#the white one was a bit uglie imo

[keepthemacramesecret]

uh oh i found a third seperate conflicting description of the stupid cricket jackets 😭

[whereismymonsterlover]

This is such an unserious criticism, Yana and I just have different tastes. I do straight up find the dress ugly but I feel like I should preface with my tastes too: I'm a bit pretentious and love historical fashion, and I don't like Lolita very much so me and Yana are clashing like crazy. The pink 'robin' dress is so iconic but I have a few thoughts.

I hate Ciel's pink dress and I always have. I might redesign it because it is so unflattering and fucking PEACH PINK BLEGH like dusty pink lemonade that's been in a store cupboard for too long. It's a very childish colour which I wouldn't dare change cus that misses the whole point of it being a ploy to seduce good old uncle Druitt, unfortunately. I think I'd incorporate a dusty dark magenta in place of some of the black accents but I'd like to keep a little black to match ciel's dark blue hair. The magenta accent would definitely be satin because I am absolutely yearning for satin but I'm apprehensive since he is supposed to be "a young girl" and satin has a much more mature vibe.

Though it does make him appear taller, the fucking absence of a waistline/no separating hemline between the bodice and skirt ticks me off. The ruching blending into his bodice makes me so mad. He looks swamped in fabric which counteracts the attempt to elongate his torso. The bodice totally lacks structure.

Of all Ciel's outfits to not feature a bustle, you choose not to put a bustle on his ACTUAL DRESS?? Sure, there's a huge pink bow, but Yana actually LOSES the petticoat around the rump, it's bizarre. I hate bows so much I don't know why. The one on the front just feels so disjointed from the flow of the dress and disrupts it entirely imo. I'd probably change the texture of the bodice with a ruffle-front in place of the bow. I have no qualms with the petticoat besides there's just too much of it. The dress has a wider silhouette than typical 1880-90s evening gowns so that's an easy compromise: I'd give the bodice a more prominent waistline higher on his waist but pinch in the diameter of the skirt to maintain his illusionary height. From a large initial bump at the top of the skirt, I'd want it to fall straight down instead of the typical "ball gown" that widens towards the bottom.

Fucking black and white stripes is NOT giving evening elegance. It's giving beetlejuice (which gives me a black butler Halloween drawing idea...), or Mrs. Lovett's beach day dress in the tim burton Sweeney Todd. Despite this, I'd keep the stripes as there is so much character to them, it probably helped to entice the viscount 🤢 since they're so fucking jarring and out of place but I digress. I do think the black is incorporated really nicely in that horizontal strip on the petticoat ruffles. I HATE the vertical black strips holding the ruched pink gown - I'd probably replace this black accent with the dusty magenta. I hate the length of the ruched fabric but it wouldn't offend me so much if there was a WAISTLINE. (Again, I'm being dramatic. It's a product of 2006 Lolita-core and I can respect that. But I do detest it in places.)

I will make sketches I think which I'll add onto this post cus I LOOOOVE designing dresses. I've rambled too much.

[peaterookie]

Found this cool drawing i made, possibly a concept of demon lupin before i made his actual design.

orrr it could just be a cool outfit i wanted to draw on him. either way it made me want to also share my other concepts of dem lup and ang goe and explain my design

i knew the first one wasnt gonna be final obvs because i was kinda thinking on dem lup's initial role. when i landed on him being kinda the prince of the underworld and deciding he aint for that i wanted to show through his outfit that he's carefree and chill but also has a rich kid vibe lol

seeing the lupin's canon design already sorta shows it I didn't really change much of it in the end. the punkish? outfit above was just too extra for him imo

before i wanna show the design i landed on I also wanna mention this drawing since this was the drawing that started the au in the first place. i casually drew this in class along with angel goemon, and lupin was the only one that ended up getting redrawn on digital.

ok there we go

this was very rough and rushed since I didn't really think this au was really gonna be serious and stuff (still isn't but im sorta invested in developing it in my head now)

one thing youll notice is that lupin's horns are red for most of these drawings and also much longer. while this is fine i decided to change it to stubby white horns later on for a more symbolic reason.

Lupin's personality is this au is leaning more on cagli lupin with some roughness to it. he's deep down a kindhearted character. bros totally fucking chill he's really not evil at all. but given how he's raised in a pretty fucked up and evil place he still behaves a bit like a rat

to show that behind that scary and evil exterior, his horns are white to show his purity and kindness. they're also stubby to show his lack of aggression

demon's horns in this au also show their inherent mental and physical health in a way. if they're long and sharp they are healthy, if it's the opposite they're probably not doing so well. I'll let you guys figure out what this could mean for lupin.

let's move onnn tooo goemonn

the main reason why that first reference above was not kept was because of how bad the outfit for goemon was, i was honestly embarrassed at myself even then for not figuring out something better and i really struggled to make the colors work LMAO

eventually as i developed his personality and beliefs, the more this got easier for me and i finally arrived at the design you see now.

i think you can tell at this point that i really really love using colors to convey symbolism throughout my designs.

for this au it is primarily white and black. white represents what you typically think of the angel, a purehearted being. and black is the impure and demonic color, it represents the ugly side of things. even then black does not represent evil or should be interpretted as a sign that the character is bad.

this is especially with goemon. the outfit you see above is the one he adorns after he has accepted his demon half.

before this his outfit would have been completely white, to show the repression of the trait that he felt hatred and disgust towards because he has been taught that it was dirty and ugly. lupin would end up helping him realize that it is not the case and he should accept the way he is.

but yeah anyways this design is way better lmao. also note that i also changed his wings to be half-bird half-bat, so this means he would not be able to fly during the beginning because he wants to conceal his demon side. it is not only ruining him mentally but also physically.

anyways, since ive explained lupin's personality i should also explain what I've changed for goemon too. i think it's best to say that its a combination of anime and manga goe, since he is a bit more serious, stubborn, and misguided, but still has the gentle and graceful mannerisms of manga goe. he's also a bit sassier too, he counters and compliments lupin's carefreeness

anyways this is like totally not organized at all lol, I just wanted to ramble on about these designs since I've put a lotta thought into it and wanted to share it given the nice feedback i got on the reference post. (if you haven't seen it, check it out!)

since my job is done now, I'll see you guys later. bye!

[sleepynegress]

Like I said zawe is lucky and Tom hiddleston is the best and hes sexy you need glasses

Ahhh them. I'm gonna answer this nicely in hopes of maybe helping with growth? Love isn't "luck". What is initially physically attractive to many? Is often determined by what society tells you is.

I've been fortunate enough to have lived long enough to see "beauty standards" change. I remember when people didn't want BBLs or curves. I've seen the cute TikToks where moms would show their teen daughters the "hot guys" from back in the day and the girls would just go "Eww!". Figuring out what you really want, or don't, often comes with experience; the variety of people you get to be around and care for in life, and how open you are. Often "pretty" people become ugly through their actions, vice versa, and everything in between...

It's a whole package thing. In my deep MCU days, Tom didn't cross my radar because he came off as feeding on the attention and fame. I mean he was cute back then but in a twinky way, IMO. Boyishness makes me want to mother you, not think you're hot. But for the younguns I get it. The housewives? My lip is curling up and I'm side-eyeing a bit... at least for back then. Plus his fandom came off like too many I've encountered that treat white men and their characters like they are infallible, but need protecting somehow?.... Again it added to that little boy sense of him. Since then, (in my parasocial speculations), he's acquired some wrinkles and wisdom and learned that what he thought he had in all that Hollywood attention, wasn't "real" and now he actually does seem attractive because he's a grown man, now. Now, it's if Gene WIlder and Lee Pace could have a middle-aged baby, it would be Tom. All those things that drew such a following back then came off as performative and people-pleasing to me. The lack of boundaries, the talking over people, and going on and on... My grandma would have said he was smelling his upper lip. He was academically intelligent but often came off as socially naive, IMO, and I think most could infer the most naive stumbles he made in that era...*ahem* Zawe was one of many Black women from before I knew of Tom who I rooted for in the industry. ... Many of whom, you don't see much anymore, sadly. But the difference in their journey IMO & her accomplishments w/o the money, gender, and racial privileges her partner has, says a lot about the kind of character Zawe possesses. Again, parasocial! ... but I see a man who encountered a grown woman not enamored by or deeply entangled in the industry but had carved out her own path despite lacking all those things the industry demands you have to have, to succeed. A smart person would be impressed by that and her authentic kindness, sense of humor, intelligence, and joy in what she does...on top of being what he likes physically (we not gonna act like that man does not always ping or have the best onset chemistry when a leggy woman is around).

He's a leg-locked king (apologies or you're welcome for the imagery). He seems to be a gentleman and Zawe is not one of his little fangirls. They come across as equally enamored, and grown, and I would like to think they have a healthy loving partnership. Which makes them both extremely lucky.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Could I mayhaps ask for your thoughts on each of the Box Legendary Pokemon?

*cracks knuckles* SURE! let's do this

Gold and Silver: I actually don't feel suuuuper too strongly about Ho-oh and Lugia, tbh--though i will say they both have more solid designs than. A Lot of other johto Pokemon imo LMAO. I liked Lugia a lot when I was a kid and that affection has waned a bit as I got older but I do still think it's cool. They both have pretty solid lore as far as Legendaries go, I'm just not particularly attached to 'em...something like a Legends Johto game really has the potential to do something cool with 'em (I feel like with Ho-oh especially) and I do kinda hope we eventually get to see that.

Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald: MY HOMEEEEE Hoenn box Legendary trio sooo near and dear to me...Ruby was my first game Groudon was my first Legendary but I think he's kind of just ok. I like Kyogre a lot more and I Love Rayquaza, definitely a long time favorite Legendary...they're really just a solid trio of Pokemon with some really cool designs and concepts at play, and I like the new lore and forms ORAS gave 'em. Kyogre's Pokemon Pinball boss fight kicks ass to this day and im not kidding.

Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: MY DEAR LATE MIDDLE SCHOOL/EARLY HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS I thinkkkk as a trio I think I might like Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina the best...Legendaries I never tire of seeing. Palkia is one of my all time favs, gazing so lovingly at my giant Palkia plush ive had for some 15 odd years...Giratina is too, honestly, Giratina fucking Rules (though I actually don't like its Origin form very much and never had...I'm an Altered Form Giratina girlie.) They're just all super solid designs and for Dialga and Palkia especially they really feel like perfect embodiments of The Game Theyre the Cover Of. Also I love Origin Form Dialga and Palkia sorry. Theyre my precious ugly as fuck horses.

Black, White, BW2: WELL. THESE MIGHT TRULY BE THE BEST ONES. Zekrom/Reshiram/Kyurem are not my favorite Trio, but together just everything they represent is so cool. One day we WILL see that Original Dragon so HELP ME GOD. I'm more impartial to Zekrom (i played Black and White 2) but it still has such a striking design, I have to say. Reshiram is an especially beautiful Pokemon and definitely one of my favorites. I have. So Many Reshiram cards and plushes HJFDJGDF And well some people don't like Black and White Kyurem for whatever reason, but well i simply have to say they have been making me crazy since high school and the concept of Pokemon Fusion Really in The Game will never not be fucking bonkers slash POS. i LOVE White Kyurem (go figure.) THATS MY FUCKIN FREEEAK

X & Y: i don't. like X & Y very much 🥴 I wish I liked Xerneas more but something about its design is just kind of lacking some 'oomph' ro me. It doesn't feel like a strong poster child for the Fairy type's debut. Despite everything Yveltal does go hard as fucking hell though I still like it a lot. I named the one I caught in Y HELLRAISER back in college and I was shocked they let me name it that.

Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun/Moon: ok nevermind scratch what I said about DPP Sun and Moon have my favorite Legendary Trio for absolute certain. GOD I WISH SUMO/USUM WERE BETTER GAMES!!!!! SOLGALEO LUNALA AND NECROZMA ARE ALL SO FUCKING COOOOL!!!!! DUSK MANE NECROZMA AND DAWN WINGS NECROZMA ARE SO FUCKING COOOL!!!!!!!!! NECROZMA FUCKING EATS THEM FOR POWER. Just in general fantastic designs all around, and it's so cool that Solgaleo and Lunala are Legendaries That Evolve.also i played Moon/UM but I have grown deeply fond of Solgaleo over the last year or so. As if it's my fault he looks like...no, I shant say.

Sword and Shield: I don't like SWSH very much either 🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴which is a shame because Zacien and Zamazenta have really cool concepts and designs!! I love their old tattered beat up forms, I love that theyre siblings 🥺I love that the one that isnt Your box legendary goes with Hop, that's so so sweet and so so cool. I just wish SWSH had more of a..........yknow. story. to do anything else of any substance with them. Cool Legendaries in bad games...sad!

Scarlet and Violet: WELL. THESE MAY ALSO BE THE BEST ONES AND I'LL SAY IT WITH MY WHOLE CHEST. god, just. WOW. I like them both a lot but I'm especially fond of Miraidon, to absolute bits. This really feels like the most realized version of a box art Legendary that really truly is a Character in its own right, you get to spend that whole game with your dragon, it well and truly Is Your Friend and it's just fantastic. Theyre endlessly charming and silly and conceptually just so fucking cool. They killed someone. My motorcycle that eats sandwiches. My BUDDY!!! I named my Miraidon Delta Accel :^)

[mermaidsirennikita]

The Cait Corrain situation is entirely Cait's fault, but I can't help but think about how it indicates how uneducated some writers are about the realities of publishing and what is "good" versus what is "bad".

Cait, based on screenshots compiled of what she said and screenshots she gave of what "Lilly" (the person Cait made up and was pretending to be to take blame off herself) was insecure about her advance and the marketing of her book. She clearly thought she was at some kind of disadvantage, which--along with plain old jealousy and cruelty--led her to review bomb other books (like, to a delusional extent imo--giving Thea Guanzon's The Hurricane Wars wasn't going to stop that well-marketed book with a big built-in fandom thanks to the extremely popular fic it was adapted from, from being successful; she also review-bombed Ali Hazelwood, one of the most popular contemporary romance authors right now, who again writes contemporaries that didn't have much crossover appeal with Cait's books anyway).

Things in Cait's advantage that many, many other authors don't have:

A) Cait is a white woman, which according to publishing trends and also, I don't know, reality, is automatically an advantage.

B) Cait had a $75K advance. I don't know much about Cait's series plans, I don't know her deal, this could've been anticipated to stretch over multiple books. But advances, especially right now, are not FABULOUS for most authors. This, based on what I've seen, was pretty solid coming from the imprint publishing Cait's book, for an adult fantasy with some romance (perhaps enough to market as "romantasy", whatever that is). Which, by the way, is having a bit of a moment, so that was in her favor too. $75K, meant to stretch over a year or more, most likely, is not exactly "quit your day job" money. But the typical author doesn't quit their day job, especially not early. I can think of some authors a lot of people would consider pretty successful who still maintain part or full time jobs, often coming from dual income households.

C) Cait was known (positively) by the reylos, who've had a good bit of success in making books sell.

D) Cait was friends with successful authors like, again, Thea Guanzon, who blurbed her book and met her in person. Having a successful author invested in your work matters, especially when they share your genre space. See: Ali Hazelwood blurbing reylo books. It can help a lot and made it even clearer that this book could potentially appeal to reylos at least.

The reality is that marketing issues with trad books stem to the publisher, almost always. I don't know why some trad books are pushed more than others; I can speculate, but I don't think a lot of authors know the exact formula either. Marketing books is hard. But Goodreads rankings aren't going to make or break your book. Tbh, as much as GR and Amazon are connected these days, Amazon probably has a larger effect on your book making it or breaking it than GR (and it's harder to review bomb on Amazon, especially when the book hasn't come out yet).

It's just... so ugly and so stupid.

[fantasticalleigh]

HAPPY SUMMER SLAM DAY! Here's my predictions.

Rhea Vs. Liv.

Liv will win. If Dom doesn't turn on Rhea + TJD then it's Finn. As glad as I am to see Mami back I would love for them to build a longer storyline of her vs. Liv that doesn't center around a man. I want Rhea on a fucking warpath just tearing through everyone to get her title back and it would be a bit of a waste to see her get it back immediately tbh. Also I do like Liv and am glad she's getting her time in the spotlight at last so it doesn't hurt to let her cook a while longer. If the rumors of Raquel or Charlotte coming back are true then I can totally see either one of them siding with Liv to get revenge on Rhea. Plus regardless of who wins I'm sure we'll see a rematch at Bad Blood.

Damian Vs. Gunther.

Damian will win. I'm so pumped to see Damian defend against Gunther, I hope it's a banger. Despite the botches at Clash at the Castle, each of Damian's defenses have been pretty solid and I would be sorry to see El Campeon's reign end so soon.

Bailey Vs. Nia

Nia wins. She's been solid as fuck lately and I just love her. I like Bailey a lot too but I think Nia has the edge here. Also Tiffany will be shown contemplating a cash in but will quickly pretend to change her mind when Nia notices. Bottom line is if a title absolutely has to change hands tonight then I'm okay with Bailey losing it.

LA Knight Vs. Logan Paul

LA Knight wins. YEAH.

(Since Knight stole the ugly af Prime truck, I'm pretty sure he's gonna roll up to the ring entrance with it but he'll have trashed it and/or spraypainted/customized it)

Cody Vs. The Bloodline

Obviously I prefer Cody to win but with Jacob Fatu in the mix, idk....Part of me says no way WWE lets their biggest babyface lose the belt after the drama of WM butttt Solo really wants to establish himself as the true Tribal Chief. IDK!!!

Randy Orton and Kevin Owens are absolutely coming back. Like Cody will be about to give up on his own or something and then the RKO music hits and they come back to help him and push him to the W. The Bloodline took both of them out weeks ago so it makes sense they make their return tonight.

Everyone wants Roman to come back. I also want this but don't see it happening tonight. We'll probably get Jimmy's return sooner than we get Roman's.

Sami Vs. Bronn

Bronn wins. I like Sami a lot but idk feels like the clock on his title reign is ticking down fast.

Mcintyre Vs. Punk

NO FUCKING IDEA. Ok. Well. Some idea.

Imo this should have been the Main Event of the night. No offense to Cody and the Bloodline but they main event everything else and this feud has been white-hot lately. I think Seth is gonna be on a major power trip as ref the entire match and will refuse to validate several pins which will anger Drew and Punk. I think it's going to build up to the point that Punk and Drew will briefly come to an agreement and take their frustration out on Seth, which will result in a no contest of the match. This way the feud doesn't end yet and will ensure a rematch at Bad Blood.

Obviously I would love if Drew won but my heart can't take it if they give us another fakeout where he wins and then immediately costs himself the title or someone else does it. No more, I beg of you! Of course if Punk wins it's just going to push Drew over the edge and I wouldn't be upset about that either bc there's nothing more I love than unhinged DM Hunk.

Is that it? I think that's it. I don't think I'm missing any other matches but I'll update if I missed anything.

[ravensvirginity]

I think that bikini pin up was trying to give rae the billie eilish or carolyn jones eyes, and also show she was looking at the camera with face slightly down, y'know to make it feel like femme fatale. I think it might also be trying to give her greyish eyes that ended up look a bit too white and blended with the eye white.

The face looks okayish to me despite the wrong nose shape and the faulty eyes. I'm more confused about her hair. Where's the volume? Where's the long curls? Why is the top of her head so flat and then hair strands at random lengths are coming out from that flat patch??? Many dc artists have messed up her widow's peak hairline, and this is one of the worst cases (along with the Game issue). Why can't they just take inspiration from monica bellucci's hairline and maybe just accentuate it a bit?

It's like dc is always trying their best to make rae not too beautiful cuz she demon blah blah, either by messing with the eyes or the hair (and now the skin also). Even perez himself already tried to make her look more "demonic" before the plot suggestion was made by that one reader. Why are they afraid of beautiful half-demon huh? And an indian-coded girl too??? Is this subtle racism or something??? Like they think indian-coded girl's beauty is inferior and so unmarketable??? She was based on persis the miss india, she should look like she's gonna win beauty pageant.

I think the answer is just the art was bad. A LOT of the art for late stage New Titans was terrible. That art of Raven in the bikini is actually middle of the road compared to the overall standard of late stage New Titans imo. It definitely wasn't them singling out Raven specifically either, no one looks particularly good in that drawing.

Like Donna and Kory don't look too horrible but I don't even think Raven's face is the worst compared to Lilith and Karen. It was probably just a last minute hastily drawn addition that just kind of failed to be sexy. It happens sometimes.

I have never gotten the impression that DC makes Raven less beautiful than other female superheroes because she's half demon. Her current modern design is a huge flop, but that doesn't come from a place of DC intentionally sabotaging her and trying to make her ugly. It's more that out of touch executives don't actually realize how alternative fashion looks, and just the fact that it doesn't fit her character in general.

The drawing Raven more demonic thing was a plot device born of George Perez's style evolving. When he first started drawing NTT, his art wasn't as developed yet and every female character pretty much had the same face and body. As his style developed and he gave each character unique faces, Raven's naturally grew more angular and harsh. It gave her a more unique look and was still quite beautiful.

The fan question about Raven's face changing because of Trigon's influence is what led to Raven being drawn with even more exaggerated features in the buildup to Terror of Trigon. There is something to be said here about equating beauty with goodness and ugliness with badness, but that problem is by no means exclusive to Raven or comics in general, it's a very common and pervasive trope throughout media in general. At any rate, after Trigon was defeated, Raven was back to being drawn as being a very beautiful woman.

The idea that DC is deliberately sabotaging Raven and drawing her as ugly really doesn't make any sense to me. Female superheroes are always beautiful and sexy. It's what people want to see. Ignoring the past few years of her character where they've tried too hard to make the toon inspired alt look work for her, she's been consistently drawn as a beautiful woman. And even in her era of bad designs, she's still drawn with a nice body and facial features. Deliberately drawing Raven as ugly would just be DC shooting themselves in the foot.

[meili-sheep]

What do you think of Kaeya's new skin, the Sailwind Shadow outfit?

I don't know why, but I don't like it as much as diluc's. It feels like there's something missing about the outfit or maybe I just don't like the outfit on kaeya? It's not ugly but I prefer Kaeya's default outfit.

If you were to rank all the skins, which ones would be high up?

So here is my ranking.

Diluc is the best because it suits him really well, It definitely feels like a younger, more upset Diluc. The bird motif is strong here, and I like the feather like coattails. I was actually pretty terrified that the outfit was going to be white for a bit because of some fan far. I am Diluc biased, but it's still a good skin.

Klee is my second favorite because like Diluc's skin it does something with her character, making her and cute little witch! The only issue is not here, backpack animation doesn't really work anymore. But I don't really care.

Next Is, I really like Ayaka's because I think a sort of cute traveling look suits her more than her original outfit.

Lisa I also like for reason similar to Diluc and Klee. But I don't think it's as good.

Shenhe is an A probably because I am totally biased and Love Shenhe because while pretty here skin isn't too much to talk about. Her hair is where it is at though.

Fischl often feels more like a redesign than a separate skin, tbh. Like this feels more like she is a princess here and definitely more like she belongs in Mondstadt and not 3rd impact. But ya know it's a good skin, still above the average.

So pretty much the whole of the B tier for me is like Nice looking outfits. But nothing really much to say about them.

Not to the meat. Kaeya's skin. It's not bad imo none of the outfits are bad. Some are definitely not worth real fucking money. But Kaeya's skin feels like a costume, heavy and impractical in ways I'm not sure if I can explain. The only thing I like about it is his hair at least makes sense now.

I forgot to add him, but Xingqiu's outfit would go in C too. Because, well, I generally don't think Xingqiu isn't well-designed to start with imo.

Finally Keqing. Again I don't think her skin is bad. It's pretty actually. It's just I have a lot of biased toward Keqing. And the story for the outfit isn't nearly as interesting as the one for Shenhe and Ganyu's

[susiephone]

So glad to see a fellow Tally/Shay shipper in the tag. Their relationship is just so good. Its such a gigantic mess. I felt so seen with my messy, queer, neurodivergent teenage female friendships, even if I needed until a reread two years ago until I acknowledged this this feels extremely queer and that is okay because I am queer too. Until then, all the female friendships I read were always just harmonic and nice and only ever threatened by boys, not these codependent, jealous messes.

The idea to center a YA dystopia around two girls who are deep friends with each other and maybe in love but are pitted against each other by the dystopian system (read: patriarchy, read: beauty culture) again and again is just absolutely amazing. I mean, there is a more traditional love triangle too, and its even well written enough to not drag down the series, unlike in most YA dystopias, but its not the center. At least not for me. For me, Tally and Shay are.

I could go on about them because I have thoughts (see: all the fanart and fics I have either already published or wait to publish until the trailer for the movie comes out), but the ask is already pretty long

first of all - i'm so sorry, i saw this message and fully intended to reply later that day i was like "oh i'll get to this after dinner!"

anyway! i was really struck by HOW different the love triangle in uglies is compared to other YA (especially YA dystopia). like the fact that tally doesn't definitively end up with either of them, and that neither boy turns evil (or at least antagonistic), and that both guys were good for her in their own way. but i especially loved that they both took a backseat to her friendship with shay, since that was by far the most interesting relationship in the whole thing

i'm cautiously optimistic about the movie (assuming it even happens). i personally think it'd work better as a series, but, well, after the shadow and bone debacle, i'm weary to trust any streaming service to actually follow through. i'm a bit worried about how mainstream actors who are all gorgeous anyway will be able to play the characters, and how they'll handle stuff like the specials' body modifications without looking silly (obviously there has to be an element of uncanny valley there, but i do worry it could look corny if they don't have a very good makeup artist).

i'm also VERY worried they'll make both tally and shay white. my personal hc is that tally is white and shay is asian, but tally could be any ethnicity, and shay was imo pretty clearly a woman of color. though i wouldn't be surprised if the movie cuts the parts that indicate that the pretty committee's standards are super racist- i wouldn't be surprised if they cut the themes of self-harm, too. (though tbh i'm of two minds about how that was portrayed in the books; i see what they were going for, but i do agree with some criticism i've seen that it could've been handled better.) any YA adaptation is bound to have some of its edge taken out. like the hunger games movies were pretty damn edgy in some aspects, but they're downright sanitized compared to the books.

one thing's for sure. if a movie happens and if they portray the tally/shay relationship at all competently, there will be an influx of shippers. i can see the angsty lyrics edits now.

[kpchrs]

I talked to Ver @weer02 about morality shift (if that's the right term) in character development months ago and I used "A Walk in Chiaroscuro" a little bit in the talk. I think Céline @celinou would love to read it. In this ghost ship, we shouldn't hold back, right.

Spoiler alert ofc to other people who haven't read the fic.

Let me give you an example of morals. I think the discussion of morals is the most apparent in AWIC (hello Céline lol). So Nathan first starts as a… Nathan lol In the journey to the midpoint, Max is closer and closer to his inner circle, she becomes someone he values. In AWIC, the midpoint has three parts: the kiss, the truth about Rachel, and the change in Nathan's mind to fight his dad. But the core is when Nathan tells her the ugly truth about Rachel's death, he calls himself a murderer. That scene particularly reflects where his morals are right then. Because (ed. for the first time) he acknowledges it. After that he keeps thinking of (ed. calling) himself as one and doesn't deny it. Doesn't even want Max to "absolve" his crimes until he is forced to, to stop the storm. Doesn't bring bullets when Jefferson kidnaps Max to kill him. And even wants to sacrifice himself for Rachel. That, is moral shifts imo. Character development? Yes. Moral shifts closer to white? Also yes.

It's a bit of meta or analysis thingie, idk. It's definitely thoughts I usually write in your comment section. I don't know what your roof/ceiling is like right now, but hope it's fixed soon!

[hyunrun]

my thoughts on asy ep 04 😋 live react !! (warning: I can never remember anyone's names bear with me + lots and lots of spoilers ahead)

Where is zhengting I'm partially here for his face card 🤲🤲

I keep forgetting how much I dislike Rain and then I see him and I am reminded but Rainism is rlly too good of a song 😭

1. PHANTOM

Okay first team up 😎 Phantom Galaxy I'm loving their concept

Albert is looking gorgeous as always HIS EYE MAKEUP?

All their voices slayed omg WHOEVER HAS THAT DEEP ASS VOICE IN THE CHORUS AYOOO

Blond's high notes... I see u

My vote would go to Albert (with ponytail) or blond dude or black hair dude with the silver makeup (Axinran?)

OKAYY team two flying to the dining hall (WHAT IS THIS NAME LMAO)

This group is somehow just better...

But blond here is a bit soulless idk I'm not liking him 😨

My vote would 100% go to Skye idk if he's one of the already debuted ones but he was INSANE I loved his stage presence rn he's stolen me, he's my fave in the whole show

But I also really liked the pink hair guy 😭 (is his name really John... I need to learn their Chinese names I cannot be calling this gorgeous man John 😭)

KENNY NOOOOOOOOOOO his hands shaking stop 😭 I hate this pls no

Not surprised Team 2 won, it was expected.

2. ONE AND ONLY (I'm so excited)

Pure Love Warrior is such a queer team name HAHA One is looking so fine today tho

They're STRUTTING onto the stage I love the energy

Not them recreating the iconic finger touch painting 😭 rlly about that pure love

Maybe I'm feeling disappointed because this is one of my favourite songs but they didn't do it justice at all 😭 the only one who caught my eyes was One. However I appreciate that they tried to bring out the silly goofy concepts while keeping it kinda mature to fit themselves.

ORENDA CALLING THEIR COSTUME UGLY 💀💀 real

My vote would go for One 🤞

Idk anyone from this Magic Cube group but I have hopes (OH WAIT IK WALKER I LIKE HIM his pink eye shadow makes me RAA I LOVE)

Every opinion Orenda has matches mine and that means we're soulmates basically 🤞

I'm liking this

PINK GUY IS SO CUTE

Whoever did the high note failed but it's ok 😭😭

YELLOW JACKET DUDE IS GOOD TOO HOLD UPPP

Red dude is making me kick my feet why is he giving like cool football player (?? Idk I'm tryna think of the American cliche) at school YK 😭😭 hes so masculine in a yum way

Okay I love everyone in this group except black and white jacket

WALKER BEING CALLED PAPA STOP NAWWW

Oh pink dude is Wang Muqing? My vote goes to him !!!!

SERVICE WHAT ARE YOU SAYING HE ATE SNOT ??? 😭😭 taking back his cool footballer status but tbh I didn't even know he missed the lyrics

okay I'm sorry how did One's group win 😭😭 I'm glad for them but the other boys were way better imo

3. LYDIA

First group is Deep Hidden yum

I'm looking forward to Archie

Vocals slayed as expected and they did better than I thought they would tbh

Hoodie guy was by far my favourite tho but Kingsley was rlly good too

Group 2 Daily Quest ee

Thier concept was really nice

The guy who opened the song had such a soulful voice I liked that

I liked everyone tbh not much to say

Sky's eye makeup is very pretty

Group 2 won as expected !!!! Gemini is so cute

Icb they're making me wait till next week for Ely and Ollie but alr 😭😭

[softhanni]

2024 Media: 72. Spiritfarer (2020) - 5.5/10★ This review is going to be a long one and definitely not spoiler free so I'll write it beneath the cut off <3

Pros: - The concept was very interesting and unique - The art was beautiful, the animations of the characters felt fluid and the character designs were so well done - It has a bit of everything. You can grow crops, upgrade your boat, craft things, fish, explore, there's a story, multiple characters that have their own stuff going on, mini games. There's pretty much always something to do more or less! - The Everlight turning into oven mitts, a fishing rod, etc. I know it's only a little thing but I think it is SO cute and fun. Cons: - Some of the controls (I played on PC) felt not very smooth and like they overrode each other - You can't view the map outside of one specific room - You have to travel to a specific location to check your completion progress which is REALLY annoying and even then you don't know what you're missing because it doesn't say the names. - You have to hover over each individual location to check for resources which means whenever you're looking for something specific you have to check around unless you have a good memory. - Lack of instructions for certain crafting things on the ship Now onto the story and characters. I think this game should of been a lot shorter. I feel around the halfway point the characters became less impactful and all the back and forth of the later game definitely became less fun. I know not every death has to be a lesson or something thought-provoking but it felt as if that was the vibe of the game and then...it suddenly wasn't...and then it kinda was again?? Also, I really don't understand why a lot of these characters died which is strange in a game about death? Gwen was the introduction to the entire system essentially so that's chill. Atul's passing was the one that I felt left the biggest mark. Not getting to say goodbye felt like so impactful. Astrid and Giovanni allowed a conversation about how feelings surrounding loved one's death can be messy and complicated and not always black and white. Summer's cancer was of course a topic I'm sure resonated with many people and her conversation around being unable to find peace with it was very powerful imo. Alice slowly losing her mobility and memories due to age, once again, very impactful. Then... it just, for me, went downhill. Gustav felt so flat? Bruce and Mickey, I was waiting for something to happen and it just...didn't? Beverly was just...like a second Alice? Elena's intense challenges didn't fit the pace of the game AT ALL and she didn't feel like a character as much of a way to spice the game up. I LOVED Stanley with my whole heart but I'm still confused as to why he was there? Daria was a very interesting character but once again I'm confused as to why she passed away? I feel like out of the latter half Jackie was the only character to have that same impact. His more antagonist nature was very interesting and mental health is always a topic I'm happy to have more rep for. Not to mention it brought the topic of morality and the afterlife in which go hand in hand. However, I HATE that he was one of two essentially antagonist characters and the reason was...because of his mental health. Of course mental health can be ugly and cause people to be horrible but it being the ONLY rep of it in the game felt so ugly to me idk. As for Stella's story... I didn't really care by the end of it. Once again I think the length of the game and the way the pacing was ultimately worked against the emotional impact of her story. It was like "take her to the everdoor" and then I had to finish other quests for a billion years first which dulled the emotion completely. Also, her ending just felt sad and flat which may have been the point but it felt very anticlimactic either way. All in all I did enjoy this game despite all the complaining lmao, I just think it would have been more coherent at like...half the playtime and with half the characters. Shoutout to my baby boy Stanley <3

[sanasanakun]

I was reading your post about how Gortash is so polarizing in how people respond to him and while I don’t have an answer, I can weigh in on the side of thinking he’s attractive and not understanding some of the complaints people have. I try to see what it is that makes some people go ewwww no way but I don’t see what they do. For example a lot of people will say he looks dirty and I feel like I’m missing something completely. He looks unkempt but his hair looks shiny and clean and there’s no stains on his clothes. There’s scars and age marks and stubble on his skin, but I don’t read that as dirt (maybe I’m wrong)? His teeth aren’t perfectly white but thats the case for anyone who drinks coffee or tea so that doesn’t mean anything about hygiene. It also feels like people mistake his skin for just being dirty instead of not pasty white. Also when I see comments about “this guy must smell bad” and I immediately think of that journalist who made a remark about zendaya smelling like patchouli and weed because it feels like it’s coming from the same mindset and is sometimes word for word literally just that. This isn’t even touching on the fact that he’s got wrinkles and dark under eyes and signs of age and trauma that aren’t cute or superficial. I’m saying that the haters are all racist or ageist but I think there’s some biases at play and no one feels like they need to think about it too deeply because he’s an antagonist.

Yeah, I definitely agree with your takes here. I’m also someone who thinks he’s attractive and never really had a problem with his design. I don’t really care for the hair and think it’s a little goofy, but overall he’s very handsome (and the outfit is drippy af).

I will say that his model actually DOES have dirt on his face. Like those spots are the in game dirt feature (idk if that’s the right word). I’m not sure if that’s to have age spots or show that he’s a little disheveled, but yeah he is actually dirty in game lol but I’m with you in never thinking that he was dirty or smelled bad. But he doesn’t look like an archduke and I think that’s the point of his design; he’s a fraud and a tyrant (aka a bad leader).

And I definitely think a lot of the criticism for his design comes from racism and ageism. And I’ll preface this by saying that I’ve always read Gortash as being inspired by Turkish and Bulgarian people looks-wise. The constant insults of calling him disgusting or dirty make me side eye cause I do think it comes from his darker complexion and “unconventional” features that are more common in Türkiye and the Balkans.

Like I can only speak as a Bulgarian, but people in Western Europe treat us like shit. They call us dirty, untrustworthy, mafioso, ugly, etc. like Western Europeans fucking hate us. In America, it’s not as bad but we still have a negative image (in my experience. I’ve been told I’m poor and from a country that shouldn’t exist before). And I’m very white, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like for those with darker skin tones. So, I think people carry this bias against people that look like Gort and don’t think deeper about it when they say these things (or redesign him). I find it very hurtful tbh because I really loved seeing a character that looked like him. He’s very unique amongst the other character models.

And obvs, ageism is a huge problem that people also won’t confront with themselves. And all this combined with bad media literacy (imo) like they cannot get over the “young and handsome” part for some reason and it’s so annoying.

Anyway, I’m rambling and prob not making a lot of sense cause I’m tired lol but yes! I agree with you. Luckily, it seems like Gort has a pretty sizable fanbase and a lot of people love him! So, it’s not all bad. But I wish people would maybe think a bit longer about some of their opinions on him. Cause he’s a horrible person! But we don’t need to constantly call him dirty or disgusting or whatever. But that’s just where I stand on this whole thing.

[justahopelessromanticgirly98]

Are you a hopeless romantic like this creator? Great! Again, hello! I will be your hopeless romantic buddy/guardian/sister or whatever you wanna call me on this endless journey of being a hopeless romantic <3

What is a Hopeless Romantic? someone who has idealistic views of love, believes love will conquer all, and often sees the positive over struggles within relationships

Now that you know what a hopeless romantic is, then I will give you a bit of information about myself and why I consider myself a hopeless romantic :) (guess how many times i'll be indicating the word 'hopeless romantic' in this one post alone)

Personal Info (if you're interested)

- 25 yr old female (she/her) - Southeastern Asian (specifically Hmong) born and raised in the United States - Introvert/Homebody - MBTI: (2020: INFJ-T) (current: INFP-T)

Reasons Why I Am A Hopeless Romantic (if you're interested)

Grew up watching all of the Disney Princess Movies - ✨Sleeping Beauty✨ - Snow White - Cinderella - The Princess and the Frog Watched a lot of shōjo (shoujo) animes - ✨Kimi Ni Todoke✨ - ✨Fruits Basket (2001 ver.) & Fruits Basket (2019 ver.)✨ - Kaichou Wa Maid-sama/Maid-sama - Vampire Knight - ✨Ouran High School Host Club✨ - Kamisama Kiss - Yona of the Dawn - Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom - Uta no Prince-sama ...and many, many more Read some of the original shoujo mangas as well - Ouran High School Host Club - Vampire Knight - Yona of the Dawn - ✨Kitchen Princess (iykyk; highly underrated romance manga imo)✨ - ✨Otomen (iykyk; another highly underrated romance manga imo)✨ - ✨Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (own the entire manga set)✨ - ✨Black Bird (iykyk; more dark romance aesthetic)✨ ...again many, many more Watched numerous of asian dramas Chinese Dramas - ✨Ashes of Love✨ - Ten Miles of Peach Blossom (Eternal Love 2017) - ✨Princess Weiyoung✨ - And the Winner is Love - The Long Ballad - ✨The Romance of Tiger and Rose✨ ...and more Japanese Dramas - ✨We Married as a Job/The Full-Time Wife Escapist✨ - A Girl and Three Sweethearts - ✨Hana Kimi (2007 ver.)✨ - ✨Taiyou no Uta (2006 Drama ver.)✨ - Shanai Marriage Honey/In-House Marriage Honey - Eye Love You - Good Morning Call - ✨Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo✨ - ✨Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge/The Wallflower✨ ...and more Korean Dramas - ✨My Girlfriend is a Gumiho✨ - ✨My Love from Another Star✨ - ✨The Secret Romance✨ - Crash Landing on You - ✨Strong Woman Do Bong Soon✨ - ✨Suspicious Partner✨ - Healer - Love in the Moonlight - Love Revolution (2020) ...and more Taiwanese Dramas - Just You - Devil Besides You - ✨Smiling Pasta✨ - ✨Love at Dolphin Bay✨ - Romantic Princess - MoMo Love - Autumn's Concerto ...and more Thai Dramas - ✨Kwarm Lub Kaung Superstar/Secret of Superstar (2008)✨ - ✨Ngao Asoke (2008 & 2016 ver.)✨ - Hua Jai Sila (2007 & 2019 ver.) - ✨Kluen Cheewit (2016 ver.)✨ - ✨Tra Barb Se Chompoo✨ - Roy Leh Sanae Rai (2015 ver.) - F4: Thailand Boys Over Flower - ✨Suparburoot Jutathep Series (2013 ver.)✨ - U-Prince Series - Ugly Duckling Series ...and more

WOOHOO!! You made it to the end!! Did not intend to make this introduction post long but hopefully you can understand where my origin as a✨hopeless romantic✨ is rooted.

I'll probably make a masterlist of animes/asian dramas that I've watch for recommendations if anyone is interested as well. (will take me awhile to get use to doing this tumblr thing but i can manage) Anyways, I'll stop my yapping and let you folks go. Thank you for listening to my Ted-Talk for now 😊 bye bye!!

[kitkatopinions]

Criticisms and Praise of the RWBY Volume 9 intro

RWDE ahead, only read if you're alright with criticisms including nitpicks. (I have not seen the full ep and have only seen the intro, and all of my expressing fears I have for this season isn't saying it'll definitely be that, it's just expressing fears.)

Also RWBY volume 9-ish spoilers (it's just for the opening intro and song and stuff so it's not much of a spoiler but like better safe than sorry.)

The little opening melody doesn't fit very well with the rock theme later. I'm sure it sounds better in the full version, but with just what I've heard in the opening sequence, it feels disconnected from the rest of the song. I'm sure that's part of the point since there's a whole 'Team RWBY and Jauney boy are now disconnected from reality,' but... I just didn't like it.

2. On that note, I also didn't happen to like the song much. It's better than some of our themes have been and not as 'samey' as a lot of the higher speed RWBY music can be. OK Goodnight (I think that's what Casey Lee Williams' band is called) taking over the music I think is a good thing and I'm thinking we'll get some good songs, but this one - while it had good to it - didn't feel like anything particularly special.

3. The visuals of Weiss, Blake, and Yang being pictured together and Ruby being pictured on her own is good and clearly gets across that Ruby is likely to experience some isolation this volume.

But this?

Is not giving me high hopes. I want Jaune in support and I want him to not be an antagonist and I honestly don't want him and Neo to interact at all, ever. Hopefully they're just putting them here together because they didn't have time to do flashes of both of them alone, but also it's really not inspiring when you consider what Ruby being separated from her team says, because it's clearly imo meant to display to you that she's going to be on her own... So is Jaune being paired up with Neo here telling us to expect these two to join up?

4. They need to stop showing us the original outfits and then the Mistral arc looks and then these stupid new Atlas outfits that I hate (except for Ruby's.) They've done it for the past two volumes, it's no longer special and it just serves to remind me of how ugly the outfits are (again, except for Ruby's.)

5. Also omg guys but their faces in those scenes, let me see if I can get close ups.

So Weiss has a very basic character-less smile, okay, whatever. Blake is giving a smirky smirk, which doesn't feel very in character for Blake... Either version of how they've written for her. Yang is beaming away, just looking so psyched to be here somehow. And then the Ruby I have a pic of here is the original V1-3 Ruby, who looks like... No face that has ever been made by any person.

6. Also also, Blake's color isn't purple. I'm gonna say it a million times. Weiss's background looks vaguely blue, but then it settles on white when her emblem lights up. Yang's background is yellow and stays yellow. Blake's background looks black until it settles on purple! Like, I know that they've reinvented Blake to the point where she's pretty much a different person and therefore they might think she needs a different color than True Blake had, but by heavens, it makes me persnickety.

7. The themes for that particular sequence seem to be either 'Blake, Weiss, and Yang know who they are and are confident, but Ruby does not know and is not confident' or 'Blake, Weiss, and Yang are the best that they can be they are the best versions of themselves, but Ruby is not the best that she can be and is not the best version of herself.' I'm hoping it's the second one that might result in some good growth for Ruby, but at the same time, both things... Feel a little bit frustrating, because Blake, Weiss, and Yang should also be going through things and still in need of growth and stuff. I do think that Ruby's growth should be treated as particularly important since she's the main protag, but this isn't inspiring me to think that the others are gonna get any real growth themselves.

8. I hate all these mice. Including Litte. I could not be less enthusiastic about having to see them and deal with them. Same goes for the Racoon. And same goes for the cat. It might go well, but I doubt it, and even if the animals are as well done as they can be I still don't like that they're here.

9. I feel like just from the look of him, I could like this weird little... King Olly the Origami King do over with his bright red eyes. But I could also hate him, depending on how he's played. But it could go either way.

10. So I'm told that there are actual 'shadow people' in the fairy tale wonderland world, which is just... Peachy keen aces perfect. /s It's giving 'Shadow's House'

But, RWBY has never (in my knowledge) claimed to be full of original ideas, and the visual is cool. Also it's clear that the new girl (who I've seen referred to as Alice and Alex so idk what to call her) is really important due to how much she's featured in the intro, I've got theories, but I'm gonna talk about those later. The visual is nice. And while they're really hammering home Ruby's isolation and exhaustion and the breakdown they want us to think she has (not sure yet if there's gonna be convincing follow through there) arguably too much, I also like the image of her slowly starting to get left behind. I really hope this season gives me conflict eight ways to Sunday!

11. This is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

I want it to be away from me. Also, how obvious can they get? Isn't RWBY supposed to be transformative? Why this season do they think 'let's just slap this Wonderland thing in our plot and make the design slightly different and it'll literally smoke the exact same thing and blow the smoke at everyone?' Who came up with this weirdo? I mean, besides the creators of these two:

It just doesn't feel creative or transformative, is my point. Maybe he has a role that makes him distinctive, but visually, this is lazy imo.

12. This expression is the stuff of my nightmares

I'm pretty sure that's the point, so... Good job there.

13. In contrast, Neo could not be hotter than she is right now... Except maybe if they fixed her hair back to the old way it was.

14. I like the style of this

It's pretty, and also a clear reference imo to 'the girl who fell through the world.' Also it's worth noting that Ruby is once again on her own. (please please please don't let this mean the development for the other girls is going to be minimal...)

15. This design is simple, but effective and I like it.

16. I think these backgrounds can look very PS2 game graphics-ish in a bad way.

(I want it to be clear that I don't blame the animators who were likely overworked, underpaid, and/or fired.)

Anyway, those are my criticisms and stuff of the opening intro.