#Principles of General
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aroaceleovaldez Ā· 3 months ago
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i had a thought of "do people not know what AUs are anymore?" and then i remembered nobody explains fandom stuff to new people anymore so it is entirely plausible people genuinely don't know what AUs are and nobody has explained it to them, so for today's lucky 10,000:
"AU" stands for "Alternate Universe" or "Alternative Universe" (same difference) and is basically any thought scenario for a fandom that isn't canon and can't fit within the canon universe. If it takes place in the canon universe but something is notably different, that is typically what's known as a "Canon divergent AU," because it diverges from canon.
an AU can be absolutely anything. There's a couple of widespread pan-fandom au scenarios that often get thrown around, like coffee shop aus, genderbend aus, hanahaki aus (hanahaki is a whole thing in itself i'd recommend researching on your own), etc. One you might hear sometimes is "crossover AU" which is when you have characters from one fandom interacting with characters from another.
You can have as many aus as you want. They can be whatever you want and you can do whatever you want in them. It's a sandbox for you to play around in and explore how things would be different or how the characters would act in those circumstances or environments. Maybe they have different relationships with each other. Maybe they behave slightly differently. Or you can just say "Okay, [x] is true. How did they get here? How would things have to be different for this to occur?" which can also be fun.
If you are ever confused about why people ship something that seems completely out of the blue or doesn't make sense to you in the canon setting, there's a good chance they like it in an AU setting! Not everything everybody is interacting with is necessarily the canon! Not everybody wants things to exist in canon and just want to explore playing dolls in a different sandbox and that's okay. And their sandbox might look a lot different than yours, and that's also okay. You have the freedom to make your sandbox whatever you please. Do whatever you want forever. Get funky with it. AUs are fun.
Okay that's my schpeal. everybody go have fun and play nice now.
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ariadne-mouse Ā· 4 months ago
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Tumblr media analysis gothic: In my personal opinion, based on my own individual perspective, which may not be aligned with the perspectives of others, and which is predicated on my own individual understanding and interpretation of the text, wherein the themes, characters, and events have notable elements of ambiguity such that a multitude of interpretations are possible and understandable, and said interpretations of mine are influenced by my own personal background and attributes, believe - but not at the exclusion of belief that other people may believe differently, and with full acknowledgement of the heretofore described subjectivity of my stance, which is an opinion, though I do believe in it and also wish to convey it in a persuasive manner that others will find compelling due to my argument in its support which I personally find to be well-evidenced in the text and elucidated by my interpretation of the text, on which I will elaborate at length considering all angles in order to minimize misunderstanding of my analysis - again, acknowledging the ambiguity and subjectivity at play in my interpretation - that
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elucubrare Ā· 1 year ago
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when i was a child i loved mailboxes and polly pocket because they allowed me to indulge in one of life's greatest pleasures, Opening Little Doors
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4threset Ā· 1 year ago
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"There is a nearness and its gravity is echoing."
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otaku553 Ā· 1 year ago
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Save me yi nine sols
(You should play nine sols it’s very very fun)
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cuddlytogas Ā· 1 year ago
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So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.
See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.
But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...
What is the difference between this and this?
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Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?
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Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.
But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.
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And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.
But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.
See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!
As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.
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And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:
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So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?
Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.
In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.
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In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.
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This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).
Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.
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More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.
This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.
A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.
But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.
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canisalbus Ā· 10 months ago
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Vascos modern outfit in that recent sketch is so cool. On what real clothing is it based?
I was mostly winging it, to be honest. Last year there was some talk of Vasco having a motorcycle and how spiffy he could potentially look in biker gear, so I leaned somewhat into that direction.
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But then I got kinda sidetracked and I think his coat started resembling Kaneda's jacket from Akira.
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sha-brytols Ā· 3 months ago
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Can i ask how u feel about elthina then? Since u said ur feelings are complicated. Dw if u dont want to answer!!!
undeniably the true antagonist to da2 and in my opinion a very clever representation of the chantry's frankly terrifying role in like. all of the major conflicts of da2. but also painting her as inaffably evil or acting out of some diabolical self-serving purpose is (imo) hugely missing the point
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erme-maererme Ā· 18 days ago
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the thing is. aurora is not wrong at all about any of this, this one is probably some of the best monologue in the game, this "people are the most easily replenished of all resources" is the main theme of the game, you, the rogue trader, will in the end just be delivered to the voidship crypt and another will take your place and the voidship will continue its millenia old journey regardless. but then we just go back to aurora burning people's eyes out
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anghraine Ā· 5 months ago
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I know it's well-understood at this point that Kirk/Spock is much more of a nerd4nerd ship than a nerd/jock thing, but it's just been kind of percolating around my mind that both of them aren't just space nerds but space nerds who were personally bullied.
Like, 18-year-old Kirk was targeted by an older bully who combines "total asshole" with "the most grating man in existence":
MCCOY: Well, yeah, I'm beginning to feel a little bit picked-on, if that's what you mean. KIRK: I know the feeling very well. I had it at the Academy. An upperclassman there. One practical joke after another, and always on me. My own personal devil. A guy by the name of Finnegan. MCCOY: And you being the very serious young— KIRK: Serious? I'll make a confession, Bones. I was absolutely grim, which delighted Finnegan no end.
This was five years after Kirk survived a genocide, btw, and likely well before his stint as an Academy instructor known to be strict and demanding (which is the period the "stack of books with legs" description of him comes from). By the time he's 33, fifteen years after all this, it turns out one of his deepest fantasies is just beating the shit out of his bully, but only if he can do it According To The Rules (the replica of Finnegan sneers, "Always fight fair, don't you? True officer and gentleman, you").
Spock, meanwhile, is viciously targeted by his Vulcan peers for being biracial from at least age 5; he's described as being tormented by other boys by that age, and "at home nowhere except Starfleet." I think he'd have been 18 or 19 when he left for Starfleet and it's... the least bad of his options, but he seems to have spent his entire career among humans and being persistently subjected to raw racism and profound disrespect for his culture at every turn.
Like, their histories of being metaphorically shoved into lockers are not identical or anything, but I think it's interesting that they both have them.
#i feel like kirk and mccoy are generally seen as more temperamentally aligned despite kirk being emotionally closer to spock#spock representing cold logic and kirk and mccoy as the passionate emotional ones#but i feel like a) spock is wildly emotional just repressed. and coolly utilitarian in philosophy. and usually undemonstrative.#b) mccoy is highly intelligent and sometimes VERY much the voice of reason#(not typically cool rationality but certainly reason - he puts together clues that the others don't see on multiple occasions#he's not as easily derailed by obscuring details or over-cerebral analysis paralysis as the other two imo)#c) but mccoy sometimes struggles with the really big emotional shit and spock is more on kirk's emotional wavelength there#(this is especially obvious in conscience of the king and turnabout intruder but not only there - in both mccoy resists seeing#the full horror of the violations of the most basic rights that kirk has endured while spock is much more sensitive to those things)#and d) kirk is emotionally expressive but typically more cautious and measured in judgment than either of the others#more likely to formulate positions in terms of philosophical principles than mccoy's kneejerk sense of decency#(which sometimes is exactly what's needed and sometimes disastrously lacking in rigor and reflection)#or spock's often brutally utilitarian focus on outcomes that runs roughshod over... like. everyone.#that's why kirk is the mediator; he's not at the exact midpoint in every dispute#but broadly his personality and strengths/weaknesses fall pretty evenly between spock and mccoy#(interestingly i think this is especially noticeable with kirk's infamous seductions - which are rarely motivated by simple desire#they combine the focused perception and expressiveness of mccoy and the brutally self-denying calculations of spock#when sylvia exclaims that he seems warm and passionate but his mind is cold it's like... yeah. softly lit femme fatale james t kirk#it's like the unholy side of kirk's overall approach borrowing pretty equally from both mccoy and spock)#ANYWAY the point is that i don't think kirk is actually more similar to mccoy than he is to spock#and in particular his tendency to repress the horrors and focus on useful concrete action are very akin to spock#long post#anghraine babbles#star peace#otp: the premise#c: who do i need to be#c: i object to intellect without discipline#star trek: the original series#anghraine's meta
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tangents-within-tangents Ā· 7 months ago
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Yellow = yellow
Bananas are yellow, does this mean that yellow = banana?
No, yellow = yellow
Yellow =/= banana, does this mean bananas aren't yellow?
Lemons are yellow, does this mean lemon = banana?
Lemon =/= banana, does this mean lemons aren't yellow?
Some apples are yellow, does this mean yellow = apple?
Some apples are red or green, does this mean apples can't be yellow?
Some apples are red, some apples are yellow, does this mean red = yellow?
Lemons and apples are round but bananas aren't, does this mean bananas aren't yellow?
Apples and bananas are sweet, does this mean lemon's aren't sour? Or that sourness is bad?
Bananas, lemons, and apples are fruit, does this mean mustard isn't yellow?
No, yellow = yellow
A category groups things that share a commonality despite their differences. The differences coexist within that commonality without redefining the category.
Other similarities coexist within, and without, the commonality without redefining the category either. The fact that it doesn't redefine the category does not mean those similarities don't hold significance of their own.
If not for the commonality, it wouldn't be a category. If not for the differences, it wouldn't be a category either.
Okay? Cool
Asexuality = experiencing little to no sexual attraction
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maddie-grove Ā· 8 months ago
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One thing I really don’t like is when someone justifies a sexist belief by saying that they think it should apply to men, too. First, I don’t think you can neutralize the sexism of ā€œa woman is a bad person if she sleeps aroundā€ or ā€œa woman is unhygienic and sloppy if she doesn’t have an elaborate skincare routineā€ by tutting over guys (who will almost certainly never be affected by this disapproval) having casual sex or visible pores. Second, what does that do for me? I’m not getting laid and I’m out sixty bucks for a ā€œserumā€ I found at the mall.
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shorthaltsjester Ā· 5 months ago
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ā€œslowburn of all timeā€ and it’s a relationship that is nearly identical at the beginning and end of the story, and also features the characters getting together quicker than all but one of the main pc/pc relationships in previous cr campaigns . okay, sure. words don’t mean things ig
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pasdetrois Ā· 6 months ago
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Death and the Maiden (Ballet Rambert, 1937). Photographer unknown. Duchess Theatre, London, UK Accompanied by Franz Schubert's String Quartet No. 14 'Death and the Maiden' (1824)
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vaguely-concerned Ā· 7 months ago
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you know it is hard to not feel for caterina a little in my worldstate. she loses sight of lucanis for a couple of months while her other grandson has her in jail for grandmother time-out, and by the time she sees him again he is in full undying devotion mode for the guy she sent to get him back. her grandson finally brought someone home, and it's a fairly low-level elven mortalitasi whose family background is 'idk we found this baby in a crypt and liked their vibes' who will not be giving her any biological grandchildren. not even one of the politically well-connected scheming mortalitasi, which could at least have been useful (nevarra is a bustling market for the crows! twenty contracts on the king alone and still going strong! still a payday baby let the good times roll!), but one of the dutybound earnest little freaks they keep down in the necropolis to wrangle skeletons and write esoteric papers and who frankly don't care that much about murder b/c death comes to us all in its own time anyway trust us on this one. lucanis looks at him like he hung the moon, the sun, every celestial object and glittering star in the sky, like he's the only real thing in the world. and in caterina vision she sees this weird little slip of a goth mage guy wearing too much kohl who cracks jokes at strange times and is so hard to read but also gives her the unmistakable flinty 'I'll try to keep this civil if you do the same. If.' eye contact over lucanis' shoulder sometimes, with the utter grave calm that only someone who's a speaker to the dead (and the dead are savage) and who has killed several gods and wouldn't back down from second deicide if necessary could bring to bear. she sucks and deserves this and more but she also does have a whole Situation on her hands here
(I love that rye's relationship to lucanis' family is basically 'I met some of the most insufferable people. but, they also met me'. he tangoed with the god of lies and betrayal so he could waltz his way through a dellamorte family dinner relatively unscathed)
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sail-not-drift Ā· 3 months ago
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All of the discourse around Schrƶdinger’s Bobby is sending me straight back the 2014-2016 era of Team Defiance and Beth Greene and The Walking Dead. I’m seeing people getting pulled onto one side or another or split straight down the middle and suffering the emotional turmoil that comes with it.
I learned the hard way that TWD wasn’t playing 4D chess, and I don’t think 911 is either. I think they’re going to do what fits their budget and raises ratings. That might mean Peter wanted too much money so they wrote him off; it might mean they see the backlash and do a seat-of-their-pants rewrite to bring him back; it might mean they bungled the pacing and played too hard with BTS fuckery and made a planned resurrection story way more traumatic than it should have been.
Showrunners shouldn’t try to make everyone happy. They SHOULD have artistic vision and a point of view and create a story that doesn’t bend to popular pressure. But they can do that without abdicating their responsibility to deeply invested fans. Jesse Anderson and Craig Mazin and Vince Gilligan prove that you CAN create engaging, tragic, and unpredictable television without disrespecting your audience’s intelligence, investment, and loyalty. And honestly, I think pre-s6 911 did that pretty well too. For whatever reason, that isn’t a priority anymore.
The number one thing I need the people who are deeply, deeply impacted by the uncertainty to hear: No matter what happens, you are not making this up. You are not seeing things. You are not crazy or delusional for having doubts. Whichever way it goes, this IS sloppy writing, and it IS playing with the audience’s emotions, and it’s exactly what showrunners do when they’re running out of ways to raise the stakes without resorting to lazy shock value.
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