#to clarify: I'm referring to their default designs

[shlubbyart]

Do either of the boys wear makeup to perform, or do they go out au natrel?

They both wear light makeup. Usually nothing more than a bit of foundation and highlighter to pamper their skin a bit.

I like to imagine Tide using a black marker to make the mask around his eyes more defined and shiny, which I guess is a bit like using makeup.

[fabdante]

Related to a post I just reblogged (can I send you a link in an ask, or will Tumblr eat the ask if I do that?), but Dante and/or Kat with plant powers would be cool, too. Especially if Dante gets his plant powers from his mom's side, since the Angel barriers in the game already look like vines, and the first Angel weapon you get, Osiris, is a scythe.

I also kinda like the idea of Dante occasionally working as a psychopomp, just because things have gotta be kinda fucked after Mundus died, right? I'm not really sure if I remember exactly what Mundus did with human souls, but it was mentioned in Mission 17/Furnace of Souls, right? I think that's the main thing I'm thinking of. Help? Is it explained more in extra/side content?

Anyway, Dante helping lost souls/ghosts pass on would be Neat, especially since, at least in the original DMC continuity, ghosts exist, and can even interact with the living to carry out their unfinished business. I'm not sure if ghosts would exist in the reboot universe, but I mean, maybe?

Seeing Dante freeing more souls like the ones trapped in Bob's prison or Mundus' tower would be cool too. It's not really clear if those people are still ALIVE- Bob, at least, tells his prisoners that "suicide is impossible", and there's those weird, screaming trains that run through Bob's prison, and its never explained wtf is up with THOSE, but it looks bad, and it's Bob's prison, so something's gotta be fucky there- but if so, they probably need some help. Or, well, a LOT of help, but it'd be good to see Dante do whatever he could to help them.

Same for Dante working with Kat and Phineas to help stop places like St. Lamia's Orphanage from running. The most they could probably legally get away with is killing any demons that run the place cruelly, but at least it'd be SOMETHING.

I'm not sure if links cause asks to get eaten but I checked your account and found the post in question! I suppose also I just never thought of plant powers as something relegated to like softer, healing uses before either asdfghj i feel like all plant based characters I know of tend to use their plant powers fairly aggressively so I just sort of saw that as the default.

But, anyway, the connection between Eva and possible plant powers is cool I think (especially with the Osiris, scythe connection)!! Though I'm not sure if it's a powerset I think fits Dante, even when used more aggressively. I would love plant powers Kat though, it feels fitting to her particularly in the duel use of plants as both something soft and healing but also dangerous and deadly. It feels fitting to her. I could see this as something Eva might have been able to do to, especially given her blue roses she seems to somehow be able to grow despite them not being real. I think it makes a lot of sense for Eva and it'd be interesting to see her sharing that ability with her sons.

The game is very vague about what Mundus did with the souls. There's an implication that the souls torment is some sort of power source for the demons but it's not really elaborated upon. I'm assuming that no one found it particularly relevant to clarify which I guess is fair, it doesn't really come up all that much.

We also don't really know the status of the human souls in the game but I figured they were all dead at this point. As for Bobs prison I think there's probably a mix of the dead and the living and those kind of in between though we cannot forget also that he has demons and other supernatural beings in there as well, who likely are not dead at all who he can easily be referring to. I imagine trying to bring some piece to the dead would be something Dante and the post game gang would be interested in, though it's probably a daunting task given how many there are.

Also the trains I always assumed were a hold over from an earlier level design. The devs talk a lot about how they really, really wanted a train fight scene for the bulk of the games development but it either got too complicated or constraints got in the way so they had to get rid of it during development. I always figured the subways in Bobs mission were just a holdover from that plan or a sort of consolation prize for the effort that went into the non existent train boss fight asdfghjk so they got to keep their train, even if it didn't get used as intended. if it has larger implications to the lore that's possible, but the part of Bob's prison its in is modeled after a subway hub so I think it's just to tie into those visuals from the real world location Bob's prison is mimicking in Limbo. All of this is to say I'm not sure if the trains are exactly carrying anything as much as they are mimicking their real world counterparts (the real world metro system of Limbo City)

I also just kind of figured the orphanages like St. Lamias just sort of fell apart when Limbo collapsed into the real world. With their staff revealed to be demons, I'm not sure if they'd be allowed to continue operating. I'm also not sure how much Kat, Dante, or Phineas would care about keeping up with legality when it came to dismantling that kind of thing seeing as Kat was willing to join the Order to dismantle the system which abused her and nothing the Order did was particularly legal. I can see this however being something that'd be on Kat's radar, given it's a major motivator for her this whole time. The issue though now I think would turn a lot to the systemic issues within the American foster care system which is a far bigger fish to fry then demons unfortunately.

Which is all to say I do think the systems that hurt them would be on Kat and Dantes radar but that'd definitely be a tricky one to deal with in the midsts of Limbo City's mayhem.

[askstrangeweird]

I need to talk about Strange's default outfit design and apologize.

Recently I found the image on the left browsing Google, and clearly, the design is not mine.

Ive been recently working on new character designs, in which sometimes part of my process includes looking on Google at references of clothing or designs similar to styles I like to get inspiration from or use as reference, so I recently became aware that I've made a huge mental and error with my main OC, Strange Weird and have been for years now, and that I feel I owe a public apology to @jurinova, because long story short, I've learned that ive been using a design from your outfit meme for a few years as if it was my own my design as a mistake and I'm deeply sorry. It was never my intention to take a design of yours and claim it as my own, and certainly not for as long as I have without realizing it, and to anyone I ever told it was my design I am sorry I misled you and was mistaken. I was not purposely trying to be dishonest or lie, or steal, even unknowingly another's design.

To be fully open and transparent, I do suffer from memory issues, and that's not me making excuses, just trying to explain while taking accountability. I honestly don't remember ever even seeing the outfit meme in the first place or where but when I stumbled upon it recently I knew I had to have seen and used it while first designing Strange years ago and forgotten somehow that the outfit was from a meme had seen

No one else pointed this out to me or asked me to say anything, I want to take accountability on it myself, especially after exploring jurinova's blog, seeing more of their posts and how they seem to be supportive of other artists in general, and seeing a specific post where they clarified that of course, the outfits were not for permanent use, of course of which as another artist and someone who has made my own outfit memes before, I completely understand that and would have assumed if i hadn't clearly dropped the ball years ago and forgotten the outfit was even from a meme at all. I'm embarrassed and feel bad for any credit or attention I've taken from you.

Going forward, I've already started working on at least a completely new default outfit from scratch for Strange, as well, will slowly start to edit key art like reference sheets, icons, and the comic cover in the pinned post that ive already made including this outfit that isn't actually mine to a new outfit I'm 110% will be original. I will also attempt to go back to previous posts and give proof credit where possible as and when I'm able. I can guarantee, even considering my memory struggles that lead to this, that this was a one off mistake too. No other OC I've made has an outfit that wasn't designed from scratch. Now also I've taken steps to make sure of it and to keep better self notes to keep track of what my design inspiration and influence are for things so I know I'm only taking inspiration not just blatantly taking another's design, even for just an outfit.

I will have the new default outfit for Strange hopefully done soon and will start phasing the old taken design out completely to show respect to the original designer's wishes and art as whole, in attempts to make amends. For now I'll end by saying, that I would like to apologize to Jurinova again genuinely and encourage anyone reading this to go show them support and give them a follow or read their webcomic like I have begun too.

[everysongineverykey]

okay so apparently my ramblings about this would not fit in tumblr's stupid 30-tag limit which i had no idea existed until just now so i'm putting it in my own post. the english-japanese utdr language barrier fascinates me endlessly, especially when it comes to nonbinary characters. because third-person pronouns, if i'm not much mistaken, aren't really used in japanese, but first person pronouns of varying levels of formality, familiarity, and gendered connotations are- there's a whole bunch to choose from, and this interests me because it means that when you have characters like frisk and kris, who almost never if ever get the chance to talk about themselves, their nonbinary-ness is likely to get lost in translation if it's not directly acknowledged by the plot.

because in english everybody uses they/them for frisk, kris and chara. and we know, therefore, that they are nby. but a japanese player has no real way of knowing that- even if they do see frisk or kris or chara use "watashi" or another gender-neutral pronoun to refer to themselves, that wouldn't functionally mean anything, because watashi is used abundantly by many, many cis and binary-identified japanese people. there is no designated nonbinary first-person pronoun in japanese (and, y'know, they've got plenty of gender neutral first person pronouns and gendered third person pronouns are rarely used, so there's not really any need for it).

plus, there's the fact that if you're a japanese utdr fan and you're tweeting something concerning frisk or kris or chara or whatnot, then your non japanese speaking followers will use the translate tweet function to translate it, and google will almost always fill the sentence in with he/him or she/her by default, so that causes misunderstandings about many things- it's so interesting to me, and it's part of why i'd like it if kris were plainly acknowledged as nby in a future chapter- it'd help clarify it, not just to the english-speaking transphobes who know kris uses they/them and refuse to listen, but to the non-english-speakers who wouldn't have any way of knowing otherwise. of course, if you're fairly online, you might see people talking about it in posts and stuff and find out that way, but i digress.

it reminds me of a tweet i saw once from a japanese utdr fan- it said something like "i think most americans draw nui as a boy". nui, of course, being seam's name in the deltarune japanese localization. thus implying that this person and many other japanese fans draw seam as non-male.

which makes perfect sense! because, and i LOVE this bit of trivia, the japanese first person pronoun seam uses for themself is atashi! which is a super feminine pronoun! actually, it used to be used by men in the past, but these days it's used almost exclusively by women and some older men, so the gendered connotations seam is implying through the use of this pronoun are confusing, to say the least! are they saying it because they feel more feminine, or because they're older and would use atashi in the style of an older japanese man? it's so so fascinating to me and i love that tweet because when i saw it the differences in the japanese version of the game (and, thus, the japanese fans' understanding of the characters) versus the english really clicked for me for the first time. i loooove translation <3

[littleredlemoncosplay]

Update on Fancyteir Dave

Good morning/afternoon/evening to those who find this.

There is a summary at the bottom however I advise reading everything.

I'm not one to air laundry, however I feel as though my hand has been forced at this point. As many have seen, I've cosplayed the fancyteir design done by @/SimplexJadeClothing. I still adore the design and it was done wonderfully, however I'm retiring the costume from it. Back when we where discussing said costume, long before I had even started on cosplaying it. I saw it as a WIP that was discarded while on call with them. I brought up that if they finished the design, which was a cute chibi piece, I would cosplay it. They went on to make the drawing seen on their account, which is still a wonderful piece. We had briefly discussed credit, and didn't come to any specifics. It sounded much like a, I'll support you and you support me. I created my tumblr account to reblog the design; and for them to be able to reblog the cosplay when it was done.

However some issues have come up from earlier in the month, and I was messaged May 2nd over a discord dm about adding credit to my posts. Which i admit, i had originally forgotten to do. I had then amended my error by editing the description for the instagram posts. I've looked through the conversations we had in dms, dating back to November 20th, 2021. There isn't much regarding credit or plans as we both preferred to talk over voice calls. I had realized in May, before the costume was being entered in the contest I had ok-ed doing with them. I had brought up that there may be a check in on if the artist is ok with their design being used.

The images above are the original post and time stamp replying to my anonymous ask about the use of their designs. This post has since been edited to ask for credit in every media post. I really want to stress that i agree, artists deserve credit for their designs. However, cosplaying a design deserves its credit as well.

I had made a post on 4/13, on instagram, that on the second slide had the design and credit. We discussed that and i had inquired about what was leading them to feel "like my work was being taken credit for...". As I didn't see how it would come across as such. The cosplay community, while it isn't right, is notorious for seeing designs and just cosplaying them immediately. Only comments being things like 'art isn't mine' or 'design found on Pintrest'. I did agree to credit more, I simply wanted to understand where the stance was coming from. I didn't, and still don't, understand the need for credit of design to be in every medias post. Especially on Tiktok; as the app's algorithm is more so off how entertaining your video is or if your using trending sounds/filters/trends. I clarified during these dms, that if someone commented directly about the design i would refer the commenter to the artist immediately in my response to the comment. I originally wasn't going to place design credit in every post in general, as most people who see/interact with my content are my followers. During this time they had posted the design to their Instagram and tagged me, so I added it to my story as well as a highlight reel that had been made for the con I wore it to. It had been decided that a pinned comment on Tiktok(which was done for a while until I recently added it into the description below the hashtags. For the last few of the drafts I'm using), and above the hashtags for instagram(which I admit I'm no longer following. I'm aware this is rude based off our discussions, please stick with me and keep reading.) I had edited my Instagram posts that showed the main costume, skipping over the ones that are based off my face more than costume.

I had informed that I would credit things, however it wouldn't be prominent. This was originally ok with them.

As seen in the statements above. Our conversation from there goes back and forth with the in between of 'what ifs' of credit being asked vs being there on all by default. I brought up that it was "a tibbit excessive" and was taken as saying it was redundant. They had brought up some people won't ask for who designed things, using that as a point as to why it should be in every post. However, i can't control what people will or won't ask. The conversation was clearly being taken two different ways on our sides.

On the note of the commissioned artists, its because at the convention I was at, back in April. I had commissioned artists to draw me in different cosplays I do, primarily being the fancyteir Dave. I have posted most of them, tagging the artist in the original post. Due to commission, and how the rights around art commissions work in Canada. The artist owns the copyright to the image, meaning i can't sell it or profit off it. However I own the piece itself and have right to use it in posts and such. Once again, if I was asked who drew it I would redirect them to the artist immediately.

The main piece here is the tone change, as I was trying to keep a respectful conversation with negotiations. I was informed the same credit expectation would be applied to my commissioned piece from them.

I paid for the agreed price and confirmed I have no intentions to use the design for cosplay now. I blocked out their email for privacy. Things had stopped there for a while, and once the final piece was given communications had stopped.

After a while, i had seen they had commented on one of my tiktoks. I had forgotten to add the credit to the comments to pin, and they had added it themself. My issue wasn't with this. It was that was the only interaction I had seen on any of my accounts from them. I'm aware I'm not entitled to interaction, however commenting for the credit and not liking the video had struck me the wrong way. Especially given how the last conversations had gone. So I had blocked their account, and than added the credit into the comments and pinned it myself. I come around to check discord later that day to find this.

Now, I had only blocked them on tiktok. They could have reached out to me on any other platform. I'm aware I could have discussed my issue with them as well, however I was and still am tired of arguing over this. I had chosen to ignore this for the most part. Choosing only to go about and unfriend/unfollow them on my other medias. I had a weird feeling not too long later and checked their tumblr, coming across what I would deem a slander post. It is still on their account, however I have attached a screenshot for ease of navigation.

The phrasing and word choice, to me, feels as though I'm being painted as never giving credit and not wanting to. The phrasing "unfortunately he had commissioned me..." felt very rude. As, shown above, I paid for the design and said I wasn't going to use it. I had attempted to clarify some things in the comments. Before it had become an argument again. So I wished them the best and was quite alright with letting this die off. However they than responded to an anon ask about this topic again which prompted me to break my silence and explain what all was going on.

This had annoyed me, since there was credit long before the 'call out post'. This had further pushed the narrative that I denied to give credit at all. I, as a person and a content creator, have the right to block who I please as well. The fact that it was noticed that I blocked the other account only confirms to me that they have been checking in on my account. Which I personally find a little unsettling. The hashtag choices are what truly annoyed me however.

These are a direct attack of character on who I am as a person. I haven't, as far as I'm aware, ever made comment on plans to bad mouth anyone. I have not, nor do I intend to bad mouth them. However this reads off as slander against me as a person, which I won't sit by an watch without expressing my side of the situation.

In summary

I have placed this costume to the side, and will no longer be posting content with it. I will not be using the commissioned piece for cosplay. I still wish them best as an artist, as their designs and style are amazing pieces. However I am saddened by how this has been dealt with and turned out. I dislike loosing friends, and heavily dislike needing to make a post about this. However I feel the need to defend myself against the audience this has been aired too with no context or explinations. I will be using this post as a script for a video format on tiktok, which will than be added to instagram, facebook(cosplay page not personal) and here on tumblr. I as a person, and a creator, don't believe I deserved to be passed over to someone's fanbase for judgement. Please DO NOT go after them. I would like to use this as my final comment on everything and move on to costume plans. I'm now aware for the next time I ask a friend or comission someone for a piece I intend to cosplay, to draft and sign an agreement about the expectations before hand. Thank you for your time. I will reblog this with the links to the other posts once their up.

*I will no longer be associating with them and have full intention of blocking them across all platforms a few days after posting this. Just to be transparent.*

[lark-lomond]

Hi Kirika! I want to respond to some of this so I'm not misunderstood. Some of these additions are really important, but some of them are slightly mischaracterizing my views, and I wanna correct the record.

Your point about Greg not being the only writer is correct and super important. I definitely agree that a lot of the environmentalist themes in the earlier years can probably be traced back to Faber, though we can't know for sure. However, as the story went on, other writers became less involved, and Greg had wider control over the books and especially the serials. For example, Sahmad's Tale is 100% Greg's original ideas. That serial still makes reference to a lot of natural creatures, but it tends to focus on squirmy, scary, aggressive animals. That (and other Greg-only writing) might be a good indicator of how Greg really feels about the natural world - which is pretty comparable to a lot of mainstream left-leaning people.

You (and @crystaltoa) have pointed out the reasons for why Bionicle doesn't give detailed, sympathetic portrayals to the other races and you're correct about that. In my view, that doesn't change the end result. The story team wasn't setting out to write a story about one culture/race being the chosen people of a god and dominating the others, but due to a series of choices by writers, set designers, and fans, that's what we ended up with. Whoops!

You wrote a lot about your views on women in Bionicle, but I feel you've misconstrued mine a little bit. I did not set out to imply, nor do I believe, that all of Bionicle's women are "badly written" - just that patterns in the way Greg wrote powerful women show some of his views on gender. You're aware of that, as your response shows. Whether he was writing based on his impression of women in his life or the media, or blindly parroting superhero tropes without really being aware of their impact, it's clear he's not as up-to-date on feminism and empathetic to womanhood as he could be. That said, he still wrote some really fun and fascinating women. I love the women of Bionicle; that's why I write fanfic for them! It's fun to take a character and expand on angles the original writer didn't cover.

As for Greg's views on politics in writing, you described exactly what I meant in my original post. I think Greg is one of those people who sees his worldview as the default or correct one, so he doesn't think of it as political. But as you and I both pointed out, his opinions on morality and statecraft clearly come through in his writing and Q&A.

I want to assure you that I'm not trying to "cancel" Greg over his views, or say that we shouldn't enjoy Bionicle. I respect Greg a lot for the passion and effort he put into something that defined my childhood (and I told him as such to his face). I just think it's important and useful to situate our understanding of the work in its context and origins. I want to recognize Greg's politics so I can take apart the story he built, understand why certain parts are there, and eventually revamp it to emphasize its best qualities. My engagement with Bionicle is meant as celebration, not condemnation.

Kirika, I hope that clarifies my perspective a bit and assuages any fears or defensiveness about our beloved Lego franchise. "XYZ crit" and other hatedoms are dumb, and I don't want to be part of them. The rest of my blog should make that pretty clear. Political analysis is just a tool, not a weapon, and I mean to use it constructively.

Thank you!

intrigued by your claim that bionicle has center-left politics. do you have any examples or further reasoning for this idea? (love your fics btw)

Thank you! The broader thesis of all this is that Bionicle’s themes unintentionally reflect Greg Farshtey’s views as a white atheist man who’s a moderate Democrat. Kind of a “no duh” statement, but I think it would be news to him.

One of the strongest themes in Bionicle is that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Almost every authority figure is neglectful at best (Artakha, Helryx, Mata Nui, Dume, Great Beings) or tyrannical at worst (Karzahni, Tuyet, Makuta, Barraki, Element Lords). Most of these leaders were appointed to their positions based on a religious creed, not elected. The only authority figures I can find who are presented without serious, disqualifying flaws are Raanu, Defilak, and the Turaga of Mata Nui - who are small-scale, locally elected (or ascended) leaders. The pattern that I see is a general hatred of authoritarianism/fascism and distrust of religious institutions, with a preference for secular representative democracy as the ideal model for society. This isn’t a bold new concept ofc, but I think it shows how Greg’s views underlie the work.

That’s my main point, but I’ll also mention the ways these themes fall short of a just, progressive ideology. I already rambled about how Greg’s love for the environment is a very mainstream, white, sanitized version of it as basically just cool/scary wildlife that should be protected, but are separate from society and can be deprioritized - a reductive view that limits progress towards true sustainability. Bionicle also does not have super positive messages on diversity and multiculturalism, with most sapient species besides the Matoran and Agori being shoved to the sidelines and/or villainized. The short story The Kingdom stands out because it shows a multicultural diaspora working together, but that’s called out as unusual in the text. Finally, it’s not news that Greg has some weird views on women, and that comes through especially when you look at how he writes women with power. Gali, Nokama, Hahli, Helryx, Tuyet, Gorast, Roodaka, and Annona are prime examples - some trends are sharply visible among the “good” women vs the “bad” women. Greg’s writing doesn’t show a huge amount of empathy for women, other cultures, or the interconnections between the environment and societies that depend on it.

In general, Bionicle is pro-democracy and pro-conservation, but largely silent on empowering marginalized communities and achieving holistic justice. That’s consistent with center-left positions in the American political sphere, and is most likely an unconscious reflection of Greg’s own views (which are verifiably center-left on his social media). Greg himself would probably disagree with my take. In some Q&A, he’s seemed skeptical of deeper readings into text like this. I think that just goes to show that 1) like many white men, he assumes his position is normative and unbiased, and 2) you can’t really create “apolitical” art, even (and especially) if you’re trying to do so.