#to be fair I'm also doing a little motif on the collar

[crowtoed]

Always grab an extra skein of thread, all. You WILL run out on the last wheat stem.

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Rainbow High Littles: Indigo Bailey, Pt. 1

All right y'all, I said we'd do this so let's go. I was originally going to make this all one entry, but I decided to break off the hair discussion as a separate post, since this one was already way too long before I even got to that point XD Will link Pt. 2 once it's published.

Krystal Jr.: What the heck are we doing all the way over here? Krystal Sr.: We need to collect a delivery to take back to Rainbow Heights--a sister! KJ: I thought I was your sister? KS: No, you're a younger version of me from an alternate point in our shared timeline. We just say you're my sister so it's less confusing for everyone else. KJ: If I'm you from the past and we're both in the same place, shouldn't that create some sort of temporal paradox where you cease to exist? KS: The normal laws of physics don't apply in the doll universe, dear. It's best not to think on it too much. KJ: Okaaaaaaaaaay. But this one is NOT us, right? KS: …Probably not? Indigo: ((Maybe stop talking and let me out, please?))

Sooooooooo yeah, Indigo. Where to begin? For starters, I think the vitriol that's being dumped on these poor Littles is completely out of proportion to what they actually are--tiny dolls meant for small hands to play with. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I can see how they would be less appealing to adult collectors used to a more sophisticated product from this brand, but I personally will do my best to judge her by her own merits.

First impressions: I think she's cute! I pulled a few of her braids back with a rubber band to make her face more visible, but otherwise straight out of the box she's good to go.

Krystal Jr.: Are we a family? Are we clones? Honestly folks, it's anyone's guess. Indigo: Is she always this snarky? Krystal Sr.: Don't worry sweetie, it's just her being a tween, we grow out of it eventually. I: We? KS: It's complicated.

More detailed discussion of clothes & accessories under the cut--

Let's talk about the dress and that reviled plastic bodice. Honestly? I don't mind it! I can't speak for the rest of the line, but in Indigo's case at least it's clear there was some effort put into her overall design. I was especially delighted by the skirt portion of her dress, which is made of a lovely little textured woven fabric featuring a butterfly design, with a coordinating tulle ruffle trim. There's even an underskirt made from a plasticy fine-weave fabric. Both the main skirt and underskirt are sewn (that's right, not glued--there are STITCHES) to the base of the plastic top portion of the dress.

Ok so, no one loves plastic doll clothes. I get it. Not a fan myself. But for what this is, considering it's all one piece, I'm impressed by the amount of detail, and how well it reads as 'normal' clothing. The midsection has a sculpted raised texture that closely mirrors the design of the skirt fabric. The collar section is painted a lighter contrasting shade of purple that compliments her shoes (all the adult collectors who whine about lack of painted detail on molded plastic pieces, here you go), and the ruffle around the armholes compliments the trim on the skirt. Everything is held together neatly at the back with a piece of velcro at the top of the skirt.

Given how difficult it can be to sew fabric doll clothing in this scale that actually looks good, I think the plastic top is a fair compromise to increase ease of use for smaller hands.

The shoes! I was pleasantly surprised by the level of detail on these. The butterfly motif from the dress is carried on here, with sculpted decoration all the way around the tops and even on the soles. This was absolutely unnecessary, but I'm so happy they did it.

Indigo's official height is listed as 5.5 inches, which lands her somewhere between an old school Kelly doll and the closest MGA equivalent in my collection, a Dream Ella Extra Iconic Mini. I believe Magic Mixies Pixlings are also of a similar size, but I don't have one to include in this comparison.

Indigo's pet is...a thing that exists. Her product description says it's a 'magical fox'. Sure.

Ok folks, that's it for pt. 1. We're going to take a closer look at those braids in pt.2

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

EVERYONE I just saw the new DRDT twitter post, and I have some things to SAY /pos (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should probably view this post https://twitter.com/DespairTime/status/1703105596134654210 before continuing on reading this one) ... ... ...You back? Awesome !! First and foremost, gonna take a look at the synopsis

This concept is giving major 999 vibes, I love this already I also really like the shorter number in cast, I don't actually see a lot of fangans with shorter cast and I think that's a shame because I think there is a lot you can do with a shorter cast of 10-12 participants (see Danganronpa Lapse). > eleven students are forced to continue a killing game that they’ve supposedly already started. However, no one can remember the past trials, nor the deaths of their missing classmates. This is the main thing that caught my eye, and it definitely explains the shorter number in cast. And with their memory erased and the way this is worded, it feels almost like this death game that these characters are in has restarted. Like, something went wrong with it, and that resulted in the death game restarted using the eleven students still left. And if that is the case, that makes me wonder about the possible connection this death game could have with DRDT. But I will get to that later. > Between the killing game, their lost memories, and the “NG codes” that restrict their actions, how could anyone escape unscathed? So this is also using the NG Codes from Danganronpa 3? Yet another thing I find very interesting. I so badly want to know more about this cast. Which is why they are the next topic of my insane ramblings !!

Okay before I even get into anything, I just want to say mad fucking props to DRDT Dev for these designs and for their art in general. They have genuinely improved so much since the start of DRDT, and it's so cool to see Second of all

> That is to say, this is a story about a person who wants to become the perfect teacher. So hi, I love you very much first of all Go to a damn barber second of all I am very worried for you third of all /lh (Also my first thought when I saw him was that he reminded me of Enju from Ayakashi Akashi, and I think that's funny)

DRDT-Dev has confirmed that this is the protagonist, so I am already very intrigued with him and what his deal is even though we won't find out for a long time Another fun little thing I noticed was that in all of the art so far out with him has him with his eyes closed. I wonder if that means anything Anyway, I love him, and I am also concerned for his safety for something I will talk about later

As for some smaller observations, given how closely these two are depicted, their fire and ice motifs, and their general simialr appearences. I don't think it's a stretch to say that these two could be sibling, or related in some way. I think that's cool

I've seen a few people say that this person could be Elliot Cuevas, Charles' older brother, and I definitely think that's a fair theory to have. Not just because of the purple hair, but also because of the collar around his neck. What is one of the only details we know about Elliot?

His favorite animal is dogs. And that collar (to me at least, looks very similar to a dog collar. Just something to think about

I have nothing insightful to say, this person is precious and I want to give them ice cream If people start theorizing them to be "secretly evil" istg... /lh /hj The rest of the cast (except one) I have nothing to comment on, so let's get to the main question I am thinking about at this moment Does this project have any connection to the lore of Despair Time?

This wasn't something that was confirmed, nor denied by DRDT Dev, so everything I'm about to say could age awfully. But I think there are a few pieces of evidence that could hint to this project having more relevence to DRDT than it comes across at first glance. Three to be exact. Let's start with the first and most obvious one

This man who is looking very smug at me is wearing a jacket with an XF-Ture Tech logo on it, or at least something that looks the part.

We do not have much information on what XF-Ture Tech as it stands right now. All we know at the moment is that it is a profit tech company that sponsored Min's family when she was younger at the promise that she would become the Ultimate Student in 12 years time, and that they also do "a lot of other things"....whatever the hell that shady sentence means. Due to the lack of information about XF-Ture Tech, there is not much else I can analyse at this moment. But this fact alone does seem to connect this project and DRDT in some way. But obviously that's not all For my second piece of evidence, we go back to that teacher character. Because I swear...there was another, albeit hidden, place where a teacher character was mentioned... Oh yeah !

.....Ohhhhhhh righttt... Teacher man, you're in big trouble. In all seriousness, considering how intricate DRDT-Dev's writing is, I just don't think this could be a coincidence at all and if it is I'll be genuinely surprised. I think this teacher character and the teacher mentioned in the about page's hidden text are the same person. Now that does not exactly answer the big question of who is saying this text. It could be the mastermind of this project's death game, could be another participant in this project's death game, hell the possibility that this is the mastermind of the DRDT cast's death game still isn't really ruled out. But the main point is that I think it's a very big possibility that this teacher and the teacher in the about page's hidden text are the same person. And lastly, I would like to go back to what I said in the beginning: > it feels almost like this death game that these characters are in has restarted. Like, something went wrong with it, and that resulted in the death game restarted using the eleven students still left. If we're following the idea that this is a restarted death game, that honestly gives me the same vibes as a reboot of a television show. Which brings me to my point: What if this death game is also being broadcasted? I feel as though it is definitely a possibility given the summary, but for right now there doesn't seem to be much proof of this idea. _ That's basically all of my current thoughts on this project that DRDT-Dev has shown us. If this does end up becoming the next fangan DRDT Dev releases after the completion ot Despair TIme, I am very excited to see in the future what has been cooking

[felassan]

its that time again! 🍵 Thoughts/wonderings on Dragon Age: The Missing #3, under a cut due to spoilers for The Missing (not just #3):

Thoughts on Issue 1

Thoughts on Issue 2 (note: this post also contains spoilers from DA:D leaks)

Thoughts on the first 4 pages of issue 3 (which came out via preview)

Overall I enjoyed the issue a lot and it's my favorite of the 3 so far! Issue 2 was more fun and punchy/had more oomph (as Teia and Viago are amazing and simply showstealers tbh⭐), but this issue has been my fav so far because i] I'm hyped that after three (3) years we got to see Strife's design, and more importantly ii] the issue advanced the DA:D [pre-]plot a bit and dropped inchrestingggg new lore stuff. (The pacing wasn't great, it was kind of rushed in places and it was a lot to try to fit in to just a few pages. I also would have liked it if the the Veil Jumpers could have been given a bit more depth/been fleshed out a bit more, but again there's limited pages in these comics)

I like what they're doing with a different color palette version of the picture on page 2 in every issue :>

On page one, are those icebergs floating in the sea? would there be icebergs in the Nocen Sea or Ventus Straits? it seems like the climate around there is warm.

On the map, I like the little representation of the Imperial Highway.

^ one example of the triangle motifs incorporated into the Veil Jumpers' outfits.

^ the face on Tist's shoulderpad reminded me of Sentinel armor.

Tist looks like a Greek statue of a youth hh

I liked the designs and hairstyles of all 4 Veil Jumpers. Irelin's fur collar is a nice touch to have remembered, in TN she was described as wearing supple leather trimmed with fur.

Strife is tall and stacked. this didnt surprise me, after reading the first story in TN I came away with that impression of him. in TN he was specifically described as being tall and strong, square-shouldered and straight-backed with calloused hands, lean with long ropey muscle. also I'm simply biased and a tall buff elf enthusiast hh. (in terms of build and stuff he reminds me of my Lavellan)

^ I wonder if the book at Strife's belt here is the leatherbound journal from Ruins of Reality, the relic of the Morlyn clan?

I wasn't sure about some of Strife's dialogue, he seemed to be missing the sort of snarky or lighter-hearted manner he had at times in TN? dialogue in general was a bit stilted in this issue tho, not bad so much as just quite info-dump-y.

Veil Jumpers faction details: they are an alliance between the best Dalish mages and hunters (not an all-elf and/or all-mage group) and other non-elves who were wiling and able to help contain the threat of timespace warping hijinks and chaos that's reigning in Arlathan Forest. presumably a fair few of the Dalish elves in the group are from Clan Morlyn. the mixed nature of the faction and Binde's presence in Strife's group feels like a natural progression of Strife at the end of his story in TN: [said to Myrion] "You're right, shem. This [Arlathan forest] isn't your place. But then, once upon a time, it wasn't mine, either."

also their base or HQ is a "sanctum". about that.. remember this? from this concept art? maybe that piece of concept art was showing the Veil Jumper sanctum? some of the concept art of Veil Jumpers shows them in a similar location with floating rocks and orange vegetation/foliage. [one, two]

in a previous posted I wondered,

last time we got a look in [Arlathan forest], Strife had noticed something had gone wrong in the forest. time and space was stretching and folding weirdly, reality warping, and he and Irelin saw echoes or mirages of themselves running around. mysterious entries had begun appearing in the relic journal of the Morlyn clan describing sacred ruins in there guarding a powerful fabled artifact, a halla figurine that Irelin grabs during that story. when Varric&Harding arrive, will they also be facing this sort of thing (mad sylvans, reality& time/space warping)? is the crucious stone similarly guarded by sacred ruins? could it have something to do with what’s gone wrong in the Forest? even when Irelin succeeds in grabbing the figurine, Strife still feels that something has gone wrong in there.

fun to see that this speculation was also correct ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝ as in this issue Arlathan is still timespace warping, Varric&Harding have to run a gauntlet facing these dangers, the crucious stone was contained in the ruins of an ancient temple, and Irelin posits that someone walking around using the crucious stone could explain the timespace warping in Arlathan.

Harding continues to eyeroll at Varric's bad jokes. he's basically an old man with dad/grandpa jokes at this point.

"Deep inside the Veil"? I found this to be kind of odd phrasing. we've long known that the Veil is thin in Arlathan forest, indeed thinner in such a way as to be different than how it is in other places where it is also known to be thin, somehow. inside the Fade is a place one can go. is that what's meant by this line? or is it meant to mean more like "deep in the forest, where the Veil is very thin" / "inside a place where reality and the Fade are mushing together" sorta thing? or is inside the Veil itself a place in which one can go? 🤔

that aside, these "Ruins of Reality", this "world turned upside down", this "place where chaos reigns", this "threat".. it reminds me bigtime of when Solas says in Trespasser "as the world burns in the raw chaos".. and indeed, Harding infers as much at the end of this issue, saying "[this] is going to be happening everywhere unless we find [Solas]", and Solas refers to the damage himself in his letter, "I will limit the damage as best I can". and I wonder.. in TN Solas talks about a few years of peace before his ritual is complete. it made it sound like the ritual would take a few years to prepare for or a few years to carry out (in ancient Elvhenan some spells and stuff would take years to cast). if his ritual/plans along these lines have already begun, it would make sense that places in the waking world which are "weakest" (i.e. places where the Veil is thin) would be the ones which are affected first.

the trials and gauntlet gave me nostalgia for the Urn of Sacred Ashes questline in DA:O

the map from page one of Varric and Harding's voyage contrasted with the map of the forest.. hhh

Spirits trading places with the living, literally ripping you out your own body and stealing it.. (by this point Strife, Irelin and the other Veil Jumpers are old hats at the Arlathan forest timespace shenanigans hh.) this is neat and interesting new lore, and it reminded me of the Nevarran belief that when a dead soul crosses to the Fade it displaces a Fade spirit. I wonder if it's related to that. also I thought it was represented in a cool way, with the reflection world and the muted grayscaleish color palette swap when their souls had been displaced and they were in the 'spirit world'.

the panels when Varric and Irelin are conversing from random upside down angles reminded me a lot of when the party enters the Fade physically with Hawke and goes "wtf" in Inquisition :)

Varric is having such a terrible time. again

Does Harding have the Inquisition hairy eyeball on her kneeguard?

Varric's reaction to the sky being the wrong way around reminded me of how it must feel to be a dwarf from Orzammar going to the surface and seeing sky above for the first time, dizzying, weird, disorienting

I like that while a mage, Irelin still has an alternative weapon (knife/dagger) just in case ^^

Varric seeming to sort've push Harding ahead of him while they fled the animals was a nice touch

is this the first time leopards were confirmed in Thedas? :D tho they look more like cougars or maybe lionesses or sabretooth tigers or something, and leopards are typically solitary. also lmao first the deepstalkers attack and now this. Varric's like "bloodthirsty wildlife omg" like they didnt already have that problem in issue 1 hh.

RIP Gilf Varric fans

hh, does Varric not know that he's been graying lately anyway, time shenanigans aside?

the time warping reminds me of In Hushed Whispers 👁️ very interesting in terms of implications. you can see why creating the Veil (which is connected to timespaceywarpy happenings) caused the ancient elves to begin aging.

^ check this out, the glowing green light on Strife's shoulder in his golden armor. seems like the green-glowing aspect of some Veil Jumper gear is still a thing [one, two, three]. it got more open, triangley and brighter in the second panel, like he was powering it up and gearing up for the fight. if they hadn't decided to run, would he have started to use it like the Veil Jumpers in those pictures? curious to find out more about the Veil Jumper gear - how it works and where they got it from.

^ what's happening in this panel? they seem to be straight-up disintegrating? not aging, disintegrating.

^ the presence of and focus on this satchel on the 'assassin', with its bright red fastener (draws the eye), seems sus. Varric says later in the issue that the 'assassin' saved him. it's hard to tell whether "I don't think this was the Venatori. I think it was Solas" means he thinks it was Solas who already entered the vault and took the stone OR if he means that and that the 'assassin' who saved him was Solas in disguise and that he's the one that's been tailing them this entire time. if the 'assassin' was Solas in disguise, I sus that the stone - which he had clearly already gotten at that point - is inside the lil pouch and that's what this panel is trying to convey. also it wouldnt be Solas' first time dressing up in disguise (Bard in TN).

the twisting pathway reminds me of the yellow brick road in Wizard of Oz

The Varterral. it looks nothing like the ones we've seen in-game or like the one described in Masked Empire (or depicted in the illustration in the Deluxe edition). is this an art/design oversight, or new lore showing that varterrals come in multiple forms? in fairness, in Dalish lore the first varterral was created by Dirthamen, fashioned of the "fallen trees of the forest" into a deadly guardian. this ent-like varterral looks like that. maybe "varterral" is actually just a name for any created creature that's been magically created and is guarding an ancient elven site, golem-like?

Irelin's staff-less magic and the spell distraction she did was cool. was she doing Stinging Swarm? ^^

And ofc the final pages are the motherlode, especially the new painting! Look here. I think the green figure (the one with the crescent moon headpiece) is the monster figure with the crescent moon head from that mural and from that concept art piece. and I think that's Ghilan'nain (Horror of Hormak and all that). BUT I don't think the red figure is the other monster figure from that mural (the one with pointy, crab-like shoulders, who I think is Elgar'nan). the headpieces don't match, the red figure's headpiece better matches with one of the other sigils from the hemispheres. I think the red figure is someone else. the question is who, and my guess is they're Andruil. the two figures could be read as feminine, and the feel of the painting could be read as romantic - definitely close. Ghil was Andruil's chosen, and her beloved. Andruil was the one who offered Ghil ascendance.

the painting also bears a resemblance to the red lyrium idol, which has been variously and interestingly described - a couple hugging, two lovers, one comforting the other, or a god mourning her sacrifice. does the painting depict the same moment from the idol, or not long before it at least? the main figure on the idol's headpiece is different, but coincidentally Andruil was also known as the Goddess of Sacrifice. wouldn't it be interesting and ironic if there was a time in the distant past when Ghil had to sacrifice the goddess of sacrifice? if this painting is depicting a moment before such a thing, that would help explain why the other monster figure from the mural has a different headpiece. if "the Evil Gods" are returning, Andruil couldn't be one of them, if she was killed. Ruins of Reality and Three Trees to Midnight are also full of references to both Ghil and Andruil..

Strife was looking at it now. On the other side, so was his double. Both transfixed by a statue of elven goddess Ghilan'nain holding a crystal halla figurine, exactly as the journal described.   - As the Strifes drew the attention of the merciless trees, Irelin swooped in and snagged the figurine with her talons, tearing it from Ghilan'nain's grip. The statue didn't let go easily, but neither did Irelin. With an angry squawk, she yanked the prize free and disappeared into the sky.

-- Ruins of Reality

in TN, the story title "Three Trees to Midnight" refers to the Way of Three Trees/Vir Tanadhal, which Dalish lore holds were teachings of Andruil given to the People. Strife thinks of the Ways during his escape, using them to escape, and invoke's Andruil's name multiple times. Strife also refers to Arlathan Forest as belonging to the Lady of the Hunt/Andruil. He also calls on Ghilan'nain, and Irelin shapeshifts into a halla (Ghil's sacred animal, being Mother of the Halla and the first halla), as well as a falcon and an owl (hawks are sacred to Andruil and the Dalish believe owls are Andruil's messengers). meanwhile Strife has turned up in this comic with Andruil vallaslin, after not having them in TN. very inch... resting... indeed.

why Ghil and Andruil in the painting? presumably this ancient temple, deep in Arlathan Forest, was a temple either to Andruil (whose forest it is) or Ghil (her beloved). why next to a painting of the Dread Wolf doing something to the Veil? in the story of Ghil's ascension, there is a reference to Pride -

On the second day she drowned the giants of the sea, except those in deep waters, for they were too well-wrought, and Pride stopped her hand.

On the third day she killed the beasts of the land, except the halla, whose grace she loved above all else.

This is how Ghilan'nain was made youngest of the gods.

there is also a story in which Andruil wanted to punish Fen'Harel. it could also simply be (or both could be true) that Solas painted the Dread Wolf mural when he stopped by earlier before Varric and Harding to obtain the crucious stone. what if in this comic panel we're looking at the same location as here, just with the comic version of the mural compacted down due to limited panel space:

and what's the relevance to Solas' plans, what happened the past, and the idol? I am guessing it is something to do with how Andruil went mad and hunted in the Abyss, putting on armor made of the Void and making weapons of darkness, to the extent that she brought "plague" to her lands and howled things meant to be forgotten. it's often theorized that Andruil accidentally brought the Blight/Taint back from the Void, and of course that links to red lyrium (Blighted blue lyrium, the red lyrium idol) and is reminiscent of the Evanuris digging deep, mining the bodies of Titans for "something else" and unleashing something terrible by doing so by mistake (we read of elves frantically collapsing tunnels, "let this place be forgotten, let no one wake its anger"). also I'm obsessed with the Balrog Theory so

Solas being kinda extra with his dramatic fursona red seal

he is always one step ahead of them isn't he

"You're joking. You've got to be" Strife +50 Headache

"Interfering in matters you do not understand can only make things worse" explain them then pls Solas. if you're cryptic and don't explain things in full all the time, then ofc people are going to be Concerned

the Orb of Fen'Harel, the red lyrium idol and the crucious stone.. Solas' list of Maguffins I Need For My Plans keeps getting longer.

As for the crucious stone itself.. whatever it does, it sounds like it weakens the Veil. makes sense why Solas would want it, then. there was this line in Ruins of Reality: "Mysterious entries appeared of their own accord, describing sacred ruins in Arlathan Forest that guarded an artifact of fabled power." In Ruins of Reality it referred to a crystal halla figurine. maybe the journal has since produced more entries of its own accord, telling of other ruins and artifacts - Strife and Irelin in this comic had heard of the crucious stone and had a map to where it was located after all.

Also the final question is who is the person on the final page, which is the cover for issue 4? Presumably the trusted informant from the issue 4 synopsis, "Varric connects with a trusted informant who might help them." I've seen speculation that they are the person from this concept art and I like that idea and could see it :] I love their outfit and the design of it makes me think of snakes, so again I'm wondering about the Viper. their oufits are similar, and so far we've had Wardens-Crows-Veil Jumpers in 1-3. perhaps issue 4 will introduce (in advance of DA:D) the Viper's faction. in the 2020 trailer you have the pair of boots (speculated to be a Warden) character, a character on the roof (speculated to be a Crow) and a Veil Jumper stalking through the woods. there's also the character in an alley of Minrathous with the knife. the pattern on their hood -

is like reptile scales, like the pattern on the Viper here and the pattern on the character on the final page's shoulders (as well as the scaley reptile on the person in that concept art's staff).

[hellonoblesky]

Opinions on the harbingers. Like them, hate them? Who's your favorite? Any one of them you're mildly interested in a totally normal way?

(I am totally normal about both Childe and Scaramouche... Definitely. Def didn't have a slight mental health crisis (all resolved DW!) and watched TikTok about both of them think 'oh wow! That is so relatable! I really do understand the mindset!")

HEHEHE GIGGLES MANICALLY I DO VERY MUCH LOVE THE HARBINGERS!!!

Pierro has been a favorite lore character of mine since Pale Flame came out (especially because it dropped at the height of my 10hours a day genshin fixation during quarantine), and I hope he like. Kills a god. I think that would be fun. I think he should be playable also literally just because he's some cringe-fail old guy (and also extremely close-knit with lore and I want to know everything). Also he's a Jester. I love Jesters. He's silly. He plays chess. He predicted the Cataclysm. He's like. A silly guy.

Pantalone is a huge favorite of a dear irl of mine so I've come to like him via osmosis (silly money man)

OH GOD AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON LIKE. SIGNORA AND HER ENTIRE STORY I MISS HER SO BAD I MISS HER LIKE A PART OF ME SHE JUST WANTED TO DEFEND HER NATION AND THEY TREATED HER LIKE SHIT BECAUSE SHE DOVE SO DEEP INTO HER WORK THAT SHE BECAME ALMOST MONSTEROUS HERSELF AND AND SHE DID DESERVE THAT AND SHE MAKES ME SO SO SAD!!!!!! SHE DIDN'T WANT TO HURT ANYONE!!!!!!!! SHE WANTED TO HELP ITS NOT HER FAULT THAT ACCEPTING THE CRYO DELUSION SUPPRESSED HER MEMORIES OF HER INITIAL REASON FOR BECOMING THE CRIMSON WITCH IT WASNT HER FAULT IT WASNT HER FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really really miss her she's always been a favorite of mine, even before I knew she was the Crimson Witch (in fact before that was revealed, I loved the Crimson Witch and Signora both very dearly and then her identity reveal came out and I was so sosososooooo exited and then ei killed her. So. Common Ei loss I guess) (that cutscene had me in tears) (Signora was so scared) (She wanted to live she wanted to live)

Colmbina I think is one of the few remaining Seelie with human form left (judging by how she's extremely angel themed and a lot of her design motifs line up with Seelie Courts), and also I. Am very lesbian about her. I'm like shaking her around and giggling and bouncing she's soooo silly (I hope she kills a god <3). I love her to bits

Childe. Um. I am so very sorry I have tried very hard to get into him, and as much as his character intrigues me and I find parts of him relatable, I hate his design so much. IT'S. Entirely irrational of me. LIKE. HES A GOOD CHARACTER AND THERES SO MUCH OF HIM THAT INTRIGUES ME but also he looks like someone left a tangerine on a marble countertop for like a week, and I just can't get past it no matter how hard I try :') I rlly wish I could like him tho bc so many of my friends like him and he's really popular, and I DO like his character!! (Like I REALLY like that he's a kid who fell into the Abyss and had so very many things to deal with at a very young age that he scared people so they sent him away, and he's extremely young and has so many aspirations and his government and family have not been fair to him!!!) However, his sense of style,,, bothers me. And I have always been a huge sucker for character design (grew up on graphic novels and comics, lol) it's a major player in how I choose favorites, and I can't stand his goofy little outfit. His boots are cool tho. I do adore his boots. And I like his scarf, and his shirt collar? But I just. Wish he leaned more into the reds and they gave him a more sedimentary rock-type color palette. It would suit his hair much better, and sedimentary rocks are formed by settling in water, and are often carved through BY water, so they could have used blues as an accent color (which would easily bring out his eyes) and I just. RAGH. THERES SO MUCH MISSED POTENTIAL IN HIS DESIGN IT MAKES ME SO SAD

SCARAMOUCHE THO. I love him. My little guy. My bestie boy. I have two friends who've cosplayed him at cons before (If I remember correctly?? It might just be one, but hey). I love his story, I love his character, I was a little sad when they took away his purple and made him Anemo (I really really wanted there to be a narrative about reclaiming the element of Electro as his own, not something of Ei's, (Plus Elctro grant trigger being feelings of loneliness or isolation or stark Difference from society) but the Anemo vision suits him just as well and I feel really punctuated him standing up for the Traveler in that cutscene in his quest because him choosing to defend us was him essentially choosing his freedom from the past, which I find IMMENSELY cool). Also I'm a sucker for inhuman characters. I love how he's a doll. A puppet. I love how he seeks humanity. I love his passion. i love him to bits he's so silly I'm gonna shake him around :3

Pulcinella I don't like bc. His design irks me? It reminds me too much of antisemitic caricatures

Pulcinella. My silly. I hope she maims and kills.

Archellino. Also hope she maims and kills. I think she would be very cool about it (I'm also so lesbian about her)

HOWEVER. Um. Huge confession (that honestly isn't that shocking)

I enjoy the very worst of them.

Dottore is my favorite </3

Is he a horrible abusive scientist with awful morals, a vile opinion of almost everyone around him, and also tortures children/sends them into a gladiator ring against God remnant/lies to their parents/takes advantage of the nation's initial kindness/actively defies protocol and will not obey the law if it suits his own needs/leaves extremely dangerous technology around because he just doesn't need it anymore and doesn't care about who stumbled across it/etc?

Yes.

Am I extremely abnormal about him?

ALSO YES.

I hope he never succeeds in anything again and is forced to tag along with the traveler so I can dissect his character like a lab experiment. He knows things I know. If you put me and him in a room together I will not make him better or worse, in fact, we will have a rabid discussion about Khaenri'ah bc boy oh boy do I just KNOW he's got a history up in that morally corrupt head of his. (Also I live in the USA and Sumeru's academia reminds me a LOT of the US university system (overworking overwhelming ridiculous requirements questionable morals corrupt upper board etc) so. Guy who quit school bc they were like "Ur fucking insane"(he is) kinda resonates with me!!) (also I love mad scientists I love them sosososoososoooooooo much they're SO dear to me) (Mainly because I have an interest in mortuary and forensic sciences)

(Also btw you are incredibly real for hating the vile villain side fo Dottore I completely understand!! He's like genuinely a horrible person <3)

The Fatui as an organization just makes me sad. You ever talk to Fatui npcs? Some of their quests have brought me to tears. They get treated so horribly by the Harbingers and yet they believe with all their soul and heart in the Tasritsa and I just. :'( they deserve a lot better and they make me sosad and there are side quests you do for some of them in the Chasm that make me so so emotional bc it's so clear how little the Harbingers actually care about them :(

[goatlingsvent]

🐏 alright, sure, I'll answer assuming this is in good faith and you're not just going to shut me down, but. First off, at a glance, a big part is the colors. Using blue and yellow (and not like, off purple or off white, or black and white as other designs sharing the motif sometimes do) is going to associate the two designs for many people until double checking The Collector's design to see the saturation difference.

2. What really made me, personally, do a double take and wonder about the character (briefly!!) was the hair. Both have fluffy silvery white hair. The goat design certainly hardly needed hair at all, and of all possible choices they could have made for the hairstyle and color? It's hard to reasonably believe that most people will accept that Snow just so happened to choose the very same hair that another well known Sun and Moon themed design has.

3. A bit weaker, but the clothes. To me, while the clothes aren't exact, of course, it reads to me a lot like "you can copy my homework, but make sure you change it a little so they don't know". And should this design be genuinely inspired by The Collector, Snow did an excellent job of making the clothes distinct while still evoking the same sort of vibe.

To elaborate further on this - again, admittedly weak point - the similarities: the style of clothes (clown-ish flowing pants and shirt), a scarf-like bit of cloth that resembles the high neck of the Collector's later form outfit design (complete with a distinct line that leads down to a trinket on the chest - a zipper for Lullaby, and a stone of some sort for the Collector), a pair of stars that hang below the jaw line (in the Collector design with the hat with star danglies, and Lullaby's stars on the collar), and yes, to an extent, the hood (again, more especially so with what I believe to be the Collector's later season outfit). It's an interesting choice that can't help but bring up comparisons, when Snow could have just as easily made the headgear a night cap, instead of a hood. Something that the Collector wears.

3.5 Soft Lullaby interestingly uses a rainy day motif instead of a star motif. This is a bit odd, as rain (especially the type that would have one equipped with an umbrella and puddles, as opposed to something that would evoke sleeping indoors while it's raining, something that I'd reckon would have more gray and muted colors as well), isn't something associated with sleeping. So, this is conjecture, but it almost feels like an Intentional deviation from one's inspiration. Like, when you're heavily referencing a design, but you don't want it to look TOO similar, so you change some major point intentionally, instead of, say, removing it or interpreting the idea differently.

You can call most of this point a reach or conjecture, and I'd agree. But I do think it makes Soft Lullaby a very well done inspired design as opposed to a truly original one that just so happened to have a few similarities.

4. Google 'sun and moon themed characters'. You'll see quite an array of characters that do not look so similar to the Collector as Lullaby does to it. So, I do have a bit of a hard time buying the "it's just a sun and moon motif that makes them look similar and soooo many other characters share them" excuse.

Conclusion: in my opinion, I'm not trying to make a call out, nor do I care that much. I don't think it's literally the Collector and if that's what gave the design the "OK" then fair enough! But I think it's disingenuous to say they look nothing alike or that there was absolutely no inspiration.

And before anyone says 'ermmmm get a life lol why'd you do all this lolol anon let's Snow live rent free in their head': I saw a question, and I answered it, hopefully thoroughly, from the perspective of someone who also thought there was at least some inspiration taken for Soft Lullaby. Also, it's 5 am for me as I type this. No where else to be right now for this insomniac haha maybe Soft Lullaby would help me? Or not.... Lol

🐿️

[fundeadasylum]

hi! feel free to answer or disregard, but I was curious about your thoughts on splinter's parenting in rise. i have seen some... very strong takes from every direction. it was quite different than other iterations, so i'd love your thoughts/opinions! (Also, Tales from the Med Bay has been super fun so far!)

Thhhaaaaaatttt is a question I feel I am not 100% qualified to answer.

In fact, I tend to stay out of the Good Parent Splinter/Bad Parent Splinter thing because it's such a sensitive subject matter and gets a lot of people hot under the collar. I can give some thoughts on the matter, talk a little mental health, but I don't really want to take a stance on either side. And I don't want to get into an argument with anyone over this kind of thing.

Disclaimer right off the bat: I am neither a parent nor a mental health professional. All I am is a 31 year old nerd who has Been Through Some Shit. Also apologies for the long post.

I think Splinter has a lot of deep seeded trust issues and has a lot of trouble connecting with others because of this. I think the "betrayals" he's suffered--his mother leaving, his grandfather's pressure about the family legacy, and Big Mama's literal betrayal--have left him waiting for another shoe to drop and for another betrayal to stab him in the back, whether he realizes it or not. I think both of these things have deeply impacted his ability to connect with, let alone raise, his sons. I think he is a man made selfish, bitter, lonely, and sad by the circumstances of his life.

And if we're going into the rabbit hole of Good Parent Splinter/Bad Parent Splinter, then you have to start talking about every iteration of Splinter. Because I feel it's not fair to say something like "Rise Splinter is the worst parent" when almost every version of Splinter have used their sons to carry their own agenda at some point.

I'm not particularly fond of IDW Splinter. I think the choices he made and the way he treats his sons are Not Good. I might understand WHY he made those choices but I don't think they were the RIGHT ones. I think there were better ways to do the things he did. Am I going to call him a bad parent? Perhaps not. He still raised his sons and did his best to make sure they were safe and healthy. I just don't like how he went about it.

Rise Splinter has been dealt with one of the worst hands in the TMNT multiverse. He's been betrayed and back stabbed at almost every turn in his life. Adopting the turtles was probably the first thing that brought a smile to his face in a very long time. I genuinely believe Splinter loves those boys with all his heart. But he doesn't know how to raise kids. He grew up being told about destiny and duty, all of it carrying the bitter sting of losing his mother (something which undoubtedly left a massive, traumatizing scar that was never fully addressed). He didn't want that for his sons and I think he was worried about being overbearing, about crushing their freedom, and about becoming too much like the person he thought his grandfather was. It's why he never actually trained them and the boys are essentially self taught until much later in the series. But I think he pulled too far back in an effort to give them freedom. He was so worried about smothering them, and trying to deal with his own issues, and unknowingly bracing for another betrayal that he withdrew from their lives without meaning to.

Rise is, at its core, about family and connections. Every major problem that the turtles have faced has been resolved because of family. Even the Shredder was just family that got too deep into something and desperately needed help. Rise is a show that says "you do not (and sometimes cannot) do this alone". I mean, it literally says "you are not alone". It's a huge motif in the show. We've seen how badly things go when characters try to do things on their own, or when they don't listen to or support their family.

And before I get off topic into over analyzing things, let's wrap this back up to Splinter.

Do I think Splinter is a good or bad parent?

I think that's a question too complicated to answer. I think parenting is too hard to easily fit into categories like that, especially if you aren't taking the parent's health into consideration. I think from an outside perspective, to anyone who didn't know Splinter's backstory, he would come across as neglectful and somewhat absent. Do I think he could be a better parent? Absolutely. But I don't feel like I'm the person who can decide whether he's Good or Bad. I don't think you can decide. I don't think there's an absolute answer. I think there are only opinions.

TL;DR - when it comes to the Good Parent Splinter/Bad Parent Splinter argument, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer and it's not something that can be easily answered. And I don't have an opinion either way. I think he was a man who was Trying.

(And thank you so much for reading Tales from the Med Bay! They've been a lot of fun to write!)