#you can very much take this as a hint for the color palette of that set

[lucascsinclairs]

Time Stamp Roulette​

s4e9: The Piggyback

[sunshine-in-a-bottle]

what are your favourite designs for c!awesamdream (be it clothing, hair style, species or sth else?)

!!!! Squishes you. Hello friend<3

Sam is Puppycat you see. He's a creeptaur usually when I'm designing him. I actually made references a while back for different breeds of creeptaurs, because I very briefly went insane over the idea of making a whole host of lore and culture for creeper hybrids.

The main four types here are Chinese Mountain Cat, Lynx/Snow Leopard, Pallas, Tiger. Lynx/Snow Leopard is crossed here is because Lynx already came with a bobbed tail, so I used a snow leopard tail for the "long tailed" version.

Sam is a mix between the upper right and the lower left. Pallas/Lynx. He's got the Bigger Paws but he's Fluffier. He also has the bobtail. His mother was a longtail pallas and his father was a bobtail Lynx.

(This is a really old art reference so likely I'll go back and redo these with the added color palettes I have for different biomes. And likely add more cat types.)

Sam also has the ability to become bipedal with a special ring that a lot of hybrids purchase from Hypixel! You twist it left to assume a more human-shaped appearance, while twisting it right to assume your True Form. Not everything in the world is made to perfectly accommodate all shapes and sizes of hybrids (Foolish is like 20 ft tall) so the ring helps people who would like to be able to get through doorways without bonking their antlers or getting their wings caught.

(Punz has a similar ring and uses it to hide their bee features. While the ring was invented purely to be helpful to the general populace, it doesn't change the bigotry and xenophobia that still remains.)

Dream is a bit trickier. I usually picture him as a human when reading fics, but I don't always consider him to be Actually Human? I like to think of Admins as their own species, something that can often pass as human but is just A Little Off.

So he's a human-looking person with long, dark blonde hair that turns white-gold by the time prison happens. Its curly when its well taken care of; Dream does not take care of himself for a long time.

Sam's hair is short, dark green, and very fluffy, vs Dream's hair being silky. He's a head taller than Sam, but not as broad-shouldered as Sam. He has top scars, has gotten magical bottom surgery via XD,

He's absolutely covered in freckles, full-body, and they get fainter in the winter and darker in the summer. Sam has dark green spots under each eye. His skin is green, and fuzzy with fluff in certain places. Dream is missing a middle finger on his right hand and a pinkie finger on his left post-prison.

Depending on how I feel, sometimes I give him lava burn scarring that starts at his upper arm and creeps up to the left side of his face, around the upper jaw, ear, and forehead. Its usually very faint, a pinkish color.

Pre-prison he has a scar on the back of his hand from a manhunt where he cut it up on some rocks, and a slash across the nose from his duel with Techno.

Yellow and gold are big colors in Sam's wardrobe, followed by white/cream, brown, occasionally black, and hints of red. Dream's wardrobe is always primarily green and black, with ender eye blues and enderman purples. The only red he tends to wear is the friendship bracelet he has that represents Sapnap. And the blood of his enemies. Normal things like that.

Post-prison Dream eventually gets a netherite enchanted cane. It does about as much damage as a netherite shovel and when it hits someone it can set them on fire. Dream and Sapnap think its very funny to test on Sapnap (blazeborn and immune to fire damage.)

[xxsycamore]

Hi, Mo!💕💫 *kisses your forehead* Thank you so much for letting me drop a request!💝

What about Licht Klein + Sex in the open sea?👀 Maybe they decided to go on a little vacation near the sea and things started to get ✨️steamy✨️ because Emma looks too sexy in her little see-through sundress?👀🔥 Let your imagination run wild and finish the rest of it!

P.S. Please don't hesitate to reject the request if it becomes too burdensome for you!

Here's a bunch of kisses and cuddles from your beloved Napo to energize you!😘🫂

𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘉𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘢 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦

↬  🌊 ❝ It's rather see-through. The gossamer makes your underwear visible. It aroused me.❞ It catches her off-guard, bubbles of bliss liquifying into something hot, demanding, flammable. She feels it pooling right in the pit of her belly.

Licht Klein x MC(Emma) • rating: E (MDNI) • tags: Semi-public Sex; Frottage; Thigh-fucking; Clothed Sex; Creampie • wordcount: 1,336 • masterlist

a/n: OUHHHH *is kissed on the forehead* 🥺🥺🥺🥺💕💕💕 Of course, Mys!! Your requests are always very inspiring, and writing something spontaneously is always fun! Oh, I can definitely work with that, yes... Oh my god, a Napo-love-booster?! I'm suddenly able to complete this request in less than three days after you sent it...don't look at me... 🙈 Hope you enjoy!! ❤ For Late Summer Rendezvous, prompt 8: Sex in the Open Sea

From head to toe, Emma's form is nothing short of alluring.

With leisure and fun in the way she conducts herself once they gain privacy, and with her dazzling smile never falling from her face, Emma is the epitome of vacation to him. He doesn't need the sea, really. He can rejuvenate at the sight of her alone.

But this is Emma, and the palette of emotions flowing from her smiling lips right into Licht's soul is rich and diverse; it's never just one thing or the other. Just as he's perfectly calm, floating without a care on the sheer sea breeze, he's also excited. He's out there, pliant and carried by the waves, but he's also right here, standing up from his seat hurriedly to cross the distance between them and embrace her from behind. Pouncing on her, almost. She's startled a little, so he withdraws but her giggles come quick to reassure.

"You like the sight, Licht?"

He rests his chin on Emma's shoulder, noting the light perfume she'd applied on the delicate skin of her neck.

"Yes. You make a beautiful sight on the background of the sea."

A troubled noise that signals embarrassment is all Emma can mutter before her lips are captured in a kiss. It's as light as the sea breeze, only briefly scraping against her receptors with refreshment so she can begin to ache for it to fully embrace her. Licht is far more generous in comparison.

He always indulges her. If he breaks the kiss before she does, there must be a hint of urgency coloring his voice.

"Your sundress," he runs a warm hand down her side, fingers sinking softly into her waist. "You're very pretty in it."

Still feeling Licht on her lips, Emma almost abandons speaking in favor of anticipatingly waiting for his return. Hands gripping the railing for balance, her fluttering heart is embarrassed from the pause she made, but a rushed 'thank you' escapes her mouth as she smiles at Licht, half-turning to be able to face him.

Licht's own subtle smile is beautiful to her when he leans in to press it against the side of her face, moving further to whisper in her ear.

"It's rather see-through. The gossamer makes your underwear visible. It aroused me."

It catches her off-guard, bubbles of bliss liquifying into something hot, demanding, flammable. She feels it pooling right in the pit of her belly.

"I'm- I didn't realize-"

"Emma."

Licht takes hold of Emma's fumbling about hands, gently, groundingly. When he's pressed like so behind her, she can't hope to catch a glimpse of his face, so she becomes hypersensitive to his body language for cues. To his voice coming in her ear.

"Emma. Enjoy the sight."

Eyes bored into nothing in particular in the vast open sea beyond them, Emma realizes she's been watching without seeing. And she would be doing exactly that for any following ministration of Licht, his request fairly impossible.

Curiously, she sticks out her rear just a tad, finding that the distance between them is not yet as minimal as it can be.

There it is, the unmistakable hardness of his arousal. The place it touches through layers of clothing burns with heat, or it might be Emma's own arousal that lit the flames. She's always quick to follow. When Licht aches for her, she aches for Licht.

Before she can decide what to do with herself, Licht reminds her he's always got her. A roll of his hips follows, deliciously relieving. A relief she shouldn't be reveling in, her mind alerts.

"We can't— here—"

The next buckle of his hips is shallow and he cuts it short by withdrawing briefly from Emma, hand still holding onto hers on top of the railing.

"This part of the deck is off-limits." It's practically true. Their cabin is situated here, at the back of the ship, and their status naturally comes with provided privacy. "We're hidden from all eyes. It's just you, me, and the sea."

The distance is shortened to zero again, Licht's hips pressing flush against her. Demandingly. His bulge pokes into her backside and she suddenly wishes her dress was even thinner, letting her feel him more, old concerns of its transperity melting in the heat that surrounds them.

Licht has barely touched her, and she's gasping for air, imagining sensations that aren't there entwined with the unmistakable and very real friction created by his hips. The layers still separate them, but Emma feels her insides singing for him; pulsing, clenching and releasing to stimulate the illusion.

"Would you allow me to move your panties aside, Emma?"

Allow him? Emma would beg, and then he would regret begging, with a red face and heaving chest. But Licht is so kind to her. Her nods are enthusiastic.

"Then..." Licht's right hand leaves Emma's, and the shuffle of clothes gets to her ears. Her insides convulse. The scrape of Licht's nails where they sink to take the fabric away together with their sweep is yet another fleeting sensation that falls short of the mark to inflict direct pleasure, but gods, does it leave her dripping. The sea breeze hits her bare, most delicate parts, and it brings a hint of indecency that she strangely enjoys.

She expects the delicious friction brought by the rough textile of Licht's trousers on her clit, and she jumps upon feeling something entirely different instead. Not knowing when Licht managed to free his cock from the confines of his trousers, she winces at the startling sensation of it coming in contact with her glistening folds and the surge of liquid arousal it draws from her. Licht takes advantage of it, burying his cock head in her entrance and withdrawing, coating himself in her slick juices. With the newly added lubrication, it's way too easy for him to slide along the junction of her inner thighs, squeezed between them.

"Emma..." His voice is needy, a gentle 'cooperate with me', accompanied by a delicate but firm hand pressing at the side of her thigh. Cooperate with me, keep your legs tightly shut.

It's easier said than done, because Emma's legs naturally fall open under the weight of her own lust; moved by the instinct to let him in. She does her best, biting on her bottom lip, and Licht praises her with a kiss against her nape.

Using a hand for the first few thrusts, he guides his cock with a controlled slide. The feeling of having nowhere to bottom out is agonizing, as the head pokes out between Emma's thighs. But it just gets him harder as he chases after the pleasure.

His other hand leaves Emma's as well, leaving her to brace herself against the railing alone, as it finds its way south on her front. He rubs over the clothing once he finds her clit, the sensation not too much yet not too faint, and Emma's moans follow immediately. Good. She sounds like she's enjoying herself a lot.

A bit too much, even.

"Licht— I'm—I...—"

With mouth agape in continuous grunts, Licht is stunned by Emma's beauty as she succumbs into the throes of pleasure. By gods, he didn't even enter her body. He feels himself reaching his peak too.

In a flash, he angles his cock again so that the glans are lined up flush against her spasming entrance; and pushes in.

Bending slightly forward, Emma's back arches in electric pleasure as she lets the desire rock through her whole body in a powerful orgasm. She feels spurts of come shooting inside her, her walls clenching hard around the sudden intrusion as her mind melts in pleasure.

Once he gives her all he has to give, Licht carefully pulls out. His hand replaces his cock as he caresses her soft core, creampie oozing on his hand.

Guiding Emma's chin to his waiting lips, he admires the look on her face as she eyes him with a soft, teary gaze.

"I love you, Emma."

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[zxid]

I was wondering what tips do you have on making sprites for rpgmaker? size? etc? really love your work that i saw on twitter!!! i love your usage of color man

TYSM!! Btw I might go back and forth editing some parts as there is things I've might forgotten over time.

ON DRAWING them:

Most sprite follow a multiples of 8, so whatever size you pick, make sure is something like 16x16, 24x24, 32x32, 48x48... all depending on the RPG maker you have (please read the RPGmaker section).

Picking the size for sprites it's gonna depend on your art style and limits. The smaller the size you have to reduce your color palettes, less shading, less details, and you're gonna center more on pixel art take. Faster workflow for pixel art style at the cost of some art limitations. The bigger scales allow more color palettes, and even non-pixel rendering because the space, having more freedom in what you draw, but there is more risk to mistake and takes more time to make.

For reference, these are Gordon and Benrey walking sprites I've made, 48x48 as the biggest RPG maker allows vs 16x16 at smallest.

3. If you can afford it, get Aseprite. It's an art program dedicated to pixel art with a lot of keys to help you and will save you lot of time! But you can still work on your art program of choice as long it has pixel features AND symmetry options (so you make sure both sides on a sprite or asset is the same both sides).

4. On a walking sprite, you don't have to draw every part moving, a slight hint of movement in the feet it's enough to get your point across.

5. If you're going pixel, limit your palette a little, not that you have to restrict yourself to 8bit colors, but isn't necessary have many greens that are identical, and better have very distict shades on green that will help colors pop up better AND will help you draw assest faster and easier when color picking.

IE avoid palettes like the one in the left, and try like ones in the right.

ON RPG MAKER:

Except for MZ, all versions of RPGmakers only have one size of the assets. (And other important limitations)

2003: Only 16x16, and can only work on a 8bit palette (256 colors) meaning you won't be able use sertain colors and will not allow you export your assets over one wrong pixel Ace: only 32x32. MV: only 48x48. No layers options. MZ: multiple sizes (x16, x24, x32 and x38), allows layers!

They're gonna realase RPG maker unite with even more tiles option, but from now I wont opine much on it, because I can't really.

2. (For MV and MZ) Install "zoom" and "pixel perfect" plugins for a better look of your sprites.

In pixel art, in order to have your work appreciated, you have to resize it, as in, zoom it it, and making sure the pixels aren't blurry. Later PRG maker doesn't really aim pixel art, so there is no option to do this on base engine.

But you can install plugins that allow it, here an example left to right: 1) Base game (no zoom, no pixel perfect). 2) Base + zoom plugin (without pixel perfect). 3) Zoom+Pixel Perfect

Or well, here a full screenshot example of with both plugins vs no plugin/base game.

For sake not overwhelming myself I'll leave it here and give more when I remember lol.

[upn-the-sky]

Give me God of War!! (Ares OOAK, Part 2)

Just a reminder that there was Part 1 of this madness.

OKAY

I wanted to wait until I finish sword and spider legs before making a post, but there are three days after finishing the whole armor and I can't wait, I am screaming about Ares's supremacy.

Now I can say, it was hard. And the most hard thing was finding a balance. There are differences between Ares's 3D models from the different years, even in color palette. And I wanted to be as much close to the first game design as it possible. Some features were fully recreated from GOW1, some others I found more good at latest model from GOW3 and reworked them according to it. So at the end we have a good symbiosis I think.

Now let's a take a bow and look a bit closer at the mess under the cut.

Preparatory process

Until eyes are frightened, you can't do anything. To be honest I had no idea from where to start, the plan sounded like a "How to draw an owl" tutorial. Complexity of his armor scared me as hell, and after spending some time with drawings, where I tried to figure out a hook and loop system, which should attach parts to each other, I gave up and started to make his scaly iron belt, it felt more easier. YEAH.

Iron belt

You can see it at the screenshot. Well, one of the versions. Seems, it has no purpose beside decorative, I mean, maybe it can protect the groin, but eh, not really, honestly. At GOW3 model of dead Ares it became more detailed with round flower-like pendants and a little green jewel drops, but also it became golden as all metallic elements. I decided to make everything silver, but anyway, belt is very beautiful and I headcanon it is the same belt, which Ares gifted to his daughter Hippolyte in the past.

I weaponised myself with the smallest crochet hook and red thread and started to knit. WHY KNIT YOU ASK?? I don't know, it is easier for me than sewing all these scales %) Maybe they represents some fishy motives? (His connection with Aphrodite). Or serpent? (One of Ares's children, who was killed by Kadmus). Maybe green jewels is a hint to his mother Hera, because she loves emeralds. Who knows.

Scales, flowers, suns, glass drops.. If I were Ares, I'd present it to my beloved warrior daughter too.

Pteruges

As an example of the true manliness, Ares wears a skirt of course. He is not a barbarian, who hides his beautiful freckled thighs in the pants! How dare we to judge..

The easy part was to make a leather stripes and pierce them with the rivets (little nails, which I cut after this to left a head only). The hard part (which I had a chance to feel over and over again) was to figure out how to attach it to the body and hide all of the fasteners, and how to let stripes flow on his thighs and how the hell it should cover his.. godlike butt, I can't believe I wrote this.. %)

ANYWAY, A MONTH LATER I decided to make it a single piece with the iron belt, by creating a two-part wide leather base, attach knitted waistband to it, then join the each stripe to the separate piece of cloth to make them movable, then attach this cloth to the leather and sew some hooks. Aaaand the final result!

Cuirasse

I just say I literally hanged up myself with it. Here will be ranting...

Let's just think that it is not enough just to recreate appearence. In making 3D you can ignore some aspects like hidden straps and strings, which keeps armor conjoint on the human body. But how to make it wearable to the doll body, which is not soft and has a stable reliefs? How to make armor firm and shaped, but not completely firm, so it can be taken off from the body? Yes, my wish from the beginning was to make whole armor with a possibility to take it off and send nudes dress Ares in different outfit, which i will also make someday. How to make it light, so the doll can stand by itself? How to make it textured, to make it looks rough, to imitate metal or at least used condition? How to make metal parts without using a metal?

OKAY, WE NEED TO BE CANON - I thought and it was a day I decided to not invent armor, but use an experience of the hellenic people, who was smarter than me, I guesse. Because long time ago these people invented Linothorax - composite armor made of laminated linen fabric. ____

First of all, I splited Ares's cuirass to the segments: chest+collar segment, belly segment, spine segment, which emphasizes Ares's love to hunching over a little, and a waist-and-lower segment. Plus cuirasse has chained shoulder straps and side straps.

Well, when you have all elements, it is easier to imagine a complete piece. After that you just buy fabric, glue, chains, 27 hours for your day, new eyes, paint and other stuff. You wrap the body with the film and tape to protect it and start to glue. And here it is time for me to shut up, I know, you are here to watch a process, not to read an essay. I started from the front pieces of course. You imagine a pattern, you cut it, you glue it to hold the natural body forms as close as possible. Collar was formed right here. Gladly we can remove Ares's head when we want to do it...

Waist piece (eheh, spider butt (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ) and first attempt to assemble the cuirasse. Here I literally lost my last brain cells and bravery, stopped the process and didn't make straps until the last week.

Anyway A MONTH LATER!!11 after the first assemble I started to sculp a relief of the reinforced chest and the metallic collar. Also we can check how's our decapitated dogs doing. Here you can see a belly piece of the cuirasse, which needed it's own dog decor. I was that meme boy with a knife, yeah..

Seemed they doing great! I felt that and decided to finish arm armor. Shoulder pads and bracers Thankfully making them requires the same process: cut a pattern, glue it, repeat for each arm. Here is close ups of the leather "feathers" pierced by rievets, chained bracers (I am very proud that I recreated it fully like at the Ares model. Bracers has no other strings and stays at arm only because of the chains) and shoulder pads as a base and as a complete, fully Cerbered piece. Actually this part wasn't really difficult, I've just delayed the inevitable.

Boots The first GOW novel says he weared sandals!!! Bloodstained SANDALS! But this novel was written much later, so we are making rocker boots. ᕕ(シ)ᕗ HEY!, we are laughing here, but Ares is smart, Ares don't want to break his toes by kicking someone's helmet! Maybe after having some experience %)))

Well, as I said in my previous posts, his boots was the most agressive part his armor. Heel and shoes toes should be firm, but sole should stay soft. Also the whole construction of the boots should looks monolite with the greavers which cover up the layers of the material above the ankles. Don't forget about the chains and double emotional damage, because there is two legs!

A little more damage as a person you receive, when you understand that you need to process each edge of each piece, because all armor pieces has visible layers. And only after that you can paint everything, draw Ares's assymetrical ornaments and dress him up.

That's how we reach the end. Here he is. O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men. Kratos's yes-homo partner and his personal most vieceful enemy.

Ares! God of war!

Thank you everyone for your patience while reading this duvet cover. See ya in Part 3, Skeletor will return soon with a sword, spider legs and normal photos. And stay tuned, I will post some portraits next time!

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Day 27: Whelve 🕳️

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Whelve (v.)

to turn (as a dish or vessel) upside down usually to cover something

to bury something deep; to hide

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Whichever one I was the most lost on how to handle before? Scratch that, this one takes that cake now. If it wasn’t obvious. 😅

It was also yet another chaotic day with not much time to play. I hope that doesn’t continue for the remaining 4…🫠

Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk a bit more about my general thoughts/process. ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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😮‍💨 Sparklers, I'm tired. Remember how I said yesterday was a chaotic day around the house? That was true again today. And now you know why this piece both went up particularly late for the Obscutober pieces and spent a fair bit of time without a proper description afterward, too. 😅

Now, also to be fair, I wasn't as upset as I probably should have been about the chaos and the delays it caused because I had exactly one idea for this mandala, and it did not feel like a good enough idea to carry the mandala on its own.

...And yet, that's essentially what I did: Go with that one idea and make it carry the whole mandala. Care to take a guess what said idea was?

Granted, if I'd had more time when I was finally about to sit down and worry about the art for today, I probably would have experimented and dug for more ideas, at least to see what my options were even if the outcome wasn't that different. But that was time I just didn't have today.

So. In case you couldn't guess, my main idea was shovels, after the whole "bury something" part of the definition.

...Alright, I admit that I did briefly toy with the idea of turtles, since they tie in well with concept of hiding. But I didn't end up incorporating that both because the longer I thought about it, the less it seemed to fit, and also I really could not be bothered with the amount of trial-and-error I knew it would take to get a turtle in this style that was to my liking. 👎

I think generally this word, for me, would've been better suited to a mini-magnet approach. I could just as easily be wrong, though.

Still, with shovels as my base, the next logical thing I could think to do was just make some ground surrounding the shovels; Emphasizing how you'd use a shovel to dig down deep, through multiple layers of dirt. And that explains the bulk of the mandala, except...

Those square not-quite-flower things at the end of every shovel. What's that about?

Honestly, I just wanted something else that was less doodle-y, less specifically tied to the ground/shovel concept, and maybe kinda felt like it tired more into hiding.

It's a very loose connection, but I was sort of thinking this square-ish motif at least vaguely went with "hide" since the edges are dark and the center almost looks like a mid-bloom flower or something. So maybe in some sense you'll get a "flower hiding secrets" kind of vibe from it?

Similarly, the fill-in colors for those wasn't really thought out. I just went with colors I thought would look good—Which I think was a success, at least!

There might have been hints of "gold for treasure, like you'd bury" or "red like an X-marks-the-spot would be on a map" influencing me there, but I won't swear to it, and I'm genuinely still not sure of where the blue came from other than making a nice primary palette. 🤷‍♀️

Sooo...That's kinda it. 😅 I do think visually, as a piece of art, it came out well—pretty, even! My hang up is purely that it doesn't tie back into the definition for the word super well. Quite possibly the worst so far on that front.

But, given the events of the day, I'm going to mostly let it go and just be happy that it does look nice and that I was able to get it done and posted in time.

I am hoping though that this coming week, things will calm down a little bit so we can end the month on a higher note...I'm expecting that, because I know how these things tend to go, but I can dream, can't I? 🫠

Now if you Sparklers will excuse me, I need a bit of a rest before it's time to start on the next one of these. 😴

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See the Prompt List

Artwork © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️=

[izavella21]

The Use of Color in Character Design

One detail in character design that I’ve grown to really like is when certain colors, and sometimes patterns or accessories, are used to convey or hint at some type of connection between the characters involved. 

Here are some examples that I really like:

(Please note that a lot of these are my own speculation. I have no idea if these details and meanings were the artist’s and designers’ intentions when designing these characters, so please take this with a grain of salt)

Sonic The Hedgehog

Tails looks up to Sonic, and they’re close friends. Sonic and Tails both wear red and white shoes, as well as similar gloves. (I love that most of the Sonic characters’ gloves look like the basic cartoon white gloves at first glance, but they’re stylized to fit that character’s personality)

Later in the Sonic IDW comics, we get Surge and Kit, who are based on Sonic and Tails. Obviously, they wear the same shade of yellow, and their gloves and wrist bracers are identical. In this case, they were literally made for each other, so I think it would make sense for Starline to have them be matching to a degree. 

Encanto:

Encanto is full of examples of color used like this! A lot of details in the Encanto characters’ character designs show their connection. But for now, I’m going to focus on color specifically.

Okay, first, all the Madrigals are shown wearing white at their gift ceremony, before switching to a more colorful outfit afterwards. This is most prominently shown with Antonio, and briefly in Mirabel’s flashback.

Pepa’s side of the family wears warm colors. Mostly shades of yellow and orange. 

Dolores is shown wearing mostly red, which makes her stand out, but also blend in with her parents and siblings, at least to me. I’m not sure if that means anything. Antonio also wears a red scarf, so in that regard, Dolores matches her brother. 

Julietta’s side of the family wears shades of blue. 

Everyone except for Isabela that is. I’ve seen some people say that Isabela’s dress is pink, and I’ve heard others say that it’s purple or lilac. I think both make sense for her. Pink is Abuela’s color, and Isabela is shown to be the favorite grandchild. And if you really look into it, Abuela Alma seems to try to live her ideal life through Isabela, hence she might have influenced Isabela’s wardrobe, hence them both wearing pink.

Or, if you think Isabela’s dress is a pale purple, that also works, because purple can be made by mixing pink, Alma’s color, and blue, Jullieta’s color. 

In her song “What Else Can I Do?” Isabela’s dress gets painted with several colors, the most prominent of which being blue, yellow, and red, which are the colors of the Colombian flag, where Encanto is based.

At the end of the movie, Isabela’s dress is colored mostly blue, the same color as her parents and sisters.

Bruno wears green, which is yellow and blue mixed together. In other words, Bruno’s color is his sisters’ colors mixed together. 

And Mirabel’s dress contains lots of images that relate to her family’s gifts, but there’s no image relating to Bruno. However, Mirabel’s connection to Bruno is shown by her glasses being green, Bruno’s color.

Danganronpa:

The most obvious one: Junko’s outfit is black and white with red details. Similar to Monokuma.

Mukuro’s outfit when she’s disguised as Junko has a similar color palette. Makes sense. She’s in disguise, so she’s supposed to look identical to Junko at first glance. Does this count as foreshadowing to the mastermind reveal?

Chiaki’s design shares multiple elements with Usami/Monomi, including a similar shade of pink.

Not sure if this was intentional or not, but Hajime and Nagito have similar colors in their designs (mostly white and green). They are very much foils for each other.

Kaede and Kaito have similar colors in their design. There’s a lot of parallels between them and they play similar roles, particularly when it comes to supporting Shuichi. This one might be coincidence, but still.

Last but not least, Kaito’s associated with the color purple, Shuichi is associated with blue, and Maki is associated with red. Blue and red mixed together makes purple. In other words, Kaito’s color is his sidekicks’ colors mixed together. 

I think this is my favorite example on this list because it's subtle, and it doesn't register until well into the game.

At the start of V3, Shuichi Kaito and Maki have no meaningful relationship with each other, so you don’t think the colors used in their designs have any meaning. Then as the story progresses, their friendship gradually forms and develops. Key word being GRADUALLY, until you get to the scene in chapter 4 where they sit down and chat, and that scene has a dedicated image of them sitting together in a circle (also, Kaito is pictured between Shuichi and Maki, which makes the detail of their colors even more apparent). And you can look at that image and go “oh, that detail makes so much sense now!”.

Thank you for reading!

[sasoxichomoshi]

there's something so charming about hunter, but in a soothing way

it doesnt mean she cant be silly ofc, but her eyes reflect so much of her moods and personality

when she's with the eagle she looks calm and gentle and much of the expressions she makes are towards the eagle; when nimue gets the bird, when the godslayer stuns the eagle and got one of the flaps and at the end of the game when he corrupts the eagle completely there were always a close at her face to show us how worried hunter was towards her friend

it's as if the eagle highlights hunter in some way, cause if you think about it hunter is not really an important person; she's an outsider and a stranger, and eagle mother is there not only to push her forwards, but she also works like this excuse to develop what lies inside hunter - her feelings

the more i think about, like no human(oid) character in the pathless have a mouth, which is an interesting decision - may it be because the animator said "nuh uh i aint doing this" or because they had other intentions - having no mouth makes it harder to humanize a character cause to do so you work around facial expression mostly

for characters like the diver or the little guy from journey it works cause humanizing them is not the focus - they are vessels for the player to experience the message of the game, much like a blank page, but hunter is a more defined type of character, she's not only for the player to control; there are instance where she speaks for herself (literally), she reacts towards her environment (like when she groans when she hits the ground), it's a bit of "i exist in relation to others" kind of thing i dont even know if this explanations make sense

the thing is, if you gonna hide the mouth (and it's funny cause they got rid of the mouths but not of the speech), to deliver something believable you have to put extra attention in other places, like eyes (which is probably the reason why they made her eyes big, for emphasis) and corporal expression (i love all of hunter animations like ALL of them, the idles are so cool and my favorite has to be the climbing one HAVE YOU SEEN THAT CREATURE)

another aspect that locks my eyes on hunter is her color palette; she feels a bit like 60% red and 40% black which an almost dangerous distribution cause it gets near the boring looking too evenly palette, but i feel like this problem is partially solved by the color choice cause black and red is very iconic (but i see that this can be subjective, so take it with a grain of salt)

to give some examples: im typing from an nitro acer (black red palette), you can see cars with that bright red (+black of the tires), and i can name a few characters with red+black combination, like matoi ryuko from kill la kill, kaguya, that masochist from that cassino games school (she's iconic i will recognize but i wont lose my time googling it i dont wanna know details about that anime)

(also if i had to point a match for hunter from another media....... kikyo my beloved i fucking love you my gay awakening i kept watching inuyasha cause i wanted to see you on my screen omg)

but at the same time her color scheme puzzles me: what does it mean? usually color is used for storytelling or readability purposes

hunter red black contrasts very well against the greens/whites/oranges of the landscape, mostly bc it's highly saturated; but then you get to the boss fight and......

i know that the boss fights dont take as many screen time as exploration but considering that they are the action moment hmm idk the math aint mathing here

well what's about storytelling? a bit of the same problem shown on the above image; hunter shares the color scheme with the corrupted tall ones and godslayer which makes things even more confusing

(seriously am i stupid and didnt see the obvious hint everyone else saw and im just here staring at the walls idk)

that said i have come up with my own worms to explain this and it comes down to: it's not from the land/natural

godslayer and the corrupted tall ones shouldnt exist, they are not natural to this world and actually an evil twist of the reality; hunter not necessarily is corrupted, but is also not natural (from the island), she's an outsider, it's about this feeling of not-belonging

however in the end of the day the color choice is also about readability and keeping things cohesive; stretching the color palette of the entire game just to give hunter a different look would do more damage than helping, imagine changing to something not that far like a pink or yellow, things still would change drastically

in the end i still love hunter very much ma babegurl <3 sillly stupid<333 my dear blorbo<333 hope she finds a lot of hobbies <33333

[dokidokitsuna]

(mild spoilers ahead) I finally finished my first run of Side Order! DX Tbh, I haven't had that much time to play lately, but I'm still kind of ashamed that it took me this long...^^;

...I'm also ashamed that the boss that killed me on both failed runs, Asynchronous Rondo, didn't show up on the run where I finally succeeded. So it feels like I didn't really "earn" the victory, which is a little frustrating...I'm sure I'll handle it next time, though. *knocks on wood*

Overall, I would rate Side Order a 10/10. ^^ It's simple, but it works.

The theming and atmosphere is very polished and immersive-- tbh I was convinced as soon as I saw the little animation when you step into the cage at the beginning of a level, and it SNAPS shut kinda violently, just enough to sell that oppressive vibe. ^^; It's those little aesthetic details that make Splatoon special...I can't think of another game that does that as successfully.

The gameplay itself is harsh, but fair. Every time I screwed up and lost a life (or failed a run...) I never felt like it was the game's fault; it was always in a moment where I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings or my ink levels...and conversely, when I made sure to pay attention to those things, I always did well. Basically, it feels just difficult enough to reward you for staying focused. I also think the design of gaining power-ups as you go (including dropped items in-level) was a great move for this game mode-- not only does it make gameplay feel rewarding by its very nature, but it makes it stand out from the rest of Splatoon's game modes, where things like specials and extra ink are treated more like precious rarities; things you shouldn't use until you really need them. On the contrary, in Side Order I really let loose with Splashdowns and Inkstrikes for the first time...ever, actually. ^^ Like, I've gained an appreciation for specials now, after being trained to do without them for so long. It makes battle feel refreshing and dynamic~.

Finally, I'm glad they actually filled the game up with relevant goodies to collect. ^^ Palettes, color chips, Marina's diary entries, Cipher's merchandise, even hint-descriptions for the chips and enemies...when they said Side Order was designed to be replayable, they weren't kidding. My completionist instinct is already champing at the bit to accomplish as much as I possibly can...this is one of the main things that was missing from Return of the Mammalians, in my opinion. In RotM there are collectibles, but half of them are just objects lying around on the ground-- if you wanna 100% the game mode, you better count on spending a very dull hour inking the map to try and dig them all up. And once you're done...hurray, I guess?? You found all the meaningless trinkets... :/ Then the other half is just replaying the meaningless missions with multiple weapons...which isn't a very engaging challenge. Despite being more complex than Side Order's floors, they're much more linear-- you basically just do the same thing three times, and either it's embarrassingly easy or frustratingly tedious. I think the main reason I still haven't done them all is because I just can't be bothered: what's the point in trying to replay an annoying mission when the only difference in the gameplay is that it'll take a little longer to move and shoot...? So I can get rewarded with a tiny checkmark...? No thanks...

With Side Order, on the other hand, the collectibles either flesh out the characters or affect the gameplay (or in the case of the locker decorations, actually look nice), and the sheer randomness of the experience keeps things fresh. ^^ No two runs are alike; the simple objectives paired with creative map designs invite a variety of approaches even with the same weapon, and even on the easiest difficulties. The game itself encourages you to roll with the punches, strategize with what you're given and get creative, which not only makes replays exciting and interesting, but fits perfectly with the story's message. Like I said, 10/10~

[azrantimes]

I don't know if I'm making things up but the way the characters dress determines Shakespeare's influence.

So let's start with the ensemble. The players are clearly dressed like they're going to rehearse the play at the start of the musical. All very modern outfits but there are small hints of 17th century fashion, but when they're IN the play, they're dressed in 17th century attire but with some modern hints, although the silhouettes are still something you'd see if you were going to a dance class nowadays

Shakespeare himself has one outfit and the jacket is the money piece. The weaponshield (that he actually commissioned bc his family didn't have one) on the back and the fit are really time appropriate, but he's wearing ripped jeans and sneakers. He's both a 17th century bard and a 21st century popstar. His outfit doesn't change, excluding his boi band stint, making it a stable element we can use as reference.

Anne's first costume is arguably the most historically accurate outfit. Her hair is in an updo and her entire body is covered. She's a traditional housewife and lives for William but this changes as soon as she has the quill.

Now let's talk about Juliet and Co.

The first time we see Juliet is her waking up after Romeo's death (don't quote me on this I don't know exactly what it was supposed to represent) and she's wearing headphones. This is also after Anne took control of the story. She takes her headphones off signaling that she's no longer listening to someone else but we're going to be listening to her. Her outfit is pretty time accurate and doesn't stray too much away, untill Domino. Her long dress with the long sleeved gown over it gets exchanged for a short dress with removable puff sleeves. The two dresses are very similar but her new dress is much more her, and less traditional. This scene is also the scene where we meet Angelique, May and April. Angelique works for her parents, she serves them and her outfit is much more traditional than May's. May helps Juliet move on, and their jumpsuit isn't something you'd see in the 17th century but the details give it that feel. May is May, and they're their own person. Finally April. Continuing where I left off, on first sight April's green dress fits the time period but as you keep looking it doesn't make sense. Anne is rebelling. We obviously see her tattoo now, the one to spite her husband, and her sleeveless jean jacket gives her a rougher look. She literally shakes her updo away to let her hair fall down. She's in charge now, but William's her co-Writer.

I'm now just going to be primarily focusing on Juliet and Anne because this post would be very long otherwise!!

Juliet wears her dress untill the end of act 1, Romeo's return. Her freedom is gone, the man she thought died is back, what can she do? Changing her outfit apparently. The beginning of act 2 is the one and only time she's wearing blue. The silhouette is something you'd find in the H&M but the pattern gives it that old feel. She's in blue, rejecting everything, rejecting Romeo, rejecting Shakespeare. It's the last time he (or Anne) can control her as Anne breaks the quill. Start of the free will, but the wedding still has to happen. She's back in pink, but much lighter. She's herself but has to dim herself. Then Roar happens. The hot pink is back, combined with a color that's very similar to William's jacket (this is probably not intentional I just need a reason for everything) with a massive quill on it and puff pants, something a bard would wear. It's mocking Shakespeare. He doesn't have the quill anymore, she does, and she'll be as loud as she wants to be.

Dont want to make this any longer so I'm gonna go over Anne quickly. The two other green/blue outfits she wears are even less traditional. The first one is dark. It can still be something a villager would wear but it has a darker palette. William ruins everything she wrote, so she ruins his quill. Her end dress resembles a wedding dress. She forgives William, she wants to give their relationship a second chance, but this time she'll be in charge (thus the blue/green, "Maybe we'll rewrite all of your plays")

End.

This was another yap from the yapking thank you and I hope this makes sense

[piglet26]

Reylo: Love is in the Costumes

There's hint of Reylo, particularly in their ying yang nature, in their costumes. There's hints about the psychology of both characters in their costumes as well. Let's start with their background.

Kylo Ren

There's no denying how iconic Darth Vader's black helmet has become after having appeared in four of the six existing Star Wars movies, but will any characters in The Force Awakens become as recognizable as the most notorious Sith Lord? So the sequel trilogy played into the nostalgia while making the desire to emulate the past part of the psychology of Kylo Ren. According to costume designer Michael Kaplan,

"We came up with so many different looks for Kylo. I mean it was crazy," Kaplan told the publication. "JJ kept saying he'll know when he sees it and one day we were having a discussion and he was talking about wanting it to be something that a child would remember, you know, that would be indelible in a child's mind, and one of my concept artists came up with that image."

JJ Adams also made a point about wanting Kylo Ren underneath mask to look like a prince, the prince he is.

Kylo Ren is a Darth Vader fanboy. While he wants to emulate his grandfather, ultimately he wants to be someone else. Hiding behind the essence of someone else is a way to hide your insecurities. While he isn't sure who he is, he knows who he wants to be. His long tunic and mask is very clearly influenced by Darth Vader's look.

"This was by far the most difficult character to nail down, and we had many different concept artists working on it. We didn’t want to make it Darth Vader 2. It wasn’t so much the clothes, it was the helmet. The helmet is the face, that’s where your eyes go, that’s the personality."

His outfit also is reminiscence of Padme, his grandmother.

Concept art for Kylo Ren

Not gonna lie ....... looks pretty badass.

Rey

Michael Kaplan: “When I began designing Rey’s costume (the first costume I decided to tackle) no actress had yet been cast. I like when this happens, in that I am not influenced by body type, familiarity with the actor’s previous work, etc. and this enables me to deal with the character totally objectively. Of course I had already read the script, which is always my initial road map in discovering a character. I knew that Rey lived and worked in an oppressively hot and dusty desert climate. I knew her life as a scavenger required a certain agility. I knew she was poor. I knew she drove a speeder. By taking all of these ‘clues’ I was able to build a believable character from the inside out.

Every garment she wears has a reason or purpose; nothing is superfluous. For example, the gauze fabric she wears crossed on her body can be wrapped around her face in sand storms. Her head wrap keeps her hair out of her face while working, and keeps the dust out of her hair- it’s actually a tunic, with the sleeves tied around her head. This tunic can be worn on chilly desert nights.

Rey wears a pair of goggles to protect her eyes from the intense sun and dust kicked up while riding the speeder. At close inspection it becomes evident that the goggles are home crafted and the lenses are old Stormtrooper eyes she must have scavenged from spaceship wreckage. If noticed, this touch gives information about the character’s ingenuity; if not, they still look good. Rey’s color palette just seemed appropriate for her environment.”

This sounds so incredibly logical and is very uncommon in movies. Most female characters are primarily dressed to look good and feminine, not comfortable and certainly not practical.

Earth tones, mostly in the white and light gray families. Implies purity under a layer of grit. Though she’s tough she’s slightly naive, but her heart and her honor are valiant. In short terms, a diamond in the rough. Obviously her costume also makes us think of another desert dweller.

There is so much symbolism in Rey and Kylo's uniforms. Not only is one white and one black, but the pattern of the gloves on Kylo match the bandage look on Rey's arms. Now Adam Driver did make a request regarding his costume going forward after The Force Awakens and that was that his costume be less cumbersome.

Rey made a noticeable change in The Last Jedi and that was incorporating darker clothes, but there were special Reylo details. The black underneath Rey's uniform is the same kind of fabric as Kylo/Ben Solo. Her belt is also reminiscent of Kylo's. Dark grays with very little white still in the earth tones family. Symbolizing not only disillusionment, the stripping away of naiveté, but her growing connection to Kylo Ren. Her outfit is the epitome of "I'll meet you in the middle". Her hair is down pulling away from her three bun little girl hair style. They also both dressed up for one another.

Likewise, Kylo Ren in the Last Jedi at least when in Rey's presence starts appearing more and more human. From being comfortable being shirtless in front of her, taking his mask off for her and removing his glove so they can touch skin to skin. In the novelization it's clear he does these things not only so he appears less threatening in front of her, but also as a sign of trust. Kylo Ren's hair is also a hint at his mental space. When Kylo Ren is with Rey his hair is always neat and orderly.

While the all white look in The Rise of Skywalker has a symbolic meaning for the character the real purpose was more than purely character driven. Per Michael Kaplan, "The white was just my desire to have her close the entire story in the same way that Carrie Fisher began it — all dressed in white......But, basically, the costume is similar [to her first outfit]. It's not exactly the same, but the pleated fabric and cross in the front is very similar to what she had done in Episode VII and I liked the movement of the flag that comes down on her side. It just looks great when she's in action and there is so much action in this movie. It was just continuing the iconic costume that J.J. and also the fans found quite beloved."

While I love the tribute to Carrie Fisher ummmm JJ Adams and Michael Kaplan just wanting to continue on doing the same exact thing but this time in a more pristine white. Seemed a bit of a waste. Likewise with Kylo Ren wearing that damn mask again.

There's not much information about Ben Solo's costume development and we never see his costume in the light. Ben Solo deserved better. Something that is very clear though is his relaxation. He's wearing loose clothing and he isn't trying to create barriers between him and the world.

Hopefully I was able to capture of some the romance within their clothing. Stay calm and Reylo.

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 68: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Hello hello everyone!! Here we are again, one month later, for the third chapter of the future volume 14, chapter 68!! Maaaan I gotta say I got pretty excited with this chapter, at some point I’ve started screaming while I was reading it (thank god I was alone) and I believe it’s been quite some time since that last happened 😂 This chapter is heavily focused on my four favorite characters, which I had predicted they’d be the focus of the “final confrontation”, so I guess that’s only normal. God, I love them all so much and I notice that even more with chapters like these. I also found myself to wish even more desperately for season 2 of the anime, because maaan, the scenery of this chapter is particularly breathtaking. I dunno, it might be because I imagined all of that animated, and my breath caught in my throat, but it would really be so wonderful to see all of that moving with pretty lights and sounds someday. I can definitely, definitely feel we came to the crunch of this story with this chapter.

Curious to know why? Follow me under the cut, but not before taking a look at the gif of the month! 😂

The Color page

Ladies & gentlemen, the third SyaoSaku color page in the span of 6 chapters 😂Is somebody trying to make up for something? 😂 Aww, I have to admit that when I saw this color page for the first time some hours before the chapter release, it made my heart all warm and fuzzy 🥰it’s really nice CLAMP decided to revive that beautiful scene of chapter 23 in a color page, it’s such a sweet and important memory for these two. It was a very happy moment, and here CLAMP decided to bring this one step forward by allowing Sakura and Syaoran to hold hands in a lover’s hold, with their fingers intertwined. 🥰 But this was also the scene where we’ve heard for the first time how unwavering Syaoran was in his resolution to not let Sakura feel any sorrow. Yes, sorrow, 不幸. A word that would become so crucial and important later on, and which is recalled even in this chapter through Momo’s words. This color page is also connected to what happened in last chapter, when Mirror was explaining why Flight decided to help them, and recalled precisely this scene. Lastly, I think this color page illustrates perfectly the strong bond that connects Sakura and Syaoran together, which gets once more reiterated in this chapter. It’s interesting to note how the color palette of the outfits they are wearing here is different from the one used in the anime! I find both versions charming, to be honest! Pink is my favorite color but I appreciate the anime’s attempt at making Sakura wear something that’s not pink 😁 The JP text here says “Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun’s date in the sky….with Mirror and Flight!”.

What is happiness to you?

The chapter starts with Sakura, seemingly asleep in the void, hearing a voice asking her what is happiness to her and why she’s always been able to say that “everything will surely be alright”.

By now, we already know whose voice it is. Reminds you of something? Of course it does! Not only it is the "mirror" of how Chapter 65 started, kicking off this “story” inside Clockland (that time it asked about sorrow, this time about happiness), but it is also a recall to how Momo introduced Sakura to her “hint” back in chapter 50. Everything keeps reconnecting and going full circle, folks.

Turns out, Alice briefly fell asleep and wakes up, finding herself on a gondola, together with the Red Queen. As she opens her eyes, we’re made partakers of the beautiful scenery that unfolds before her: on both banks of the river they’re navigating, there are huge shelves full of books, and the wood of the shelves morphs into tall trees. Little black & white roses, seemingly the Queen’s crest, are nestled into small lamps, illuminating the way. Alice wonders about the voice she believes she just heard, and although she’s sure to have heard it before, she can’t quite recall who it is.

First translation difference here:

ENG: “I don’t know. But...I can’t shake the feeling I’ve heard it before” JP: “I don’t know. But...I have the feeling I’ve been asked the same thing before”

The difference here is given by the word 聞かれた. It is true that the verb 聞く means both “to listen” or “to ask”, but when used in this way, it definitely means “been asked”. After all, Momo was indeed asking her something. I found this part a bit confusing because all Alice was talking about in the ENG was “hearing a voice”, not that it spoke to her. So the Queen asking her if it was important felt a bit weird. What’s important, the voice? No, she’s indeed asking about what the voice asked to her.

And here I ask you to pay particular attention to the font of the Japanese version, as I predicted in my last post. Because here, for a moment, we see a “magic effect” around Sakura, and then she replies “Yes. Something very important.” WITH A REGULAR FONT. This means Sakura is talking as her real self here!! Again, triggered by important matters, she regained conscience of her true self. But unfortunately that lasts shortly, as she looks up to the Cat, standing on a bridge between shelves, looking down on her in a very…..pissed off way.

I mean, look at his clenched fists here! 😂 That unfortunately sends Sakura back to her Alice role. As the two girls continue navigating the river, Kaito talks to Momo, who keeps appearing only as a voice and not physically. I want to point out that not only here, but throughout the chapter, the ENG translation put a lot of “filler words” that skew the perception of the tone of certain characters. Of course, if you’ve been following this blog for a while, I don’t even need to point out who these changes affect the most.

ENG: “Perhaps I can convince you not to give Alice here any hints? Here I thought the guardian of the book wasn’t to assist the players”

JP: “I would like you to refrain from giving any hint to Alice. I thought the guardian of the Book couldn’t help any of the characters?”

In the ENG version, with that “I can convince you”, Kaito sounds vaguely threatening. Like “if you don’t do as I say, I’ll convince you by force”. In the JP version, there’s none of that. Kaito still speaks with his usual polite tone to Momo, while still being clearly annoyed at her. Annoyed doesn’t mean he has to suddenly become an as*hole to her. And even when Momo replies, explaining that her line was said merely as a “facilitator” (this very same English word is included in the furigana of the 進行役 word) of the Book, she doesn’t use neither “boy” nor the overly salty tone she’s got in the ENG version. Yes, sure, I was highly amused by the way these two bickered in the ENG translation, but I have to be impartial and say when things aren’t really as they are presented. STILL, the scene is so hilarious because Kaito is beyond pissed 😂(for his standards) and he replies “I beg to differ” but decides to prioritize following the girls, as he can’t lose sight of them.

Books are "Our Story"

Alice looks at the immense library that stretches along the banks of the river, and notices how many books are there. The Queen says that books are very important in this country, and Alice asks her if she likes books too. I would like to think Alice was instinctively brought to pose this question because Sakura’s subconscious knows this is Akiho. Of course the Queen answers she does, because books were always by her side. Just like the real Akiho. Meanwhile, the gondola enters a part of the river where the trees above are interwoven more and more, until it looks as if the girls are entering some kind of “tunnel” or “cavern”. I found that eerily beautiful too (I need to see this animated!!!!!). While the two girls get off the gondola and reach a shelf, the Queen explains that books are people’s “memories”. And they serve as a “record” too. Seeing as “record” (記録) is indicated between brackets, I can’t help but think about the relative Record Card. But what these books “record” in them? The Queen says: “Somebody’s feelings. Their hopes. And the magic they’ve weaved. Many [stories] are recorded in them”. Alice utters the word “record”, probably as if it reminded her of something…. Then she asks the Queen if the book she’s holding is her favorite one. Try to zoom in and pay attention to the magic circle depicted on the cover of this book. Looks familiar? Yes, because you have seen it before.

The version on the cover of this book seems slightly more elaborated, but there’s no doubt it’s the magic circle belonging to the members of the most ancient magical clan of Europe, collectively called by me as the “Squid Clan”. It is kinda surprising the Queen grabbed specifically this book, and with some friends I was musing on which underlying meaning this library could have. Does it store the records, the stories of all the people who tried to use Momo’s book? After all, we’ve been told that her book records the life of the owner. If that’s true, then maybe we could infer someone from Akiho’s clan tried to use it, at some point? Regardless, the Queen replies that this is not her favorite book. Her favorite book is Alice in Clockland. And here pay attention, dear readers, because as she utters the name of the book, the font in the Queen’s speech bubble is back to normal!!

This is not the Queen anymore, AKIHO is regaining control of her consciousness! With nonchalance she lets go of the book she was holding, which goes back to its place in the shelf. Alice points out:

ENG: “That’s my name…” “Perhaps. But it is the title of your story” JP: “That’s my name...and yet, it’s the title of a book you have”

As you can see, the ENG translation completely misunderstood who was talking in the second bubble of this panel. It is not Akiho, despite the bubble being close to her (there’s no tail pointing at her, indeed), but actually still Alice. Alice is confused because a book belonging to the Queen is titled with her name. So this brings Alice to question her own identity. And the true identity of the Red Queen in front of her. Akiho replies that she doesn’t know, because she’s forgotten her previous name when she entered Clockland. But there’s one thing she remembers. It’s the one thing no magic could ever make her forget. Before entering Clockland, she had a [special person]. Here it is again. That 特別なひと I fussed so much about during last chapter. It seemed such a trivial thing and yet I knew it wasn’t, because this is a specific term with which the story is indicating the person someone loves. That’s why it was important to me, I think this is going to be very important to understand the story, and fortunately this time around they translated it correctly. Akiho, talking with a regular font and all, seems to regain a hold of herself more and more. Thanks to a mutual on Twitter I even realized that her pronoun changes from 私 (watashi, in kanji) to わたし (watashi, in hiragana), which is the usual way her pronoun is written when she speaks as Akiho. THERE IS a difference there!! She remembers about the girl she’s got in front of her, too. She tells her that she had a name more befitting of who she is, actually, Akiho says that she’s just the embodiment of the thing she was named after. (This part was translated in ENG as merely “it was your name” and I don’t think they really got the beautiful praise she was giving to Sakura). “Just like a flower that blooms in spring”

Catfight part 2?

A shriek echoes in the library, it’s our Syaoran, the REAL Syaoran, yelling Sakura’s name!!!

He cut through the fake environment created by the book with his own sword, but Kaito wastes no time in appearing in front of him, out of nowhere, praising him for managing to stay inside the book, but affirming that having two Cats is really inconvenient for him (taken literally from the JP text, as opposed to the more arrogant way the ENG decided to translate it with). Kaito tries to grab Syaoran, but as he does so, we find out it was the Mirror Card who had taken Syaoran’s appearance, and it’s now back in the hands of the real one!! Sakura FINALLY recognizes her Syaoran, regaining her own identity once and for all, thanks to her beloved one. As some of my japanese mutuals have pointed out in their own reviews of the chapter, it’s really beautiful that the trigger for both girls waking up from the role they were playing is the person they’re in love with. Syaoran apologizes for being late, and Sakura can’t contain the tears, realizing she couldn’t remember who she was, but she was able to free herself of the spell when he called her name! Syaoran says something really important and poignant, and Mokona sensei gives the entire page to Syaoran to indicate how fundamental this is:

JP: “The only Sakura there'll ever be for me is [Kinomoto Sakura]”

Kinomoto Sakura, with her full name in kanji and all (he usually calls her in hiragana, but here the moment is solemn, you know!). He might have been put under stress and been tested with the whole Mirror thing, but Syaoran will always find his way back to his Sakura. No matter what. Sakura is so very comforted by that. But someone else is just not as comforted…. Syaoran regained control of the Mirror Sakura Card (again with that “Mirror Clow Card” in the ENG translation!! THE CLOW CARDS DON’T EXIST ANYMORE, FFFFF--!!) and even dispelled the Mirror new card, effectively undoing Kaito’s disguise, who goes back to his real self. At this point, we should have all four protagonists of this story with their true selves, no one is playing a role anymore. But Akiho is suspiciously quiet and unresponsive to all of this mess, and Mokona sensei avoided drawing any expression on her, covered by the veil. What is going on with her? I hope everything is fine, but I have the feeling something….might be going on with her….something related to the Squid Clan. Kaito notices that Syaoran managed to bring a sword in this place, storing it inside of his body, and it is likely a skill he acquired during his time back in Hong Kong (not, as the ENG translated, “You’ve grown during your time back in Hong Kong”, that could refer to his physical growth but this is not what Kaito is talking about here). He wonders if it was thanks to his mother’s gift, the divination, or if it was just his own good fortune. Of course Syaoran has to wonder how Kaito knows about all of that. He replies that Syaoran is...quite famous in the circles he runs in (that “young man” was merely added to fill in that bubble, Kaito isn’t being arrogant with Syaoran here. None of the condescending “boy” or “young man” you ever see in this chapter in English is truly said by the characters in Japanese). He says that “the most ancient European magicians” are particularly interested in the Li Clan’s movements. After all, the Li Clan’s got family lineage in common with that of Clow Reed, and indeed that European Clan is particularly spiteful towards them. So, if we ever needed it, we got confirmation that the Squid clan is particularly spiteful towards the Li Clan due to their connections to Clow Reed. When I’ve read this confirmation spelled out like this, I couldn’t avoid going back to think about my theory that the Squid Clan is actually the Reed family (noticed how they never reveal the Clan’s name?), the other branch of Clow’s family on his father’s side. It would kinda make sense if you consider the natural competition there might be between the two families, which have such a famous magician in common in their lineage. It’s still a theory at this stage, but I admit I did let out a shriek or two 😂.

Kaito’s watch suddenly cracks some more, and as he witnesses that, he says he really needs to make Syaoran leave, because he’s got no more time. Again, the ENG translation made Kaito sound condescending and arrogant with his “I have no time for this, you see”, when actually he was merely hinting that his life span is almost over. This is also why you see Syaoran startled by his affirmation, cause it seems he might be having a hunch about it. Syaoran realizes that Kaito is about to start something, so he summons Mirror and uses it on Flight (which was there with them on its own) to prepare “doubles” of it to give to both Sakura and Akiho. Apparently the interaction of Mirror with Flight gave also Syaoran a pair of beautiful crystal wings that just looks like the ones on Mirror’s back.

Syaoran sternly affirms that “I will take them back with me” (again, the ENG unnecessarily specified that he would bring Sakura with him, but the truth is that there’s no subject in the JP text and Syaoran gave a copy of Flight to Akiho too, so he’s very intent on bringing her outside along with Sakura. Therefore, why infering that he’s only focused on his girlfriend and doesn’t care about what happens to Akiho? Excuse me, but that’s not our Syaoran. He would never discard an innocent girl like that, and it makes sense because he doesn’t know about Kaito’s real intentions yet). Kaito confidently replies “I won’t allow it” (the ENG here made him say the more arrogant “No, boy. I’m afraid you aren’t”).

And with this huuuuuuge cliffhanger, chapter 68 ends here, in anticipation for the confrontation we were all expecting! I don’t think it will last for long, if they ever manage to start it, that is, cause Akiho’s behavior is kinda sketchy and I’m afraid a certain clan will soon “enter the chat” in their own way.

This chapter was really exciting for me, I enjoyed it from the first to the last page, and I feel it really reiterated how “identity” is a HUGE thematic in Clear Card. It’s very important to not lose sight of who you truly are, and our loved ones can help us remembering that at all times. In fact, both Akiho and Sakura “wake up” from their roles thanks to the memories of their loved ones. I applaude both girls for escaping the influence of this powerful spell, it must have not been easy. Particularly, I commend Sakura because despite being under the influence of it, she never stopped making questions. THAT was the indication that her real essence, her soul, was fighting tooth and nails to regain control of her own reality. She wasn't merely accepting and taking in everything that was in front of her. And I congratulate Akiho too, because she got herself freed from the spell without having any magical powers, only with the strength of her feelings and memories. The physical and metaphorical lifting of the veil was a super powerful image to me. I found it absolutely beautiful and it spoke to me more than a million words. Bravo Mokona sensei. Under that veil that kept her "in her role", there wasn't the somber Queen anymore, but the sweet and warm Akiho we always knew.

Syaoran was super cool and I think CLAMP delivered what they promised in their Space of some months ago. I’m sure his role isn’t over yet and we’ll see more of him. Please remember that, under his fired up appearance, Syaoran is a very loving and caring child too. He knows what compassion is and I’m sure he’ll give an evidence of it in the last chapters of this arc. While being of course annoyed at Kaito’s behavior, I reaaaally can’t bring myself to be mad at him, seeing how tired and desperate he looks (and sounds) in this chapter. The pocket watch, at this point a symbol of what he’s got left to live, breaks even further and that must have cornered him even more. I once said “Kaito looks like a wounded animal to me”, and wounded animals tend to become really aggressive when they feel under threat. This is what scares me a little bit about him. It’s evident that “failure” is not an option for him, so he has to complete his mission before he dies.

At this point, the only one who can truly stop him is Akiho, and I’m praying that she eventually can gain control of the situation before it’s too late. Sakura can help, of course, but I’m sure the only one who can weaken Kaito is Akiho. The one he’s doing all of this for.

Of course, there’s Momo too. Although she’s clearly got her hands tied, she’s resorting to any kind of tricks to steer this in the direction that will avoid a tragedy from happening. At this point she’s doing it in Kaito’s face too (and he’s not stupid, he notices that but doesn’t want to argue about it right now) and I find that so hilarious, among the seriousness of the situation. She really seemed to me like a mother who was trying to hide spinach in her son’s meatballs, denying that she’s put any of it in them. 😂 All of these characters are so lovable and they’re doing their best for someone else, just like CLAMP said in their latest Spaces.

Another small thing I want to point out is that we still have no “last chapter in 2 issues!” or anything like that announced on the color page. Maybe they want to wait for the very second-to-last chapter before announcing it? We’ll see.

Well, this post is already quite late by my standards so I will leave you here for now, and as usual I await your asks in my inbox to talk about this or that aspect in particular! As usual, a quick reminder of the dates for the next chapter, chapter 69: December 25th, on Bookwalker and Azuki(digital, ENG) December 26th, on Clamp-fans (digital, JP and other languages) December 28th, on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP) January 1st 2023, on Comic Days (digital, JP) <- if they don't modify this I'll probably be late again with my chapter post 😭

Let’s hope we’ll get an extraordinary chapter as a Christmas present!! See you on Christmas day!! 🌸

[obstinaterixatrix]

racher was like ‘I have thought about your office lady characters and their office lady fashion and I was like ‘yo I love outsourcing details’ so here are the notes I took from racher’s presentation

Shio:

Epitome of Japanese office worker; white collared button up, blazer, knee length skirts

High school loafers (lmao)

No makeup

Mob character

Hiyoko:

Starts out super femme, starts getting more masc through series

Apparently dressed exactly like racher’s coworker but less casual; can sometimes skirt the line of what’s considered professional wear

Openly stylish

Different color blazers; same outfit different palette

Heels instead of loafers

Subtle touches; nails painted (rare in Japan), wears jewelry (either earrings or necklace, not both at the same time, very simple)

Subtle makeup; no lipstick, just lightly tinted gloss; hint of eyeliner (matches nails), hint of mascara, not too bold (she has to meet clients); foundation & concealer (full face, woman in sales) (😔)

Dyes & perms hair—naturally black, dyed auburn

More standard professional when out making sales

Doesn’t shop at Aoyama because her standards are higher (more local shops)

Might wear GU casually, probably wears GU-styled clothes from nicer brands

When starting to dress more masc, starts switching from skirts to pants; blazers were from a set with a skirt and don’t always match the pants, but she makes it look fashionable

At end, still wears heels (more about being mega fashionable less about gender)

Yuki:

Hair clip gets her eliminated

Late graduation gets her eliminated

Pants get her eliminated

She buys all her clothes from GU instead of Aoyama because her standards are lower

Also shops at Uniqlo

Doesn’t wear sweatshirts at work—is trying to dress well, but doesn’t understand what dressing well means in a professional Japanese concept

Sneakers or socks/sandals

DRESSES HERSELF MORE LIKE A TOKUSATSU CHARACTER

No makeup (starts out with kind of bad eyeliner because she thinks wearing makeup is a professional adult thing to do, stops after getting a job because it’s too much effort) (also got her eliminated)

Meihui:

Vibe: established secretary, nobody cares what she wears (she can do whatever she wants)

Mimics xianxia fashion with modern clothes; layers, long cardigans, long skirts, dresses with belts, flow-y pants; reads as casual, cool, and stylish

Looks more fashionable than Yuki (this is so sad)

There are days where she looks like she’s stylish and days where she looks like a 40 year old mother because of what she wears

If she did her hair differently she would look more fashionable

Never wears makeup

I forget how much of this I actually put in the text but Yuki graduated late because of health reasons, which is why she is starting the job hunt late and is only getting her first job in the early-mid 20s range instead of the solidly early 20s range; on top of that, racher really outlined all the details that would get her eliminated in the interview process of more respectable companies. the thing is, shio, being the Epitome Of An Office Lady, would’ve been able to point out stuff like hair accessories being a turn off for interviewers and how wearing skirts to interviews is more preferred (😔) but yuki was determined to be independent and tried to do everything herself and ended up getting immediately eliminated from the more respectable companies which fed into her desperation and made her super vulnerable to working for a black company because they don’t actually care about the subtle cues for professionalism (lol). after yuki decided to quit she actually talks to shio and gets tips on how to get hired at an actual company (take off the hair clip and just keep it in your pocket if you want to take it with you, if they ask about graduation say you took a gap year, etc.) AND she also has meihui who knows a bunch of stuff from when she transmigrated and had to cram all of modern japanese office culture in her heard immediately

[anderperrylover]

A Study of Buddy and Some Other Notes on Baby Driver - 2017

I watched Baby Driver a while ago. It is the type of film that is a feast for the eyes. But I couldn't help but look at the masterpiece for its symbolism. I've seen a lot of discourse on how the color palettes are symbolic of internal conflicts of characters and their fates. I want to use this vlog to specifically talk about a number of thing pertaining to the character of Buddy (played by Jon Hamm)

I did not expect him to become the man he was at the end of the film. But I think there were clues just scattered all around the film that foreshadowed his fate. So, here's my take on the symbolism that is associated with this specific character. I'll also introduce the color palette as I go along the way.

For context, Jason 'Buddy' van Horn used to work in Wall Street as a banker. He becomes a thief and when we meet him he is married to Monica 'Darling' Costello

I'll be discussing the symbolism in relation to the following, 1) The Name 2) The Color Palette 3) The parallel scene with Baby

THE NAME - I loved how we had aliases for all the characters. The names were always cover ups for who they truly were. Darling for instance was fierce, feminine and very much a fem fatale. I always thought that Buddy was a take on the buddy cop trope. At first it sounded absurd in my head but I think a lot of the things we see later on contributes to this interpretation. Initially, he is friendly towards Baby and he warms up to him and shares a lot about himself with him (taste in music - his obvious likes and dislikes). Buddy uses this trust to keep things going. Later on, we see this peel away. We get to see what's lurking behind the name Buddy.

THE COLOR PALETTE - Buddy is associated with one color at the beginning of the film. The color is blue and it juxtaposes Darling's pink hues. The color portrays him as a cool yet masculine character, who comes with a partner (Darling - Blue and Pink as opposites attract).

But Darling points out the significance of another color. Red. Blue and Red immediately reminded me of the colors we associate with the police. Also I feel like the significance of all of that was kept at bay by Darling. Red is never out of the picture, it's always lurking behind and in front of him.

And at the end of the day there is literally no blue for him. Darling is out of the picture and the red that has boiled over everything erupts, giving us the truth that has been hiding beneath the cool blues.

I also made the connection between Buddy being a literal Buddy cop. There's something beyond the cool and collected personality. I think it was all triggered when Darling was killed off - she was the one who helped him to keep the balance - she guided him in many scenes and they shared a dynamic. Yes, they were unhinged and Darling was unrealistic but they kept each other in balance. When she is gone, we get a lot of closeups of Buddy, and many of the lights on him are red.

Red is his truth and something that was boiling beneath the blue and the name 'Buddy'. But it was kept in check.

Here are some other uses of red in the film and my takes on the purposes.

A color love Foreshadows fates. Red as something and new beginnings. that boils around

Red as Buddy's truth. Now blue is in the background (the façade is put aside) and he fully encapsulates the color that boiled around them. From cool blues to deep red (a fragile lie that was cracked to reveal the impact of trauma)

I also think that it's really cool that you can almost see hints of pinks before the full red. He still remembers Darling but soon everything is taken over by the one thing Darling warned Baby about.

[cherrymoonvol6]

tl asleep, time to talk about a song for the birds

little preamble to say that i love how this song can apply to both lunter and caleb/evelyn - after all they're one and the same :) the fantasy motif it has going on also helps. and how it's titled "song for the birds", making a reference to flapjack... mwah!

that dungeon metaphor, i am munching it DOWN.

imo this song works so good with both perspectives: the start of the song can immediately show how much luz and hunter are hiding - not from each other, but also themselves. luz's struggle with her grief and her status as an outcast in both realms, hidden under her facade of optimism; and hunter's years of abuse piling up as he struggles with his cognitive dissonance. i also love how this touches on the soulmate-y energy of if all: how they were fated to meet, once again caleb running away from philip with evelyn.

i like the first line as a hint of their playfulness (like fuck if i'm not going to EMBRACE it.) but also "do your dance / take some chances": how luz marks the beginning of hunter rebelling against belos and making a life of his own. boy is indeed taking some chances.

ah, and then:

SHE LITERALLY REACHES OUT TO HIM.

do i need to say anymore...

how they learned to lean on each other during TTT and luz formally welcomes him into the main group ("you're family now"). for how different their, uh, "belos demons" are, there's something so powerful about hunter's realization about belos directly impacting luz's arc. belos tricks people and that's what he does: he did it with hunter and then he did it with luz. it's a rational, real conclusion that manages to pull luz out from her guilt spiral for long enough for her to agree to go back to the demon realm.

i also love that last line: "nothing you could say could ever make me flinch". the contrast of hunter's behavior around belos VS luz during hollow mind. he makes himself small around belos, yet he legitimately opens himself up to luz. again, he takes her hand: she offers him the physical comfort of her hand (along with her trust) and he makes the decision to accept it. yes i feel very normal about all of this why'd you ask :)

i like how "bright as fire" can apply to both of them: obviously with luz ("light" in spanish) and her signature light glyph; and yellow/gold as hunter's signature color contrasting luz's purple palette. there's also the imagery of flapjack covered in flames during the wittebane story in TTT.

the rest of the bridge continues to remind us the bond between caleb and evelyn bleeding through every grimwalker, all the way to hunter and luz. there's the honoring to flapjack, too: this is a song for the birds. the little guy that introduced luz to hunter deserves nothing less.

the last verse can be interpreted in so many ways: darkness could just mean the general jumble of negative feelings both luz and hunter are dealing with in their time away from the boiling isles. in that case, we know how much they lean on each other during that. said "darkness", described as inevitable, makes it clear that they both have each other in case the guilt and grief get too much to handle.

this could also hint to the upcoming last battle against belos: both inevitable and decidedly terrible for them, and with luz and hunter being key players in the plot i don't expect anything less.

the last two lines are clear reminders of their undying loyalty to each other. with belos as a common enemy, they'll always have each other's backs. but beyond that, the recognition of their bond in the context of caleb and evelyn's story: they're bound to each other, forever. oh, romance at its finest.

[share-the-damn-bed]

First off, you have to excuse my English because I’ll say it’s good but not great yet, but I have learned a ton from constantly reading English books and blogs. Anyway, I found your Tumblr recently and am curious to hear your thoughts on something I realized. Something I haven’t heard talked about is the repeating ties that Jancy’s narrative has to older times (just as Stancy’s narrative does). It’s my unpopular opinion I guess, but as a Stoncy shipper I enjoy both Stancy and Jancy as individual ships—so the fact that each couple have some striking similarities, almost as striking as their differences, kind of makes sense in my mind. But anyway, back to my point. Jancy’s first kiss is set to the sound of Billie Holiday. Their season three plot with Driscoll puts them in an understated, vintage color palette and soundtrack, especially compared to other character’s aesthetics in the third season (bright colors, modern new mall, modern music and Madonna, advanced Russian technology and facilities, and so on). Nancy in the fourth season is pretty heavily tied to the Creels and she is the only character that watches the events unfold of Henry’s childhood in the 1950s Creel house. Jonathan’s clothes also feel like very old, though that also could be hinting at the financial loss of the Byers family. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but overall I do associate Jancy with a different time period, and to me they feel completely disconnected from almost every aspect of the modern Hawkins, like instead they should be off in their own little world and time. All that being said, I find it so interesting that instead, the writers chose to draw Stancy to the past instead, as in the Light Bright room scene, where Nancy reads her diary entry of Steve and realizes they are stuck in old times. Obviously I understand what that was going for, that Nancy has history with Steve and he represents her past self or her roots maybe. But that makes the big question for me (because in my mind I truly am not sure that either couple will be endgame)…could the vintage motifs in Jonathan and Nancy’s love story be hinting at a similar fate to their relationship as Stancy’s probable ending. Is it that the writers think Jonathan, as well as Steve, are holding onto a past version of Nancy and therefore neither boy can be her future in the end? Hell, I am so confused! I think it’s all so interesting though. Anyway, sorry for the long message, but I love your thoughts on Jancy and wondered if you picked up on any of this or if I’m crazy! 

Hi Anon! Thanks for the ask, you have some very interesting ideas and points here that I haven’t really considered before. I also appreciate that your thoughts come from an unbiased place as a jancy/stancy/stoncy supporter. That gives you such a unique perspective!  

(Also, your English is amazing, truly. And even if it wasn’t as amazing as it is, the fact that you are able communicate in a language you’re not totally comfortable with is amazing!! Take it from me, an American, whose educational system and culture basically deter learning a non-English language so much so that they intentionally “teach” languages way past the known developmentally appropriate time so that students don’t truly learn and retain the language... sorry. Mini rant.)

I guess the major difference when comparing Stancy to Jancy and their connection to the past is that when it happens with Stancy, it is always done so in direct regard to their relationship: we have the Tom cruise poster that Nancy says is “old” which is a direct reference to Steve in season 1 (says Carol thinks he looks like him and calls Tom Cruise Nancy’s “loverboy”) and season 2 (Halloween costumes), we have the diary entry in the Upside Down (UD) that follows with a Stancy flashback that I think is there to show that not only is the UD stuck in the past, but stuck on the night Will disappeared, specifically. We also see Vecna bringing up Nancy and Steve’s first time having sex to taunt Nancy about Barb’s death and place blame on Nancy.

I think so much of the Stancy scenes in ST4 and all the Stancy scenes throughout the show that reference their past allude to one thing: Barb. I will forever be angry that Nancy’s Vecna moment finally facing Barb’s death and the weight of that guilt got completely overshadowed by Vecna’s big reveal in ST4 only to never be referenced again. And, I think so much of Nancy’s guilt is intertwined with Steve and there’s so much unresolved there.

I made a post during the break between ST4 vol. 1 and 2 detailing how the current season threw in so many references to the night Steve and Nancy broke up, where she called him “bullshit” and blamed Barb’s death on them. I also talked about how their relationship (platonic, romantic, or otherwise) is stuck on that night, where they’re not able to move past that until they pick up that bathroom conversation which, I believe, will ultimately help Nancy move on from the weight of Barb’s death. That’s honestly why I think Stancy has returned for Nancy’s character arc. I think Steve letting Nancy go or realizing he doesn’t need a romantic partner is his arc. But I am biased and I’ll freely admit that.

So Stancy’s ties to the past are directly linked to their romantic relationship (and usually those early days of that relationship). Jancy, on the other hand, do have these historical allusions but this history is not associated with their actual relationship at all. I think the only time Jancy really refer to their own past is when they discuss “what happened” to them between ST1 & ST2 at the motel and when Jonathan references Murray at the end of ST3.

I believe in season 2 the choice to have jazz music at Murray’s play was to promote their scenes as their romantic. In the will-they-won’t-they prelude to their first kiss, the lyrics playing aptly describe the situation: “I want you so now / You have the lips I love to touch / You'd better go now, you'd better go / Because I like you much, too much.”

In season 3, the music choice at Mrs. Driscoll’s may be related to her age or they could be playing up the old-timey reporter duo trope from, like, the 1940s. It is interesting too that other old-timey music (i.e. We’ll Meet Again – Vera Lynn) was used in ST3 without connection to Jancy/Mrs. Driscoll. I genuinely don’t know what that means, but,since the music was in reference to supernatural occurrences (flayed victims/Meat flayer) it could be a reference to Henry/001/Vecna since that would be the era of music he is familiar with, just like how “Dream a Little Dream of Me” was used to announce his presence in Max’s happy memory in ST4. (That would be super cool if that was the case!)

 In terms of clothing and Jancy, the costume department and creative teams have always been very explicit that clothing choices for the Byers are made with their financial situation in mind. It’s been years, but there have been interviews and articles that mention that Jonathan’s wardrobe in season 1 is “older” due to probably being bought second-hand or trying to make the clothes last longer. We even see in ST1 that one of his sweaters (his beautiful cream one <3) has moth holes in the collar. We also see Joyce wearing Jonathan’s old shirts, Jonathan wearing multiple clothing staples across seasons, and costuming discussed how the boy’s Ghostbusters’ outfits in ST2 are all different depending on what each family was able to afford (Mike’s family was able to buy the newest, best costume from the store while Joyce was shown hand making pieces of the costume for Will throughout the first two episodes).

Additionally, while promoting ST3 costuming mentioned that Nancy’s (and by the transitive property, Jonathan’s) outifts were inspired by her boyfriend’s New Wave tastes (brighter colors, sharper patterns and lines, iirc) So, I think their outfits are not exactly supposed to make us conjure up images of previous decades.

Because of how different the concept of “the past” is used for Stancy (directly tied to their relationships’ past) and Jancy (vintage motifs that could very much be unrelated to their relationship), I don’t think the situations are comparable. You mention that both boys may be “holding onto a past version of Nancy and therefore neither boy can be her future” but I think the narrative has only suggested that for Steve, and only partially.

I would argue that Steve’s not even holding onto a past version of Nancy, I think he is romanticizing their relationship with an idealistic (not an accurate) version of Nancy at the center. When Steve mentions his dream of Nancy being his wife and mother to their six nuggets, this doesn’t sound like future Nancy but it also doesn’t sound like the Nancy he previously dated. This is why I think Steve’s arc will involve letting Nancy go/finally getting closure on their relationship and seeing it for what it was.

Jonathan, alternatively, recognizes Nancy’s ambition, sees her for who she is, and is very much supportive of Nancy’s future and the future she wants for herself; so much so that he deeply fears holding her back and is willing to let her go so she can succeed (when what he should actually do is talk to her. I don’t want to romanticize his approach: it’s bad and it’s actively hurting Nancy, but I do think one can sympathize with his actions while agreeing there’s a better approach).

You also mention that “[Jancy] feel[s] completely disconnected from almost every aspect of the modern Hawkins, like instead they should be off in their own little world and time” and I completely agree. It’s like when they’re interacting on screen together, they’re the only two present. Part of that is because when they speak with one another it's always in this quiet, intentional way. Idk what else to add, this is just actually one of my favorite things about them.

Thank you so much for the ask, Anon! This was a lot of fun and forced me to consider things in ways I haven’t thought about before. Also, a huge thank you to @p-zombiee for talking this through with me (as it is super confusing and I kept getting lost in it myself!)