#Features/Analysis

[biglisbonnews]

Local communities play key role in clean energy transitions Putting people at the centre of all clean energy transitions is also key to successfully implementing energy and climate policies, says IEA. https://www.esi-africa.com/renewable-energy/local-communities-play-key-role-in-clean-energy-transitions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=local-communities-play-key-role-in-clean-energy-transitions

[princessofghosts-posts]

I've been thinking about Nico's sword lately and honestly? That weapon alone is extremely OP,even more than whatever other weapon we had in the books (that don't include magical artifacts,because those are part af a different category).

Riptide is made of celestial bronze,so it can harm demigods and monsters,and has a special feature of always returning with Percy no matter what because it's enchanted.

IVLIVS could always be with Jason because it was a golden coin that turned into a javelin,but it got destroyed pretty fast in the narrative so we don't know if it had some other frature. It was also made of imperial gold so again,could slay monsters and immortals.

Katoptris's original use wasn't for battle,since Helen used it as a mirror,but with Piper it mainly focus on its special feature: visions. It was quite useful for them but Piper hated it so we never got to know much about the dagger.

Backbiter is a modified version of Kronos's scythe (sick enough with just this,since Luke can open portals and travelable rips through space and time),but it's made of tempered steel and celestial bronze so it can kill mortals,demigods and monsters and sever their souls.

All of those swords have different feature that distinguish them from normal ones,but they are still made of typical materials for demigods: imperial gold and celestial bronze,while stygian iron is only used for one sword in the books. Luke's sword,in this list,is the only one that is similar to Nico's in term of powerfulness,but it's still quite different.

Stygian iron is a magical metal capable of absorbing or destroying the essence of: monsters,Gods,Titans,demigods and Giants. And,unlike imperial gold and celestial bronze,it can harm mortals,monsters and immortals alike,and prevent the souls of monsters from returning to Tartarus,and traps those of the people it touches.

Technically stygian iron is the strongest,of all the metals,in the books. And the only sword made of this material is Nico's. Only the children of the Underworld can touch the material,but the sword itself can only be touched by Nico,otherwise everyone else souls get trapped and things can get ugly.

Like,not even Percy or Luke had this much power in their weapons: Riptide is a "normal" sword,for how much "normal" its user is,and Backbiter had so much power because it got modified to be similar to Kronos's weapon,but originally it was just made of different metals. But Nico? Nico got a weapon of mass destruction and extermination of humanity in his hand every day. And we never talk about how much damage it can cause,and how much OP it is compared to the other swords.

It doesn't even have a name like the others,but people already know to not fuck with a black sword laying around,becuse they know it's Nico's. Because he is the only one to have,use and held that sword. That's just how iconic it is and how unique it is to everyone. And just like Riptide and IVLIVS (before it got destroyed),his sword is always with him since he can summon it from the shadows and the darkness.

That weapon is OP,literally the strongest of the whole main timeline (we are talking about more than almost 20 books) and we never gave it much more than a look.

This is just another moment of Rick "I don't want someone to overshadow Percy but I already added this....I'll just made sure to not use that too much so people will not give it much attention" regarding Nico.

I'll probably do a list for how many times it happens.

[emilinqa]

star trek tos is deeply entrenched in its identity as a 60s tv show for better or for worse (both) but i think retroactively the city on the edge of forever ends up showcasing this more now since its set in a time we can now as 21st century viewers connect with being closer to the time it was produced, rather than the nebulous 23rd. it's interesting because for me i think the single episode informs the way i connect an imagined future to the actual real 1960s the show was written in, particularly in the language and the way relationships between characters are depicted in the way they speak to one another. in that single episode it suddenly feels that the coded language everyone uses, the subtext, the hints and euphemisms is a necessity of the world rather than a feature of the show. and suddenly (for me, at least) that totally shapes the rest of the way i view the rest of the original series. though the way they speak to one another doesn't really tangibly change all that much, when they're placed in the setting of the 1930s the way that kirk and spock speak to each other and about one another entirely shifts.

edith asks kirk in regards to his relationship with spock "I still have a few questions I'd like to ask about you two. Oh, and don't give me that 'questions about little old us' look, you know as well as I do how out of place you two look here." which. well. hello. and later when she asks "Why does Spock call you captain? Were you in the war together?" and kirk says "we... served together" its like yes the obfuscation of their identities and who they are to one another is a necessity of the plot and time travel reasons but i also can't pretend that particular response doesn't color kirks line 2 episodes later in amok time "you've been called the best first officer in the fleet, that's an... enormous asset to me" in a different light. the necessity of secrets and closed doors and frantically having to conceal themselves and their tiny little apartment with a pair of twin beds and ediths "you, by his side as if you've always been there and always will" and "'Captain'? See, even when he doesn't say it, he does" well i can't act like it doesn't change the way i see their enforced professional distance in other episodes, even when they're back safe in their own century. its why The conversation cut from the original harlon ellison script hits seriously i think. it's like a deeply personal confession of desire for a life that could never be: "On my world the nights are very long. The sound of the silver bird against the sky is very sweet. My people know there is always time enough for everything. You would be comfortable there" and a wistful acceptance ("All the time in the world...") in another time in another life in another place it could be but just not this one. spock's endless resignation. well it just changes everything for me. star trek is about the 1960s!!!!!!

[gaygaygayyblockmen]

Okay, here we go lol

Reasons to support the theory that the Mimic is pretending to be Hotguy/Scar - a (not definitive) analysis of the latest DDVAU chapter!!

note : this list is not everything covered, of course, there’s a lot more I could look into but have chosen not to- that being said, anyone is free to chime in in the comments or re-blogs with other stuff to support the theory + other interesting details noticed, ect.

and, of course, this is nothing but a theory I have chosen to analyse for the fun of it. I am in no way claiming this is canon to the storyline, and tbh I’m not quite sure I believe it true myself.

okayyy, without further ado:

analysing the latest chapter

Scar’s Body language

here we can see that Scar is sat, leaning into Cub with his arms crossed. while this seems like a perfectly normal thing to do (and could definitely be just Scar’s normal body language) we can see similarities between this and the Mimic’s pose at the end of Mother Spore, Part lll :

throughout this whole scene, and the only canon ‘screen time’ we currently have of the Mimic, they can be shown in this same position, standing, leaning slightly back with arms crossed- similar to Scar’s position in chapter 15.

2. Scar’s words in this same scene

I find this very interesting. As far as we know, Scar (as his Hotguy persona atleast) doesn’t have much reason to desire mind controlling abilities. He’s a very powerful figure, and as Cub says, he can literally ‘control the masses’. I can only think of a few possible reasons he might say this/desire the ability.

The Mimic, however, seems to be one of the main (if not THE main) instigators of the spore. It would make sense for The Mimic to have such a keen understanding of it, and from what we know of their personality, a comment like such might even make sense.

1. To control Cuteguy. Cuteguy is a rebel, one of an organisation seperate to the government that is actively campaigning against them. Hotguy and him have not often seen eye to eye. It’s not far fetched to think that Hotguy could, in theory, find mind control useful in discovering Cuteguy’s identity (which he has shown interest in discovering multiple times).

2. For gaining information about mother spore from the attack- as well as gaining information from suspects, victims, and others for other similar cases (assuming he often deals with those)

3. To use, in some way, in his real life, as Scar the civilian (???)

4. This could also be interpreted as a passing joke/a lighthearted comment on Scar’s end ofc

3. Scar’s reaction to Cub asking him about Grian, and his newly discovered mutant traits

In this scene, Scar seems shocked about something. He doesn’t catch on to what Cub means at first.

Let’s say, for a moment, we pretend Scar IS the Mimic.

The mimic has seen Hotguy interact with Grian during the Mother Spore attack. As far as we know, this could very well be the first time the Mimic has seen Hotguy/Scar and Grian interact at all. Perhaps they weren’t aware that Scar and Grian were friends in their civilian lives.

And then, Cub comes in and says “what are you gonna do about your friend?”. Cub refers to Grian as merely Scar’s ‘friend’ and does not give the name of who he is talking about. Scar seems shocked ‘what friend could Hotguy possibly have who is relevant in this conversation?’ maybe.

Then, after Scar’s confused ‘what’ Cub clarifies. “Grian… The avian?” Scar seems to realise who Cub means, but we don’t really see any recognition in his gaze in the next frame. Scar STILL seems shocked. Of course, it seems very obvious to attribute this to, possibly, Scar is still processing the situation and/or doesn’t want to open up about it. But I don’t think THIS amount of shock and confusion from Scar’s end makes all too much sense.

He’s very close to Cub, and we’ve seen him open up to Cub in past chapters. Except, in this chapter he seems cold, eyes filled with no recognition. He rushes out of the room soon after when Zedaph announces Grian is awake (to go talk to Grian).

4. Hotguy/Scar’s reaction to Grian mentioning his mutant traits

When Grian mentions his newly discovered mutant traits, and how Hotguy has every ability to arrest him for hiding them, Hotguy’s reaction is surprisingly severe.

He says “I don’t care if you’re a mutant. You’re not the first, nor the last person who has to lie to the government about it. So don’t feel so special.”

His wording seems almost as if he’s speaking from a first-hand experience. And, assuming the Mimic is a mutant of sorts (he has a mimic ability, right? Shapeshifting or something is what I’m guessing) it kind of makes sense if the Mimic has had to hide their abilities from the government. That they might have had a similar experience to Grian and that’s why Hotguy’s reaction is so strong in this scene.

5. Idk but the writing on the note on the cookies is purple lol

I mean like,,,, guys,,,, purple is the Mimics colour,,,,, why would Scar/Hotguy write in purple,,,,, it doesn’t make sense if you ask me

I MEAN IT IS,,, OBVIOUSLY JUST KIND OF THE DEFAULT PEN COLOUR I KNOWW maybe I’m looking too much into this lmaoo

6. maybe the mimic was being super mean to Grian to get Grian against Hotguy for some reason

and also!! the phone number on it!! What if it’s ACTUALLY the number for something to do with the Mimic, and they’re trying to lure Grian into calling the number so they can, idk??? What IS the mimic’s intentions?? Get Grian on their side?? Control Grian??

idk. Just like. In extra bonus art we see the Mimic flirting with Cuteguy/Grian(?) + maybe also secret motives for getting Grian against Hotguy? Idk.

also this is all assuming the Mimic has some sort of shapeshifting/mimicking ability to use to mimic Hotguy or something!! I honestly don’t know much about them so if there’s any extra info doody or maruu gave i probably don’t know much lol

OF COURSE GUYS this is all silly ramblings/speculation, I’m just writing this for fun loll, it’s a possibility ig but I’m definitely not trying to write off hotguy/scar’s actions because I do definitely believe him to be capable of manipulation and it DOES honestly add a lot of depth to his character which I love.

anyways,,,, hope you guys found entertainment or something in my rambles,,, I’ve probably missed other stuff that could possibly support this theory so you can always reblog to add anything!! I’ve seen the theory floating around a few places so I wanted to give my thoughts, nothing special lol.

[thatrandombystander]

"Chaos' Hades 2 design is better because it's hot and having the genderqueer character be less eldritch is better representation"

Well maybe some of us genderqueers like interesting and thematic designs and identify more with eldritch monstrosities over conventional attractiveness? What about the unsettling weirdo representation for freaks like me 😔

Although holding the detached head and spine of your previous form does absolutely slap

[artist-issues]

fave ariel and eric scenes from the og film and return from the sea????

Well!

#1 Introductions

I don’t know if this counts but I’m counting it. The first scene Eric is introduced in mirrors the first scene Ariel is introduced in. Goes like this:

The camera pans and zooms in around the sails and mast of the ship to show Prince Eric, gazing out at the sea excitedly / The camera shows the shot of the tattered sails and mast of a sunken ship and Ariel pops into view, gazing at another shipwreck, also excitedly. They’re both looking out at a world they can’t be fully part of.

Eric asks his friend (Grimsby) “isn’t this great?” about the thing he loves, which is the sea / Ariel asks her friend (Flounder) “isn’t it fantastic?” about the thing she loves, which is the sunken ship. They’re both seeing the thing they love positively.

Eric’s companion (Grimsby) responds sarcastically “oh yes, delightful” and clearly isn’t enjoying himself, throwing up over the side of the ship / Ariel’s companion (Flounder) responds sarcastically “yeah, it’s great…can we go now?” and clearly isn’t enjoying himself. They both don’t have anybody, even the people closest to them, who can share their love.

Which goes right into my second:

#2 Ariel Sees Eric

It’s important how Ariel sees Eric in the scene where she’s at the boat and it’s his birthday. I know it’s cute, the way she looks at him, smitten, and romantic, the way she saves his life. But that’s not the part I mean.

I mean they specifically, in the script, wrote it so that Eric mentions, “the right girl is out there somewhere, I just haven’t found her yet.” and THEN the shot focuses on Ariel’s face. It’s not just because the narrators are saying, “she’s the right girl, he doesn’t realize it yet!” it’s because they’re very simply reminding you that Ariel is hearing all this. She heard the conversation between Grimsby and Eric about a Dream Girl.

The point here is that she learns exactly how much Eric is like her, and exactly how much he’s different, too, and it all adds up to be the perfect introduction to humans, for Ariel.

Because she’s been wrestling with a community who doesn’t believe in the way she sees her Dream for her whole life. She believes the Surface must have good in it, and has faith in the evidence she’s seen. They believe that’s ridiculous, there’s no good from the Surface, they believe her faith is vain.

Eric also has a Dream. He’s got faith in it. Ariel gets to see that. And she gets to see that, just like her, his community doesn’t believe in it. They don’t believe in his Dream Girl. BUT. Where Ariel has to sneak around and hide evidence that she’s still believing in her Dream, where she has to shut up about it when her father yells at her, Eric is not under the same restraints. He laughs it off when Grimsby doesn’t believe in his Dream. Can you picture Ariel laughing off her father’s fury about the Surface? No.

So she gets to see that 1) He’s just like her but 2) he’s more free than her. He can be the idealized hero in her mind—the guy who isn’t giving up on his Dream, and is a champion of faith, and is in some way succeeding where she has to sneak and sob.

It’s wonderful for her to learn that a human can be like this, so like her, but so much more hopeful, plus, he’s a handsome, heroic human. Also she gets to watch him risk his life for a dog (her dad said humans were barbaric and spineless) and humbly shrug off a way-too-extravagant statue of himself (even though he’s a prince.)

It’s just perfect.

Eric is introduced to her as a guy who makes his own decisions, isn’t bossed around by his advisors or escorts, but doesn’t resent or grow bitter toward them, either. He remains easygoing, secure in who he is and what he believes, without having to trample all over the people closest to him who disagree. He’s got great heart and character.

Whereas in the Live Action they stripped him of that subtle, realistic, down-to-earth value and gave it to Ariel by having her be the only one to defy people who disagree with her. By having Eric have an overbearing mother he kowtows to, that makes him her mirror in every way, except with no strength of his own and less of an enticing example of the freedoms of a different world for her to fall in love with. They make him blander, weaker, and less important, but they do it subtly and with chest hair, scruff, drippy “I love you even with your tail” hugging (which was fine but hardly necessary or any kind of improvement because he proved that he loved her tail-and-all in the original just fine by sacrificing himself to save her) and a British accent so that everybody wouldn’t notice.

Anyway.

#3 Eric Saves Ariel

They cut this in the remake, and in my understanding, in the Broadway, too, for no apparent reason and to the great detriment of the original movie which did it right the first time, but my third-favorite scene is Eric fighting Ursula to save Ariel.

Eric immediately expresses concern when Ursula drags Ariel, just revealed to be a mermaid, over the side of the ship. Tail and all. And immediately goes to save her single-handedly, even though, again, the people around him have no interest in helping or following him or fighting for his Dream.

Which is so interesting. He’s their Prince. They’re the closest people to him, invited to his wedding, on this boat. But nobody’s following him or trying to harpoon the sea monster that just dragged his Dream Girl over the side of the boat. But does that stop him? No! And the writers specifically wrote in a moment where Grimsby calls out to him from the deck of the ship and Eric insists he’s going, alone, because he won’t lose Ariel again. He jumps in the water with a sea monster. No fins, no gills, one harpoon, because he loves her and has chosen her and he’s not spineless. And then she even tells him to get out of there, but he refuses to leave her. And even when it basically means certain death (intentionally wrecking the ship HE IS ON by driving it into a demented Kraken-woman) he keeps fighting.

And he does it, by the way, by driving a shipwreck, which is the thematic thing bridging the gap between his world and Ariel’s. He’s standing on a shipwreck when he saves her. Shipwrecks are where she finds human things, and where she learned humans might be worth loving, and a shipwreck is how the human who loves her back saves her.

It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. It’s the right choice, the storytellers initially had a version where Eric wasn’t the one saving the day but Ariel was, and they scrapped that and did this instead because it was better.

And in the Live Action of course they ruined that and made Eric the damsel in distress and made Ariel the floppy fish fighter who steers the shipwreck and saves his life. Which is so lame. Because it also undermines how Triton would’ve learned that Eric was worth loving and Ariel was right to sacrifice for him. Triton needed to see Eric saving Ariel at the cost of his own wellbeing. I’ve said it before, but if Ariel saves Eric, all it proves to Triton is that she can clean up her own mess. Whereas in the original movie, Eric saving Ariel proves Ariel was right about him being loveable despite being a human.

So it’s a good thing the REAL The Little Mermaid made that right choice, because this is an excellent scene.

#4 When Eric Carries Melody

I guess people might like the parts where Eric is comforting Ariel while Melody is lost in the second movie, or when he tells her she’s beautiful in her new dress, but honestly he was very sidelined in this movie. I just like the part where, after the climax, it’s her dad who is carrying her to safety.

[mierstaer]

I’m rewatching atla for the seventh time since June (blame the hyperfixation ok) and I’ve noticed something in the fifteenth episode of season 1 when Zuko arrives at Aunt Wu’s village

in season 1, every villagers, every citizens he encounters are always (rightfully) scared of him and his firebenders

every single one

except Aunt Wu

and since she read Aang’s future one episode prior to that, I always wonder if maybe Aunt Wu saw Zuko in Aang’s future, given how she was capable of seeing exactly how his destiny would look like (and we know how Aang and Zuko’s destiny are interlinked)

you can see that Aunt Wu is not even worried about Zuko’s presence in her village, she’s not even shocked. she just pensively looks at him, without saying anything.

and I think that it would so damn cool if she knew that their destiny are interlinked and that could explain why she wasn’t worried about his presence in her village.

Aang & Zuko never beating the platonic soulmates allegations I’m afraid.

[casscainmainly]

you’re soooooo right for the cass and jason stuff. i am obsessed with how their views make them behave in their own separate selfish ways. cass needing to believe people can change and be redeemed because she herself needs to believe she can be redeemed…… im thinking specifically in batgirl where she tries to save a murderer from death row. saying “maybe he changed” to the victims mother….. and then everything with jason really, the way he can’t see beyond how he was a victim to see how he has hurt and victimized others. how he has made himself into someone who really can’t see beyond his own tragedy in many ways… how he sees bludhaven literally blow up but refuses to let bruce leave to find Dick

YOU'RE so right because it's easy for people to side with Cass or Jason only, but it's more interesting to see it as neither being 100% in the right. That issue in Batgirl is literally so good - as this post points out, the crime the guy was in prison for was most likely a hate crime. The motive doesn't matter to Cass, since her belief is that no one should die, but it's deliberately disquieting that she doesn't stop to consider the victim until the victim is actually in front of her. Her point of view is focused around redemption and absolutes, to the detriment of justice and specific circumstances.

Jason, on the other hand, is so focused on justice that he has trouble making room for redemption. His is a situational ethics (in contrast to Cass' moral absolutism), which can be good in certain instances (like, debatably, killing the Joker), but can lead to really muddied actions and reasoning. Jason, like Cass, is fundamentally compassionate, but his actions are calculated in a way Cass' is not, leading him to sometimes lose sight of saving lives as the original goal.

Bruce, Jason, and Cass form a really interesting triangle of people whose views on murder are irrevocably tied to the perspective they witnessed the defining murder of their lives in. It's why none of them (yes, even Cass and Bruce) can ever truly understand each other, but also why they have a lot in common. Idk it's just very interesting to think about!

[ghouljams]

Idk honestly I could probably write a really in depth analysis on the prevalence of the blue/brown eyed Ghost debate, and what it means in terms of fandom politics especially when coupled with whether Ghost is a natural blond or a brunet, but I doubt anyone wants to hear about the political implications of people pushing most popular character in the series as aryan...

well, i for one would absolutely love to hear about it, but to be fair my degree is in media studies so fork found in kitchen

but tbh is it surprising that this kind of discourse (along with the whole Gaz “not being interesting enough” bs) is a prevalent discussion in a military propaganda game fandom? probably not lol

i also agree with your take that his eyes are brown as part of his character development and that it feeds into the complexity of the dynamics between them

anyway, don’t feel pressured to talk more about it if you don’t feel like it, just wanted to let you know that at least one person would read all of it lol

Much love!!

- Morph

Ghoul thoughts under the cut because I love media analysis and rambling

You hit the nail on the head by bringing up the Gaz "not being interesting" bullshit in relation to this entire thing because I absolutely see the crux of the brown vs blue eyed Ghost debate being a debate over which eye color is "better" which has inherently racist roots.

And as an immediate disclaimer: I am not saying that headcanoning Ghost with blue eyes makes you racist, I am not saying that headcanoning Ghost as blond makes you racist. I am simply pointing out that the way we view certain traits has been and will be filtered through a lens which requires an examination of our own values/beliefs.

It is so intensely interesting to me that in a fandom with a history of racial exclusion, for a media property that upholds whiteness as the pinnacle of virtue, that upholds western ideals and values as the height of moral purity, that places the good guys in a position where they can do NO WRONG despite having a higher torture rate than the bad guys, that a faceless character would be arbitrarily assigned blue eyes and blond hair despite textual/in game evidence to the contrary (yes there is evidence).

Now maybe I am just sensitive to certain things because I paid attention in school and know what a dog whistle sounds like, maybe that's all this is. However, within a fandom that seems to cater so hard to white women and has racist bullshit popping up every other week, I think... maybe we should examine why we want Ghost to have blue eyes.

I find that with faceless characters headcanons always exist within the hopes of making them more attractive. The idea that they would be ugly under the mask is antithetical to the wish fulfilment of fandom, so it makes sense that people would come up with a face for them. But then why are so many faceless characters made into skinny white blonds? Surely people would want some diversity- oh no, wait...

So we make Ghost blond. Alright, I mean he was a brunet in the comics and in the one scene where we see him take his mask off he's got dark hair, but I guess there were too many people with dark hair on the 141 already, so we gotta mix in a blond. But then why the blue eyes? He has blue eyes in the '09 comic, but in every cutscene we see in the '22 remake his eyes are brown. There's already two members of the 141 with blue eyes, so we don't need another one for diversity. So then why give Ghost blue eyes? If you want him to be closer to the '09 version why make him blond as well?

It's because people want to make him attractive, and in the dominant racial zeitgeist blue eyes are attractive. Which... I mean do I need to ask why? It's because they're a white european trait and people still hold white features as the attractive ones. Same with the blond hair. That's why WW2 Germany designated Blond hair and Blue eyes as the "true German" traits and created a whole class for them "aryan."

So what are the political implications of creating an aryan character out of the most popular character in the series (one who has minimal voice lines and minimal canon backstory in the reboot) within a fandom that regularly disregards/ignores the main black character? It's the continued upholding of whiteness and a specific kind of whiteness as more valuable than others. I'm not even going to say more valuable than blackness, I would say more valuable than other white traits. Why are blue eyes more attractive than brown eyes? Because they're more "white." Why is blond hair more attractive than brown? Because it's more "white." Why is a blond haired blue eyed Ghost such a popular headcanon despite evidence to the contrary? Because he's more white that way.

Now I like blond haired Ghost. I think it's an interesting addition to the color pallet of the team, and I like that it makes him look more like a ghost to be so washed out. But I think fandom has a habit of following what becomes popular within head canon spaces and making it fandom canon, and so many of us don't examine why a headcanon might pop up. Where did Ghost having blond hair come from? When did we all decide that was what we were going with? Why is it even a debate whether or not he has blue or brown eyes, and why does it matter?

If I said right now that Ghost 100% in canon of the '22 game has brown hair and brown eyes, would people get mad at me? And why? Why would it matter if he had brown hair and brown eyes? Does that make him less attractive? Why? Why does it matter? Why do you want him to have blond hair and blue eyes? Why do you care? What is the difference between blue and brown that makes it so important? For God's sake look at the societal conditioning that you've been put through! Why does it "make more sense" for him to have blue eyes if he's blond? Why?

Every single idea we have of what is and isn't attractive has been designed for us by the society we live in. Consider what ideals are being upheld when deciding that the "hot" character is blond and blue eyed while also discarding the black character. Being anti-racist and dismantling your own racial biases is a long and constant process, but it is so vitally important. And once we start examining those biases all sorts of shit starts popping up.

And before someone comes in and tells me it isn't that deep: maybe you should look at why you need it to not be that deep, does it make you uncomfortable to think that you might be feeding into these biases without realizing? And who does it benefit to have it not be "that deep" is there perhaps a group of people that would want you to not examine your preference for blue eyes and blond hair? Some sort of brotherhood perhaps...

[lyxchen]

Something about Sang-woo that's really fucking me up is that his face and his whole look is really soft. Like you'd think it's sharper because of his character and personality but it really isn't. Like whenever I draw him I catch myself drawing him with a lot of sharp features and then I'm like "No, make it rounder, make it softer". Even his hair is very soft and has round shapes, Even his glasses, while being square in shape Have Round Edges!!! I don't know if that was intentional and if yes what exactly it's supposed to show. Maybe it's literally just because Park Hae-soo was the best actor for the role and that's just what his face looks like. But either way I love the contrast. How a character that appears (!!!) so sharp and not that caring has such soft features. Which tbh that fits again because deep down I think Sang-woo is a soft caring person, he's just not showing it because he probably feels like it will make him appear weak or some dumb shit like that. Beloved <3

Also compare it to In-ho who has very sharp and angular facial features. Even his hair is a lot less soft when he's the frontman, he only makes is softer when he pretends to be Young-il!!! That's what a villain usually looks like. So in conclusion, Sang-woo can't be a villain in Squid Game cause his face is too soft for that <3 /hj

[hahahafangirl]

the failure of language

so im getting around to write some suonirei fanfic and, inevitably, got to Backstory Speculations activities. and now i begin to think about suo (windbreaker in general) and the failure of language -- when people, regardless of how much they try or how eloquent they find themselves to be, will find points where they are unable to give words to what they are feelings or explain some difficult emotions or circumstances to themselves or another person.

think, sakura going "how am i supposed to treat you now?" after hearing out umemiya's childhood story-- what is he supposed to say? to act in general? language, spoken or behavioral, failed him. umemiya redirected sakura to language: he did not expect sakura to treat him any differently. come back to the language you understand, he says. and now we complicated "language" to means "a vehicle of interactions and expression", which is functionally what language is.

well i did say that this arise from thinking about suo, most notably, thinking about how windbreaker expresses speechlessness and stillness very frequently from suo's silence. think the focus on suo's eyes at any moment where language are yet adequate to say what is happening: suo and nirei's response to sakura's solitary during sickness; suo's anger (in KEEL and shishitoren) occurring wordlessly; and, most recently (which sorta sparked this line of thought), this page

note the wordlessness. a lot of time, wbk starts out the responses to these sincere and vulnerable moments with this wordlessness, where characters ponder and reflect on the statement, often evoking their own memories and experiences, thus empathizing with the vulnerability in question. it is a reflective and thoughtful way to begin the process of empathy in silence. it feels ritualistic, even, like meditation, to begin connecting with other by a silence that could be taken to be a single-minded, pure focus -- on what is being put on the stage to ponder. maybe this is not quite a failure of language, depending on how we see it, but rather, a moment outside of language priming for its arrival. it is not time for language to enter the scene yet.

but then language always come, sooner or later. as awkwardly or curtly or roughly, sakura and nirei speak sincere words that come from the bottom of their heart. language -- thus connection and empathy -- then propel the conversation. suo, notably (at least without me combing through the manga again) often does not enter this realm of language the way sakura and nirei do it. when he empathize sakura's feelings when he was sick, suo did it where sakura cannot hear. the only(?) time he responded genuinely (please bring up examples or counterexamples if you have it on hand) was when nirei was feelings insecure about his inability to fight and ask suo for help. but even then, the response of "your self-esteem is all over the place" is not quite the personal, genuine approach sakura or nirei has. its quite measured and reflective -- responding to nirei's statements rather than clearly interjecting something to the conversation. many of suo's vulnerabilities are deflected by falsehoods (harmless jokes, not malicious lies), distractions, etc, etc. language seemingly continues to fail him, or he continues to evade it.

i am in a habit of not stating my Backstory Speculations, because a lot of times i want to stick closer to the texts. whatever Speculations i have will most likely manifest as fanfiction (oh boy is that an ambitious media to do this in). but anyway, from popular hc of suo being potentially a "traitor" or somehow entangled in a major and antagonistic organization, his failure to relate this to his friends and thus him hiding his past can be taken as another failure of language. perhaps languages continuously fail him in his childhood-- hence it has yet to learn how to succeed.

p/s: i should also say that im enjoying using different concepts and ideas to speculate/think about and analyze the text (wbk) in a different way. this is basically what comparative literature and literary criticism is, i think (lol). sometimes i feel like this is just me dressing up good ole literary theme in a fancier language, but whatever works works lol. hopefully as i continue to think of the "inability to express your true emotions" and "inability to be vulnerable" more specifically (or broadly) as a failure of language, more interesting insights will come up. its less about what the texts is literally and consciously say, and more about how we can think about the text using -- and extract from the text via -- various frameworks.

yep, this is probably gonna be a more complete essay at some point. i even pulled out the usual rccl register for this!

[starry-eyer]

Some of the most compelling narrative choices in the series gain new depth when seen through the lens of Snow White. Not only are the fairytale’s motifs and themes explored, but its traditional roles—especially those tied to gender, beauty, purity, and familial dynamics—are reshaped and subverted. George goes so far as to complicate the fairytale’s naming logic. Both Snow White and Jon Snow are named in ways that reflect how society perceives them, based on conditions of birth they could not control. In reworking such a familiar symbol, the narrative seems to pose a deeper question: what does it mean for birth to define you?

The opening of the Brothers Grimm’s Little Snow White features a queen seated at a window, sewing as snow falls. She pricks her finger on her needle, and then three drops of blood fall onto the snow, prompting her to wish: ‘If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood in this frame.’ Soon after, Snow White is born with those exact physical traits, and the queen dies. Snow White’s life is later shaped by these traits she was born with. This introduction finds an echo in Arya’s first chapter. Though the scene is not a direct recreation, the resonance is clear. For one, two central figures of the chapter—Jon Snow and Ghost—recreate Snow White’s symbolic triad of black, white, and red. And Arya, a known Lyanna lookalike, interacts with Jon at a setting defined by its window—mirroring the queen’s position in the fairytale. The set up is too similar to brush off as coincidence. Even the needle is present through Jon and Arya’s conversation, but where the original tale links the needle to traditional gender roles, here that is a bit inverted. It is needlework/swordplay that prompts the wish, and Jon Snow who grants it, gifting Arya the sword she names Needle. This connection deepens when Arya is read as a stand-in for Lyanna—Snow White’s mother in this reimagining, and is underscored by the knowledge that Lyanna, too, would have wished to wield a sword like Needle. In this light, Jon—the ‘Snow White’—has fulfilled his mother’s wish by empowering a girl like her. This moment is deeply rooted in the fairytale’s framework, but even outside that lens, one can see how this moment rejects predetermined identity at birth. Instead, it affirms the power of choice and personal agency, even in the face of stigma.

That said, at its heart, Snow White is a tale obsessed with beauty—so I must factor this into my analysis. This should be clear, but George does not play the trope straight. Instead, he reframes the idea of who is ‘fairest’ and why that matters. Early on, Jon Snow is described as ‘dark where Robb was fair.’ This juxtaposition flips the original script, and the word fair, which traditionally connotes beauty, is stripped of that weight and is posed as a simple descriptor of Robb’s lighter coloring in comparison to Jon’s darker one. So Jon is not the fairest, and yet that is a crucial factor of Catelyn’s discontent with Jon’s presence because Jon closely resembles Ned Stark, her husband. Her rejection of Jon mirrors the Queen’s rejection of Snow White, but here the source of tension isn’t beauty—it’s resemblance that only worsens underlying fears and insecurity. These insecurities are rooted in Catelyn’s constrained role as a woman in a society that limits her agency—even within her own home. So her push to have Jon sent away (despite her husbands protests) can be read as an act of defiance against the role assigned to her at birth.

That said, Catelyn is not a reimagined evil queen—she sort of exists as a foil. This distinction is essential to understanding not only her relationship with Jon, but also how the fairytale’s landscape is reconstructed. Crucially, Jon and Catelyn barely interacted in the text. This deliberate absence severed the emotional intensity of the “stepmother”/“stepchild” dynamic and reoriented asoiaf’s moral center. Their separation reinforces the idea that their conflict is not merely personal, but symptomatic of broader structural inequality. To emphasize her role as a foil to the evil queen, consider the moment when a young girl—Sansa—will seemingly surpass Catelyn in beauty. The trope is immediately subverted. Cat was not envious of Sansa’s looks—she was proud and happy for her daughter. By invoking the Snow White framework only to immediately deconstruct it, George really highlighted how simplistic the original fairytale’s dynamic was.

This framework is further utilized through Jon’s journey to Castle Black, which shares a few similarities with Snow White’s own escape through the unnamed forest. Jon’s journey through the wolfswood sparked personal growth, just as hers did, and he ultimately found shelter (emotional shelter) with a dwarf. Tyrion very clearly fills the dwarf role and his Lannister identity furthers this connection (Lannister wealth comes from gold mining similar to the Seven Dwarfs in the tale). Interestingly, in some Snow White variants the dwarfs are replaced by bandits or robbers, which is exactly who Jon ended up surrounded by at the Night’s Watch.

In the fairytale, after Snow White fled into the unnamed forest, the Huntsman killed a young boar in her place. The Queen later ate the boars lungs and liver under the false belief that they belonged to the girl. In Disney’s version, the Queen wanted Snow White’s heart, but the Huntsman tricked her by giving her a pigs. She kept the pigs heart in a box that when latched closed resembled a sword through a heart. Disney’s version seems to have been the inspiration behind the motifs in Randyll Tarly’s threatening monologue: ‘Three men-at-arms had escorted him into a wood near Horn Hill, where his father was skinning a deer. “You are almost a man grown now, and my heir,” Lord Randyll Tarly had told his eldest son, his long knife laying bare the carcass as he spoke. “You have given me no cause to disown you, but neither will I allow you to inherit the land and title that should be Dickon’s. Heartsbane must go to a man strong enough to wield her, and you are not worthy to touch her hilt. So I have decided that you shall this day announce that you wish to take the black. You will forsake all claim to your brother’s inheritance and start north before evenfall. “If you do not, then on the morrow we shall have a hunt, and somewhere in these woods your horse will stumble, and you will be thrown from the saddle to die . . . or so I will tell your mother. … Nothing would please me more than to hunt you down like the pig you are.” His arms were red to the elbow as he laid the skinning knife aside. “So. There is your choice. The Night’s Watch”—he reached inside the deer, ripped out its heart, and held it in his fist, red and dripping—“or this.”’ House Tarly’s sigil—the striding huntsman—marks Randyll for the Huntsman he is, and the ancestral sword Heartsbane provides a physical manifestation of the image present in Disney’s version, and Sam himself is the metaphorical pig. In my eyes, Randyll Tarly is a gender swapped Evil Queen who is unhappy with a son whom he considered too feminine. So Sam’s punishment for ‘failing’ to perform masculinity is dehumanization; because he couldn’t become the hunter, he became the hunted—which carried over to the Night’s Watch where he was mockingly called Lady Piggy by Alliser Thorne. This shows how pervasive and normalized this sort of toxic masculinity is, and that not conforming is life threatening. Contrasting Sam, Jon is depicted as a good hunter (someone who can perform masculinity) who could’ve ignored Sam’s struggles and fall in line, but he instead openly rejected the rigid, violent masculinity embodied by Thorne and Randyll. Jon used his advantages he gained due to his birth to protect.

Taking this further, just as the pig is a stand in for Snow White in the fairytale, Sam serves as a stand in for Jon so the huntsman encounter can be present in Jon’s narrative. Notably, Jon is the only person Sam confides in about this traumatic encounter, which signifies how they share the role of Snow White. On that note, Jon’s protection of Sam could be seen as an inversion of the fairytale dynamic—Jon, the ‘Snow,’ protected the pig here, not the other way around. More importantly, Jon’s acceptance of Sam was also a form of self-acceptance. Jon only began to want the brotherhood he began to feel over his family at Winterfell after he decided that it would encompass Sam and the traits Sam embodies. If there was no place for Sam at the table, Jon no longer wished to sit there either. It’s important to note that Sam’s trauma reminded Jon of his own, which was why Catelyn came up in his memories. Sam sitting alone away from the other new recruits is no doubtfully meant to call back to Jon’s own displacement during the feast at Winterfell. But by looking at this through the lens of Snow White, this serves to link the Huntsman and “Stepmother” together to tighten the intertextuality even though Cat and Randyll had been no where near each other.

The Snow White framework is further employed when Jon found himself not only doing chores, but becoming a steward. Jon was placed in a role of (somewhat) domestic, undervalued labor—a traditionally female coded job. Jon was not happy about it. He wished to be a ranger—a male coded heroic role—but found himself doing chores for the Lord Commander, which is reminiscent of Snow White working as a maid in most variants of the fairytale. It’s important that Jon didn’t get what he wished for, and doubly so that a place of devalued labor was his pipeline to Lord Commander—it’s a clear reframing on gender roles and their importance in society. And crucially, it was because he helped Sam that it snowballed into this. The pig, a disposable figure in the fairytale, has become a symbol of overlooked value in asoiaf.

Though it’s important to admit that Jon and Sam’s experiences are clearly meant to be read as situational. Their setting and the decline of the Night’s Watch is one of the clear keys to their success. This type of malleability is not possible much elsewhere, and it’s certainly not easily achieved in King’s Landing where gender performance rules social and political interactions. Only very few exceptions seem to have been allowed, and Cersei was no exception here. Yes, Cersei—the archetypal Evil Queen. She even has the color scheme down, as the evil queen of the Grimm’s fairytale is only connected to two colors: yellow and green. And amusingly, though Cersei and Jon are separated by a great distance, she still found a way to engage with his story as his would be killers client. Very Evil Queen of her to call Catelyn a mouse for not killing Jon sooner, and while this line isn’t very important, I believe that it’s meant to once again strengthen the intertextuality as Cersei explores what she would have done in Cat’s place, which links the Evil Queen and “Stepmother” figures.

Through Cersei George does some of his best work. The Evil Queen of the fairytale can be read as simplistically vain, but some interpret her actions in the tale as an attempt to maintain her position and control within a patriarchal society that values women by how much they can be objectified. On that note, her role in Robert’s death therefore acts as a layered form of retribution. It’s justice for the socially sanctioned abuse he inflicted on her, it helps shine a feminist lens on the Evil Queen from the fairytale, and it gave the boar a fighting chance—which marks it as a sort of narrative revenge for Sam as the huntsman and pig roles are being utilized. ‘“Serve the boar at my funeral feast," Robert rasped. "Apple in its mouth, skin seared crisp. Eat the bastard. Don't care if you choke on him. Promise me, Ned." "I promise." Promise me, Ned, Lyanna's voice echoed.’ This is an obvious allusion to Snow White’s death—the apple is present along with the ‘choking’ line—but also includes motifs important to Jon. This just further solidifies my idea that the pig is sharing portions of Snow White’s roles.

Now, it wouldn’t be right to explore Cersei without mentioning her prophecy or the younger girls she’s harmed. I morbidly love that the younger and more beautiful queen from Maggy’s prophecy is a horrifying figure dressed up in superficial language. All Cersei has, all Cersei loves, is tied to her beauty—tied to the impermanence of beauty. It’s chilling. It’s also an obvious feminist reframing of the Evil Queen’s dynamic with the magic mirror. On that note, I want to discuss one of the younger girls Cersei has harmed, Sansa, and how Sansa fits into this. Fairytales often exist in many variants, but in this case there are actually two unrelated Grimm tales with characters translated into English as Snow White. The more well-known tale is Schneewittchen, which we typically associate with the poisoned apple and the Evil Queen. But there’s also Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot, or Snow-White and Rose-Red, a different fairytale entirely. In that story, the two girls are opposites: one associated with a white rose, the other a red one. The symbolism of the white and red rose plays a striking role in Sansa’s narrative (this somewhat reminds me of the sun and moon line from Ned), and I interpret this as a subtle merger of the two separate tales that share the name Snow White, deepening Sansa’s connection to both while positioning her as a Rose-Red figure—equal to but not Snow White. It’s a clever and beautiful bit of wordplay. That said, two other characters that appear in Snow-White and Rose-Red are a bear who is actually a prince and a dwarf. The nature of these two characters seems to be reversed in the series, as Sansa’s prince is more so a terrible bear who she mistook for a knight—making it fitting that The Bear and the Maiden Fair was sung to cover her telling Margaery and Lady Olenna of Joffrey’s true nature. And the role of the dwarf is obviously filled by Tyrion, though this time it’s the ugly dwarf who turned out to be better than the pretty prince.

However, I think Sansa’s most important connections to Snow White actually stem from Angela Carter’s ‘The Snow Child,’ which is a gothic retelling of the fairytale and part of The Bloody Chamber collection. The horror of the tale finds a mirror in Baelish’s predatory fixation, Lysa’s jealousy, and the snowy setting of the kiss. Like the Snow Child, Sansa is a replacement for an older woman, and she eventually ends up wearing Lysa’s clothing and inheriting her role. I’d even go so far to say that ‘The Roadside Rose’ was inspired by ‘The Snow Child.’ In the story, the Snow Child died picking a rose by the roadside for the Countess—she pricked her finger, bled, and died, and then the Count assaulted her corpse. Afterwards, the Snow Child melted and all that was left of her was a feather, a bloodstain, and the rose. All components of Angela Carter’s ‘The Snow Child’ are present, so I’m fairly certain that I’m looking at this correctly. That said, Sansa even took on a bastard identity and connected Alayne Stone to Jon Snow: ‘She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother, but still . . . with Robb and Bran and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again.’

I may have missed some connections, but what I’ve noticed is that what emerges from all of this isn’t a simple inversion of the old story—it’s a messy patchwork of reimagined roles drawn from not just the original fairytale, but from a myriad of connected works. And I find that to be cool lol :)

[gnomeniche]

does anyone remember the uglies series. i read them as a kid and was recently reminded of them and my opinion is that the concept and the first book were good but the sequels and ultimate execution were wack. it should have had the heated drama between tally and shay be the emotional fulcrum of the story and also it should have been yuri.

anyway here’s tally and shay based on their descriptions from the first book! it gives a lot of info abt their features and i thought it would be a fun character design exercise. i wanted em to look like just. normal average teen girls you could happen to see in real life

[fist-of-vengeance]

last night for my birthday i forced my friends to listen to an hour and a half long powerpoint explaining the entire lost timeline in chronological order. i know lost is a pretty zany show but nothing makes you realize this more than trying to verbally explain time travel and the sideways universe to three people who've never seen it

[babybells123]

(ASOS, Sansa II)

(ASOS, Jon XII)

[frogkicks]

WELL,,, i learned from my last post fans of post-redemption deathstar fluff exist!!! im back, here's more:

you guys ever think about how Dominator is one of the few characters with ears,,,

OPINION: From my limited exposure, it seems Deathstar often portrays Dominator as super confidently flirtatious, and Wander as a bumbling, blushy guy.

I personally don't like it? Here's my thoughts:

Dominator used seduction insincerely to mess with Hater. That's kinda it. I think without her villainous power tripping as a barrier, expressing or receiving genuine love confuses her. Sylvia calling her a friend gave her pause, and she mentally lagged after Wander saved her life and hugged her.

It's so obvious Wander has the charm advantage. The guy is immune to embarrassment, and has all of the experience articulating love, because he wasn't a sadistic galaxy destroyer. It's second nature for him, casual.

I like Dominator having a confident, charismatic approach for everything, but my silly headcanon is that Wander's doting throws her off sometimes. She's never been receptive to affection until virtually 5 minutes ago. I think it's logical for her to be like a fish out of water, at least for a while.