#this kinda looks a lot better on white theme ;;

[patisseriu]

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀. .* ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀',🥗

. •. カラフルに世界を染めよう

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ i just wanna parade you around

*.

[sanji-screenshots]

I'm FINALLY through with Dressrosa which means I'll be seeing our main man again soon, but now I'm thinking about how long I'm going to be in Whole Cake Island... like it took me a (relatively) long time to get through Dressrosa and Sanji wasn't even there for most of it! With WCI I'm going to be pausing every 5 minutes to get screenshots! Lord help me, I'm going to be stuck there for the rest of my life...

[punkishtoxtricity]

a comprehensive list of problems with lily orchards pokemon video

there is a point to where my criticisms just repeats so they’ll get different down the post

generation 1

-she claims that blue is a friendly rival when the whole point of him is that he’s a dumb kid. he’s a cocky 11 year old who thinks he’s better than you and grows to realize it’s not all about strong pokemon

-complains about length of dungeons such as lavender tower and silph co but for some reason likes rock tunnel??

-complains about other youtubers strategies for gyms that are usually meant for nuzlockes and challenge runs when she’s playing casual

-acts like she is so much better than everyone else for her strategy when it’s been done to a more extreme degree before

-acts like having butterfree on her team is some feat of strength

generation 2

-thinks silver is the worse character ever and all around a jerk

-complains about the ai of the game beating her when in reality her team just kinda. sucks

-complains about having bad pokemon and then doesn’t catch the good ones that the game literally hands to you

-straight up does not do kanto. has me thinking she just didn’t wanna fight red

generation 3

-this is the start of her being very weird about gardevoir. she calls ralts her child and then throughout the video has art of her being romantic with it which is. eugh. apparently she has incest accusations so i’m not that suprised

-calling magma and aqua the best teams of the series because “they don’t impede on the story”

-complains about the legendaries

-complains about the water routes and proceeds to throw out ideas that don’t make sense for an ocean

generation 4

-this is the start of her hacking in ralts as her starter. it’s very funny because it’s legitimately obtainable in every game she plays besides gen 5

-complains about parts of the game being too hard when she’s using ralts. which dies if it gets touched by a slight breeze

-whines about there being too much dialogue and then genuinely does not understand the story. common theme around all the story driven pokemon games

-she’s VERY annoying about the rivals. like they’re there for a reason

-the start of her acting like her calm mind strategy is the best thing ever. calls other youtubers stupid once again for their cynthia strategies. she can’t choose between gardevoir being the most broken pokemon and blaming ralts sucking on the game(the whole video is a big contrarian fest)

gen 5

oh boy. there’s a lot

-complains about there being too much story in the game and calls the game a peta reply. which is funny because peta is an american company and pokemon is japanese. (also the peta criticism of pokemon didn’t come around until AFTER black and white)

-compares a character who is a victim of abuse and has been indoctrinated by what is basically a cult to a podcast alpha male incel. looking at the allegations against her this also makes sense as to why she doesn’t like him

-whines more about there being too much reading. at this point i started believing she was straight up illiterate

-whines about the amount of rival fights and how it’s “impeding exploration” i don’t think she wants to play an actual video game she just want a pet sim

-misunderstands the whole moral of the game, being that not everything is black and white

generation 6

-complains about not being able to get gardevoirs megastone before the post game, so obviously she hacks it in.

-goes on a tangent about shiny pokemon and how their community is stupid, misunderstanding that people just do it FOR FUN

-also complains about something she calls “damage inflation” with the opponents being able to 1 shot ralts. this is all actually because ralts has god awful defenses, which she ignores.

-loses to what is one of the easiest gyms in the entire series. not really anything wrong with this i just honestly think she sucks at the game(skill issue)

-says x and y are the best games because there’s not much dialogue

gen 7

-once again spends the whole hour complaining about the amount of talking and then doesn’t analyze what the characters are actually saying. still believe she can’t read

-compares gladion to a hitler youth which is??? he’s hawaiian and light skinned but he’s still just an abused kid trying to find his way in lofe(doubt she actually read his dialogue)

-complains about team skill being “an unfunny joke” when the whole point of the team is that guzma was an abused kid who took in those in need and just formed a group of thugs

-still complains about “damage inflation” instead of actually changing her strategy or stepping out of her comfort zone pokemon wise because ralts sucks against the water trial

-goes on a tangent about how lillie should have been the main character while still choosing to mash through her dialogue

generation 8

-whines about dexit and calls dynamax the worst mechanic when it is in fact loved by vgc players

-calls milo a twunk (she doesn’t know what that means)

-a lot of the same problems of the previous gens, can’t read and doesn’t understand the story

-she’s also weird about gardevoir in this one. i think she just REALLY wants to fuck it

generation 9

-whines about dialogue some more

-literally all of the complaints at this point are the same. she can’t form an actual opinion of it bc she can’t FUCKING PAY ATTENTION TO WHAG THEYRE SAYING

overall

-she’s a racist creep to japanese folk outside of the video so hmmm

-has apparently assaulted someone so i see why she has no sympathy for the characters that are victims of abuse

-the weirdest about the pokemon and the characters. compares them to nazis a bunch

-is unfunny

anyway thanks for reading all the way through. the vid made me loose 200 brain cells and i will never stop hating

[sugar-crash]

🏎️Turbo (Wreck-It Ralph) x (gn) Reader🏁

(Beginning Relationship Pt. I Edition!)

(It took me fucking forever to find a picture from the movie of Turbo [far too cowardly to use fanart]. Which, as we all know, is fitting.)

- To go into deeper detail on this, your time dating Turbo when he was all high and mighty was… Eventful to say the very least.

- We don’t know much about how Turbo pre-RoadBlasters disaster besides the most obvious points: passionate, sore winner, an even sorer loser, hot-headed, and finally the cherry on this red-white cake; Spite.

- His passion for various things bleeds into the other things in his life, giving a drive that goes beyond the racing track, with the relationship he gains with you being one of those things with a lot of time and patience.

- Victory kisses at the end of the day are a must, even when listening to his frustrated woes from certain players playing game wrong, saying things like “I’M FATTEST RAT IN THE RACE! WHY SHOULD I SUFFER WHEN THESE MOTION DEAF TERMITES DECIDE TO PUT A COUPLE OF COINS IN MY GAME???” ….Yeah <3

- I think in many ways that if you get his trust so much to the point where you guys start dating, he just kinda expects you to listen to his aggravated rants and not do the same for you— Which takes a lot of time to rectify, in his mind he doesn’t think you “have it as bad” as him, as ignorant as that is.

- Yeah he doesn’t exactly get a trophy for “best lover”, that’s for sure.

- And his stubborn behavior doesn’t make that any better, takes him a while to get certain things drilled into his brain when he finally realizes what you’re saying isn’t “nagging”.

- Don’t get him wrong, I genuinely think he has the capability to care for someone else over himself, it just takes a whole lot of work for him to consciously realize that.

- PDA isn’t really much of a thing for Turbo (except for his “well earned” victory kisses) , he has a reputation to uphold as one of the most popular game characters in the arcade, though behind closed doors he basically demands the attention you give him at first.

- If you don’t like being ordered around and tell him as such, it takes a series of fights to realize being bossy in a romantic relationship (or any in general) isn’t exactly the best thing. The obvious in these situations isn’t to him, he has a very one track mind (pun intended) and doesn’t like change when it effects him.

- Which is very understandable, human even, I think that many of us, if we had a choice, would keep things just the way we like it. But— Life itself is all about change, conflict, differing opinions, etc. And while it is aggravating to no end, it’s something a person has to come to terms with.

- Someone like Turbo struggles with that concept, why can’t he act the way he finds more natural?? This stone set mindset drives many way, even the people from his game— Even you at times.

- He loves you to death, with the way he sticks close to you after hours, the way he gets a momentary soft look at you when he thinks you aren’t looking is perceptible to people who pay attention.

- Much like his latter self, King Candy, he has the tendency to hide things from you— Not in a way that maintains a noble or joyous persona, but in a way that tries to hide his softness for you, the desire to clutch you close and never let go.

- The feelings your mere existence gives him scares him, not that he would ever admit that, not even to himself.

- He hates that at times his feelings depend on how you feel, and trying to understand it only stirs the pot, touches of comfort are met with a scoff and some variation of “I’m not some fragile lamb you can comfort.” Though at that point his reactions aren’t nearly as explosive as they used to be.

- Over time I believe that with your help he is able to maintain more composure— Thinking before acting, which is something he is desperate need for.

- Your relationship is very hit and miss at times, but what is love without conflict? BORING, that’s what I say at least.

- Who he is as a whole is both a blessing and a curse, really makes a person think in a “What goes on in that asshole’s head? And how the fuck did he get with someone?”

- The time you have with him before RoadBlasters was installed was special, not perfect in the slightest, but you guy had your moments that one can look at later on with a sense of melancholy.

(Abyiv-ahzapj! *SVBK MHYA UVPZL*)

[yurinaa-world]

Helloooo

Can you please do Jiaoqiu x Reader who has eating disorder and a thin a$$ body?

Its like they eat so much without worrying about the calories, and yet their body is still skinny (i can still see my own bones no matter how much i eat)

(Its just an extra note, but could you make the reader has a terrible eating schedule too. Like one day they eat so much and tomorrow after they kinda starve themself)

"𝓐𝓻𝓮𝓷'𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓰𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝓪𝓽"

💫𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈: Jiaoqiu x Gender-Neutral reader

💫𝒮𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓅𝓈𝒾𝓈: with reader who has eating disorder and a thin body

💫𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: Angst themes but comfort, Mature Themes (ei. ED), Dark, comfort, Fluff, & Spelling mistakes

💫𝒥𝒾𝒶𝑜𝓆𝒾𝓊 "𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝒶𝓁𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒳𝒾𝒶𝓃𝓏𝒽𝑜𝓊 𝒴𝒶𝑜𝓆𝒾𝓃𝑔"

The soft clatter of pots and pans echoed through Jiaoqiu’s small kitchen as you sat at the dining table, your elbows resting against the cool wood. The smell of garlic and spices wafted through the air, teasing your empty stomach with its strong smell. You had planned to skip dinner tonight, but Jiaoqiu wasn’t having it—not since he’s finally back.

“Do you always survive on such bad habits?” he called over his shoulder, his tone half playful, half exasperated. He stirred something in the pan, the simmering sounds becoming louder and louder. 

You shrugged, tracing a faint scratch on the table’s surface with your finger. “I’m fine, though,” you replied. “I eat when I’m hungry.”

He turned his head just enough to give you a sharp look, one eyebrow raised. “You mean you eat everything one day and nothing the next. That’s not ‘fine.’”

“I can’t help it,” you muttered, avoiding his gaze. “Besides, I ate a lot yesterday .”

Jiaoqiu set down the wooden spoon and crossed the kitchen to lean against the counter, arms folded across his chest. His expression softened as he watched you. “that was yesterday, today is today that's all that matters now. ” he said—such simple words that kinda make you feel funny (even though they kinda don't make sense)—like a weird ache in your stomach.

“But you really didn’t need to make so much.”

Jiaoqiu scoffed lightly, pushing himself off the counter to return to the stove. "You’re kidding, right? I barely made enough to make up for what you skipped." He gave the pan one last stir before turning off the heat and grabbing two plates from the cabinet. "Besides, I’ve been away for weeks. I missed cooking for you."

Jiaoqiu moved with ease, plating the food—a fragrant stir-fry, bright with fresh vegetables and perfectly cooked meat—and setting it in front of you. The colours popped against the white plate, and the smell was enough to make your stomach twist in protest at your earlier plans to skip dinner.

He sat across from you, setting his own plate down before resting his elbows on the table, chin propped in his hand. His sharp eyes pinned you in place. “You’d better eat,” he said, his tone deceptively light.

You poked at the food with your fork, feeling his gaze on you. “I will,”

if you liked this, consider tipping me on ko-fi! it'd mean a lot!

[reshanims]

ZUTOMAYO MEGA MART

Fanart to commemorate the end of the Yakiyaki Yankee 2 Hall tour! This was the first tour I was able to attend from abroad, and so I wanted to make something special. Can you find all 9 pairs of Shamoji?

This drawing was also a painful learning experience, so I wanted to write a bit about the process below:

Firstly, I went through several iterations of the layout of the mall before settling on this:

The challenge with the orthogonal perspective is exposing as many faces towards the camera as I can. Having concave sections that block things off isn't ideal. However, rather than just have like a singular flat wall or something, I wanted to go with a setup that would be more interesting (multiple floors, intertwining escalators, etc) that would make the viewer look around more to try piecing the place together in their imagination.

After an entire month of grinding and just drawing out each store and the characters, the end result first look liked this:

It was fine, but after staring at it for a long time, it just didn't feel visually appealing as a whole. When looking from afar, the overall composition felt too messy. The predicament was that a drawing like this (with so many characters and things) was bound to be messy, but I wanted things to feel a bit more cohesive.

I think one of the reasons that the drawing looks bad from afar was that there were a lot of light areas, and those areas were noisy with spikes of contrast all over the place. The darker areas would then draw in the eye more as cohesive shapes, but there areas (the escalators) were disconnected and randomly sprawled out.

I then tried (roughly) blocking out larger shapes through light and shadow:

This does make the overall comp more appealing to the eyes, since the light and shadow help give the eyes a bit more focus on things.

The values are generally split on a larger scale between the light and shadow, and then the contrast within each of those sections is less dramatic (more so in the shadow region). The shadow region gives a space for the eyes to rest from the chaos of everything.

However, the harsh lighting kinda conflicts with the concept of a mall, and is a bit distracting too. I tried lowering the light and just keeping shadow shapes + making some areas darker to keep the balance of light and dark still balanced:

This was an improvement from the first version, but still left a lot to be desired.

Since there still felt like too much bright areas, I decided to go with a darker overall lighting:

This helped with a few things:

Making the contrast less noisy within the darker regions

Allowing for interesting reflection/glossy effects to fill in some of the empty floor areas

Having the stores be bright and standout against the darker backdrop. This also aligns more with the ZTMY theming

While the values of this helped with blocking, the colors created a steep cliff where everything became orange that was a bit jarring.

The final version was this:

This was quite similar to the previous iteration, with more colored reflections helping gradually transition the overall hue to the orange color. The white border also strangely helps tie everything together visually. It's almost like containing the mess inside so that you eyes have a space to work within.

Overall I really wish I had done a better job color/value blocking from the initial planning stages. It was harder with such a complex comp since I couldn't easily do a draft of this while handwaving ~200 characters, so I ended up doing those first. Definitely a learning experience, but I'm glad I went through it

[honeytonedhottie]

HONEYS IT GIRL MAGAZINE february edition⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🎀

this is a new thing im doing on my blog that i think you'd all like very much called honeys magazine/catalog. basically like a monthly inside scoop on data that i've collected, things i've learned/started doing, and just general info like that organized in kind of a teen-magazine inspired fashion. a magazine for it girls ✨

i've had so much fun putting together the february catalog and i'd love to hear feedback of things that you'd like to see in the next edition. and now, please enjoy the it girl magazine ✨

FEBRUARY FASHION ;

february is full of silks and lace. feminine muted colors like beiges, whites, and pinks. this february i've rly been into tweed dresses. accessories that i've been loving this february include pearls, stockings, and ribbons.

a lot of the clothes that i've been eyeing are things that are more light in fabric and in color. such as cute camisoles with lace trim and i've rly been into the chic look this february as i've mentioned before.

when it comes to jewelry and accessories i always love to layer and be excessive and even though during february i've been obsessed with the chic look, i always add lots of accessories. if not something huge like bracelets or necklaces, i'll be excessive with rings or something smaller.

in general HYPERFEMININE and super cute and girly clothes have been my favorite thing in february especially cuz of valentines day. the theme is soft-wear. shimmery, sheer, and showered in flowers.

cute earrings (preferably the smaller ones) like studs, pearls, or cute spherical earrings

hair clips and barrettes

bangles

tweed dresses

pearl necklaces

remember those dress up games you may have used to play when u were little? when dressing this february, thats what inspired my february fashion. fluffy lashes, cutesy accessories and heels.

i read up a lot on CHANEL bcuz i think that her brand embodies the chic look perfectly and here are some fashion tips from coco chanel (this is my source)

look for the woman in the dress, if there is no woman then there is no dress - basically means dont let your clothes wear you

it is always better to be slightly underdressed - coco's understanding of chic was subtle glamor and lush fabrics

fashion changes but style endures - some clothes are timeless like a little black dress (aubrey hepburn) a quality handbag and a crisp white shirt

WHAT IM LISTENING TO LATELY ;

my favorite album of this month is kali uchis's orquídeas. i absolutely adore her music, energy and vibe. and the whole album is just MWAH. my favorite songs from the album are ;

te mata

igual que un ángel

perdiste

another album that i've been obsessed with this past month is the twicetagram album from twice. i just love the energy in the songs. my favorite songs from that album are LOOK AT ME and LOVELINE. and lastly, just songs that i've enjoyed listening to this february ;

yes, and? - ariana grande

never lose me - flo milli

wonderboy - GWSN

scenery - red velvet

angels in tibet - amaarae

FOR THE BLOG ;

since its going to be march and were kinda transitioning from the winter season -> spring, you can expect to see lots of spring related content from me. another thing that i rly wanna set up for my blog is membership if thats something that u guys'd be interested in.

and also after doing the valentines day challenge, i had so much fun with it and i kinda wanna do more challenges. so if i end up setting up membership i think services like those would be provided.

lastly, since im an advocate for not over consuming the law, i won't be answering inbox questions about the law so that then u guys can focus ENTIRELY on ur manifestations and not over complicate it bcuz the law is easy and you already know how to do it + if u have any general questions i've answered plenty of questions about the law in my blog ANYWAYS. the reason im doing this is so that then you can focus on your manifestations 🫶🏽 and i hope that you guys find it helpful.

HONEYS BEAUTY CORNER TOPIC - HYDRATION ;

when your skin is hydrated, you GLOW on such a deeper level and i absolutely love looking and feeling like a little dew drop so here's some hydration beauty tips

vasline is an occlusive, that simply means that the moisturizing ingredients that create a physical barrier on the skin to prevent transepidermal water loss and lock in hydration. after brushing ur lips to exfoliate, u can just go in and put some vaseline on ur lips and your lips will be HYDRATED.

using a body oil + a body lotion has taken my hydration game to new HEIGHTS. the key to this is to make sure the scents match or have similar notes at least, and moisturize DAMP skin so that then it can absorb better. walk around with a hand lotion, and lip moisturizer ALWAYS.

the key to a dewey makeup look is having a good base. its all about preparing the skin before u put the makeup on. use a good creamy moisturizer and use a glowy spf and then use a good primer.

FOR THE WELLNESS GIRLIES ;

hormone balancing tea blend that i tried and loved ; raspberry leaf tea with spearmint and dandelion root tea. i drink mine with honey a couple days before and during my period and my cramps have been so minimal and my hormones have been so balanced.

hydration ; to follow the trend of the beauty section lets talk hydration. the optimal amount of water to drink is 2.7 liters a day. if u wanna up your hydration game, use some liquid iv or another hydrating powder so that then u can get the most out of ur water. if u dont have anything like that, adding a pinch of salt into your water can also help to improve hydration.

frequencies and vibes ; i've been interested in frequencies lately, simply bcuz i think that they're so interesting. i'll go deeper into frequencies in the next section. but here are some frequencies to listen to for wellness ;

174 hz - reduces physical and energetic pain

285 hz - heals tissues and rejuvenates

432 hz - restores well being and releases emotional blockages

528 hz - love frequency, induces inner peace and repairs DNA

supplements that are geared towards beauty ; find a specific hair, skin and nails supplement or vitamin that includes a blend of powerful antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. some examples of this are ;

fish oil (omega 3 and fatty acids) helps to protect skin against inflammation

collagen (for skin hair and nails) promotes healthy dewy and glowing skin

turmeric (anti inflammatory effects)

PROBIOTICS

RANDOM THINGS I LEARNED ;

something thats caught my interest this month is sound healing. the power of sound is truly amazing, and i was curious specifically about frequencies. sound healing has been around for years by yogis for thousands of years. nowadays sound healing is practiced with something called sound baths.

a sound bath is a deeply relaxing experience where the listener lies down on a mat or blanket, with as many cushions or props as they need to feel comfortable, and is then ‘bathed’ in the sound vibrations. benefits of sound baths include ;

reduced stress, pain and anxiety

better sleep

lower blood pressure

fewer mood swings

balanced hormones

healing through sounds was practiced by ancient egyptians, greeks and chinese physicians, who also used sound healing in their practices to promote digestion, sleep, and emotional disturbances.

if learning a bit about sound healing interested you and you wanna learn a bit more about it, this is the source i used for this section.

FUN QUIZZES, VIDEO ESSAYS, RECIPES AND GAMES ;

valentines day aesthetic quiz - buzzfeed - i got daughter of aphrodite

consideration is the highest form of love - manifestelle - food for thought

good boyfriend quiz - seventeen

which romantic music type am i - buzzfeed - i got r&b enthusiast

valentines day cupcakes recipe ;

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 cup of butter milk

1/3 cups of oil

4 large eggs

mix it all together and add it into a lined cupcake tin, bake at 350° for 15 minutes. for the frosting...

1 cup of softened butter

6 cups of powdered sugar

1 tsp of strawberry extract

4 tbs of milk

CRUSH STORIES ;

SUBMISSION ONE : ANON : 💝

idk if this counts 😭 but my crush is an older guy (dw it's very legal) and he's so sweet, I manifested him liking me using your help!!! We're not together yet but he's been talking to me for literally hours a day, and just offered to buy me A NEW LAPTOP aaaah I'm crying. Ily honey your perfect

HBDSJHDJ YAYY. i wish u guys all the happiness and i hope u enjoy ur new laptop ✨

SUBMISSION TWO : ANON : 💝

technically not a crush but my ex boyfriend cheated on me (i broke up w him very quickly after) w my best friend and got her pregnant. he tried to make amends with me but I turned him down. i think i dodged a bullet there thank god 🫢

OH 💀. you def dodged a bullet, they went behind ur back and then got pregnant... 😭

thats all for this months catalog, there will be a new edition each month with new content and it'll be updated on a monthly basis so if thats something that interests you or if you like these kinds of posts pls let me know, till next month girlies✨

[ayphyx]

Why is it that whenever someone talks about media literacy they only talk about things like rape, incest, pedophilia, and murder but never misogyny, racism, fatphobia, or ableism

Like it’s always about “problematic ships” and “evil characters” but never about how the treatment of woc in media influences how woc are treated in society and vice versa. How female characters are almost always the ones being singled out as “annoying” compared to male characters. Or how, yeah, there might be an in-story reason to why this lazy, depressed character is fat but societal views on fat people being lazy, depressed, unhygienic, etc., most definitely influenced the writer’s choice to make that lazy character fat.

I find that a lot of the “media literacy” arguments that pertain to subjects of sexual abuse and violence don’t really apply to other subjects in a way that isn’t wildly or even somewhat bigoted. Ofc there’s not gonna be a catch-all argument for how every theme should be treated in media but the arguments should at least be somewhat consistent.

I rarely ever see anyone talk about media literacy in a way that doesn’t boil down to “ok but liking evil/bad/taboo characters/themes/stories don’t make you a bad person and authors can write things they don’t agree about.” This statement isn’t wrong and i agree with it but it shouldn’t be your only knowledge on what media literacy is.

Sometimes, a story that has a rape scene in it depicts rape poorly. Whether its because rape was written in a fetishistic light or because the victims weren’t treated with the respect that they deserve, you need to be able to know how and why that scene is (cant think of a better word rn but I’ll probably change it later cause i don’t really like using this word) problematic. The fact that the story depicts rape isn’t the problem, it’s how they chose to depict it. And yes, how this story depicts rape can absolutely affect how a person views rape victims irl.

Sometimes, an author includes racist views into their work. Sure, depiction isn’t endorsement but when an author writes primarily about white characters, and has the first character of color in their book be executed as that character’s introduction, don’t be surprised when that author turns out to be a racist.

Yes, fiction isn’t one-to-one with reality but they both influence each other in a way that cannot be escaped. You will never find a piece of media that isn’t influenced by reality and you will never find a person whose views havent been influenced by a piece of media.

(Also, there is a tendency that i see in a lot of fandom “media literacy” people. And that is the tendency to use leftist, anti-racist phrases and terminology to refer to fandom discourse. “Kill the cop inside your head” refers to killing that part of your brain that has been drilled by society to view black, brown, and poor people as threats. It does not refer to people who don’t like your 20k incest fanfiction and are kinda mean about it. Stop fucking fandomizing anti-racist rhetoric. You just look fucking racist)

Sorry if this is kinda incoherent, I’m mostly just rambling.

[svmjaeyvn]

love maze, s.jy.

chapter four pairing: jake x afab!reader word count: tbd (series)

masterlist

add yourself to the taglist here!

genre: college!au, mutual friends, fake dating, smut.

synopsis: an unfortunate encounter, drunken mistakes, and a sort of (definitely) stalker leads jake sim ‘dating’ his best friend’s childhood crush.

or, your life gets intertwined with a rich boy’s in attempt to not get sued by his crazy personal fangirl and like with all good cliches, sex overcomplicates things.

contents: smut, sort of strangers to fuck buddies to lovers pipeline, childhood best friend!jay, mentions of best friend! yunjin, curly haired & mixed reader, uni!au, rich nepo baby!jake, enha frat boys, lots of kissing, fake dating turning into fwb real quick, totally way too into it for it to be fake early on, big booty reader that’s jake’s obsessed with, partying and alcohol use, slight violence, he fell first and harder trope, stem bf & writer gf, (kinda overly) possessive jake, some angst to spice things up, daddy issues, hyper independent reader who struggles with her feelings, fluff and happy ending!!

a/n: hello~ i’ve never been a tumblr girly but i have went through my w*ttpad era back in 2018 so bare with me y’all. this will be a series but not that long (i hope) so pls look forward to it. warning tags will be placed before each “chapter” to specify what to expect. pls pls reblog and interact, i’d love to have feedback and see what your thoughts are. okay! yay, for now enjoy and thank you sm :D

MDNI, 18+

tap below to continue

CHAPTER FOUR: FIRSTS

previous masterlist next

word count: 2.9k

warnings: alcohol, partying(what’s new), hints of needy jake, reader being a tease, established desire, highly suggestive themes

a/n: YEAHHH GET INTO IT moving it along now

"I GO HOME for three days and you suddenly have a new life?" Yunjin gapes, hands on her hips as you had just finished explaining the whole story in what happened between you and Jake. From the beginning of the creep at the store, which she was throughly upset that you didn't call her considering she didn't even get laid that night, to the agreement the two of you came up with yesterday.

You were in the process of getting ready, Jake having texted you earlier in the day asking if you were free. After talking over everything, coming up with a story down to the smallest details, and finding a middle ground in how this would work, Jake suggested at least once a week you two would go on a 'date.' In reality it was just hanging out, time to get to know each other better and have the ability to be comfortable with how you'd act in public from then on.

"Apparently," You snort, swiping one last application of lip gloss onto your lips. Puckering them before letting out a small sigh, decidedly put in enough effort for the mock date. "Good?"

Yunjin glances over your outfit. The denim jeans sat nicely on your hips, low rise exposing a good portion of your stomach along with the white baby tee, a brown oversized jacket on top with white shoes to compliment. The outfit was casual but cute enough to show some effort, showing off enough skin that emphasized your curves but also comfortable.

"You're hot," She nods, a wink added to the effect. Watching as you bent over to retie your shoe lace, a loud gasp left Yunjin's lips before her laughter filled the air. "You're trying to get laid aren't you!" Pointing toward the thin string-like material that poked out as you bent due to the low waistband of the pants, the brown thong you wore was exposed and something you didn't particularly wear without good reason.

Quickly standing up straight, a sheepish smile made way onto your lips, shrugging slightly. "Maybe, mind as well have fun with this, right?"

"Sure, fucking your already fake boyfriend sounds like a great idea that won't lead to any problems," Yunjin nods, voice dripping with sarcasm.

You smile, turning back around just as your phone pings. "Glad we agree," You nod, collecting your things as Jake was now waiting outside for you to head down, Yunjin rolling her eyes as she bids you goodbye with a playful slap to your ass as you walked past.

"Text me how it goes!"

JAKE HAD A hard time focusing. Maybe it was the colorful lights that blinked in every direction, or the loud buzz of other people who played along the rows and rows of arcade games, or maybe it was the fact that he got the perfect view of your ass in those tiny little jeans every time you remotely leaned over. He thought he was imagining things the first time you bent over, trying to convince himself that you hadn't been bold enough to wear a thin g-string in those already low pants that exposed the definition of your waist and the two dimples on your lower back.

Surely it wasn't planned, wearing a thin little thong under tight pants that left little to the imagination with how utterly perfectly perky your ass seemed squeezed in them. But it was, definitely was because although he hasn't worn one himself, he assumed having a string up your ass all day wasn't something you willingly did, knowing well enough it was for the view not your comfort.

It took everything in him to tear his eyes away every time you glanced back, though his continued slip ups caused you to grow rather amused. Feeling how his eyes practically bore into your back, you began to have fun with it. Whether it consisted of teasing him with the sway of your hips as you walked or ensuring to wiggle around more than usual when you bent over to place the tokens in the slots of the machines.

The current game the two of you played consisted of basketball, playing on the two player option to go against one another, rushing to beat the others score of how many baskets made in the 90 second period. Jake finished before you, having started a few seconds prior and he smiled seeing the 72 on his scoreboard while yours was slowly trickling up from a mere 48.

Just as he was about to comment on his obvious win, he took note of the two who lingered off the side, seemingly waiting for their turn at the game. Presumably within your age range, the two men stood patiently, one occupied by his phone but the other had his eyes set on you in specific.

From the way his eyes traveled up your body, slow without a care for how bluntly obvious it was to see him checking you out, Jake felt oddly in disbelief at how shameless his actions were. The loud buzz indicated the end of your round, the score finalized at a 54 as you turned around with a small huff.

"Cheater," You tut, your competitive nature beginning to show its colors as you turn to Jake who was now a mere few inches apart.

Quirking a brow, he points to his scoreboard, the big 72 in bold letters along with WINNER flashing after it. "Face it baby, I'm just better,"

You blink, slightly surprised by the sudden pet name while Jake leans in suspiciously closer than before. One of his arms snaked behind your waist, hand resting low on your back and the heat of his fingers against your exposed skin caused a chill to run up your spine.

"Don't be cocky, you're just taller so it's easier for you," You defend with a roll of your eyes, turning away from his gaze that made you want to squirm away. You could feel the sudden shift in his demeanor, one that you wanted to see but it also made you nervous.

Without a word, Jake shamelessly leaned closer. His lips pressed to the corner of your mouth, lingering there for a moment just missing your lips before he pulls away, moving to whisper in your ear. "Your little outfits catching eyes sweetheart,"

He had a smile on his features, a seemingly fond look thrown your way but you could see the hint of something other by his eyes. Glancing around for a moment, attempting to confirm what he was referencing, it wasn't until your turned your head momentarily did you see. From the corner of your eye, you could see the two who stood still waiting, one in particular unable to take his eyes off you no matter how shameless he seemed.

"Is that a problem?" You counter, voice just as quiet as his as you peer back to Jake. This time, the smirk that fell upon his features definitely wasn't in good nature, feeling as his hand slightly squeezed your hip at the words.

"Not at all, I have a hot girlfriend," Jake shrugs, his amusement dripping through his words. "As long as I'm the only one that gets to touch you, they can look all they want,"

Finding yourself at a loss for words, you shake your head at his comment. Breaking the tension that began to linger through the air, you loop your arm around his own and begin to lead the way towards another game in the opposite direction. Jake merely laughs, allowing for you to pull him along without comment.

"Didn't take you as the possessive type," Finally finding your voice as you pulled him along to a less busy area in the building, you stop at one of the claw machines.

"Didn't like the way he was looking at you," He shrugs, pulling two coins from his pocket and inserting them to begin the game. Now focused on the rather weird chick looking stuffed animal that sat at the top of the pile, Jake's tongue was poked out slightly at the corner of his mouth as he concentrated.

You watched, waiting for him to drop the claw before speaking. "Still possessive," You snicker, the stuffed animal being picked up for a few seconds before falling out of the metal grasp. Still, it fell significantly closer to the exit shoot and Jake began his second attempt that the coins bought him.

He merely hums back at your words, redoing his attempt and waiting patiently to watch as the claw picked up and dragged the chick toward the shoot, it falling down in success causing a small smile to fall upon his lips. Bending down to pull it out, Jake takes a glance over it before holding it out to you.

"Well, like it or not, you're mine for the next few months," He reminds. You half heartedly nod at his words, far too engrossed by your newest stuffed animal and picking off a piece of extra fluff around its eye. The baby chick looked rather awkward, far too round and compressed but it made you smile, happy with the weird looking stuffy that'll be added to the rest on your bed.

"I'm fake yours," You finally respond while he raises a brow.

Taking a note of how excited you got over a mediocre claw machine prize, Jake sighs at your words. "No one else knows that, so as far as I'm concerned, you're mine to make it known,"

You smile at his words, a sort of guilty pleasure in knowing just how much he intended to keep you by his side even if it were an unpleasant trait outside of anything fiction. With a small hum, you lace your fingers through his own, pulling him along.

"Careful Jake, someone might think you actually like me,"

                  "TRY NOT TO let her do a replay of last week, yeah?" Jay spoke rather loudly, leaned close to the couple after spotting them heading for the kitchen. You had been dragged along to the frat house after a call interrupted your date. Allegedly, Bianca had made an appearance to the party, running around making scenes in attempt to find where Jake was hiding out after avoiding her all week.

Heeseung had made it clear that he either needed to come home and kick her out himself, or he'd be throwing her in the pool if she came up to him again cockblocking the girl he was trying to talk up for the night. Thus Jake proposed your first real act in your relationship, something that you were slightly reluctant to but also couldn't pass up the opportunity of seeing Bianca lose her shit over you attached to his hip without room for her to do anything this time.

It didn't surprise you that there was yet another party going on at the house, the boys notorious for being the main party frat on campus. What did surprise you though, was the fact that Jake willingly chose to take you on a date rather than attend.

You rolled your eyes at Jay's comment, shoving his shoulder causing Jake to let out a laugh beside you. His arm was draped over your shoulders, keeping your body close to his own while his other hand sported a red solo cup, yet another jungle juice made by Sunghoon who knew what he was doing this time around. Meanwhile you held a spiked cup of pineapple juice and tequila, keeping the alcohol minimal and pacing yourself.

"Go away," You huff, shooing Jay away with the wave of your hand. Raising a brow, he takes a glance over the two of you momentarily.

"Don't be weird," Is all he says, the comment thrown to Jake who seemingly understood, shrugging halfheartedly but agreed with a nod. With a small sigh, Jay's hand reaches up to ruffle your hair and quick to pull away as you swatted the air. "Bye teeny, don't fight anyone!"

"He's annoying," You mumble, turning back to Jake who hummed in response.

"He cares," He says softly, taking a sip from his cup while you click your tongue.

"Yeah? Too much then," Glancing around, the dim lights that flashed throughout the house provided minimal visibility, mostly shadows of bodies rather than seeing faces. "How long is this public appearance supposed to last before I can head home?" Truthfully, the thought of your bed seemed ten times more appealing than the stuffy kitchen you stood in. Partially sure that you had seen a girl running by about to hurl, the sight solidified your belief of partying sporadically, it gets old fast every week in your opinion.

"You wanna go home?" Jake began to feel around for his keys but only to pause realizing the cup filled with a concoction of alcohols may have not been the best idea.

"Not now," You shake your head. "I can always call an uber later, or have Yunjin pick me up... or even stay with Jay I guess,"

“What, you don’t want to stay with your boyfriend?” Jake teases, leaning closer causing you to roll your eyes. Slightly pushing his face away with the palm of your hand, small giggles began to fall from both your lips and mixing together in a little world of your own that seemed far away from anyone else in the room. “I’m hurt, truly you should be wanting to spend the night with me.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” You hum. Pushing away the few out of place strands of hair that fell onto Jake’s forehead, his eyes glinted at the suggestive tone while his hands sat comfortably on your hips. Moving to your tippy toes, you leaned up to whisper directly in Jake’s ear, the words and your warm breath that fanned against his neck causing a shiver to run up his spine. “We wouldn’t be getting much sleep,”

“You know, I think I’m actually getting a little tired right now,” Jake says quickly, you pulling away enough to make eye contact, his pupils visibly dilated at the thoughts running through his head. “I think we should head up early, could be a good bonding experience,” The cheeky smile that played at his lips didn’t go unnoticed while he squeezed your hip, one of his hands trailing down dangerously low just above the curve of your ass, lingering there without any intention of moving back up.

“I don’t remember that being a part of the contract,” You tease while Jake shakes his head. Maybe it was the low lighting of the party, or maybe it was the more than obvious way he had been looking to you all night that made you so comfortable to entertain the thought. Well that and the fact that Jake was admittedly hot, you had always had the tiniest attraction towards him the few times you met in the past. Plus, there had to be some truth to the rumors that clouded his name, most girls deeming him as some of the best they ever had and you couldn’t help but want to figure it out for yourself.

“Exactly, that means there’s no rules against it, right?” Jake persists. No longer hiding his growing desperation, you were sure he’d kneel down and beg if you asked. “C’mon baby, it’s a good thing you know, for couples to be intimate n stuff,”

“I feel like I’m gonna have to keep reminding you that this is fake,” You snicker, seemingly nonchalant but you took a long sip from Jake’s cup, attempting for some liquid courage to calm your rapid heartbeat.

“We can be whatever you want us to be,” He agrees, hand cupping your face, tilting up your chin up as he placed a light lingering kiss to your bottom lip. “There’s a reason you wore those tight little pants and if not me, you’re out of luck in having someone else take them off cause of your rules,”

A small hum left your lips, your bottom lip tucked between your teeth which caused Jake to look away, finding something else to focus on to push away the thoughts of what your pretty mouth would look like around him instead. Immediately regretting it, your attention was caught by the string of curses that he mumbled under his breath.

Frowning your brows, your head turns to see the culprit of his sudden change in mood. Feeling the same sentiment as you see the faux blonde who looked more than annoyed when your eyes locked, you had to resist the urge to act childishly and flip her off.

Suddenly turning toward Jake, you grab hold of his hand. Raising a brow at your change in heart, he allows you to pull him toward the stairs. “If I would’ve known you had a possession thing too I would’ve said she got here way earlier,” He smiles, visibly pleased at the turn of events and switching to lead the way to his room.

“I’m proving a point,” You huff back while Jake lets out a laugh at your words. Following his lead with no hint of hesitation, you ensure to send a sickeningly sweet smile toward Bianca who seemed to be on the verge of losing her poise.

You had to admit, following Jake up to his room and seeing the look of envy from so many faces boosted your ego in more ways than one. This is gonna be a long night.

my tags!! @slutforsjy @jaklvbub @whowantshota @addictedtohobi

( pls make sure your settings make you applicable to tag)

[bananaactivity]

Im not finished with Carlos fully but he looks good enough for right now ( he’s 22 in this picture here)

I changed Carlos and Evie up, so now Evie is a vain witch like her mother who is fashionable but she doesn’t sew her own stuff. ( which is for the better cse wtf was that ugly ass dress she made for Mal in D2???)

Carlos considers himself to be a very expensive person and can be pretty big germaphobe. He hates getting anything on his clothes and he refuses to wear the school uniforms at Auradon Uni because they’re ugly. He wears lots of black white grey and red, with gold accents usually. He does theme around dog associated items like gold bone cutlets, paw print lapel chains, and a tennis ball brooch. He often wears red gloves and his favorite shoes are his collection of red bottom dress shoes. He likes hiding red on the interlining of his clothes too, such as his jackets and hats and vests.

A lot of his own person style is derived from 1990s London fashion ( as the artist that means I get my references from the 1996 101 Dalmatians live action movie, the styling of Cruela in that movie is ICONIC AND IMACULATE, and I MUST reference her for Carlos.

PURRRR

Of course he wears REAL animal print. And he’s not a weak touch me not prick like some think. He’s still tech savvy and does Anyalitics and specs for the core four. He also loves GUNS 😄. Think of him like a sharp shooter who stays in the back of turf wars and snipes people. The isle doesn’t have many marks men ( they all really like swords for some reason) so he’s pretty dangerous. He builds his own weapons too.

His passion started out as a way for him to collect his own furs but Harry gets him most of what he needs plus he always needs Carlos to redo his wardrobe ( he gets… messy… after a couple days work) Carlos hates that Harry ruins his creations so fast but he pays him well and gifts him rare fabrics and samples from Auradon.

Because Carlos has no magic Mal always underestimates him. She sees him as only a stylist and ranged weapon specialist. Even tho she acknowledges him for his wit and tech skills she still doesn’t listen to him. Sometimes he wishes he could stay with Harry but then he’d have to do more work up front. Harry understood what Carlos was capable of and respected him a lot. What Harry doesn’t understand is that not everybody likes to be covered head to toe in hot sticky blood 24/7. Harry had also promised him a suite on his boat that nobody else was allowed to occupy, but even if Harry’s crew feared HARRY they wouldn’t mind having an attitude with CARLOS for preferential treatment, even if it is what he deserves 🙄

Harry and Carlos’s relationship is the definition of there are two wolves inside you. Carlos smokes and drinks but he’s more of a Marlboro and Merlot type of guy and Harry’s a Rum and Cigar kinda lad. ( I’m using cartoon logic and say that those habits are purely aesthetic based of iconography from the original Disney moves, Cruella smokes and Capt. Hook smokes two cigars at once)

Carols isn’t really scared of dogs anymore but when he arrives at Auradon he “befriends” his roommate Chad ( now an animal lover like his mother) who has pet rats and a entourage of wild animals constantly in their dorm, and threatens to shoot and skin them all every single day to make a new line of coats ( when Chad rebuttals that his rats are too small to make coats, Carlos says they’d make the perfect fuzzy gloves 💀) He also uses Chad as a living mannequin for his designs. They have a goofy relationship with each other, Carlos does make Chad do all the dirty work of skinning and draining the animals he hunts but despite how traumatic that is Carlos is a fun sweet guy so it’s okay 💀💀💀.

Jay is jelly of Carlos due to his closeness with Harry. ( I guess the way to Jays heart and respect is by holding him at sword point and threatening to gut him and hang him by those very guts over shark infested waters and watch them nibble away at him 💀)

Next I’ll find up Carlos and do some fit designs then I’ll redesign Jay and tell that gutting story 😛

[dreamerwitches]

Rating labyrinths: Gertrud!

Okay! Let's go with the labyrinth ratings wheeee!!!

What I'm going to do is rank separate parts of labyrinths (eg. anthony's labyrinth from ep 1 is separate to gertrud's from ep 2) but I'll also give an average at the end.

I will (most likely) only be doing labyrinths that are in colour (so maybe not manga witches)

Anthony's labyrinth from episode 1

I think this is a really good one, especially as the first shown (not including walpy's). It really shows of the cut-out style of the labyrinths and the deep blue-hued colours are perfectly moody. The use of runes in the background is also really fun for secret messages. I feel the only downside is that it doesn't really scream Gertrud to me. Like, if you didn't know the series well and was shown this, I doubt you'd think it belonged to her. HOWEVER... I think this does work for Gertrud since all her precious roses are in her room with her. It makes sense that she'd keep them close.

You could say that it's weird that this labyrinth doesn't share colours with the main one but I think it works because it's a familiar's labyrinth. The photorealistic buildings also match the main labyrinth. I wonder if the butterfly and anthony traffic signs are meant to be a subtle warning to madoka and sayaka hmmm

I really like this one. A 5/5 for me

Gertrud's labyrinth from episode 2

There's a lot to it so it's kinda hard to summarise in images lol. But it's another great one. Great imagery, lovely colours and has themes brought over from Anthony's labyrinth. I think the orange tones, although relaxing, also give off this sepia feel that makes it a little unnerving too. Like looking through a tinted view makes things seem unreal.

One of my favourite parts are the doorways that lead to black nothingness. Really helps with the labyrinthine feel. Small touches like the portraits with slight things changed in them to make them scary. It's the kind of thing you don't notice unless you pause. I also like how it seems the labyrinth becomes more luscious as you get deeper. The trees start bare, then with black leaves, then Gertrud's room is fully in bloom.

I wasn't sure whether to rank the boss room separately, maybe I will... I think the ceiling that doesn't quite make sense works well to make it feel disorientating and it's a fun contrast to the kinda pretty garden around Gertrud. It's messy but in a good way. I also think having the boss room have a different theme to the rest works. Just as before I mentioned that roses are only in her boss room, I think it would make sense that her special place may be better taken care of or just look overall nicer. It's very good but I'd say, not my favourite segment. Maybe just because it's only one room?? That makes it a little unfair to compare to the rest...

I'll give the labyrinth a 5/5. Boss room is a 4.5/5

Gertrud's labyrinth from Magireco episode 11

Yeah... this one isn't it, chief... like, it has the things of her labyrinth but it's just not... uhhh I dunno it feels more like a set piece than a proper area...

Let's start with what I like: of course, I love the Gertrud motifs. The butterflies, the cut out images and the hidden text (although it's no different than the original anime iirc). I really like the halo above Gertrud's area. And the hanging loops. It's weird but pretty. Suits Gertrud!

Sadly that's where my positives end. The stark white is NOT Gertrud it's so weird... I guess the stone rose works better but not the rest. I kinda hate in the zoom out where... it just looks like a video game level, like I'm looking at mario 64 or something ToT that is not a labyrinth..! Just the overall layout is meh. I dislike the random fluff pile below it too. Just felt like they didnt know what to fill it with...

It's a dud but has some good things... I'm giving it a 1.5/5. I know there's worse which is why it's not a 1.

So overall Gertrud get's a.... 4/5 wow!!!

[cyandreamzaceattorney]

✭ Orange and Yellow AA fanart ✭

Over the past few days I felt like doing some more scrapbook like pages in my art journal and decided to do some fanart of orange and yellow themed aa characters :D.

I first drew Athena and unfortunately I'm not super happy with the outfit I drew for her. I tried to make it both sporty and girly (as she's an active character but also very feminine) but I think I failed at both, I also feel like I should've incorporated more blue into the outfit, especially the shorts and maybe also jacket. At least I had fun doing some parts of the drawing with ink (instead of using just crayons for all the colours like I normally do), especially the hair!

Then I drew Larry for the first time and gave him a pretty basic but kinda fashionable outfit that I think suits him well. To be honest, he turned out a lot better then expected as I thought I wouldn't enjoy drawing him, especially since I'm not a Larry fan. I don't hate him but, he has a lot of annoying character "quirks" that I'm just not into. I do agree that he is treated too harshly in the games and I especially dislike everyone crapping on his art when it's not bad! Especially his watercolour paintings.

Then I drew another character for first time, Juniper! I had fun drawing her in a cute yellow cottagecoreish dress with gumboots (cuz I associate those with gardening) and I definitely want to draw her more. She's one of the few AA5 characters that aren't from the DLC case that I love (unfortunately most AA5 characters I'm not a fan of, expect for the DLC case cuz I like almost every character in that are in the DLC case). I already have ideas for drawing Verity Gavèlle mentoring her as that's definitely a hc of mine :-D.

And last, but definitely not least, I had to draw Shi-Long. In my mind he is the yellow aa character! I won't lie, his outfit was the hardest for me to come up with. Trying to draw an outfit I think looks cool but is masculine is a major weak point for me (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠), still I did my best and I like the results. Especially the shoes, as I wanted to give him cool boots to make up for his hideous canon boots, still don't feel like I'm great at drawing shoes but, I am definitely trying to get actively better and I think I am :P.

I also make custom scrapbook paper for both page bgs due to not having a lot of orange/yellow paper which helped use white paper I don't like drawing on :-)

I hope you all enjoy these drawings ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

[starberriemilk]

ok. ok. i hope you understand how much sinclair being transgender fits in with his character. you probably do better than me, but i want to rant about how good of an idea it is.

like, first. his symbol. a cracked egg. for a long time, eggs have been used to symbolize those strugling with gender disphoria without any way to identify it as something outside the norm. (child sinclair probably struggled with that a lot.)

his entire motif is "between two worlds" from his splashscreen, to his base EGO art, to even kromer's boss theme literally being called "between two worlds"

of course it's referring to his transitory state between coward and hero, but this major theme of change passes through the entirety of sinclair's life. i would not be surprised if he actually is canonically transgender.

like... everything about him seems to SCREAM transgender.

if you have more, please rant it to me as well!

YES I fully understand it and IM SO HAPPY THERE'S ANOTHER PERSON WHO GETS IT TOO! YES! I AGREE WITH YOU SO MUCH! I really want to make a BIG BIG post that'd be transgender analysis of Sinclair, and the only reason why I'm not doing it is because I'm 1. nervous that people would be upset I didn't mention a possibility of him being transfem (sorry I don't like that hc/interpretation :( it makes me kinda uncomfy since I see him 100% as a trans man!) 2. HOW DO I WORDS (im so bad at wording stuff and putting thoughts into text)

But either way I AGREE SO MUCH WITH YOU! I like to think that the reason why his symbol is a cracked egg specifically is because he is starting to figure himself out and presents as masculine because he realized he's comfortable with it much more, so its a start! AND OF COURSE YES YES I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT HOW BETWEEN TWO WORLDS CAN REFER TO HIM BEING TRANS TOO... But then I look back at the book and I realize how much sense it makes. The whole point of between two worlds in the book is that nothing truly is black and white and that includes Demian's gender identity (it's said so many times how he resembles both a man and a woman and clearly. transgender too), and I like to think Sinclair finds himself in that "between two worlds" state of gender identity too, seeing that he's different, between the world of cis women and cis men - transgender. If that makes any sense!

I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS FOR DAYS I SWEAR! Because you're right, everything about him screams transgender and it makes me incredibly happy. I genuinely think that Sinclair is transcoded, with how much feminity he shows in his character. And I know people will say "but feminine cis men exist" but I don't care because one way to show a character is transgender, is to make them have traits of their opposite gender... And obviously PM can't make it more obvious with queerness because we all know what Korea is like, but this? What we already have? It means a lot to me

Since I want to make a post about this one day, I want to say something from myself too:

Sinclair is the only male sinner who has a soft, feminine face, one that is usually drawn on women in PM games. Even other more feminine/twinkish characters like Yi Sang and Hong Lu have more sharp features, but Sinclair's are completely soft. And I think this includes his body too, like you can't really see it in his LCB sprite because he wears an oversized coat but in other identities he clearly has small shoulders and more of a.. feminine figure, I think, which again to me feels like he's a trans man that binds to hide his chest (if anyone asks about Boatworks- he had top surgery and his scars faded, and there's probably tech in the City that lets you have get rid of your boobs without any scars left)

[casual-praxis]

Okay, so I've failed again.. I'm still poking this AU with a stick.

At some point while listening to J-pop at a volume not recommended for my tinnitus, I started to think about spiders, and that made me remember my FS x TftGS Vio wip.

So I started googling spiders, and that made me want to mess with this some more, and well--here we are lmao.

I like to think this is an in-between form, and Vio's actual demon form is much more eldritch horror and not very humanoid once you get up close.

I don't think I have the art skills to illustrate it, but I imagine he's unnaturally lanky, less skin or human features, more exoskeleton and doll-like joints. He doesn't have chelicerae, but his jaw does unhinge (tho this might change. I'm thinking maybe his ears would just stop being ears and wrap around his head to create chelicerae, since spiders don't have ears. Jaw still unhinges regardless).

If you wanna read more rambling about this design, feel free to peep below the cut. There's a few alternate versions of the drawing as well, since I'm so indecisive with colors lmao.

Rapid-fire details list because I like yapping, go!

+ Both Vio's partial demon form and full form have eight eyes in total. Four on the face, two on either shoulder, one on the chest, and one on his back right at the base of his neck. His main two eyes react like normal (though he can't blink in these forms despite having eyelids). All the others are constantly swiveling around erratically, and usually not in the same directions.

+ "A Violet Spider's Death Bloom" is technically his full name, shortened to Vio for human convenience. Demon's are weird. Most either have regular sounding names, like Jeff, or long ass titles like this. Shadow's isn't much better; Mr "Left Hand of the Shadowed Tyrant".

+ The whole spider theming came about from me associating bow strings with spider thread, so if you were confused, don't worry, it only barely makes sense anyhow. I've since put more thought into it, but I was kinda curious on how far I could push it before people started to think, "wait, this isn't Vio anymore!"

Spiders as a theme is also just something I personally think fits the way I view Vio as a character. When I think of spiders, I think of eyes. When I think of Vio, I also, for a weird reason, think of eyes.

In the manga, the main way I told anyone apart was usually from the eyes, though their tunics helped a lot too. Vio's eyes in particular stood out to me since, when not colored in, they look the most distinct from the others, with the lack of highlight and general abundance of white space.

There's also frequent close up's of his eyes in particular to show when he's emoting (or processing emotions), such as the "oh, Shadow Link" thing or the weird glance he gives Green before fake stabbing him. Just. The whole of chapter 8. Eyes.

Not to mention how often he shoots things there. And how observant he tends to be...it just fits, I think.

His role in this AU is more background character oriented, but he's still always aware of what's going on in town, generally speaking. He has a whole web of connections. Eyes everywhere. He knows of everyone, even if they don't know of him, until it's too late. :)

+ Counting his mechanical spider legs, he's got seven limbs in total. One was lost in the last confrontation Vio and Shadow had before Vio found the town. He often uses the extra appendages to quickly stab enemies before a fight even starts, or to climb up to higher places. The chain portion can alternate in length, becoming however long or short he needs them to be, but the actual leg parts cannot be changed. They do register pain, even if they're metal-like.

+ He's got doll-joints mostly to tie into the inorganic, mechanical vibe. They can be ripped off and reattached with minimal effort. Sometimes, he even does it on purpose to get the upper hand in a confrontation. Scarily enough, his movement speed does not decrease.

+ Like most monsters in the Zelda universe, his weak spot is very obvious and straight forward on how to damage. The gem in his chest cavity is fairly fragile, and directly tied to his soul, but despite this, he still walks around with it on open display. This is partially to lure others into thinking he's an easy target, while also being a bit of a power move.

+ He can make a web-like string from the tips of his fingers, but outside setting traps or eavesdropping via the vibrations, he doesn't utilize this very often. He probably could not make an actual spider's web, sadly.

I have many thoughts about what he gets up to while being a Background Character but I will save those for another time.

[piracytheorist]

Spy x Family Code: White thoughts!

Alright, time to write down my thoughts about the film! I liked it a lot, and for this anime only it was a HUGE satisfactory dose after not having had anything new since December 🥲 there were a few parts that I found meh, and I will mention them here too, but overall I got a very positive view of it!

Related to this, my mom was in the next room where I was sitting watching the film, and when I finished and passed by to get some water, she asked me what film I watched that made me laugh so much. So I think that speaks for itself 😂

Anyway, on to the film!

Having seen the trailer where Twilight rips off the disguise of a woman with long, curly blonde hair, as soon as I saw her here I was like is that her? But then that guy appeared and I recognized his voice and, dare I say I was confused XD

Damn, isn't that past their rating? XD

And then the music started! STRIX theme with a new twist for the film!

I think by this point we've already shrugged away Twilight's ability to make disguises. It gets even crazier near the end, so it should be of no surprise that he just disguised himself as that woman. Lucky she happened to wear a choker, too, good cover for his Adam's apple.

The way they showed the woman wrapped in a blanket underneath the desk, though 😳 that's the kind of visual you'd use to show a character died. What am I supposed to infer from this, guys?!

Then we cut to Yor!

There's a review on letterboxd saying how easy the film is to watch and follow for someone who hasn't watched the original, and I'm happy to hear that because as someone who already knows these characters and their dynamics, it didn't feel like it dragged on too much on that.

Yor, ever being the sweetheart, will call a guy a traitorous scumbag yes but she will be kind as ever when she kills him 🥰

The way she dodged the bullets! Queen! And also a set up to later show her dodge all the ammunition thrown from the shooters and Type F!

This. Was. Amazing. I actually gasped out loud. The animators understood the assignment, 10/10.

Right after that, we see Loid reach his door, and for the first time we see him go to use keys. A few other times I remember anyone opening the door they just... opened it. You'd think an apartment where a spy and an assassin live would have better security! XD

I love how they kinda showed it like Yor was going to attack Loid, and then Loid just turned and went like "Oh hey beautiful wife, welcome home! :D" It must have looked funny for anyone who hasn't seen the anime/manga before XD

Yor wants to cook! Everybody hide!

That... is a horror of an omelet. Yor's cooking is always for the "congrats lil buddy that’s the worst anyone’s ever done it" meme. She does try, though, bless her heart.

Anya evades the horror. And Loid wants to make... peanut butter pizza???? Is that even a thing??? WITH MEAT ON TOP???

What does it say about this film that this isn't the weirdest thing to happen in it

TITLE CARD WITH THE THEME ENDING AND THE ORCHESTRA GOING WILD <3333

Damian, shut the fuck up

... I mean, with a mother like that... I'll give this to him XD

Did Anya call him an asshole? Serves him right, tbh XD

Knowing that the story can't veer a lot far from the anime/manga canon, I already knew Anya wouldn't earn a Stella in that competition. But it was a good set-up for the rest of the film to move on from.

Twilight read Henderson's lips through a window and through the latter's thick moustache, and lip reading is already hard to do accurately, if not nearly impossible. Boy's nuts. But I think it only prepared us for a fucking falcon to fly above him and throw him the message from WISE. Show-offs XD

A rare view of Berlint!

DAAAAMN the higher animation budget is really doing those characters such good favour 🥰

Bro actually read a book by flipping through it. Get outta town.

The idea of having another guy take over Operation Strix from Twilight feels a little shallow. It's already a very delicate and long-term operation, it feels that it wouldn't make sense to replace their best agent with just a dude just because said dude has connections.

Twilight meets with Nightfall outside, and Yor sees them across all those streets (I mean, she is an assassin with a deadly aim) and... she doesn't recognize Nightfall? Is this supposed to take place before Nightfall visits the Forger household?

I mean, at the current time in the anime, Yor is supposed to be over her fear of getting replaced, but I get why they retreated back a little, so they could explain the later scene of Loid taking her hand and reminding her of his vows.

Very conveniently, Yor's coworkers are chatting about cheating men, and Yor, being inexperienced with relationships, immediately believes everything, her suspicions even taking root with what she just saw.

Back home, Twilight thinks about how, since he's dismissed from Operation Strix, he'll have to move out, and the camera shows their happy family picture 🥺 he's not ready to admit his feelings to himself but the narrative is.

Making the dessert that's the favourite of the judge and in particular the one he grew up with feels kinda cheating, no? XD

Come on, Loid. A child filling her bag with toys does not deserve that murder glare 😂

That train looked a little too modern for the supposed 60s/70s aesthetic. I know Germany has some top trains (as does Japan) but like, still XD it's very different from the train we see on the very first episode when Twilight boards one for Berlint.

Lovely visuals, though!

I wonder if there's any system as to how Bond's powers work. He has the vision of Anya finding the suitcase and opening it... but that's creating a sort of paradox because without the vision coming to him and without Anya seeing it, it wouldn't have been made true. I mean, I get why it was put there, but still.

Again, the story needed a little backtracking in order for Yor's doubts to make sense. I'm not sure how much they contributed to the whole story, but at least there it was funny. The small awkward laugh she throws at the end before she exits their booth to go look for Anya was hilarious XD

Gremlin Anya is best Anya <3

LMAO at least she enjoyed the chocolate XD

The following part was intense! I found myself saying "Run Anya run!" even though I knew from trailers that they'd eventually catch her anyway.

So the microfilm hides intelligence about a research lab in Westalis. Hmm.

I think it was at this point I noticed that they had Anya react to people's thoughts way too little. I get that it can get repetitive but with her curiosity she would have tried to look for more information through the guys' thoughts.

"Chocolate thieves" is actually perfect to describe those two. They were conveniently - and hilariously - incompetent.

But it did get intense. It's always like that when a bad guy threatens to hurt, let alone kill, a child.

I love how Yor asked Anya to close her eyes while she was beating up the guys but then told her she can open them when they were down and fully expected her to believe her lie that they just passed out XD

Also, her snowman jgvllublftlulbj

Chekhov's military airplane! I didn't expect it would actually work by the end, though XD

I love the music in the restaurant. Poor Bond being left alone outside where it's snowing, though 🥲 at least they brought him food!

Yor notices that it's rare for Loid to wear turtlenecks, and that's actually true. Too bad, though, they fit him so nicely :)

I actually laughed out loud at the guys jumping on Yuri to stop him. They were prepared. They knew who they were dealing with XD

"Rubble and Bonds"... the chef is very wholesome but he literally named his restaurant after his trauma and like... dude. Therapy exists. And then he starts laying out his trauma thick while Twilight is sitting there like yup this doesn't affect me at all

I don't think he was prepared for that when he asked about the restaurant's name. I was kinda disappointed they showed the exact same footage of him as a kid from the first episode. I think they could have afforded making a few seconds of new footage of the same imagery. But maybe that's just my anime-only ass who has been waiting for a certain manga arc to be animated for nearly two years now 😶

Snidel appears! And he has the absolute nerve to just... steal the meremere plate from someone else's table. Perfect way to make us hate him.

And... I'm sorry. I have to say it. When Snidel challenges Loid to a game and the camera focuses on Loid... that zoom-in and fade to black was SO CRINGEY. Sorry XD

The music there was nice, though. I think I notice a tiny bit of James Bond music influence.

Fucking Snidel shifting the goalposts with the amounts of sugar. That's not being detailed, that's not explaining the rules of the game properly. They really wanted us to hate the guy.

Twilight looks really stricken by the fact that he lost. And we know it's not because of despair - since he immediately says they can have meremere the next day - and it's not because his pride was hurt... so you can't take it out of my mind that it was because he was disgusted by how a grown-ass man practically stole a piece of cake from a little child, and Twilight was unable to stop him.

But then XD Loid has the absolute gall to ask a chef for his recipe, and then reprimand Anya for calling him stingy. Like mah dude it was already a far-fetched request to have the guy give you the recipe XD

Twilight being totally not suspicious and bolting through the market to buy all the ingredients. Cause that's what normal people do.

The way Twilight tries to cheer Yor up and he only manages to make her feel worse never disappoints XD

Right, I forgot this film was released in December in Japan. It feels weird for it to have a winter-y, almost Christmas-y feeling while I have my A/C on XD

I like how Twilight actually cared enough to expose the guy at the shooting gallery, and advise him to run an honest business. You'd think this would be low on his priorities... but having a child will expand your sensitivities. It feels similar to how he encouraged Carroll Campbell into playing tennis more fairly and to depend on his own strengths.

And then he wonders why a little child has fun on a train ride XD

I... am not sure how I feel about Yor's outburst there. It feels directly inspired by the Disastrous Date, if not a copy of it, and I'm not sure it helps Yor's character develop in any way. I mean, again, I get that the film can't allow the characters to develop a lot since it can't veer from canon, but still, it felt a little forced just to give Yor more screentime and to have a very subtle twiyor tease.

Anya finding out about divorce through Becky's soap-opera filter, though XD

They feel too confident leaving Anya all alone (even if she's with Bond) in a strange town. I know they can keep an eye on her from the ferris wheel cabin, but still.

Now that's a character development moment you can have without veering from canon: having Yor feel guilty for allowing Anya to notice her dark mood, and then feeling happy that Anya pushed her and Loid to having a moment together to talk things out.

Also, beautiful visuals!

Twilight, best™ spy™ of Westalis™, being unable to read the room whenever his wife is involved.

MAH DUDE. THERE'S ONE THING TO DESCRIBE WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND THAT'S BEING TOO DIRECT

That's a phrase you don't wanna hear from your little kid, especially when you're fake married XD

Handler: Go and help Twilight. Nightfall: Yes ma'am! Handler: Not you. Nightfall: SENPAI WILL NOTICE ME SENPAI WILL NOTICE ME Handler: jfc

It was really sweet seeing Anya and Bond play, and then Yor joining in. That makes it more plausible that the film is set earlier on in the story, since it looks like Yor isn't used to playing with Anya.

No, really, what did that woman who was at Franky's kiosk want to ask him when she would come by with her friend??? 😳

One day the way Twilight abuses Franky's services will come bite him in the ass, I'm calling it now.

Yet another scene where character/relationship dynamic can happen without veering from canon: Loid comes back to the hotel and says he'll go out again, Anya says she wants to come too, and Loid tells her she has to stay in the hotel. Anya goes back to the bedroom dejected, but Yor reminds him it's a family trip and they're supposed to spend this time together, connecting that to her memories of Yuri being happy whenever he spent time with her.

And I think that speaks to another level of distance Twilight has kept from his emotions; he denies himself that he loves his family, but that also leads him to forget that his family won't like missing out on quality time with him.

I especially noticed his surprised reaction at Yor saying that being away from loved ones can make one feel lonely. I don't think Twilight has allowed himself to grasp just how lonely he's felt all these years, it was just the norm for him to have no-one. He's forgotten what it's like to have loved ones and to miss them when you don't get to spend enough time with them, and he's also forgotten that for most people, this is how everyday life is like. We love people, we like spending time with them, we miss them when we haven't seen them in a while. A master of disguises he may be, but this role forces him to face the thing he understands the least: human relationships.

And so, he realizes that Anya's motivation here wasn't petulance or restlessness. It was her need to have fun with him. He considered it easier to sneak around to find the liqueur if they weren't with him, but he failed to consider that casting them aside would actually impact them. Give yourself some credit, dude 🥺

Nightfall: I will surprise Twilight with my effectiveness!

Twilight when he sees her unexpectedly:

I did love however how he looked so sternly at her when they were outside. Like lady, first, bad timing, second, this is why Handler didn't want you to be the one to help Twilight XD

Once again, Bond's power works in a form of paradox. He saw the shop where the liqueur was, and Anya went there because she saw it. If she hadn't seen it, she wouldn't have gone, and Bond wouldn't have had the vision.

I love how the military guys get a rough sketch of Anya and go like "Nah no-one can actually look like this" XD

Anya must have swiped some dalcs as she ran off. That liqueur wasn't gonna be cheap!

Poor Bond!

Endo has surrounded Anya with two physically exceptional parents and a big strong dog to protect her, so it's hard to make a case of her getting kidnapped believable. Realistically, I think Bond would have fought harder to keep her safe, but to achieve the kidnapping the bad guys would have had to get more violent with him. That would make for a sadder scene and also take away from the humor of those guys' incompetence, so the most violence against an animal they could resort to was a conveniently falling beer can.

And thus, the "Anya Has to Poop" side plot starts! With the amount of fear she went through in those scenes, I'm surprised she didn't just... accidentally let go 😶

I just realized when Loid was checking the plane's radio they were also refuelling it. Again, kind of a surprise the whole system worked XD They were a little too chill about the fact that Anya was with the military, though? Maybe I got the wrong vibe off of their acting, lol.

The way that Yor decides at the last moment to join Loid and just... runs and jumps into a plane that's right on takeoff. Madwoman. I love her.

Meanwhile, at least Nightfall is funny XD

They really went on and made an entire sequence in a different animation style for a poop joke. Respect where it's due 👏

Someone: So how did you save world peace this time? Anya: I refused to take a shit.

The incompetent duo have a bedpan that's shaped like a duck and, funny thing... in Greek the word for "bedpan" can also be called, colloquially, with the same word that we use for "duck". So. There's that random connection I found funny XD

Twilight tries to ask for permission to land on the airship and they immediately turn their guns on him and damn, that must be terrifying.

And damn, again, that's a huge risk he took just to get Anya back. My man was prepared to do anything. And he walked out of the plane crashing into the airship without a single scratch like GET OUT OF HERE. I wanted my whump and I only got a single drip of blood near the end 😞 when will I have my whump.

And then Yor just... ran on the top of the airship, fully exposed to the freezing weather of not only outside but also a few hundred (thousand?) feet off the ground. My girl runs on hot steam. AND THEN SHE ALSO FUCKING TOOK HER COAT OFF.

Meanwhile, Anya finally finds a private moment to take a shit. And that marks the end of the wackiest plotline in this movie XD

Okay now, look. I can maybe imagine Twilight quickly making up a mask of Snidel's face from earlier in the day (though he wasn't shown to have any time to do that), and he somehow had it ready when the time came for their duel. But making a mask of that random military guy? Yeah, my suspension of disbelief is stronger for that than for freaking time travel XD

Yor also has her moment of going like "Excuse me, may I ask a question" and immediately getting guns aimed at her.

Damn. What the actual fuck is Type F even. At first I thought it was a full-on robot, but apparently it's a modified human? The fuck. Also. Just how many fucking bullets does he have???!

For real, though, Snidel isn't fucking around. He not only is fine with murdering a kid in cold blood, he also finds it entertaining to make her terrified as well. Like, even that guy from the Doggy Crisis arc said "Nothing personal, kid," when Keith commanded him to kill her.

And then Twilight overhears the incompetent dudes mention Anya... and mighty spy Twilight's emotions get the best of him and he beats up those guys for no other reason than getting back at them? More likely than you think.

Fuck, that scared me. That bullet was literally millimeters from piercing his brain. Cool visual, though, with his real hair popping from beneath the mask.

Anya worrying about her papa :(

Okay, I don't care about the logistics. This was fucking awesome.

AND THEN THIS???

10/10. They understood the assignment.

AND THEN THE OTHER THING???

QUEEN SHIT.

No, but really, their fight was going in circles because Type F has a shit ton of bullets and Yor has great stamina and ability to dodge bullets. She can't win with her strength, so she has to use her brain and her environment. AND SHE SLAYS 👏👏👏

My dude why are you still surprised 😭😭 what did you expect your kidnapped daughter to do once she saw you came to her rescue 😭 HUG YOUR DAUGHTER BACK I BEG 😭

Nah, I know he can't yet, this guy's got the emotional type of constipation. He'll get there.

So we'll never know what he thought about her sneaking out to get him the liqueur, and why that made her smile, eh? Okay 🥲

I love how Yor and Loid just both buy each other's lies. Oh yeah I just decided to jump on your plane while you were taking off, no biggie! Yeah this military ship was totally run by chocolate thieves! And also, I was flying part-time as a student :D

(I also love how high his voice went there. It's full-on "nice sweet Dr. Forger" voice XD)

And then :)

My crops are watered :)

With the action part over, I gotta say that they handled it all of it awesomely! I felt that the whole film was a little slow at first, but I didn't really mind. The climax was great, I got my whump, I got my fake family working together with all of them pretending that oh it was just chocolate thieves and not an actual threat of war breaking out.

My question is... didn't Anya just gulp the chocolate down?

... how did the microfilm get stuck in her teeth?

... you know what, never mind XD

Aw, Twilight got Handler a bottle of wine! And she actually looked thankful for it!

... was she the one who went in disguise to trap Depple into cheating on his wife??

*squealing*

Yor offering to help with the dessert and everyone going "Naaaaah you don't have to 😁"

Damian, shut the fuck up.

It is funny, however, how Anya can say one (1) thing and unintentionally leave him a blubbering mess. Girl is not even trying for that, lmao.

And then, another trip! Buddy who has the time and money--

Oh, wait. Yeah they're going on vacation on WISE budget lmao XD

It's kinda funny to see this with me having the Cruise arc as the "last" I saw of them, as an anime only, cause it was "trip to the ocean!" then "trip to the north!" and now it's "trip to the beach!"

Aw!

Meanwhile, after the credits...

Hang in there buddy. Your time will come to get Twilight back XD

Overall, definitely recommended, it did have its weak parts and its parts that you had to happily kick your logic out the window, but it was great fun, with awesome action, character depth, and even angsty parts that I adored. This will keep my anime-only ass satisfied for a little while, hopefully we also get news about Season 3 soon!

[angel-of-hunky-doryness]

Disney's Hercules: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Inaccuracies

Ah Disney's Hercules.

Now I'm sure I've made it no secret that this is one of my all time favorite movies. Both for it's witty charm and impressive character design, there is something to be said about this film that makes it stand out among the line-up of Disney's Renaissance films. It's not one of it's finest, nor is it your classic fairy tale movie up there with the likes of Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin, but just like Lion King, Hercules takes a unique spin on a timeless tale for a more modern audience.

Perhaps my love of this movie and other Disney films are biased. We had quite a lot of these movies on VHS and since I was still learning english, they were a great introduction before I started kindergarten.

Now as I watch these movies again I'm still surprised how well these movies have aged. I recently rewatched B&B with my dad the other day from flipping channels and even he was blown away with how good these movies really are after nearly 2 decades of not seeing them. It's astounding especially now in an age where we have started to see a decline in the quality of Disney movies. Back when there was a greater focus on art instead of profit.

While there was a rise in harsh criticism on Disney movies and their protagonists(like Snow White, Cinderella, etc) primarily in the 2010's that was perpetuated by internet culture (i.e. memes, Youtube critics, pick your poison) I am glad to see that we are starting to dial it down again and see just how progressive many of these movies were for their day and age.

Now this post isn't about any of that.

There are much better blogs here on tumblr that go into that, so I highly recommend @marciabrady, @artist-issues for their look at early Disney princesses and other similar blogs I will hopefully tag before I post this.

There is one movie though that kinda got the worst treatment and that is, to no one's surprise, Disney's Hercules.

And it's kind of deserved.

Now I'm not here to cast stones. Like I said in the preamble, it's one of my favorite movies and I've written quite a bit of fanfiction in this fandom. So I've done it dirty quite a lot. Sorry HS me, we need to talk a bit.

So instead, we will be going over why the inconsistent depiction of the Greek Mythology presented in this film had to be done and some small examples. Nothing too deep. The Mythology Guy on YouTube made a great video going over all the inaccuracies in the film and I highly recommend giving it a watch if you are interested in learning more about the Greek myth of Herakles.

With that out of the way, let's get started.

Part I: Child-Proofing

As I've mentioned before in one of my earlier posts, Disney films are made for children. Now that doesn't mean adults can't enjoy it, but the content within the films are primarily so children can watch and enjoy. Sure there are adult jokes and themes that will go over kid's heads, but they are generally pretty minor or toned down enough that can pass the films off as rated G/PG.

After all, Disney films have very easy and digestible morals: true beauty lies on the inside, don't judge people on their background, follow your dreams but don't lose sight on what's important, don't talk to strangers unless they're hot, invite everyone to the christening- things like that.

Disney films for the longest time have been a sort of moral standard since they have such a big influence on Western culture. Because of that, many fairy tales they have made films about tend to throw out some of the more grim and dark details attached to these tales.

Take Cinderella.

In the original Grimm's Fairy Tale, the happy couple ride off into the sunset while her step-sisters get their eyes plucked out by Cinderella's birds. In fact, before that, the step-sister's lopped off bits of their foot to try and fit into the glass slipper, only to be found out as the slipper gets soaked in blood.

Now I don't know about y'all, but I don't see anyone complaining that Disney left out those details. Okay, well the general consensus, at least.

But Cinderella is a classic fairy tale that had many adaptations and versions from across the world that allowed Disney to pull inspiration from, so who cares that they didn't follow the Brothers Grimm line-by-line?

And that's a good point.

There are versions where Cinderella isn't as gruesome. Charles Perrault, another very famous fairy tale author, had his own version of Cinderella where her step-sisters are fully intact by the end of the story. So it's quite obvious Disney was more attached to this version since it was much more decent.

Just like Cinderella, Greek Mythology has hundreds of different versions about just a single myth. You have Hesiod, Homer, Apollodorus, Ovid and those are just the writers from thousands of years ago. Nowadays, we have thousands of modern adaptations, translations, and rewrites of Greek myth to comb through.

There's just so much to choose from! And that's not even considering how interchangeable Greek myth is with its Roman counterpart.

What that means is you're never going to be able to get everyone to agree on one myth. Sure we can agree on certain details, but just like Ancient Greece, every city state had it's own version of a myth.

Herakles or Hercules was no exception.

Yet it's like I alluded to as well. There are some certain details that remain consistent from myth to myth.

Now let's look at a story that doesn't have a lot of versions to pull from, and just like Disney Hercules, it was heavily toned down: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

This Disney film is arguable the most sanitized of the animated adaptations. A personal favorite of mine that far outranks Hercules in every way, but it was a huge hurdle to adapt.

From Esmeralda's attempted SA and death, racism, Quasi being bound and abused in jail, Phoebus' less than honorable pursuit of Esmeralda, Frollo's creepy obsession and his horrific control over Quasimodo, the religious themes and motifs, it's crazy how Disney was able to adapt it at all.

While it is pulling from Victor Hugo's original novel, there were a dozen films made before it that also tried to adapt this famous tale. The 1939 version of this film starring Maureen O'Hara is one of the greatest films ever made. For it's time, it made an incredible movie that sanitized many of the darker aspects in a way that cemented this classic tale into a more modern audience.

So is it any surprise that a lot was dialed down in Disney's version so children could also understand the message Victor Hugo was trying to tell? That the deformity Quasimodo was born with unfortunately led him to have a very harsh life- not because his disability affected his quality of life, but because of how society viewed/treated him. Their own perception led him to be isolated, ostracized, abused, and pitied. Likewise with beauty and race in Esmeralda's case.

They are different sides to the same coin.

I have a lot to talk about with Quasimodo. The next disney movie I will begin analyzing will be Hunchback, so prepare yourselves as I wrap up on Hercules.

But I digress.

Because Disney films are catered towards children, is it any wonder Hercules got the same treatment?

Part II: Greek Myths for Dummies

Greek Mythology is not an easy thing to adapt for a single film. Disney films, especially animated ones, are gonna get you at most a 90 minute timeslot and that's already a lot to ask for a highly-trained team of animators, musicians, writers, actors, artists, etc.

There are a lot of bases to cover.

Especially since this may very well be a kid's first introduction into Greek mythology. So we have a lot to answer

Like...

Why is Zeus king of the gods? Why does he have so many kids? How does the afterlife work? Why do I have to pay a man to get into hell? Are winged horses normal here? Why are the Titans bad? What goddess is that with the funny flower headband? Why won't they name all the background gods- are they important in the world? Is being compared to Aphrodite a good thing? Why doesn't Zeus realize his brother is trying to kill him? Why can't I have hubris as a treat?

All good questions, dear reader. And with a limited timeslot, there's not a lot they can talk about, so animators are throwing as much visual exposition as possible.

But who is this glittering assemblage?

That's why to understand what's going on you have to have prior knowledge to get what's going on in the background.

Like Lord of the Rings. Big world, lots of story to tell. The Silmarillion will help, but that's already a lot for a first time fan.

And since Hercules is written with kids in mind, it has to be rewritten some. So the established canon is kind of being thrown out the window, rearranged, and patched up like an old man who threw off an emperor's groove.

But Gerald Scarfe and a team of Disney animators managed to combine the former's caricature design style to the Disney standard to create Disney Hercules' unique style.

These gods aren't given the background character design treatment you'll find in other Disney movies, they are very stylized and exaggerated to visually convey their personality, their role in this universe, and if they're good or bad.

And the nice thing is, Greek mythology has an extensive list of symbols associated with each god that allowed Disney's own technicolor pantheon to reflect the very same icons.

Look at Athena above. There's her war helm, her breastplate, a cute little owl. She screams war goddess, but look how gentle she is with the bird. Her glass of nectar is a prop to show off her generosity, her self-restraint, and her desire to keep the peace.

But on the flip side, Ares is in the same get-up as her, war helm, breastplate, but his sword is drawn and his stance is one of action. We can see both these war gods are similar, but their temperaments and approach to war (same as their personalities) are so drastically different, and their color scheme helps so much as well.

It's incredible how much detail was poured into this and while I can go on gushing about the designs, we must push on.

Say what you want about how accurate the greek mythos is shown downgrades the overall movie, but the background story is lining up with a lot of the context we would lose were this in any other medium. The gods, how they look, their personalities- it's there.

It's accurate.

Sure the same cannot be said about the gods and mortals who have a role in the overall story they made, but that's the last issue this post will hopefully tackle.

Part III: A Hero's Journey

While Disney had already dipped their toes into Greek mythology with the likes of Fantasia and Goddess of Spring, Hercules was the first try to make it more than just a short.

So the myth they chose to adapt had to be iconic. They couldn't do it about the gods- that's just too much drama. They needed a hero, someone who struggled and fought and had a support group comprising of supernatural beings. And who is the most famous hero of Greek Myth?

Herakles.

There's just a few slight issues with that, heh...

Herakles is a really rough story.

To summarize, Zeus magics up a disguise to look like the mortal Amphitryon to woo the guy's wife, Alcmene. She gets preggers, Hera finds out and naturally goes ballistic. So Zeus pulls a fast one on his wife to save his kid, and thus Hera nurses baby Herk giving him god-like strength. A few assassination attempts later, Herakles grows up, marries, and has kids. Despite this, Hera isn't done, but she doesn't target the H man anymore, oh no, she sends him into a fit of madness whereby he decimates his entire family. Once it passes he works for a king, like his distant cousin, and he does 12 increasingly intense labors as a sort of penance and at the end of it, he's promised immortality or an indefinite Hera leaves him alone pass. Wonder Boy finishes that, but then he gets infected with centaur blood after taking on his dad's worst personality trait (adultery), he dies via his own funeral pyre, but at the last second his dad saves him and he becomes a god.

And Disney is gonna try adapting that???

That's about a dozen labors in itself, so how are they gonna do it?

To summarize here are the elements Herakles has going on that can be adapted to your standard Disney film:

Protagonist: Hercules (b/c the Roman version is much more popular)

Damsel in Distress: Megara or Deianeira (most notable love interests in myth)

Side-kicks: Iolaus (Hmm those undertones, huh)

Antagonist: Hera

Flaw: wrath / impetuous/ salacious

Unique ability / quirk: super strength

We have a pretty solid line-up for a story here. But at the time in the 90's, there is already another adaptation of Hercules going on strong: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

This show first came out in the mid-90's and ended a couple years after Disney's Hercules dropped.

So how are they going to make it distinct from that?

It's really easy actually.

Super easy.

Disney's Hercules got a lot of inspiration from Superman (Christopher Reeves version).

Hercules is literally an innocent farm boy (mild-mannered Clark Kent), Meg is your hotshot spitfire Lois Lane, and Hades is your bald megalomaniac investing millions of dollars trying to axe one guy - Lex Luthor.

And let's be honest, the myth of Herakles reads like a modern superhero. He has super strength, he fights monsters, there's a damsel in distress every now and then- he fits the bill!

At this point in time, Disney didn't have a superhero and since that started to be a bigger appeal as the 90's marched on (*laughs in Marvel*)

It was a smart choice to bridge this tale to the modern time.

So for that reason, if they were going to make Hercules a super hero-esque character. He needed a villain and Hera wasn't going to cut it.

Part IV: A Hera-Shaped Hole

Hera was absolutely vicious in myth. This lady orchestrated the entire demise of Herk's family, his sanity, and his freedom. She wanted him to suffer just so Zeus could see how betrayed she felt every time he had a dalliance with a mortal.

Zeus never learned, but Hera's tactics did. And it was by her hand that sent Hercules into servitude under his cousin, the king. A title Herakles should've had had Hera not intervened.

And while wicked step-mothers are abundant in Disney's canon, it wasn't going to work because she's Zeus' wife. Yes, Hera received repercussions for starting a coup against her husband once in myth, but it was a brief punishment. Most of the time this couple can't stand each other, but they are what's keeping the pantheon together. And Hestia's cooking.

But here's the thing, Hera may be a bad person in this myth and others involving sons of Zeus, but she's a good person in other myths. Even at the beginning of this one, Hera found an abandoned baby and nursed him because he was all alone and crying out of hunger. She has her virtue, she's a good queen.

Yet with her iconography of peacocks, marriage, family, cows, and queen of the heavens and gods, she gives off very ethereal imagery.

This was the lady sending monsters and horrors of Typhon and Echidna's brood- that's her?

It can be done, I'm sure someone will do it better than Blood of Zeus, but it's much harder to adapt, especially with Treasure Planet on the duo of director's mind.

Just see Lindsey Ellis' Disney Hercules video, you'll understand.

But y'know that thing with the monsters.... Kinda cool. Monsters coming in from the pits of hell- pretty rad i guess. Well who else could throw a litany of monsters at our little hero?

Oh.

Yeah, okay, fine.

Hades, you're hired.

Yeah, the direction of this movie absolutely did a backflip the second the writers wanted Hades as their villain.

However, based on concept art, this was something they wanted from the very start and I'm sure we can all see the appeal.

I mean as soon as this movie came out so many other greek myth adaptations jumped to make Hades a bad guy, and like kudos to y'all, but this really is the easiest god you can paint as a villain. Home boy literally is dark and dank and emo as can be. Congrats we found another goblin sewer man to dress up as the mustache twirling evil-doer!

Like... This writes itself.

And pitting a god of the dead vs a mortal who's striving for immortality? It's poetry. It's an on the nose symbolism. I can't make it any clearer.

There's even an excerpt in Revelations that Disney references:

"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." 20:14 (NIV)

Hades is written as a Devil character. He's a deal maker, soul stealer. There's so much you can do with a Mephistopheles archetype. It's always a show stopper, I mean Ursula did it with extra steps.

Hera is a goddess of the heavens. Hercules is fighting the heavens to get into Heaven(TM). That's all kinds of complicated to simplify in a kid's film.

We want a villain to be scary, to be mean, and unjustified in their cruelty.

Hera wasn't going to work since Herakles' mother (though unwillingly) is the other woman. It would paint Zeus as another morally bad person. Why on earth would Herc look up to that guy? In fact, why would he want to join a band of morally corrupt people?

So let's make a new villain.

We can have the hero endure a different kind of pain.

The damsel's story doesn't have to end tragically because of a betrayal.

Make the story relevant and simple.

What archetypes can we match up to make this ancient myth fit into the modern day?

Make it clean, and make it understandable for kids. Throw in as many myths as possible so kids can see how big this world is.

The mythology is wrong, sure, but we'll spark that interest. We can make mythology fun. It'll make kids curious to learn more about them.

It certainly worked for me, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Part V: Conclusion

This movie is an absolute blast. I think many fans can agree and though the story does have its issues (See Conflicts series), it did it's job. With such a fun and memorable cast, lovingly animated characters, and mind-melting musical numbers, it stands uniquely among the other adaptations of Greek Mythology and perhaps it's why there was a bit of a resurgence in it's popularity as time marched on.

Herakles is a tale of struggle, sacrifice, and courage. One man battled and fought to achieve the divine, but at the end of his life, he did what few other mortals were ever able to do.

And Disney's Hercules took that character and developed him in such a loving way. To see his struggle both internal and external, it's a beautiful circle when he accepts his mortality and gives up his greatest dream for love. He didn't belong anywhere, caught between heaven and earth. Yet somehow he found it with someone who had been through hell and was hungry for heaven.

And just remember.

Not every work of fiction has to adhere to these magical bylaws that dictate how your Greek Myth AU must follow. However, I would like to softly counter-point my own point and say if you are going to make interpretations of greek mythology, be they musicals, video games, fanfics, or modern retellings, one must include the soul of the character they are based on. Hadestown, Hades(the game), Percy Jackson (most of the time), and the God of War franchise being prime examples.

Disney's Hercules took these characters and made them more exaggerated and updated to fit modern archetypes that are prominent in a Western Christian based-society. To me, I still see the soul of what these characters represent, even if some things were heavily condensed or rewritten.

Stories evolve. As is the nature of living things.

Till next time, Dear Readers.