#we aren’t necessarily here to look at the pretty animations

[frameconfessions]

Still not over the fact that Glenn or Geoff or whatever his name was nerfed melee speed just so we could “see the animations.” Like buddy, how do I tell you that I use only a few select stance mods and do not care about the animations so much as if they open up melee finishers, do slam attacks, etc. The animations are nice, but nerfing melee speed wasn’t the right move.

If you are gonna nerf melee speed for non-balance reasons, at the very least buff the melee speed mods so that at the end of the day the endgame builds are the same.

.

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

All of the background/minor characters in Helluva Boss are much more interesting than the main characters and I’m entirely certain it’s because they aren’t forced into the Stolitz universe and they’re the only reason I watch the show now.

Like, look at this imp family/single parent unit here.

They’re watching the trial, but before that the imp woman was washing dishes and the son was grabbing cookies off the shelf.

Hi! Thanks so much for reaching out.

I absolutely agree and I think there are a couple of reasons for this—

First—The imps actually have RULES for how theyre designed as a species.

These rules are really simple, and so pretty much anyone can design an imp.

1. Imps have red skin and yellow eyes.

2. Scars, birthmarks, freckles, and other skin markings are white

3. All imps have horns. Biologically female imps have black horns and black hair, and biologically male imps have white hair and white and black striped horns.

What’s nice is that, even with these general guidelines, there’s plenty of room for variation in designing imps. Some imp’s legs are bent like a satyr’s some have more human legs, they have varying lengths of tails, different body shapes and sizes, etc.

Idk if these design rules were in place for Imps as a species from the very beginning of the show, but I think having these rules helps A LOT because it means the character designers do have freedom to make unique and appealing designs, while not getting TOO crazy, which prevents them from being too over-designed:

(All character design sheets by Erin Frost—former artist and character designer for Helluva Boss)

Second—due to being background characters, they’re less likely to over-designed in general. This hasn’t always been the case (and sometimes still isn’t) with Hellaverse shows, especially Hazbin’s Pilot:

I don’t even think these are all necessarily “bad” or incompetent character designs on their own, but they have a lot of little details, and when they’re all squished together like that, it causes some pretty rough visual clutter. Charlie is supposed to by the main focus of the above shots, but she doesn’t really stand out from the background crowd.

Same with shot of Alastor watching the broadcast—he stands out a little better since he’s silhouetted, but the characters in the foreground having so much going on really detracts from Alastor as the main focal point.

This is also just like. Not a very good composition. I’m really not trying to be mean or rude but, the characters being so overly designed and having such similar color palettes really muddles things.

Also—because there are so many design elements trying to be incorporated at once, we sometimes end up losing all those little extra details that are added due to the visual clutter. I didn’t have any idea Alastor was a deer until like 2 years ago, because his antlers were so small I never noticed them. I thought he was an owl, tbh.

I think we get the most overly complicated designs when the character artists and designers are given like. 3 or 4 different themes or ideas that they have to blend together. Alastor is a deer AND a “radio demon” AND a practitioner of voudo. Angel Dust is a spider AND a mafioso AND a porn star. Some of those ideas absolutely end up being lost because so much is trying to be fit into the design.

The most infamous example of this is Queen Bee, who’s supposed to be a honey bee, lava lamp, fennec fox, party girl, and apparently also an animal tamer?

And I’ll be honest, I’m actually one of the few people who kind of likes her design. I think if you were to simplify her and take out a lot of the extra details, she could still be a fun sparkle dog-type character. But there’s so much going on with her, that a lot of her design elements get lost.

Like, apparently the little pink mark on her forehead is actually a closed eye??? Like I think it’s supposed to be an Ocelli, the third “eye” insects can have:

But it’s just like. Closed usually I guess. In theory, it’s not a terrible design idea for an insect character, but Bee has SO MUCH going on visually that this design choice gets entirely lost. I just thought it was like. A weird symbol on her forehead, and it took me AGES to realize it’s supposed to be her Ocelli or a third eye.

This happens a lot with more of the main characters in Hb and Hazbin, because they’re apparently supposed to be SO many different things that the character designs get too cluttered.

I think this is the main reason for a lot of the less appealing character designs in the Hellaverse, because they’re trying to be like. Ten different things at once. The imps avoid this fate though because, other than maybe their general profession and age, they’re supposed to be imps. They have those design rules we outlined before. I think thats what makes the biggest difference and is also why Mammon is actually the best design of the seven deadly sins because he’s literally just a round jester you look at him and your brain goes “yep that’s a jester” and youre not left trying to figure out what he’s supposed to be for 10 minutes. He’s not trying to be seven things at once. He’s a jester. With some extra arms. Sorry I was wrong when I said it was belphagor before. It’s mammon. Dudes literally just a jester.

[cocogum]

The Great Wave - Chapter 6 Review

‼️SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER‼️

Warning(s): extreme use of foul language, aurora slander, mentions of racism, i’m cyber bullying an osamodas

So chapter 6 came out…

And I’m not happy.

Not one bit.

Blue cow: “You sadidas are so impressionable…”

Sadidas are impressionable?? Tf are you even talking about?? What are they impressionable about?? This sad excuse that you call a companion screeched and it scared the shit out of that woman. What did you think was gonna happen??? “YoU PeOPLe ARe So ImPrESsIOnAbLE” I’m gonna eat animals right in front of your face and feed them to you like a bird. You know what they’re not, Aurora? They’re people who aren’t scared of facing death more than once you fucking sad excuse of a pro-animal blue-skinned wretch.

She looks way too cocky in this shot. You wanna go back to the war, little bitch? Let’s see if you’ll keep smiling like that.

Did I mention I fucking hate Aurora?

This actual cunt is more worried about some ugly crusty bat bird than an actual human being are you fucking kidding me.

Blue cow: “Give that to me, you’ll scare him!”

Sadida servant: “I’m sorry, mistress…”

This is the very same woman who fled the people she was supposed to “lead” who called a servant, that did not belong to her, an idiot.

Are you fucking kidding me.

Blue cow: “Go fetch some water, idiot, the little one is dying of thirst…”

Sadida servant: “Alright, mistress…”

Yeah, your ugly bat is probably thirsty CUZ YOU SHOVED HIM IN A CHEST BEFORE YOU CAME HERE YOU FUCKING DUMBA-

She had also mentioned how her future son would inherit this monstrosity of a bat.

Sorry folks, but I was wrong, she actually is pregnant. Before chapter 6 had been released, I went on this full rant about how Aurora had actually lied to Amalia and the others and wasn’t expecting a child. But now that we’ve seen the Osamodas king talking privately to Aurora and claiming to be worried for her because she was pregnant, I unfortunately have to accept the fact that she is carrying a child.

This chapter made sure that we got a better shot at her belly which has a slight rounder edge to it.

Like I would genuinely rather have a raging chihuahua ready to gnaw my flesh than whatever the fuck this is.

Blue cow: “You will make a wonderful companion for my child!”

But to think about the positives, we at least have no idea if this blue-skinned dumbass thinks that she’s carrying an osamodas or a sadida.

For those who don’t know, the beast she’s holding is called a “skrot” (or “kougnard” in French). These beats originally came from Ecaflipus, the Ecaflip God’s dimension. Their main use is transportation but they can also be used as your companion. That means that anyone can just use them, you don’t necessarily have to be an osamodas to get one.

The skrot Aurora has at hand is a newborn so she was prepared to give her future child a companion. I think Aurora clearly meant that even if her child ends up being a Sadida, she will still give the beast to them since a skrot can be pretty useful every now and then.

So there is no evidence that she is expecting the child to be an osamodas. I think either way, she’ll be indifferent if the child ends up being a sadida or an osamodas. If they end up being a sadida, I bet it’ll just make her reminisce about Armand and love them even more (cuz omg this bitch can’t stop making everything about the Sadida kingdom about Armand).

Cow king: “Your priority now, is for you to be liked…”

Aurora just insulted a servant. She couldn’t even hold her tongue. How the fuck do you expect her to hear the daily sadida complaints??? Omg this “family” should go back to their circus they’re making me physically gag.

Blue cow: “If they think I’m just going to stand there and do nothing…”

Gurl shut the fuck up and sit your ass down no one is angry that you’re not there with them. Bitch is over here turning into McFry chicken as if she’s an actual menace. Literally go get yourself eradicated.

Stop breathing, you skank. Echo did the wing transformation far better than you.

But yeah, go ahead and ruin this interracial marriage with your stupid reasoning. Go ahead and get your ass kicked by the god-king and the experienced adventurous princess. Go ahead and try to fight them with your inexperienced fighting self. Go ahead and make every sadida realize that you didn’t fight in the war because of your pregnancy but you’re perfectly capable of fighting two rulers while pregnant. Go ahead and fight in a dress and an ugly crusty bat, yeah, I’M SURE you’ll win and won’t make yourself look like a demented moron.

Her dad should’ve honestly let her go “fight” (cuz let's be honest Yugo and Amalia would have ANNIHILATED her without even batting an eye) them instead of telling her common sense so we could get rid of her much more quickly.

Blue cow: “But I am perfectly capable of controlling my emotions!”

A second earlier: *insulted a servant for being scared of a screeching bat*

A second later: *almost attempted to crash a wedding just because she saw a sadida with an eliatrope*

I would rather hang out with freaking Julith, a known terrorist, than to even be near this sad excuse of a royal. Actually, I’ve got something better: I would rather spend a full week in the necrome world than be around her.

If you care about being the queen of this land, then why the fuck are you insulting the servants??? Yeah, that’ll make them show you respect! They’ll definitely like you for sure! They will definitely not go to Amalia, the very same person who they’ve known for their whole lives.

Stop yapping on your own you cow, your existence is already sad as fuck.

And now she’s over here having a problem with a sadida and an eliatrope marrying.

Great, we just found out she’s an actual racist now too. What’s next?

Blue cow: “A sadida and an eliatrope?!”

Armand was racist towards Eliatropes, sure, but he was at least hating because he can make options of his own (even though his opinions were shit-). While Aurora over here just hates them cuz her late husband hated them??? Wtf??? Is she that empty-headed that she’ll just follow whatever other people are hating? She doesn’t even have the intelligence to hate things for her own reasons??? Is she that much of a trophy wife???

Blue cow: “My Armand would have never permitted this!”

Blue cow: “He hated the eliatropes!”

Omg this bitch is actually clinically dumb there is no way. At what point are you so mentally constipated that your likes and dislikes depend on what other people like and dislike???

She was saying how Armand would have never accepted the eliatropes so therefore she hates the idea of them being here as well.

Blue cow: “This little pest is not wasting time!”

Blue cow: “In only a few months, she had given some funny ideas to my subjects…”

If Armand told you he hates Osamodas, would you also hate your own kind???

I literally don’t get it.

Blue cow: “She spends her time showing off the traditions of the sadidas though…”

Uh yeah, so what?

Amalia is into the Sadida traditions as she should because she’s a sadida.

But just because she practices her culture, that doesn’t mean she cuts off other races????

Like what???

Aurora talks as if the sadidas have never brought other races inside their kingdom before. RACES LIKE HER.

Did she never know how King Oakheart used to be??? The sadidas, have more than once, accepted people that weren’t their own kind. They have taken in two cras from an infamous assassin. They sculpted a statue of a iop and gave him the title of “Savior of the Sadidas”. They welcomed an eliatrope and his twin dragon into the kingdom by giving him a guest room, told him that they would welcome his family, and even let him marry their princess.

How…are you this constipated to not have known this before?

Wait it has only been a few months since Season 4 so wouldn’t these two newlyweds technically be considered the second recorded interracial couple in history to have a twelvian and non-twlevian together?

“Long live the bride and groom!!!”

Omg this would also mean this was Amalia’s first time marrying a couple!!

I just want to highlight that @onyichii was the one who initially suggested that the marriage could have been between a sadida and an eliatrope, and it turns out they were correct. I had previously believed that the eliatropes aged slowly like the primordial ones, which is why they couldn't have been able to get married with someone who already looks like an adult, so I didn't think one of them could have been getting married. However, it turns out that only the Council of Six ages as slowly as dragons. The female Eliatrope in question is clearly a grown woman, and the Great Wave is set to occur right after Season 4, just a couple of months later.

In Season 4, it's possible that the elite eliatropes all looked the same due to budget constraints at Ankama. This could explain why they all wore identical clothes, colors, and were the same height.

Now let’s talk about Amalia again and how she killed it!!

Our queen CARRIED the ceremony so perfectly and elegantly!!

Look at her, she’s so experienced already!

Yugo is looking at her as she’s doing her thing. He’s so proud to have her 💕💕 omg I can’t 😭😭 LOOK AT HIM SMILING AT HIS WIFEY‼️‼️😩😩💖💖💖💖❤️❤️❤️❤️

I'm glad to see that there's no drama between the sadidas and eliatropes at the celebration, as Amalia and Yugo have enough on their plate. Amalia had to resolve a conflict between them this morning, so it's good to see the two races getting along here.

If we take a closer look at them, a good majority of the sadidas look young so maybe the new generation has a much faster and easier time accepting the eliatropes than the older generation.

And here is the part that immediately cuts off the fun entirely.

The poisoning.

During the lively event, a female Sadida was seen carrying a platter with two drinks, which she handed to Yugo and Amalia before leaving. Her sudden appearance and departure raised questions about her identity and origin. Despite this, no one seemed to pay much attention to her, possibly assuming she was a servant due to her role in serving the king and queen.

Unlike Aurora and her father, however, I actually would like to know what her deal is. Like I’m genuinely curious to know what could have been the reason to want to poison the king and queen.

Because yes, she didn’t just want to poison Yugo. She also wanted to poison Amalia.

The Osamodas king informed Aurora that he had been aware for weeks of the upcoming interracial marriage between a sadida and an eliatrope in the Sadida kingdom.

Blue cow: “A marriage?! And no one told us?!”

Cow king: “We’ve known for weeks, my daughter.”

But Aurora had no idea about it.

If Aurora, the wife of the late Sadida king, did not receive an invitation or any notification about the Sadida kingdom's upcoming marriage celebration, it raises questions about how the Osamoda king became aware of the event. Aurora's absence during the war could be the reason why they did not invite her but it remains unclear how her father came to know about the wedding.

This can only mean one thing.

The Sadida kingdom may have multiple spies who could have warned the Osamodas king. It is possible that the female Sadida who poisoned Yugo was not the only one willing to go to such lengths to get rid of the king. If she holds such a strong grudge, it is strongly possible that there could be other Sadidas who share the same sentiment.

By the way, it still surprises me that Amalia could have been poisoned too. How else would she have known that her cup had poison in it before trying to warn Yugo? The whole reason why Yugo had been targeted was because he wasn’t like them. So to have a sadida try to also poison the last member of the royal Sheran Sharm family is very off-putting.

Amalia knows her plants and remedies so the reason as to why she immediately thought something was up was probably because she either smelled something very deadly about the cup she was holding or she had a very strong gut feeling.

Either way, she dodged a bullet from not drinking it. Unlike Yugo who could survive this, Amalia would have likely died from the drink (the results would have made her look like how she did in Yugo’s nightmare, choking to death).

This is what I mean when I say I want to know more about this sadida servant.

We know she’ll make a reappearance because we can see her on the cover of the 10th chapter of volume 1.

I just don’t see why poisoning Amalia would have been a great idea. Because if she did die, who would replace her? Like I said, she’s the last member of the royal sadida family so was the female servant prepared to see Aurora replace her?? Why?? Is it because the sadida doesn’t like Amalia’s beliefs? To a point where she’d be fine seeing an osamodas replace her???

Man, Amalia has it rough. She knew that some of her people wouldn’t be pleased with having the eliatropes here but I bet she never imagined she would have almost gotten poisoned by one of her subjects.

Also what the fuck is the Osamodas king’s deal here?

If the sadida servant does work for him (for some reason), then he expected Yugo to have gotten poisoned. Okay, I get that part. So he wants Yugo to die because he’s too powerful to have him around.

So why did he tell Aurora that they were going to have to wait until they make sure the sadidas don’t trust Yugo anymore??

Cow king: “This pretentious little Yugo has powers beyond imagination…”

Cow king: “He is the one who we must succeed in getting rid of.”

Cow king: “And the only way to do that is to turn the sadidas against him.”

By doing what?? Poison him??? What???? How will that make the sadidas not trust Yugo anymore?? They just witnessed him coughing and bleeding like crazy. And they just heard Amalia scream that he’d gotten poisoned. The only thing they’d wanna do right now is help him, not run away from him. In fact, after Yugo gets healed, they’d be very understanding if the Eliatrope king tries to distance himself from them because he had just been fucking poisoned by one of them.

This is some deep clown behavior right here.

Anyways, these blue-skinned clowns are giving me too much of a migraine to keep up with their bullshit. That sadida servant looks more entertaining than them because she at least did the work and expected Yugo to instantly die instead of whatever the fuck the Osamodas king is expecting to happen.

After the incident at the wedding, it's possible to claim that the Osamodas king has spies within the kingdom. It's likely that he convinced some sadidas to join him in his disdain for Yugo, gaining their support. The sadida woman in question may be one of these spies, potentially acting on her own agenda as well. Although she doesn't appear to harbor the same malice towards Yugo as the royal Osamodas family, her anger is evident, as seen in her expression on the cover of the last chapter.

Either way, I hope we get to know more about her later on. Also, I’m pretty sure Amalia didn’t focus too much on the unnamed Sadida’s face when she handed them the drinks so it’s possible she wouldn’t be able to identify who the assassin was in the next chapter.

In the meantime, while we’re waiting for the continuation, let’s just enjoy Yugo’s suffering ✨✨

I swear there’s nothing personal about me wanting to see him like this it’s just that ever since I’ve seen him tied up on the ground shirtless and screaming in pain, I’ve been wanting to see more 😤😭

I can’t wait to see more in the next chapters 😍🥰🥰

But seriously no joke, this is not looking good for Amalia. The poor girl had recently experienced the loss of her father and her brother. On top of that, her husband Yugo, whom she had shared so much with ever since they were both little, was now coughing up blood from poison, adding to her distress. Even Yugo's wakfu wings appeared to be affected, suggesting a connection between their condition and his overall health.

Just look at the sheer horrified panic in Amalia’s eyes as she could only stare down at him, feeling completely powerless.

I wouldn’t even blame her if she lost it then and there. Yugo is literally her only family left. So to have an unknown enemy (since she still doesn’t know who could have done this) do this to her on a day that is supposed to take the stress of everyday life away must be incredibly traumatic for her.

Amalia: “The king has been poisoned!!!”

Also when you think about it, Yugo and Amalia’s cute kiss in this panel might as well have been their last kiss together if they both drank their drinks. It would’ve been over for them because Amalia would have instantly died. Yugo, on the other hand, will survive this but not without any damage to the body and brain.

I really wanna know what happens now it’s only been 6 days and I’m getting stressed out. I hate how the chapter ended, I NEED MORE.

[shieldofiron]

We have totally totally never talked about this before but I’m gonna bring it to your asks

Big (dilf? Kind of? Maybe) dom Billy who’s just like the most experienced kinkster ever but refuses to wear clothes that aren’t knitted and has the strongest prescription glasses and refuses to get a phone more modern than the brick

Then Steve who’s like hyper modern party animal and is immediately like “I want him” the moment they meet but keeps trying to drop thirst traps on tiktok and obviously Billy doesn’t even know what tiktok is

It’s a comedy of errors which I love

Oh I do like it. But I think I'm gonna add... Doctor Hargrove and Nurse Harrington into the equation.

Heather was always trying to show him her phone. He didn't necessarily see the appeal, but it was easy enough to just sit through whatever inane video she wanted him to watch. He was tired from a twelve hour shift might as well just let it happen.

Today he was really annoyed because his new t-shirt had a tag and he'd cut it out but he could still feel the scratching even though he'd taken it off hours ago.

"Can it wait until later?" Billy sighed, closing his eyes and resting against the back of her couch.

"No, it cannot wait until later," She tossed her hair to the side, "It's you, Billy."

"Me?" Billy shook his head without even consciously thinking of it, "Like when I texted you to pick up that lube I like?"

"No, and I'm not doing that by the way," Heather's perfectly painted lips quirked up into a smile, "No, it's a video of you."

"Someone took a video of me? What? Is that legal?" Billy leapt for her phone, grunting when she pulled back quickly and he flopped to the couch.

"It was at that grocery store you go to by the hospital that has terrible produce, not like, in your bathroom," She shook her head.

He sighed, "Okay fine."

He fully expects to see some video of him doing something clumsy, but instead it's just him, at a far distance. He's wearing the scrubs he wore on Monday, with the Scotty dogs, and he's still got his stethoscope on, yawning in the bread aisle. The video doesn't show his face, but it's unmistakably Billy, down to his old school digital watch.

A cheery robot voice says, "When you see your work crush outside of work." The video then cuts to a darkened car dashboard.

"I don't even know if I got groceries. I blacked out," A man's voice says with a laugh.

Billy frowns, "What is this?"

"It's tiktok, Billy," She swipes up and it cuts to one of Heather's favorite astrology videos, that she's showed him before.

"Wait, go back to the guy," He asks, grabbing for her phone.

She rolls her eyes, "Okay fine. Like you don't get enough ego boosts at the club with everyone begging you to be their dom."

"This is different. This is, actually me," Billy reaches out but she navigates back to the first video, tapping until another video fills her screen.

"What people think you do as a male nurse," the same cheery robot lady's voice says. A beautiful man fills the screen, wearing scrub bottoms and a silly costume nurse's hat.

"I'm here to take your temperature," The man bends close to the camera, brown eyes sparkling as he shamelessly angles his hairy chest towards Billy.

"Oh no," The man puts his hands to his cheek, "It seems you have sexy sex disease. I guess I'd better..."

He turns, arching his back just a little and Billy's mouth goes dry. beauty marks are scattered across his toned back, and he looks back coyly over his shoulder. The video cuts off.

"What I actually do as a male nurse," The robot voice says. It cuts to the same guy, his pretty fluffy hair a mess under a thick headband. He's got glasses on, and ugly, the Grinch themed scrubs.

"And you say it got stuck up there by accident?" He purses his pretty pink lips and writes something on a clipboard, "Okay, sure."

Billy laughs, "Heather, how do I get to this on my phone."

"Oh my god," She rolls her eyes, "Spare me from the Nokia."

"Well, then, what... how do I see the other videos?"

Heather complains, but as she sets him up on his ancient laptop. He has a tiktok account now, that only follows one thing, NurseStevie.

Heather watches a few more with him and then laughs, "I gotta go meet Barb for dinner. But I'll give you a hint. He works in pediatrics."

[staarjeelly]

i'm not necessarily a hater but i would still love to hear your thoughts on the httyd live action trailer

first of all, thank you so much for asking but i must warn you that i'm not going to shut up about it now.

i've given this a lot of thought and i think i might've gone a little bit overboard (sorry not sorry). so, behold;

my (probably unfinished) list of reasons as to why i’m sure the httyd live action is going to be shit

i really don’t think there’s another way to start this list: characterization. we can all agree that (as far as we’ve seen), they didn’t get anyone right. starting off with hiccup, and with all due respect to mason thames, that is NOT how he was supposed to look. hiccup was an outcast, a runt, a late developer, a “nuisance”, if you will. he is depicted as this scrawny looking child that wasn’t even able to hold an axe properly and that would never, ever become what a viking should be. and he isn’t any of that in the remake. he isn’t meant to be hiccup, and it’s painfully obvious. stoick is worth a mention, because i didn’t expect to be this underwhelmed with his character when i knew that gerard butler was going to play him, but here we are. i understand the decision to cast him as stoick, no one else could ever live up to the standard of that role, but i can’t see stoick when i look at him. for the rest, i can’t say much, since i haven’t seen how they decided to characterize them, but something i can say is that the people out there being racist towards nico parker should just keep their mouths shut. 

the way they designed toothless honestly just makes me mad. i’ve seen a lot of people complaining about this same issue, and i wish i could use all of their points and arguments, to be honest. i just have one thing to say. what did they do to my boy?? he looks so unbelievably bad. as far as i’ve seen, his proportions are weird, his wings look like they’re made out of leather and he doesn’t have any of his markings, scars, nothing. every detail that added depth to his design is gone. i saw someone say that he looks like that horrible pez dispenser and now i can only think of that. to me, he just looks like a toad. the rest of the dragons aren’t much better, either. they are recognizable, yeah, but the second they appear on the trailer doesn’t say much. pretty sure they are going to be as underwhelming as toothless. 

(this is what i was talking about)

another thing that i’m sure is going to happen is that they’re going to depict the scenes so miserably. the downed dragon scene?? like?????? it was one of the deepest, most telling (and for me) nerve-wracking scenes in the whole movie. i remember watching it when i was little (and not so little), seated at the end of my seat, leaning towards the screen in complete awe. the music, lighting, atmosphere… i got goosebumps every time i saw how the camera moved from toothless lying body, how it passed over his wing and stopped right above his open eye. i’m feeling those same chills just thinking about it. and in the trailer and the leaks, it just looks like a national geographic documentary. it feels nothing like the original, and i know that being a copy of the original isn’t its point but like. try a little harder. (i don’t even want to think about how test flight or forbidden friendship are going to be, but i’m scared)

the movie itself just looks bland. the backgrounds look straight out from a walmart commercial, costumes look tacky, and it just doesn’t look like berk. to me, it seems like they tried to create some kind of cartoony atmosphere?? it obviously didn’t work, and that’s what i guess makes the movie look cheap. like it’s some low cost rip-off. and given the budget they had, i hoped we would get berk in all of its glory. they failed in capturing that feeling that the animated trilogy has, that comfort and warmth that almost wants to make you jump into the screen to live amongst dragons. and i’m so bummed because of that. 

this is one of my BIGGEST issues with this movie. because it’s not like we wanted the movie in the first place. i’m sick and tired of hollywood, dreamworks, whoever’s been involved in this monstrosity, thinking that what we want is another shitty cgi live action. i’m sick and tired of animation not being treated as a serious form of portraying media, because it is!! we have so many examples of good animation, with touching stories and fantastic writing in the past years!! arcane, the spiderverse movies, nimona… and i could keep going! animation should be boosted instead of pushed under a bunch of live actions no one asked for!!!! and i’m so mad about this!!!

and the final, and i think most important issue with this movie is that httyd DIDN’T need a live action. yes, i know that the ending they chose for the films isn’t the best, yes i know it isn’t the best piece of media there is (at least for the people that aren’t fans), but it was enough! the characters were well written, the storyline was moving, the scenes, music, writing… i still remember when i was four, 2010, and my dad took me to the cinema to watch it for the first time. i remember leaving that movie theater with my mind completely blown away. and that feeling of… love and nostalgia has only grown over the years. which is why i’m so mad about all of this. i didn’t want the live action. i don’t want one of my favorite pieces of media to be turned into this cash grab nonsense. i don’t want it to be ruined. 

so, yeah. i think that’s about it. i apologize again because this is like super long, but i had to get it out of my system. and tsym for asking <333

[mysicklove]

do you get hate for writing about minor charcters in any way even if it's not necessarily aged up?

i recently deleted my old blog that had my wrtings in it even though it was all fluff because i knew i would receive hate for writing what i actually wanted to.

i feel like it’s incredibly important to realize that if u r a writer, the chances of u getting hate (ESPECIALLY on tumblr) is like inevitable if u do it for a long time. ppl are so bitter on here.

but yeah i’ve def received hate. i’ve said this before, but hate on tumblr like is not real to me. like u r some random person on TUMBLR in 2023 READING ANIME X READER FICS, u r weird, i am weird, we are all a little weird for writing/reading it. and if ur hating on aging up fictional minors u are WEIRDER 😭😭 like genuinely get a life, ppl are literally being massacred right now and ur upset over drawings. pls step outside and think critically for one moment i am BEGGING. so basically those ppl opinions has no effect on me bc i live in the real world and come on here to just giggle and joke around.

sorry went on a tangent (a derivative is a slope of a tangent line! but we aren’t taking about that tangent…) but u will prob get hate at one point for writing up aged up characters. it sucks for about 10 minutes and after u delete and block them you will forget about it. bc if ur like me, or a pretty normal person, u should realize that ppl have no lives if they are hating on tumblr. so yeah don’t hold urself back just bc of it.

ALSO last thing. if u do make the account again and u do get hate i BEG for u not to post it and instead just block them. u just are giving them what they want. i used to respond to it, but looking back on it makes me cringe. and everytime i seee my mutuals respond to it im like …..nooooo….pls just block them…

[satansapostle6]

The Crush | Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson is a cool, simple guy who is also the famous son of Poseidon who helped save the world. But, talking to the pretty girl in his English class still seems impossible.

Warnings: Mature themes/language. Violence. Sexual content.

Chapter One

Chapter Two: Study Date

The English project was coming along slowly. Percy would often get sidetracked bickering with Clarisse, so Chloé usually ended up having to contain her rage toward Clarisse and facilitate like a single mother with two children. That day, after Clarisse had stormed out of class and left Percy and Chloé to deal, the two of them looked to each other awkwardly.

“We still have a lot to do,” Chloé said, slowly looking at her laptop to realize just how behind schedule they were.

“Yeah,” Percy nodded in agreement, sighing exhaustedly.

“My place?” she questioned.

Percy stopped for a moment, having to recalibrate as he took a moment to think about what she had actually meant.

“To finish up,” Chloé added. “If we just cram for a couple hours, we could probably get close to finishing.”

Aggressively shutting off the large part of his brain that was still a twelve year-old boy, Percy shook off his thoughts, trying to communicate like a normal person. She looked at him strangely, waiting for an answer.

“Uh, yeah,” he nodded quickly, “Sure.”

“Okay,” she agreed as he followed her out of the classroom.

He silently left the college campus with her, as she made her way onto the neatly paved roads of New Rome to where she lived. Percy had assumed that, like many of the other adult-aged demigods who attended college, she lived in one of the barrack-style apartments built after the camp was added onto to suit more demigods.

He quietly trailed behind Chloé, following her home to her condo not too far from the school campus.

“Here,” she said softly, pulling a small ring of keys from her pocket as she unlocked the door for him.

“Thanks,” Percy said graciously, walking in after her.

As soon he stepped over the threshold, he felt the energy change. It wasn’t necessarily in a bad way, but Percy had a difficult time placing the thoughts and feelings he experienced as he entered Chloé’s sanctuary. Although the place looked relatively normal and didn’t seem sinister at all, he felt almost as if his stomach had dropped when she closed the door behind him.

He didn’t feel trapped, but he felt intensely aware. There was a darker ambience to the room. All of the windows were covered with dark curtains that seemed black with a bluish hue, and the only lights in use didn’t light up more than half the room.

Percy made his way to her living room, nearly jumping as a small, dark animal jumped in front of him along the top of the couch. He breathed softly, calming himself as he realized it was just a black cat.

“Don’t mind Jet. He’s friendly,” Chloé assured him, setting her bag down on a leather armchair. “Once he gets to know you, anyway.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Percy nodded, slowly stroking along the cat’s soft black fur as it sat down on the couch.

It didn’t seem particularly thrilled that he was in its space, disregarding him with narrowed eyes the way it would a fly as he continued petting it in long, repetitive strokes, trying to earn its favor.

“Jet. That’s a cool name,” Percy remarked as he tried to bond with the animal.

Chloé just shook her head, disappearing upstairs as Percy was left to sit alone on the couch, with the cat jumping down into the arm rest to watch him.

“Hey, buddy,” Percy cooed, trying to earn the cat’s trust. “You’re a cute little guy, aren’t you?”

Somehow, he felt the cat was unamused as he continued to look forward while he pet him. Looking around the room, Percy began to think more and more that Chloé was the most mysterious human being he had ever met. Her house wasn’t exactly decorated like a witch’s house, but it wasn’t far off.

There were intricate, beautifully woven tapestries that hung on the walls, depicting dark but beautiful scenes like a pale moon shining on the ocean in the dark of night. There were dark-colored, jagged rocks displayed on the tables that looked as though they had been pulled from the depths of Hades, or somewhere equally sinister. There were dead flower arrangements mostly consisting of thin, prickly branches still sitting in vases.

“Cats like fish, right?” Percy wondered aloud, thinking that his father was the god of the sea. “If you want, I could put in a good word for you with my dad. But you’ll have to be nice to me, though.”

The cat looked up at him for a moment, seemingly a look of consideration in his yellow cat eyes before he looked towards the stairs at who Percy had assumed was his owner, continuing to allow Percy to pet him. Percy turned, looking for Chloé as someone else ended up coming down the stairs.

He saw a tall brown-haired girl, who completely ignored him as she disappeared into the kitchen. A family member or a roommate, Percy figured. He waited patiently for Chloé, who came back downstairs, looking toward the kitchen as she heard the sounds of the other girl cooking.

“Oh. That’s my sister, Max,” Chloé informed him, walking toward the record played on a stand between her small couches.

He nodded, watching as she looked through her extensive collection of records, putting on what he recognized to be some sort of indie rock, something more soft and agreeable.

“Who’s older?” Percy asked curiously.

“I am,” she responded coolly.

Chloé finally sat down beside him, pulling out her laptop and other materials from her black school bag with the nice silver buckle on it, looking over to him once she was settled in.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” she asked.

Percy had forgotten that people typically asked their guests this question.

“Uh, maybe a water?”

Chloé looked at him as he suddenly realized how on the nose the response was, before nodding and disappearing into the kitchen. He pointedly looked back at Jet, the sleek black cat, with a pointed expression on his face.

“Is she always like this?” he remarked.

The cat naturally said nothing as he continued giving it the attention it seemed to want, as something else small came running down the stairs, the sound of a tiny, twinkling bell filling the air, somewhat startling to Percy. He saw a little grey cat jumping from the floor up onto the couch, settling into his lap as it nuzzled him with its entire body.

Percy chuckled at the little Siamese cat, petting its head affectionately.

“Hey there,” he murmured, entertaining the playful animal. “Hi.”

“That’s Ash. She’s my sister’s,” Chloé said, handing him a full glass of water. “Sorry. I forgot to ask if you wanted ice,” she sat down beside him.

“No, it’s cool, this is perfect,” he promised, “Thank you.”

She nodded as she opened up her laptop. Percy reached into his backpack, pulling out his as he watched her for what to do, feeling that she was better at being a college student and an adult than he was. Even after defeating monsters and Titans as a demigod, Percy still felt awkward around his crush.

He and Chloé spent the next couple of hours or so working on the parts of the project Clarisse had been too fussy about, leaving only the parts she would have to work on herself. Throughout the whole thing, Chloé only had to explain a couple of things to him, which he felt decidedly proud about.

Percy only realized the time once they had finally finished working. As Chloé sighed and shut her laptop, he looked around the room anxiously, making a point of it as he stretched both of his arms out behind her, yawning as he tried to find a way to fill the silence between them.

He sat there beside her as she finally looked back to him, not saying anything yet. She only looked at him with no discernible expression on her face, as if taking him in for the first time.

“You, uh, have a really nice place here,” Percy Jackson remarked, looking around her and her sister’s shared condo.

“Thanks,” Chloé said as she turned to face him.

Percy waited nervously for her to speak, wondering if she was about to kick him out. He checked his phone; it was 5:16, and she was sure to have been annoyed at him by now.

“It’s five,” she pointed out eventually, not having anything else to say.

Percy frantically looked between all of her various features, trying to deduce the hidden meaning behind her words she had assumed he’d pick up on.

“Max is gonna be home in a few minutes,” she added. “You wanna stay for dinner?”

Percy’s eyes lit up anxiously as he realized what she was asking him. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Chloé nodded. “My sister made mac and cheese.”

This was more than enough for Percy to decide.

“Yeah. That sounds awesome,” he agreed, mouth watering at the mention of mac and cheese.

“You wanna come help me set the table and stuff?” she invited him.

“Yeah! Sure!”

Percy followed as Chloé led him into the kitchen, where the oven was already in use.

“Can you heat up the chicken?” she asked. “I’ll do the broccoli.”

“Sure,” he offered, seeing the pot sitting on the counter by the stove.

He looked between the pot and the stove, figuring Chloé had most likely meant for him to put it back on the burner and heat it up.

“This is a lot of food,” Percy realized as he heated up the large pot of chicken.

“Well, we have to make enough for all of us,” she pointed out.

“‘All of us’? Who else is coming?” he wondered.

“Our other siblings,” Chloé replied.

As if on cue, Percy heard the front door open as multiple sets of footsteps sounded.

“Chloé! We’re home!” Max yelled. “Go wash your hands! It’s dinner time!”

Percy panicked as he automatically went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands.

“Not you,” she rolled her eyes, “You’re cooking.”

Chloé pulled the mac and cheese from the oven, making sure the stove was off as she moved everything to the dinner table as he helped set the five places she’d put out plates for. Max, Chloé’s sister, sat at her place next to Chloé by the head of the table.

“Max, this is Percy. Percy, this is Max,” she said formally.

“Hey,” Percy waved in a friendly manner.

“Hey,” Max said coolly.

Suddenly, two children came running to the table, taking their seats as Percy looked to them in surprise.

“Guys, this is Percy,” Chloé announced in an authoritative voice.

“Hi, Percy,” a boy and girl chorused before they dug in, with Max occasionally helping them scoop.

As she helped put food on their plates, the two children stared at Percy blankly.

“What are your names?” he asked with a smile.

“I’m Laney,” the girl told him.

“My name’s Hunter,” the boy responded.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Percy said warmly. “How old are you?”

“I’m six,” Hunter told him excitedly. “My birthday was Sunday.”

“Well, happy late birthday,” Percy smiled. “How old are you, Laney?”

“Eleven,” she said promptly.

“Are you both Half-Bloods?”

“Yeah,” Laney nodded.

“They’re both going to school until they’re ready for the full camp,” Chloé explained.

“Are you all Nox kids?” Percy asked them.

“No,” Max said quickly. “Chloé’s Nox, I’m Mars, Laney’s Venus, and Hunter’s Hephaestus.”

“Is that even possible?” he wondered.

“Apparently,” Max shrugged. “Our dad’s a slut.”

Percy looked over at the kids in shock, slowly seeing that they were used to the way their older sisters talked and knew better than to repeat any of it in front of them.

“Do you guys take care of them?” Percy asked Chloé and Max, not seeing any parents around.

“Yeah,” Max nodded, not talking much at all as she ate.

“Why?” he looked to Chloé.

“Our dad ran out,” she explained bluntly.

“Oh,” Percy said softly, frowning.

“It’s fine,” she consoled him as she put food on her plate, “We’re better off without him. Trust me.”

“Why, uh… Why’d he leave?” he asked thoughtfully.

“He’s an alcoholic. I don’t even think it’s that he left, he honestly probably forgot how to find his way back,” Chloé scoffed.

Percy was thrown by the way she spoke about things even in front of the kids. He sat through the dinner with a different appreciation for Chloé and her sister, not that he hadn’t appreciated Chloé before. He watched as she and her sister spent the evening talking to the kids about their days at school and the after school program.

He couldn’t help but smile at the way Chloé handled the kids, speaking a little more pleasantly to them and taking the time to make sure they all finished their homework. Percy watched her as she sent them upstairs to wash up before bed, admiring her responsibility.

“You wanna go for a walk?” Chloé asked as she finished up.

“Hmm?” Percy perked up, not expecting her to say anything to him.

“For a smoke,” she stated.

“Yeah! Sure,” he accepted excitedly, standing up.

Chloé nodded and grabbed her jacket, leading him out the door. Percy dutifully trailed behind her, lips pursed together as he waited for her speak as she lit up a cigarette.

“You want one?” she asked, offering him the open pack.

“Uh…” Percy was lost as he tried to come up with an answer.

He knew he didn’t smoke, of course, but he also couldn’t come up with a great reason as to why. He didn’t smoke, but he’d also never smoked a cigarette before.

“Yeah! Sure,” he smiled, hesitantly pulling a cigarette from the pack.

He took it and just held it in his hand as she handed him her lighter, which he took, holding both in each hand in confusion.

“Uh,” Chloé stared.

Percy looked at her awkwardly, still holding the cigarette.

“Here,” she said, taking the cigarette out of his hand.

He made a sound as she stuck the cigarette into his mouth, chuckling as she lit it for him, hand shielding it from the wind. Percy silently nodded his thanks as she pulled away, lighting her own cigarette.

“You’ve never had a cigarette before, have you?” she figured.

Percy looked down in defeat. “No, I haven’t,” he confessed. “But I’ve done everything else before,” he tried to save it.

“Everything?” Chloé raised an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean,” he groaned.

“You’re more of a drinker, huh?” she deduced.

“I get high too,” he shrugged awkwardly.

“And you can’t light a cigarette?” she questioned in confusion.

“Hey, I, like, never do the lighting!” Percy protested. “I always have people do the rolling and the lighting for me! Because I don’t know how,” he mumbled under his breath.

“I can roll one for you,” she offered softly.

“What, right now?” he looked at her in surprise.

“Yeah. Sure,” she agreed. “We can split some in my room.”

Percy nearly fainted at those words.

-

Chapter Three

[ryuichirou]

Is there any Styx headcanons for the six overblot boys? I would do one ship ask for that hcs but couldn't pick much so have six of them together.

Anon! Sorry for the late reply.

Even though there aren’t a lot of characters there and it shouldn’t have taken this long, I wasn’t sure how to approach this list but also really didn’t want to skip it?? I think it ended up being partially about the six overblot boys in general or with each other, and partially about their interactions with the Styx staff. Some are more neutral, but some are surprisingly specific lol

Thank you for your patience, and I hope you like it.

Riddle – kind of post-Styx so idk if it counts?? But he really wants to continue playing videogames at least sometimes after experiencing them for the first time, and he really wants to ask either Idia or Ortho or, god forbid, Azul or Floyd, but every single option is bad. In result, he just looks longingly whenever Ace or Deuce play anything, waiting for someone to suggest him join them, so he could refuse, act like he is above it, but still sit down and play.

Leona – despite constantly complaining about wanting to sleep and “falling asleep”, Leona didn’t sleep at all during the whole Styx thing. He was just listening to whatever everyone was talking about… and contemplating the fact that Ortho basically called him a cute little kitty cat lol which affected Leona more than it should have.

Azul – the moment he was left alone in his room after an entire day of testing and all kinds of stress, the frustration seriously hit him: he couldn’t believe he was so close to a person of such high and powerful status and knew nothing about it. He misdirected his frustration at Idia at first, cursing him in his mind, but then started thinking about how powerful of an alliance they could have… in short, he ended up thinking about Idia and him getting married, and had a dream so sweet and nice that he woke up with drool all over his face.

Jamil – he is probably having the best time out of everyone here. Of course, he is super worried about Kalim, but at the same time for some reason he isn’t…? He’s just chilling. He even entertained the idea of joining Styx because a lot of their technology looks pretty convenient, and it would probably make separation from the Asim family possible… but ah no, I guess joining Styx would mean he won’t be able to travel, so he still ends up losing his freedom. Whatever then. Also, there is one staff member who got a crush on Jamil, but this isn’t surprising at all.

Vil – there are some Vil stans in Styx… there also are people who aren’t necessarily Vil stans, but enjoy being close to a celebrity. As the result, some of the staff ended up taking advantage of his vulnerable state and watching through a lot of his private memories. This violates Styx regulations, but if no one finds out, it’s all good right? Ah yes, some of them also stole Vil’s underwear.

Idia – he is kind of disappointed that Azul didn’t like his super quick shower thing. He thought that Azul, who appreciates efficiency over anything, would appreciate how quick and effective it is. What also got him a bit annoyed is the fact that Azul has some gaming experience and he didn’t tell him >:(

Ortho – since he probably has full access to every camera in Styx, he could’ve easily peeked at whatever the overlbotted boys were doing alone in their rooms. He even thought that it would be a fun idea: to see who’s watching anime, who’s just sleeping, maybe someone’s being naughty! >:3c But as we all know, Ortho had a lot of other things to do and to think about that day…

[ao3-shenanigans]

My thoughts on The Marvels and Suggestion for an Alternate Ending

Oh thank goodness @yalocalfanficaddict you’re my new bestie, I’m proposing right now/lh

So… The Marvels

A lotta people think that it’s Bad™️ and I won’t say that their wrong per se but also think there’s more to it then that

Spoilers for the movie, obviously

Here’s who should watch it

1. People here for a silly goofy time; with low expectations

2. People who like cats eating people

3. People who like women

4. People who like muscular women in tank tops

5. People who had a musical phase and aren’t quite as over it as they’d like everyone to believe

6. People who think Kamala’s brother is attractive

7. Ms Marvel fans

8. Did I mention the cats?

If you’re coming to watch a serious Avengers: Endgame type movie, I’m sorry but this ain’t it. However- However, I do think it’s a very enjoyable film.

I went to see it with my sibling and we had a lotta fun, where there plot holes? Yeah and I’ll get into it a bit, but like the characters for the most part where very likable and fun to watch; there were some well done fight scenes and some character development that I think was pretty darn okay.

Here’s what I think didn’t work- the pacing felt at times a little off but I believe that’s because they could’ve lost their battles a little harder. The first few losses are devastating but the second half of the movie they had a pretty easy time and lost with minimal damage to themselves (physically and emotionally) and the civilians/cities.

Captain Marvel as a character is generally over powered. Thats kinda her whole deal. Which is great for Captian Marvel fans but bad for writers because how does one set up any sort of stakes for that?

The answer is to pull emotional punches - if you can’t level up physically, it has to be emotionally- which the movie *almost* manages to pull off. Carol struggles because she feels like she doesn’t measure up to the hero Monica saw as a child and the hero Kamala thinks she is. She thinks she has to earn her place with family, and the only way to do that is by solving everything and saving everyone on her own, but everything she does just ends up making things worse. She feels like she is responsible (and kinda is) for the genocide of an entire race and a half of people and has to shoulder the weight and grief of that on her own.

Which is A GREAT CONCEPT!! I love that!!!

The movie only half way fallows through with that though. At the three-quarters point of the film where the interpersonal conflict comes to head (where it always does), it doesn’t quite hit as hard as it should. It doesn’t make me feel it, I want the gut punch and stab in the back while you’re at it.

I think they apologized just a littttle too quickly, which *is* in character, but doesnt necessarily make for the most entertaining screen drama

Over all though, there was some very fun fight scenes- the characters basically have this thing where they switch locations if they use their powers so the first fight is actually three fights on like different planets before they meet and that was cool; really fun cinematography

The cgi was well done (in my unprofessional opinion) and the costumes looked pretty good over all

Kamala is my favorite as she’s a teenaged character who actually feels like a teenager

She’s also an artist and fangirl who animates and writes fanfic so obviously I love her but yeah she totally stole the show; her family is amazing as well; 20/10 for them

It is briefly implied that Valkyrie and Captain Marvel have some sort of relationship (platonic? Romantic? No idea, there were cheek greeting kisses)

Carol Denver is technically married to some random prince though she makes it abundantly clear that it is completely platonic and only for a political advantage, he belongs to a race of people that can only communicate through singing and musical improvs, there’s this whole bit and I freaking love it.

The prince gives off Conan Grey vibes, no I can’t explain, no there will be no further commentary on that.

There’s also a sequence where the flerken (space kitties with tentacles in their mouths) are eating crew members. It’s shot like a horror sequence but has the most beautiful operatic music behind it- ten out of ten, I absolutely adore every second of it

Things that I think could’ve been changed for a more satisfactory ending:

⁃ Carol has too darn of an easy time, here’s how I’d change the ending:

I would have her flying into and restarting the sun as WAY more of a big deal. I’m sorry but that was to easy, she was completely unscathed by that.

I would’ve also had that be the final sacrifice of the film, instead of Monica. Like I get that Monica’s set her up for multiverse nonsense but I would’ve rather her stayed and Carol being the one to give up everything to atone. Of course it would need a little more lead up, but Monica’s did as well.

Together with that, I wouldn’t have had the villain chick attack again after being impaled, I would’ve let it play out and given her a second look into her character and whether or not she’d forgive Carol. I probably wouldn’t let her ultimately live either- have them both die (or ‘die’ in carol’s case most likely knowing marvel).

I think this would give Kamala and Monica a satisfactory point to their character arcs as well- Monica having forgiven Carol and accepted her as family contrasting where the villain doesn’t, and Kamala to a point where she both recognizes her hero’s humanity and fallibility but also great sacrifice thus motivating her to do start a team and do better to live up to the name she’s picked for herself.

Overall I rate the movie an 8/10, Kamala stole the show, I loved Monica, there were some great scenes, I had a lot of fun and I totally recommend it to anyone who’s into that sorta thing <3

[j-psilas]

Arthur Machen's Idea of Evil

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to explain one of my favorite ideas in fiction: the idea of positive evil.

The Christian conception of evil is, more often than not, one of negation. Evil is a lack of goodness, a turning away from God. Adam and Eve were born sinless, but acted against God’s will, and so fell from innocence and grace. Thence came Original Sin, an imperfection that was inherited by all humankind. A defect, a blemish—an alteration of what would have been their natural state.

For many people, this is the familiar way of viewing sin and evil, even if they aren’t familiar with all the strange theological offshoots that came from following it to its logical conclusions.

I’m not going to discuss those here, though they’re certainly worth investigating. Rather, I want to talk about how the late Victorian author Arthur Machen, regarded by many as the “grandfather of weird fiction,” created horror and mystery by rejecting this doctrine, and entertaining the possibility of evil with positive substance unto itself.

Picture very much related.

What separates crime from sin, vice from evil, animal fear from existential terror? Much of Machen’s horror fiction follows this line of inquiry in one way or another, but he answers it pretty directly in the prologue of The White People. It’s structured as a short Socratic dialogue between the author stand-in Ambrose and his evening visitor, Mr. Cotgrave:

‘I think you are falling into the very general error of confining the spiritual world to the supremely good; but the supremely wicked, necessarily, have their portion in it. The merely carnal, sensual man can no more be a great sinner than he can be a great saint. Most of us are just indifferent, mixed-up creatures; we muddle through the world without realizing the meaning and the inner sense of things, and, consequently, our wickedness and our goodness are alike second-rate, unimportant.'

'And you think the great sinner, then, will be an ascetic, as well as the great saint?'

'Great people of all kinds forsake the imperfect copies and go to the perfect originals. I have no doubt but that many of the very highest among the saints have never done a "good action" (using the words in their ordinary sense). And, on the other hand, there have been those who have sounded the very depths of sin, who all their lives have never done an "ill deed."'

[...]

'I can't stand it, you know,' he said, 'your paradoxes are too monstrous. A man may be a great sinner and yet never do anything sinful! Come!'

'You're quite wrong,' said Ambrose. 'I never make paradoxes; I wish I could. [...] Oh, yes, there is a sort of connexion between Sin with the capital letter, and actions which are commonly called sinful: with murder, theft, adultery, and so forth. Much the same connexion that there is between the A, B, C and fine literature. But I believe that the misconception—it is all but universal—arises in great measure from our looking at the matter through social spectacles. We think that a man who does evil to us and to his neighbours must be very evil. So he is, from a social standpoint; but can't you realize that Evil in its essence is a lonely thing, a passion of the solitary, individual soul? Really, the average murderer, quâ murderer, is not by any means a sinner in the true sense of the word. He is simply a wild beast that we have to get rid of to save our own necks from his knife. I should class him rather with tigers than with sinners.'

'It seems a little strange.'

'I think not. The murderer murders not from positive qualities, but from negative ones; he lacks something which non-murderers possess. Evil, of course, is wholly positive—only it is on the wrong side. You may believe me that sin in its proper sense is very rare; it is probable that there have been far fewer sinners than saints. Yes, your standpoint is all very well for practical, social purposes; we are naturally inclined to think that a person who is very disagreeable to us must be a very great sinner! It is very disagreeable to have one's pocket picked, and we pronounce the thief to be a very great sinner. In truth, he is merely an undeveloped man. He cannot be a saint, of course; but he may be, and often is, an infinitely better creature than thousands who have never broken a single commandment. He is a great nuisance to us, I admit, and we very properly lock him up if we catch him; but between his troublesome and unsocial action and evil—Oh, the connexion is of the weakest.'

It was getting very late. The man who had brought Cotgrave had probably heard all this before, since he assisted with a bland and judicious smile, but Cotgrave began to think that his 'lunatic' was turning into a sage.

'Do you know,' he said, 'you interest me immensely? You think, then, that we do not understand the real nature of evil?'

'No, I don't think we do. We over-estimate it and we under-estimate it. We take the very numerous infractions of our social "bye-laws"—the very necessary and very proper regulations which keep the human company together—and we get frightened at the prevalence of "sin" and "evil." But this is really nonsense. Take theft, for example. Have you any horror at the thought of Robin Hood, of the Highland caterans of the seventeenth century, of the moss-troopers, of the company promoters of our day?

'Then, on the other hand, we underrate evil. We attach such an enormous importance to the "sin" of meddling with our pockets (and our wives) that we have quite forgotten the awfulness of real sin.'

'And what is sin?' said Cotgrave.

'I think I must reply to your question by another. What would your feelings be, seriously, if your cat or your dog began to talk to you, and to dispute with you in human accents? You would be overwhelmed with horror. I am sure of it. And if the roses in your garden sang a weird song, you would go mad. And suppose the stones in the road began to swell and grow before your eyes, and if the pebble that you noticed at night had shot out stony blossoms in the morning?

'Well, these examples may give you some notion of what sin really is.'

[...]

'You astonish me,' said Cotgrave. 'I had never thought of that. If that is really so, one must turn everything upside down. Then the essence of sin really is——'

'In the taking of heaven by storm, it seems to me,' said Ambrose. 'It appears to me that it is simply an attempt to penetrate into another and higher sphere in a forbidden manner. You can understand why it is so rare. There are few, indeed, who wish to penetrate into other spheres, higher or lower, in ways allowed or forbidden. Men, in the mass, are amply content with life as they find it. Therefore there are few saints, and sinners (in the proper sense) are fewer still, and men of genius, who partake sometimes of each character, are rare also. Yes; on the whole, it is, perhaps, harder to be a great sinner than a great saint.'

'There is something profoundly unnatural about Sin? Is that what you mean?'

'Exactly. Holiness requires as great, or almost as great, an effort; but holiness works on lines that were natural once; it is an effort to recover the ecstasy that was before the Fall. But sin is an effort to gain the ecstasy and the knowledge that pertain alone to angels and in making this effort man becomes a demon. I told you that the mere murderer is not therefore a sinner; that is true, but the sinner is sometimes a murderer. Gilles de Raiz is an instance. So you see that while the good and the evil are unnatural to man as he now is—to man the social, civilized being—evil is unnatural in a much deeper sense than good. The saint endeavours to recover a gift which he has lost; the sinner tries to obtain something which was never his. In brief, he repeats the Fall.'

Emphasis added by me.

Sin, in Machen’s eyes, is a violation of the most fundamental laws of our universe—the principles that determines what is good, what is natural, what is up and what is down. In Platonic terms, it is a violation of the reality that proceeds from ‘God,’ the One, the Good.

To break these laws is not merely to turn away from God, but to turn towards something else. Some entity or principle that is wholly foreign to the Good, and is intruding upon our reality, imprinting itself upon matter and spirit alike. 

The sinner turns towards this Evil, just as the saint turns towards the Good, because it induces the same spiritual ecstasy, just in the opposite direction. 

You are making contact with a great spiritual Truth, be it supernal or infernal or simply weird, and the very essence of your being is undergoing a process of sublimation in accordance with that principle.

It’s a terrifying idea because it empowers evil in a way that Christian doctrine simply does not allow, and it acknowledges that depravity is, on some level, empowering. It’s not just that we want to get away with breaking the rules. It’s not that we want to follow our appetites without regard for the harm that it may cause. No, sometimes human beings want to commit real violence, spiritual or physical, simply for its own sake—just like we do good things for the sake of goodness.

Attributing that impulse to the influence of a transcendent law or entity, of the same kind as the One, presents an existentially perilous universe. Suddenly we are beset from all sides by forces from outside our reality, as infinite as there are directions, all of which threaten to change the essence of who and what we are. Acknowledging these intrusive powers could mean succumbing to them, and becoming something as foreign to humanity as blossoming cobblestones are to the laws of physics.

Someone beside you, to all appearances human, could be wearing that form only externally, and temporarily. They could in fact belong to something that should not exist in our world at all. And if given the chance, they would discard their human face and show you something that should not be manifested in matter at all.

Chilling, isn’t it?

I was going to talk about this idea in fiction besides Machen’s—I actually see some echoes of it in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, of all things—but this is already a fairly long post. I’ll save it for another time. 

To those who bothered to read this far, what are your favorite examples of ‘positive evil’ in fiction?

[danganronpa-abandoned-hope]

Danganronpa: Abandoned Hope Episode One Script

here's the script for the first episode, as promised! check under the readmore :3. Do remember that it's still a "rough draft", so there may still be some typos and unintentional grammar mistakes. please be constructive with any criticism.

Episode 1, February 13th

Mysterious voice: good morning, sir. We’re very appreciative that you’ve come to talk with us today. We understand that you likely have a very poor opinion of us, but rest assured we have no intention of harming you or your friends. W- No, won’t hurt the young lady here either. We just need your account of the events that took place. Yes we’ll be interviewing her too, so your honesty is of the utmost importance. The sources we have are flawed, some clarity is all we ask. You can provide this, can’t you?

????:: …. I… suppose ….

Mysterious voice: splendid! Could you introduce yourself before giving your account? for the record of course.

????: …. My name is Adaleus Valker. I attended the academy under the talent of “ultimate waltzer”. My talent encompassed everything from organizing events, hosting parties, and of course actually dancing. Admittedly I feel more pride in the hosting part of my talent rather than the dancing part, however the school was looking for a dancer, not a host. The talent program for my year sought to implement pairs with similar talents. I was a last minute addition; the person who originally held my talent couldn’t attend. 

Adaleus, flashback: I still remember the day before it all started. February 13th. We were snowed in so classes were canceled. That was good news to me, I never liked waking up early. Although this morning I stayed in a little too long 

???: *sounds of knocking* Adaleus you in there? It’s noon, wake up!

Adaleus, present: oH SHI *answers door* good morning Mrs Sasaki

Narration: Nozumi Sasaki, the well respected headmaster of this academy. Back in her day she was the ultimate linguist. She’s very good at her job, both as a translator and a headmaster, but unfortunately that means she’s overbearing as hell sometimes.

Sasaki: … Good afternoon. Adaleus I know school isn’t in session today but could you at least wake up at a decent time? 

Adaleus: ah… that’s my bad

Sasaki: just try to get to bed at a decent time tonight, wouldn’t want you to be groggy tomorrow 

 Narration: And with that she walked off 

Adaleus: geez, if I knew I’d get reprimanded like this I would’ve opted out of staying in the dorms

Narration: We were given the option if we wanted to stay in the dorms or not, most students opted out since it’s quite the trek down to the village, leaving only the ultimate class and the headmaster as the only people in the school dorms.

Eun: Hey you, you’re finally awake. I was looking for Sammie so we could get some lunch, wanna join?

Narration: that’s Eun Kocur, ultimate animal trainer. She specializes in birds and is currently keeping chickens and pigeons. We’re pretty good friends. Last month she dragged me along to a bird show her pigeons were competing in. They all won, of course. It would be weird if they didn’t.

Adaleus: yeah sure, food sounds good. 

Narration: we walked over to Sammie’s shared lab, passing some fellow students along the way

Eun: oh hey Umeko what’s up?

Umeko: oh hey Eun! Not much, how about you?

Narration: Umeko Ongaku, ultimate Chorist. She used to be so quiet that it was startling to hear her speak, let alone sing. Especially since she has such a deep voice. Sometimes I’d play the accompanying track for her choir if the usual accompanist couldn’t.

Benjiro: oh? who's there?

Narration: And that’s Benjiro Sasaki, ultimate instructor. One time he mentioned how he was originally going to be a teacher, but disliked small children so much he decided to go into lecturing instead. He really dislikes being singled out due to his blindness, and well kids aren’t necessarily known for their tact. His service’s dog is named Mina. Sometimes we joke about how she’s more sociable than he is. 

Eun: it’s just me and Adaleus, we’re getting lunch

Benjiro: Oh that makes sense, it’s like 12:10 right?

Adaleus: *i checked the clock on the wall* That's actually accurate. How did you do that?

Benjiro: I got a new watch

Adaleus: what? But I thought you were bli-

Umeko: it’s specifically for blind people, dumbass. The face of the watch has raised markers so that you can feel the time

Adaleus: *takes a closer look* oh that’s neat! Did you get it for him?

Umeko: yep! It was supposed to be for Christmas but it came in late. Man I’m such a bad girlf-

Eun: shhh shut up Mrs. Sasaki’s coming 

Umeko: Eep!

Narration: an air of awkward silence befell us as Mrs Sasaki walked by

Mrs Sasaki: hello

Eun: hiya 

Umeko: g-good afternoon 

Adaleus: hello 

Benjiro: hi mom

Misa: *quiet woof*

Narration: Mrs. Sasaki didn’t know that Benjiro and Umeko were dating, and quite frankly neither of them wanted her to know. She’s overbearing as is, I couldn’t imagine it would end well if she knew.

We parted ways with Ben and Umeko, only to run into someone else.

Maricella: hey hey hey Adaleus I gotta talk with you for a sec

Narration: Maricella Tai, ultimate knitter. It’s rare to see her not working on a project, and even rarer to see her without her knitting needles. Everyone here has at least one knitted item from her, currently she’s making everyone blankets. She often jokes about how her knitting needles could be used for self defense in emergencies.

Rina: you didn’t even need my help finding him

Narration: Rina Bellerose, Ultimate Ballerina. I share a talent lab with her. Sometimes we help each other practice for events but to be honest we’re pretty distant. Quite frankly I think she dislikes me quite a bit, but it’s rude to assume that of people.

Adaleus: oh hi what is it?

Maricella: ok so I started your blanket and I was using this one specific shade of blue but I ran out of it completely, is it okay if I use a different shade or would you rather it stay consistent?

Adaleus: oh yeah it’s fine if it’s different. Hey maybe that could be the pattern. One shade of a color followed by a second shade repeated?

Maricella: I. Like. Your. Thinking!! Cmon Rina let’s go!

Rina: you don’t need to run everywhere you know- 

Narration: and thus the sapphic’s left as quickly as they appeared. Finally we made it to Sammies lab. I could hear the radio through the door, playing some music I didn’t recognize. Eun placed a few firm knocks on the door.

Eun: Hey Sammie! We’re gonna get lunch now

Sammie: o-ok hold on a sec!

Narration: the radio was shut off and replaced with a shuffling of sorts. Before long the long anticipated Sammie showed up.

Sammie: ok let’s go!

Narration: Sammie Usuro, ultimate tailor. He’s rather proficient at his talent, usually having a backlog of requests for outfits and fittings. Though for some reason whenever I need my clothes repaired he always gets to it right away. He broke his leg last winter break after falling off a ski lift.

Adaleus: Hey Sammie! How's your leg feeling?

Sammie: ah it’s doing fine. Doctor said that the cast could come off in as little as two months!

Eun: that’s still quite a bit of time

Sammie: Well it’s better than losing the leg due to gangrene. Let’s go get lunch.

Eun: What were you guys thinking about? Personally I could go for anything right now.

Sammie: Honestly that new restaurant down in the village sounds really good.

Adaleus: It does, but how are we gonna get there?

Eun: oh! We could take a sled down then just stay the night in town. We can come back up when school starts back up!

Sammie: Then it sounds like a plan!

Narration: we made our way to the elevator. Yes it was a snow day, and yes eating out was a Saturday thing, but dammit that barbecue place sounded really good. Unfortunately there were issues surrounding the elevator:

Simire: AUUGHRRHR OPEN UP!!!

Narration: Simire Rohim, ultimate badminton player. The winner of several awards and championships, often gone for weeks at a time to play in games. It was… very surreal to see this well respected athlete struggling with the door so much 

Adaleus: What… is he doing?

Icarus: I left my pencil case in a classroom downstairs, but the door to the elevator/stairwell is locked for some reason.

Narration: Icarus Onassis, ultimate volleyball player. He used to be just as into volleyball as Simire was into badminton, but after a season he completely lost interest in sports as a whole. Now he only plays during talent festivals and tests.

Eun: Simire I doubt shaking the door is gonna make it work

Simire: well what else am I supposed to do? 

Eun: maybe get Mrs. Sasaki and ask her to unlock the door?

Simire: oh *leaves to go do that*

Eun: Hey, do you think if we shake him it’ll get his brain to work?

Icarus: hey Don’t make fun of him behind his back!

Sammie: that’s rich coming from the king of shit talk himself

Eun: So would it be ok if I said it to his face? 

Icarus: you-

Mrs Sasaki: What's the problem here?

Simire: the door won’t unlock and Icarus left his pencil case downstairs.

Mrs. Sasaki: Oh I Must have forgot to unlock the door, my apologies.

Narration: but when she went to unlock the door, her key didn’t work anymore

Mrs. Sasaki: That's… odd. It must be the cold weather messing with the locks. I’ll call the locksmiths and have them check out the doors as soon as possible.

Adaleus: damn, so no take out :(

Mrs. Sasaki: Were you really going out to eat in this weather? There’s 100 cm of snow outside!

Eun: well why else would we have the sled?

Mrs Sasaki: that’s for emergencies only, go make yourselves something to eat in the kitchen 

Sammie: :(

Narration: burdened with an unbearable sadness, we made our sorry ways to the kitchen. 

Artemisa, holding a basket of produce: hey are you three getting lunch too?

Narration: Artemisa Spicer, ultimate food chemist. She’s somehow both the most and the least organized person I know. She always has her mask on since she's always in and out of her lab or the kitchen. She was in charge of catering a party I was planning once and she did an excellent job, despite her odd schedule.

Sammie: yeah.. Mrs. Sasaki wouldn’t let us go out to eat

Artemisa: There's like 100 cm of snow out there and you can barely walk!

Eun: yeah but like that’s what the sleds for

Artemisa: no it’s not! I’m making a bunch of soup for lunch anyways, just have some of that.

Adaleus: fiiiiiine 

Narration: we followed Artemisa into the dinning area. Artemisa slipped into the kitchen, leaving us with the other students waiting for lunch.

Gigantia: heyyy mantits McGee what’s up!!!

Narration: Gigantia Ader, ultimate Embalmer. I’m not very knowledgeable of her talent, I personally have seen enough dead bodies to last me a lifetime, but those in the field apparently respect her work greatly. Her personality however…. 

Adaleus: Gigantia we’ve talked about this… 

Fatik: can’t you go a day without harassing someone?

Gigantia: hey tits aren’t inherently sexual!

Fatik: you’re pleading your case poorly

Narration: Fatik Lemaitre, ultimate taxidermist. Again, unfamiliar with the field however they don’t tend to make people as uncomfortable as Gia. They’re often rather cranky though, especially with the bad weather recently.

Juniper: Hey, stop talking about badonkers! Lunch is ready, we made soup!

Narration: Juniper Caito, ultimate orchardist. During the tragedy they cultivated hundreds of orchards, forests, and farms. They’ve probably improved the world the most out of any of us just on the basis of food production alone. Their talent lab is full of plants, I'm surprised that Artemisa gets anything done. 

Fatik: oh what kind of soup is it?

Juniper: soup flavor

Gigantia: oh boy my favorite 

Artemisa: there’s also fresh bread in kitchen if you want it with your soup or a sandwich or something 

Adaleus: Aw fuck yeah bread!

Eun: breads not that good though

Adaleus: sounds like someone’s never had good bread

Eun: whatever 

Narration: the soup flavored soup with the bread shaped bread was very good for lunch. Eun left to go do her own thing, so me and Sammie went over to the library to hang out a bit more. Since it’s basically the entertainment center, someone is always hanging out there

Lapis: oh hey guys what’s up!

Narration: Lapis Ongaku, ultimate soloist. Almost the polar opposite of sister, he’s as loud and fun loving as anyone with the title of ultimate center of attention. He has a tendency to go off and do his own thing, which gets on a lot of people’s nerves. 

Sammie: oh we were just gonna hang out here! That’s ok right?

Lapis: yeah yeah of course! I wasn’t doing anything too important anyway, the internet isn’t working.

Sammie: oh that's odd, then what are you doing on the computer?

Lapis: playing chess against the computer and losing horribly.

Adaleus, thinking: looking over at the computer I witnessed the worst chess strategy I have ever seen play out. It was almost funny 

Sammie: Maybe you should play something else. Oh, how about we play uno? That’s easier!

Lapis: Aw fuck yeah i’m a pro at uno! You’re gonna be sorry you ever challenged me! Then I’m gonna be sorry cause I hurt your feelings.

Narration: we played cards for a couple hours, chatting with people coming in and out of the library. Eventually we went and ate dinner, which was just leftovers. Heeding Mrs. Sasaki’s warning, I went to bed soon after. Though to be honest, had I known what was about to transpire… I don’t think I would’ve gone to sleep.

✨you can now watch from Eun’s Perspective✨

Narration: Well lunch was eventful, it was fun to see Fatik throw a bread roll at Gigantia after one too many puns. Even funnier to see her catch one with her mouth and swallow it whole like a snake. Now what to do now…

Lapis: oh hey Eun! Umeko wants to talk to you

Eun: wait why?

Lapis: idk, she said it’s a girl thing, and since I am not a girl I can’t be privy to this. 

Eun: makes sense, where is she?

Lapis: she’s by her room, probably, she might’ve moved, it’s like a floor it can’t take that long to find her

Eun: fair fair, I’ll go find her

Narration: lapis was right, she was outside her room. Her nameplate is somewhat shiner than the others since they got her name wrong at first. They got a lot of people's names wrong to be honest, how hard is “Eun” to remember geez.

Umeko: oh good you’re here

Eun: Yeah, what did you need? Lapis was really cryptic.

Umeko: yeah ok so uh you know how Valentine’s Day is tomorrow? W-well I wanted to get Benjiro chocolate, but we’re snowed in, so I figured I’d ask Artemisa for help to make them! But she gets really intense when cooking so I kinda need you there for moral support!

Eun: Wait, you’re scared of Artemisa? All 165 cm of her?

Umeko: I’m related to Lapis, I know damn well it’s the short ones you need to look out for! So are you helping or not??

Eun: Well of course I am! Gotta support the gal pals even if they are sniffing cowards

Umeko: aren’t you scared of crickets

Eun: hey! they're freaky little bastards who know and resent their place in the food chain!

Umeko: yeah right, lets go

Narration: we went down to Artemisa’s lab and luckily enough she was down to help Umeko with the chocolate. I did as I promised and stayed for moral support, but unfortunately I became privy as to why Umeko had reservations about this.

Eun: hey why’d you make me put my hair in a ponytail?

Artemisa: the twin tails are unsanitary. Whenever you lean forward your hair gets into anything you’re working in, and I’d prefer it if your hair didn’t transfer germs from your lab into mine.

Eun: Firstly, domesticated pigeons are very clean animals! 

Artemisa: humans are “clean” creatures and yet food safety still applies to them

Eun: But then why didn't you make Umeko change her hair? Or change your hair for that matter?

Artemisa: because her hair isn’t long enough to warrant the concerns I have about your hair. And I don’t lean over countertops with wild abandon

Umeko: Will you guys stop arguing? I’m trying to focus.

Eun: Oh sorry! 

Narration: we finished the chocolates without much incident besides the great hair debate. I even got some of the candy as a reward! They made a variety of flavors, so there's gotta be something in there that Ben will like. Though considering his sour attitude, I can’t be sure that he’ll appreciate anything sweet.

[odaclan]

Were the infamous skulls actually “skulls” or “heads”?

Some time ago, I was browsing the Unification/Azuchi-Momoyama volume of Kadokawa’s educational manga series on Japanese history. In a rather unique move, the scene of the presentation of Azai and Asakura’s heads depicted the whole heads gilded in gold instead of the usual skulls.

Indeed, the Shinchoukouki describes the heads as 首 kubi, which is the term used to usually mean heads. The description of the skull had come from the Azai Sandaiki, which mentioned that the heads had been “stripped of the flesh” before the lacquering.

The Azai Sandaiki was considered not entirely reliable, and the Japanese encyclopaedia labels it as more of a book of fables and folklore rather than a certified historical account. It makes sense that whoever worked on this manga then thought that maybe the heads are just heads based on the Shinchoukouki.

However, just because the Shinchoukouki doesn’t say “skulls”, doesn’t mean that they aren’t skulls. There are various words for “skull” (髑髏, 曝頭, 曝首, etc), but they’re not necessarily daily vocabulary that people would normally use at the time. 

So, if the Azai Sandaiki is not wholly reliable and the Shinchoukouki wasn’t clear, were they actually skulls or heads, though?

I personally believe that the answer is “skulls”.

Here is why I believe that it makes more sense for the heads to be cleaned down to skulls before lacquering and gold leafing them: 

The Azai father and son and Asakura Yoshikage were killed around September-October of 1573. After which, the heads were put in public display in Kyoto, where they were probably exposed to the weather and perhaps animals or insects. 

Asakura Shikibu no Daibu brought Yoshikage’s head to the Ryūmonji in Fuchū [...] Nobunaga entrusted Yoshikage’s head to Hasegawa Sōnin, who brought it to Kyoto, where it was put on exhibition. (The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, page 198)

Nobunaga sent the heads of the Azai, father and son, up to Kyoto, where they were put on display at a prison gate [...]  (The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, page 199)

This narration is corroborated by the existence of a letter Nobutada had sent, describing that Asakura’s head was being delivered to Kyoto for presentation (the letter was sent before the Oda army defeated the Azai).

While there’s no description of how long were they put on display for, it’s quite likely that they were going to be there for quite a while. These head displays were meant to serve as a proclamation of achievement and/or warning, after all.

By the time of the 1574 presentation, the heads had probably already deteriorated, and shall we say it’s not going to be a pretty sight? 

It has been argued that what Nobunaga did was a form of the head presentation ceremonies typically done with enemy heads post-battle. This ceremony highly values aesthetics, and it’s demanded for fresh heads to be washed, perfumed, and even decorated with makeup. 

Even supposing it actually isn’t a formal “head presentation”, the three heads were being displayed in a banquet. Skulls are going to be much more presentable than deteriorated heads (surely we all know zombies look horrible), and so I consider it to be the more likely option. 

Not to mention that there is also the additional possibility of the heads wearing down to the bones naturally, precisely because of having been exposed to the elements. Perhaps, then, when the Oda vassals retrieved them from their “display” in Kyoto, they were already turned into skulls.

[biblioflyer]

Ahsoka Theses Intro

I'm late to the party as usual but I wanted to let the show digest before I started banging out some thoughts. Some are pedestrian, many meandering. On the whole I liked it but also I felt like there's a lot of nits to pick with how the story unfolded.

As an amusing device, I'm dividing up my praise and complaints into Light Side and Dark Side Takes. As always, this is my two credits, your mileage may vary and I'm also down for having something I missed pointed out that seemed blindingly obvious to someone else.

And no, its not the usual complaints about Mary Sues or "Look how they massacred my boy!" blather that centers Legends as peak storytelling.

Additional entries in this series:

Light Side: "Balanced" Anakin

Dark Side: Efforts were clearly made to develop complex, layered characters through heavy prosthetics and contact lenses but someone dropped the ball on supporting these performances.

Just to prime the pump and for a sampling, here's a few short ones.

Light Side: The Action Choreography. 

I have generally been in favor of the return to more tense, tactical swordplay as compared to the flamboyance of the Prequel Trilogy. The jockeying for position and mind games before the first stroke is made really worked for me. I know some people seem to feel like the Prequel Trilogy’s high octane, more acrobatic combat conveyed the idea of superhuman power more, but the older I get, the more I find it more tedious than exciting.

Dark Side: The conflict between Ahsoka and Sabine just didn’t work for me. 

At any point. I was frustrated and disengaged with how the series saved the context for the sullen silences and the clipped remarks until the series was mostly over.

It certainly seemed like an attempt to set up an intriguing mystery. Why are Ahsoka and Sabine at odds? Is it Sabine? Is it Ahsoka? Is it Ahsoka’s baggage from the Jedi and Anakin? Is it Sabine’s Midicholorian deficiency? 

We don’t get a real clue until Ahsoka’s shadow play with Anakin. Then we finally get the unpacking of some of her fears over being tainted by her experiences as a child soldier and being the padawan of the man who went on to become the second most evil person in the galaxy up to that point.

Huyang’s explanation of the conflict to Ezra, in my opinion, steps all over the much better explanation that it was all Ahsoka and her conflicted feelings over the Jedi, how she was trained, and whether she was herself actually a good person after everything she had to do. Instead the explanation is apparently that Ahsoka is afraid of what Sabine could become with the right training. 

Which isn’t necessarily bad as explanations go: Mandalorians aren’t exactly known for being on the same page as the Jedi as to when violence is and isn’t an appropriate tool for a situation. It's just an explanation that is less directly connected to Ahsoka’s journey from gray to light.

I suppose these two explanations aren’t even mutually exclusive. Huyang is observant but not omniscient. Nothing says he has to be taken as if its from an entirely reliable narrator, although he’s presented as pretty darn reliable. Further, it could be both at the same time: Ahsoka fears that she is incapable of training someone who won’t fall to the Dark Side and she also fears that Sabine’s baggage and instincts lead to a natural affinity with the Dark Side and a Dark Side Mandalorian would be bad news indeed.

Light Side: Ahsoka Tano, Child Soldier

The switch from seeing animated Ahsoka to a live action, age appropriate Ahsoka was harrowing. It absolutely, positively did what it needed to do: to represent all of the complicated feelings Ahsoka has about the Jedi Order, Anakin, and the trajectory of her life. It's left unsaid, but it offers an implicit explanation for why she doesn’t stay on as a teacher for Luke’s new Jedi Order nor are there hints that she had any inkling to mentor him. 

That Ahsoka would struggle to form a connection with Sabine, another child of war, would make perfect sense. I’m slightly less thrilled about Huyang going so far as to suggest Ahsoka feared Sabine, but it might be proper to say that what Ahsoka fears is that she only knows how to forge people into instruments of destruction and thus any lineage she starts will be at risk for falling to the Dark Side.

Baylon is also an effective mirror to show what Ahsoka could be if she’d traded fear for resentment and let it curdle.

Credit where credit is due, Ariana Greenblatt can play any traumatized alien child she wants. That is a kid who has a natural talent for acting through prosthetics. Watch this kid, because I think she could be the female Doug Jones if she wants that career path. 

It just shouldn’t have taken five episodes to reach this kind of breakthrough in unpacking the title character’s motivations.

[talenlee]

Game Pile: Tricksters

Tricksters is a lightweight narrative TTRPG by Kurt Potts, and it’s for playing short stories about the trickster archetype, with highly flexible creative player character construction and a largely player-driven narrative focusing on morality plays. Literally, it’s a game about playing a village or town’s little mischievous goblin, someone who dances into a story and does something unpredictable and possibly magical to create a twist in the narrative of what’s unfolding. And then everybody claps.

Before I talk about this game, I want to underscore that this is a game that costs $3. There is no reason to think that I am mad at this game based on its value or that it’s reasonable to treat this game’s problems as if they’re not a real problem because it costs $3. This is a sweet little game, I like it, but I also think that liking it involves holding it up and turning it to look at what it’s doing.

Anyway, this is about setting up that particular genre of short story where an obvious lesson is learned and a life is changed. It’s pretty much the core of the kind of story this one wants to tell but it’s more about frogs in waistcoats and dapper raccoons doing it than a Dhar Mann video where suddenly the mean girl discovers the boy she ditched is in fact, rich, and has a good car. That is the genre we’re talking about here – you’re trying to create stories where surprise! You fool! You should change your ways and learn a lesson, and the sheer improbability of the story around you is part of that.

Except and this is important, it is not the storyteller who is setting up player characters to wind up in these ‘whoops, you fool!’ just-so stories, but instead the player characters are independent freewheeling liars and plotters who are trying to set up these stories around the non-player characters of the world they’re in. It’s a game where the players are explicitly here to make a story about characters making a story, and that nesting creativity is pretty interesting.

It also speaks to a strength of Tricksters, which is that if you’re the kind of person who hears a prompt like that and immediately imagines things you’d do with it, you’re probably the target audience. This is a game that’s about taking its central idea and executing on it with as much freedom to create as possible.

Do you want your character’s power, their gimmick, the thing they do in the TTRPG you are playing ostensibly with your friends, to be shapeshifting? Sure, you can do that! Do you want it to be summoning fruit? You can, too! Do you want it to be time-travel that lets you teleport back in time to the childhood of a character you’re talking to?

Yeah.

You can do that.

And thus we hit the weakness of games in this particular type, which is that when your game is built around vibes, it can often be challenging to induce those vibes in someone else. The game even cites characters like Coyote and Loki – the mythical ones – as an example of the archetype. Thing is, if you’re like me, you can walk away from those two examples with a wild idea of what player characters are expected to do. Balancing characters like these is handled by the game saying you should talk to other players so nobody is necessarily doing the same thing as one another.

That’s it.

There aren’t sample powers or lists of suggestions. Those are things I’d find really good to add to this kind of thing if the purpose was to consider building the characters, but this game book – which is twelve pages long, so please don’t imagine they’re wasting space here – is focused more on economically creating the structure and an example of the kind of story you’re aiming for rather than explain to you the kinds of things your characters should be.

You should get it.

It’s the vibes.

I think this is a game where the actual art and aesthetic of the presentation is extremely important. I think when you see art of a foppish jester trying to fool a village, or of animals standing on their hind legs chatting about what to do, it gives you a better handle on the levels and genre of the power you’re going to be dealing with.

This game is tight and it is crisp; there is no wasted space in any of what it’s doing, and if you can hit its vibe you will have a great avenue to make an interesting kind of story about looking at characters in terms of how they are creative, rather than how they overcome threats or danger. That rules, I love that. It reminds me of my favourite detail about superheroines, where a superhero is an identity a person creates and therefore, that superhero reflects what makes sense to that character. There aren’t a lot of stories in that space, and Tricksters steps around the normal resolution mechanics of ‘I do that’ to instead leave naked, empty space for the characters to come up with their stories. That means you don’t get to just tell people ‘I convince them,’ you have to come up with the story and the idea of how you explain that story to someone.

That’s cool! That’s a depth you get that you have to pursue yourself, the player characters have to make choices about what the world they’re in is like when they tell these stories and the stories get to be the things that make sense to the player characters, and tells a story of how they tell stories!

And with that unfortunately, you kind of have to already be good at these things. This is a game, it’s practice, it’s playful, and that’s okay, but if you’re not familiar with these kinds of stories, if you’re not comfortable with the trickster archetype already, this game isn’t going to help you get there. Your friends might, that’s great, but, as with many micro-RPGs in this space, this is a thing to play and try out and see how you vibe with it, rather than a thing that I can recommend in its own right.

Neat little game, costs almost nothing, you might already own it. Check it out and if you play a session, tell the author!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[totallynotsilversora]

So because I am In Too Deep (by Sum 41) here’s all the hidden details below the cut starting with the Title

1) Studio Orange is known for animating many shows including Land of the Lustrous, hence their title “the Illustrious Studio Orange”

2) Nightow makes an appearance on a Wanted poster as “Nightow the Comix Artist” in a few episodes, notably when Meryl and Roberto read a brochure about Vash.

3) The title itself has 3 Easter eggs:

The i in Trigun is shaped like a bullet

The u is for Undertaker and is shaped like a headstone

There are 5 “moons” in the title including the brackets, separated by the title (kind of like a hole)

4) Of course we know Vash is the Humanoid Typhoon, but did you know the other cast members have their own titles, too?

Here are the ones Funimation made for them back when the 1998 anime aired:

… and here they are again at the bottom right of this poster:

5) Speaking of captions, it’s not necessarily just the Ballad of Vash the Stampede but the Ballad of Humanity (yknow like the Song of Humanity)!

6) Does that ring behind Vash look familiar?

It’s not a scope/ target frame; it’s a radar — something that’s been used to detect tropical storms like hurricanes and typhoons.

7) Vash and his Thomas are actually headed the opposite direction of a typhoon. Normally typhoons blow from west to east and stay in the Western hemisphere, but here he’s moving from east headed west. That’s because Hawaii is in the Eastern hemisphere and therefore receives hurricanes (which do move from east to west) instead of typhoons. Otherwise they are considered the same phenomenon!

8) Now on to the Hawaiian stuff!

Vash obviously got a different birthday suit on and since Trigun is a “space western” I thought it’d be fun if he got decked out like a Hawaiian cowboy or paniolo! Look up a Paniolo Parade and I promise you won’t be disappointed!

9) Speaking of his outfit, he’s lost the red coat and is now wearing a red feather cape trimmed with black rooster feathers, or an ʻahuʻula - a special type of feathered cape usually reserved for males of nobility in Hawaii. Realistically I don’t think he’d wear one but I made one for this piece anyways as a nod to that! He’s a very special guy after all!

10) The red geraniums on his wrist and hat aren’t new, but the marigolds and jasmines are! Both marigolds and jasmine can be found growing in the desert, and jasmine specifically have some importance in Hawaii as the wedding flower ;)

11) Of course our Thomas can’t go out not wearing any pretty things either!! This bird got decked out in all sorts of desert flora (sans the geraniums and a special purple flower near the end) ! From left to right it’s marigolds, mimosa (acacia), red bougainvillea, and succulents! There’s also a layer of palm leaves on the top and bottom of the lei.

(I’m not one for flower language so interpret these however you want!)

12) And last but not least (and probably my favorite part of this whole thing) the red drape on the Thomas! Yes it’s similar to a poncho but the pattern does hold significance:

The design was based on Hawaiian tattoos or kākau (and yes different Polynesian cultures have their own unique tattoo styles) Although the designs and the interpretations are extremely loose, here was what I came up with:

Triple triangle in the corner >> Lōkahi = harmony/unity

Top layer of trapezoids >> Humans/people = community/humanity on No Man’s Land

Middle layer of lines >> centipede = determination against hardships/war (either protection or brothers in arms in certain cultures) / the OG worms or WAMs in No Man’s Land

Bottom layer of blank triangles >> half kalo or taro leaves = new generations/family/origins/ the plants in No Man’s Land

Vash’s goal has always been about bringing love and peace to everyone so this drape is supposed to represent that goal!

And that’s all the intended hidden features in this poster! I hope y’all like it as much as I had fun making it! Mahalos!

HOLY SHIT GUESS WHO FLEW IN TO HAWAI'I FOR HIS BIRTHDAY!! YEAH, THAT GUY!!

[imaginestuffs]

Silly Bet- Eddie Munson x Reader

word count:2541

warnings: none, just fluff

summary: Gareth bet the kids that they wouldn't be able to talk to you. And when they win, they bring you to Hellfire to prove it, and that's when you meet Eddie, the boy you watched from afar who held a place in your day-to-day thoughts since you saw him.

(gif not mine!)

You had met Eddie in the summer of your first year in Hawkins, you had just moved there from California and everything was still so new to you. You had gotten there just as the spring semester had started, and you had been pretty well accepted. You weren’t popular necessarily, but you weren’t considered a nerd or freak by any means. People were relatively kind to you just as you were to them. You didn’t cause trouble and your grades were decently high. Usually, you sat at a table alone in the cafeteria just so you could read peacefully during the small break you had. At times there were people who would come and ask to sit with you and you would happily oblige especially when those people were kids who weren’t the most well-received. You never shied away from accepting people, it was just something you were taught to do and it made you feel better knowing that people could come up to you knowing they wouldn’t be turned away.

You would see Eddie and his friends sit at their table and have the most animated discussions and it always put a smile on your face. He was never afraid to cause a scene, whether it be making fun of jocks or just speaking as loudly as he could when he was passionate about something. It was something you admired about him really, it was just one more thing that caused your heart to grow fonder of him. Though you had never properly met him, you had a little place in your thoughts reserved especially for him. 

You knew he was known as the resident freak, or even ‘bad boy’ as some of the cheer squad called him. And to be honest, it intrigued you, it made you want to get to know him. You were definitely more reserved but didn’t turn someone down when spoken to. Sure you got nervous meeting new people and could be bashful at times but you learned to push through that and always see the positives.

You had just been introduced to the young group of boys you had seen sitting with him all the time. They had nervously walked up to you at your locker on the last day before the summer break. Introducing themselves as Dustin, Mike, and Lucas. You immediately smiled at them and introduced yourself to them as well. 

“Uh, (y/n)?” you heard a voice from behind you. You turned around and smiled at the sight of the boys. “Hello,” you greeted with a soft wave. They looked a bit awkward as they stood in front of you. “Did you guys need something?” you asked them. “Oh, um, we just wanted to say hi, we’ve seen you around, and seem really nice. You know, you’re still kind of new here so we thought we’d introduce ourselves. I’m Dustin,” the curly-haired boy told you and reached out his hand. Your smile brightened and you reached out to shake his outstretched hand. “This is Mike, and Lucas,” he pointed at the other two boys. “Well it’s really nice to meet you all, is there anything else you needed?” you asked and looked between the three of them. 

“Actually um, we made a bet with our friend Gareth, that we’d be able to talk with you. You know introduce ourselves,” Lucas explained. You nodded your head, “Oh, well what did he think I’d do? Not talk to you? That’s silly,” you said and shook your head. “That’s what we told him. I told him you were too nice to turn us down,” Dustin said and you chuckled. “Well, I’m really glad I got to meet you all, and tell your friend I said hello and he can talk to me whenever he’d like,” you said with a playful grin. 

“You know what, would you mind coming with us so that we can prove to Gareth that we aren’t lying?” Mike asked you. “Yeah, of course, I’d love to,” you said and closed your locker before walking through the halls with them. “So, do you guys have any plans for summer?” you made conversation. “Mostly D&D,” Dustin answered and you chuckled a bit. “My brother actually loves to play, he talks about it all the time,” you told them. Their eyes lit up, “Really, that’s awesome. What’s his name?” Lucas asked with a bright smile. “His name is Alex, he’s actually in your grade,” you explained. “What’s your last name, I might know him,” Dustin said. “Oh, Our last name is (l/n),” you informed them. “Yeah! I know him, he seems really cool, super friendly,” he said. “Yeah that’s him, not very shy is he?” you laughed softly. “Definitely not,” Dustin said with a smile. You approached the door and Mike held it open for you. “Thank you, Mike,” you said gratefully as you stepped into the room behind Lucas. You could feel eyes on you, and so you looked up from the floor to in fact see everyone staring at you. 

“Hi,” you waved softly at everyone. “You actually did it?” Gareth asked in surprise. “Who did what?” a familiar voice came from the doorway. You turned to the door just to see the boy that you just couldn’t shake from your thoughts: Eddie Munson. “Dustin, Lucas, and Mike got (y/n) (l/n) to talk with them. I bet them that they couldn’t,” Gareth explained. 

Eddie’s eyes moved around the room until they settled on you. “Well, isn’t that a surprise,” he said and you furrowed your brows. He smiled at your expression, he would never tell anyone but he swore you were the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. With your baby blue striped shirt neatly tucked into your white skirt, wearing hightops. 

He could barely look away from you, “And why is that surprising?” you asked and shifted your weight. You didn’t understand why but being in his presence made you a bit bashful. “Well, princess you don’t seem like the type to talk with freaks,” he explained. Heat flooded your cheeks at the pet name he used for you. “I wouldn’t say your freaks, you just enjoy different things than other people. I mean so does my brother and he’s not a freak,” you said with a small shrug. “I actually quite enjoy sitting in on my brother’s campaigns. He and his friends were usually my responsibility and I tended to enjoy watching them be so passionate about something,” you explained. Eddie looked at you with a raised eyebrow. “Your brother plays D&D and you enjoy it?” he asked slowly. You nodded your head, “Yeah, I honestly do. It’s actually pretty cool,” you said shyly. “Does this little brother of yours have a party?” he asked in curiosity. “Not currently, no,” you answered. “Well maybe you should drop by again, and we’ll see what happens,” Eddie suggested and it brought a warm smile to your face as you looked at him fondly. 

“I think that would be great. Where do you guys meet for the summer?” you asked. “Right here, princess,” he said gesturing to the room they were currently occupying. “How? The school is closed,” you asked in confusion. “Let’s just say that’s not a problem for me,” he said with a wink. You looked at him in surprise and just chuckled a bit. “Alright then, I guess, I’ll see you guys same time, next Friday?” you asked excitedly. “We’ll be here,” he said. 

After that day, you had begun to bring your little brother every Friday. Sometimes staying to watch seeing as it was ok with Eddie and the rest of the party. You had grown fond of the boys, and your small crush on Eddie had begun to grow. Over the next few weeks, you had grown closer to him, and would eventually end up hanging out outside of the club environment. 

The first time you hung out was on a Saturday night. He had asked if you’d like to watch a movie at his place and you said yes. It had become a regular thing for both of you. Sometimes you’d sneak out of the house just to go see him. 

Tonight felt different though.

You were over at Eddie’s place just sitting and hanging out like usual. Something about that night felt different, there was slight tension. You didn’t completely understand what was going on with him, he seemed distant, he seemed far away. 

“Hey, Eds,” you said and looked over at him lying next to you. “Hmm,” he hummed, letting you know he was listening. “Are you ok?” you asked nervously, playing with a loose string on your sweater. He could hear the nerves in your tone and turned to look at you. “Yeah, I’m fine, what makes you ask?” he wondered. “It’s just you seem tense and I’m worried. Have I done something wrong?” you asked worriedly. His big brown eyes widened at your worry, “What? Of course not, you’ve done nothing wrong. I just can’t get this girl out of my head,” he explained. Your heart sunk at the news. You had to have known that nothing was going to happen between you, but that little bit of hope always stayed floating around inside of your mind. 

“Oh, really, do I know her?’ you asked softly with a teasing smile. Trying your best not to let your hurt show. “I think you might, yeah,” he nodded his head with a big smile. “What’s she like?” you wondered as you sit up and cross your legs beneath you. “Well, she’s got the prettiest (e/c) eyes I’ve ever seen, her smile lights up a room, and she’s one of the funniest and most kind people I’ve ever met.” he began to explain. “Yeah?” you asked kindly, letting him know to continue. “She has never once disregarded anyone, and I swear her laugh is the most beautiful sound ever. She loves her little brother more than anything, and she treats the boys like they’re her family too. I mean, she’s smart, she likes D&D, sure she’s not metal but she’s soft and sweet, more often than not smells like roses,” he describes her, and it sparked a small thought in the back of your mind. Could he be talking about you? And to your utter surprise, he admits it. 

“Oh, right. And she’s sitting right next to me,” he said with a smug little smile as he watched you. Your eyes widened and a blush swept your cheeks in the dim lamp light. Your heart swelled at his words and you tried your best to bite back a grin. You delicately raise your hand to move a piece of hair away from his face, letting your fingertips linger against his cheek. “Well, she can’t get you out of her head either,” you said with a warm smile. 

He gently reached up to grab your wrist and place a kiss on it. “The second you walked into the club meeting for the first time, I knew that I couldn’t let you get away. You were too special, too sweet not to fall for,” he said and you averted your gaze. He sat up and let go of your wrist so he could carefully turn your face to look at him. Your eyes were bright, and your lips curved into a soft smile. 

“You know, I always saw you around but I never got the chance to talk to you until that day. I was more nervous than I had been in a long time, and I knew from the first time I saw you that I had to know you,” you revealed shyly. “I made you nervous?” he asked with a raised brow. “That’s all you got from that?” you asked with a chuckle. You could feel the coolness of his rings gently nipping at the warmth of your cheek. “Maybe,” he tilted his head and you giggled once more. 

“Can I ask you something?” he questioned and let his thumb stroke your cheek. You leaned into his touch and nodded, “Of course,” you answered. “There’s just something I’ve always wanted to do,” he continued dragging out his asking. You nodded again,” Ok, and what is that?” you asked raising your brow as you reached one hand up to take a hold of the hand that was resting on your cheek. 

“Can I kiss you?” he asked quietly. You bit your lip lightly and nodded your head. He gently used his thumb to tug your bottom lip from between your teeth. He leaned closer and you let your eyes flutter shut, your lashes swept your cheeks. He admired you for a few seconds before pressing his lips to yours. The kiss was short and sweet, and just as he pulled away you chased after and kissed him once again. This kiss was longer, and more passionate than the one before, he let go of your cheek and moved his hands to rest on your waist. Slowly helping you as you pushed yourself to rest with a leg on either side of him. One hand was on his shoulder while the other rested on his cheek, making sure to keep him close. Your lips moved in sync for as long as your lungs would allow them to. You pulled away and let your eyes open, just to see a wide smile and those beautiful brown eyes staring back at you. 

“That was definitely more than I thought it would be,” he said and shook his head lightly. “And what is that supposed to mean?” you asked and let both hands come to rest over his shoulders. “Well, I definitely didn’t expect you to be on my lap, and I did not expect you to chase after me like that,” he explained and you blushed before going to move off of his lap. “Hey, no, you don’t have to move, I just wasn’t expecting that.” He said and moved to rest his hand on your thigh to keep you where you were, but light enough to let you move if you wanted to. You settled on his lap again and let your fingers run through his hair. “Plus, I thought it was pretty cute,” he teased and you swatted his shoulder before resting your head there. 

You felt him laugh and wrap his arms around your back, holding you flush against his chest. 

“You know, I’m pretty happy that Gareth lost that bet, although I would’ve found a way to make you mine anyway,” he said and kissed your head. You smiled against his neck, “And I was already yours before we even met,” you said and kissed his jaw. You felt him laugh again and hold you tighter. 

“I love you, princess,” he said and you pulled away to look in his eyes, “I love you too Eds,” you said and placed one last kiss on his lips.

“Bet this will scar the kids,” he whispered and you threw your head back in laughter. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on the column of your throat. You looked back at him and just smiled, “Yeah, it just might,”