fundamental difference im missing that would make it any easier

hi !!!!!!! no i understand it can be pretty confusing !! its pretty messy on my blog ahahah i'll try to explain them and their place in the AU

All the kid drawings are Xelqua ! Originally it was Grian, but as the character Xelqua developed, I changed it to him. When people send requests for kid Grian, i'm drawing Xelqua, as that is the AU.

This isn't 100% accurate as I forget to do it, but Grian and Xelqua part their hair differently, kid Xelqua does too. Xelqua's hair is always a bit longer. (Grian got a haircut when he joined the Watchers, thats why his hair parts different now in evoAU and HC, he just kept it shorter ! Xelqua used to wear his hair in a ponytail during his time with the Watchers.)

The reason why i say they're "technically the same" is bc Xelqua is just another Grian from a different timeline, he just has a different name. Xelqua only exists because this one Grian joined the Watchers, new possibilités opened new timelines, ones where he died, ones where he's a Listener instead, or ran away to different servers, or stayed. Xelqua is the only one to have reached Sainthood.

Because of this, Xelqua can hop around timelines, he usually just bugs other versions of himself, helping them, giving them tnt. He finds This Grian during s8 of HC, bugging him through the boatem void, briefly possessing him later, but hey ! water under the bridge !

Xelqua's timeline doesn't exist anymore after becoming That, but by becoming That he has essentially rewritten history in other timelines, solidifying himself as a saint of destruction, a destroyer, this is what the Watchers know him as, this is what evo Grian knew him as, even if Grian caused it--It already happened--Xelqua has always been here. (It makes Grian's head hurts when Xelqua explains this to him.)

Basically: Grian set off a chain reaction when he joined the Watchers, and that opened new universes, and in doing that, Xelqua is made.

Xelqua is powerful, but also very lonely and has a lot wrong with him, which is expected he spent many years with the Watchers. Xelqua can mimic any version of Grian he wants, but if he stays in that form for too long, he'll start to forget himself and instead think "Xelqua" is a patron, rather than himself. This is why kid Xelqua will usually praise the Saint Xelqua and be proud of his own name, he just doesn't know ! It takes a little while to remember himself and change back. This also happens in high stress, (bc of course it does, i love when a character loses control of their powers hahaha,) the memory is much worse if it happens from stress. You can't talk kid Xelqua out of this, it'll stress him out further and you'll just have a little god child throwing a temper tantrum then, never a good idea.

After s8 in HC EvoAU, Xelqua hangs around, popping up sometimes in s9, mostly in his adult watcher self. They don't get along too well at first, Xelqua has a little bit of bitterness over Grian having such a fun life, all these friends, needed, wanted..... But whatever ! Xisuma doesn't know how he keeps getting in, but Xelqua has been on good behaviour, so...... Shrug... Just let him visit sometimes....

Xelqua's version of the Watchers are gone, the unfortunate conséquences of becoming a destroyer, you kinda rip your own timeline apart. This, added with the fact that he is a cautionary tale in every other reality to Watchers, means if he tries to visit other versions of his Watcher family, they won't really know who he is, and just see something destructive and chaotic. If he wants to see Aether, he'll just... hop in a timeline and change himself into a kid and quickly forget what he's done. He's lonely, ok !!

Xelqua starts doing this kid bit on HC (late s9/early s10) too, he doesn't exactly mean to, but he does feel safe there. He eats Grian's food and takes over his couch and no one can get mad at him bc he is just a little kid--grian puts him in the corner. timeout. a few dead birds hit the roof as a result.

[fallout-fucker]

Random Sole x Hancock Headcanon - Emails.

Sole figures out how to get some sort of online connection up and running again purely so they can send emails to Hancock's terminal from their Pip-Boy whenever they're apart. Love sick idiots.

Cue Hancock blushing and kicking his feet whilst reading the emails. He invents the ;) emote. Sole, in turn, makes the ^-^ and :3 emotes.

They both invent selfies. Hancock's the first to send one when he realises he can send pictures. It's a fucking process but he barters for old parts here and there and gets help from Kent. Eventually he has a working camera for his terminal. The first selfie was him stood on his couch, high af and surrounded by an assortment of baked goods (Edibles) he made. The email said 'Look what I can do ;D'.

He regularly sends pictures of what he's baking or random selfies when he's high.

Sole then made a similar upgrade to their Pip-Boy the minute they could. They send him random pictures of cats and other creatures they see in their travels. Cool views or old, historic buildings and art they think he'd enjoy. A collection of Dogmeat being cute. They sent one of Danse falling over. They send him pictures of books they'll think he like. Usually literature, history, or STEM stuff. Sole also takes pictures with their shared friends and lets them email him too from their arm for a quick update.

They also show off their new builds and inventions. Gun mods, armour, ect.

They also share a 'Spotting Deacon In The Wild' collection. They have a running joke that every new disguise they spot is a 'Deacon Variant' or new Deacon 'Synth'. They add names for each 'character' and the email will say '[Insert Character Name] Deacon Unlocked!' Like, Butcher Deacon, or Diamond City Guard Deacon, etc.

On that note, they invent memes. Usually from pictures of other companions or each other.

Like when Nick was 'sleeping' one time (Wide eyed stare Synth style) and Sole sent a picture of him, captioned 'Me after the horrors'.

Or when Preston was stood looking out at the Sanctuary River after a long night. Coffee in his hand. His hat and one shoe missing. Expressionless as he stared at the sunrise.

Hancock replied 'Me fucking too, brother'.

Sole will update him on their whereabouts regularly so he stays sane.

Hancock will tell them about how Goodneighbour is doing. From Mayoral plans to general gossip. How Daisy is doing, how the local kids are, etc.

Sometimes Hancock sends the most cryptic chain spam looking things when he is stoned.

Sole can email him whenever they're nearby and plan on visiting.

Hancock sometimes requests items if he knows they’re on their way, but only if they happen to come across it or already have whatever it is.

Will email them questions that he doesn't actually mean for them to answer. Just questions to the void, really. He just uses them as an outlet for his thoughts a lot.

Or for help on a crossword puzzle.

Sole will email him when they can't sleep just in case he's also awake. Nights feel really lonely when everyone you knew died 200 years ago.

Sometimes they ask him for knowledge. Like 'Do you know if this plant is poisonous?' or things that most Commonwealthers know for survival, but Sole is still figuring out.

They ask him for leadership advise. Especially during big decisions.

They both tell each other things they've seen/heard through the grapevine that they think the other should know. 'I heard that guy you were looking for was seen in Bunker Hill' 'Some Gens 2s were spotted patrolling Medford Hospital' 'Hi :) Sorry for the late response, I was running for my life :( Tell your traders to stay away from the East Bridge- Gunners'

[neos-schlond-poofa]

rl donna beneviento hcs

because @scuba-gragas (your acc is NOT linking for some reason) freaked out over one of my edit captions and im like. why not share more sad stuff about donna! and also silly stuff in here too.

AND NO IM NOT PUTTING "ATTEMPTED BEFORE" IN HERE THIS IS NOT SOME SAD SOME RANDOM

repeating this from the edit but due to her tendency to remember numerous timelines, donna has even more of a SEVERE fear of being abandoned by mc and lacks a lot of self confidence in the relationship. she remembers mc being happy with the others, what if they did a better job than her? what if mc goes to them? or perhaps, what if the loop occurs and mc goes to someone else, and donna sees them just act happier? was she easily replacable?

however, sometimes donna DOES express her relationship anxieties and mc always does help out; its not all torment for donna, dont worry. as time goes on she always tries to be more open with mc about her feelings

okay back to sad. i imagine this happens to everyone but in their own way, but donna is a sleep hugger. so when she wakes up the day after the loop, shes hugging a pillow instead of mc and she just sits there for a bit. sometimes, she doesnt really get it, other times, she instantly knows what happened. she hates the feeling of waking up that morning and thinking she has someone in her arms, only to have an empty spot in her bed.

really good at claw machines. when angie was younger, she loved going to the arcade, and so donna mastered the art of claw machines to get angie a bunch of prizes (and sometimes herself).

invested in noise cancelling headphones / earbuds once she got with mc. she wears them a lot everywhere and even went to her first concert with them, it helps her not be overstimulated.

she hates herself for this, but part of her prays that mc stays with miranda after she has to wipe belas memories. she cant stand the thought of hurting her niece again in another loop.

would probably get a sims addiction, but specifically making sims.

plays relaxing video game soundtracks in the store (dani, angie, and mc often update the playlists)

she sells those fake flowers on april fools that shoot water at peoples faces.

loves to watch operas and ballets.

im struggling with wording this but like. when donna realizes the loop has occured she always just takes a bunch of time to prepare herself for whatever is going to happen, but ESPECIALLY knowing she has to murder someone for angie again. shes basically doomed to do this forever until mc gets with miranda; and i KNOW angie sometimes isnt a doll but. lets forget about that!! i just imagine shes always a doll anyways, it makes more sense that way, and either way, a loop where angie is fully human is just a temporary break for one of donna's many problems.

ethel cain stan

hates hospital shows for MANY reasons. she doesnt like seeing the hospitals first of all, she doesnt like seeing when the people die, and she hates the medical inconsistencies.

in loops where bela and mc have a family (sigh), she can't help but literally try to keep her distance. they won't have their family for long, and she cant bear to tell them that (although bela is most definitely aware) or even get attached to their baby, she doesn't want to lose someone close again (although bela does not catch onto this; she tries to get donna involved as opposed to alcina)

owns a typewriter

constantly has a tab of solitaire open on her laptop.

theres a picture of markiplier hidden in her room and she doesnt know it. angie hid it there and has been waiting for donna to find it. thing is? she hid it before the loop started. so it is permanently there for every loop.

always has really cutesy and simplistic halloween costumes she wears in her flower shop for the holiday. her favorite costume is a bee.

loves build-a-bear. it obviously takes her some time to get ready to go there (she often plans out their least busy times), but she loves to make her own plushes for her collection and buy them new clothes. eventually takes mc there for a date and they adopt a bear together.

but outside of that? she really hates getting new ones there during the loops. she gets really attached to them and she hates knowing they're only there for a short time.

kanoodle master.

hates the smell of nail polish

great hugger, even if she doesn't give them out that often.

owns a bunch of retro game consoles and likes to collect them, although she doesn't get much time to play them.

hates the bee movie; angie loves it

while mc obviously does open her eyes, donna still struggles with the concept of even trying to get better because she knows its all just going to loop. yes, she will work on things and they will improve, but certain things will revert back to normal after the loop anyways.

once tried to dance in the rain for fun and ended up getting a cold instead.

alright i think thats it... i might share more in the future but i tried to balance this with silly and sad.

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

Someone PLEASE make an English Dub of Buratino's Return (obscure Russian movie)

Okay, so I heard about this Russian cartoon animated movie recently, and it's got this Wild Thorberries-Rugrats-ish art style and the songs slap! The one that's gotten really popular was the one with the singing Barbie dolls, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2CSmp02Emk in this video here (turn the captions on). I heard the name of the movie is actually Возвращение Буратино which translates to Buratino's Return apparently. It looks amazing! I love talking toy themed movies that are NOT Toy Story. It doesn't look as amazing as Raggedy Ann & Andy Musical Adventure but it looks good enough to watch and enjoy. The thing is, the subtitles on the original Russian movie, the English subtitles SUCK! I got them saying weird things like "Oh yeah Obama" when she was apologizing to the other doll, and apparently the dog's name translates to "Potatoes" which... is actually kinda cute not gonna lie! If the movie gets dubbed, they should keep it!

Yeah, so the whole "dubs vs subs" thing is ridiculous. Dubs are obviously way easier to watch and understand. If you're hearing impaired and need subtitles, that's one thing but if you're not and you want to watch a movie, it's way easier to watch a dub. Plus, subtitles aren't always accurate and sometimes make things sound more awkward. Like, the dubbed versions often make more sense. Plus, subtitles go fast and you can't always pay attention to little details if you're watching it with subtitles, it's too distracting. I wholeheartedly believe that dubs are better all the way! If you don't speak English or Russian, maybe it can be dubbed in your language too! There needs to be a Spanish dub, French dub, Japanese dub, whatever language you might speak! The only language I speak is English, so that's why I'm trying to get someone to make an English dub. By the way, the English captions for the Мой Портрет - Трафарет video were an exact translation, I feel like the dub would change it up.

My friend wondered about the songs being ruined in the dub, which I would be worried about too, but they could hire a translator and songwriter to work together and make the lyrics make sense but also rhyme. Even if it was a fan dub, they could still get enough permission and help to make it a good dub without ruining the songs.

Another thing, let's talk about this not being popular in Russia, where it was made. I mean, it came out in 2013, the same year as Disney's Frozen! It didn't stand a freaking chance in theaters! Frozen literally took the world by storm... a snowstorm, that is! (haha, funny joke). Plus, a lot of non-English spoken movies don't get an English dub until years later. 2013 was 11 years ago, but who said it's too late for an English dub. Especially, now that the Barbie doll stencil song is becoming popular online. I also haven't actually seen the full movie, I just skimmed through it on YouTube to get a grip of what it's about and apparently it's about talking toys but they have to escape from a bad guy who wants to destroy them and turn them into the same "evil" toys to create a bad future of children. I also found out that apparently Buratino is Pinocchio and I like the idea of a non-Disney Pinocchio movie, because Pinocchio has been around for like 150 years, way before Disney made it into a creepy a** animated movie and they shouldn't take copyright of Pinocchio. There's also that other Russian movie "Pinocchio a True Story" where Pauly Shore voices Pinocchio and Tom Kenny voiced Geppetto. Also, this movie Buratino's Return was animated in 2D form, when a lot of early 2010s movies were 3D. I'm not sure how that effected the marketing and who wanted to see it but I'm almost sure that a lot of people were more hyped about Frozen or other popular movies.

Here's something else I found, apparently it was also based off "The Adventures of Buratino" which is a really old story, and I think this 2013 movie kind of looks like a creative twist on that story, kind of like what Disney does, but also kind of makes fun of Disney as well. Basically it looks like they're basing a story off old fairytales Pinocchio and The Adventures of Buratino, just as Disney does, except they're changing the things about Disney that isn't woke and making fun of the things that are wrong with Disney. I know a lot of you probably hate it when I talk crap about Disney, but I always give my side of how I feel and let you have your side. With enough convincing and understanding, hopefully we can understand both sides!

Anyway, feel free to chat with me about this in the comments! I'm always happy to hear opinions, even if they're different from mine. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

[ferronickel]

Lettering Tips for Comics Artists!

Lettering is an easy to overlook aspect of comics creation, partially because good lettering is designed to be invisible, but bad lettering can ruin an otherwise well crafted project.

Now, I'm not a letterer by trade, I'm a colorist who thinks too much about comics craft, but I've picked up on a few common mistakes I've seen new webcomic artists making, and I thought I'd share my tricks.

#1: Get a Dialog font

Sorry, despite Comic Sans having the word comic in the name, it's not actually good for lettering comics. Comic book letterers usually use specially designed fonts when they're lettering comics, and they often have websites where you can get these typefaces for a reasonable fee (or sometimes even free!)

What makes dialog typefaces special?

The barred-I! (and other contextual options)

This one is subtle, but generally, you want to only use the barred-I for the personal pronoun "I" or for roman numerals. It helps clarify that what you're looking at is an I and not an L, but it takes up more space in the word, and we're trying to reserve as much space as possible for the art on the page.

Specially made comic book fonts will also be custom designed to be legible at a distance, have multiple bold/italics options, and might even include special versions of individual letters for when you type multiple of the same character in a row! It'll give your lettering a personal touch that you won't get from typefaces designed for other things.

Blambot is a great resource for all your lettering needs. Here I'm using Backissues and Nightmark

#2: Dialog Stacking

Dialog should always be stacked such that your longest line of text is in the middle. The block of text itself should have a sort of diamond shape <>. Sometimes this is difficult to do, especially if you have any long words at the beginning or end of a sentence. You can't always get it to work (and if you're unwilling to rewrite your dialog so it fits), so sometimes it might not be perfect, but if your text block is more hourglass shaped >< that's a good indication that you should try putting your line breaks somewhere else. Basically try to make your text as round as possible if it's in a balloon.

#3: Balloon Shape

One of the more common mistakes I see webcomic artists making is using perfectly elliptical balloons. It's actually kind of difficult to fit text into balloons that are perfectly elliptical; there ends up being a lot of uneven space around the text, and it looks kind of cheap. Making your balloons slightly more rectangular is going to give you more bang for you buck, they'll fit the text block a little better. I like a hand drawn balloon, I tend to think they add variety.

One thing you definitely shouldn't do is this:

This might be a personal preference thing more than any kind of hard and fast rule, but these lettering styles give me the impression that the text is pasted on top of the art, and that no real thought was put into arranging it thoughtfully with the art. These are probably more appropriate for captions, not so much for dialog

Lettering is a part of the medium we're working with, the dialog should be approached as a part of the artwork, and treated as such.

#4: Balloon Placement

The number one, most important rule of lettering, is that the placement of your balloons should never confuse your reader. The goal of balloon placement is to guide your reader around the page, each one should naturally lead your reader towards the next thing they should read. Here's an example of something I see a lot:

While yes, it is true that on a comics page, people read left-to-right top-to-bottom, if two balloons are connected with a line, I am going to read them one after another. Readers are not going to intuitively assume they should jump to the other side of the page just because the #2 balloon is slightly above #3. In this situation the balloons should be interwoven.

It should not be possible to look from one balloon to another and skip over intermediate dialog. If your reader misses a part of the conversation and has to double back to figure out what they missed, you've broken the flow and immersion of the page.

Like I said, lettering is all about guiding your reader around the page, it should be a part of your composition from the beginning, don't forget to incorporate lettering into your work when you're first laying out your page. Put yourself in the place of your reader and see how your eyes track across the page.

Hope these help! Like I said, I'm no expert; it took me a while to learn a lot of this. I would have found these tips super useful when I was first starting out. If you're interested in the technical side of lettering, I highly recommend The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering by Nate Piekos. It's one of the most useful reference books I own, and I learned most of this from that book.

[poupeesdecirque]

Posting by Queue, or: why I need some distance from my crafts

It has been some time since my last hobby meta blog entry, it had different reasons and one is that I need distance. Like, yes I of course enjoy crafting and sometimes I am like a little child that runs everywhere to show off things.

But it got ... less intense. And I learned I do better when I keep projects or at least details to myself to sit on them for longer. That the first euphoria is purely mine and not to be shared.

Like for my photos I have a buffer of several weeks now. Yes, I know past-me would have kind of hated that. But I learned I do better when I have a time buffer. I do take photos weekly but sometimes they don't feel special enough to get the weekly photo feature?

Friday & yesterday I went out for photos and while I like the ones from yesterday way more than the ones from friday I am not sure if the set from yesterday will get the feature or not as it's only a hand full of photos giving me that certain spark.

Other than that I am a very emotional artist, I sometimes really fuck up my art and hate it at the moment I worked on it, but then, sometimes, after a few days or weeks I can look at it and just wonder about what was my problem the day I made it.

Another thing is that I, myself, enjoy my art. The process of it. And I like to see my blog updating, sometimes I forget what post will go online and then I check the blog and think "ah yes, this was that thing!", and it reminds me why I made the blog overall, to show myself I had progress and that every tiny step counts.

Which leads to another reason why I hold back in regards of posting. Yes, I do share some snippets in my stories over on insta but not always and not all. I sit on over 300 drawings from the last two years alone nobody ever will see, I enjoyed drawing but it's nothing for the public eye. I will maybe go back and redraw some and share the redraws then, who knows?

But wait, there is actually more reasons.

The biggest or main reason is ... i sometimes go really wild on projects. In January I finished so many dolls it was insane, I worked on Cosplays and other crafts in an incredible speed, I have literally no idea where I found the time but I somehow did and doll parts arriving every week did the rest.

I keep the blog running with partially 2 month old stuff but .... to be honest I don't have doll stuff aside photos to do anymore. All I can do is wait for bodies to be shipped (or dolls even) and arrive. There has been no movement since January. Aside Iza getting the shipping notice for our Split, might take a while until its at her place and I can't really start on the Akuma until I got the body (which I at least have finally ordered this month) as colors need to be matched and mods to be made.

I am truly itchy to do something else than sewing all the time, I do enjoy cosplay but you know how much I like sewing (hint: not at all). So to remind myself of the fun I had in the past weeks I have mixed my blog to bless me with some progress I had which was maybe not sewing all the time. And well, the Cosplays have deadlines and I do get some ideas aside purely sewing while doing them, so that keeps me going for now.

Yes, I could start redoing dolls like Alastor or Erwin. But you know what? IT'S ALMOST ALL SEWING. Urgh.

Aside that real life is pretty good at eating me up and I just want to enjoy crafting. Right now drawing feels like stress relief but I hate the results and just scan the pieces and put them away to never look at them again, I have a bunch of posts queued up without any captions, a wip entry of a current project only has two photos but I lack the spoons to actually get them done. But since those posts are so far back it's fine (yes I know drafts are a thing).

In general I enjoy having my art to myself to get used to it before I put it out into the wild as I just recently got reminded I do bad with direct comparisons still and it hits some triggerpoints from the past and makes everything harder, I don't need that.

I literally have no idea if this blog makes sense even, lol. I just am tired of sewing and stopped working on my current project around lunch time and have drawn so much today and I walked way too much the whole week my friends urged me to stay the ef home and at least try to relax. But I'm restless as my body is too stressed (I know it all I'm a certified relaxation trainer so eh), so, have an over the place blog entry.

[rjalker]

Hey Flatland fandom.

this is a tiny fandom.

how about we make a deal.

If you all start including image descriptions in your art, or at least copy and paste the image descriptions that other people make into your original post, (and make it clear when you post the art in the first place that you're happy to add any ID someone can make), and go back to your older art to add IDs to those, I'll draw your OCs.

I can't guarentee they'll be good drawings, but I'll draw them.

How about we say like, by the end of November 2023, if most of your Flatland posts have image descriptions, you win a drawing of your OC by me.

It doesn't matter if you write the ID or someone else does, as long as the original post has an ID in it!

Image descriptions being in plain text in the post itself is more accessible than ALT text, which many people can't use, and the image description should go directly below the image being described, before all other commentary.

AKA it should look like this.

[image title if you want]

[Image]

[Image description]

[image caption / song lyric / character intro / ect]

IK tumblr desktop's annoying, but get into the habit of just putting an X at the start of a post, and then adding the image. Then you can put the title of the image at the top if you want.

Image descriptions should be in 100% Plain text, so that means no colors, italics, bold, or all caps, even if the text in the image is in all caps. You can just say, "The character is yelling, in all caps, '[insert dialogue here]'".

They should also start and end with some variation of "ID: or "image description" or "image description start" and end with "End ID." "End image description" or "Image description end". Some very clear cue that tells you where the description starts and ends.

It is also necessary for image descriptions to end and begin with brackets to help them stand out from the rest of the text, otherwise they can be impossible to find sometimes. Indenting the image description also helps with this, and doesn't (as far as I can tell) cause any problems for screen readers.

Image descriptions should have paragraph breaks and punctuation just like any other thing you'd write. If the image description is just one long giant block of text, that's not accessible.

It's okay to be nervous about writing your first image description -- we all have to start somewhere, and once you get the hang of it, and make it a habit, it's easier to write it than you think.

If you aren't able to write your own descriptions for your art for whatever reason, please include the character's names and pronouns somewhere in the post and I'll try to write an ID for you. But with so many OCs and characters from Gravity Falls I can't half the time because I have no idea who anyone is or what to call them.

Think of your image description as an extension of your art, another opportunity to show off. No one knows your art better than you do, so you'll be the best at describing it.

If someone else makes an ID for you, and get something wrong, you can 100% fix that when you add it to the original post.

Here's an example of an image description:

[Image description start: The narrator from the book Flatland, drawn as white square on a pale blue background, with a small black circle on the upper right corner, with a small questionmark next to him to show he is confused. Below him is black text that reads, "He is distressingly susceptible to propaganda". The word "distressingly" written in a messy font like spray painted graffiti for emphasis. Image description end.]

All you have to do is describe what you're looking at.

This fandom is so small, there's no reason not to at least try. So let's make this fandom welcoming to Irregulars of all kind, shall we?

[cozylittleartblog]

Oop, hello there! ^^ I remember you from DA, still think your art is so cool!! Still fond of the vintage characters and the world of Tessa n' Val! I'm currently testing the waters on Tumblr lol, hoping to get around a different vibe for documenting my projects n' chatting about stuff I like, and wanted to ask: as someone who's been on Tumblr for a while, what are your main tips for a starting artist in the platform? Wish ya a great day! Stay artful n' creative :]

HI!!!! i remember you too, i always get really excited when artists i like come here. tumblr is the only website i really use for myself and not just to post art, so it means i get to follow them and interact with their art 🥺 i ditched deviantart for everything that isn't posting art and bitching about the website via status updates lmfao, the new inbox and watched deviants tabs are so... out of the way and counter intuitive. hate it there.

anyway, I've written a general tumblr how-to post because there's been so many exoduses (exodi??) from other platforms over the last few years, but I don't think I've ever written one for artists? or at least I can't find it if I did. so here are some hot tips 😎👉👉

NUMBER ONE BIGGEST RULE: if you're an artist and you want to actively gain a following and curate your art, please have a separate art blog where you post exclusively or near exclusively art. it's ok to reblog a post here or there, but tumblr is a website About curating and having specific blogs! it's not that people don't want to see or hear about the artist behind the work, but they don't want 43289 unrelated memes and posts for fandoms they're not in 😅 admittedly i have skipped following some good artists here because their reblogs completely drown out their art and clog my dashboard. people really like curated blogs, almost every artist has a separate art blog 'round these parts. (it's completely fine to post WIPs and text posts discussing your art too, some people would like to see your process!)

speaking of curating: tags are your best friend! tumblr tracks the first 20 tags I believe, so use the first 20 tags to add your important search terms. this is where you put anything you'd want to turn up in the search. really you probably wont have more than 10 of these tags. after that you are welcome to ramble in the tags or use organizational tags for your specific blog.

not sure how to tag? search up what terms you'd use to try to find your own post if you were someone else, and see what tags popular posts in that tag used. you should ALWAYS use the #art and #artists on tumblr tags, as well as any relevant common trigger/content warning tags :D here's how i do it:

FOR FANDOM POSTS: where applicable, I tag Fandom, Fandom Acronym, Featured Characters, Featured Ships, and sometimes #[fandom] fanart and/or #[fandom acronym] fanart. FOR ORIGINAL POSTS: you can tag your art medium (digital art, traditional art, sculpting, etc), the general aesthetic or themes, time periods, and if it features your OCs you can use #oc and their names so if people want to see all your OC content they can find it. admittedly i mostly post fanart so i am very spontaneous with the tags i use on my original art posts lol

4. shorter captions seem to be preferred by the masses, I personally either dump my extra comments in the tags of the original post or I'll put them under a cut. unless it's extremely relevant to the post, like explaining ideas or headcanons

5. have all your handy links in your bio! you can use basic HTML coding to insert links with text and put in line breaks. you should have links to other socials (or something like a carrd that links them for you) and your support streams, like shops and tip jars and patreons. and ofc a little about you and what people can expect to see you draw!

6. have your inbox open! you don't have to take requests, but sometimes someone will throw a brilliant idea at you that you may Coincidentally be inclined to draw. it's also just fun to interact with people who like what you do! sweet comments go a long way

7. last one i can think of - do a seIf-reblog at some point in the day. people live in different timezones and not everybody finishes their dashboard. personally I schedule posts for 12 pm cst and then one seIf-reblog at 8 pm cst. it's also okay to reblog your older artworks for new followers to see, especially if you haven't posted in a while. TV airs re-runs and so can you B)

hope some of it helps!

[littleraccooncarl]

IT'S CARL THE COLLECTOR DAY!!!!!! Here's the first episode recap!!!!

The Plushie Collection

Carl has a huge plushie collection, and it's taking up a lot of space in his room, so his mama (fun fact: the closed captions call her Maude) suggests that he organize it, or give some of them away. Carl isn't too happy about having to give them away, and doesn't want to put them in the basement, so he calls upon Sheldon (via walkie talkie) and Forrest to help him organize the plushies. Forrest also makes a Marie Kondo reference ("Does this spark joy?") and that was pretty funny. They have a lot of trouble organizing them and when Carl sees how happy Forrest is with a cheetah plushie, he finally decides that he can give some of them away, and take pictures of them for his scrapbook. He keeps the ones that have names and backstories, and gives away the ones that don't have names and didn't play with much. Forrest wants one of Carl's plushies, Coco, and Carl politely tells him that he can't have him because he's one of his absolute favorites, which Forrest gladly accepts.

Carl is such a great friend, and so generous too. I also like how Forrest was just like "Okay!" when he was told he couldn't have Coco, he didn't whine or complain, and he still went home with a plushie so everything is fine. Maude is also very gentle and supportive. Carl even gives a plushie to her. I think this is a great start to the show; it demonstrates Carl's love of collecting things, his reluctance to part with things he loves, and his generosity. This episode was also based on the writer's personal story.

The Bouncy Ball Collection

Carl's dad, Harold, gives him a special, sparkly blue bouncy ball for his bouncy ball collection, but Carl accidentally spills his jar of bouncy balls and they bounce all over the street, so Carl and Sheldon have to look for them. Later, Lotta joins the search. One of the bouncy balls, a bumpy orange one, is special because it makes Carl think of Sheldon, and then we get a super cute flashback to when they were both three-and-a-half years old and playing on the basketball court. Then, Forrest joins the search, and helps Carl find his fancy bouncy ball, the one that reminds him of Nico. We get a flashback to when Nico decorated the ball in art class and gave it to Carl. Then, Nico and Arugula join the search. It seems like the gang is unable to find it, which makes Carl very sad, because he needs the sparkly blue ball to play the game his dad taught him. I think Carl is a bit...rigid, if that's the right word? But his friends show him how to be more flexible, and that he can play the game with the other balls. Carl admits that telling his friends about his worries made him feel better, and luckily, he does find the sparkly blue ball

I loved how Carl's friends were supportive to him, and listened to him about his worries. They're good friends that everyone should have. The fact that Carl wanted to play the game with specifically the sparkly blue ball reminds me of how overly specific I am sometimes, like how I only start listening to Christmas songs after the Macy's Parade ends (except yesterday I heard some Christmas songs, oh well). I also liked how a lot of Carl's bouncy balls remind him of his loved ones. I think a lot of the things in Carl's various collections remind him of his loved ones.

Pretty good start to the show! The tone is very laid-back, not overstimulating at all, and the chill music adds to this.

[mieczyhale]

fumbled and stumbled my way through watching the third season of heartstopper. i did a lot of pausing and muting (i had captions on, as of halfway through the first episode anyway, so i didn't miss anything conversation-wise, it's just hard sometimes to listen to certain things and reading it can be easier) (note this only applies to short things like voicemails or tv show / movie captions) i don't think i really skipped over any bits, if i did they were so minimal and rare i don't remember lol i wanted to see it all, i just can't handle a lot of the things that i knew were going to be in the season so i had to try and get through it in whatever ways would make it easier

part of me feels like that means i didn't really watch it, or like.. idk.. my brain is just trying to make me feel like i need to rewatch it "properly" but i don't think i can handle it without the pausing and muting and moment or two of skipping. i really don't think that i can. and that should be okay right?? to adapt the way i watch something so i can deal with it??

it was really good, to nobody's surprise, just like the previous two seasons. it was accurate, the acting was phenomenal, the music fit, it was just great all around.

i just.. can't get through it like a normal person. not when so much of it is so personal and so close. even the parts i did listen to were really hard to get through and i cried.

and it's not like using captions and not listening doesn't count as watching. it's okay for people who can't hear so why should it be any different for me to do it?? i say - trying to get my brain to shut the actual fuck up

ugggghghdfskjhlsdeljkhfgs

it's good. great! and i'm glad i watched it. really glad.

but idk how much of it i'm going to be able to watch a second time like.. ever. i'm sure i'll watch some reaction channels, the ones who do like.. the whole reaction but only post some of it y'know?? and then you have to join their patreon to watch the full thing?? those are a bit easier to get through. and i really do wanna see other people's reactions to some of the stuff. gays watching gays reacting to gays is like.. it's always a good time.

watch the new season if you haven't. fuck it - watch the show if you haven't. it's a fuckin masterpiece. but also please read the graphic novels. before or after you watch the show. either way. the show sticks like glue to the source material (part of what made me so anxious to watch this season. knowing what was coming) and the graphic novels are AMAZING. and the art style is cute as fuck.

and then after you do that check out the novellas: this winter and nick & charlie. oh and solitaire-

listen. read the whole universe alice oseman has blessed us with, watch the show, and then come and be emotionally compromised with me about it

it's so worth it

[waiitiridge]

✨️Don't mind me, just peptalking myself and spewing it into the void ✨️

Its really strange having a following on social media. I've made so many friends and gotten opportunities I wouldn't have without it. Overall I think I've found a little slice of heaven online. Its 90% kindness in my corner and the other 10% is inevitable. I think the hardest part has been seeing the numbers. It's ingrained in us to view these numbers as a currency. More = better, less = worse. They aren't really numbers though, they are (mostly🤖) people.

I would never expect the attention of hundreds of thousands of individuals. I wouldn't even expect a room full of a dozen to all pay attention to me so why does it feel like rejection when the numbers drop? I know it's just people's tastes changing, people growing, or expeting something different. Why does it feel like someone is saying "I don't like you"? Why does it feel like something in my life is actively leaving me when I don't even know the username, let alone the person, leaving? I hate that I have to see the stupid numbers when I go to my profile to find a video in my saved folder. I don't want to know "how many people left me" last night. There is always this voice in my head that it means I've done something wrong, that I've harmed someone to make them leave but I will meticulously crawl through my videos to see what could have been misinterpreted or left without explanation and I can't find anything that stands out. I start to wonder if maybe I'm just too stupid to see it. Too ignorant. Too cold hearted. If maybe I'm not meeting the expectations of kindness I set for myself. Maybe I'm not funny, just strange. Maybe it makes people feel uncomfortable. I should dial it back. I should think about dialing back personality to make sure I'm more palatable... but if people don't see the real me, who would they be following?

So I do it. I put myself out there. I make the silly videos with my authentic dopey self on display. I put together a little video, a slice of my day, like a diary. I love capturing all the bits. The lighting, the flowers, the bees and trees. The way my ducks waddle after me or the food I made. Marbles sleeping and her paws twitching. I love film and photography as an art form. Finding the angles and lighting to capture the feelings the moment is giving me in a way I can share with others. Part of it is so my daughter will have a way of knowing me and how I saw the world when I'm gone. I would give almost anything to have something like that from my own mother. To see how she saw the world and maybe have some clues for the unanswered questions she left me with. Outside of art and memories, film is just fun. I love finding music that's inspiring and seeing how each sound can change the entire energy of a clip. Like lining up words for laughs or tears. I would do it all again and again even if no one was watching. It's like a game where I'm trying to find the story in my day and pull out just 1 second from each moment to tell it in a way people who weren't there might enjoy watching with no context. Sometimes i win and people love it! Sometimes I think I've got something really great but no one sees it so I don't get to know whether it was watch worthy or just average. Sometimes people do see them and just dont like them, which I personally find better than not knowing.

Social media is a fickle beast. You have algorithms crawling captions for trending words - Heartfelt messages that use descriptive language beyond buzzwords wont do. You have filters looking at the videos themselves for clips that match what it's looking to push - Was every shot photo perfect? Was the lighting good enough for the filters to pick out my face or cute animals? The sound suits the video perfectly - but is it trending? What's the like to view ratio, what about comments and is that enough or are they weighing saves or shares more? Did I leave a comment somewhere or interact with a post that was too political? Am i off the fyp because of it?

I love data and being able to look for trends but statistics tells you not to play lotto, not how to win. As with gambling, it's about learning your limits and sticking with them. Knowing what you're willing to lose and never going beyond that point. If I win a bit, great! If I lose, I lost what I expected to lose and hopefully had some fun in the process ($10 on lord of the rings slot machines when in vegas was a $10 experience I was willing to pay for, plus they gave me a drink!). While I feel that sense of rejection when seeing the numbers, I know I have lost nothing. Making and sharing the art with the friends I've found is worth the sense of insecurity. Absolutely, everytime, YES. When I think about it objectively, outside of my profile page with my social currency on display, I don't care at all about the numbers. It's about the people. I love seeing what my friends have to say about the ducks this morning. I love chatting about what to grow next season or seeing all the ideas for crafts I'm thinking of. I love hearing other people's stories of their own similar experiences. I love the recipie ideas. I love finding people who want to sew and helping them find the right patterns or machine or troubleshoot. I love talking about tinyhomes and what works and what doesn't. The friendships I've made are invaluable. I get so much warmth, love and support. They don't wax and wane with the faceless numbers. This is why I continue. This is the part that matters. This is what the social mediabexperience is all about, actually socialising.

[solradguy]

hello solradguy! as someone who is interested in learning how to translate japanese, i was wondering what your approach was to learning japanese! did you go in knowing you wanted to translate writing, and focus your efforts on reading? or did you try to learn all aspects of it at once (ie audio recognition, speaking, pitch accent, etc)

I started learning it because, at the time (2015), I was still doing art in mostly analog formats and a lot of really good inking supplies came exclusively from Japan with fully Japanese packaging. It was really frustrating having to rely on machine translation to figure out things like replacing pen cartridges or pen nibs upkeep/maintenance. My focus then was reading and I never really shifted from that; I can't verbally speak it and my audio recognition is only marginally better haha

Translating Guilty Gear stuff sort of happened by accident, and improved my Japanese more than anything else I was using to study with (which was mostly Duolingo, Wanikani, and Tofugu articles 😬). I couldn't find anyone else that was actively working on getting stuff into English and there was a massive backlog of official literature that hadn't even been so much as scanned, so I was like "Well, if no one else is gonna do it..." lmao It later turned out that there was stuff that had been translated, it was just kinda stashed away on niche websites or Discord servers.

Artworks of Guilty Gear X 2000-2007 captions were my first non-Japanese workbook translation project and got me to really start taking my Japanese studies seriously. There weren't files of pretty much any of the illustrations in that book online that were in decent quality. It was actually faster/easier just scanning a page (at the time) than manually cleaning and upscaling one.

This was the very first Guilty Gear thing I ever scanned (March '22) and the caption that went with it:

They’re half-realistically drawn here. At the time, I wanted to pursue texture in my drawings and used many thick layers of Copic markers to try to achieve that. I don’t think it was pointless, but if it’s going to take too much time to do such things, acrylic paints would be better. - Cover of the August 2000 issue of Arcadia Monthly.

It's a lot clunkier than how I would translate it now haha I've improved so much since then...

I used to physically write out the captions and translate them in a notebook. Here's how the first pass of this caption went:

They were only half realistically drawn. At that time I wanted to pursue texture in my drawings, so I used a thick coat of Copic marker. I don't think it's "pointless," but if it's going to take too much time to pursue such things, I think acrylic would be better.

It's fun going through this notebook and seeing these old translations. Eventually I got good enough at doing it in my head that I stopped writing them out, but sometimes really long sentences still trip me up. Japanese word order.......

These days I get most of my practice by doing Renshuu flashcards/games and reading posts by my Japanese mutuals over on Twitter. Even though I'm still actively translating GG stuff, the projects have gotten much bigger and there isn't anything left that's like the Artworks 2007 captions that I could whip out in about an hour anymore, it's all long paragraphs or manga dialog.

I still don't have much desire to practice speaking or listening skills because I would never get any use out of them where I live in the Midwest USA—they'd get rusty fast if I didn't practice religiously. But I do handle Japanese text very often and am fine with focusing 100% of my study time on just reading/writing instead.

[a-captions-blog]

sending this in response to the ask about shorter descriptions—take this with a grain of salt as i am sighted, this is just what i've picked up from spending some time writing descriptions myself following guidelines from other web accessibility sources outside tumblr.

while i can't find any sources on "industry standard" descriptions being ten words or fewer specifically (i did see fifteen from one source, though,) i do see that alt text should generally be around 200 characters at the most, as alt text should be concise and give just enough detail to understand the image clearly while not including anything that isn't vital to that understanding. some screenreaders aren't compatible with alt text that goes over that limit.

however, a lot of what you do on this blog is outright transcriptions, which isn't quite the same. aside from that, what most people (including you) who write descriptions on here are writing are long descriptions, which are intended for describing images in more depth than alt text and aren't meant to be concise in the same way. i think part of the problem is that people on this website tend to use "image description" synonymously with "alt text," implying that alt text and long descriptions should work the same way and aren't made with distinct (though related) goals in mind.

on websites outside of tumblr, long descriptions are usually used for images containing lots of vital information like charts and graphs, in conjunction with a short description in alt text—the alt says something like "a chart showing (general data)," and the long description provides the specific information, sometimes linked on another page or put in a collapsible menu so that the user can choose to access it. on tumblr however, especially when you're not the original poster of something, i don't know what a good equivalent to this practice would be. you could always warn at the beginning of a description that it is meant to be a detailed/long description or a transcription of lots of text.

image description guidelines are also not the same as guidelines for describing audio or video. this isn't something i do as much as image description, so i don't have any specific knowledge about it, but i'd keep that in mind too.

i don't mean to come off as contrarian to that anon (because i think their criticism is justified and i'm open to correction if there's something about their perspective i'm missing,) or condescending towards you (as i'm sure you probably know some of this already, being a caption blog,) i just thought i'd provide some context i don't see often that might help you figure out what you want to do with your captions ^_^b (happy thumbs-up emoticon).

[Previous ask for context.] Hello! Thank you for your input. The difference in purpose between alt text and long descriptions makes sense to me, and I have some non-Tumblr experience with video transcriptions that I try to apply here as well. I do agree with the previous anon that my descriptions for art and such tend to be a bit verbose, so I can definitely work on trying to capture the general essence of the piece rather than every minute detail. I think I will go with the idea of putting a pre-description for longer captions that are as concise as possible and mention that the following description is lengthy. I will also add the ‘long description’ tag moving forward in case people want to block that pre-emptively. I am also open to further discussion on this if anyone (especially screen reader users) wants to comment :] (rectangular smiley)

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Mikan (pt. 18)

Hey! I have a good reason for not posting on Sunday the way I planned. Partly. I was gonna, but then I remembered that I'd forgotten some of my notes at work and I thought to myself "Okay, I guess I can't do the post!" Seriously, I love doing these, but the actual posts are really annoying sometimes. Finding the pictures, trying to be funny in the captions... doing the fucking next and previous buttons. I hate doing those. Anyway!

I'm sure at this point we're more than ready to wrap up this arc, so let's do it, shall we? Mikan has just been hit with Persona's alice and it's not something one easily walks away from. Oh dear!

<- Prev Next ->

Chapter Sixty-Eight

We rejoin Mikan at a pretty tense time. Her skin is newly covered in dark stains--the mark of death. She is in terrible pain. She is facing the news that she will die very soon. She’s already touched Persona, which means his alice has already done its job. As far as they all know, Mikan will die today.

Her friends are shocked, and so is she. These characters here are all children. Whether it’s finding out a friend is marked to die--or that you are--it’s not easy news to take. But they don’t even have the chance to fully process it because they’re still in an actively dangerous situation. Other than this news, there’s no real change here. Persona still wants to lock Natsume up, to destroy everyone’s happiness.

Even Yakumo protests against what happened, but Persona insists that it’s an accident, and that the school will agree, which riles Natsume up quite a bit. And before you start getting comfortable in the idea that Himemiya is one of the good guys, she reminds us that she is capricious and man-hating. She is so disgusted by Natsume’s behavior that she tightens the barrier on him. As a result, he doubles over in pain, giving Persona the chance to regain the upper hand through Nobara’s alice stone.

It’s important that Mikan sees this happen. Though she doesn’t know Himemiya is observing and pulling strings, she can see that Natsume is unwell, that he still hasn’t recovered from using his alice before. Mikan may not ever admit out loud or to herself that she knows deep down why Natsume is always ill, but she still knows. He is ill, and using so much of his alice, especially in a hostile area complete with a barrier, is not good for him. He’s fighting a losing battle. He can do all he can, but he’s not used to this environment, he’s already sick, and his alice is canceled out with Nobara’s alice stone anyway. He will lose.

Hotaru bravely tries to hit Persona, but she’s very weak while Persona is very strong. Ruka cries out her name (the real ones know why I mention that) and Mikan is able to stop Persona from attacking a loved one once more. Mikan is horrified that Persona would try to attack one of her friends again. She is always so stumped by the existence of the villains she encounters. She cannot understand why someone would do any of that, why someone would hurt somebody else. 

(I think it’s very interesting that Mikan once saw Natsume in the same capacity, as a villain who hurt her friends, who she could not understand, who she saw as entirely bad. But because she saw him in an initially dark light and then gradually came to understand him and see the good in him, he might be one of the few people she sees as layered and complex as opposed to being entirely good or bad. But it is mostly evil that she views as unnuanced, because malice is one of the only things that she cannot empathize with. She cannot understand why somebody would want to hurt somebody else, which is why Persona is so repellent to her here. I'll always love comparing the villains as they progress arc to arc--what sets them apart, how they get progressively worse, etc.)

It's really sad to me that this is one of the prettiest arcs in terms of art style and yet the scans just... burnt it all up. I'm crying.

The stains have spread across her skin and the pain has intensified. It’s important to note that her skin isn’t just discolored. While all this is happening, Mikan is in terrible pain. She is in the process of dying. For a moment, she’s scared that the stains might be contagious, so she warns her friends not to get close. Mikan is already terrified that she will die, but she is prepared to die alone, because she doesn’t want to drag her friends into the same fate. Persona informs her that the stains are not contagious and can’t spread, but Mikan is still scared. She’s still dying, and agonizingly so. 

“I don’t want to die,” she thinks to herself. “I’m scared.” None of those thoughts are surprising; anybody would react that way upon finding out their life is running out. Mikan, who couldn’t comprehend why Natsume would be willing to take his own life during the Reo Arc, values life more than any other character. Her own life is no exception. 

But that’s not what she says out loud.

Instead, she admonishes Persona for trying to use such a despicable alice on her friends. She can feel the pain after all. She feels how awful it is. The only thing worse than dying is knowing that her friends could have been in her position instead. She is not angry that he used his alice on her; she’s angry that he tried using it on them. She makes her bold proclamations about never forgiving him and refusing to let him have his way but he seems largely unmoved. She’s already at death’s door. Hasn’t she had enough?

Actually, y'know what, I was right (I'm saying this to myself--you're not missing something). Aoi wasn't around to witness Nobara, so we know these aren't her thoughts, even though it's tempting to imagine it that way because she's standing there. This is Mikan, thinking about the people who have looked out for Natsume... a precious person... Where's that one tumblr that made that annoying post about Mikan being with Natsume, not out of genuine love and affection, but out of pity? I just wanna talk. And give you canon evidence that you're sorely mistaken.

Yes, Mikan is already at death’s door, which is why she’ll keep fighting. She’s already doomed anyway. 

(Natsume has the same mentality.)

She is going to die anyway, so tells her friends to get out, to run away. They can escape while she holds Persona off with her alice. She’s a lost cause, so she might as well take advantage of it to protect the people she loves while she can. Mikan is scared, but what she says out loud is that she doesn’t care about her own well-being anymore. She doesn’t voice how she’s feeling because it’s not helpful. It would only worry her friends even more, when the situation isn’t anything they can help. If this would have proceeded the way Mikan imagines here, then she would die, by herself, scared and alone and in agony in the basement.

Her friends protest, but she is resigned to her fate, as much as it scares her. In Natsume’s corresponding essays, I made a lot of references to Mikan encroaching on Natsume’s habits, particularly to sacrifice himself at the drop of a hat. 

Yes, they are similar in some ways. Both Natsume and Mikan think pretty little of themselves. Natsume hates his alice; Mikan views hers as lackluster and unimpressive. Both of their alices are really only any good in situations like this--life or death: his to attack, hers to protect. Thus, they are both best suited to this sort of alice-use. They both prioritize others’ happiness over their own. Thus, Mikan’s behavior here seems to echo Natsume’s behavior all the time. But I think there’s some key differences as well.

Most of all, Natsume is suicidal. He’s always ready to sacrifice his life for a number of reasons, which I best summarized during the Reo Arc in Chapter Sixteen. Yes, he’s a trained soldier, so he is aware that missions can go sideways, that things can escalate, that people can end up dead. Yes, it was drilled into him that his value is conditional and that death is sometimes even expected of him, depending on the mission. But more than anything, Natsume is always prepared to die because deep down, he kind of wants to.

Obviously falling in love with Mikan complicates that feeling, but he’s always been resigned to the fact that he and Mikan can’t ever be together, so that’s not something holding him back. He knows he will die, so maybe his martyr complex is motivated by pushing things along and speeding up the inevitable. We know that Natsume has been, to some extent, ready to die ever since he came to the academy, so whenever he goes on a dangerous mission, he is acutely aware that he might die. His life is pretty meaningless to him and he seems to not understand just how important he is to other people (in roles far more profound than simply “protector,” such as friend, son, brother, lover, etc.), which doesn’t help the suicidal feelings at all. If he must die, and if he kind of wants to, then at least his death can come with the added benefit or protecting his loved ones, right?

Death in slow motion.

Mikan’s situation is a little different. Though it’s indisputable that Mikan has a self esteem issue, she certainly is not suicidal. Whereas Natsume might be resigned to death, Mikan is very obviously frightened here. He might have been acutely aware that he was potentially facing death by coming here, but Mikan definitely was not. Mikan still has an idealistic idea that things can work out, that people can be saved, and that everyone will be safe if she wills it enough. Persona’s alice taking the toll that it does is entirely out of left field. She never, in her wildest dreams, would have imagined this could happen, that she could die here. 

Her resignation isn’t related to suicidal ideation or even to giving up. Instead, it’s a sad kind of acceptance. As far as she knows, surviving Persona’s alice is impossible. She certainly doesn’t want to die, but she knows she will. After Pengy, she has come to terms with the fact that death is an inescapable risk during missions like this, so why should she be exempt? And she doesn’t want her friends to die with her. And so she tells them to run away, to leave her behind. She will fight Persona until she dies because there isn’t much else she can do in her state. Mikan is exhibiting a level of maturity she shouldn’t possess yet. She came to accept her imminent death in a matter of minutes, a difficult feat for grown adults, let alone an eleven-year-old girl. 

She wants to protect these people. We’ve been watching Mikan this whole time, really, so we know that Mikan’s desire from the beginning was to be strong, to be able to protect people, to be able to sacrifice something for the people she loves. That’s why she calls herself “selfish” for asking them to leave. She’s always wanted to sacrifice herself, and this is her chance to do that. If she can’t do it now, on her deathbed, then she will die never having done it (in her view), which means that letting her die in the manner of her choosing, by keeping Persona at bay and letting them escape, would actually be benefiting her. It would be selfish of her.

It is for this reason that I said earlier that this arc could be, narratively speaking, the final arc. When it comes to Mikan’s character, things could feasibly be wrapped up here. From the beginning, what have we been looking for? Figuring Natsume out--check. Seeing if Mikan’s alice could be “useful”--check. Watching Mikan finally sacrifice something--check. Most of the main themes established within the first few chapters of the manga are addressed within this arc. 

Of course, it’s not a very satisfying ending. We still have plenty of mysteries to solve and character arcs to wrap up, but for Mikan, you could reasonably argue that this arc could have been used to finish her story. 

In any case, it’s also important that when she’s visualizing her protection she’s thinking so much of Natsume. I don’t think Natsume is the only person she’s thinking of, or that she wants to protect him much more than her other friends. Instead, I think that Ruka’s story is fresh in her mind. Natsume has spent his entire life protecting others. Mikan finds this simultaneously sad and admirable. In some way she covets his effortless selflessness while at the same time wishing he could be protected too. This choice to stay with Persona satisfies both of those feelings. She can now be the selfless one while also protecting Natsume for a change. (These feelings are intermingled with the contrasting desire to live, and to stay with the people she loves forever, and yet only the declarations of protection are said out loud. The helpless and sad thoughts stay inside. Mikan can be many things but she will not allow herself to be remembered sad.)

Apparently, Aoi has a similar thought process of watching (or rather hearing since she can't see) others protect, particularly her big brother. She considers this her chance too. Besides, she knows Persona. Maybe she can get through to him? So she pleads with him to stop, appealing to the humanity she’s sure he has. He’d always presented himself as kind to her, a victim rather than an oppressor, which is why she’s so certain that this behavior is out of character for him. She is still not quite aware that she’d been played, that she was his victim all along too.

(And yes I do truly believe Aoi was played here. I'm not a fan of Nobara and Persona ending up together, but Nobara did see all parts of him and was still patient and empathetic with him and you could argue there was a degree of transparency with them, especially towards the end, despite the clear abuse she endured at his hands. Aoi, on the other hand, was fed convenient information to keep her docile and pliant. He lied about their relationship and erased Natsume from her history so that she didn't complain about being trapped in the same prison he spent his childhood in. Again, Persona knows first-hand how horrendous that dungeon is and he was not just complicit but actively involved in keeping another child there. His chats with her might in some small part have been driven by the motivation to keep her company so she's not as lonely as he was, but it's still primarily selfish manipulation done without a lick of self-reflection. There's really nothing endearing to me about the way Persona treated Aoi. I just can't with this guy, honestly.)

Persona--somehow offended by Aoi begging him to… not kill her new friends? (I’m joking; obviously I’m fully aware of Persona’s fucked up psychology, but that still doesn’t excuse or justify any of his actions so they’re still ??? to me.)--insults Aoi and pretty much tells her she no longer has value enough to live, same rhetoric given to Natsume. He moves to use his alice on her, and Mikan once more takes the brunt of his alice to protect Aoi, and to protect Natsume. 

(It’s interesting that Yakumo, who is perhaps the most solemn and serious member of the DA class yet, who takes orders like a champ and doesn’t deviate from them like Hayate or Rui did, is so horrified by Persona’s actions and speaks up against them. He seems most the quiet soldier type, the kind who follows all orders without question, and yet he still speaks up, protesting that Persona is going too far. I’m kind of sad that we get so little of him.)

Mikan has been told this whole time that one more hit of his alice and she would definitely end up dead. She doesn’t want to die, but Persona has been attacking her friends over and over again. It’s important to note that none of the times Mikan was hit were by Persona intentionally aiming for her. Each time, she made the conscious choice to put herself in danger to save a friend. The first time, she was unaware that her action would result in danger. The second time, she was more aware, but the situation still didn’t seem hopeless quite yet. But this third time, Mikan knows she’s signing her life away. This is perhaps the most informed of all three choices. This time, Mikan knows she will die, but she also knows that not doing so would be unacceptable. Not doing so would mean Aoi dies, and Aoi dying would be a tragedy because Aoi is a bright girl who deserves to live, but also because Aoi dying would mean Natsume suffers, and she cannot allow him to suffer anymore. 

Mikan tackles Persona and thinks of her loved ones: Jii-chan, her friends, Natsume, Narumi-sensei… She silently begs them to lend her strength. All of the people she knows and admires, who all demonstrated strength and sacrifice time and time again, help her convictions in this moment.

Never fear, Dad is here!

And the ghost of her father, whose presence she has felt before, appears to “lend her strength,” heightening her alice, helping his daughter. I am certain that Mikan can feel his presence now too, but she doesn’t know exactly what she’s feeling and she’s already so unwell, so close to death, that she probably isn’t in the state to analyze it. Mikan does it: she defeats Persona, who runs off screaming and crying at the impact of his own alice.

Then she falls unconscious.

Chapter Sixty-Nine

How heart-breaking that this chapter’s cover is an impossible scene, of Mikan with her mysterious father, her mysterious protector, her favorite ghost. At this point, the reader is only aware of Mikan’s father in a limited sense: the sensei Yuka loved, the teacher who made such a large impact in the lives of the students, who apparently did not kill himself, who had the same alice as Mikan, the same desire to protect. We know very little about him (and Mikan knows far less than even we do), but we know he loves his daughter. The chapter title reminds us that she was robbed of that.

Anyway, there’s a lot going on with her friends, but Mikan is unconscious for a bit, so we’re going to focus on her internal struggle. 

First, she is in excruciating pain. The stains are burning hot and she can feel her body desperately try to fight off Persona’s alice. She wants to live, and her body is doing what it can to keep her alive. 

Secondly, she can hear a distant voice, the voice of a woman, wishing for Mikan to be resilient, to be able to defend herself, to protect someone she loves. It’s so interesting that Mikan, on the brink of death, is remembering the vague memory of the beginning of her life, when her mother made that wish. So the memory of her father stops by to assist her in defeating Persona, and then the memory of her mother soothes her as she fights off the mark of death trying to kill her. Mikan, who has no solid memories of her parents, is still comforted by them when she’s hurt. Like I said when Hotaru was dying from that poisonous bullet, little girls want their mommy and daddy when they’re hurt. And Mikan, for all of her self-sacrifice and noble declarations of protection, is still just a little girl.

Did I complain about the scans earlier? That was rude of me. It can always get worse, you know. The TokyoPops definitely aren't perfect but damn...

In any case, Mikan is unconscious for a little while, until, while her friends bicker with the student council over the consequences of their actions, Natsume proclaims that it’s all his fault, so he should take Aoi and leave the school. 

It’s a fucking stupid plan. Everyone thinks so. I always cringe when he declares it and then Subaru and Sakurano instantly shut it down. Ugh. He can be a dumbass sometimes too. The martyr complex makes him an idiot from time to time.

But Mikan is awake and can hear him. Even in her weak state, she speaks up, asking if he’s really leaving the school. “Leaving us?” HMM. I have a lot of thoughts on this. 

First, I will admit that this chapter kinda bores me. It’s my least favorite part of this arc. I find it a little lackluster since most of the rest of the arc is so intense. Regardless, this little moment where Mikan asks Natsume where he’s going is one of my favorite little moments, even thought it only lasts two pages (shorter than their kiss, even, though I'd argue a lot of scenes are).

Mikan, who is currently in the process of dying, is so disturbed by the idea of Natsume leaving (even though she might not even be around to miss him), that she pulls herself up to call out to him and ask him if he’s serious. We already know from the Z Arc just how much Mikan hates the idea of being without Natsume. That wish to keep him with her was powerful enough that her alice could work from all the way across the room, even without the proximity or tackling she usually uses. But this time, it’s Natsume’s idea to leave. There’s no alice to nullify or enemies that she can currently vanquish to keep him with her. All she can do is ask him if he’s going to really leave.

She is to weak to actively follow the conversation, but talk of Natsume leaving is simply not acceptable.

And, of course, there's the fascinating fact that she says, “You’re going to leave us?” which is the safer thing to ask. I’ve talked enough about Mikan’s reluctance to make herself vulnerable with Natsume, to say the hard and scary thing. If you thought that hesitation might be lessened by her present condition, you are sorely mistaken! She has so far been dishonest with her feelings, even on the brink of death, keeping to herself how scared and hurt she truly is. So far she hasn’t confessed her fear with anybody. She can’t even phrase it properly in her head either, because even her own thoughts ask if Natsume is “leaving all of us?” You know what I’m about to say, because, yes, Natsume would be leaving everybody, but her most pressing concern is that he’d be leaving her. “Us” seems safer than “me,” just like “You’re ignoring people” or “saying people’s names all of a sudden,” so on and so forth forever. Mikan is people, whenever it comes to Natsume. She’d rather be part of a group that is affected by Natsume, rather than one person who loves him so much she can’t stand the thought of losing him. “Are you leaving us?” is a general question. Leaving the school, his class, etc. Is he going? “Are you leaving me?” on the other hand, is personal, vulnerable, heavy, and scary, perhaps even scarier to admit than that she might be dying. Facts versus feelings. It’s all very complicated.

Anyway, Natsume gets his plan ripped to shreds by Subaru and Sakurano, which is a huge relief, because that means he probably won’t actually be going anywhere (but how dare he even consider it, right? Especially because that plan was stupid and wouldn't have fixed anything). Ruka speaks up, declaring that Aoi shouldn’t be forced to stay at the school, held over Natsume’s head, when she doesn’t even have an alice anymore. This leads to Tono coming up with the idea to out the school as having kept a non-alice in the school against her will, which is very bad PR. (I also find this resolution so lackluster. A newspaper scandal solves this whole issue? What??? …Irrelevant.)

Everyone plays a role in sending out the paper planes, even dying Mikan, in order to liberate Aoi and clear Natsume’s name. In no time at all, their plan pans out and the kids are in the clear (though their actions will bear heavy consequences to come). Mikan watches Natsume and Aoi on the TV, and because her reaction takes a whole sparkly panel, I think it’s noteworthy. 

So apparently these scans aren't just lackluster, they're also out of order! Crim and I were noticing that when she was helping me with translations. In any case, special shout out to Crim for always being so helpful! Without her, these essays would be inaccurate and sorely lacking!

Mostly, I think Mikan is relieved here. Their plan worked, which means Natsume can stay here after all. He won’t be leaving her, which means he can stay by her side for at least a little longer. Whether she can admit it to herself or not, whether she’s even aware of it or not, Mikan is in love with Natsume, and, as a result, the idea of him leaving in any capacity is deeply upsetting to her. Finding out that the plan to keep him here is working is thus a huge relief. 

The chapter ends with Mikan’s condition getting worse and a stone appearing in her hand. Though, to be honest, I think that her condition was “getting worse” because it was peaking before she started getting better. When you’re sick, the bacteria or virus attempts to hurt you from the inside. Most symptoms of sickness--in whatever form--are actually the body’s own defense. A fever is the body’s way of burning the disease. Vomiting is the body’s way of forcefully expelling it. Persona’s alice isn’t a disease in the same way that a virus or bacteria is, but he’s still making her ill, trying to kill her. And her body is fighting back.

So finding out that her fever is spiking is a good thing, because it means her body is fighting even harder to keep her alive. The fact that she first utilizes her stealing alice here is further proof of her fierce desire to live. As a NatsuMikan shipper, I like to believe that her earlier relief at Natsume being able to stay might have given her the last push she needed to fully save herself. There’s no real proof of that, other than the order of events (first we see her watching Natsume on TV, then we see her save herself with a dormant alice she didn’t even know she had), but I’m still inclined to believe it.

Chapter Seventy

I won’t analyze the conversation the others have about Mikan possibly possessing the stealing alice. It’s not relevant to her or to NatsuMikan. I’ll talk more about Mikan, the stealing alice, and her relationship to Yuka later on when it becomes more relevant.

For now, we’re skipping ahead in time to a week later, when Mikan is finally up after a period of healing. Once again, a big adventure “ends safely,” with all her friends (and her!) alive and well. She’s reunited with her classmates and feeling just fine despite Persona’s many attempts to murder her. She and the others aren’t allowed to talk about what happened at the Hanahimeden, though, which is one major downside. Their punishment is being postponed due to a lack of evidence, but that’s just the formal side of things. We know, since we’ve already read this story (presumably? It would be weird if you were getting all your GA info second-hand from me!!) that the ESP is planning on punishing the kids in his own way. 

Must be a miracle.

In any case, today is Aoi’s release day, when she will finally be reunited with her father after almost three long years. Her memories have been fully restored and her blindness has finally been cured (proving once more that Persona was telling her lies in the cage about having to wait until she earned the right to be cured). Aoi sees Mikan for the first time and they share another sweet moment of connection (why couldn’t Aoi have stayed to join Class B??? Grr!!!), where Mikan assures everyone that’s just fine now, though she has no idea how. 

Tono, Hotaru, and Tsubasa have joked to her about her “taking” their alices, references she doesn’t understand. Ultimately, despite what others may think, Mikan regards her recovery as a miracle. I think it makes sense that she would too, since she was able to defeat Persona with the miraculous aid of a ghost (whose presence she certainly felt even if she couldn’t analyze the situation), so why couldn’t that same ghost, or that mysterious woman whose voice she heard, have helped her get better somehow? Mikan is certainly the type to believe in miracles, because Mikan believes in happy endings. If logic and reason or skill and willpower can’t acquire the happy ending, then divine intervention will. She believes that good will prevail. Even now.

Natsume points out that this was supposed to be a small, quiet affair, saying goodbye to Aoi. But everyone wanted to see his little sister, and they also, according to Koko, wanted to know if he was really going to leave with her.

Mikan watches Natsume, suddenly worried all over again. Aoi will be safely returned to her family, but all of Natsume’s actions, including coming to the academy in the first place, were motivated by protecting his sister. If she’s no longer here to be used as a bargaining chip, then will Natsume leave with her, or try to escape somehow? She is genuinely worried that he will say yes, that he will leave after all. And Mikan really doesn’t want that. 

“Is he leaving everyone?”

“Is he leaving us?”

Higuchi Tachibana sticking with this evasiveness of Mikan's when it comes to Natsume (an evasiveness she doesn't have with any other character) is so important, because it makes the moments where she's honest so much more potent. I say this because the Sports Fest is on the horizon...

I don’t know why “us” would be the emphatic after “everyone,” since they refer to the same generalized plural, other than for the exact same reasons I outlined in Chapter Sixty-Nine. When she says “us,” she means “me.” But it’s not easy to admit that she wants him to stay by her side, or, on the other hand, to admit that his leaving would feel like she was personally being left behind. Regardless of what she is or isn’t willing to admit to herself, that’s certainly the concern here.

But he announces to everyone that he’s not leaving. That should be a huge relief because Mikan was genuinely so worried that she’d parted from him, but it’s still not a happy moment, because if he’s not leaving, that means that he won’t be spending anymore time with Aoi, with whom he was only recently reunited. It’s still sad for him, even if Mikan is happy that he won’t be leaving her.

Aoi asks everyone to take care of her brother, voicing gratefulness that she was able to meet everyone. She regrets that she couldn’t be their classmate (and she speaks for me as well, because I have no idea why she couldn’t be! Have her stay! Why even introduce her in the first place if she’s just gonna be written off right away? I don’t get it.). She and their father will make a happy home, where they will be waiting to welcome Natsume so he can have a happy life with them. And then Mikan watches as Natsume, Aoi, and Ruka reunite with their parents. Mikan knows their story, particularly how Natsume never even got a proper goodbye with his father. She is moved to tears by the reunions.

Is it her? I think it's her. Even with her denial, her thoughts are so loving...

There’s someone’s thoughts saying “Natsume, Natsume,” and I can’t help but assume it’s Mikan, who is just happy to see him finally get something good happen to him. He saw his father again, was reunited with his sister, and was finally able to say a proper goodbye to both, after all this time. It feels like a victorious moment, like a win, and for her too. Mikan fought so hard in the Hanahimeden to secure Natsume’s happiness. All she wanted that whole day was for Natsume to finally get what he deserved, for his suffering to cease. It seems like she’s finally achieved her goal. 

She wonders aloud if she’ll see her grandpa soon (sooner than you might imagine, Mikan…), which causes her to panic about the ESP’s postponed punishment. Hotaru tells her that her biggest concern should be to behave from now on, because even the slightest slip up could result in a demotion of star rank, which means Mikan could end up a no star again!

Cute!

Ruka throws his stars away, declaring that he’s now a no-star too. It’s a symbolic gesture--he’s still a triple and will still be treated as such--but he’s simultaneously challenging the stupid hierarchy that chained Natsume down to begin and aligning himself with Mikan to both comfort her and rebel against the school. 

What this means for Mikan is that her situation is different now than it was when she first came to the school. She’s now close friends with all her classmates. They’re all willing to help her out and be on her team. Whatever may come next, she won’t be dealing with it alone. They will be by her side. 

Even Natsume, who’s smiling brightly now just like everyone else.

(So she really did do it, huh? Secure his happiness by reuniting him, however temporarily, with his sister? Or, you know, by being the love of his life. Whatever works!)

Anyway, I said I had notes, and now that the arc is finished I can share. I said at the beginning of this essay that seasons play a meaningful role in Mikan's story. Starting with winter, moving into summer, then tasting the cruel loss of autumn, and now back to winter.

"[W]inter represents sorrow, struggle, and of course death."

Quite obviously, Persona is a clear mirror for the most negative aspects of winter. He threatens to take Natsume away from her, promising loss and loneliness, especially so soon after Mikan realizes just how at place and accepted Natsume makes her feel. Furthermore, his dangerous alice is inherently related to death and decay--when he uses it on Mikan, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that she will die. Thus, Mikan goes through a struggle of her own, ultimately choosing her friends' safety and Natsume's happiness over her own life, though it's not an easy choice to make. Persona represents the evil school in this arc, too, so Mikan finally understands the school's capacity for malice here, in winter. Though you could argue before that the school was mainly fun and games with the occasional screwup, now the corruption and deceitfulness of the academy are undeniable. Evil is more clear now, especially to Mikan, than ever before.

Additionally, we have Natsume--a lonely, dark, emotionless, sad, evil character. Except, that's not an apt description, is it? This Discovering Natsume arc let us explore his depths. Winter is as much a Natsume season symbolically as you can get, which is why we get his backstory here. Though we--and Mikan--know Natsume better than to trust anything directly on the surface. He, like winter, may appear harsh and cruel and even evil, and Mikan finds herself at odds with him a lot in this season, particularly with his confusing and mysterious motives. But she's misunderstanding him, just as people misunderstand winter. Winter is not evil. it is not cold to cause suffering. It is necessary to face the cold chill of winter in order to meet the warmth of spring. It has to be done, however unpleasant, so winter does it. Similarly, Natsume is cold out of necessity, not sadism. Mikan finally understands that and via this understanding, she's finally able to see just how lonely he's been, how dark and despairing his life has been. There's really no better season for the arc than this.

This arc wraps up the winter season, more or less. The next arc is a transition arc, which means I won't be talking about seasons. Nonetheless, I'll discuss spring during the Sports Fest, summer during the Escape Arc, and then winter again... all in due time.

Conclusion

This arc ended pretty "safely," though there's plenty of questions about the consequences of the kids' actions. What will happen going forward when punishment seems so certain? Who's to say? Additionally, now that Mikan has "discovered" Natsume (though there's more to come), her feelings will start cementing. She already loved him, of course, but it's becoming undeniable, even for her, though she will do her very best.

I take notes on these at work, yes. I ponder a theme and take notes--literary notes. I write little musings or I doodle or I look through random Wikipedia rabbit holes, but I usually play sudoku. Recently I had the idea of learning Japanese so I spent all of my Friday shift practicing hiragana. I made a pretty handy color coded chart that I'm proud of. We'll see how it goes. I want to learn Japanese for many reasons, but I won't lie that one compelling reason is my desire to finally play the GA game I've had for years now that I can't play otherwise.

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[mlobsters]

supernatural s5e21 two minutes to midnight (w. sera gamble)

what is this, nickelodeon? neon green slime, come on.

DEAN You can't do this.

SAM That's the consensus.

DEAN All right. Awesome. Then, end of discussion.

what a way to deflect. "that's the consensus"

CASTIEL You are not the burnt and broken shell of a man that I believed you to be.

good talk, bro

DR. GREEN You mean my brothers. What they did to my brothers. No. The only reasonable thing to do here is to...take it out of their healthy young asses.

i... what lol

both sam and dean's hair looks weird. dean's too dark, sam's is... sitting funny and looking different. maybe just funky lighting

PESTILENCE So, you've got to wonder why God pours all his love into something so messy... and weak. It's ridiculous.

i mean, i don't think god is pouring anything at the moment

SAM Did you kiss him?

DEAN Sam!

SAM Just wondering.

cute. totally could have dropped it there. but i guess they hadn't made something awkward and embarrassing in a while, quota to fill

CROWLEY You kill demons. Gigantor over there has a temper issue about it.

things you thought were just fanon. crowley's got a bit of a complex

SAM You, Bobby, Cas ... I'm the least of any of you.

DEAN Oh, Sam.

SAM No, it's true. It is. But ... I'm also all we got.

just the frank and earnest belief that he's not good. oof.

CROWLEY You two are lucky you have your looks. Your demon lover, Brady? 

just read a fic like that lol

this interlude introducing big d death, really featuring the song. they haven't used much of the classic rock persuasion this season. some interesting tidbits about the o, death song

(wiki)

CW senior VP and creative executive Chris Donovan, decided that using the old spiritual "O Death" (heard in "Brother Where Art Thou") fit well with the themes of Season 5. He contacted Jennifer Titus, a well-known name around the CW, about singing the song. She recorded a preview of the song on her iPhone and sent it to him.

Donovan was extremely impressed, and upon a slight re-write of the lyrics to fit the show better, Titus came into the studio and recorded the official version. CW Staff members recorded the humming heard in the song, and Leonard Richardson, the executive in charge of music on the CW, mixed the track. Source.

i'm not surprised but also side eye at crowley "fixing" bobby

DEAN God? You'll reap God?

DEATH Oh, yes. God will die, too, Dean.

DEAN Well, this is way above my pay grade.

DEATH Just a bit.

liked this conversation and turn of events

the umbrella academy s3 julian richings as chet rodo

DEAN What do you think Death does to people who lie to his face?

BOBBY Nothing good.

DEAN Yeah.

BOBBY What'd you say?

DEAN That I was cool with Sam driving the bus on the whole Lucifer plan.

so i hate to say it, but man sometimes i think they're asking jim beaver more than he can deliver with bobby. like he was so clearly trying to have some sort of revelation in the warehouse when sam was evacuating the humans, but it was so. over the top. and still not really clear was his deal was. it was strange. but things often feel sort of forced with him and this character, to me.

BOBBY So I got to ask, Dean. What exactly are you afraid of? Losing? Or losing your brother?

he only went to hell already to save sam, what kind of question is that bobby :p i know this was just for the show's sake and i hate to bring reality into it but anyone is gonna be freaked out about their sibling killing themselves even if it's for the greater good.

sidenote i also appreciate that the captions on netflix use Cass for cas, because that is totally how they pronounce it and along with my pronunciation surprises over castiel and alastair i also was not expecting cas to be said like that. cas would with regular english rules be ending in a more z sound! don't be afraid of the more feminine spelling lol