#talk about introduction

[oldworldsguest]

Dostoyevsky looking at the imaginary camera as he introduce us his rival's boyfriend in his command

[estramor]

Queen Lycaerus, First of Her Name, has been revered for centuries by all Tiersmen; though her kingdom has long since fallen to dust, and her countrymen scattered to the four winds, the memory of her benevolent ways persists. The Statue of the Weeping Mother in the Edgering Ruins is a tribute to her. When the armies of Kyros the Overlord besieged Vendrien's Well in 429, the Queen's once-clear tears turned to blood, and have remained thus ever since.

[harmonysanreads]

Anaxa is quite emotionally intelligent and I point this out because in the half an hour something screentime that he had, this quality really stood out to me. He commends Castorice for being able to put herself in other people's shoes as a ‘marking of a true scholar’. But even more than that, the way he hauled his sick body around Okhema, taking a risk against Aglaea, just to deliver the news of his comrades' deaths to their loved ones left a deeper impression on me. Especially the way he approached them, straightforward but understanding, expressing his regrets where necessary. You're given just enough information to think twice about your initial impression, maintaining intrigue for the future and I think that's neat.

[boredbakedbeans]

class divide & struggle in haikyuu

haikyuu twitter has brought up the theme of class struggle in hq and it really got me thinking just how subtle and effective furudate is in portraying class divide throughout the story.

hinata is introduced riding a bike, seeing volleyball through a store TV (not his own like Hoshiumi, Ushijima, Kageyama), and years later he's still riding a bike up and down a mountain every day for an hour to get to school and practice. how the gyms in the public schools like nekoma and karasuno have stages because they're multipurpose, as opposed to the specific volleyball facilities that shiratorizawa and other private schools have. the bond that nekoma and karasuno have as being the public schools in their prefectures, being known as "scavengers", taking what they can get and fighting tooth and nail for it. THE DUMPSTER BATTLE.

Shiratorizawa Academy vs. Karasuno High. almost every other school (aoba johsai, shiratorizawa, kamomedai) having non-volleyball team-specific tracksuits and merch, while karasuno wears the generic "ics" athletic wear. star players like ushijima and hirugami having family that played pro-volleyball and got them started from a young age in professional spaces.

daichi's nightmare about the basketball team overtaking their gym and not letting them practice. kageyama noticing right away that the floors in the all-japan youth camp weren't wooden. takeda working overtime to try to get gyms reserved, practice matches organized, buses rented out. ukai still working at his grocery store his entire first year coaching karasuno (suggesting that karasuno couldn't afford to pay him enough).

karasuno having to adjust to the lights and the height of the ceiling at nationals, when all the other teams were used to it. karasuno renting out that little old inn for nationals, right next to the giant, 25-floor hotel that other teams were staying in. inarizaki intimidating their opponents with their huge student section, affording to literally transfer an entire student BAND from hyogo to tokyo.

it's the reason that there's something specifically annoying about ushijima when we first meet him, something off-putting as we see hinata and kageyama watching shiratorizawa practicing for the first time in their fancy gym at their huge school. something infuriating about hearing ushijima talk down to hinata and basically dismiss karasuno as a threat entirely. when ushijima says aoba johsai is "infertile soil", hinata thinks, if they are infertile soil, then I Am Hinata Shoyo from the Concrete. and our concrete school, despite all odds, despite lack of resources and funding and reputation, will still beat you. i don't have what you have and yet i will still make it to the top!!!!!!!

[ducktracy]

got to meet up with Tom Kenny again last night and we talked one on one and he is just the coolest guy ever. learned he likes Dick Tracy, complimented me on liking “weird old shit” and talking about how he’s always been the same. complimented my Popeye pins. got to talk more about Joe Murray and Lazlo and Rocko. got to show him my art. i can now keel over and die happy

[vaguely-concerned]

lucanis reading romance novels out loud to spite in the seventh attempt to explain to him what sex is and spite bemusedly being like 'wow you people really get up to that shit I thought that was just a bit mortals did or something'

[s0fter-sin]

one of my favourite aspects of supernatural that you very rarely see in paranormal shows is that sam and dean are already versed in the world they live in. there’s no sudden discovery of ghosts and demons and now they have to learn about them along with the audience; they are born into it and already know all about it. it allows the audience to follow their personal story instead of also trying to figure out this new world and its rules

the first season is full of knowledge we never see them learn; “w*ndigoes are in the minnesota woods or- or northern michigan. i’ve never even heard of one this far west.” […] “great. well then this [his gun] is useless.” (1x02), “you don’t break a curse. you get the hell out of its way.” (1x08), d: “it’s a god. a pagan god, anyway.” […] “the annual cycle of its killings? and the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. like some kind of fertility right.” […] s: “the last meal. given to sacrificial victims. d: “yeah, i’m thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some pagan god.” (1x11)

almost every episode in the first season is a monster they’ve faced before that they then explain to the audience in a way that should feel patronising; like it’s the same speech given over and over again but instead, the audience almost feels included in the knowledge. it’s stated with such an innate confidence and comfort in said knowledge that it feels like we already knew it too; “spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. if they want inside, they just go through the walls.” […] “the claws, the speed that it moves; could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog.” (1x02), “it's biblical numerology. you know noah's ark, it rained for forty days. the number means death.” (1x04), “no no no, not the reaper, a reaper. there's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names.” […] “you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? reapers stop time. and you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why i could see it and you couldn't.” (1x12)

they already know and, at least in the first season, already have what they need to kill whatever they’re hunting; already know to salt and burn bones for spirits, fire for a w*ndigo, exorcisms for demons, a silver bullet to the heart for shapeshifters. there’s only three times in the entire first season that they run into something new to them; 1x14 when sam gets his first vision that leads him to another psychic, 1x16 when dean calls caleb for help on the sigil he put together and he tells him about daevas, and 1x20 when they find out vampires are real- and they only don’t know that bc john thought they were hunted to extinction and not worth mentioning

(there’s also technically two half instances if you count one of them knowing something the other doesn’t - sam figuring out the tulpa in 1x17 and dean already knowing about the shtriga in 1x18 - but those still rely on sam and dean having prior knowledge)

even when they’re uncertain about facing something, it’s not bc they don’t know what it is; it’s precisely bc they know what it is and acknowledge that it’ll be a difficult hunt (“i don't know, man. this isn't our normal gig. i mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. this is big. and i wish dad was here.” 1x04)

so much of the tension in paranormal shows typically comes from the main character(s) not knowing what is happening to them/the people around them and having to find out how to resolve it. supernatural is unique in that it operates more like a police procedural. the tension comes from solving the clues and identifying patterns to figure out who (what) the killer is and intercepting before they can take another victim

it’s such a different tone to go for when compared to other shows that came both before, during, and after its run. it sets sam and dean on even footing with each other since they both have the same knowledge going in, and it puts them in a place of authority usually reserved for an outside character

the shows i compare spn to most is charmed, buffy and teen wolf; every main character in those shows are brought into the paranormal world knowing nothing, putting them on the same level as the audience, and they have their mc interact with others already knowledgeable about that world in order to overcome their problem/monster of the week. the audience organically learns about this new world as the characters learn about it. it’s a sound writing strategy that prevents “as we already know”-style exposition but something that complicates it is if your world building isn’t unique or intriguing enough, this slow introduction can become boring

we’ve seen shows like these before; sitting through the same tropes of characters learning to use their powers, struggling with no longer feeling normal/relating to the regular world around them, and not knowing how much they can trust the people already involved in this new world gets repetitive. all three shows eventually reach the same level of comfort with their new world that spn starts with but if the characters aren’t enough to draw you in, you can end up dropping it before they reach that point (and often, before the overarching plot can really kick in and evolve the show beyond the villain of the week format)

it’s the superhero origin movie in tv format; dragged out and overplayed. dropping the audience into an established world of course comes with its own problems but you also have the benefit of pre-existing established character dynamics that let the audience slot in like they’ve always been there instead of just getting to know all the characters while the characters also get to know each other

sam and dean already knowing about the supernatural lets the audience immediately get to the core of the story; the conflict between sam and dean, the search for their father, and the mystery of what killed their mother

[machinedoll22]

So anyway with Sunrise On The Reaping on the way and interest in the HG sparked once again I'd like to highlight one of the funniest things in the original books that doesn't get talked about nearly enough- which is that Plutarch Heavensbee is canonically the gamemaker that tripped into a bowl of punch ass-first when Katniss shot at the gamemakers in the first book. Plutarch saw this girl who gave him one of the most embarrassing moments of his life and said, baby girl, I'm about to make you the face of a national revolution.

[artbymesa]

I'm normal about the wizard I promise

Larian can't hurt me with Gale's slow burn romance if I contribute to the pain

From the line he gives us, it seems Tara did the thinking in the way of using magic items. So the idea that Mr. Hermit never considered asking this of a person didn't feel like much of a stretch 🤣

Okay but joking aside, this idea occurred to me and I just. Needed to exorcise it out of my brain. I knew it wouldn't leave me alone until it existed outside of me lol

As tragic as Mystra's charge is, as far as I can tell Gale seems to avoid reciprocating Tav's advances until he's given it since.... y'know, he might not be around much longer;;;

The way Gale shakes in camp absolutely wrecks me. And I wanted so bad to help him more between when the last item stopped working and when he gets the charge. To do something for him, even if it was a temporary comfort (maybe lose a spell slot or two that day from the cost of something like this?). Larian has already done so, so much in the way of camp interactions like the ones with Astarion (the mirror, the scars, etc) and I am so thoroughly grateful and impressed with what we already get but aeugh, I WANT it haha

Small cameo from @chocolatefrizz89's durge on that last page since this is a multiplayer run~!

[blacklem0ns]

i always thought it was interesting (and fitting) that sleepacross chose to associate sayeon with the king piece as opposed to the queen piece.

although you have to kill or capture the king in order to win a game of chess, the king is arguably the weakest piece in the game, only being able to move one square in any direction. in contrast, the queen can move any number of squares in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

while the other trainees can create bombs, summon blades from their hands, and literally manipulate their own blood, sayeon is given the ability to turn back time for 20 seconds (and 60 seconds if she tries really hard). her gift is not powerful on it’s own, nor is it the most useful in a combat. some might even consider her to be one of, if not the weakest aberrant among the trainees of her year.

instead, sayeon’s power lies in neither her physical capabilities nor her gift (though she can hold her in a physical fight), but her intelligence, her ability to extract information, manipulate variables (whether it be objects or people) to her advantage, and adapt to her given situation.

so while she isn’t overtly dangerous or strong, she still manages to be quite a formidable opponent.

[deinocheirus]

On discord was contemplating how my alien characters (and robot and a human raised by aliens) would respond to the age old question of “would you have sex with a human”

[redbean-nom]

din djarin, age 10: clone wars refugee child

boba fett, age 11: in federal prison for destroying an entire venator while trying to kill mace windu

[turtleplushi]

I need to stop drawing them my god

[sovamurka]

J. C. Leyendecker's "Study for Butterfly Couple" (1923) // unused vinyl design for Arcane's "Pretend Like It's the First Time" episode title card // marble statue of Liang Shanbo & Zhu Yingtai, also known as "Butterfly Lovers" from the eponymous chinese legend

[oneminutefiftysixseconds]

i visited the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen in Oudenaarde this spring; they had an exhibit about SDworx -- of which a small part was this table comparing their team structure & budget to Visma (as a comparably dominant team in 2023), which i thought would be interesting to share:

[tizeline]

I just know sep leo is ECSTATIC for sonic 3 coming out featuring Keanu reeves as shadow the hedgehog 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

BRO Shadow Generations being released AND those animated shorts that came out right before that game AND the 3rd Sonic live action movie now introducing Shadow?

Yeah Leo would absolutely be freaking out about all the attention Shadow has been getting lately, holy moly!

Leo is absolutely one of those people who's gonna be screaming and cheering in the cinema when Maria gets shot 😭 he's absolutely insufferable about this