#analyses you like a character instead of how you usually are the one doing the analyzing. HWAT THE FUCK

[dorkhellbside]

hey brain ghost dirk. uhh can you just. uhm,

[chocobje]

Hello, curious on how you do your toon anatomy! (Ex. Proportions, guidelines) It looks so much like the game but for Cosmo it doesn’t follow the body including legs is 1 1/2 the head rule I’ve noticed! (I’m struggling so much to draw cos lol)

I'm so sorry I am not the best person to teach but I tried my best to show how I do it 😭

I wouldn't say my artstyle is close to the game, but I do have a cartoony anatomy. I don't follow a guideline, cause I just wing it pretty much all the time. The way I draw Toons tend to look taller somewhat.

A LOT of my turns are very round if you notice, I rarely got a few sharp turns since that's just a preference of mine.

I usually do long, smooth strokes for my lines instead of shorter ones. Shorter lines or having a scratchy sketch makes my art look stiff in my opinion. I favor my characters looking dynamic over accurate anatomy. It feels more fun for me. (Anatomy is VERY important too but I have priorities lol.)

Proportions and anatomy also depend on which character you're doing. It's common for artists to draw kids with big heads and eyes and shorter limbs.

Anyway, I'm not sure what else to put here.. I recommend using a lot of references and practice.. I just searched up "cartoon anatomy" in Pinterest and there are tutorials over there that can teach you way better than I can. 🥹

My art isn't perfect, I'm only self-taught. I've only really learned through analysing the hell out of other artists/shows/games I admire and try to apply it on my own art... 😭 So you gotta find your inspiration!

Study what makes something work for others so you can apply it to yours. This is what I did when I first tried to figure out how to draw the Toons.. (my first art of them looks HORRID)

If it helps, I don't mind if people want to take some inspiration on how I draw the Toons. So analyze the hell outta my art if you wish LOL. (It brings me joy to be a factor of someone's art journey the way the bigger artists I admired were part of mine :')

[hamliet]

Mind if I ask you a Dostoevsky question? I was wondering why Alyosha never talks to Smerdyakov. Other characters look down on Pavel because he's a servant or they're put off by his ~bad vibes~ but Alyosha usually helps people even if they're unpleasant or lower class iirc, so it seems unusual that he just ignores him. The one significant interaction they have (that I can think of) is when Alyosha spies on him and Marya, which I always took to be Alyosha being interested about Pavel's personal life/surprised to see him talking (relatively) normally with a friend.

Also, if Alyosha had been able to help/get through to Smerdyakov, it might've averted the whole tragedy, but do you think he'd be able to? It's hard to dislike Alyosha, but Pavel's a pretty dedicated hater.

Also also, thanks for your analyses, here and in general! I'd been meaning to get into Dostoyevsky for a while, but your posts were the push I needed to start reading!

Ah I'm so happy to hear this! I'm glad you're liking him.

So basically, I think the fact that Alyosha didn't reach out to Pavel is the precise point of the story. It's his flaw that even Alyosha, a compassionate and Christlike figure, is still human and subject to the tendency in human nature to go along with society rather than stand against it. Of course, in many ways Alyosha does stand against it... but not in this, and as a result of him ignoring his blood brother, the children suffer.

None of the brothers treat Pavel as a brother. He is, but their father acknowledges him just enough to give him the patronymic and house him but not enough to give him his name. Instead Pavel got an insult as a surname and serves his father who raped his mother, and the servant who raises him beat him.

Mitya, Ivan, and Alyosha have two different mothers among them too, so Dostoyevsky is emphasizing that this is not a blood thing. The brothers weren't really raised together either, so it's not a shared experience thing. So then, why aren't they accepting of Pavel?

The only real answer is that they adhered to social norms of the day regarding Pavel, and the result is that he treats them like they've treated him.

Mitya doesn’t really acknowledge Pavel at all, treating him exactly like their father treats him. He acts like Pavel doesn't count, so Pavel frames Mitya as if his life doesn't count.

Ivan comes to closet of all the brothers to acknowledging Pavel, but he really just uses Pavel as a receptacle for his ideals without any consideration of Pavel as a person much less a brother—so Pavel uses those ideals to justify his murder. 

But, Ivan does ask the pointed question: what of the children? Of course, the irony is that Ivan can ask about the neglected and abused children in theoretical debates with Alyosha, but he neglects to actually put any theory into action. Like. Ivan. Your brother. He's an abused child. Right there. Listening to you.

Alyosha doesn't interact with Pavel much at all, but neither does he treat him like a brother.

His mentor, Father Zosima, even comments that suicides (how Pavel died) should be the most pitied:

But woe to those who have slain themselves on earth, woe to the suicides! I believe that there can be none more miserable than they. They tell us that it is a sin to pray for them and outwardly the Church, as it were, renounces them, but in my secret heart I believe that we may pray even for them. Love can never be an offence to Christ. For such as those I have prayed inwardly all my life, I confess it, fathers and teachers, and even now I pray for them every day.

Zosima's lament is not just that people take their own lives--it's specifically that the Church casts them out. It's tragedy creating tragedy. And because Alyosha didn’t reach out to Pavel while he lived, he loses almost his entire family because of it. His father's murdered. Mitya's in prison. Ivan's consumed by guilt and "brain fever."

So is it fair to say that Alyosha created his own tragedy? Well, that seems a bit harsh. Yet at the same time, it is a theme in the novel that we are all responsible for each other. So it's fair to say that the tragedies are a natural consequences, but that's not saying he deserves it. In fact it's tragic because he doesn't.

Yet, there's hope. The tragedy and Alyosha's realization of it is why, thematically, the ending of the entire novel takes place at a child's funeral.

Keep in mind, the child who died, Ilyusha, was not a perfect child--in fact, he was noted to be spiteful and attacked other kids and even Alyosha. He was a victim of bullying and a rough family situation, and had a terminal illness (tuberculosis)--all of which Pavel also endures (except his is epilepsy). So basically, we're supposed to see Ilyusha as an earlier version of Pavel (and again, Pavel actually encourages Ilyusha in the novel to be cruel to animals, which he does).

Yet at the very least? Ilusha was loved by his family. Pavel didn't even have that. Ilyusha is also noted to be capable of intense kindness. Could that have been Pavel, if someone had tried to reach him?

At Ilyusha's funeral, Alyosha says the following:

Let us make a compact here, at Ilyusha’s stone, that we will never forget Ilyusha and one another. And whatever happens to us later in life, if we don’t meet for twenty years afterwards, let us always remember how we buried the poor boy at whom we once threw stones, do you remember, by the bridge? and afterwards we all grew so fond of him. He was a fine boy, a kind‐hearted, brave boy, he felt for his father’s honor and resented the cruel insult to him and stood up for him. And so in the first place, we will remember him, boys, all our lives. And even if we are occupied with most important things, if we attain to honor or fall into great misfortune—still let us remember how good it was once here, when we were all together, united by a good and kind feeling which made us, for the time we were loving that poor boy, better perhaps than we are. 

So what of Pavel? What of the children? Reach out to them. Even the ones who appear spiteful and cruel. Especially the ones who are unloved, because love is, as Alyosha himself says in the same speech at Ilyusha's funeral, even if it's just a memory:

If a man carries many such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days, and if one has only one good memory left in one’s heart, even that may sometime be the means of saving us.

Maybe Alyosha reaching out would have prevented the tragedy. Maybe it wouldn't have. But you have to try for there to be hope of salvation.

[ilona2nerrie]

Mer JL au:

Aurthur: Yellowtail amberjack. (it’s a king fish and I thought that was funny.)

Diana: Amazon molly. (Do I really need to explain myself? Although ignore the size, I like to imagine Diana as buff. Insert thumbs up emoji.)

Hi! Author’s note, thank you for all your support for the first part of his I did! It really motivated me to continue with this project instead of just giving it up.as per usual, pleas PM me if you want to be added to the tagged list, if you have any ideas about the story or want me to incorporate any specific aspects or neglected characters, just let me know in the comments and ill add them.

Every part I think I’m just going to try to add two more species of Mer, like I did in the first part. The first part will be linked under the people who asked to be tagged, if you want to be tagged PM me.

Tagged:

@ancientdreams-in-a-modernland

Part one linked: Clark finds himself a friend. Bruce finds himself a meal ticket.

Part three linked: Bruce shows off his pup and Clark learns to communicate.

chapter four: Clark finds the family. Bruce needs a nap.

Enjoy the story!

“He isn’t happy with you. You missed the whole meeting.” Diana sighed, “we were discussing the trenches situation, the trench creatures are starting to come higher then normal. He’s still pissed you missed it though. What were you even doing?”

Clark looked over at Diana, crossing his arms with a huff looking to the reefs surface.

“I told you. I went to find the Mer who we’ve been getting reports about, and he slipped away. Before I even got there, and its dose take time to scout the whole area you know?”

Diana looked at him, eyes narrowing as she stopped in her tracks, sitting on a piece of coral glaring at him accusingly. Clark shifted his eyes, now slightly wringing his hands as he met the others glare.

“Uh, Diana- “

“How do you know it’s a Mer? How do you know it’s a guy Mer? You said it had slipped away before you got there.”

Clark cursed internally, eyes widening a fraction and lips slightly pursing before he schooled his expression and tried to produce a lie on the spot.

“Just an assumption on the gender, and I guessed it was a Mer because I found a shark carcass. It didn’t just leave teeth marks, it left claw marks, but only in places where it would matter. I really shouldn’t bring my assumptions into a serious conversation, thank you for catching me on that.”

He said, trying to derail her with the thanks instead of her analysing the fact that none of that information on his assumption was on his mission report.

“Huh,” Dianna said. Clark answered that too fast, there was too much reasoning with that. If he had just told her, it was an assumption, she would’ve understood and let it go. But he kept rambling about it, that was quite suspicious. Her eyes flicked to the faint scratches on his arms he had attempted to hide wrapping his arm up in seaweed.

‘Idiot probably lost,’ she mused in her head. ‘Embarrassed he went alone no doubt, and lying to cover up he couldn’t manage it alone. No point in embarrassing him, but this is vital information…’

“Anyway,” she started again, giving him a smile as she started swimming again, Clark visibly relaxed as he followed.

“You should add all that to your mission report.”

Clark looked at her, confused. Before nervously chuckling with a sheepish look. “But, Diana, it’s just an assumption. I don’t want to be wrong- “

Diana gave him a sharp look. She cared about him, but the lie was disrespect she wouldn’t take.

“I trust your judgement, Clark.” She said, voice steadily firm. “Write it, you’ve never been wrong about an assumption before.”

She was giving him a clear disapproving parent stare, one that made him adjust the seaweed covering his arms as he tried to give a normal grin.

“Thanks Di, your too good to me.”

“I know.”

The rest of the swim back was relatively normal after the tension dissipated. Clark was glad, thinking he got away with it. Meanwhile, Diana was concerned. Considering her assumption on why Clark lied, she started to worry that if Clark was this embarrassed, or worried, to talk about the black scaled creature, it must be terrifying. But she wasn’t going to bring it up. Yet. Not unless it becomes a serious concern.

She dropped Clark off at home, who swum inside his apartment and sighed as he flopped down on his couch. (slab of stone and coral). He looked to the ceiling, wondering. Wondering if he’d see Bruce again. And he did, next time he was at the reef.

after a few days Clark was assigned to reef patrol again, not before getting vigorously scolded by Arthur, as Hal filmed it, and barry watched. He was picking at the coral as he swum by, not noticing the pair of blue eyes stare at him from under a piece of coral. Nor the black scaled figure following him as he went, keeping to the shadows.

Clark did however see when Bruce flashed his scales at him, in the pattern of:

“ . _ . . ~ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _ ~ _ . _ “. (Ignore the strange swirly dash, its hard trying to write morse code D:)

Clark tilted his head but swam over to him, quite happy to see the other again. He was made to keep his distance with a defensive flash, but it was slightly closer than last time. So, Clark counted that as a win.

“Well, hi! Glad to see your back Bruce.” Clark said, offering his hand to Bruce. Bruce, who got startled by the hand a bit too close for comfort, but Clark’s hand defensively. Clark hissed, but he didn’t pull off him instantly, instead opting to let Bruce let go. If the other was clearly agitated, and definitely did not speak a lick of English, t was a bad idea to panic then make him panic. He didn’t manage to hold the wince that escaped him when the teeth sunk into his hand though. Bruce looked up at him, then back his hand tilting his head. When Clark didn’t panic, he released his bite, and backed away a few feet, staring back at Clark.

Clark saw him back off slightly and was quick to try reassure him.

“Hey- no hey its ok! I’m not hurt, just a bite. I’ve definitely had worse.”

As the blood seeped from Clark’s hand, it got into the water. Bruce sniffed at it, before looking back to Clark. Flashing his scales again.

“ . . _ . ~ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _ ~ _ . . “

Clark watched him sniff the air, before humming and tilting his head. He wasn’t sure what the other meant, but it was clear he wanted something. “What?” he asked, confused at the random flashes jut displayed to him. Bruces face scrunched up, sensing the other had no clue what he had wanted.

“ . . _ . ~ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _ ~ _ . . “

He tried to flash more pointedly, huffing when Clark looked just as lost as before. He jabbed a finger to the reef, eyes falling on a lionfish. He gestured to it pointedly, then looking back at Clark and flashing again. Same word.

“ . . _ . ~ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _ ~ _ . . “

Clarks eyes followed his gesture to the food before it clicked in his head. “oh! Your hungry?”  He asked, then smiling again. He swum to the reef and plucked a few lionfish from it before swimming back. Bruce had sat himself on a piece of coral, black scales contrasting greatly with the vibrant coral under him. Clark handed him one tentatively, relived when Bruce took it and begun to eat.

“Sooooo, that flashing means you want food huh?” Clark observed, not surprised when he didn’t get a response. “And that flashing was different then when you wanted my attention. The other one was something else, that one means food- could I write this down?”

Clark asked, pulling out his JL pad and going over to the space where he could keep personal notes. He looked at the other, who was still eating. Bruce was ignoring him in favour of his food at the moment, happily munching on the lionfish, pulling out the spindles. Clark waited for him to be finished with that one, before getting his attention. He pointed to the fish and looked back at Bruce, then gesturing to his tail.

“Can you show me the sequence of flashes for food?”

Bruce had no clue what he was talking about, but he did pick up that when he communicated with Clark, he seemed to refer to the communication as flashes. Confused, and feeling slightly patronised, Bruce flashed his tail again in the: “ . . _ . ~ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _ ~ _ . . “. sequence, going slower. To Bruce, going slower was a kind of sarcastic act, mocking Clark for needing him to re-do it. Clark had no idea of Bruces mindset, smiling at him while thinking the slow flashes were for his benefit. He wrote down the flashes and what they meant.

[Clarks Notes:]

[ how to communicate with new friend. Doesn’t speak English.]

[I call him Bruce. I don’t know his name.]

[ “ . . _ . ~ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _ ~ _ . . “. means food when he flashes like that.]

Clark put his pad down, looking back at Bruce with a smile before handing him another fish. Bruce had no idea Clark was infatuated with him. Or maybe he did. Bruce was fine with Clark’s existence as long as he kept bringing him food. This fish was tastier than fish from the trenches, and there wasn’t many fish down there at all. So, Bruce was happy to keep coming back here and get his fish while Clark took notes on him. Stupid reef mer.

Bruce gave him a look when Clark reached out but let him touch the scales on his tail. Even if begrudgingly. Clark ran his hand over the strange textured scales, moving his head slightly to see the slight purple sheen of his scales. It made the light that rippled through the ocean water slightly purple. But what was most stunning was the way they felt. They were soft but they got harder when Clark put any semblance of pressure on them. They were cool and metallic, probably made to withstand high water pressures.

He was about to speak when his pad went off with an emergency, beeping loudly. That startled Bruce and pulled away, staring at the pad for a solid second before taking off back to the darker part of the reef. Clark reached out, about to stop him but he was already long gone. He groaned, glaring at the pad on his wrist as he muted it, “Great,” he muttered, starting to swim back to base. “Just great. This better be good.”

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Okay so I just finished Sunrise on the Reaping and have had time to process. Here are my thoughts (spoilers, duh):

- I’ve seen arguments it was bad fan-service but I really liked the inclusion of Beetee, Wiress, Mags and Plutarch. Effie I was a little confused about just cause I always thought she was younger than Haymitch for some reason however having gone back she had been presented as District 12’s usual escort by Katniss so it’s totally possible she’d been working within the Games for a few years and got promoted to a camera-facing escort role even if it was the worst one.

- I enjoyed having more names to analyse in terms of District traditions! Ampert was a particular favourite.

- I also very much enjoyed having more arena analysis material - Wiress’ games seem to me to be another reflection (see what I did there) of how propaganda can literally distort one’s view though I may be reading too much into it. I also find it very interesting to learn about a victor who never killed anyone? I’ve always loved her character and it’s so interesting to learn more about her.

- It’s also super neat seeing things Katniss describes that we haven’t before seen directly - the children of victors being reaped for example

- I find it interesting how the reapings are confirmed to be (at least in some cases) rigged completely. Katniss says that children of victors are likely to be rigged but this book made clear that reapings can be rigged for any number of reasons. While I still don’t believe the theory that Prim’s reaping was rigged, it’s interesting to note the way the Games is used as a direct punishment.

- I loved Louella and Lou-Lou, I noted the parallels between Rue and Lou-Lou as well. By extension this creates a further Katniss/Haymitch parallel which I think we see a lot throughout the book.

- Snow’s narcissism is always fun to see - assuming all relationships will end bad like his (never accepting accountability king right there)

- My guess beforehand was that Haymitch’s games were fairly different to what we saw but I was astonished just how much was different while key story elements remained! I really enjoyed it.

- I really loved the Effie content as always.

- Everdeen parent names!!

- A big fan of the graveyard: I wonder if it let Haymitch figure out the name of Snow’s Covey sweetheart. It’s also nice to see how the Covey mourned Lucy Gray though I also imagine her making her own gravestone while chilling out in the woods.

- Wyatt and Maysilee were such favourites of mine! I’ve seen people saying they find Maysilee’s character stereotypical and I totally disagree! She’s a surface level bitch, sure, but she’s got a core of steel and a clearly hidden soft side even if she can be blunt. Wyatt was bright and brilliant and I think there’s something so heartbreaking about losing such a kind and good character so quickly that really drove home the brutality of the Games.

-I found the ending a bit abrupt but that may be because Catching Fire had follow up to the Games that wasn’t as present in this. It was a very fast paced book but the way that continued in the ending gave me a little whiplash I won’t lie.

- Canon Covey Katniss! I do like that she’s not super closely related to Lucy Gray or Lenore Dove but it’s nice to have a theory proven right.

- Beetee and Ampert broke my heart but I think it makes Beetee’s decision in Mockingjay even more powerful- he does not respond to a cruelty done to him with the same cruelty, instead choosing to try end the cycle of violence.

- I found the book to be a hopeful message in the current political climate - Collins said even if all you can do is lay the groundwork it is worth doing!!

- SUZANNE COLLINS SLAMMING AI IN A HUNGER GAMES BOOK WE LOVE TO SEE IT!

- Overall, I really enjoyed the book! I’ll have to give it a little while to settle but I definitely think it’s one of my favourite of the series!

[chaos-and-sparkles]

In Which I Ramble About Pavitr's Character Design and the Indian Cultural Stuff Related to It

DISCLAIMER: I'm an Indian, and these are all my thoughts and analyses, but I'm also just one person and by no means am I speaking for everyone. I am not all knowing, and I am not immune to being wrong sometimes. These points are all my own thoughts and stuff that I know through my lived cultural experiences and some history and book knowledge, but I've not particularly researched any of these. I'm just out here giving my take from what I know. This is mostly just going to be me rambling, okay? Okay. Let's go!

Anyway okay so I just wanna go from the top down:

No. 1:

First of all his hair

His fucking hair

This is one aspect that i k n o w I'm overthinking and probably wasn't as significantly thought out in the design but it just Spoke to me and by all accounts I'm not the only one

But I'm so glad we have him with his thick gorgeous fricking hair, especially them being like curly/wavy and slightly long instead of straight and cropped or whatever

Like. Indians usually have very thick and luscious hair, not everyone ofc but generally it's a thing, and it's considered a point of pride to have long dark thick hair.

And the thing is for the longest time the beauty standard in India was to have very straight and shiny hair, all the actresses and heroes were doing it, even though that's literally not the realistic case for a lot lot LOT of Indians. There's a pretty big variety of hair texture in India; some of it is regionally concentrated too, eg. in South India you get a lot of frizzy, tightly coiled hair that's rough textured, whereas curly hair is usually silkier and looser curled as you go Northwards,, Bengalis tend to have very wavy thick hair,, etc. By no means a rule or anything, it's just a thing that there's a lot of curl variety and a lot of it was for the longest time considered ugly and unkempt (there are some classist/regionalist elements to this stereotype also unsurprisingly) still is by some people,,, bc the standard was Shiny Straight Hair. It's a standard that's slowly shifting. It's currently leaning more on the wavy and voluminous side. But it's def a thing still.

All that to say, it makes me so so happy to see Pav with his curly-ish lush hair that he wears with such pride and style,, that are a symbol of his own pride and self care too!!!

Also the line about "coconut oil, prayers and good genetics" - I LOVE THAT REFERENCE AHAHABSSK, using coconut oil for the hair is a very common thing here, it's so so good for the hair and the scalp alike and it's relaxing to massage it in too.

I've seen people try to write Pavitr in fics as "quickly brushing some coconut oil through his hair" as part of his morning routine and. Um. That's not how it's done askaskjas, I don't mean to be rude to the writers at all, everyone does the best with what they know and no one knows everything, but also practically speaking that would be greasy and awful.

There are multiple ways to apply coconut oil, ofc. Coconut oil is often massaged into the scalp and rubbed into the hair like an hour before washing, sometimes with lemon juice mixed in, and then washed off when bathing. Some people, especially those with drier and finer hair, apply it as a regular after-hair-wash thing, too, but even so it needs to be rubbed in.

A really beloved thing we have is coconut oil champis, too! This is basically when you sit down cross legged in front of youe mother/grandmother, and she massages the coconut oil into your scalp and hair in a way that literally cures all tension and headaches and leaves your head reeling and is so so good for hair and stress and everything. It's a family bonding thing more than just a hair routine. It's not always done by the mom/grandmother ofc, it's just how most of us first experience it, and they have a technique that none of us can ever quite replicate to the same effect later. As we grow up, we often do it for ourselves and for others. It's a weekly or monthly or even just occasional thing depending on who you ask. But yeah that reference was great I love it dearly!

Also about the hair length

So in the current modern "civilized" standard (Indian schools and society in general tend to do a lot of shit trying to assimilate us into western culture and stamp out our own,, for example all my life I've been in schools where speaking Hindi and Telugu and stuff in class or in the hallways was Wrong and Forbidden and We Must Speak Only In English Bc We Are Educated And Cultured. This is so fucking hypocritical bc they would also have Hindi and Telugu classes and then criticize us for not getting it right or whatever), boys are meant to have short hair. Teachers literally single boys out in class for leaving their hair longer, not the exact length they set as the limit. This was my entire school experience; thankfully it doesn't seem to be the case in college, but that may just be bc I'm in an artsy college. In the workplace it's less stringent but it's still a thing.

HOWEVER, historically and culturally, long hair was considered good and even Important for both men and women. There's huge regional variations in this ofc; Maratha peshwas and higher classes and stuff for example wore a "pilaka" (idk what else it's called), which is the head shaven clean except a tuft in the middle that's sometimes braided. Brahmins still do it too.

But my point being, long hair was considered good for the most part, at most it would be worn in a bun for fighting and working,,, braids are a pretty big deal too. Having to cut your hair short=a symbol of dishonour and/or exile, or reserved for menial workers and so called "low classes".

(This is not stuff you even get explicitly told btw. This is stuff I've mostly inferred and studied from history and mythology and stuff , so there's no guarantee I'm 100% right)

Also, in Sikkhism (I'm not Sikh myself so correct me if I'm wrong, this is just what I know) having long hair is super fucking important for men. The hair is wrapped up in the turban, and the turban is a symbol of honour and pride and literally considered life. The long hair is considered sacred.

Removing the turban is basically a symbol of literally losing your honour pride and sense of self,, not just in Sikkhism, just generally at this point. Cutting your hair? Insult on injury.

Pavitr doesn't have particularly long hair ofc

But having grown up with such rigidly enforced things abt boys having very short cropped hair, it makes me so happy to see an Indian character who defies that.

Also!! Quick tangent about braids and their significance,, they're considered very beautiful and another symbol of pride, intricate buns and what not too! Just wanna drop this to give you an idea of what i mean:

In the Hindu myth of the Mahabharata, Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas (she's a very interesting and important and beloved character, regionally also considered a goddess, she was a princess born of fire married to five princes and the vengeance for her honour literally fuelled the war for righteousness etc etc) vows never to braid her hair again until she has washed it in the blood of Dushasana, a man who forcefully tried to disrobe her in court (it's a whole myth of its own). At the apex of the war, Bheem, her husband, brings her his blood. She washes her hair in it and then for the first time in thirteen years, she braids it.

Braids are not as significant now but it was basically a Pretty Big Deal and I just wanted to talk abt it.

In Hinduism too the gods are portrayed with long hair, it's a Thing.

No. 2:

Okay so moving more downwards,, I have a bunch of Thoughts abt Pavs mask design!

Okay so obv we have the spiderweb-pattern that's a given.

But. The interesting parts are these:

The bindi-like design on his forehead.

Bc my point is

Sure that looks like a bindi. And that's beautiful in itself but I HAVE ANOTHER TAKE

Bindis are traditionally worn by women as a symbol of beauty, prosperity, and again, pride. But while nice, that's not quite a symbolism that fits imo

You know what else is ver similar where my mind immediately goes? A tilak.

The shape is kind of off for a tilak actually, a tilak is more of a U or a V with a dot or a flame-like stroke in the middle. So in that case it looks more like a bindi

But i really like thinking that it's inspired by a tilak too, bc

While a bindi is a decorative mark stuck or painted on a woman's forehead as a symbol of beauty and prosperity

A tilak is basically a mark that's finger-painted on the forehead of , usually a man but there's a softer smaller version for women too and ofc there are women warriors who got tilaks, for auspicious and blessing reasons. So in a Puja or ceremony, a tilak is put as a blessing and an auspicious thing, also meant to impart strength. The head of the household usually gets the most striking or biggest one.

Pandits usually wear tilaks for blessing purposes too, although their design is different and more elaborate than the ones given to others

Gods and goddesses had their own tilaks, some of them very distinctive like Shiva's

The part that applies to Pav is the warrior tilak

Basically before a king or warrior went to battle, it was customary to do a small sending off ritual and for the wife or mother to put the tilak for them and say "Vijay bhava" (may you be victorious)

It's still done for big undertakings and challenges like exams and new jobs and stuff.

It's basically for strength, bravery and victory

The main difference in a bindi and tilak is the intent:

Bindi is for beauty

Tilak is for valour

Which. For a HERO. Just. Chef's kiss.

2. the markings around his eyes!!

I'm sure this has been said before, but it's very very reminiscent of kathakali makeup.

Regionally there's a lot of eye makeup stuff also btw. There are some absolutely beautiful tribal designs and regional designs with a lot of colours but I cant remember specifics rn

Also!! The very distinctive black lines around Pav's eyes?? I love them sm bc they feel so so based in kohl and kajal. Another huge beauty and often pride related thing.

There's even a whole thing where a mother or older sister will often rub a bit of her kohl off on her fingertip and press it behind their loved one's ear so that "buri nazar na lage" (no one's bad gaze catches you). It's called a kaala teeka

The idea being that you're so beautiful and/or cute and bright and lovable and nothing should jinx that and nothing bad should happen to you. It's very rare now and I've never experienced it myself but it's so so precious <33

3. the white markings on his cheeks!

I've seen that explanation of how it's reminiscent of Ganesha, the elephant headed god who is kind of a symbol of new beginnings, intelligence, prosperity, and a ton of stuff I don't even know how to explain honestly, but he's very cool and beloved and has a lot of Good Vibes™ and i love him basically.

I personally am reminded more of kathakali makeup again!! But that explanation is very cool too and i like it!! I don't know if I agree bc i think it m i g h t be a blasphemy to have that imagery on your face, afaik no one here does it for any reasons and we have literal festivals and pujas dedicated to Ganesha

But then again I am a human with limited knowledge and i don't know everything

I personally think the tusk like designs are very cool. However, I also think it would be a bit of a No No for religious reasons. I also think it reminds me more of classical dance face makeup and stuff.

I also think if they meant to make it a Ganesha reference, then he should only have a tusk on one side, bc there's a huge deal about Ganesha being "ekdanta" (transl: one toothed) bc he has a well known myth of breaking off one of his tusks to write a mythologically and culturally significant epic.

There are also a lot of actual cultural face painting things in India that are way cooler than the Ganesha thing in my opinion. So while that theory is cool, I don't personally agree with it. I could be wrong, again, idk what the design intent was exactly.

No. 3:

Next thing: this is a very very small thing and i only have a sentence on it, but i really appreciate Pav's neckline in his suit.

The neckline here? That's the kind of cut that's most typical of kurtas. Especially more ceremonial, kingly, wedding sherwani, or generally festive attire; a regular kurti might have a v-neck or something, but this curved collar? Very Indian and classy in a way I can't fully explain.

No. 4:

This next thing I'm going to go completely ballistic about, everyone hold on to your seats!!!

THE FUCKING MOTIF ON HIS UPPER ARMS. IT'S EVEN ON THE MEHENDI-ISH PATTERN ON HIS WRISTS AND HANDS. THE SPIDER SHAPE TOO. I AM NOT NORMAL OKAY

LISTEN.

LISTEN TO ME

TBIS IS CONFIRMATION THAT KRISHNA PAVITR IS CANON

HE IS SO SO KRISHNA CODED

Idc if I'm delusional, i DARE you to look at that blue design and tell me it doesn't look like a peacock feather

THE SHAPE OF HIS FUCKING SPIDER IS OH SO SUBTLY CURVED TO BE PEACOCK FEATHER SHAPED TOO

There is no human way for me to be normal about this i need a minute

Okay for context:

Krishna is a very important and beloved god in Hinduism. I cannot overstate the love I have for him, even being mostly non religious myself.

There is SO MUCH about him he is such a big deal and thanks to him being made a character in popular Indian cartoons and so many animated and live action movies being made about him, he is literally woven in the fabric of our collective consciousness and love for our culture

He's a mischevious and fun and chaotic and lowkey antiestablishment kid deity. He contains the literal universe. He has a deep abiding love for his people and his family and loved ones and the world he serves. He is a dancer, flute player, sweetheart, lover of life. He has a thousand wives, yet one Radha who he never married but is his literal immortalized soulmate. He guides heroes to duty. He is full of wisdom but also silly hijinks. He is so so beloved.

The peacock feather is his symbol! You could see the peacock feather anywhere and it's immediately OH KRISHNA! He wears a peacock feather, famously. In all his iterations, from childhood to adulthood. Peacock feather is his emblem.

Krishna is depicted through the peacock feather. It's become a very common motif in arts like mehendi and various textile arts to have peacock feather and peacock patterns; I'm sure that existed before Krishna too in several cultural circles but he is definitely a huge part of it since. There is a chikankari motif that is very recognisable that's reminiscent of peacock feather but I'm mostly unsourced on that, going off my own interpretation

But there's a definite link between peacock feather=Krishna=inextricable part of culture and art.

At least in North India. He's less of a big deal the further south you go. Still very widespread and overall loved tho.

So anyway seeing that peacock feather type motif on Pav?? Mixed with his Spiderman identity??? Is so amazing to me.

Krishna coded Pavitr real ✨

(Also yeah people have already pointed out that Pav's hand designs are based on mehendi so I don't need to go into that askjasjkas)

No. 5:

Also. Huge fan of his arm cuffs. It's just another Indian warrior thing; often in ye olde times and in mythology, the cuff would be a lot simpler, often just a thread with an amulet to grant you protection. But it steadily became fancier, and now it can be decorative or a valour thing or both

Very often just decorative now actually. Often seen in weddings and ceremonies too

No. 6:

Okay about his bangles now:

I absolutely LOVE THEM I love them so much I am so obsessed with them actually!!

So. First of all

I remember there being a confusion in like earlier fics especially on whether they were bracelets or damrus or bangles or what

And i have Thoughts

So first of all

They are not damrus/damarus.

Damarus are a musical instrument made of wood and with two beaded ropes to beat on the small drum-like ends. They're also symbols of lord Shiva who uses a damaru.

They are very different from what Pav wears and i remember my fucking whiplash when earlier fics called his bangles damarus. I think i choked on my maggi.

I don't mean to be rude to the writers ofc, they were doing the best with what they knew. But it's just very jarring to me to hear that

I think an explanation I heard was that Pav's web shooter design was inspired by damarus? Which yeah I get that and I actually wanna talk about it bc I very much see it. But they are very much NOT damarus themselves

So

First of all i personally have never seen nor heard of the kind of bangles Pav wears which appear to have a strip of cloth in the middle? While being gold cuffs on both ends? Which is new and interesting actually and opens up aspects abt his character that i find really interesting

Bc first of all: that implies he made them himself from stuff he already had inspired by things he saw. It seems, at least to me, like he used bangles/kadas he had to make the shooters he uses, which are designed the way they are for easier slinging and his cool tricks with them which would be harder if they were solid gold, and also the shape when he does the cool yoyo-y trick and hits The Spot with it and everything is very damaru shape. Which is also pretty cool if it's meant as a reference to Shiva and his damaru (he's a very fierce god with the damaru) or a reference to the street performers who use it nowadays.

Either way - and also additionally the fact that PAV LITERALLY DOUBLED HIS BANGLES AS WEB SHOOTERS WHICH IS SO CREATIVE AND SMART - and developed his own whole signature skillset with it?? And made his own bangle/shooters as I said before????

My boy is PEAK jugaadu

He is the embodiment of jugaad

Never has anything been so true to the Indian spirit than jugaad

Okay so for context, the jugaad that I keep talking about:

It basically means makeshifting and/or inventing stuff you need from the limited stuff you have. That's a very simple way of explaining it. Just imagine that, but up the silliness level x100.

For example, a guy jugaaded a showerhead by poking holes in a sprite bottle and putting a hose in it and routing it to the tap.

Jugaad can be both very smart, and very funny and silly

And it usually involves combining useless stuff/trash/just stuff you had lying around to make smth that you didn't wanna waste money buying, and often ends up having more functions than the stuff it was meant to replace. This but it's also very crackheaded. Like idk how to explain. It's basically makeshifting, but it's just developed into such an Indian Spirit Thing™ that we have a word for it

So i love that Pavitr's bangles do all of that. He is a true Indian boy to his core!

No. 7:

Okay I have thoughts on his dhoti too!

So.

Blue.

I know why they used blue for his dhoti, what with the spiderman colours, the need to complement his bright red with smth softer, and everything. I get it and i love it so so much. What I'm about to say next is not a complaint against this at all, it's very good design imo

But.

Everytime I look at him in his fucking blue dhoti

I just remember all the times my grandmother has apprehended me and made me go and change for trying to wear blue or black at a Puja

Bc they're apparently unholy colours ;_;

Basically yellow, saffron, red are the appropriate holy colours. Now that i think about it, I've never seen a god or mythological king depicted in a blue dhoti or generally blue clothing either - farthest they go from the three i described is pink or green

I never really thought about it until my Nani pointed it out. I'm still not sure if anyone except her even knew or cared about it.

But that is the memory that bonks me on the head every time i Perceive the blue dhoti

Bro upgraded from funeral colour (white, which is his dhoti in the comics and absolutely infuriates me on a visceral level) to unholy colour askaskjjska it's so funny to me

Purple was still a luxurious colour, but generally warmer and/or lighter colours are The Done Thing. It's an old notion and the cultural connotations are now very diluted by Western influence and also none of us Caring about a lot of it anymore (not necessarily a good or bad thing particularly)

Indigo also has. Loaded connotations.

Because Britain did a Colonialism and a lot of Indians suffered for it. It's a whole history lesson.

I would rather not get into the whole details but basically Indigo (the plant from which the dye was made) was a valuable commodity and Britishers essentially forced farmers to grow only that, ignoring their need to grow food or sustenance or care for the land in general, especially in the Bihar-UP regions. There were eventually a lot of revolts where many people, esp farmers, died.

Basically a double whammy of starvation and death as a direct result of colonialism. It was a major part, historically, that sparked rage for the freedom movement

If you wanna learn more abt it you can search up Champaran farmer revolts!

Also about the drape of Pav's dhoti:

I've seen a couple of memes and reels abt how Pav, in an emergency, suiting up for Spiderman duty, would be taking an hour to drape the dhoti and stuff

And those are hilarious and i love them

But also

That's literally not even a proper dhoti -

So the thing pav wears is basically more of dhoti-pants with a cummerbund.

So okay I need to explain this better hold on

A dhoti is basically a sheet of fabric that is draped around the waist and down. The elaborateness of the cloth can vary vastly from intricately patterned silk and brocade, to plain white cotton with a thin gold border optional

The drape of the dhoti varies even more depending on region, occasion, occupation, and status. You can have everything from the casual simple towel like drape and tuck that some men wear to relax on a daily basis, to an intricate thing with many folds and pleats and tucks and the middle part that hangs (I forget the name for that) that would actually legitimately take hours and is often adorned with jewellery . To a thing that's flexible to move in and also looks very pretty and is genderneutral some dance forms call for.

Basically. The drape varies vastly. And it's all one cloth, maybe a second one for a separate cummerbund sometimes, I'm not that well versed abt dhotis tbh.

But the thing Pav wears?? It doesn't seem to me to be folded the way I've ever seen any dhoti

The way it's folded and shaped is not how those style of dhotis work. There would be a lot more pleats and folds, for one. But it's not shaped the way to match the less-folded dhotis either.

Now, I'm no dhoti expert, but that leads me to believe that's not a full on dhoti. What it's more likely to be is dhoti-pants

Dhoti pants are this fusion thing. It's in the name. I haven't seen it much but I know/think/am pretty sure its a thing, bc most Indian guys now don't know how to drape a dhoti either and it's a good solution. Worn like a pant, looks like a dhoti. Simple. A cummerbund for the middle drape, and you're set!

Also side note: the fold with the distinct two legs and the middle drape that Pav has? Is the most commonly depicted warrior and king drape,, at least in North and Middle India, I'm not as well versed about the South but I think it's the case there too. The gods are depicted in that drape too

I have fewer comments on his leg design, I like that it's reminiscent of mehendi even on his feet bc yeah that's also done on the feet, although rarer now and also a bridal thing

No. 7:

He has gold cuffs on his ankles that I really like!

Okay so here's the interesting thing:

I could be wrong, but

But that kind of thick ankle cuff is not actually an Indian thing?? At least not in the warrior hero context that a lot of his design seems based on. At least not of that shape and width.

What we do have though are very simple metal ankle cuffs put on (I think) one ankle of young kids for protection,, again a tradition I'm not very familiar with, it's more localised

The other thing we have that's more interesting tho:

We have payals and ghungroos!!! Which opens up so many exciting prospects to me because those are both dancer things

Like. The payals are ornamental. They are beauty things as well. All women would wear them, their elaborateness and style depending on status, money, and region ofc

They double as dance and performance things too ofc

But ghungroos are specifically dance things

Very very sacred and honoured to the dancers, too. Quite personal

(These are all little bells on the ghungroos btw!! Hundreds of them. They ring out when the dancers dance)

This is what Pav's ankle cuffs most remind me of. It's not the same thing ofc, and idk if the designers were even thinking of this.

But it would be really cool if he was inspired by ghungroos to have cuffs of similar thickness and placement on his legs. Perhaps even familiar to him hmmm?

This is me theorizing HARD to support my headcanon, but combined with Pav's classical dance-n-martial-arts-y moves, i present to you: Pav learning classical dance when he was younger (a thing that a lot of Indian kids do and only a few seriously continue for their lives) is real.

I rest my case

Like yeah it's known at this point that Pav's moves are based a lot off the martial art of kalaripayattu. Which is SO AMAZING AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! But I also think this would be a cool influence alongside that, bc it really feels visible too.

No. 8:

The fact that Pavitr is barefoot is so so important and dear to me!!!

In Indian culture, you're supposed to take your shoes off as a mark of respect, before entering the ranabhoomi (literal transl: battleground, but not in an actual war with swords and shit ofc)

Being barefoot for pujas and in temples and on sacred ground in general is very important

As is being barefoot when you're walking onto a kabaddi or wrestling ground,, basically any fight that's supposed to be important and/or with honour. It's a respect thing for the opponent and for the earth you fight on.

There are a lot of contexts where being barefoot is important or a given

There's the prayer ground bc it's sacred and holy and you can't be dragging your dirty ass shoes there it's super disrespectful. You gotta enter with clean feet specifically, dirty feet are considered disrespectful too. that's also why there wil often be feet washing areas outside of temples here

Then there's the ranabhoomi that I just said, which is more of respect for your opponent and the earth. Respect to the earth especially is very important in the combat forms and sports I know of at least

Then there's the basic respect and tbh the hygiene thing too, of always taking off your footwear before entering another persons house. That one is more flexible, sometimes you can take it off inside, but the done thing is to take them off outside generally. Especially if you're a guest who's not particularly close. You'd be considered really rude if you didn't take them off at all. But again that still varies by person,, the older generations are way stricter abt it

Then the bride thing,,, it's actually a whole small ritual. The bride and groom will enter the groom's house for the first time,, which is considered the bride's new home bc misogynistic tradition so yeah. But basically it's supposed to be an auspicious beginning to a new home and life. (Btw being barefoot during the wedding ceremony is also generally required)

Usually, at least in North Indian tradition, a small vessel of rice is kept at the threshold that the bride must tip over with her foot when entering. It's for prosperity. Then she steps directly into a plate of a red liquid I forget the word for, but it's basically a sindoor paste type of thing. Her first steps into the house must be taken leaving those red footprints behind. That's for auspicious beginning

So Pavitr being barefoot is so so cool from a cultural and a character building standpoint

He takes his job seriously, he does it with respect and honour!!! He seems so chill and happy go lucky, but he's deliberate and respectful abt it!! And he's super connected to his culture too, bc you could just Not and no one would care, but it's so important that he does!!

So yeah!

That has been my full ramble askjasjkas. If you made it this far, have a cookie! Thank you and I hope this was interesting <33

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I spotted interesting thing:

When people post analyses of "Chat Blanc" and its aftermarth, most usually Bunnyx isn't mentioned even once.

This is rather ironic, given that Bunnyx is one of three most important characters of the episode (alongside Ladybug & Chat Blanc)

Also, one thing. Marinette salters like to claim that "Ladybug wasn't traumatized by Chat Blanc". They're somewhat right... and completely wrong.

That's because Ladybug wasn't traumatized by Chat Blanc himself (since he is "Adrien from Alternate universe", there is no connection between them), but by what Bunnyx told to her afterwards.

Like, she could mention True reason why Chat Blanc was Akumatized or not, and just say "Thanks for the help, Ladybug", and each of them would go separate ways. Instead, she decided to straight-up lie, and say "Your love caused this", which caused Marinette to take this personally and believe that she was one responsible.

This resulted in awful situation, where Marinette "protects the World" from danger that don't exist and will never appear... except Bunnyx herself (because among information that Marinette hides from everyone, is information that Bunnyx exists at all)

P.S. Obviously, I meant Adult!Bunnyx, in whole ask

I completely agree. It's one of my many issues with the episode. This dialogue was terrible!

Bunnyx: Do you know how Cat Noir found out about your secret identity? Ladybug: I think so. When I went into Adrien's house as Ladybug, he probably saw me. He figured out that Ladybug is Marinette because of the note written on the gift. But I'm not sure what happened next. Bunnyx: He probably told his friend Nino, who told Alya, who wrote about it on the Ladyblog. Ladybug: Mm.. They would never do that. But Adrien probably told someone, who told someone else, and so on, until it was all over the news! The best-kept secrets are the ones you never share.

In a better show, Bunnyx would have told Marinette that this was all just a matter of poor timing, reassuring Marinette that she doesn't need to be terrified of identity reveals. She just needs to be smart about them.

But we can't have that because that would give Marinette a reason to be more open with Chat Noir and the show has a rule that Marinette and Adrien must always have a secret between them so everything will be written to keep their relationship surface level no matter how much it poisons the show.

[britishsquidward]

I’m currently making an oc to ship with Riddler (I’m planning on making them a director/film historian) and I have to ask, how do you think 66!Riddler would be as a romantic partner? I need some headcanon stuff that I can use for inspiration

I'll split this into two sections, one for analysing relationships he has in the series for ideas, and one of miscellaneous headcanons for things he may do.

This will be specifically for Gorshin!Riddler, as I'm assuming this is the personality you're wanting for the ship instead of Astin - but also if you want to send any extra info through about the OC for more specifics, then I can try get some extra parts for that, too.

Everything you need under the cut! (Long post).

Relationship Analysis

It depends on the personality of the character he's with, as it can differ due to this and give somewhat different dynamics!

This being said, in general I'd say he'd be rather a good one - provided he actually likes the person LOL, which I am assuming is the case here (for examples on how he acts around someone who he's not as attracted to but still being flirty toward, see Mousey ("A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away/When the Rat's Away, the Mice Will Play", S1E11/12) or Moth ("The Ring of Wax/Give 'Em the Axe", S1E23/24). Here he shows some kind of interest but not a full emotional connection (usually due to the fact they annoy him or mess with the plan in some capacity).

When he properly likes somebody, this is usually due to them being like-minded in terms of schemes and/or interests (so films in your OC's case), or just because he finds them super physically attractive right off the bat (sometimes this option usually lacks the emotional depth though, so can be a little harder to work on. See his dynamic with Siren in "Ring Around the Riddler", S3E2).

Actually talking about liking people now, lol. So generally, he fits under one of three main dynamics (but can go in-between, this is just for ease of explaining), which I'll try to talk through using characters and ships I personally like with 66 Riddler.

We'll start with Riddlemolly ("Hey Diddle Riddle/A Smack in the Middle", S1E1/2). Molly is a very strong personality; sure of herself, not afraid to be on the wrong side of the law... a bit of a girlboss, essentially. I'd say for canonical ships in this show, this is the one he seems to feel most strongly for but this is in part due to the tension of them not actually dating (probably best not to when a mob boss has his eye on her too-), but he shows this through compliments and flirtatious actions.

A few that come to mind: "yes, my pretty", "fantastic, pretty lady", and the whole scene were he sort of teasingly goes to kiss her and then doesn't. He also shows concern for her when she doesn't return in the latter episode, pacing and all. If they actually dated, he'd be very complimenting and praising toward her because he knows how strong of a person she is and thinks that deserves to be appreciated, and sees her as an equal enough to take on board things she says, and even carry her suggestions, which could even, in a more domestic sense, mean going out of his way to do things for her (making her gifts - particularly clothes!! he can sew - cooking dinner, etc.); when Riddler gets fixated on a project he cares about, he won't let up and he'll complete it to its fullest. His actions are his love language, and the words accompany that.

For an extra example of how Riddlemolly and this sort of dynamic looks, I have a fanfiction about it here.

Number two! Riddleline (Pauline - see "Death in Slow Motion/The Riddler's False Notion", S1E31/32). This may prove most useful to you as an example because it's directly related to film. Pauline is also fairly strong in personality but she carries her insecurities and is quite shy at times. Not as sure of herself as Molly, but I think that comes from inexperience of being in the whole crime game. Riddler is very supportive of her here. They share the interest of silent films and acting, and that is something that stands out to him. He compliments her too, but not as flirtatiously as Molly, it's in a more casual sense. Even when he's not outrightly saying something was good, it's implied by his tone and body language (e.g/ smiling excitedly when she's about to act, with a "do your stuff!" because he knows it's going to be great and he can't wait to see the result - seeing as he was a director himself in that epsiode, a role in which he feels most comfortable in, but can act himself too, as seen in the same episode).

He shows her physical attention too, but in a more subtle way because again she is rather shy, and he's doing his best to show his appreciation for her in that less-forward way, even when it's slipping in quick moments before he moves onto the next part of his scheme (like when he blows a kiss to her in the bakery scene - he didn't have to do that, but he chose to; he's actually surprisingly considerate lol). There's also when all the goons go in the back of the van, and Pauline makes move to join them but Riddler stops her, playfully squeezes her face, and tells her she can sit in the front with him. I think this is the best example of how Riddler would look in a properly developed relationship.

Thirdly, and people must've known it was coming, Riddlebat. One of my favourite dynamics of his. So Batman's obviously extremely morally correct and sensible and that's such a contrast to Riddler (even though he knows what's right), except he doesn't so mind as much being corrected in this situation because Batman is intelligent, and that's what he would find most attractive about him. Don't think I have to explain the tension between them sometimes lol, (S1E24... also check out Legends of the Superheroes 1979). Riddler feels Batman can't do anything too bad to him, and that's where the teasing comes in. Batman would be more closed-off and awkward and Riddler would play into that, trying to be as close as possible and say as many things to fluster him as he could, not to mention he'd be very handsy, it not really mattering if Batman says he's got work to do because they both know he likes it deep down. It is not explicit Riddlebat, but I have a fanfiction about their platonic dynamic, and at one point Riddler does tease him in a romantically-tinged fashion. Also have, lightly discussed: how much he believes in Batman being able to fix anything, and another of them just interacting.

I could go into more detail with them, or any of these, but this post is not about them, so I'll do it another time if anyone asks, lol

Relationship Action Headcanons

Gifts, he's a gift-maker/giver through and through, and whatever it is, it's going to be crafted to perfection. Can range from anything from a sweet little drawing, to a new clothing item that he sewed himself. Probably things themed around their favourite silent films, in your OC's case.

Dinner dates - they're one of his favourite kinds, but not out at a restaraunt because he is not paying all of that LOL. At either one of their places, because he gets to make food the way he likes it, and it may not be as perfect as he wants to believe it is but it still goes as his excuse to show off that he can do something, which would, to him, seem impressive given that he spends most of his time in prison, abandoned buildings, or the waterworks. Also may put music on in the background, probably record sountracks from his favourite films.

Flowers, he has a very basic understanding of flower meanings and only knows a few but he explains it in such a way that you'd think he were an expert. Usually these are only bought on special events, but if he just so happens to see a flower he knows this partner will like, he's not above just nabbing it right there and then to give to them on a whim.

Poems! As seen in S1E23 (recites a passage that he "wrote (it) himself"), and Legends of the Superheroes 1979 (bargaining with Batman, he claims "I'll immortalise you, I'll write a poem for you!"), he writes! So I think this would be something he'd like doing - but, hide it as he likes, he gets nervous. He knows he's skilled, but he does get a bit of performance anxiety (the same way he gets phone anxiety), when he's not super hyped up. Leading to one of two options: a) he writes it down and leaves for his partner to find, or b) he pretends to be preoccupied and mutters the poem to himself, just loud enough for them to hear in order to appear casual, whilst still get his point across.

Building onto the former point, he may also write scripts for them to run ideas past them as his way of getting more involved. May overdo it without realising and come off as a bit clingy.

Verbal affection - Riddler's strength is in his mind and his words, so he's going to make sure to use things like this a lot, from outright compliments to general reassurance. Also: riddles where they answer ends up being some kind of compliment or flirt.

Physical affection - again, this majorly depends on the dynamic with the other person, as it can range from brief touches (something akin to how he does for Betsy in S3E2), to prolonged holding (more likely if the other is a stronger personality, like Batman).

Can be difficult at times, because he gets so focused on his work that he can forget to help himself, let alone think to remember he needs to interact with someone else. Gets frustrated when things don't go according to plan or things get changed without him being told first. See how this sort of thing may look in autistic individuals.

May clash as times because he does like being in control of things a lot, and with a director, he'd be trying to get all up in their projects with his own imput, not quite understanding its not his project.

With the film historian part, as Riddler himself has his own special interest in film, he'll like this a lot, now that there's someone who knows as much about it as he does, and they can share new information between each other, but he may get a little upset if they tend to know more about a particular subject he likes than he does. Nothing against them, it just feels like his thing.

Will be very flamboyantly flirty, leaning across desks, and the like. Constantly trying to act things out and help with scripts, trying to be involved in nearly everything, as he considers himself a good actor - and he is! Especially with impressions (see Frank Gorshin's standup work, I can recommend some if you need them).

Film references - may plan dates or complimetns/riddles around certain films either of them like and acting out scenarios either for the romantic undertone or just to cheer them up after something that upset them. Sometimes maybe just for fun, but might get upset if he goes to a lot of effort, only for the partner to not be able to enjoy/spend as much time doing it/attend due to being busy with work.

Hope these helped! As I said before, if there's any specifics I can help with, let me know!

[sunnylovesgirlythings]

New rainbow high juniors reboot line has been revealed! And they’re actually cute??? At least to me!

Let’s analyse!

The new line is of the girls taking part in a junior high attempt at a rock band they’ve called “the prismatics” and has a more youthful look on Glamrock aesthetics and DIY stage costumes children might make.

Actually playing on the concept that these are younger versions of the girls and not just “girl but smaller in order to be budget friendly.” Which helps them feel less visually redundant!

How well does it achieve this? Depends on the girl!

So let’s go through and pick apart each to see!

Skyler Bradshaw

Hooooly hell. They actually managed to do something interesting with Skyler. I didn’t know that was something they were capable of.

Skyler here gets her usual “denim on denim with a touch of denim” replaced with a look centred on a mix and match contrast. This being most clear with her DIY half and half hoodie.

With the implication being she’s literally sewed two completely different hoodie half’s together as they both have completely separate unrelated patterns. The pink side having a subtle symbol pattern while the blue side having a more noticeable text based pattern.

It’s clashing heavily but in a way that reinforces the concept and theme in a good way.

This isn’t a costume made by a teenager in a prestigious fashion school. It’s a costume made by a child. Limited by both the time and budget of their parents and also their own inexperience.

She doesn’t have a class studio with rolls on rolls of fabric. She has two old hoodies, a pair of scissors and a dream.

This isn’t something that’s going on a runway to be judged by industry critics. It’s for a kids talent show only seen by parents and whoever they can wrangle into watching the recording they took of it.

It’s genuinely fantastic visual storytelling!

The other major element to her outfit is her dramatic statement hairstyle. Playing heavily into the Glamrock sub theme. Very “jem and the holograms.”

But I like the way it’s still very choppy. Thick blunt layers and random braids. It keeps it in how a child would likely view Glamrock hairstyles. More the result of a mother taking her eyes off her child at the wrong moment instead of a professional cut.

One you have to learn takes awhile to grow out the hard way.

The rest of the outfit is simpler and understated. And probably for the better that way. Two separate statement pieces in an outfit already borders on too much. So a simpler skirt and shoes is for the best. Both do their job well enough without taking away from the bolder design pieces.

Definitely not a doll for everyone. It’s a lot. But it’s outstanding visual storytelling at the minimum. So naturally I’m going to love it.

Amaya raine

Amaya is a character who was always going to struggle with a theme like this. Because the very concept clashes with her personal style.

Most of the time amaya balances having rainbow as a primary colour by having the majority of her none rainbow outfit pieces being a clean stark white (it was black back when they were pushing the blue hair but that didn’t last.)

Her style does not encourage the kind of childish visual messiness a line like this needs. And if they’d tried to force it then they would have ran the risk of making it not look like amaya at all. Luckily they don’t.

They’ve kept her design very curated. There’s a visual tension here. A strictness, It feels like the outfit wasn’t picked by the kid themselves. Or at least not completely by themselves. It gives “heavy parental involvement.”

She has bright rainbow streaks but the hairstyle itself is completely symmetrical, long and neat. More something done by a hairdresser than the kid themselves.

The top is dyed rainbow but in a store bought way. Like it was bought from one of the high end minimalist fashion shops and was the closest thing to messy they could find there.

The skirt goes so much against the theme it somehow doubles back round to fitting it again. Being a denim mini skirt with a massive stark white satin extension piece.

It’s weirdly formal. Like a piece pulled from an entirely different outfit originally worn to a completely different event. Like a bizarrely themed wedding or a family photoshoot. Something the parent may have pushed in a sort of compromise for allowing the dyed hair in the first place. To keep the outfit “clean.”

It feels like it’s coming from a parent who wants to be encouraging of their child’s hobbies but is still holding onto the steering wheel on how it’s executed a bit too much. Who still very much has a social standing and reputation to uphold.

It’s a completely different visual story being told but an excellent all the same!

Bella Parker

I was genuinely surprised they included Bella. Like genuinely. Especially for a line with this theme. Bella has always been the character the rainbow high staff have seemingly had a personal vendetta against from the start.

And while this doll is very cute? I can see the strain.

Most of Bella’s outfits tend to kinda do the same thing over and over since she was never really meant to be one of the main characters nor was designed with the visual flexibility of one.

She ended up a main character because they tried to textbook queerbait her with one of the main characters and then quickly write her out. That did not go over well with audiences. Obviously. So she got begrudgingly wrote back in. (Fuuuuck them for that btw. Her and jade should be girlfriends.)

And while i complemented amayas doll for not overly pushing the theme and instead re-contextualising it to fit her style?

This one mildly suffers from the reverse. It tries to really push the theme over Bella’s personal style.

Not without reason of course. Pink tweed vaguely academic/vintage wear is even less fitting for the “children rock band” theme than amaya.

So they kinda just abandon it? Giving her just a relatively average performance outfit. If anything slightly leaning on idol wear more than rocker.

Like it’s cute don’t get me wrong! But it’s also… not very interesting. It fits the theme the least.

It needed to either experiment more like Skylers does or hold itself back more like amayas does. And it doesn’t do either.

Sunny Madison

Pants!?!?!! Full sized baggy pants??? Not shorts??? On a reboot rainbow high doll???? I genuinely didn’t think they were still capable of that. Most doll companies avoid full pants nowadays because they can save money by reducing them to shorts. So a welcome sight they are indeed!

Depressingly uncommon doll leg wear aside? This is genuinely probably one of Sunny’s best looks. Perhaps ever. And I loooove Sunny’s style.

A more simpler look it’s heavily reliant on the concept of spray paint and stencil work. And uses it really well!

The skull with a unicorn horn on her seems to be freehand sprayed while the animals on said pants use repeat stencils. Holding onto a childish sense of “working with what I’ve got at home” while implying a liiiittle more technical skill than the others. It’s giving “supported class artist kid” vibes.

My only critique is I’m feeling the hair is missing something. Everyone else has some kind of dyed part of their hair. And while she has some very subtle pink in her braid buns you can barely even see it. It’s an issue of two warm tones blending together too well. I would’ve traded it out for a deeper orange if they wanted a natural look so it was more visible but still fit in.

This sunny is fantastic and will be and will be an immediate buy. I neeeeed her.

So yeah! Over all really great juniors line!

[rose-morose]

I want to mention before you start reading this, this isn't a hate post on Arcane or Jinx, so if you're gonna read it please read to the end, though it is a very long read, so you have been warned

look I know it's not a very popular opinion, but I really wasn't a fan of Jinx in the first season of Arcane, I just thought her whole madness arc was uncharacteristically generic and over exaggerated compared to the rest of the show's extremely competent writing, and her character felt very one dimensional and simple

(Arcane season 1 and 2 spoilers under the cut)

after she stopped going by Powder and became Jinx, she just kind of felt like the kooky crazy lunatic archetype with no other facets to her personality

there were moments that kind of made her seem more complex, like some of the early interactions she had with her sister Vi after the time skip, and her relationship with her father figure Silco, and the one scene on the bridge where she was fighting Ekko, but she seemed to only exist in the context of the other characters and wasn't really her own character, to me she seemed more like a plot device than a person

but then season 2 came, and Silco was gone, Vi didn't want anything to do with her, Ekko was off doing his own thing somewhere else, and for the first time ever she was truly alone

and it suddenly felt like Jinx could finally be alone and still be compelling and interesting and have her own growth and development outside of the context of other characters, she could be her own person

she went from over the top stereotypical movie crazy to a person struggling with genuine mental illness, a past filled with trauma, and complex feelings around her remaining relationships with the other characters, characters that she no longer depended on, as well as her self

like when she had the shot on Vi, but couldn't take it, there was a great deal of strife and contemplation on her face and ultimately it was her tear falling that alerted Vi to her presence, this is the first time she didn't seem to have one of those black and white demeanours of unbridled aggression or passive despair that she had often flipped between when interacting with other characters

and Jinx finally formed a real relationship with Sevika rather than just being outwardly jealous and petty but ultimately not behaving like she actually cared that much about her one way or the other, only using her to justify her new initiative, and while they still don't seem to like each other, now there is more complexity behind that unfriendly relationship that allows for nuances like the two working together in the wake of Silco's death, someone that they had both previously relied on for direction and purpose, which was really the only thing they had in common in season one

and the introduction of Isha gave Jinx another opportunity to form a relationship with a new character that required more than one word like "dad" or "sister" to adequately describe it

now Jinx had her own little sister that looked up to her, instead of her constantly looking up to Vi, she actually had to take the initiative and act on her own and allow Isha to follow

I of course hope to see Isha continue to develop as her own character as well, but for now I'm content with her helping Jinx to be her own person

now I said that this isn't a hate post on Arcane or Jinx, and that's because I actually fucking love this show, the writing is brilliant, and now I love Jinx's character too, Silco was my favourite character and I'll admit that I was apprehensive about how the story would unfold without him, but now I really can't wait to see what Jinx and Sevika do in the next two acts of the show

thanks for sitting through another one of my extremely amateur and even more extremely long characters analyses, hope it wasn't too wordy (even though I know it was) as usual I would love to hear the insight of others on the topic, so feel free to reblog or comment your own take and I would love to read it

[seishiroses]

Taking a break + some personal thoughts + a little thank you note 🤍

Nagi fans, how are we doing?

Personally I am ready to end myself (been ready for five chapters now)...is what I would have said ordinarily, but instead, I will put down a few last thoughts before I pause this blog for some time.

The only one I can share without crying though is that I will always fondly remember how for a little while in 2025, both the main manga and Episode Nagi...ESSENTIALLY BECAME EPISODE NAGI 😅❤️🤍

Who would have thought.

When I started reading Blue Lock back in 2022/23, and realised that Nagi was the character I relate to the most, I never imagined that his arc would be such an emotional roller coaster. Even though he was an easy favourite and the primary reason why I continued to watch/read Blue Lock, I expected nothing more than cute-nonchalant-football-genius, and I would have been happy enough with that.

Yet, in return I got to love and enjoy (and cry my eyes out over) such a relatable, introspective, complex and beautiful character whose story has so much depth and breaks many stereotypes of what a shonen sports manga fan-favourite should be like. So as much as it hurts right now, I am so grateful.

However, since the character is very close to how I feel myself and how I face things in real life, I will take a break from reading/posting about him rather than risk projecting onto him as I would hate to become so intensely affected by what is, at the end of the day, fiction.

I have always been pleasantly surprised at the amount of engagement I received for a blog that only posts about a single character and does nothing else. Thank you. 🤍

Nagi has always been a divisive character. At different points in the story, whether he chose ambition over attachment or comfort over ambition, or honesty over kindness, there was always criticism and debate over his actions, words or lack thereof. And since subtlety is often punished in fandoms that crave loud, dramatic traits, I never expected the creators to invest so much time and effort into developing Nagi's story specifically.

But it makes me happy that they did and that so many people like Nagi. Because it makes me feel that even if he is not real, if there is a place in the world for someone like him, there can be a place in the world for someone like me too (I am aware that it is obviously dumb to even compare myself to an attractive, talented, fictional anime boy, but in terms of his personality and lack of motivation that contributes to his isolation and existential crisis, he is very realistic for me). So I will always root for him.

Even in terms of the art, despite the sadness of the latest chapter, I loved returning to the outside world and admiring Nomura-san's skill and range in drawing both the urban landscape and school architecture, not to mention his use of highlights and shadows to bring out Nagi's emotions on every page. It is such a beautifully drawn chapter, with a softness and a heaviness, despite having none of the usual football action or high stakes drama. I won't post any panels or get into those last few pages though. Maybe sometime in the future I can talk about them in more detail.

So that's all really. I don't talk to anyone but I will miss all of you. I don't have any mutuals but I was happy for every small interaction I had on here. Sometimes I would recognise usernames that kept showing up in the notifs, like saying hi to a friend every few days. In small ways, it made me happy.

Hopefully when enough time has passed, I can once again post Nagi pictures and small analyses without feeling so emotionally attached or anxious. But until then, I hope I can work hard in my own life and find ways to keep up my own motivation, even when I'm alone. And for anyone else who struggles with that, I wish you all the best as well. Failure is a life lesson, never the end. 🤍

[sephirthoughts]

I would honestly love for you to answer all the "Honest Character Asks" for Sephiroth, but instead, what I'm going to do is ask you to answer the ten that you most want to be asked. Is that okay?

[from this ask game]

hoohoohoo i get to pick!!!

OH NO actually choosing on my own is way harder than having them chosen for me

WHYYYYYYYYY

nvm it was actually pretty easy

here ya go!!! 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

3. What first drew you to this character?

i saw this gif going around on the internet and found out it was real and not a mod, and joined tumblr about it. this is not a joke

5. If this character were a woman, would you honestly still like them? Or in reverse, what if they were a man?

if sephiroth was a woman and he was *exactly the same* i would still like him exactly as much (probably a lot MORE if we're being honest). HOWEVER. square enix does an absolutely deplorable awful embarrassing shit-ass job writing and designing female characters, and i do not believe for one second that they could be trusted with a female version of sephiroth, who they wrote intending her to be female.

gender transposition of the character as-is: 👍✅

squeenix-designed and written female version: 👎🚫

8. Does the character’s looks/design matter to you?

yes. absolutely. if he didn't have long-ass white anime hair and a needlessly dramatic FLOOR LENGTH BLACK LEATHER coat, how would i know he was a villain/ridiculous edgelord and thus awesome?

11. How did you “fall in love” with this character?

i had only heard vaguely of final fantasy until fairly recently, but i knew there was a guy i called "the hot one" with long white hair, and i could tell he was an absolutely ridiculous edgelord from his clothing and design, so i knew i'd like him, if i ever got round to checking out this final fantasy thing. then i heard his name was SEPHIROTH which is a PLURAL TERM for an esoteric religious concept and i laughed so hard i woke up my cat, and decided i had to know more about him. THEN i found out he had A SINGLE BLACK WING and a HUGE SWORD and CAT EYES and i was absolutely done for. heart stolen

i just can't resist a ridiculous edgelord what can i say

16. Have you ever cried when thinking about this character? Genuinely?

yes. genuinely. FIGHT ME

17. Have you ever felt physical pain over this character? (ex: physical heartache).

same answer COME AT ME

31. Are you ashamed of liking this character?

i have never been ashamed of anything i have liked ever in my life

44. Which season makes you think of this character?

winter. sephiroth is a winter baby. @getvalentined has a whole thing explaining that he was likely born on christmas day, with which i agree heartily. and he's a winter color-pallette. also there is no way that coat works in any other season without him being a fire hydrant of sweat

46. How much do bad interpretations of this character upset you?

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 😬

all joking aside, they don't upset me so much as annoy me. i don't care about "being right" i just can't stand misinformation. i have this weird tic where i really need things to be as accurate as possible. also my motive in analysing or explaining or talking with people about a thing is mostly to share my enjoyment of the thing, and if people wildly misunderstand the thing, they might not enjoy it as much as they could. my autistic is showing isn't it. oops

49. What’s your favorite personality trait in this character?

my favorite personality trait of sephiroth is his gentleness.

yes i know he's a genocidal maniac who wants to incinerate the planet's population and use it as a spaceship, ignore all that.

pre-nibelheim fire, he's actually one of the gentlest male characters i've ever seen in a video game. and he's not meant to be effeminate or a pathetic pushover, which is usually the only way you see men portrayed as soft or gentle in japanese media (and tbh most western media).

he's the most famous warrior in the world. he's possibly the strongest being on the planet. he could kill you with a snap of his fingers. and despite all that, he is nothing even vaguely resembling an alpha-male toxic masculinity case. he's not even standoffish or arrogant. he's just...gentle. he's soft-spoken, thoughtful, courteous, self-effacing, and compassionate. he treats his subordinates with kindness and respect. he tries to make other people comfortable and thinks of them before himself.

he's not weak, he is using a soft touch and a light step, intentionally, so as not to frighten or damage all the little humans. that is incredibly endearing and a thing i love about him

thank you for the ask!! 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[troutfur]

My hot take: I really dislike takes on Ivypool that portray her as justified or heroic. Ivypool is jealous, spiteful, holds grudges, and she's impulsive. These are all really fun character flaws that tend to get smoothed over for the "cool badass girlboss" angle. I like that Ivypool tends to be the cause of the majority of her own problems. And also, her arc with the Dark Forest was neat, but it bothers me that she's portrayed as brave or noble when really she was a kinda shitty kid that got in over her head and had no way out. She was coerced into being a war spy when she was an apprentice by a warrior and her clan's medicine cat, who she went to for help because she finally realized what was going on and wanted out. Idk the fandom just does not get Ivypool like I get Ivypool.

Similarly Ivypool and Squirrelstar could've been a really interesting deputy/leader combo if the writers had stuck with both girls' previous characterization. What would ThunderClan look like with a more aggressive leadership? Squirrelstar and Ivypool haven't been afraid of conflict before, and honestly we are sorely lacking in aggressive leadership in canon right now.

One final ending thought, a lot of the fandom says female characters have "missed potential" when what they really wanted was an entirely different character who takes on a male character's arc, usually her brother's but sometimes a different male deuteragonist or relative. Like it feels like they just want this male character to be either genderbent or transfem but aren't willing to commit to that so they just reach for the most similar woman instead of caring about what's already interesting about her. Fandom misogyny is still alive in warrior cats I fear

HARD AGREE ON EVERYTHING!

Ivypool is a tragic figure but it seems the pendulum on her just swings between "girl boss" and "literal Satan" depending on how the sentiment regarding Dovewing is at. And I think she works beautifully to push the plot along with her flaws. I don't tend to write much about her or really analyse her because to be frank I really, really hate OotS, but I do hold her dear as a character.

And it really is bizarre that the Clans are playing the exact same games they have been for the last few arcs even though we got these more volatile characters in a leadership position. It really dragged down ASC and made it all the more boring.

As a final note, I will say that while it is sometimes warranted (Hollytuft my girl, you were set up so beautifully to have the same exact "named after a dead aunt you never met" complex but instead you were passed up for two arcs in favor of fucking Nightheart). But yeah, it frustrates me to no end that the conversation regarding the women of the series is at a place where the only solution they see to make them more interesting is to swap them with a male character.

[sokkastyles]

I hope you don’t mind me sending in asks every so often, because I really love your blog and I like reading your opinions/analyses of ATLA’s story and characters. What I want to talk about is this one trope in fiction that I’ve always liked and wanted to see more of, which is “Person A sees characteristics of Person B’s personality or abilities that are kind of morally dubious or complicated and possibly less than desirable (depends on what the ability or personality trait is) and even though Person B has complicated feelings about what they saw, they never flinch or look away from who Person A is.” Because I’m obsessing over Zutara again, this made me think of the scene where Zuko sees Katara bloodbend for the first time and while he is momentarily surprised, his facial expression goes back to normal quickly. Something similar happens when he sees her waterbend while confronting Yon Rha. I really wish we had gotten a scene where Zuko and Katara actually talk about her blood bending abilities, though the main reason I wanted this isn’t only because of the potential for another Zutara moment. I also really wish the narrative had utilized bloodbending more and that we had gotten to see more of Katara’s complicated, ambiguous feelings about bloodbending (and yes I know she didn’t like bloodbending in canon, but I wish we got to see her be a bit curious about it or not knowing how to feel about it before she decided that). What are your thoughts about this? Is there anything about Katara’s bloodbending that you wanted to see explored in the narrative as well?

First of all, I love getting your asks! They are always very well thought out and insightful! I think you sent me another one that I didn't get a chance to respond to yet because I have been very busy, but I'm not tired of getting asks from you at all!

And I do think an underrated aspect of Zuko witnessing Katara bloodbend is that it's validating to him as an abuse survivor, as a fellow child of war who also lost his mother, as someone who deals with anger issues, to see Katara bloodbend and be able to control her bloodbendinng in that moment.

I do not think that Zuko was intentionally living his revenge fantasies through Katara or encouraging her to commit violence. We've actually seen both Jet and Hama try to do that to Katara and there are some distinct differences. If you recall the way Jet and Hama talk about their actions, and the way they try to get Katara to also do those things, they appeal to her with specific language. They appeal to her anger, specifically, telling her to think about what happened to her mother. They take joy in assuming that she is just like them and has sunk to their level.

When Zuko talks with Katara about Kya, he does not focus on her anger and loss and the need for revenge. Instead, he tells her that Kya was brave. When he sees himself in Katara, he doesn't see negative. He sees someone who is angry, yes, but also someone who isn't controlled by that anger.

Part of the problem with the way antis talk about this episode and Zuko or Katara specifically is this pathologizing around whatever "fantasy" they think Zuko or Katara might be engaging in. And let's be real for a second. It is actually incredibly common for abused children to have revenge fantasies about their abusers. Like, incredibly common. But it's something that is not talked about very often because we don't like to think about it. When it is talked about, it is usually in terms of the person becoming violent themselves.

I do think that Zuko wanted for Katara the same thing he got with his father, the chance to confront him and to walk away, to not be goaded into violence or sink to that level. But that doesn't mean it isn't also incredibly validating for Zuko to not only watch Katara have power over this man, but to be able to exert enough control over that power to be able to walk away.

Which is similar to what Zuko does with his father. Zuko doesn't want to be angry anymore, but that doesn't mean he suddenly becomes a doormat. And when he faced his father, he was prepared to fight if he had to. He brought his swords, he redirected lightning right at Ozai's feet. He made it clear that he could have hurt Ozai if he had wanted to. But he has enough control over that anger not to. Directionless anger is ultimately similar to intrusive thoughts of revenge, because both make the person feel helpless and out of control.

Also my piping hot take is that Aang was afraid of Katara's anger because he himself never learned to control the Avatar state, whoops.

Anyway, I love that Zuko has that moment when he maybe sees a bit of his old self, the part of himself that was angry and wanted to hurt people because he was hurt, in Katara, and it surprises him. But now he's wise enough to have compassion for himself, and for her by extension, and understands now that that anger comes from grief.

[kalinara]

An incoherent rant:

Sometimes I think about the gnarled mess of DC Comics Continuity. You know, the original Golden Age. The Silver Age. The whole weird Earth 2/Earth 1 multiverse. Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Post-Crisis era. The post Zero-Hour soft reboot era. The New 52 re-envisioning, and whatever the fuck is going on right now, and I remind myself how much I really do love the Rolling Timeline of Marvel instead.

Is the Rolling Timeline immensely stupid at times? Yes.

Does it make any sense at all? No.

Is it frustrating when it retroactively makes characters you like into ephebophiles? God yes. (Poor Pete Wisdom...)

Has it caused certain characters to look better or worse than the stories originally had, because different characters are allowed to age when others aren't, adding a new context that wasn't originally there before for better or worse? Yes.

But at least shit still HAPPENED!

That's not to say that there are no retcons at all, but generally, if you remember reading an event, some recognizable version of that event still fucking happened!

Or if it didn't, there's usually some in universe cause that theoretically could be untangled one day.

I don't need fourteen reboots. I am perfectly happy with ONE unbroken, slightly idiotic continuity to base my analyses and interpretations around. Thank you!

[orionsangel86]

I have been doing this meta analysis thing for a long time now and one thing that I have always tried to make clear in meta analysis is that for it to be taken seriously you must keep your personal biases out of it. You must come at it as objective as possible.

Rant under the cut

Its not always easy to do when you are dealing with difficult topics, or shining unfavourable lights on characters you love, or coming to conclusions that you werent expecting (recent meta discussions about Morpheus in the Sandman comics would fall into these categories).

What meta analysis should never be used for is to back up ship wars or specifically to shame fandoms for liking certain characters. If the meta isnt providing valid evidence to support the interpretations, and instead has fallen into name calling and mockery of fandom, its no longer valid meta.

I got this ALL the time in SPN fandom. Destiel was a huge fandom but as meta writers we stuck with what we were given by the source material and interpreted it with valid evidence. We understood that multiple interpretations were possible but we made sure that whatever we were analysing made sense and had some source backing. This wasnt always the case because meta writers are not a monolith, but the bigger blogs who wrote meta frequently at least understood this and would not be stretching to support their own claims if canon didnt back it up. Now no one is perfect of course, but the point is, proper meta writers understand that where they make a claim or interpretation of the source material, they have to site examples and evidence to back up their claims and also take into consideration any evidence to the contrary.

The people who hated destiel and made that their entire personalities didnt do that so much. I read a lot of their meta out of curiosity and every time I was baffled by where they were getting their claims. 'Destiel is necrophilia" was a big one which canon disproved almost straight away in season 5. "Destiel is rape" was another because Cas was using Jimmy as a vessel and yet canon confirmed Jimmy died at the end of season 4. Cas' body was remade by God in season 5 and has remained his own ever since. These are just two of the ridiculous examples supposed "meta writers" among the destiel hater communities would come up with and still use today.

I find it extremely infuriating when I see character/ship hate loosely disguised as meta analysis. I can give people the benefit of the doubt a lot of the time, as fandoms are usually highly emotional spaces, but when there is zero canon evidence to support the claims, when connections are being made on the absolute thinnest of threads, and when far more obvious interpretations are being clearly ignored to support certain viewpoints in such a stunningly obvious case of confirmation bias I have to throw in the towel and stop taking said meta seriously.

One thing I have loved about Sandman fandom so far is the meta. It's such a rich text to analyse, and the show adds an entirely new level to it which makes it all the more enjoyable. I've made no secret of my support for Dreamling and I wrote a very long meta series on Dreamling and how the show in particular uses certain tropes, symbolism, visual storytelling cues, and music, to name a few, to overload a 25 minute sequence with queer coding. It is completely understandable to me why anyone going into the show even without thinking about shipping, would feel like Dreamling hit them like a brick to the face. The creators weren't subtle with it.

Its also totally valid to find romantic interpretations of other pairings within the Sandman. I personally think Morpheus x Johanna was laid on pretty thickly. Morpheus x Lucienne is equally an interesting ship to analyse. But heres the thing, if you ship these other ships and are frustrated that Dreamling has "taken over" thats valid. I get it. I would like more focus on the other characters too. I would particularly like to talk about Lucienne x Gault and have a meta piece in progress about them.

Whats not okay however is for other shippers and people frustrated with Dreamling to go the way of the Destiel antis. Dont make shit up that has no basis in canon just because you need some moral high ground to shit all over the ship you hate. Don't call fans that see Dreamling "deluded" for seeing it. They aren't deluded. It's right there in the subtext. Dont resort to name calling and "gotchas" and use inflammatory language to bait people. And please, I'm begging you, stop claiming that people who ship Dreamling are somehow all overly fragile white racists. You're wrong.

The racism discussions about Hob's past have their place, but these things ARE being discussed, if anything I feel this fandom has done a far better job of handling the issues of slavery than another popular fandom has (looking at you OFMD). No one is forgiving Hob for his slaver past. But you have to acknowledge that the entire point of the story in The Sandman is about change, and growth, and how we can become better people. As another excellent short meta post stated recently "we are more than the sum of our transgressions". The Sandman is all about the shades of grey. No one is morally righteous, but most characters are not completely morally bankrupt either.

Hob Gadling is a controversial character who is often misunderstood by fandom but anyone with proper critical thinking skills and a decent understanding of what meta analysis is, should understand that Hob is a metaphor for humanity first and foremost. He is the average everyman from the perspective of an Englishman and therefore above all else to understand Hob you have to look to England, to Englands history, and to its current status in the world. A lot of blood on its hands yes, but also at least a century of trying to make up for it, a leader in the world in human rights and trying to do better. I have to believe that about this country, so I believe it about Hob too. Whilst I'm not interesting in getting into huge geopolitical debates about England, I hope that we can all agree that the average Englishman today is not a blood thirsty evil slaver/rapist/murderer or whatever else ive seen people accuse Hob of being even in his modern era.

We can argue the faults of the show downplaying slavery for sure. Its a valid criticsm. We can argue that not enough time was given in the show to show that Hob had changed and regretted his former actions. We can critique these things based on what the show has and has not told us, and also pepper in information provided in the comics and what we know about future Hob panels as well.

But when it comes to the blank spaces in between frames, in between cut screens, we can do whatever we like. Because that is where meta analysis ends and fanfiction begins. You wanna write about Hob joining the abolitionist movement and fighting hard to end slavery? You can. You wanna write about him ignoring Dreams advice and continuing to be a brutal slaver right up until slavery was ended in England sure, you go for it. But don't call either of these "headcanons" meta analysis.

Dont use meta analysis as a cover to shit on fandom. The minute you resort to name calling and mockery its no longer meta. No matter how frustrated or upset you are with the current fandom situation. There is always space to criticise fandom. But ask yourself what your end goal is here? What are you trying to achieve? Is it truly because you are on a righteous path to end fandom racism? Or do you just really hate a popular ship and want people to stop shipping it? If it's the former, then focus on that, ask what solutions we can put in place? Where we can truly tackle it on a larger scale, raising awareness of things that people may not realise are racist but are common tropes in fandom (like how making female characters all mothers or sassy gay best friends is misogynistic or how certain stereotypes in fantasy creatures are anti semitic) but if its the latter, then its disingenuous to use racism in fandom as a shield to hide your ship hate. It reduces an important topic to something shallow and irrelevant.

In ending this rant I will just say this. I'm not interested in engaging further on this topic. I'm legit gonna start blocking if anyone attempts to twist my words here. The civil discussions on this matter ended when people started name calling and flinging around accusations without basis. I am more than happy to engage separately in ways to improve fandom spaces for poc, because thats important, but ship hating has no place in that discussion. Drop that aspect, and there'll be less resistance in these topics.