#that fifth image is fantastic

[insufficient-earth-skills]

Númenórean colours: blue, red and gold (aka the colours of statecraft and the court of Armenelos.)

Part 6 in a series on the colours of Númenór.

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Bonus: the younger generation of apprentices and cadets in orange and blue.

[thewaltcrew]

Director Kirk Wise, screenwriter Linda Woolverton, and actor Robby Benson on casting the Beast [x]

They gave me an incredible amount of freedom. I didn't want Beast to be a cartoon character. I played it as though I were doing a Broadway show. As if this was a living person. And I wanted him to be funny. By funny, I don't mean shtick or one-liners. I am talking about real comedy. When real comedy works, and is truthful, especially with the Beast, it comes out of the fact that he is so pathetic. For some reason, I really understood that. Ha! Because of that, they gave me a lot of leeway. [x]

My first audition was recorded on, of all things, a Sony Walkman. As a musician, I had branched out into recording engineer and loved to play with sound. When I saw the Sony Walkman I knew it had a little condenser microphone in it, and if I were to get too loud, the automatic compressor and built-in limiter would 'squash' the voice— and there would be very little dynamic range to the performance. I did a quick assessment and wondered how many people who had come in to audition for the part were making that error: playing the Beast with overwhelming decibels, compressing the vocal waveforms. I decided to give the Beast 'range.' Because of my microphone technique, and an understanding of who I wanted Beast to be, they kept asking me to come back and read different dialogue. After my fifth audition, Jeffrey Katzenberg the hands-on guardian of the film, said the part was mine…

Beauty and the Beast was so refreshingly fun and inventively creative to work on that I couldn't wait to try new approaches to every line of dialogue. Don Hahn is one of the best creative producers I have ever worked with. The two young directors, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, were fantastic and their enthusiasm was contagious. I not only was allowed to improvise, but they encouraged it. It never entered my mind that I was playing an animated creature. I understood the torment that Beast was going through: he felt ugly; had a horrible opinion of himself, and had a trigger-temper. Those are things that, if done right, are the perfect ingredients for comedy. Painful and pathetic comedy— but honest. The kind of comedy I understood...

In the feature world of Disney animation, the actors always recorded their dialogue alone in a big studio, with only a microphone and the faint images of the producers, writers, directors and engineer through a double-paned set of acoustic glass. Paige O'Hara and I became good friends; it was her idea that for certain very intimate scenes, such as when Beast is dying, we record together. We were able to play these scenes with an honest conviction that is often absent in the voice-over world...

The success of this film was the culmination of a team effort but I must say, the honors go to the animators— and for me (Beast), that's Glen Keane — and to Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. This was the perfect example of a crew who 'cared'. And the final results (every frame) of the film represent that sentiment. [x]

[syoddeye]

the christmas party

ceo!price x reader / smut free / ~2.8k words

A very belated Christmas drabble thing. Definitely not inspired by real life events. 👀 Featuring a fem!Reader x Price, background Ghost x Soap, and Gaz, the incredi-boss. Might fuck around make this a series, we'll see! Maybe I'll clean it up and throw it on AO3, too.

CW: alcohol, substance abuse (mentioned) inappropriate comments from coworkers

You came to expect drama at the company Christmas party. It was as traditional as the optional White Elephant gift exchange, the hired group of carolers, and the ugly sweater competition.

Last year, a 'mystery' baggie of powder and a credit card belonging to the former Head of Sales was found in a bathroom stall. Two years ago, it was the unexpectedly raunchy dancing between an engineer and a project manager you swore hated each other. Three years ago, a division head went home with someone who was definitely not her spouse.

You'd seen a lot in your tenure. The good, the bad, the ugly, the hilariously mortifying.

Coming up on your fifth year with The 141 Group, you were a rarity. Most folks job-hopped. More power to them, no shame in gaining good experience after a year or two to leave for greener pastures. The fact you stuck around labeled you a 'veteran', a cheeky if not sensational label, though there were times you certainly felt like you'd seen war. Acquisitions. Rebrands. Reorgs. Yeesh.

But life at 141 suits you. You are an executive assistant, a good one. It helps that your direct supervisor and the VP of Finance, Kyle Garrick, a fellow 'vet', was an incredible boss. He lets you work from when you need to, doesn't micromanage, and treats you like a person, unlike other execs. He had faith in your ability to manage his calendar, prep materials, book travel - in short, you organized his work life. In return, whenever some new hire got too fresh with you, all it took was one teensy mention in a morning meeting, and by lunch, the offending party had only apologies for you. Most importantly, though, the job nets enough money to make rent and let you pursue your hobbies.

With years of Christmas parties under your belt, you were looking forward to tonight's low-grade yet cataclysmic event. Pre-gaming and primping at a fellow assistant's house, Jordan, you clasp the silver holly leaf pendant around your neck where it lies just above your modest cleavage. The dress code was simply 'Christmas Color', another tradition. Formal attire was expected, if not an unsaid requirement, which meant slipping into a gorgeous dark green dress you spied weeks ago in a boutique window. You thank yourself for earning that last pay bump to afford it because you look fantastic, in your humble opinion.

Lacing her leather Oxfords, Jordan gives a low whistle when you turn away from the mirror. "Like a big, sexy pine tree."

You smirk. "Thanks. Remind me why we both couldn't wear red tonight?"

"Because of the two of us, red is my color. Do I not look like some kind of holiday vampire?" She asks, standing with a sweeping gesture down at her deep, red velvet suit.  

"More bellboy, but-"

"Rude!"

The two of you lovingly bicker all the way out to the awaiting car. The 141 Group, ever mindful of its image, always reimbursed rideshares for its company parties. Given the amount of liquor that flowed at these events, it wasn't only generous but smart. Like the higher-ups needed a scandal. The car ferries you across town to the ritzy event space at a local art museum. Leaving your coats at the complimentary bag check, you enter the well-underway party.

The events team needs a raise, like yesterday. The sprawling space was completely done up. Several open bars, a champagne wall, a photo op with a to-scale Santa's Sleigh, and dining tables with place settings that probably rival a monarch. Silvery white birch trees enveloped in lights line the walls, with clusters of small fir trees fully decorated dotting the space. The dancefloor was already busy with a DJ fully dressed as Santa.

Four going on five years, and it was still quite the sight.

You gently elbow Jordan. "So. Cheesy themed cocktails first or canapes?" 

"Obviously drinks. I just saw one with an ornament in it!"

~~

Three hours in, it was a dead heat for Most Dramatic Event. Two separate calamities slowly built throughout the night.

At the nexus of the first, Chad from marketing was almost blacked out. After winning the ugly sweater with a true abomination of a sweater (working lights, a mini speaker, and an ungodly amount of sequins), he celebrated. A little hard. He bopped from open bar to open bar as the bartenders cut him off one by one. He was trying to convince a coworker to grab him another Mistletoe Martini, and it was progressively getting louder.

The second was from the rumor mill more than anything. Apparently, a developer named Scott brought the wrong gift for the exchange. As the story went, his wife used the same paper for an identically sized gift, one of a titillating nature, and now he was visibly paranoid that he nabbed the wrong one on the way out the door. The man stalked the pile of gifts as folks drew numbers.

Jordan bet on the first, and you bet on the second. From the corner, you watch, giggling behind a cup of Prancer's Punch.

The sound of your name drew your attention. Kyle, in a charcoal gray suit with a sleek snowflake tie bar and green tie, approaches with a Tiny Tim Collins in hand. Though you waved hello earlier in the night, he spent most of the evening in the company of who you deemed his 'buddies' - Johnny MacTavish, VP of Technology and Jordan's boss, and Simon Riley, the Chief Security Officer. You learned in your first month to leave the trio to it. 

"Having fun, are we?" Kyle grins and turns to observe the twin events. 

"I love this party. Every year, delivers just like Santa," Jordan gleefully said.

"Someone should stop them," You add, knowing nobody would. At least not Kyle.

And as if on cue, the man chuckles. "Not my circus, not my clowns."

The three of you chat, swapping bits of office gossip collected through the night. Not the most appropriate, but not the worst social crime, surely. You're the right amount of tipsy: warm and relaxed but solid.

The wager came up naturally.

"What do you want if you win, my pine tree?"

"Hmm. It's gotta be something outrageous but not a fireable offense. Hmm. Maybe I'll have you sing on a video call, pretend you thought you were on mute or something."

"...That's boring."   

"Do I want to know?" Kyle asks, sipping his drink. 

"We have a bet on who's gonna be this year's drama - Chad or Scott." You explain.

"Maybe I ought to get back…" Your boss said with a laugh. "Better not witness to whatever you two plan." 

"Might be for the best. Night, Kyle," You accept the brief hug from the man, then poke a finger against his chest. "Listen, if I get one DM about work during the holiday, I'm switching your coffee to decaf."

Kyle claps a hand over his heart as if he's been shot. "Monstrous. Fine, have it your way, no work during Christmas…Now, behave yourself, both of you." 

Watching him retreat back to MacTavish and Riley (who look quite cozy - perhaps another piece of gossip?), Jordan nudges you. "If I was into guys, that's who I'd be into."

"You and like fifty other people here," As Kyle's assistant, you're more than his Girl Friday; you're also a professional gatekeeper. You could wallpaper your apartment with the amount of cringy notes you've stopped from reaching his desk. 

"Not your type, then?" 

You whip your head back to Jordan, utterly horrified. "No way. Not that Kyle isn't an absolute dreamboat; he's just not my dreamboat. Plus, at this point, it would be so, so weird."

Jordan laughs. "Y'know, even though we've been work besties for a year, I don't think we've ever discussed this. What is your type? As dudes are not my specialty, I have no clue."

Your type, huh? As if you don't know. Your type's been the same for as long as you can remember. Big and brawny, the kind of guy who could haul you around. Dark hair. Well-groomed, well-dressed, well-endow–You could still make it onto the naughty list. 

Using better and cleaner terms, you relay this information to Jordan. 

"Huh. A man's man. Whodathunk–oh! Oh shit, look who it is!" The other woman pats your arm and gestures with a nod.

Joining Kyle and his buddies, is none other than John Price - CEO of The 141 Group. Fashionably late (very fashionably late), yet another tradition. Adorned in a Santa red suit jacket and a matching red tie, he somehow makes the boring dress code dashing. Flanking him is a pair of bodyguards. He's just in time for the wager to come to a head. 

God, he looks good. 

As Kyle's assistant, you see John fairly regularly. Not that he sees you. No one above a certain pay grade sees assistants. You kind of just blend right on in. Not even Mr. Riley, whom you've been introduced to a dozen times by Kyle himself, recalls your name. When you tag along to meetings to take notes for the boss man, you assume you're on the same level as a lamp or plant. That doesn't mean you haven't ogled John Price before. Kind of hard to not to, what with his commanding presence. You're kind of ogling him right now.

"Wow, you really do have a type," Jordan hums with a shit-eating grin.

"Shut up," You hiss into your drink and look away, just in time to see Chad from marketing lift a gift box-shaped ice sculpture and smash it onto the ground next to one of the open bars with a frustrated yell. The poor bartender and caterers jump back, and the music scratches to a halt. A thick silence fell over the party, impressive for a crowd of over a hundred, and your eyes flick to Mr. Price.

He glares daggers in Chad's direction, then nods at the taller of his bodyguards. Without hesitation, the man crosses the event space toward a petrified, drunk-crying Chad. As the guard hauls him away, your coworker, or former coworker, you assume, bursts into ugly tears and then disappears from sight. But your eyes are still on John, whose gaze turns to the DJ. The music starts again, as does the chatter. 

"Fuck yes," Jordan giddily whispers. 

"Well, shit."

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"...Unfortunately, yes. Yes, I do," You sigh and down the rest of your drink. "Before you swing the axe, let me grab another punch."

"Hurry back, I've got my thinking cap on," Jordan impishly smirks. 

With a groan, you make your way to the nearest open bar. One far from Chad's little tantrum. Most folks are on the dance floor at this hour, leaving this particular bar quiet. Waiting in line behind other tipsy coworkers, a clearing throat behind you grabs your attention. 

"D'you have a recommendation?" A low, gravelly voice from all your best dreams asks. 

You turn, and the sweet Hallmark-worthy image that blossomed in your mind in the last two seconds promptly morphs into a nightmare. Not a running-for-your-life nightmare, but a you're-the-only-naked-person-in-class nightmare. Laughable, considering the topic of conversation not three minutes ago.

John Price stands tall behind you, arms crossed, testing the fabric of his red suit jacket. He smells like tobacco and something spicy, and his eyes are a shade of blue you hadn't noticed before. You never got this close. They narrow slightly, and you realize you haven't answered him.

"Prancer's Punch." The name sounds cornier aloud.

"Hmm. Brandy or rum?" He sounds unimpressed. Was he unimpressed?

You're quicker to answer this time. Except, you babble. "It's, uh, made with dark rum. It's delicious. I've had a few. The cranberry juice isn't too tart, compliments the sparkling wine and–It's good."

Santa, run me over with your reindeer.

Kyle would be humiliated to have heard all of that. You are humiliated for having said all of that.

To your surprise though, the corner of John's mouth hooks in a smirk, then he chuckles. "How many qualifies as 'a few'?" 

You, apparently committed to acting moronically, answer honestly. "Five." 

It gets you an actual laugh this time. His hand raises up to scritch at his cheek, flashing the band of a watch you're certain is worth more than your life, then juts his chin forward slightly. "You're up, miss."

"Oh, no, Mr. Price, I insist, please-" You start to sidestep to let him up in line, but his hand lowers immediately and stretches out to stop you. He doesn't touch you, but the hair of your arm stands up at the proximity. 

John smiles again, and his head tips toward you. "I insist. Join me, Miss…?"

"Mr. Price?" A voice suddenly interrupts. The taller bodyguard that removed Chad steps up and steals away Mr. Price's attention. "The problem's been dealt with. Regarding…"

You don't hear the rest of the conversation because you hurriedly ask for a punch and bolt back to Jordan. 

And Jordan saw everything. Your heart is racing, and you miss half of her teasing. 

"You made him laugh. Twice. I don't think I've ever seen him smile, let alone laugh." 

"Because I basically admitted to being drunk!"

"Calm down, you're not, you're solid," She reassures. "Besides. You saw that death glare at Chad. If he was upset, I reckon you'd be on the receiving end of one of those."

You groan and take a swig of punch. You hope you've had enough of the good stuff to burn away the memory of your embarrassing rambling. You look back to Jordan to say something and find your friend once again grinning devilishly at you.

"I just thought of what I want for my victory."

Any time, Santa. Put me out of my misery.

"What?"

"So…You know #AskPrice?" 

You know where this is going, and your eyeballs nearly bulge out of their sockets. "Jordan. Please. No. Do not make me post something stupid there." 

#AskPrice was the name of the open channel at work. Anyone across the company could post questions for Mr. Price to answer. More often than not, it was a venue for bootlickers and kiss-asses to rain praises and share bad proposals. Rarely was there a legitimate question or a good idea.

"Darling, of course not. I have something far funnier in mind," She started, and you swore you saw the flames of hell itself in her eyes. "You're going to direct message Mr. Price and ask what he wants for Christmas." 

Jaw, meet floor. "Absolutely not!"

Jordan laughs and hooks an arm around your neck, pulling you in. "Come on. It's harmless. Believe me, I considered making you send a selfie or asking if you're on the naughty or nice list."

"He could fire me!"

"For what? It's just a question! He always says we're welcome to DM him."

To be fair, Mr. Price did say that at the end of every company-wide call or in email announcements. He always harps on 'transparency' and 'open channels of communication', hence #AskPrice. To your knowledge, however, no one ever takes him up on that, at least at your level.

"Jordan…Mercy. Please."

"My sweet pine tree, you lost fair and square," She releases you and pats your shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, I bet he gets a thousand messages a day. The notification will get lost in the noise."

It doesn't take much more prodding and encouragement from Jordan. Your phone ends up in your hand, and you tap into the chat app. Your hand shakes a little when you pull up John's username and open the message dialogue. 

johnprice - invisible Hi, Mr. Price. I was wondering what you want for Christmas?

Short and to the point. Jordan calls it 'boring', but you're already putting your neck on the line for a stupid wager. You're not risking anymore by dressing it up. Bet fulfilled, you press send, quickly turn notifications off, and shove your phone back into your little purse. Jordan rewards you with a squeeze to the shoulder.

"That was terrifying." You whine.

"That was a rush. Come on. Let's dance." 

~~

The next morning, when you're all but molded to your couch and housing takeaway, there's a little ping from your phone. It's the chime of the chat app.

"Kyle, for the love of everything, it's Sunday–"

You nearly drop your phone.

johnprice - invisible Hi, Mr. Price. I was wondering what you want for Christmas? > World peace. > I'd settle for a drink, though.

[witchofthemidlands]

even though it is my ultimate hyper fixation, i dip in & out of interacting with the fandom because ✨anxiety✨ so i don't actually know how many people are into the doctor who puffin classic crossover novels:

but i love them so much, they’re absolutely fantastic: the thirteenth doctor, & missy in “the wizard of oz”, the eleventh doctor in “treasure island”, the fifth doctor in “alice in wonderland”, the third doctor in a greek mythology retelling? absolutely phenomenal. i know there are others & i cannot wait to read them when i am able to purchase them.

anyway the next instalment is set around one of my favourite books in the world, frankenstein & i was already so excited because i love frankenstein so much & studied it intensively for my degree & today i saw the description for which doctor will be in the story & it is the ninth doctor but it's the ninth doctor with ROSE:

honestly my brain just gave out because (it's timepetals) i knew right then in that moment that all i am going to be picturing throughout this book when i am reading it & rose & nine probably end up meeting a somewhat version of frankenstein is harrytreadaway!victor frankenstein because:

i cannot wait for this book to come out so i can have the mental image of nine taking on this most cringefail pathetic wet cat of a man (affectionate)

[knightlas]

see ok i have so many thoughts from issue #1 alone

like. the striped scarf is great. dialogue aside (which is also great the first issue is so good), just from the goggles-scarf-jacket combo i instantly knew everything i needed to about gabriel as a character and all of it was awesome. the gloves are important and i wont pretend to understand the boots (i keep wanting to believe theyre some kind of take on cowboy boots but i just i just dont know) but i do support him. THATS great design

and miguel's work(/lab) clothes!! i dont love this outfit nearly as much as gabriel's but i do like it. despite it all the amount of sharp lines here speaks to me. this is a good example too of how a lot of the outfits in sm2099 toe the line between ‘Haha Look, It’s The Future’ silly and normal silly and its all so charming. and i had to look at different angles to understand how the buttons work but i like em what more can i really say

and i’ll talk about miguel’s suit another time bc it deserves its own thing but

behold. the skittering scamperer himself

yeah im still thinking about the costume design in spider-man 2099 (1992) no i will never stop

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Fuuta and the Five Man Band Trope; BG Characters, User Icons and Graffiti Patterns Analysis

Hello members of the jury! Did you know Bring it On and Backdraft are very awesome? It’s true! Look it up!

Anyways, today I want to talk about a particular aspect of Bring it On which I consider interesting, and that is the gaggle of characters who show up all throughout the video, both in the “RPG fight scenes” and in the messages all around. In particular, these four who stand besides Fuuta after Killcheroy’s defeat, before abandoning him in the next few frames.

All of them show up in all three battles in one way or another, and the fact they’re here makes me think. See, I believe there are four of them to allude to a very common narrative trope used in a lot of fantasy stories, the Five Man Band. A trope where the story follows a group of five, of which the protagonist is the leader, and all the characters fit into certain archetypes. If you want a better explanation, I’ll recommend this fantastic video by Overly Sarcastic Productions, which is how I know about the trope in the first place.

There were already a few things making me think of this trope in Bring it On, so it’s especially interesting that it seems to carry over into Backdraft as well, with only four paint cans appearing in all three graffiti campaigns.

(Yes there’s a fifth one against Killcheroy, don’t worry I’ll get to it)

Blue, orange, yellow (also looks orange in the screenshots), pink paint/purple can. So, a recurring group of five with Fuuta. Is it possible, then, that these are related? Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. And in doing so, I accidentally fell into a rabbit hole which ended with me trying to assign each character an user icon and trying to figure out who killed Killcheroy- ooh boy.

Yeah as a warning this post is pretty reach-y and unhinged, but I like over-analyzing background characters so.

CW: Cyberbullying and online harassment, doxxing, death and murder, mentioned sexual harassment, mention of suicide, Killcheroy choking on paint image.

I’ll talk about each character individually, their role in the Five Man Band trope, who I believe they are in terms of user icon, and which paint can I believe represents them in Backdraft.

The Hero/Leader: Fuuta

In stories where only one member of the party is the protagonist, they are most likely to be the leader. They are the most outwardly heroic, usually passionate and driven, and of course, the leader of the group, the one who makes the tough decisions. In terms of fighting style, they’re usually well-rounded short range fighters.

Obviously this is Fuuta. Not only is he obviously the protagonist, he’s the one who puts up the ‘wanted’ posters for the second and third battle (though not the first!), and in those two battles he’s shown as the first to enter battle. He’s also the one who first sprays over the graffiti in Backdraft, obviously using the red can. In terms of combat style, he also fits pretty well, as he’s a short-ranged fighter, but still has quite a bit of versatility. Looking at his move sets:

Left and top look to be simple attacks, but bottom appears to be some kind of Area of Effect attack and right appears to be a self-healing move. What the hell that would look like in the context of online discourse, I have no idea. Additionally, it is common for the protagonist to exhibit the most growth in terms of powers, which certainly fits his shifting moveset.

In case you’re not aware, he’s also “pazuzu” in the social media seen in Bring it On. He’s the only one with a consistent username, the rest all vary throughout the MV, and the only way to recognize them is through user icon. No idea what Fuuta has to do with a god of wind, but here we are.

I don’t think I have to justify this one too much. Let’s move on to the focus of the post, the other people.

The Lancer: Spear Guy

The Lancer is the Leader’s right hand man, or alternatively their second in command. They may disagree on occasion, but they can be very close friends who always have each other’s backs. The Lancer can fit a ton of archetypes, but they’re usually a foil or an opposite to the leader, and can be either the most supportive of the leader or always butting heads with them.

Incidentally, do you know what a lancer is? Like, the actual word, not the literary term? Well, it’s a warrior who uses lances. Or as you may know them, spears.

To no one’s surprise, the Lancer is Spear Guy. He’s the closest to Fuuta, as can be inferred from them always standing close and Fuuta looking to him after his big victory in the second battle. The fact he uses a lance as a weapon is a possible indication that we really are going for the Five Man Band trope here, because it makes him literally a Lancer.

Incidentally, this also makes him pretty easy to identify in terms of user icon. He's Poison (the skull icon), Rumerie.

In case you're not aware, the name Rumerie appears intertwined with "pazuzu" in Backdraft (gonna ask you to look it up yourself because I've reached the 30 image limit), implying a particularly deep connection between the two. And although the username changes like all others, the fact the very first shot of Bring it On contains Poison being referred to as "rumerie", it's safe to say they're the same. Additionally, check out what rumerie is saying. (Translation by rochisama here, it's a bit difficult to follow but it's a really good resource! As a warning, I might get some of these messages wrong because my critical lack of Japanese knowledge hinders how well I can actually check who is saying what)

[Poison] るめりえ＠D_T @/RUMERIE_... Know any good games?

(Notes: るめりえ is just "Ru me rie")

And shortly after:

Indeed, a guy in the arcade flashes green, presumably Rumerie. Note how he's in the center, as if he is the "leader" in Fuuta's absence, in case you needed any more connections to the Lancer archetype. You'll also notice he and the blue guy next to him have faces, which in Milgram signifies importance. I believe these three are all part of the Five Man Band. Why is there one missing? I'll get there.

Additionally, note how Rumerie wears a watch on his right hand. This is important because it lets us know exactly which can of paint in Backdraft belongs to him. In the scene where Killcheroy is attacked directly, we see a hand with a watch holding the blue spray paint can.

(The bottom left image is to show that the blue looks lighter than it really is in the upfront shots. When the lighting shifts a bit, it's more clear that this is specifically Rumerie's darker blue. The rest of the graffiti is the same, so Rumerie is the splotch at the bottom right.

And in the Killcheroy attack you can clearly see the difference between the two blues. The lighter one is even lighter than what it looks like in the other shots. And yes, the pattern's different, I'll get there)

So Rumerie has blue spray paint, which unfortunately means there's no clear connection between the colors in Bring it On and Backdraft.

Still, there's something interesting to note. Everyone in the Five Man Band has a particular graffiti pattern they stick to in the first two campaigns and at the start of the Killcheroy attack. For Rumerie, this is a big splotch with two small trails leaking down.

Why is this important... for me at least? Because the same patterns can be observed in the red paint over the Guilty prisoners in the section of the video dedicated to them.

And can you guess which one got Rumerie's?

Fuuta. The way I interpret this, it means Rumerie was particularly important in the reason Fuuta ended up with a Guilty verdict.

Why? Well, I believe Rumerie is the person who originally got Fuuta into cancel culture. Notice how the last message before Fuuta joins in on the Ice Gorilla attack is Poison's, and how Spear Guy fights in the frontlines of that battle, combined with what I said before, that Fuuta didn't put up a wanted poster for that battle.

("Frontline" is admittedly debatable)

[Poison] み @/MiMiMiMi.... You can only get away with stuff like this when you’re a primary school kid~

[Fuuta] Storm Pazuzu @/pazuzu_soccer... Ahhhh, this is the end for you huh

(Note: み is "mi" and means either fruit according to Google translate, or what I think makes more sense, "hot water", as in, Ice Gorilla is in hot water).

(Also note: I find it interesting that Rumerie here seems more forgiving of middle schoolers than at the end, when we know he was one of the people who attacked Killcheroy. I think it may be trying to show that everyone in the group got worse, not just Fuuta).

So, Rumerie caused Fuuta to cause Killcheroy's death by getting him into the whole cyberbullying thing. We can also see him encouraging him later on, when Fuuta takes a photo of the sexual harasser.

[Poison] 恐縮です @/i_am_sorr... I’m amazed you were able to get a photo

(Notes: 恐縮です translates to "I'm afraid." I... don't have a single clue why the hell this is like this, I'm just gonna ignore it)

The final thing to note is that Rumerie's graffiti pattern is different in the post-spraying scene of Killcheroy I showed earlier. Instead, Green Paint takes Rumerie's pattern, which is incidentally the one on Fuuta's Guilty thingy. More on that later.

As to why Rumerie's pattern changes in the first place, it's possible that's trying to imply the final attack on Killcheroy was much, much different from the others, possibly more vicious. Which we know is likely true, so I think it works.

Anyways, other messages he sends (I'll skip the icon since you know it's Poison). To Ice Gorilla:

NETANASHI@DT @/NETANATASHI_darkT You’re gonna die a really dumb death

どくろっち @/DOKI_DOKI_52 You’re never gonna be able to live this down www it was a good life while it lasted www

(Notes: "Netana tashi" appears to mean something like "added information," fitting the idea of cyberattacks. darkT and therefore DT is likely a reference to the Dark Triad, which seems to be Fuuta's "guild" displayed right next to his level.

どくろっち might mean "mole cricket" (???), and doki doki is an onomatopoeia for the beating of the heart. Take that as you will.

Rumerie comes off as quite aggressive in these messages, as you can probably tell. "www" is the way Japanese people write laughter, equivalent to "hahaha" in English)

He also writes another message during the second "battle."

るめりえ＠D_T @/RUMERIE_ What a fucking pig, that’s just gross wwww

(Notes: The name Rumerie returns, if you were somehow still wondering who this is. It's the exact same username as before, funnily enough. Also has D_T for the Dark Triad)

The Heart - White Robe Wizard

The Heart is the conflict solver of the group. They are usually the most emotional and expressive member, and is often a healer or otherwise a magic user, or specializes in some combat niche like archery.

Also, if your Five Man Band has a token girl, this is most likely the token girl.

(Wow this collage sucks. Tumblr 30 image limit my arch-nemesis)

Listen, I don't usually like to assume character's gender merely by appearance, but we know less than zero about this people, so I'm gonna have to bend my principles a bit. This wizard is the most femenine looking of the Five Man Band, so I hope you forgive me for assuming both that she is a girl, and that she is the only girl of the group.

Regardless, there are other reasons to assume she's the Heart. Mainly, she seems to be by far the most expressive of the group, being the only one to show any emotion in the lead-up to the Killcheroy battle. The white of her robe may represent purity of heart, which doesn't fit anyone in this group, but would fit the Heart better than other archetypes. There are arguments for her being the Smart Guy, but I think Heart works a tiny bit better.

Then we get to icon, and I'm comfortable in saying she's the Galaxy. From the messages related to the second "battle."

(Quality's trash but I'm trying)

[Galaxy] ♡MANA♡ @/inoue_mna... Mr Inoue……? That’s scary……

(Notes: mna is likely just short for mana. No I don't know why she shares a last name with the asshole professor)

Even ignoring that galaxies are usually associated with mysticism and magic (mostly because I'm not even sure that is a galaxy), this user takes the name "♡MANA♡". As in, the thing wizards use surrounded by two hearts. Additionally, the message does sorta feel like it fits her more than other characters, I guess? I mean, it's perfectly fine for anyone to express discomfort and fear at seeing sexual harrassment, but this is a toxic Twitter community, I doubt the boys here want to express any """weakness""" as reasonable as it may be. Do you understand what I'm saying?

You could argue this should maybe go to the Purple Robe Wizard instead, but consider this other message from the same "battle."

[Galaxy] AAA@DT @/55552G4r6ggc... Has he got no shame!!! Go to hell!!! That’s so gross!!!

(Note: The 5s might be Ss. No I have no idea what the fuck that handle is)

Apart from shouting, the name has "DT" in it, for Dark Triad. There are only four icons which ever appear related to it, and since Fuuta's isn't one of them, it could be presumed that the four which have DT are the members of the Five Man Band.

Then, look at this exchange, from the batch at the start as Fuuta is walking down the street.

[Fuuta] Storm Pazuzu @/pazuzu_soccer... A L L M Y C L A S S E S A R E S O D U L L . W A S T E O F M Y S C H O O L F E E S

[Fuuta] Storm Pazuzu @/pazuzu_soccer... Everyone else there is an idiot so it’s boring

[Galaxy] YU-TA @/YUTA_199... Let’s go to the arcade then!!!!

[Fuuta] Storm Pazuzu @/pazuzu_soccer... The people in charge here are shit. I could do a much better job

(Notes: Yuta is primarily a boy's name, which sorta contradicts the thing I said about this being a girl. However, this can be easily solved by assuming she's transfem and in the closet.

That's mostly a joke, but it is a possibility, I just don't know why we're giving so much characterization to a side-side-side character you feel? The more likely explanation is that while in Japan Yuta is a boy's name, there's also a version for girls which derives from Hebrew, and is also just Yuta. Given we've already seen characters with odd names for their gender (Haruka), I don't think it's a stretch to say this is such a case.

Anyways this might imply we know the full name of this wizard, that being Inoue Yuta. Interesting)

The main takeaway her is that Galaxy did want to go to the arcade like the other members of the Five Man Band, but probably didn't since Fuuta appears to have turned her down.

(... Why did he do that, actually? He went to the arcade anyways...

Though I guess she does look at him very enthusiastically in that second post battle scene... and the Heart is often the love interest of the Leader...

CRACK THEORY: White Robe Wizard has a crush on Fuuta, and he doesn't reciprocate)

So, if Galaxy wanted to go to the arcade, we can maybe assume they're part of the Five Man Band. In fact, we specifically know they're the only one who wasn't at the arcade, which lets us completely narrow down which of the spray paint cans belongs to them.

Yep. In case you missed the spoiler with the color I've been using for her, she has the yellow paint can. Not only does her right hand itself look slightly different than the others, it also has a ring none of the people at the arcade had (debatable on orange guy ig but I think we would see it if he had it). Since this paint can is part of the Five Man Band, we can assume it's the missing member's, therefore Galaxy's, therefore White Robe Wizard's.

The pattern which corresponds to them is a thick, horizontal bar, which shows up over Mahiru in the Guilty prisoners section. Certainly fits with her being the Heart (and having an unrequited crush on Fuuta). The pattern changes in the Killcheroy post-spraying sequence, again possibly because that attack was expressely different.

Again remember the colors are a bit off in the front-facing shots.

(By the way; Rumerie's altered patterned after the Killcheroy thing may look extremely similar to this thick straight line pattern, but it's not quite the same. This pattern has two small trails going down, Rumerie's has four and the bar is longer)

(You could argue it's still meant to be the same thing, but I think they're different enough that I don't have to find a way to relate them)

Here are the other Galaxy messages. The only ones I haven't talked about are in the Ice Gorilla fight.

[]足 @/speed☆star Looking this I can really feel how terrifying ( ) SNS can be lmao

(Notes: We can't see the first symbol of the username, and since 足 is "feet" apparently, I don't think we can know what that is. The parenthesis are empty in the video too. SNS is Social Networking System, so social media. Fits the "That's scary" MANA message)

(…）@/NAGARERUYOURE_UfU You’ve ruined this store’s business, I hope you were charged a lot for your idiocy

(Notes: I think this is the right message? It's really hard to know which message is which in the translation I'm using. In any case, it sorta fits. Putting that handle into Google translate gives me "flow less" or "streamlined", but I'm not sure how much sense that makes)

The Smart Guy - Cloak Dude

The Smart Guy is smart. That's their thing. Usually some flavor of quirky, but the main thing is they're clever, and they have a good head on their shoulders. They're intelligent and sharp-witted, and- okay I'll stop with the synonyms. For combat, they're usually not in the frontlines. Usually they're mages in fantasy settings, but archers and other long ranged combatants aren't out of the question.

This one, frankly, is almost entirely through process of elimination.

Cloak Dude has the dubious honor of being the only one apart from Spear Guy and Fuuta to show up on all three post-battle cutscenes. He seems to be an archer.

As I said, saying he’s the Smart Guy is more process of elimination than anything else. Shield Man sorta has to be the Big Guy, so we’re left with Smart Guy for Cloak Dude.

Thankfully, I think Identifying him in the icons isn't too difficult. Remember when I said he's the only one to show up on all three post-battle scenes? As if he's slightly more important than the Heart and the Big Guy? Well, there very well may be an icon which fits both that and the Smart Guy archetype. Water Drop, and therefore the Orange Arcade Guy.

Not only do they share the first message shot with Rumerie, check out what they say.

[Water Drop] 流＠しずくと読みます @/D_TTTT... School work has really been a pain lately… I don’t want to type another word

(Notes: 流 means style. しずくと読みます apparently means something like "I read it like drop [water]" which I guess work with the icon)

Note the @/D_TTTT Dark Triad handle. So, they're tired from school work? That means they're doing their school work to some extent, and academic diligence is usually associated with the Smart Guy archetype. Other messages keep up this theme. In the Ice Gorilla battle:

[Water Drop]（…）@/drop_[...]... There’s a limit to what sort of things you should do. How are you gonna live the rest of your life after this?

And in the second battle.

[Water Drop] io @/io_dog_very... Sexual harassment is pretty much the worst thing a person can do. How are you gonna explain this???

(Notes: "io" appears to mean "say it")

Their style of speaking is quite articulate, using longer sentences than other icons and with a more serious tone. No use of www either. The one counterexample is this:

[Water Drop]（…）@/[...] You’re wasting everyone’s time, idiot

But I still think it sorta fits. There is also one message from the second battle I don't have the translation of, but it also doesn't include www so.

Why is this important? Well, it's not. But more articulate speech, while not an actual indication of intelligence in reality, is a common way to communicate a character is smart in fiction.

Their final message is particularly interesting. It's one of the only messages we have in relation to Killcheroy.

QRT [Fuuta] Storm Pazuzu @/pazuzu_soc... I think I’ve got all her details now. Based on her previous tweets I’ve worked out her school. The fact she lives so close is hilarious lol

[Water Drop] Judgement☨Onizuka @/MONSTER_BUZZ... You’re the worst offender of all

(Notes: ☨ is the Cross of Lorraine, a symbol often associated to Joan of Arc. I guess you can connect the idea of a hero being later burnt at the stake for heresy to Fuuta's story)

Water Drop, despite the fact they do attack Killcheroy themselves (more on that in a moment), are condemning Fuuta for doing exactly that. They're hypochritical, but they're trying to claim a moral high ground by distancing themselves from Killcheroy's death. Again gives me vibes of someone trying to present themselves as smarter and more level-headed than they really are, but it's hard for me to explain why that is. Do you get the vibes too? I hope so.

Anyways, graffiti. They can be either the pink or the orange paint, but I think Orange Paint fits the best. Their graffiti pattern is a thin line which vaguely looks like an arrow to my completely unhinged mind, and it's the one associated with Amane, who is not necessarily smarter than the other guiltied, but she is very diligent in her studies as implied by several Timelines conversations. Smart Guy thing again.

The other thing is that their color can't be seen in the shot right before Killcheroy's final appearance, but it can be seen in the initial "attack", and we can see his hand attacking Killcheroy later. I believe this is representing what I said before; although Water Drop attacked Killcheroy like everyone else, they later tried to distance themselves from the fact, they "erased their paint."

(The angle on the Amane thing is slightly different, but I doubt that matters)

(The latter images are to show that yes, Orange Paint did attack Killcheroy. The can may look more red because of the lighting, but as you can see on the example to the side, the orange paint can does look almost red anyways)

Now, there is one more thing to say about the missing orange at the end there. And that is the gray-ish paint to the bottom left. What's interesting is that while it follows the Heart's pattern, it doesn't correlate with any of the colors we see actually attacking Killcheroy.

So... do you wanna go insane with me for a moment?

What if that is the orange paint, but they painted over it with gray/lilac to distance themselves from the attack as stated previously? The reason it looks like the Heart's pattern is because he's trying to appear more conscientious of others' feelings than he really is. Of course, that is deranged even for my standards, but it is an explanation.

Anyways, not much more to say about this guy, since I already talked about all his messages in Bring it On.

The Big Guy - Shield Man

The Big Guy is the muscle of the group. Generally physically big, though it can also be metaphorical. Their exact personality can vary quite a bit, but the most common trait is loyalty and protectiveness over the group. Sometimes can be quite an idiot, himbo style, but not always.

And if we're talking big and protective, there is someone who perfectly fits the trope.

Protective? Man has a shield. Physically big? The biggest of the group bar maybe Spear Guy. And just look at how he stands in that post-battle two scene! My guy has zero thoughts in that head of his. I think the archetype fits him perfectly.

Anyways, if you've been paying attention, I said before the members of the Five Man Band could be identified by which icons ever appear with D_T on their username, so by this point we could narrow it down by elimination alone. The final member by this logic is Supernova, and I think it fits enough. It also has a deep blue background, therefore we're likely seeing Blue Arcade Guy here.

[Supernova] Avyxs@D_T @/Dark_Avyxs_T... Uni is so much fun! It can be a pain depending on your subjects but my friends and teachers are hilarious

Loyalty, check.

To be clear, there is absolutely an argument that he instead should be Thunderbolt, since that icon shows up right before we cut to the first sidewalk scene, pairing it with Rumerie and Water Drop; and speaks twice during the second cancelation, the same as Rumerie, Galaxy and Water Drop. Or Rock even, some of their lines and the icon itself point to the trope's personalities. However, I personally think the D_T connection is a bit more interesting, which is why I'm going with Supernova for him. It's not like this matters much anyways.

Process of elimination also assigns him the Pink Paint/Purple Paint Can, who has a zigzaggy pattern which trails off with a weird blob at the end. Mikoto gets this one... sort of. It looks like it's flipped and rotated around a bit, but it's still a zigzag pattern which trails off with a weird blob at the end. I think it's close enough, and I also think it makes sense. Mikoto is canonically the strongest physically out of the Guilty characters. I believe there was a ranking of arm wrestling strength that put him only below Kotoko and Kazui. Additionally, the alter who killed likely did it to protect the system, which works with the protectiveness of Shield Man.

(It sure was convenient four people got guiltied in the first trial huh)

The pattern also changes pre-Killcheroy appearance, you've heard why before, the attack was different.

... Yeah maybe I'm reading too much into the repeating patterns, maybe they're just like that to make things easier on the artists, but at this point I'm in too deep to back out.

The other Supernova messages are the following. In the Ice Gorilla fight:

実家傷兵 @/super_power... He’s shut in www is the fridge your new house now ww

(Notes: 実家傷兵 means either "family wounded soldier", "soldiers garrisoned at home by their parents", or... "soldiers stationed to protect a country's territory during World War II." I assume it's the first two things)

(…）@/[...] Just stay in your beloved freezer forever wwwwwwwww

(Notes: He wrote the same message twice. Really not beating the "not particularly sharp-witted" allegations with this one)

(…）@/lightning_player Definitely not buying any ice cream there

(Notes: What the fuck did Ice Gorilla do anyways? Lock themselves in a freezer full of ice cream? I'm so confused)

There is also an obscured message where Supernova has the handle @/NaGGrYjYP2Fe or something like that. I am not gonna even try to decipher what the fuck's going on there.

Finaly, on the second cancelation.

毒門第一号 @/warokeru_080... Oof lmao she looks like she’s gonna be sick

(Notes: Focusing on the victim more than the attacker does vaguely fit Shield Man. 毒門第一号 is "poison gate number 1." No comment. "Warokeru" apparently means "meltdown." Also no comment)

The Sixth Ranger - ???

The Sixth Ranger refers to a sixth character who joins the Band during the story rather than at the start. Where they come from is very variable, but sometimes it's a reformed villain of some kind.

Funnily enough, this trope is replicated in Backdraft too. Let's circle back to the big question. Who is the extra, green paint can in the Killcheroy attack?

They paint over the part Pink Paint usually takes, and later we see their paint with the Rumerie and Guilty Fuuta pattern. Additionally, they're the only one in these cases to paint over the small name graffiti, which combined with the fact they could potentially be closely linked to Fuuta's Guilty verdict, could imply they're the ones who killed Killcheroy. Because as many know, Fuuta's victim in the Undercover kill shot has both shoes on, unlike Mahiru and Kazui's victims who have a shoe missing to represent their suicide. And this could imply Killcheroy was outright murdered by someone else, though obviously not Fuuta himself.

If that's true, given how odd this Green Paint person is, I would assume that's the person who killed Killcheroy. Let's run through the other Bring it On BG characters to see if we can narrow down a suspect. I will skip over anyone we see only in the Ice Gorilla battle, because most of them are never seen again.

The Blue Haired Soldiers

These two show up quire a bit, though weirdly, the soldier with lighter hair doesn't show up in the Ice Gorilla battle itself nor the post-second battle scene. But he's still seen in the post-first fight battle scene and in the lead-up to the second fight. Still, this odd pattern could maybe mean he's the killer? He didn't participate in the strictly online battles, but possibly yes in the Killcheroy one? I'm not sure, I think there's a better candidate so.

One reason I don't think Light Blue Haired Soldier is the killer is because I would assume he's Rock, since his hair vaguely fits the color. Additionally, his armor looks very similar to Shield Man's (see: neck guard thing), which could imply they're the same "class." That would make him a Tank probably, who is usually associated more with defense even if they have good offensive capabilities. Rocks are also usually associated with strong defense, a claim I'm basing practically entirely on Pokemon typing philosophy lol.

Aside from him, Dark Blue Haired Soldier would probably be Thunderbolt based on the fact it's sorta the only one left, and again, color fits.

Here are their messages. Sidewalk scene:

[Thunderbolt] キマ注意＠ダークトラ… @/K_I_M_... Nothing’s happened lately, it’s boring

[Rock] まっすMAN（強化中）@/MusclePu... …wait, it’s Monday? Which means uni today??? I haven’t… done my homework…

(Notes: As I said, Rock shares similarities to the "Dumb Big Guy" archetype. Again, same class.

キマ注意 means "be careful" or "pay attention", and the @/ダークトラ is @/Dark Tiger. Thunderbolt is very aggressive, so the username sorta fits.

まっす can mean a few different things, I'm not sure what the best translation is. 強化中 means "currently being strengthened", so again, fits the Tank role)

Ice Gorilla battle:

[Rock] 問答 @/s... Just get out already

[Rock] 小箱の〇 @/[...] We won’t let you get off lightly for this＾＾

[Thunderbolt] サンデー～（…）@/[...]_1004 The food looks so good wwwww you should just [...] and die

[Rock] 〇石〇じ @/[...]TAKAI As far as learning experiences go this one sure cost a lot. What you did really was a huge waste. Thanks for all your hard work. Here’s hoping you do better in your next life.

(Notes: Thunderbolt is very aggressive, as you can see. His armor is similar to Fuuta's, so likely a Warrior class, which makes sense.

問答 means Q&A basically. Huh. 小箱の〇 is missing a character, but what we have appears to translate to "small box." 〇石〇じ also has characters which haven't been recognized.

サンデー～ means Sunday～)

Second battle (how long until my readers notice I don't remember the name of the second guy-):

[Thunderbolt] 自由（ちきゅうじん）@/not_jiyuun... My uni is done for now wwww

[Thunderbolt] kakikukeko@ド @/DONK... What an idiot, you should just (…) already

[Rock] まっすMAN（強化中）@/MusclePu... Super gross, thanks for exposing a lowlife sexual harasser

(Notes: Interestingly, Rock takes their original username again. Thunderbolt is once again a dick, caring more about his uni being "done" than the victim.

自由 means freedom, which I guess fits the tweet? Interestingly, though, jiyuun is also freedom, so "freedom @/not_freedom"? What is this fucking naming scheme.

ちきゅうじん means earthling (?). I couldn't find something solid for kakikukeko or ド but "DONK" is funny)

Purple Robe Wizard

If you're like me, you've seen me mention this person and immediately asked "is that Killcheroy." But no, since we see them in the lead-up to the Killcheroy battle in Bring it On, as we see every other character mentioned here. Additionally, I believe they might be the one responsible for the big attack which takes away like half of Killcheroy's life bar, but not the one who kills her, as Killcheroy still has health after that attack disappears.

If we do assume that attack is theirs (because there's no indication of who else is in the Killcheroy fight otherwise), then they have to be represented by one of the paint cans attacking Killcheroy at the end of Backdraft. Since they also attack Ice Gorilla, they are unlikely to be Green Paint, and therefore are most likely Light Blue Paint.

No recognizable pattern there.

Unfortunately, we have an issue. We've run out of user icons, which, uh...

You could maybe argue they share an icon with someone else? Or something? Or maybe they exclusively send DMs so Fuuta can't see their harrassment. I hope this isn't too big of an issue.

So, here's the thing. I don't think any of these three characters, the blue haired soldiers and the purple robe wizard, are Green Paint. Because they lack one critical feature: being the "Sixth Ranger." The Green Paint isn't notable just because it appears, it's notable because it appears alongside the Five Man Band. In particular, it has a penchant for replacing Five Man Band members. It paints over Pink Paint when the gang first attacks Killcheroy, it steals Rumerie's pattern in the aftermath shot, and it shows up when Orange Paint doesn't in said aftermath shot. It doesn't really matter who they replace, they have a pattern of replacing someone.

And wouldn't you know, there is a character that sorta fits that in Bring it On. The only character who is never seen attacking Ice Gorilla, neither in the shot of the battle itself or the aftermath.

The Black Knight

I'm calling them that because their armor is darker than everyone else's and I think they killed Killcheroy lol.

Do you see an interesting pattern here? They don't show up in the first battle at all (and I cannot stress enough, it’s the only character that doesn’t), but after the second battle, they're always seen with the Five Man Band minus the Heart. As if they replaced her, in the same way Green Paint usually replaces a member of the Five Man Band.

And you could argue it should be the other way around, that White Robe Wizard replaced the Black Knight, except White Robe Wizard shows up in the Ice Gorilla battle while Black Knight doesn't, so if someone's Green Paint of the two, it would have to be Black Knight.

But hold on, you may say. Black Knight shows up in the second battle, they can't be Green Paint!

Except for one detail. Yes, Black Knight is in the post-Rypirotes (finally looked up the name) fight scene, but there's one person in that post-battle scene who didn't fight Rypirotes. Check out the minimaps:

(I'm ignoring the distorted minimap because, well, it's distorted, and it's before the Killcheroy battle, not during)

The blue triangle is Fuuta, the red dot is the "enemy," so the green dots are the other people in the battle.

The Ice Gorilla battle minimap shows 11 green dots, which perfectly fits the amount of people on screen there. The Killcheroy battle shows 6 green dots, which perfectly fits the amount of paint cans we see attack Killcheroy in Backdraft.

And yet, there are seven people in the post-Rypirotes battle scene, but only six dots in the minimap. Which means one person in that post-battle scene didn't fight.

Obviously, it's impossible to know who didn't fight. All this does is open the possibility that the one who didn't fight there is Black Knight.

But here's the thing. Everyone else in the post-Pyrites battle scene is displayed in the Ice Gorilla minimap. The only other recurring character who Green Paint could be, then, is Light Blue Haired Soldier. But as stated before, they're never seen as part of the Five Man Band, so I find it unlikely this is the case. Also because color-scheme wise they fit Rock, and Rock does "attack" both Ice Gorilla and Rypirotes, just not at the same time as the time we see the minimaps I guess.

So there’s the thing. Because Black Knight didn’t fight either Ice Gorilla or Rypirotes, we don’t have an user icon for them, which makes it all the more suspicious that they show up in the lead up to the Killcheroy battle. I guess the blue haired soldiers didn’t attack her for some reason, since there’s only six paint cans.

And then there's the class thing. You remember how I said Light Blue Haired Soldier fits with Rock because he seems to be a Tank by armor? Well, Black Knight wears the same armor as Fuuta and Thunderbolt, they're a Warrior. What could this mean? Well, if Fuuta is the guy that doxxed Killcheroy, and Thunderbolt is one of the most aggressive "attackers" as seen by their comments, we can infer Warriors may represent particularly dangerous or vicious characters. Keep in mind these aren't actually videogame classes but they're metaphorical. Thus, it would fit Killcheroy's killer to be a Warrior.

... Ok, to be fair a lot of this is based on like a hundred different assumptions stacked on top of each other like a house of cards, I feel like I'm reading too much into too many things and I'm pulling conclusions out of my ass, but I think these interpretations are at least interesting enough to share, which is why I'm sharing my brainrot with you all. You can probably find several thousands of holes here if you think critically, but you know. Vote Black Knight Guilty (wait that’s not-)

Conclusion

I am never beating the insanity allegations.

I do think the Black Knight is probably the one who killed Killcheroy, but knowing that, and everything else I said in this post, is more for curiosity's sake than anything else. This doesn't really add much to Fuuta's character or anything, but eh. I enjoyed going crazy over these side-side-side characters, and I hope you enjoyed my ramblings as well.

If you actually managed to read all that, then you deserve a Five Man Band all for you! Which role do you think you fit best? You don't have to answer that this isn't YT. Take care!

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Four Seasons Manor (四季山庄): Set Layout!

If you’ve been following my descent into madness my research progress for my next set design project, you’ll know that it immediately became impossible for me to work out the layout of Siji Manor from screenshot studies of the show alone. To backtrack to about a year ago: it quickly became clear that the exterior shots of the manor’s first courtyard and the birdseye view we see in episode 24 is not located in the same set, or possibly even film base, as the “interior set”. Unfortunately, that secondary set is where many of the indoor scenes take place (with significant rooms, such as Wen Kexing’s bedroom being redressed to be used for other scenes in the show), and is where the secondary courtyard is located.  I soon realised that I had to do three things in order to create a Four Seasons Manor for my project that feels as authentic as possible to the one we are presented with in the show. First, find the full film base on Google Earth (which has the most up-to-date satalite imagery I can find); second, identify all the buildings to create a “complete” Manor and confirm the secondary set isn’t just another part of the first; and third, find the secondary set in order to correctly map its layout and marry it with the birdseye view. Friends, I have achieved two of those three things. The second set still evades me. But so far, I have finally managed to correctly and completely identify the film base that is presented to us as Four Seasons Manor:

Full research breakdown under the cut. Find part two and three linked below, and please consider supporting my research and art projects through kofi or INPRNT 🙏✨

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

project list | kofi | prints

This is one of two full manor sets on Hengdian World Studio’s No.1 Mountain in the ‘Spring and Autumn Tang Park’ filmbase. In anticipation for the birdseye plan in my set design project, I’ve gone ahead and mapped it out faithfully to the satalite image:

As you can see, there's five distinct areas that make up this manor: three courtyards (labelled 1,2,4) and two gardens (3,5). The first courtyard will be familiar to everyone who has watched Word of Honor:

It is the main courtyard of Four Seasons Manor. Likewise, the fifth area will also be familiar to you all, although you may not realise it yet. It's Sanbai Manor:*

*With the exception of the main gate. The main gate of Sanbai Manor is actually from another set in the Spring and Autumn Park filmbase - the Tang Palace. There is fantastic drone footage of that set here. The Sanbai Manor gate is at the rear of the set, but you may recognise the opening shot of this clip as another place we see in the very first episode of WOH 🤫 Edit: I forgot I had a second douyin clip for the Tang Palace set.

These are the main two areas used in WOH of this set. Confirmation of the rest of the set comes from drama New Life Begins and various douyin videos and tourist photos on the internet. I won't bore you with a breakdown because Tumblr has eaten too many drafts of this post and I am Tired, but here is a snapshot of my confirmation process:

Find the difference between these two pictures

Edit: On rewatch, I can confirm that are 4 is also used in WOH. We see it in the very first scene of episode 1, dressed as the Military Governer Li’s Manor:

Here is a daylight photograph (source here) of that same building:

You may be wondering though, about the alternate layout I have detailed in my map:

Friends, this is where I would like to hear your ideas.

After scouring many clips and photographs trying to confirm whether these photos are part of this same set or a later development, I've found that since the satalite picture of this site was taken by Google Earth in 2020, corresponding to what we see in WOH, Hengdian has remodeled this part of the set. You can see a wonderful walkthrough of areas 4 and 5 here, in which you can see the remodelled layout:

This douyin video was the last confirmation I needed to place the photographs from the article. This photograph in particular feels very much like Siji Manor to me, and so I will be trying to include this remodelled layout in my project design:

But.

Despite not having located the secondary set yet, I have been thinking over which area would be best to remodel myself, to try and incoporate the kitchen space and the two rooms it sits between, which I have confirmed to be WKX and ZZS's rooms:

Reminder of that early process here.

There are two options that I see right now:

1) I use area 4 as this second courtyard. I remove the gate, make the main room ZZS's room, remove the side halls, drop in a kitchen, put WKX's room where the gate was. Chengling's training dummies then get dropped whereabouts the hexagonal pavillion is in the alternate layout, and I tweak a random building here or there:

However, somewhat crucially - the view from WKX's moon widow would be blocked by the big building that is the centerpiece of area 5. I don't like that. Past the first courtyard, there's a certain sprawl and lack of uniformity to Siji Manor created in part by this CGI shot. I think that's why the above photo appealed so much to me.

So, 2) I remodel area 3. It's pretty sparse. I was thinking of making courtyard #2's main hall into a private study or meeting room, with the sidehalls being ZZS's "medicine room" and the "first night room" - the Cold River Room, as @minnarr​ called it in their stellar sleuthing post (I hope you don't mind that I'm using the name? And may continue to use it? Also, I'm still searching for this set and your sleuthing is going to be so much help.) - they could later become Chengling's room (and Han Ying's. For hanwenzhou headcanon rights).

Area 4 could then be used as a training courtyard and lecture hall perhaps? Meanwhile area 3 can be completely redone, to have ZZS's room at the bottom facing north, WKX's facing south:

The "training area" is then still technically past a covered walkway to the left of their courtyard. The spirit remains. However, crucially: The dotted line between areas 3 and 4 is indicative of a drop in elevation. The whole set is on a slope, with areas 1,2 and 3 at a higher elevation to 4 and 5. So. If the moon window in WKX's room did face west across the garden and down the mountain, it would actually be true to the CGI we see out of his window in the show: Especially because you see part of a roof. That could totally be the roof of the building that sits against the dotted line.

But additionally, there's also this alternate orientation:

It makes the kitchen feel more tucked away, and the additional screened walkway would give ZZS and WKX their privacy. But the view from the moon window would be blocked, and there's no reason to not have the rooms central to the courtyard the way they are here.

...Does any of that make sense? I bypassed Normal about this show a solid year ago. I'm leaning towards option 2 right now, but I will continue my hunt through cdrama for this other set. What's irritating is that I can see its style in lots of other places, including Lotus Pier, and I just can't find the real world setting for it...

ANYWAY, as always, thank you for joining me on my research adventures -supporting me through ko-fi, and checking out my previous CQL projects here and on inprnt, would be greatly appreciated.

Find part two and three linked below, and please consider supporting my research and art projects through kofi or INPRNT 🙏✨

Part One | Part Two | Part Three project list | kofi | prints

[runwayrunway]

No. 51 - Alaska Airlines

This is one of my most requested posts. Apparently, a very significant portion of my readers fly Alaska Airlines!

That tracks. Alaska Airlines is the fifth largest airline in the US. A sort of anti-Flair, they are supposedly the least complained-about full-service carrier in the US. They are also one of five remaining US legacy carriers, along with American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, and United Airlines. They operate a massive network primarily on the US West Coast, with bits branching out into nearby slices of the Americas. As one might surmise from prior knowledge of the size and population of Alaska, they're actually mostly based in Seattle.

Now, when it comes to their livery, there's one thing that stands out. At least, it stood out to me, and I'm sure at least some of you have had this thought too.

That is a human person's face on the tailfin. But who does that face belong to, and why is it on the Alaska Airlines fleet? This is precisely the sort of trivia I think anyone who knows me would expect me to be able to just rattle off, but actually...I don't know, and neither, as far as I can tell, does anyone else. Isn't that weird?

(By the way, it is indeed Alaska Airlines. I have always found that somewhat unintuitive. It's just not how you're used to hearing things phrased, right? It's Possessive Noun Airlines, Air Noun. America Airlines would sound weird. Alaska Airlines sounds weird. I am never surprised when people mistakenly say Alaskan Airlines, but it's Alaska Airlines. Just so we're all on the same page.)

Alaska's a bit of a hard place to navigate. Big empty place, lots of ice, lots of mountains, islands, trees...not very much asphalt. That's even true now, but it used to be way truer, and even back then people did still live there. And there's a lot of things those people might maybe like to have, like medical care, or food, or just the hypothetical possibility of getting somewhere without having to get the snowshoes out. In that sense, Alaska is a really perfect place for aviation to flourish.

More or less as early as physically possible, when there were planes available that weren't requisitioned for the first World War or owned by the ultra-rich, people were flying in Alaska. In a lot of ways the basic landscape hasn't changed that much. With its surplus of difficult environments and paucity of actual tarmac Alaska's harsh wilderness is an environment only suited for "bush" flying, using smaller, more rugged airplanes specialized for the environment. Some of the most popular models of bush plane are very old, not that dissimilar to what you'd see in the 50s and 60s - apparently, they just don't make them the same anymore, and as long as you don't get your de Havilland Beaver crunched horribly into the side of a mountain there's just nothing that can replace it. Alaska is full of planes on floats, planes on skis, and taildraggers on tundra tires, most of them high-wing and piston-engined. Bush pilots are a unique sort, often doing work that's neither glamorous nor lucrative (nor safe, with Alaska having two to five times the accident rate of the lower 48) but undeniably necessary.

That's not as true of Alaska Airlines. They have a modern fleet, a good safety record except for that one time, and as a category III carrier they make over a billion dollars in revenue each fiscal year, meaning their finances aren't too strained (except for that one time). Unlike the local carriers that connect remote parts of Alaska to resources and to major cities, Alaska Airlines connects Alaska to the rest of the nearby world. (Though it also does short, multi-stop milk run flights.) It's a necessary part of the ecosystem, helping to keep Alaska's beautiful but hostile terrain from getting in the way of daily life. Before they became Alaska Airlines, though, they were far more similar to what you might expect of...Alaska airlines.

Image: Roy S. Dickson

In 1932, a man with the fantastic name 'Linious McGee' started his very own airline. You could just do that back then. In 1934 it was merged into Star Air Service, another tiny airline. Star Air Service had also been founded in 1932, born from the flight-school-starting dreams of a wealthy miner with the similarly wonderful name 'Wesley Earl Dunkle'. Apparently Star had its first ever aircraft, a Fleet B-5 biplane, brought to Alaska by steamship, which I just find fairly interesting. I guess this was before you could even ferry an airplane directly to Alaska by air. They ate up a few other small airlines (and their routes), and in 1943 they won a small scuffle against another pretender to formerly rebrand themselves as Alaska Airlines. So it's been 80 years of that now!

They've gone from flying Curtiss Robins, Ford Trimotors, and Lockheed Vegas to flying basically only 737s, save a few vestigial A320 family aircraft acquired when merging with Virgin America which they plan to phase out by the end of 2024. Their livery is also on E175 regional jets operated by Horizon Air and SkyWest. The airplanes flying for them number around 300. That's incredibly large even by the standards of major airlines (not even counting the SkyWest planes that have the livery).

The Alaska Airlines livery is not breaking any molds and I need to say that upfront. This is a very straightforward pattern I've taken to calling the Lufthansa Declined, or the Lufthansa Line SAS Variation. (Because the push and pull of trend cycles in brand identity is basically comparable to chess, right? Maybe? No? Not really?) I've recently codified the concept of the Lufthansa Line, the straight line continuing where the tailfin left off to carve through the fuselage. This is a very common and very disappointing fuselage trope. The Declined, or SAS Variation, is named for an airline I specifically contrasted with Lufthansa from my very first post on this blog, SAS.

The SAS Variation simply curves this line outwards towards the front of the plane, stopping the cutoff from being quite so blunt and hopefully undoing the unbalancing effect somewhat. This can solve some of the nastier effects of Lufthansa Lines, particularly on shorter planes, but can also look very wonky if implemented without enough care. It's not always a big improvement, but it's definitely not the exact same thing, either, and it's this shape which Alaska Airlines attempts. Being introduced in 2016, this livery actually pre-dates SAS, but Delta and Lufthansa weren't starting their own namesake patterns either. The names aren't attributed based on innovation, but on formative status in my own specific understanding of airline liveries. SAS as contrasted to Lufthansa is the holotype for my creation of the taxon, and thus earlier liveries are retroactively SASlikes. Birds are dinosaurs and whales are ungulates. Taxonomy is imperfect and has to accommodate new discoveries within a sometimes unintuitive framework. That's just how it is.

I think they do better than many. The fact that they use so many colors, layered over each other, is crucial to the effect. It accomplishes similar things as a gradient might, transitioning from dark to light with minimal pain in the process.

Image taken from Alaska Airlines's very useful branding style guide.

The shades of blue and green used resemble the Aurora Borealis. I can't find anything confirming that this is intentional but I can't imagine it isn't. I think they're very nicely chosen. Different lightings can make the blue (Alaska's material calls it midnight blue, but it's technically Prussian blue) look anywhere from true vivid blue to more of a deep ocean color, which is one of my favorite shades. In particular, the very washed out yellowish green is an absolutely gorgeous choice for a highlight color. I like that the colors aren't given equal purchase, though, and that the green is used sparingly for highlight, and to create that lovely subtle 'halo' around the face on the tail. Sometimes less is more, and this is one of those cases. In fact, their own website states:

Midnight is our primary brand color, and should be used sparingly to avoid overuse—giving more prominence to the Alaska Airlines brand.

(They also note that they took specific efforts in the design process to make sure these colors had significant contrast between them to meet accessibility standards, which I really appreciate and want to see more of.)

For example, if the 'intermediate' blue colors took up more of the plane, or were separate from the green, I would probably not feel any real way about them. I definitely wouldn't think they were nice if they just did a standard Lufthansa Line block with each color individually expressed. But using them as a trim to a nice clear deep blue, overlapping each other in a way that's very carefully mapped out but seems at a glance essentially random, halfway to mixing, like the dark tail is melting slowly into the fuselage...that's nice. That adds something.

The partially-overlapping, brushlike curves are further expressed as swashes on the winglets and engines. What's interesting to me is that if you look closer you can see that the little curves are on both the inboard and outboard sides of each engine and winglet, so you get that consistent curve, hypothetically, no matter what angle you see it from. I do think I appreciate that. The curves are just never going to all line up, because airplanes are inconveniently three-dimensional and there are as many angles to view them from as there are Planck lengths at a distance where you can tell what it is you're seeing. This is a weakness in all liveries more detailed than a Braniff jellybean and adding the curves to even the side of the engine that you're usually not going to see is definitely an appreciated attempt to mitigate this. Does it work? Maybe not totally, but I see the effort.

While there's never a perfect syzygy into one continuous line, the curves seem like they're part of the same nebulous body from most angles. I appreciate this approach. I think making things look pretty good from most angles is worth more than making things look really good from one angle and awkward from all others. As they say, the perfect is the enemy of the good. I absolutely love the use on just the inside middle of the scimitar winglet, which I already think is a gorgeous feature that just elevates the MAX and retrofitted 737NGs compared to the vanilla model. It's distinctive and stylish, and the limiting of the color to just the lower half of the upper blade has a real restrained elegance to it - these slashes of color are all the more effective for the way they interact with the space around them.

Just look at these winglets. They're such a tiny feature. It's absolutely wild that I can be this in love with winglets, but there's just something about split scimitar wingtips that make me go completely wild. The amount of space and the interesting shape leaves so much more room for creativity than just about any other wingtip device. Alaska Airlines does have planes with other wingtip styles, and it uses those effectively too - covering the lower half of canted/blended winglets and fully encompassing the interior of less pronounced split winglets - but this is where they look their best.

Back to bad angles, though...

Alaska Airlines has a weird weak spot, and it's from the front and slightly above. All those gorgeous swoops on the winglets and nacelles are basically impossible to see due to their two-dimensional nature, and you can see how the colors don't fully cover the back of the fuselage. My normal policy is to judge liveries by their weakest link, but I honestly almost want to be lenient on this because of how unlikely it is that you're ever going to see an airplane from this angle. The only situations you're ever above an airplane in are ones you're basically never going to encounter as a regular passenger. Don't get me wrong, I still think this could have been designed in a way which eliminates this weak point, but as far as weak points go this is quite excusable. Is that what Thetis thought when she dipped her son in the Styx? Sure, probably, but I stand by my take. For a lot of liveries their worst angle is close to side-on, which is just fully experience-ruining. This? I'm okay with this, relatively speaking.

On the other hand, one of the better angles is one a lot more people will see - below and to one side. The taper of the different bands of color really prevents the awful jarring cutoff that Lufthansa Line and SAS Variation liveries often have, and I feel like they trick the eye into thinking up more of the fuselage is occupied than it really is. Also worth noting is that the grey underside, which resembles a shadow, is actually intentionally painted on, which is lovely. This is a feature common to the Deltalike livery trend that I outline at the start of my Southwest post, which I do think is one of the things that makes me honestly a bit sympathetic to Deltalikes when looking at them next to Lufthansalikes - at least there's an attempt to distribute visual detail evenly. Deltalikes were already a bit dated by 2016 (it was not the longest-lived trend, though it came at a time in my life perfectly positioned to make me think it was more prominent than it was) while SASlikes were on the rise, and this livery has aspects of each, but it feels less like a conflicted result of an intermediate period in dominant trends and more like something which intentionally pulled features from both where it thought they might work best. It's rare that I get this sense from a livery. That's the right way to use trends - as inspiration, not a template.

Alaska Airlines is definitely not a true Deltalike, and I would argue it's not a true SAS Variation either. (For the record, I would consider the 1998 SAS livery a Deltalike, funnily enough!) It incorporates features of both, which makes me feel uncomfortable classifying it definitively as either, though it's definitely more of a SASlike than not. For example, from the side it just is a SASlike, because the grey doesn't go high enough and isn't contrasting enough to be visible except from below. This is in contrast to actual Deltalikes, which have a thin but clearly visible line on the lower side where the underside's block of color bleeds out.

This grey color is also on the engine nacelles, although it is very subtle. This does bring up a minor gripe of mine, which is that the design on the pods cuts off at a bit of an awkwardly sharp angle, usually not worth remarking on but possible to notice from some angles if you are, say, a livery reviewer and you look at these things very closely. What I do like, though, is that the grey on the belly actively connects to the color on the tail, feeling like an extension of it instead of an awkward choice made to mitigate it.

The final specific feature of the livery I think I want to comment on is the wordmark. I really like the wordmark. It's not in their custom typeface, AS Circular, a Roboto-ish sans serif I'm not a gigantic fan of, although I really like their custom web icons. They also use Highest Praise by Adam Ladd, a fairly cheap commercially available font.

As for the wordmark itself, though, I can't seem to find what font it's based on! I have to say the original 1966 logo would be great if another airline were to use it, the 1972 is somehow giving supermarket chain, and the 1990 logo would be great if not for the weird way the K overlaps the A, which just feels sloppy and unprofessional. The 2014 and 2016 incarnations, though, are great. The 2016 one (designed by the firm Hornall Anderson) feels like a great update, just cleaning up the earlier version, though I somewhat miss the lightning-bolt S.

The placement is what I want to talk about, though. Placing a wordmark is more of an art than you might think - I'll show a couple examples of Alaska itself doing a slightly wonky job later - but when Alaska's placement is good it's great. It's one of the least cramped-looking wordmarks I've ever seen, feeling free and airy, spreading upwards above the window line. The descending line on the K and the trailing like on the A both create a feeling of freedom, like it could just keep going but doesn't want to, yet is tastefully restrained and doesn't actually overstep its bounds. I like the solid single color, and I like that it reaches almost to the engines, preventing that empty-forward-half feeling. The one thing I'll comment on for this set of images is that the left-to-right reading direction of English does mean that it looks distinctly worse seen from one side than the other. I much prefer the forward slant, which feels aerodynamic fitting with the motion of the plane, vs the alternative, in which it feels like the wordmark is trying to catch up with the aircraft's nose.

On shorter planes, though, Alaska fumbles a little. They choose to line up the wordmark with the engines instead of with the nose, creating an awkward look when it overlaps the door and nearly reaches the cockpit window. I would have leaned in the other direction were I them. This picture also demonstrates a strange feature which rears its head in certain lightings where the shading on the tailfin image makes it look almost wrinkled. I don't have anything to add to that or know how to solve it, but I need to point it out.

On a very long plane, conversely, the back half of Alaska's planes begins to feel that Lufthansa Line emptiness. The vast, vast majority of their planes are of a moderate enough length that neither issue is too overpowering, but I'm taking a wide view here! Also, the wordmark here seems to not be aligned with the engines, so...what's the idea?

Alaska Airlines is an interesting livery. More interesting than I thought I'd find it for sure. It's not just a SASlike with pleasing colors and a nice wordmark, it's a SASlike with thought put into features that can mitigate the inherent weaknesses of the SASlike. It doesn't always fully succeed, nor does it comprehensively fail, but it definitely tries.

At the end of the day, as usual, I wish there was less white. I'm sure it could have been done. I don't have an obvious solution in mind like I do for some hypothetical redesigns, so it's something I would have to think over and really dig into, but, like, Alaska Airlines makes more than a billion in revenue every year so I think that's reasonable to expect from them.

I initially started using the grading system as a way to categorize liveries without limiting myself to a very specific scale that I'll dither about for years and then change my mind about later, but it's started to end up in that role. I just don't know what better solution there is, so I'm going to continue trying to make it work. Alaska Airlines is a livery that I ultimately think I like, that I think is designed decently, but that is limited by the fact that a really good SASlike is still a SASlike - mostly white and rear-heavy. It's getting the most possible out of a flawed paradigm, and I've been inconsistent so far on how I rate a good SASlike or Lufthansalike because it causes me some legitimate cognitive dissonance.

I'm giving Alaska Airlines a provisional B-.

I think I might downgrade it to C+ later, which is why I say it's provisional. A good execution of something really limited - how do I even rate that? It's somewhere between tepidly good and better-than-average, which is a really awkward place to be. But that's probably a conversation for another day, because this post is long enough and I'm still not done.

Okay, I teased this earlier.

Him. Who is he?

The short answer: nobody knows. Not me, and not Alaska Airlines.

The long answer: deserves its own post. Both because it's long, and because I've hit image limit. And there will be images. Join me in tomorrow's bonus, where we climb our way through the rugged terrain of seemingly-lost history to attempt to put a name to this ubiquitous face.

[enchantingruinscandy]

oooooh you wanna read the dead take the a train so bad

its the first horror book ive ever read and honestly its set a high bar for the horror genre, and there's a sequel coming!

first of all, its very sapphic and has lots of pining and getting rid of abusive exes

second, the main character is a badass. she a monster hunter for hire who's always struggling financially bc ppl dont pay her, shes sarcastic, and she she uses magic in her work (not high fantasy kind of magic tho). (if you need a character comparison to help with the mantal image then id say shes kind of like john constantine.)

THIRD, theres a lot of monsters and body horror and an overall sense of something WRONG going on. the whole time i was waiting for the other shoe to drop (and it did)

fourth, there are fantastic side characters who make the story so much better (where would we be without them)

and fifth ill put under a read more bc it is a spoiler

FIFTH! there are no angels. i dislike seeing them in books woth demons and there are none in this one, i promise.

[dracomort]

Hello! I hope you're having an amazing December!

I have had some doubts for a long time and curiosity has overcome me 😞

What did Tom's "friends" think when they saw how he treated Draco when he was drunk? (Did Tom realize he was behaving that way or did he just not care?) I guess after the Andrasteia show they know to treat Draco very well.

¡Te amo mono!😘

Answer for Tom is 1 part obliviousness and 3 parts not giving a shit.

As for his 'friends', the thought process is 'okay, but why him?'. They don't really get the hype lmao. Draco is also entirely unprepared for an impromptu catch up with a bunch of senior death eaters, so he doesn't make a great first impression.

Generally, their opinions on Draco are -

Nott Sr: devout Tom fanboy to the point of homoerotic worship yet actually somehow the straightest man in the room. He assumes Draco is brilliant, fantastic, amazing and a genius, because he can't comprehend the idea of Tom having shit taste. Every birthday present he buys Draco is actually for Tom. Sometimes he forgets and writes Tom's name in the cards. Draco forgives it because he still has an image in his mind of Nott Sr as Theo's senile, geriatric father.

Rosier: ambitious but also likes to think he's a genuine friend of Tom's (he isn't). Feels personally hurt that he wasn't invited to the wedding. Tom saying said wedding was 'family only' did not alleviate his hurt feelings as literally everyone knows Tom is an orphan. Said ambition led him to try and build rapport with Draco. Unfortunately for him, in the long run he'll learn that giving Draco Malfoy the slightest opportunity to feel superior to you is a recipe for being treated worse than dirt (the Adrasteia situation did not help any attempt at friendship).

Mulciber: ngl he kinda has a brain like a brick, so there isn't that much going on in there. He thinks Draco is shaped like a noodle though but really doesn't give a crap about Tom's personal life. However, he is competitive, so has to throw his hat in the ring when he sees Rosier trying to suck up to Draco at the market.

Dolohov: has been trying to get with Tom since he was a bartender working at the Hog's Head and Tom was a fifth year (yes, he's creepy and kills the vibe. hence why the others don't like him). Gave up once he figured Tom wasn't interested in men but stuck around because he and Tom have the same niche hobbies (torture and murder). Is offended to find that Tom does swing that way but went for an age-appropriate fellow twink.

[black-arcana]

Every Lacuna Coil album ranked from worst to best

(Image credit: Cunene)

9. Shallow Life (2009)

Lacuna Coil’s fifth album was meant to be a critique on superficiality, but it fell flat musically. Missing the nu metal crunch of predecessor Karmacode and stripped of the opulence that characterised the band’s earlier material, Shallow Life meanders. Though it’s not a complete car crash (Spellbound is an obvious standout), it’s slim pickings.

8. Dark Adrenaline (2012)

Dark Adrenaline isn’t a terrible album; it’s just an unremarkable one. Meaty opener Trip The Darkness and a cinematic Intoxicated provide the highpoints amongst more generic, forgettable fare. There’s still little here we haven’t heard from the band before, however – plus that truly horrible cover of R.E.M.’s Losing My Religion misses the mark in every way. 

7. Broken Crown Halo (2014)

By the time Lacuna Coil released their seventh album, it felt like they had made the same statement at least three times in a row. The last release to feature the long-term members Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore  (guitars) and Cristiano “Criz” Mozzati (drums), Broken Crown Halo packs more grit and punch than predecessor Dark Adrenaline (Cybersleep and frequent set-closer Nothing Stands In Our Way are the highlights). Yet, there’s still no doubt by this point: the band were treading water. 

6. In A Reverie (1999)

Dreamy, doomy and gothic, Lacuna Coil’s debut has aged very well. Circle, To Myself I Turned and Glass Veins have lost none of their majesty and, while the Italians’ approach at this point is clearly indebted to Paradise Lost and The Gathering’s 1995 album Mandylion, Cristina and Andrea’s serene/raw vocal attack set this bunch apart right from the start. A promising beginning.

5. Karmacode (2006)

By the mid-2000s, Lacuna Coil had nailed their ethereal goth ways. So, it was a surprise when they changed gears with fourth album Karmacode, introducing a more mainstream, chunky, nu metal-flavoured sound with focus on melody. The move sacrificed much of their splendour and atmospherics, and tracks like The Game and Closer feel a tad too simplistic, but elsewhere, the band proved they had mastered a hook. Their excellent cover of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence broke them to an even bigger audience, too.

4. Unleashed Memories (2001)

Lacuna Coil’s second album is an elegant, slow-burning gem. You need to work a little harder to get under the surface of these songs, but once you do, there’s an abundance of gorgeous charms to discover. From the sumptuous and dignified Heir Of A Dying Day to a towering To Live Is To Hide, the still very Paradise Lost-influenced When A Dead Man Walks to the ornate Cold Heritage, the band were evolving at pace.

3. Delirium (2016)

In their post-Karmacode period, Lacuna Coil had settled into a safe, predictable groove. Then, with eighth album Delirium, they changed their methodology once again. On its release, tracks like Broken Things and Blood, Tears, Dust were dark and dripping with claustrophobic tension. They were startlingly heavy as well, helped in no small part by vocalist Andrea Ferro putting in some of his best guttural vocals to date. Foreboding, haunted and cold, it was the sound of a band renewed.  

2. Black Anima (2019)

Lacuna Coil’s most recent album finds them in fantastic form. Picking up where Delirium left off, the band have only continued to get heavier, leaving the generic, featherlight melodies of their mid-career slump far behind. Packed with atmosphere and highlights in Sword Of Anger and Layers Of Time, it’s not as stark as its predecessor, while the Exorcist vibes of Veneficium are definitely something they should lean into in the future. Whereas Cristina’s piercing vocals are dependably great, pushing her voice to new height on Reckless, the biggest surprise is Andrea,: unrecognisable from the band’s early days, his bowel-rattling vocals takes the band’s stylings to an ever more twisted realm.

1. Comalies (2002)

Comalies is the moment everything came together for Lacuna Coil in terms of aesthetics and sound, but also songwriting, which took everything up a notch. It was led by two excellent singles: the celestial Swamped and Heaven’s A Lie – which marries an earworm chorus with glossy, apocalyptic grandeur – and broke the band on MTV.

The opus is also a trove of emotionally-charged gems, with Daylight Dancer, Humane, Tight Rope and Entwined all deserving a place on a countdown of the band’s best songs. In 2022, Lacuna Coil celebrated the album’s 20th anniversary by rearranging and re-recording it for a retrospective, Comalies XX, adding a heavier, more ferocious slant to the tracklist. It couldn’t hold a candle to the original, though, which remains a goth metal classic – not to mention the band’s undisputed masterpiece. 

[adenei]

The Moment I Knew

Submission #1 for Era 3 (Red/Lover) of @cruelsummer-ficfest

Ship: Romione

Song: The Moment I Knew (Red)

Read on AO3

You should be here.

Tears stream down Hermione’s face as she tends to Harry. She’s not sure how long she’s been awake, but there’s no way she can sleep until she can be certain he’s okay. Between making sure he’s breathing, tending to his wounds from the wreckage and fighting against Nagini, and keeping her distance every time he has a night terror, she’s exhausted.

But what can she do? There’s no one to split the load with. It’s just Harry and Hermione. Ron’s still gone. Another choked sob escapes her lips as the constant reminders of his absence still shake her to her very core. And she spends another sleepless night wondering if she’ll ever see him again.

You said you’d be here.

Hermione closes her eyes as yet another tear slips through. Harry’s keeping watch and she’s finally able to get some much needed sleep. Except she can’t.

She’s too afraid that something is going to happen. There’s only two of them. Just like it has been for the last month. If something were to happen, she would never forgive herself.

He said he’d be here.

They promised each other they’d stand by Harry no matter what. She can’t remember how many times they’d spoken about it at the Burrow last summer. Even at Grimmauld Place, he said they’d get through this together. Together.

Over and over again, she tries not to fall apart. She tries not to think of him. Of all the things they could have been, and the sinking feeling grows. Her mind is at war. Conflicting thoughts of anger and grief play on repeat when she can’t distract herself with a book. She’s been over the same scenarios in her head hundreds of times, yet they still play out. Tantalizing her with thoughts of how things could be different if he were still here. But he’s not.

As her eyelids finally droop from exhaustion, a happier image plays in her mind. One of a fantastical reunion—a reunion she knows will only happen in her wildest dreams.

And it was like slow motion.

“Hermione! Hermione, come quick!”

Jolting awake, she throws the covers off her body and runs to the tent flap,  burstint through. Defenseless, she looks around for Harry in the early light of dawn, the cold air stinging her cheeks.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you alright?” 

Her head whips from left to right, searching for danger or threats. And that’s when she sees him.

“More than alright, actually.” Harry speaks, but his words are drowned out by the buzzing in her ears.

This has to be a dream. She can’t possibly be awake. The likelihood of him ever finding them again was so small and yet…

Frozen, she stands there in one of his old Christmas sweaters and lingering hints of the perfume he gifted her fifth year—the only two things she still has to keep him close to her. Though perhaps now, she won’t need them. Assuming he’s not a mirage.

Their eyes lock and he offers her a sheepish grin. But it’s her favorite. The way one side of his mouth raises slightly higher than the other makes her weak in the knees. And before she knows it, she’s running toward him, forgetting that Harry’s around and that she doesn’t have a wand to protect herself in case this is all a trap. 

But she doesn’t care. Because if this is Ron and he’s back, there’s only one thing she wants.

She flings her arms around him to break her stride and he gladly catches her. It’s unmistakably him. She knows. Deep down she knows. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers in her ear. “I’m so sorry. I never should have left. I should have been here.”

She could say I know or I told you so, but she doesn’t. She simply holds on tight. Tears fall yet again, but this time they’re because she’s happy. The stars have aligned and she’s just so happy.

And that was the moment she knew.

[bloodycyrano]

DATV releases today, and while I've been trying to avoid spoilers like the plague in order to raw dog the game, here's my entire concept for my Rook because I just couldn't help it! Plus, it'll tide me over because I can't play today.

A Grey Warden! Mentored and trained by my very own Hero Of fereldon.

They were born in an alianage, into a broken home, with the biggest facination with the tales of the grey wardens. They idolized the wardens to a point of becoming somewhat of a fan-creature (They're nonbinary, and i feel like Fancreature is a great androgynous term for fangirl/fanboy) about them.

They were still a child when the fifth blight was ended, but the stories of the Hero Of Fereldon circulated far and wide, and Rook was quick to build Her up to be this ultimate hero and unstoppable force.

By 14, They had enough of the Alianage. Poverty, listening to their parents fight violently every day.. They ran away, hitching a ride across Ferelden from various travelling carts and eventually finding Bodahn Feddic, and his Son, Sandal; who were more than happy to tell them all about the fantastical hero Rook had idolized for years- Good and bad.

When Rook showed up at Soldiers peak, in search of their beloved hero, the HOF was quick to try and send them home. Several times. Rook kept coming back.

Eventually, HOF took them in, realizing they truly didn't have a home to go back to at this point, considering HOFs own disdain for the Alianage. However, HOF's intentions were far from entirely selfless.

My hero of fereldon was always a very manipulative and two faced anti-hero, constantly at war with the demons (figurative) in her own head. She was made an honest woman in her time as a warden, but her power complex and narcissism remained. She, more than anything, desired a mind to mold into the perfect warden in her stead. After all, she never wanted children of her own. But a student, to carry on her legacy as being what she thought was the most legendary warden of the dragon age? Say less.

Starting out, they had a complex relationship of teacher and student. HOF was fiercely protective over Rook, but also took measures to mentally and physically harden the child including harsh words, bitter truths, and physical labor. She took training to extremes, telling Rook that if they could not spar like the other recruits, they might as well stop wasting the HOFs time. That being a child wasn't an excuse, and if they wanted to be her student, they had to prove themselves- often resulting in a very battered and bruised child.

While she was never truly abusive, she was harsh and cruel at times, while also managing to Validate and fill the void of a mother figure in Rooks life.. Giving them gifts, comparing Rook to herself, teaching her about dalish culture as if Rook was her own child, eventually even sending Rook to learn from her very own clan Sabrae for at least a month out of every season. And when the time came, HOF was proud to personally give Rook their very own Vallaslin.

They fought empty handed until Rook was 16, because even in HOFs cruelty, she did not actually wish to harm them, and by 19, she finally decided that Rook could undergo the joining ritual as she had around that age.

Rook always had their fair amount of macabre interest, and varying morality, but HOF pushed it even further, instilling her own bad habits in the mind of the child. The obsession with blood magic and the blight, the power of blind rage, and the 'anything to win' mentality, even at the expense of other people.

The only thing HOF could not beat into them was the idea that manipulating people to get what you want was okay. Extortion? Sure. Threats? Sure. Violence? If the situation calls for it. But Rook was honest, and they always had been. Lying was something so far off the table that it became the one thing that began to crack the perfect image of their idol that they had in their head.

Long after the HOF made like my dad and went to get the milk, Rook continued trying to contact their lost mentor.. They had stopped receiving letters back soon after they began, but somehow, they just knew she was getting them anyway.

Rook does not believe the HOF will fall victim to the calling.. Perhaps it's delusion, or putting their idol on a pedestal, but they believe that if there is a single warden who could overcome it, it would be the hero of Ferelden.

Rook does have an inflated ego simply from the idea that they, themself, were the only person the HOF ever took under her wing. In their eyes, Rook is the perfect warden, trained by their very own hero and the hero of Ferelden itself. Therefore, they feel superior to all other wardens, largely because the HOF treated it this way.

Bonus!

Rook got Barkspawn hooked on eating raspberries. Barkspawn never would've gone into the gardens for sweet treats if not for Rook showing Barkspawn that they were yummy.- It became a near constant problem when HOF had to pull Barkspawn out of the thorny bushes.

Imagine having to pull a dog that's taller than you when it stands on its hind legs *out* of a viney bush full of thorns and fruit.

[mosspapi]

[Image descriptions:] a series of 8 photos taken from the first row of seats at a Fall Out Boy concert.

The first photo shows a darkened stage with only the Fall Out Boy logo glowing, lighting up the heads of the audience on the floor. The second photo shows the band on stage with a dark red circle lit up above them and pillars of flame behind them. The third photo shows the band in an underwater scene with a large pink seashell-shaped submarine behind them. The fourth photo shows the band with the ceiling lights lowered to directly above their heads, a red velvet curtain visible in the background. The fifth photo shows the band in green lighting, with a giant inflatable dog head with them and a scribbled backdrop. The sixth photo shows all of the band centred on stage under the spotlights, with a giant tree behind them. Pete is standing on the piano with his hand raised and Andy is standing on his drum kit. The seventh photo shows the band in front of a red velvet curtain with red and blue lighting and a giant 8-ball glowing above them. The eighth photo shows the stage lit up blue on one side and yellow on the other, with the Fall Out Boy logo above it and the words "The End" lit up on the curtain. [End of image descriptions.]

Holy fuck I can't believe it's been an entire year since my show :') idr if I posted any of these already or not but idc- they're not fantastic photos bcuz I wasn't trying very hard lmao, but they mean a lot to me either way

[titoist]

childhood memories

the librarian reads us a story about how you shouldn't feed a bear because it will come back & expect more food. i find it fairly upsetting. i want to be kind to animals. i feel sort of intensely personally upset with the librarian

i discover cracked.com & open dozens upon dozens of tabs, reading the junk food voraciously. once i see a scary picture on one & have to huddle in the corner of the couch for hours staring at the hallway so i know it's not coming out of the hallway until someone gets home. hours crying

when i'm home alone, i am always so deeply powerfully intensely petrified by the idea of going past my room. there's too many doorways. i'm afraid of mirrors. i'm petrified by the mental image of a ghoulish woman sprinting out of a doorway, towards me, screaming

i go on omegle when i'm about nine & use manycam to show people a picture of a mutilated penis. i'm sorry

i go on omegle when i'm about ten & meet someone who claims to be a girl named jade. to make a long story short, it turns into this weird... knifeplay, rape, forced sex change, roleplay, thing. where if you read the chatlog i am very obviously using the mannerisms & emoticons of a ten year old & "jade" seems unconcerned by this. i saw, said, & did a lot of gross things on the internet but this seems to come back to my memory the most often, like it's emblematic of the rest i save the chatlog. some time later, days? weeks? months? years? i don't know. i walk into the living room & glance at the laptop on the counter connecting it with the kitchen. my father has somehow discovered the chatlog & is reading through it. i don't react or say anything. i don't know how much he reads. he never says or does anything

my father is friends with a happy married couple who live in a big house. one day while visiting them i ask the husband if he wants to see something frickin' messed up!!! he watches me play happy wheels for awhile out of obligation. he just keeps going "… hhhhuh."

in second or third grade, a girl - i don't remember her name, retainers & glasses, blonde - has a crush on me. i never hear this from her personally, but she was bad at concealing her mannerisms. & after awhile, i was openly solicited by the other kids in my grade to help them torture & mock her about it. the way i understand it, she was deserving of ostracization for having a crush on an overweight child, while i had skirted by on account of never being seen as part of the ingroup in the first place. the mocking would have no stakes.

my mother works for a theatre company. this means she has to go up the stairs in that concrete behemoth & beyond the byzantine hallways to practice her roles in productions for hours at a time. she takes me along, & doesn't restrict me to the lobby or supervise me. this means i have the fantastic opportunity to run around various storage room with miscellaneous props, CDs, &, by god, puppets, for hours on end, unrestrained. i spend a lot of time there, alone, & i think it is the contributing factor in me developing a low-intensity interest in puppetry later on in life. once i start talking with one of her colleagues & spend a while parroting nationalist conspiracy theories from my father. my mother comes over eventually & he tells her i'm one of the most articulate & perceptive children he's ever met. it's absurd. i know this is absurd

once, in fifth grade english class, our teacher has us write all sorts of verbs on the whiteboard, trying to guess what a character in a story is about to do. someone intends to write "wrapped," but writes "raped." i watch the teacher notice this & quietly fix it. i saw, i knew

in my bedroom one night i realize a bunch of existential dread stuff for the first time & cry hysterically

early in fifth grade, i miss my bus stop. i tell the driver i missed my stop. an older girl comes up from the back of the bus & starts heavily involving herself in the situation really unnecessarily. then she takes a brief look at me & concludes that i'm autistic. she says her brother is autistic, so she can recognize it. she talks to me like a dumb puppy dog. i get home & tell my mother about this, then go "i'm not autistic!" while going into my room & crying

when i was around seven (?) years old, i went & looked at my birthday on wikipedia. later, i believe my father & i were talking about stuff that had happened on our birthdays in various years, & i clearly remember going up to him & saying, "Gerard died on my birthday" Gerard was a medieval Count of Auvergne who married one of the daughters of Louis the Pious, who was himself son of Charlemagne & Co-Emperor of the HRE. i expected my father to know who i was talking about because at that age i had no grasp of what bodies of knowledge i could expect to be commonplace among people. i figured that maybe everyone knew whatever was on wikipedia, generally.

[magicalhideoutengineer]

Image Engine likewise developed the aesthetic for one of the film’s magic potions: it was enough of an undertaking that Image Engine’s artists refer to it as their “fifth beast”.

Although Image Engine had delivered on set of FX simulations, director David Yates opted for a different style upon seeing the final cut, two months before the film fully wrapped.

“The potion didn’t really interact with the character before; we needed to make it feel like it was almost a creature itself, and almost threaten the character in question, like it’s about to grab her,” says Culpitt of the revised direction.

Despite the late-game shift, Image Engine went to work transforming the initial potion design into something ‘mercury-esque’, and certainly more terrifying. It paid off big in the end: “Re-doing those effects over two months was a challenge, but we pride ourselves on an efficient, high-quality turnaround at Image Engine. That was certainly what was delivered here, and across the project at large.