#always so unique and interesting and articulate etc etc etc.

[doodleduds]

Small thing for @sonicexelle-junkary 's contaminated!AU !

[shewreckz]

Hey your art is pretty whimsical and radical my gender non specific broseph, per chance would thou be able to enlighten us on how you draw such bodacious fine art? Like how you draw bodies and fave and what have thee. (Fr tho your art really cool and I'd like to see how you make it)

okay i have whipped up a quick little visual of my thought process while drawing!! it might not be the best cause im not the greatest at teaching but if anyones curious ^_^

first lets start with how i draw bodies

a lot of people like to do the "skeleton" method which is where you draw lines and circles to plan out where the limbs should be. honestly i really dislike doing that because i like to always have volume and shape in mind when drawing bodies, but if it works for you thats great.

instead i separate the body into different pieces, kinda like an articulated doll. i think it helps visualize all the moving parts in a 3d space and makes posing and perspective a lot easier. i can also always add the detailed anatomy on top of this basic model like you see on the left. its always important to work from simple -> complex. drawing a pose while being too worried on anatomy will really hinder your drawing process.

to improve doing this it really just takes practice and observation. i could be here all day talking about proportions, and how many heads high a person is, and each specific muscle group, but i reccomend you go and watch videos and study professional artists on your own. as someone who has been drawing and studying these things for so long, i barely think about how many heads high a person is when im drawing a body. its kind of like learning how to play and instrument or driving a car. it becomes second nature eventually, but you have to apply those skills and work through that period of time where youre still trying to program it into your brain.

after you get a hang of the basics you can take this basic model and draw all types of body shapes with it. i say its always important to play around with making your body types diverse. its not only fun to do but helps make all the characters you draw unique and recognizable. (dont be like vivziepop).

dynamic posing can be the hardest thing to master for a lot of people. the best way to learn how to pose is to not think about it too much and just doing it. for example in my figure drawing class we had to sketch out gesture drawings from a picture in 15 seconds. excercises like that help a ton in making you feel more comfortable when drawing from a reference. you should definitely reference a LOT when it comes to poses, it helps build this visual database so that eventually you can get to the point where you can just draw accurate and dynamic poses from memory. after getting to this point eventually you kind of start thinking of your canvas as this tangible 3d space and considering your characters in 3d space helps make the poses feel a lot more realistic and interesting.

ok now a quick little tour into how i draw different faces yaaaayy!!!1!1!1

main thing with my art is that i LOVEEE drawing dynamic face shapes i think its so important to avoid drawing the same slim faces over and over. shape language plays a big role into this. like for example the face on the middle is more square, the one on the left is more oval and the one on the right is more circle. shape language helps communicate so much about your character without even saying a word about them and just helps differentiate people from a glance.

facial features also play a huge role into making your faces different. these are all drawn from the same exact face shape but look like entirely different characters by adding variety in the features. different noses, eye shapes, lips, etc. can make such a huge difference

i think before any of that its important to learn the anatomy of the face though. again im not gonna go into how many eyes wide a face it or how far the nose is from the mouth but like its always important to learn the fundamentals before stylizing stuff. again the face is a 3d space and if you dont consider your face a 3d plane the features will kind of just look like theyre floating on your characters face like soup...theres a lot of great resources and tutorials online take advantage of those!!! and reference from artists you like too it helps a ton.

and then you mix that all together and Boom you have cool and interesting faces. you will best that same face syndrome in no time if you take my advice Trust...

anyways yeah thats the soda design philosophy hit that like button if you liked it or douse me with tomatoes and kick me off the stage if you think i give bad advice ill leave the decision up to you

[marley-manson]

Could you expand on your dislike for the Raphael!Crowley headcanon? I'm fairly certain I know why but your meta posts are always so thoughtful and articulate and I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic

Thank you, I really appreciate it! And fwiw I always enjoy reading your thoughts as well!

And yeah I'm happy to! I mean first I should say that I don't actually like, hate-hate it in fanfic, it's not like an instant back-button for me if it comes up, and I feel like I've seen one or two fics after season 1 where I thought it was fine and it didn't take me out of the story.

But yeah in general I just don't like Crowley being special lol. I like the book vibe where Crowley and Aziraphale are just two... not quite nobodies, given their roles in Eden and the spy allegory of the present day, but certainly not particularly powerful or impressive demon/angels. Crowley and Aziraphale's "superpowers," such as they are, are just their adaptability thanks to living on Earth so long. That's what defines them compared to the rest of Hell and Heaven and sets them apart as uniquely capable of giving a fuck and doing something about the apocalypse. Eg Hastur and Ligur are explicitly more powerful than Crowley, but Crowley escapes them by the skin of his teeth because he's able to break convention by weaponizing holy water, and he's familiar with technology, and more capable of thinking on his feet in general.

I like that all their uniqueness comes from living on Earth with humanity. It resonates with the thematic core of the story, it's fun, and it's interesting. Crowley now being able to perform super impressive miracles and casually resurrect people (something presumably not every angel can do since Aziraphale can't resurrect Edinburgh girl) and read heaven's secret files and potentially stop time in season 1 because he's a former archangel diminishes that vibe to me.

Another con of Raphael!Crowley as a headcanon is that a lot of the time, ime, it feels similar to lost scion of royalty headcanons in other fandoms in an unpleasant way - the way that kind of leans into the idea of someone being inherently superior and worth more by birth (or creation I guess in an angel's case lol). I don't think this is necessarily inherent to the headcanon, or an aspect I think Gaiman will definitely emphasize, but there is that worry lol, especially considering how gary stu-ish Crowley felt to me this season.

Like, why is him being a former archangel meaningful or significant at all? Why does the headcanon exist? What makes Raphael!Crowley different enough from Random Angel #2398!Crowley that it's even brought up as a character detail or plot point that excites people? And I'm not implying that there are no valid reasons (eg exploring why a high ranking angel specifically would fall, or to add some drama for Aziraphale if he finds out and it matters to him, or to add drama between Crowley and the other archangels, etc), but quite often the vibe I get from this headcanon is that Crowley's just inherently more interesting and cool if he used to be a high ranking angel instead of some rando, which is a vibe that puts me off.

Ultimately I just tend to prefer mundane origins to surprise significant origins, and stories about average people (at least in their own context, as angels or w/e) moulded by life who make interesting plot-driving choices rather than inherently unique and special people. And Crowley being Raphael doesn't necessarily make him special, but it does lean in that direction, especially if it's treated as a surprise significant reveal and yk, a source of superpowers.

And to be fair I actually have been thinking about directions this concept could go in season 3 that wouldn't annoy me, and one is to emphasize that archangels aren't inherently special at all and it's an arbitrary designation, and Crowley doesn't give a shit and anyone who does (like other archangels or w/e) is going to be painted as naive and silly and too into hierarchies.

And/or, yk, emphasize that "Anthony Crowley" is emphatically NOT Raphael, regardless of who God created him as. Choose your own destiny. All that jazz. Especially if the Metatron is offering him angelhood again I could see former identity and status being brought into play and held up as extra significant by the antagonists and treated as something to be shut down and dismissed by the narrative, which I would enjoy.

So yeah, at the end of the day I just prefer Crowley as just some guy who happened to get the Earth Agent assignment, rather than the mysterious only fallen archangel.

[corviids]

Since you’re one of the most prolific content creators for Lucemond, and you always answer your asks so eloquently, I was wondering if you could share some insight. When Aemond and Lucerys were first introduced and people latched onto them as a ship, it was easy to see why this pair seemed fated. Mirror images, Shakespearean tragedy vibes, second son syndrome, etc. it’s always been easy to see in both canon universe and the fandom why Aemond is so tied to Luke. He’s obsessed with him for obvious reasons (eye!) and jealous of Luke’s status so it’s easy for fans to make the jump from hatred to obsession to lust to love (be it toxic or wholesome in their headcanons). But the more I think on it, what do you think would draw Luke to feel the same in any regard to Aemond? Aemond is both pretty pathetic in the book and in the show. Authors and artists have their own takes on the two falling for each other mutually because the nature of fanfic and headcanons allow for it. But lowkey I can’t really see Lucerys actually becoming interested in Aemond while vice versa it’s SO easy to see Aemond falling for Luke. Could you give your own insight on why you think either show Luke or book Luke would become interested in Aemond in any sexual/romantic capacity? Asking as someone who is trying to find the logic in this pairing because they trying to take a stab at writing for them. It’s so easy for me to conceptualize reasons why Aemond is obsessed/in love with Luke, but I’m struggling with canon reasons why Luke would be interested in Aemond. Luke has everything Aemond does not making him a giant fixture in Aemond’s desire for glory—while on the other hand Aemond is just some dude who Luke stole as eye from and then never talked to for a decade (at best he’s a rival?). I know this is also difficult to answer because the characterization of book Luke and show luke are so different so seeing the necessary requirements of him falling for Aemond are vastly different too. Thoughts? Basically me asking you to explain to me how/why Lucemond works so well despite my own difficulty in seeing Luke’s interest in Aemond. Thank you!

hmmm i’m trying the best way to articulate this cuz you ask a good question and i wanna give an answer that isn’t just “targaryens horny for each other”

i don’t think luke would be attracted/want aemond for anything he could “give him”. like you said, aemond doesn’t have much to offer beyond his literal self. i think lucemond works specifically because of their unique dynamic which cannot be applied to their other ships. luke, as a person/character, is mostly characterized by his innocent bravery, vulnerability, and insecurity — which aemond is directly linked to a lot of those feelings in luke. personally, lucemond (in writings) only works when there is proper build up to it (so no real insta-love).

to me, luke’s attraction to aemond is an evolution of his fear and dislike of him. given luke’s upbringing and the relationships he’s had as an example, i envision him as being weirdly receptive to,,, non-traditional courtship and behavior. i don’t think he’d go out of his way to initially seek aemond out (i’m a proponent of aemond is down bad to an atrocious degree, as evidenced by his canon obsessive tendencies) but when it’s initiated, he kinda likes it. luke is much more emotionally driven. i don’t think his attraction to aemond would be for rational or even reasons that can be entirely understood and i think that’s the beauty of the ship.

but again it comes down to how you write to that point! this is just a bit of my own thought process when it comes to writing luke. my tldr is that i think luke’s interest in aemond would stem as a response to a mixture of familiarity, fear/caution, as well as thrill. (there’s also the fact that i think luke has “i can fix him” energy. not necessarily optimistic but something that stems from a feeling of never being good enough and needing to prove he can be)

[painted-bees]

aw yay! Here's a bunch more OC questions sent my way by @wulff20ko <3

promt description: Questions about two of your original characters about their relationship. Should work for friends/lovers/coworkers/enemies/etc, maybe not so much for family, but you're welcome to try!

Answering all of these for Margie and Raf again lmao

1) How did they meet?

Like this!

2) How long have these two characters known each other? 

 Since 2008..! I think the last piece of Hi-Note writing that currently exists takes place in 2014. So–six years over the span of their story so far.

3) What were their first impressions of each other? How does that compare to their impressions of each other now?

 Raf thought Margie was a bit strange and ditzy, and she rubbed him as a pathological humble-bragger at first–which was…really unattractive to him lmfao. He initially kinda pulled at that thread in the interest of seeing the whole thing quickly unravel only to discover that she’s legitimately some manner of undiscovered genius who has absolutely no idea just how incredible she is.

  Margie thought Raf was a charismatic player “says that to all the girls” sort–with some shade of mental illness that made it all feel a little too uncanny to be fully effective. She was technically right, but quite differently from what she initially thought lmao.

  Nowadays, Raf knows Margie is his superior in several avenues; she’s a smarter, faster learner, an adaptable problem solver, a far more brilliant musician, and the most genuine, kindest, patient person he’s ever known.

  And Margie knows now that the guy she met in the train station was a fictional character that Raf employed to stand between himself and the threat of forming meaningful relationships. The real Raf is a quiet, anxious, isolated pessimist buoyed by the hope that he isn’t the only person in the world who wants to do well by others.

3) How would they describe each other if asked? Physically? In personality?

  Raf: “Margie? She’s brilliant, she’s sweet. You won’t meet a more incredible person.”

  Margie: “Raf’s a huge dork with a dorkier smirk and you just kinda gotta treat him like a cat if you want to make a good impression on him. Y’know like–just sorta ignore him, let him come to you first.”

4) Do they get along? Why or why not?

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

5) Do they have any shared interests/hobbies? Do they ever do these hobbies together?

 Pretty much most things, these days. Music, walks, rock flipping at low tide… If Margie does anything, she prefers doing them with him. Good experiences are best shared!

6) How often do they see each other? Where do they usually meet?

  Well, initially it was just every Thursday for jam sessions. And then Raf started inviting Margie to crash at his place. Now they live and work together.

7) How do they communicate with each other? Are there any recurring phrases or gestures unique to their relationship?

  Their relationship only exists as it does because of how they communicate with each other. They’ve developed a lot of little shorthand gestures to indicate to one another that things are good and there’s nothing to worry about, such as here. But there are also clear signals they provide when one needs some space or time alone, or if hugs are in order, and other such things. They’ve established a baseline understanding that when they are mad, it is never at each other–and have agreed not to assume that just because one of them is upset, it’s because they’re upset at the other specifically. The person who is upset will always take the time to explain what upset them, once they are able to properly articulate it. Until then, the priority is making sure they get the space or whatever they need to calm down and process what they’re feeling and why.   If they were unable to establish free and easy modes of communication with one another, where they don’t put each other on trial, on the spot to immediately defend their behaviour in the heat of a moment, but give each other the space and grace to process and discuss things under calmer, less volatile circumstances, the wheels would fall off this relationship real quickly, real dramatically. 

8) What is one quality they have in common?

  They love music! They love playing music–together!

9) What is one major difference between them?

  Margie is a very rosy optimist, and Raf is a very calculating pessimist. 

10) Does one act as a narrative foil to the other? How so?

  Yeah, It’s very puppy and cat. Raf’s long established career and jaded burnout vs Margie’s nascent/struggling career and bright-eyed, passionate energy. Margie’s willingness to trust and believe the best in people, vs Raf’s pathological mistrust/suspicion and the constant threats he sees hidden in the actions and words of all those around him. Margie’s ability to bounce back from failures and adapt to challenges–it’s all a learning process for her, vs Raf's stubborn rigidity and unwillingness to compromise–failure is devastating for him. Raf helps Margie keep her feet on her ground so that she can make more purposeful strides towards her goals. Margie helps drag Raf out of his paralyzing anxiety spirals, and keeps his creeping cynicism at bay.

11) Do they have any affection for each other? How do they show it?

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

12) Do they have any disdain/contempt for each other? How do they show it?

oooh…Raf, at his worst, can feel quite overwhelmed with resentment towards Margie for how much sway she has over his feelings of worth and wellbeing. At times when he feels like she fails to understand how her actions can dictate his moods, and fails to behave in a manner sensitive to this [it’s very mercurial and unpredictable what exactly this entails–what sets him off], it’s really tempting–and it feels wholly just–to lash out just to make her feel a fraction of the discomfort/hurt he’s feeling, as way of some kind of punishment. Instead, he gets really quiet and withdrawn, sometimes for a week or two. Margie understands this as “mental health is happening at him” and takes care to stay well out of his way until he’s wrestled control of his narratives again. 

Margie’s got nothing but love in her heart for Raf.

13) Do they share the same goals in life?

  Yeah! They just wanna be comfy, and loved, and make good music together. Everything to do and build together is towards that shared goal.

14) Do they trust each other? Why or why not?

  They do.   Margie’s a given, she trusts everyone.

  Raf, though, has vacillated pretty wildly between wanting to trust her by trying to brute force fake that trust until he believed it–and not trusting her at all. However, the morning she basically returned from the dead to come shambling back home to him in one piece–cemented his trust in her. He thought she had died and, in her concussed state, she was just sorry that she took so long to get back, and wanted to know if they can still play music together. He still has hiccups and moments of panic about the honesty of her relationship with him and such–but so long as he can recall the sheer relief he felt when he held her, and the absolute heartbreak she delivered to him thereafter by way of concussed murmerings–it’s irrefutable to him that she loves him very dearly and that she’ll always be there. Come hell or literal high-water.

15) Is one of them keeping secrets from the other? Why? How would they react if the secret was revealed?

  Not anymore, no.   Initially, Raf had only explained to Margie that he had PTSD. All of his paranoid behaviours and such were swept under that as their explanation. Once things had become quite a bit more serious between the two of them, Raf’s Uncle asserted that Margie was eventually gonna have to know about and understand the challenges of his paranoid personality disorder. And after some gentle coaxing about that, Raf finally relented to ask his uncle to talk to Margie about it for him–because if it was left to Raf to do it himself, it wouldn’t…go well, if it ever happened at all.

  Margie had dated a guy with schizophrenia during her time in Winnipeg, and so there wasn’t really a big scary stigma that needed to be dispelled. The schizophrenia of her previous relationship had been such a non-issue compared to what she otherwise might have expected, that it maybe gave her the idea that Raf’s PD would similarly pose no major challenges. Eehhhh…she was a little off base with that assumption, but she got up to speed on all of it eventually, and it’s mostly fine. At the very least, it didn’t change her opinion of Raf at all, and any drama that accompanied the reveal was hosted exclusively in Raf’s poor brain. 

16) Are they keeping a secret together? How do they feel about that?

  Yeah lmao Raf’s PD is no one’s business but their own. Of the people still alive, Margie, Nels, and his therapist (and Tess) are the only people who are aware of Raf’s PD. The rest of the guys at Hi-Note know he has PTSD, but that’s it. 

17) Do they view their relationship as temporary or permanent?

  Use to be temporary, until the temporary part of their relationship was almost exercised–and now it’s as permanent as a relationship can be lmao

18) Are they satisfied with their relationship? Do they wish they were closer/more distant?

  There’s always things they are working towards together, but they’re both very happy with their relationship, generally.

19) What is their best memory together?

  Oh nooo there’s so much lmfao. I think they both look back on their first year in Cortes Island very very fondly–as kind of a turning point where their lives together became a pretty ironclad thing. It was forged in fire the entire year prior, and they stuck it through–and suddenly things were easy and calm and nice again, and it just…strengthened everything quite beautifully. 

20) What is their worst memory together?

That whooole year before they arrived in Cortes Island lmao. Uncle Bills death and dealing with his estate was the most difficult test their relationship will even endure, I think.

21) When were they the most vulnerable with each other?

  Hm, this is hard, they’re vulnerable with each other pretty well all the time. Again though, the most vulnerable moments were probably during that year of grieving and dealing with Bill’s estate. Raf had basically hit a melting point and was largely incapacitated for much of the latter half, and it culminated with Margie admitting she couldn’t take care of things like he needed her to. I think they both thought the other was gonna leave, because things had stopped being fun and enjoyable, and they couldn’t carry each other out of it or provide what the other person obviously needed. Raf was just waiting for Margie to get sick and tired enough to walk, but Margie was wrecking herself on the terror that he would feel irreparably let down by her if she failed to adequately carry his burden for him when he needed her the most. In the end, Margie’s breakdown and her fear of not being and doing enough for him is what galvanized Raf to get his shit together just enough to put some real, physical distance between them and all the garbage that had piled up on them. A move that Margie had suggested months earlier, but Raf had been too stubborn/overwhelmed to properly consider at the time.

22) Do they have any mutual friends? Mutual enemies?

 All of Raf’s friends are Margie’s friends (he only really has two aside from her and Tess)–but not all of Margie’s friends are Raf’s friends. No mutual enemies, either. Solely because Margie doesn’t have anyone she’d describe as an enemy haha. Maybe Raf’s mom…but Margie has never met her, so it feels weird. She greatly dislikes everything she’s heard about the woman, though.

23) How do these two interact with each other in public versus in private?

 In public, you might think they’re just really close friends. Margie and Raf don’t engage in any explicitly romantic displays of affection in public–largely because Raf is very uncomfortable about it.

 In private, they’re in each other’s space a lot of the time, and fill silences with the occasional sappy call-and-responses that are all some shade of “guess what?” “what?” “I love you.” “Woah, I love you too–weird!” Sometimes the words they string together to carry this sentiment between each other are absolute nonsense…but they know what it means. They’re also just very content to be in the same room together, quietly doing their own thing and otherwise ignoring each other in perfect comfort.

24) If a stranger saw them together, how would they describe their relationship?

 “They seem like really good friends! They’re working together quite well!”

25) How would these characters react to being stuck in a small room with each other?

  Stuck? Well…They’d try to figure out what the deal is. And if it’s like…a busted elevator situation or something, Raf wouldn’t pause for levity until the situation was under control. But once it’s just a matter of waiting for things to become unstuck again, He and Margie would sit in each other's space and pass the time musing and joking to one another. They just enjoy each other’s company, generally.

26) How far would they go for each other? Would they risk their own lives for each other? 

  Margie would crawl out of Davy Jones's coldest locker for Raf lmao

  Raf would walk into oncoming traffic for Margie.

  But more than that, both of them would endeavor to live their healthiest, happiest lives for each other.

[mrvenuspluto]

3RD HOUSE RECOLLECTION

I was just taking a walk in my head and a thought came to me , it was out the blue , just kept thinking about twins , idk why but every thought was in doubles... brain was on overload , which it is always but this time it was trying to steer me to a concept , my soul was at work at the moment , so i let it drive and let my brain take the backseat . Then gemini came to me , hmmmmmmm..... the 3rd the house , so my brain started to free flow with its random thoughts and deeep observations . It came to me not many people give the 3rd house in the natal chart attention like 1st house ( self , personality ) 2nd house ( value , material , needs ) 8th house ( merging , occult , sex ) and 10th house ( status , career , authority ) . So my brain begin to process and become more curious about this multiphasted house and its charactiristics . Every house in astrology is deeep to me , i guess i love learning and expand my brain . This house represents alot , its the house of communication , thinking , perception , reflection , gathering facts , learning , intellect , siblings , courage , interest , surroundings , skills , dexterity , i could go on forever but thats it on a short note . This is the house where you build yourself a body , the 1st is your body , 2nd is what you like about your body or want to add to your body , 3rd is how you can build it , something we all was never taught in are youth . The body is very interesting how it process information , moves , response to harm , fear , excitement , aroursal or just observing . The moon thrives in this house , why? it can be expressive , in alot of other houses it cant , even if it can be expressive its limited example ( 4th house its in its domicile , but its still limited due to this house being your private sanctuary , your deep secrets , personal desires , you cant expess those in public or just to anyone , only to ones you love , feel comfortable with ) the moon here in the 3rd can also consume all the desires and curiosity it felt in the previous house ( 2nd house ) where mars co signifies here and can bring differences , but also the moon too . Mars here can help you persue what you want , need , desire and give you the courage and assertiveness to make it happen . This is a fast pace house thats why having this house well equipped with benefics or even malefics could make you a person quick witted , quick tempered , good and fast talker , very articulate ( game spitter ) mastermind , fast runner , strong weight lifter , dexterous fingers and hands , good boxer ( fighter ) or just good at everything you put your mind to and be a jack of all trades . Alot of people like to call this house the house of twins , yes and no , Its more of a merging first , acually its the physical merging before 8th house merging with another intity and your fears etc... but you have to merge with your personality , image , and surroundings 1st . Its the merging of the masculine, feminine energy , mars and moon thats why these 2 planets does well here in the 3rd house . 1st house aries represents mars , action , what you see , assertiveness , self , 2nd house represents venus , what you want , value , makes you feel stable . When you bring these 2 energies together , creates 3 , so now you have to learn how to use them , merge them to meet your personal desires and comfortability ( 4th house ) . This is why people have debates , arguments , and opinions , because you come in the 3rd house with your own thoughts , values , wants , and needs now you have others in your surroundings , sister , brothers , neighbors who have their own opinions as well, views on certian perspectives , thats why its so critical for kids to get exposed to the world , surroundings so they can understand everyone is different and unique in their own way , sheltering a kid or anyone or afflicting this on yourself can be detrimental to your learning , processing of information . This is the house how you express and vocalize what you desire or want to be heard ,

also where you learn what your body is capable of , just because you love and value basketball doesnt mean you will be any good or successful in it , ( 2nd ) but if you try put efforts and courage and apply knowlegde and see what happens then you will see if its for you or not ( 3rd ) , you can also know how your body protects itself from danger , will you run , fight , hide , have courage and power or a stertigic brain to out think a person , the stronger you build this house the stronger the foundation will be for the ( 4th ) . Every house plays a crucial and important role in your life , when you follow the house energies and evolve with them instend of being complacent and stuck in comfortability and not liking change you will miss out on your mental , physical and spiritual growth . We all are here to experience , learn , grow , evolve teach and ascend . We usaully give are attention towards the house we favor more or seem to give us benefits on the short term and not thinking of long term or self develpment for growth . Once you find out what you value , are good in , need , and give your time to ( 2nd house ) then you try it , do it , show courage , skills , learn it , master it ( 3rd house ) then nuture it , love it , let it be your deep passion and secure it to your heart ( 4th house ) etc.... everyone has a talent and different types of skills just need to find out what it is , be curious about it thats why its the curious house , try new things , experience failure as well as success so you can grow and know where your strength lay . I would like to know and hear about your skills and talents , think everyone has unique qualities and skills that needs to be displayed to the world , so be verbal and open to what you have to offer , i would love to see how you work in your 3rd house , im all ears , eyes , and acceptance towards your abiities .

[taylortruther]

Loml is the one song I feel is solely about Matty, because how on earth does it relate to Joe (or anyone else)?

To be fair to anon, I did pick up on clues in songs about Harry where she refers to him pretty earnestly like 'I wish you knew that I'll never forget you as long as I live" and 'You know for me, it's always you//I know for you, it's always me' and 'I would stay forever if you say don't go' etc...so yeah, I see it.

The point is that why would she suddenly mention him out of nowhere? Why does she put the romantic/stranded parallel in Down Bad from New Romantics? Why does she reference Maroon in COSOSOM, when that song was usually tied back to Harry by the fandom? Why does she mention Central Park in The Bolter, the year of our lord 2024? I mean the Central Park haylor outing is very well known.

It's all very interesting for sure...but maybe she just likes lyric parallels who knows

joe is the cause and matty is the effect, so in that way, joe is present throughout loml (thanks @soberqueerinthewild for this verbiage.)

let's remember, these all come from her brain. she has certain themes/metaphors she likes, but, as a person, she has her own patterns in relationships. she has her own narratives that she leans on to make sense of the world. of course she's going to revisit similar parallels throughout her work, especially when she's so prolific. (i don't know how to articulate this better but if anyone else understands what i'm putting down here, please help a gal out.)

also, taylor writes about many people being the love of her life. that's how she feels about them while writing those songs. the "i'd stay forever" "i'm yours forever" thing is how she feels when she's in love (is that not how most people feel?), it's not unique to harry or matty.

[tenjiiku]

do u have any movie / song recs atm 🥰?? i wanna be inspired to write like you do... but not in that sense if ykwim haha!! i just really love the way you write !! so im looking for inspiration,, if thats okay with u ofc ☝️

Heyyy lol ofcc I love talking abt media I love! Tbh I do not watch a lot of movies but I do have a lot of book recs some of which have movie adaptations.

Movies/Books;

The Hunger Games series, Suzanne Collins. Katniss and Peeta invented love and romance. I can go on about these two forever, but I will simply mention the beach scene b/t them in Catching Fire. That changed me fundamentally, altered my brain chemistry permanently, etc etc. Also of course the critique on capitalism in a Western society and how despite the violence such a system can breed Love will ever and remain forever as long as hope prevails.

Strange Weather in Tokyo, Hiromi Kawakami. I love dialogue, and this story has so much of it. And also I adore stories of the mundane. The fact that the protagonist is a woman in her late 30s brings such a refreshing perspective on the woes and joys of life. I read this book last Fall when it was a particularly rough time for me and I was going through a lot of changes. This really grounded my feelings.

Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami. I know Murakami gets a lot of shit for how he writes female characters but I adore the female characters in this novel, particularly Naoko and Midori. I love how he describes their emotions through dialogue. It is so cut and dry at times it hits straight to my gut. The conclusion and resolution left me thinking for months.

Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes. Until recently I just discovered this was a required reading in a lot of American schools, which was a surprise because I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and quite frankly most of my assigned readings in school were not as interesting. I really really really enjoyed learning more about the character of Charlie through diary entries. And how his style of writing changes as he goes through so many trials and tribulations to only end up back to where he started. Really a think piece for me.

Snow Country, Yasunari Kawabata. I absolutely adored the imagery in this novel. It also left me thinking for days, and I still cannot articulate myself properly to describe it. Wonderful read.

Bones and All, Camille DeAngelis. I hold Maren so near and dear to my heart. The idea of using cannibalism as an allegory for coming-of-age brings such a unique and powerful perspective to girlhood, something I had been searching for in so many novels but never quite received. Maren and Lee’s relationship is both sweet and tragic. The movie is also wonderful.

All About Lily Chou Chou. I first watched this movie when I was 14 or 15, which I should not have done lol. Its subject matters are so dark, and I feel so badly for all the female characters in this movie. The message it sends is so simple, but the cinematography is both beautiful and haunting.

Artists/Songs;

Ethel Cain. By far my number one inspo lol. I do not use Spotify regularly besides to create playlists but I feel like she would be my number one listened to. I adore her ep Inbred, particularly the songs Michelle Pfeiffer and Crush. They are such yearning songs, and describe how I love so so personally. Of course, Preacher’s Daughter is a masterpiece of an album. Strangers and Family Tree are my favourites

Mitski. I honestly do not know how to express how much of an influence she has been on everything I produce. I’ve raved about her so much. Puberty 2 will always, always, always be the soundtrack to my highschool life lol it is honestly concerning how much I was listening to her in year 9. Bury me at makeout creek will always inspire me to write romance. It just gets me into the mood to both drown and create.

Gracie Abrams. I love the simplicity of her lyrics, and some of my works are written honestly based on one lyric that I might find out stuck out to me for many of her things. I find her music so universal and open to interpretation, and I love that! I think that it leaves a lot of room to think, it can apply to so many people and touch so many topics. I particularly love songs from the deluxe version of her album Good Riddance (405, Two People, Unsteady) I listened to Two People writing the hanshin expressway lol.

Beabadoobee. I love Beatrice, I have been listening to her for so long. I love how she is so expressive with all of her songs and genres and lyrics. Honestly, I love her entire discography. Like I do not think I do not have a song of hers I skip.

Japanese Breakfast. I love Michelle. Her songs all feel like warm hugs! And also some of them want to make me dance! I listened to her so much taking the train home back from uni when I needed a pick me up lol.

[zorbasmedia]

Mirror Marketing: The Power of Self-Referential Strategies for Customer Engagement and Brand Loyalty

Few things are more appealing to individuals than their own personas. Folks spend an immense amount of time on social media platforms, expressing and referencing themselves more than any other subject. This aligns with neuroscience findings demonstrating how our brains uniquely process self-focused information. This is the fundamental idea behind self-referential marketing.

Through the utilization of self-referral strategies, businesses can sway consumers to form deeper, more emotional bonds with their offers. This paves the way for: 

effective customer interaction; 

customer acquisition; 

increased return on investment; 

the development of a loyal customer base.

Personalization as the key to customer engagement

In recent years, customized targeting has gained considerable traction among marketing departments across the board — consumers display better engagement with ads and promotional material that are tailored to their specific interests, experiences, or even physical attributes. 

Establishing a direct connection between big businesses and the intricate everyday lives of consumers has emerged as a winning strategy that fits well with society’s increased craving for personalized content. Businesses that leverage this ingrained human tendency towards self-interest have observed a substantial surge in: 

return on investment; 

customer interaction; 

healthier consumer relations; 

customer loyalty in the long run. 

The self-reference effect articulates that an individual’s memory retention is improved when the information pertains to them.

Harnessing customer self-referential cues 

Customer self-referential cues in marketing involve the customers’ personal connection, engagement, or association with the brand or product. The idea is to make customers see themselves in the product or services provided. Here are a few ways that you can capitalize on this concept:

Personalization. Providing a personalized experience for each customer can make them feel special and valued. This could be in the form of personalized recommendations based on previous purchases, personal greetings in emails, offering customizable products, etc.

User-generated content (UGC). Encourage customers to create content related to your brand. This could be as simple as encouraging customers to share photos of your products on social media, tagging your brand, or writing reviews. Self-identifying with the brand, they become part of the brand story.

Community building. Forming a community around a brand or product helps customers to identify with the brand on a deeper level. This could involve hosting forums, social media groups, or in-person meet-ups where customers can share experiences and build relationships.

Interactive marketing. Create interactive quizzes, videos, and media that allow customers to engage with your product or brand their personal way. This not only entertains customers but also allows them to interact in a way that is unique to them.

Brands as personal identifiers. Tune your marketing strategy to highlight how your brand or product aligns with customers’ personal identity. Show them how using your products or services helps portray their own values, lifestyle, and personal tastes to the world.

Influencer partnerships. Collaborate with influencers who embody the values and lifestyle your brand represents. They can help spread the word about your brand to their audience, who likely share similar values and will identify with your brand.

In all of these methods, authenticity is key. Consumers can tell when a brand isn’t being genuine, so be sure to always maintain your brand’s integrity throughout your marketing campaigns.

If you want to reach new GEOs and audiences, maybe it is all waiting for you on Telegram? We’ve prepared some material about Telegram audiences. What are the messenger’s users like this year? How old they are, what they do, and what they are interested in!

Two cases and go

Let’s see how companies can utilize personalization and continual adaptation to retain and increase user engagement over time.

Snapchat

In 2016, Snapchat introduced an innovative feature called Bitmoji, an application that enables users to design personalized cartoon-based avatars reflecting their real-life appearance or their desired look. These animated characters could be used as profile images or indicate user locations on the Snap Map.

The company further amplified the Bitmoji experience by launching Bitmoji Stories, a novel application where users’ avatars could interact in amusing or sentimental stories that mirrored their distinct lives and experiences.

The fact that Snapchat users continue to embrace Bitmoji is indeed a testament to the skillful efforts of the Snapchat marketing team.

Spotify

Spotify has garnered numerous accolades for its insightful tailored playlists and its End-of-Year Wrapped feature. The music platform employs sophisticated algorithms that adjust to the user’s continuously evolving preferences, providing recommendations attuned to what the user finds personally meaningful.

One standout feature on Spotify is Discover Weekly, supplying users with weekly playlists curated based on their individual “taste profile,” accrued over time by the algorithms. This feature introduces songs congruent with users’ listening habits, yet undiscovered by them.

The weekly provision enables users to cultivate a dynamic musical persona, which develops alongside them. This nurtures their individuality while also enriching their overall interaction with the app.

In essence, both companies demonstrate the power of personalization in technology. By fostering a sense of self and individuality within their platforms, they can maintain their relevance and appeal to their respective user bases.

Final thoughts

While self-referential marketing can yield significant results, it’s crucial to respect customers’ personal space and not overstep their comfort zone. Contemplate your own limits as a consumer to strike a balance between engaging personalization and an intrusive feeling. Stay mindful of evolving trends to avoid upsetting, offending, or seeming insensitive to your clientele.

The primary goal is to demonstrate that you genuinely value your customers’ needs and that their feedback truly matters in shaping your offerings.

Interesting headings:

Affiliate marketing case studies

Bonuses

Reviews

[grad604-amber]

Week 8: Body copy

This week we need to go back and look at what we wrote over the break and try to solidify it into something more conceptual that can be used for the poster. The text is 50 WORDS MAX, so for me I need to ensure that I don't waffle and write too much. Below is the rubric, or what we are aiming to achieve with our writing.

Discuss the relationship between design and a range of historical, cultural and contextual issues.

Apply critical thinking through academic research contexts

Analyse and synthesize key texts in relation to cultural and contextual issues in design. 

Communicate key ideas and concepts through a range of visual, written and oral methods

INVESTIGATION: Proficiency in evaluating and extending links between a complex range of conceptual and contextual content.

COMMUNICATING: Your command and expertise of new - tools and methods to advance and document the research process.

REFLECTING: Your cohesive questioning and reflection of material to extend the inquiry.

INTEGRATING: Your ability to articulate and integrate research thinking, processes and findings, clearly and fluently to present ideas.

Below are examples we were given on the slides to guide us so we can use them as a template to ensure we are writing the right thing.

Here is what I have done from the activity:

These are not my finalised writing pieces rather just made sure I have ticked all the boxes for my written part, ensuring it is giving the right information. I will begin to finalise it from here.

CONNECTIONS:

Task 1:

We were given a task that can be "Used to develop and refine your element selections and categorisations through analysis, reflection and discussion, and make timely and appropriate changes if needed."

This should be for all 20 elements to be included in your final assessment, or as many elements as you have at present. You can always add and/or edit some of the elements in response to this exercise. 

Name your categories in terms of the main defining feature: e.g., “Tools I use in my design work” or “Possessions of personal significance which influence my design practice” 

Because I prefer doing things analogue I have a rough little map sketched out grouping my objects:

Needs refinement this is just a rough grouping - will refine to determine How I want it to be presented in my poster with strong meaning.

Task 2:

As a designer/creative, you could also explore creative, visual and non-logical methods to create new typologies, if consistent with your strategy. E.g., do you notice half the elements are pink in colour or hand-crafted? Is this interesting, helpful, or offer opportunities or limitations worth considering?

I have noticed a lot of items are hand crafter or second-hand - they feel very exploratory and random but at the same time all very fitting - they have had to be discovered, which takes time and patience but shows the outcome is worth it.

What do your current categories tell you about the elements contained in them?

A lot of the hand-crafted items are considered very personal and meaningful to me while also relating to the designer tool kit I have - which consists of analogue materials.

What underpins your categorisations? Are the elements grouped by a key characteristic, material or medium – or something else? e.g. typography, fluid type, poster design, etc?

Mine may feel slightly broad as I have said all the items are mainly analogue or illustrative but I think that describes me as a creative well, an explorer.

When seen together, what story do these elements and their categorisation tell an audience?

I want the audience to see this journey throughout my life and upbringing and how the little things that have stuck with me and become so significant to me not only as a person but as a creative - from the sea glass collection to the little ceramic I have collected and made some unique items that depict my love for hand crafting and analogue process. It will not only reflect in the way the poster is presented but also in my additional designer tool kit which is displayed within the 20 elements.

This task has helped me to reevaluate from the last task where I felt I didn't really categorise it well and it was quite broad - by answering these questions I have been able to think of a better way to organise.

[plutoswrath]

Hii! I read somewhere that some of jaehyun's placements (his saturn being one I think) indicates that he's either insecure or unsure about himself and has a lot of inner conflict and I was wondering if you could expand on that.

Some astro musings on Jaehyun - our beloved Valentine...

Hello!

Buckle up, this is going to be interesting, because I have a lot to say on this topic, lol.

People mainly talk about his 12th house stellium in Aquarius (which is co-ruled by Saturn), as well as his Saturn influence in his chart.

The 'not knowing himself' mainly refers to his 12th house, and while I do get where this train of thought is coming from, I have to disagree that it makes Jaehyun unaware of who he is. The 12th house is known to cause an absence of the themes of said planet that sits in it, therefore the individual will develope their very own and usually very unique definition of the themes of the planet. The 12th house is also our subconscious and subconscious self, the side of us we don't see/have troubles accepting,but also the side of us we wished we could personify, it is literally the self we dream of being and wished we could be in another life.

Same as retrograde planets, 12th house placements manifest differently than those who have them direct or in other houses. Usually the individual will gain a better picture of how to approach and define these 12th house planets/topics after a lot of retrospection: at best they seek solitude to develope mindfullness about their dream and desires. Jaehyun having his 12th house stellium in Aquarius can add to a rather closed off, introverted and even stand off-ish nature.

You know what, now that we're talking about this, I know a lot of people wonder why his character (at least to what he seems to be showing to us) changed so drastically when he started out as a nct member. Think about Jaehyun during the 7th sense, fire truck and limitless era and then when they moved on to Simon Says, Regular, Superhuman, etc. One theme about the 12th house (more so when you have placements in there) is the disillusion. Since the planets themes seem always somehow out of reach, you spend a lot of time dreaming and imagining what it must be like finally experiencing it, bathing in it's pure essence. But when it happens and the expectations can't be fulfilled it can lead to massive disappointment. To summarize, I think all the reasons why and how he changed his public persona and character play into the ways the 12th house manifests. We have the Sun, Venus and Mercury in the 12th house, all very important planets when it comes to how you connect with others, what your self is, and how you verbalize yourself and articulate your inner world to others. I do think that one part of the massive disillusion of the 12th house (especially since Sun and Venus in the 12th house can hint to an individual dreaming of being popular/famous, and being socially in touch with his world) happened when it came to him being a public persona, the character he had to play, and the way fans had access and wanted to have access to his personality.

This makes especially sense since they all start out as children and mostly all debuted as children, being right in the process of building the foundation of your sense of self. Fame has its price. And someone who has Sun, Venus and Mercury in the 12th (with whole signs his second chart ruler Jupiter, and Uranus are also in the 12th house), he was perfect to be modelled to the company's wishes as well as the fans desired persona of him.

That's why the 12th house his also known for projection. 12th house placement natives spend a good time of their life constantly figuring out and forming the themes of the planet(s) in this house. While they do that, they are usually very lowkey in expressing said planet. 12th house planets generally can lack assertiveness in their self expression too, adding to others projecting onto them and modeling their character to their wishes.

That's why you hear people say 12th house Sun natives are often perceived as trying to hold back and unassuming (or compensating by being overly ego focused). That's why you hear people say 12th house mercury natives only speak up when they really have something important to say, something of the heart.

Meanwhile the people engaging with the 12th house native will read into their lowkey behavior and project their ideal onto them. And at worst, the 12th house person will play into it and be shaped by the expectations of others. Why? Self exploration. Even if it's out of character behaviour for them, they understand that the themes of the planet in the 12th house is without boundaries, there is more to it than other people usually see, so they dive right into it: to experience the themes of the planets in the 12th house is to find and explore the (hidden) self, and that comes with every single possible outcome, good and bad.

I'm not trying to victimize and belittle 12th house natives at all (using whole signs I have 12th house placements as well), but that's why people say the 12th house individual can fall victim to those with ill intentions. And I always believed wholeheartedly Jaehyun is a good example of becoming a victim of fame when we look at the way a lot of fans see him and treat him. All of the members have to act accordingly to the company’s wishes and perform a role as a public figure, they have to play into fantasies, but the character that was oh so neatly constructed by the company (and the fans) for Jaehyun seems to be causing him to retreat more and more into the 12th house shell.

And with that I don't think he is fake. I don't think he fakes a lot at all tbf, his unassuming and laid back nature caused by the 12th house is just too perfect for people to continue projecting onto and reading into him. It all works too well, but it's also a vicious circle. And yes, his Pisces Ascendant adds right into it by subconsciously mirroring and becoming exactly what people want him to be.

Also, Aquarius sitting in the 12th house is an interesting mixture too, since Aquarius is a sign that actually stands for detachement and observing groups. Small excourse here pls do not mind It's often wrongly portrayed as the sign that is inherently just very fond of groups and friendships (that's 11th house matters tho), but actually Aquarius is the lone scientist, the field explorer that joins and experiences a lot of groups for its studies on humanity. That's why Aquarius is the water bearer, the one who dedicated their life to study humans and human emotion. After all, Aquarius has to find the group they feel most comfortable with, since they can easily feel pretty alienated all the time, I feel like that's more so the inherent emotion this sign can carry, therefore it seeks and dreams of belonging to a group often times.

That all being said, I feel like this also adds to Jaheyun's detached behaviour. The members also say he is sometimes suddenly unavailable (doesn't answer texts/calls, doesn't appear to meet ups) and we know he is fond of his alone time, and indulging in his hobbies and the arts. Let's not forget he has a Taurus Moon, this man probably looooves leisuring, lol.

Okay, I want to shortly touch on his Saturn in Aries in the 1st. Saturn in Aries can easily cause feelings of powerlessness, since it puts a restriction on actualizing the self, and using ones power to go for what one really wants. Aries fighter nature gets toned down by Saturn, and on top of that it's in a opposition with his Libra Mars, which is already a sign that is in detriment in Mars.

I can imagine that, especially when we add the themes and topics of his 12th house stellium and Pisces Ascendant, it can cause a feeling similar to fainting when looking in the eye of the problem. It's causing defeat, and denying the self due to limited options. And I feel that people directing who he is, especially under the management of SM, can be one root of this problem. Using the whole sign house system his Saturn in Aries would be in the 2nd, and while now, especially in the year 2022 Jaheyun has had many opportunities to work for brands, I do think that this inability to assert the self led to him missing opportunities in solo activities he really wanted to do, establishing his 'own brand' and ofc making money in his prefered ways and desires caree fields. But also, looking at his solo activities now I'm glad thing seem to work out better his way, allthough I need to check out other charts of his, such as transits, solar return, etc. to get a better look inside of the current energies.

Oh, and on the last note, because you've mentioned 'he's hard on himself'. Yeah, I think when he's not avoiding and detached, fleeing from his feelings and the reality of a situation (typical 12th house and Pisces Ascendant thing to do), he is probably very hard on himself. Saturn has a tight grip on his chart, but how he deals with that depends heavily if he is able to take responsibility, even if it's things that weren't necessarily caused directly by him.

Saturn forces us to take responsibility, the Pisces, 12th house, Neptune (and also Jupiter tbh) influence want him to remain in a dream as long as he can, till the pain is too big to ignore any longer. He might be constantly battling between feeling hopeful and powerless.

He might be in a weird limbo state of being half awake, half aslepp, half conscious, half unconscious.

Whatever it might be, this Neptunian chart will make sure that we will never truly know.

[sneverussape]

on catholicism and severus & tobias snape

if you're going to expect a very well-thought out essay about this, please let me stop you right there. it likely won't be :)) but this was prompted by comments of people on my hc of catholic!snape and a (long) conversation with @dementedlollipop on discord that just spurred so many Thoughts.

going under a cut coz i don't know how long this will be.

so. i have made several allusions via drawings and stuff that one of my (main) hcs is that snape and tobias are catholic. i don't think i explained properly before why it makes so much sense; i tend to just spazz, but i'll really try to be articulate this time.

first, the background:

i grew up catholic, but the culture i was raised in was also catholic, so it permeated the value system i and everyone else around me knew. people put a high value on respect, filial piety, obedience, family, etc. all the stuff you watched on Derry Girls. that's exactly how it is to grow up in catholic culture, at least where i'm from. american catholic culture is slightly different because it's placed in a very secular context so it has a lot of caveats. it's very different if you grow up culturally catholic, and in a country that still largely runs on religious practices.

how this relates to the snapes:

i always find it interesting to figure out why characters act the way they do, especially if there's very little said in canon about them. tobias was one of the characters i was so interested in, because i found his situation so unique.

he's a muggle, as we know, and it was alluded to that he had neglected and/or abused his son and/or wife. yet, as far as we can tell, he also didn't leave them. it was likely that by the time severus met lily he already knew both eileen and severus were magical. why did he stay with them, if he disliked magic? surely it would have been easier if he had just left and started over elsewhere?

it's not just tobias, but also severus; how he acted, his thought processes, why he did what he did. it all felt very familiar to me, and it all routed back to traditional catholic values, and the way that i know how you just can't shake them off, no matter how hard you push against the faith itself.

the things that feed the hc (and which also leads to more hcs):

- severus was born in 1960, which means tobias was born in the first half of the 20th century, sometime between the 20s and 40s. (i like to peg it as the late 20s, because i also like to hc him being a ww2 vet, not only because it fits the context but also like father, like son -- severus is also a soldier);

- tobias living through the first half of the 20th century means he would have lived in an england that was still 'religious' in a sense, wherein religion was still a big part of their culture (i mean it technically still is, but i would imagine more people back then were still practicing it actively). he didn't strike me as anglican or protestant tbh because he seemed too traditional, and by that i mean he had a strong sense of duty to his family, strong enough to not break his marriage vows and to stay despite the presence of magic;

- now, magic has always had a weird placement in catholicism. i've never really had issues with religion vs harry potter. we were never banned from it, however i do know that back then, the very concept of magic was something that scared the bejeezus out of the common folk because it was "the devil's work" (and yes, i know this belief is wrong and is rooted in oppression by the church, but this is not what we're discussing rn). the repulsion tobias feels about magic i feel is therefore something that's rooted in religion;

- it was dementedlollipop that pointed this out but severus wearing his mam's blouse can also be read as tobias not even minding this was happening. how could this happen in a hypermasculine society like a lower-class town in 60s england? if tobias had really cared about it (because shame, because what will the neighbors think of you running around looking like that), severus would have worn his da's shirt rather than his mam's, if only to save himself from possible punishment. but he didn't. we know, however, that he was neglected/punished as a child. in this case, the possible reason he would have been was precisely because of magic. now you tell me why an ordinary muggle man in this setting would even care that his child was magical? as poor as they were, he could have exploited their magic and tried to make money from it, but this type of behavior was never mentioned. it just strengthens the hc that tobias was more bothered by something else more fundamental about the magic: that his son was not just different, but different, in all the ways he knew was wrong;

- "he doesn't like anything, much" sounds like a description of a man resigned to his fate, that is, being in a marriage he couldn't get out of (divorce isn't allowed in the catholic church, and annulment is expensive and has many conditions before it can be granted, if it will be granted). the abuse we know that happened could be him retaliating to the situation by lashing out in a horrific manner whenever the final thread snapped;

- catholicism is very big on ethics, and places value in things like fortitude, temperance, piety. this isn't just taught to you via a book; people already behave like it and it's ingrained in your belief systems, so you also learn it by example. suffering is also a big thing in catholic culture. there's virtue in suffering, in subjecting yourself to copious amounts of guilt and making up for it via penance like giving yourself up for a higher cause. i mean, that already is peak severus imo, but it also works for tobias, because where else could severus have learned it? children don't just pick up this stuff on the fly; it's learned from one's parents and backed up by a very solid values system;

- we then have tobias, a born-and-raised catholic, with a wife and child whom he suddenly finds out can do things that have always been taught to him as "satanic", and yet he can't leave them due to his marriage vows, due to his sense of duty that's been drilled into him since time immemorial, and perhaps because he also does love them. it's his family, after all. severus is his only child. a child he had initially thought was blessed, a gift, but is now damned, and it's his fault, as a father. he must have done something in his life to deserve it, but what? why would god even curse him this way? but then god gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers, and so he will see it through. this is his burden to bear;

- now we have severus, who's raised on the same values as his father, but tempered by his mother's secret stories of the wizarding world. he would have adored his father, i think, prior to his magic being discovered, because tobias would have doted on him. they would have been avid churchgoers at some point, at least severus and tobias, and he would have been baptized in the local parish. he'd have gone to mass, would have heard it in latin, and would have learned latin enough to know it like a mother tongue. he would have recited prayers and hymns with his father in latin too. this would have given him a leg up in the wizarding world, as far as that language was concerned. it's no wonder he could create spells;

- imagine the heartache that would have occurred the moment tobias realized he was not at all normal. the rejection that would have happened, how tobias would have silently and swiftly cut off all affection, and young severus would have been left to wonder why, until eileen explained to him that his father's world and their world just could not mix, and it's always been the way with muggles (hence the somewhat anti-muggle sentiment he alludes to in canon when with lily). but severus would have also probably secretly thought it was all his fault;

- now this: even if he had rejected his father and the muggle faith he had been raised on just before going to hogwarts in order to make something new of himself, it wouldn't have worked. ironically, the wizarding world has living embodiments of the concepts he had learned at his father's knee and in the church, the same things he would have been trying to avoid and forget: the concept of souls was proven with ghosts, and eventually, horcruxes; voldemort dying and resurrecting proved power over death. the afterlife was also proven by harry's testimony from the graveyard when voldy got resurrected. voldemort himself, with his giant snake, would have also been like the living proof of satan and sin;

- i think severus would have been terrified at the realization that oh shit this stuff could actually true, and it would have pushed him towards religion, not away from it, if only to study it more. i mean i can only imagine him having a ton of theology books in his study just to read up on the subject matter. it would have also made the concept of him losing his soul upon killing dumbledore very very real and all the more terrifying, because then the sayings of him being doomed for all eternity may actually come true;

- (thou shall not kill. thou shall not kill. thou shall not kill)

- like his father before him though, he would have accepted his fate like a good soldier, and would have accepted the suffering that came with it. he also probably felt deep, deep guilt all throughout, because tobias had been right. he was exactly what his father had always been frightened of: damned in this life, and now the next. and it was all his fault.

[lesbianrobin]

What do you think are the good and bad aspects of each season of ST?

ok 1. thank u for this question omg and 2. this answer may or may not be a mess, but either way it’s long (almost 7k words lmao) bc i’m insane, which is why it’s under a cut. it’s still by no means an exhaustive list but these are the things that just kinda came to mind.

also i realize you asked “good and bad” and i wrote this whole post as “strengths and weaknesses” which um. is not Exactly what you asked. but close enough <3 i also ended up including a lot of au ideas ksjdckmn bc like i personally hate when people say a certain plot or whatever was bad without suggesting anything that could have improved it yknow so whenever possible i tried to provide Some idea for fixing the issues i had with the show!!

season 1

strengths (this is probably gonna be the longest section but that’s because a lot of these strengths also apply to s2/s3 by default)

nostalgia and authenticity

this one’s pretty simple, but i think that season one did a good job of blending classic eighties media homages (such as the many many e.t./el parallels) with explicit pop culture references (such as mike’s yoda impression, mentions of the x-men, etc) to create a show that’s essentially dripping in early eighties nostalgia without it feeling too forced. before st, i think the most popular depiction of the eighties in mainstream media was that overly exaggerated neon scrunchie aesthetic from the mid to late eighties, and it was usually done in a comedic sense first and foremost. st took a different approach, instead focusing on the early eighties, a time that’s often ignored in favor of going either Full Seventies or Full Eighties, and i think that this choice likely resonated with adults who lived through the eighties and hadn’t yet seen something that felt quite so accurate to their own adolescence. a lot of young people who watched st were totally unfamiliar with this period of time, unfamiliar with books/movies like “stand by me” that st borrows from heavily, and i think st lent more seriousness to the eighties than most young people had experienced so far, and this was refreshing and interesting!

the use of dnd in the show is also quite genius in a way i’m not sure i can articulate?? it isn’t something Everyone would have played at the time, but it’s something that existed within a different context back in the eighties than it does today, and it really lent a sort of authenticity to the naming of the show’s sci-fi elements. like, of course these kids would name parallel dimensions and monsters and superpowers after these similar things in their favorite game! it just feels so real and it grounds st in our reality moreso than you might expect from the typical sci-fi or horror universe.

utilization of existing tropes

almost every single character in st clearly originates from some popular trope. the plot itself is riddled with classic eighties movie tropes. almost every single element of stranger things can be clearly traced back to some iconic eighties film or just to, like, overused horror/sci-fi/mystery/coming-of-age movie tropes in general. this might sound like a bad thing, but it really works in st’s favor! starting off with familiar tropes gives st the ability to easily create a lot of complexity and make a big impact by selectively deviating from those familiar, comfortable tropes!! while el’s whole plot, hopper’s character, etc, are all examples of this in action, i think the steve/nancy/jonathan plot is the greatest example. even from the start, the fact that good girl barb dies while nancy is off having sex with her asshole boyfriend is an incredibly thorough inversion of the most well-known horror movie trope in the book. how often do girls in horror movies have sex for the first time, walk home alone in the dark of night, and live to tell the tale? nancy and jonathan’s dynamic at first glance is a sort of classic “good girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks, discovers he’s actually got a heart of gold” thing, but instead of following this well-trodden path, st diverged. nancy is brash, impulsive, and at times downright insensitive. jonathan is angry, bitter, and actually a bit of a creep at first. while they have the capacity to emotionally connect and support one another, they can also bring out each other’s darker side, which is not what we’ve come to expect from that initial tropey dynamic.

in addition, steve, the popular rich asshole boyfriend, is actually... a human being! unlike the cartoonishly evil jocks that we’ve come to expect (especially from eighties movies), steve has complexity. despite his initial immaturity and selfishness, he’s also kind to barb, he backs off when nancy says no, he’s gentle and sweet when they sleep together, his first big Dick Move of the season is in defense of nancy, he realizes the error of his ways after the fight and does what he can to fix it, he’s worried about nancy when he sees that she’s hurt at jonathan’s house, and to top it all off, he ends up saving both nancy and jonathan’s lives when he could have just walked away, and the three of them all work together to fight the demogorgon. like... steve began as the most stereotypical character of all time, and by the end of the season, he had one of the most compelling and unique arcs among the whole cast!

finally, at the very end of the season, instead of dumping steve for jonathan as expected, nancy ends up getting back together with steve, and they’re both on friendly terms with jonathan. i realize that i just kinda. summarized s1. but my POINT is that i don’t think the dynamics between the monster hunting trio would be nearly as fun and interesting had the characters of nancy, steve, and jonathan not been set up to follow certain paths that we already had charted in our own heads. like, within the first couple episodes of s1, it’s pretty obvious that nancy and steve are gonna break up, nancy will get with jonathan, and steve will either die or go full evil or just never be seen again. like, duh! you’ve seen this story a million times! you know that’s how it’s gonna go! so, when the story DOESN’T go that way, the impact of each character’s arc and the relationship dynamics become stronger due to their unexpected complexity and authenticity. 

distinct plotlines separated by age group

this one’s rather obvious, but the way that the adults in s1 were essentially in a conspiracy thriller while the teens were in a horror flick and the kids were in a sci fi power-of-friendship story and all three converged at the end... wow. brilliant showstopping etc. not only was it just really well done and unique, it also gave stranger things near-universal appeal. like, there’s genuinely something for pretty much everyone in season one!

casting

obviously this applies to every season sorta by default, but when i think about what made season one So successful, i always think about the cast, and not just winona ryder. yes, she’s absolutely amazing in the show and it’s very doubtful that st would be as big as it is today without her name being attached to it from the start!! however, i think the greatest determining factor in st’s success is the casting of the kids, particularly millie bobby brown. like... el is just absolutely incredible. she’s amazing. this has all been said many times before so i won’t harp on it, but millie and the other kids are all So talented and charismatic and i think their casting has been instrumental to the show’s success.

strong visuals

the way that multicolored christmas lights which have been around for decades are now kinda like. a Stranger Things thing. jesus christ. those lights are probably the biggest stroke of stylistic genius on the show.

atmosphere and setting

this is probably like. the least important one here for me sdjncdsc because i think s2 and s3 both had like Even Better atmospheres and shit but s1 was good too and it laid the groundwork!! i know a lot of people would have preferred st be set somewhere more Spooky with lots of fog or giant forests or whatnot, and while i do enjoy thinking about alternate st settings and how they might alter the vibe, i think hawkins indiana was a good choice. as the duffers have said, placing stranger things in a fictional town allows them more flexibility than if they’d gone with their original plan of using montauk, new york. besides that, i think the plainness and like... flatness... of small-town indiana just Works. like, the fact that hawkins is never really scary on the surface is a big part of the horror in the lab’s actions and their impact. hawkins isn’t somewhere that people just disappear all the time. it isn’t somewhere known for strange occurrences (prior to s1, that is). it isn’t somewhere shrouded in mist and secrecy. hawkins on its surface seems like the sort of place with no secrets and nothing to fear, and that’s the point! the lab is out in the open! it’s right there! everything is so close to the surface, yet so far out of the public eye, and i think that really works.

the byers family’s whole deal (specifically the joyce/jonathan dynamic)

this is going here bc i miss it so bad in s2 and s3. i’m not one of those people who believe The Byers Are The Whole Point of the show, because st is and always has been an ensemble, and el, hopper, and the wheelers are just as instrumental to the plot as the byers, but ANYWAY, i do think the byers were one of the most interesting aspects of s1. joyce’s difficulties with supporting her sons as a poor and (implied mentally ill) single mother, jonathan’s stress as a result of having to earn money, care for his brother, and keep the house in order when his mother is unable to do so, and the resulting tension between them when will’s disappearance and supposed “death” brings the situation to a tipping point? holy shit! it’s so good! that argument after they see will’s “body” is just incredible and gut-wrenching. their relationship feels so real and messy and i think it’s just... good. also winona ryder REALLY acted her heart out and she carried a lot of s1 which i think people often forget to mention so i’m saying it here.

weaknesses

pacing/timing

ok so pacing is probably going to go in each season’s weaknesses, to be honest, because i think they all had a blend of some good and some bad pacing. good pacing is invisible pacing, though, so i probably won’t be putting it in any of the strengths sections and will only be focusing on it in the weaknesses. i’m also probably not going to talk about weird day/night cycle things, just because i don’t want to get nitpicky on timelines because that would require going back and rewatching things to double check timing which i don’t wanna do at the moment lmao. anyway, when i think of bad pacing in season one, i primarily think of two things: nancy’s little trip into the upside down and subsequent sleepover with jonathan, and the sort of staggered nature of the climax in the final episode. the latter is simple so i’ll explain it first: while i understand that each group’s respective climax is like part of a chain reaction and that’s why each big moment happens separately and at different times, i think that st is strongest when the whole group is together, and i think that makes the stakes feel higher too, so i’m not In Love with the way s1 separated everyone and gave each group their own climax. 

okay, now on to the nancy/upside down thing! idk if i’ve ever talked about it before, but i think the worst decision made in s1 by far is the inclusion of nancy’s brief trip into the upside down, wherein she dives headfirst into another dimension with absolutely no backup, watches the demogorgon chow down, freaks out and runs around for a minute, and then leaves. like... what the fuck? even putting aside what an idiotic decision this was (because i do think nancy’s tendency to rush into things headfirst is an intentional and consistent character trait), it just kind of destroys any remaining suspense surrounding the demogorgon and the upside down, and it accomplishes basically nothing besides scaring nancy enough to have jonathan sleep over, which is lame. i will break it down.

like, first of all, nancy just getting to waltz in and out of the upside down and get a good, long look at the demogorgon makes the entire thing far less mysterious, and by extension far less scary. like... before this scene, we the audience haven’t got a good look at the demogorgon. we’ve seen its silhouette briefly and we’ve seen a blurry picture of it, but nothing more, and i think that is far more effective at building fear than this jaunt nancy goes on which gives us a full view of the thing and makes it into less of a horrifying nightmare and into more of a humanoid animal. like, maybe this is just me, but i found the demogorgon far less intimidating after that scene than before. it also lets nancy and jonathan know For Sure that they’re right without providing any crucial information that they need to fight the demogorgon (aka it’s unnecessary to the plot), which removes a very compelling story element (the faith nancy and jonathan need to have in order to keep going against a vague and poorly understood enemy, the doubt they might have about each other and their own sanity, the possibility that they might be wrong, the trust they need to have in each other) a bit earlier in the plot than i believe is ideal. at the end of episode 5, nancy goes into the upside down and jonathan doesn’t know where she is and it’s intense!!! you’re thinking like, oh fuck, not only is nancy missing and fighting for her life now too, jonathan might be implicated in her disappearance!! some people already think he’s the one who killed will and people know that he took creepy pictures of barb and nancy before they both disappeared, maybe this is gonna cause some serious problems for him!! maybe nancy will find will in the upside down and she’ll help him survive!! fuck, maybe she’ll actually die!! this is huge!! and then episode 6 starts and they’re immediately like oh nevermind jonathan found the tree and got nancy out and she’s fine. my point with all of this is that nancy entering the upside down could have done A Lot in the grand scheme of the plot, but all it did was just... get jonathan to sleep over so he and nancy could have some awkward romance moments and steve could see them together and pick a fight. which could have honestly happened at Any point while nancy and jonathan were working together to hunt down the demogorgon, without ruining the demogorgon’s and the upside down’s mystique. so yeah <3

weird behavior and dumbass decisions that make no sense (aka the whole camera thing)

gonna go off about the teen plot again sorry but: why was nancy so unbothered and quick to forgive jonathan for taking those pictures? girl what the fuck are you doing? why wasn’t that a bigger deal? why was jonathan’s motivation for doing it so weak and why did they just kind of forget about the whole thing? why did nancy TRACK HIM DOWN AT THE FUNERAL HOME while he was PICKING OUT HIS BABY BROTHER’S CASKET to be like hey can you tell me what’s in this creepshot you took? it’s insane. it’s so insane. i mean i think the funeral home thing is hilarious and i don’t mind it being in the show necessarily but like my point here is that i think a lot of character decisions in s1 just kind of.. happened because they Needed to happen for the plot. like, they wrote this plot that required jonathan to be secretly taking pictures of the party and required him and nancy to work together after seeing something odd in the pictures, but they didn’t like... really consider what that event would mean for their characterization and relationship. the whole thing was sort of just dropped with minimal discussion and i think it did both nancy and jonathan’s characters a disservice and was really mishandled.

lighting and saturation/color grading

i am literally begging horror/sci-fi shows to let me see shit. i GET IT okay i understand that when you’re doing cgi effects it helps to keep the lights down and i’m not mad at any of the lighting in the demogorgon/upside down scenes!! i’m really not i think the demogorgon scenes in s1 all look sick!! but like... dude. the colors. where are they. why does everyone look like a vampire. i know blah blah this was probably an intentional stylistic choice intended to mimic film at the time blah blah but dude a lot of old movies are very colorful!! please just let people have color in their faces so everyone doesn’t look like a sheet of paper!!! also i’m white and not a professional lighting designer so yknow grain of salt but i think lucas was kinda poorly served by the lighting sometimes in s1. not Hugely so, not to the degree that i’ve seen poc be poorly served by lighting in other shows, but there were some times where it felt kinda like the lighting setup was just not designed with darker skin in mind. 

horror

i just personally don’t find s1 very scary like... ever. i don’t think they were really Trying to be extremely scary yknow so i’m not counting this as a big deal, but i do think that each season has improved on the horror aspects. i think s1′s horror lies more in the mystery and the unknown than in what’s seen onscreen, and as i’ve said already, i think s1 kind of fumbled that suspense ball.

season 2

strengths

the possession plot

i’ll warn u rn this whole s2 strengths section is probably gonna be really short bc idk like. how much there is to really say i feel like it’s all so self-explanatory skjncmn. anyway yeah the possession plot!! eerie as fuck, and noah OWNED. so did winona tbh and finn and sean etc but like. noah. wow! i think the possession plot helped the show maintain a good amount of tension and suspense throughout the season, and a lot of scenes with possessed!will are flatout disturbing to watch. in a good way. i think the mindflayer and will’s possession were far more genuinely frightening than s1′s demogorgon, and it provided a new layer of depth and intrigue to the antagonist besides just “bad monster want eat people.”

tone and aesthetics

halloween season... literally halloween season. halloween season. that is all.

actually i will elaborate a bit and just say that i think s2 did a good job of having the sort of foreboding vibe that s1 was often going for, but without the annoying darkness and desaturation. so points for that.

also st2 is like one of the best Autumn pieces of media ever like it just. like steve and dustin on those train tracks with the fallen leaves all around them.... god. god the vibes are unparalleled. all of the halloween stuff also really contributes to the nostalgia st runs on yknow it makes you think about childhood and trick-or-treating and you kind of get transported like damn... i remember going to the rich neighborhoods to score the good candy..... idk i just think the whole thing is incredibly effective. 

“babysitter” steve

by sending nancy and jonathan off together, the show created a problem: what to do with steve? this problem pushed them to create the unconventional and unexpected duo of steve and dustin, and the world is so much brighter for it. seriously though we all know steve and dustin are great i don’t need to argue that point. all i’ll add is that i think allowing steve to grow in this way, serving as a mentor figure and becoming genuine friends with someone so unexpected, really took the originality of his character to the next level. no longer content just to defy his archetype, in s2 steve begins branching out in ways that never would have been considered in s1, creating an incredibly complex and interesting person from the sort of character that most shows would have simply written out or killed off for convenience’s sake. and it works and steve and dustin are such a joy to watch and i love them. <3

the lucas/max plot

so first of all max mayfield is the most perfect baby girl on god’s green earth and idk what i would do without her but anyway. i think lumax is the best romantic relationship in the show and not just because they’re the only ones with like an age-appropriate approach to the whole thing. it’s also because their relationship accomplishes more than just putting the two of them in a relationship!! lucas and max spending time together motivates billy to do his evil shit, providing more conflict in the narrative, and it also helps establish max as part of the group in a relatively natural way while giving both her and lucas a great subplot. lucas (and dustin) has a crush on the new girl, they start spending some time together, and lucas ends up needing to decide whether he’ll keep the secret of the upside down and lose her, or risk both of their lives by telling her the truth. that’s a pretty big, character-defining decision that he gets to make!! max has to choose whether to trust this boy she barely knows and endanger herself, or to walk away and stay safe, yet another great character-defining choice that also contributes to the sense we get as an audience of max as somebody who’s incredibly lonely and desperate for love and connection. this post is way too long already and i have a ton more to say so i’ll stop now but yeah i think lumax really Works in the show without ever distracting or detracting from the overall plot and narrative in the way that some other ships (coughjancycough) often do.

balance between the normal and abnormal

s2 i think did a pretty solid job of melding daily life with more fantastical sci-fi horror elements. i enjoyed seeing so much of the kids at school in the first few episodes!! you really get a strong sense of where they’re at in life, what their daily lives are like, and you get a sort of gradual shift into madness that makes everything feel more grounded than i think it would if they had just leapt straight into the horror shit, yknow? 

the el and hopper dynamic

go back and rewatch s2 and tell me that’s not one of the most moving portrayals of parenthood and trauma and growing up that you’ve ever seen. you can’t. or well you can but i won’t listen. i really can’t imagine stranger things without el and hopper’s relationship, and it’s my absolute favorite part of s2. their whole dynamic is so beautiful and complex, and gives them each amazing personal arcs in addition! the black hole scene is literally one of the show’s greatest moments of all time. any given scene between the two of them in s2 is just guaranteed to be heartwarming as well as heartbreaking, and i think that makes for an incredible show.

weaknesses

flashbacks

okay this applies to Every season they All have too many flashbacks but in s2 specifically... please stop showing me shit from season one. i watched it. i know what happened. you don’t need to spoon feed everything to me!! flashbacks can be a really helpful way of delivering information to an audience, but st has a bad habit of not only being kinda demeaning in how often they flash back to shit that the audience already knows, but they also have a bad habit of using flashbacks almost as a crutch to avoid having to deliver information subtly and naturally. 

you know i gotta say it... the lost sister

this is so sad. the lost sister really is like a great concept for an st episode, and i’m not mad about the idea of st taking a break from the normal action to focus on one story for a full episode, but the execution of it was just dreadful. kali and her crew feel very over-the-top and stereotypical, and its placement in the season totally kills the tension and excitement that was built in “the spy.” 

i think the lost sister honestly could have gone over far better, even with the stereotypical fake-feeling gang kali has, if they had just swapped it with “the spy” like... ok, the end of episode five has el setting off to find kali and will collapsing on the ground seizing. right? imagine if, instead of immediately following will to the lab, we’d followed el. we don’t know what’s happening with will, but it’s a very simple cliffhanger that leaves us on edge without making us feel cheated by the show cutting away. we follow el on her little journey, everything happens much the same as canon, and then at the end, el sees hopper in scrubs. she sees mike, screaming, sees that they’re both in danger. holy shit!!! what the fuck!!! what’s happened since we left will seizing on the ground??? we feel el’s fear and confusion. she decides to go home. and then... boom. “the lost sister” is over. now, we rewind, right back to will seizing on the ground, and “the spy” commences. we learn how they got into the danger that el saw in the end of “the lost sister,” and we sit on the edge of our seats all through “the spy” and “the mind flayer,” KNOWING that el is on her way back to save them but not knowing when she’ll arrive!! idk i don’t think that would have necessarily saved lost sister but i think it may have alleviated some of the issues that i and many others have with it, timing-wise.

the nancy/jonathan sidequest

once again, the idea of nancy going off on her own little mission to find justice for barb after s1 is like. amazing. genuinely i love that plot for her and i can’t imagine anything better for her to have focused on in s2. unfortunately though i think her and jonathan’s little trip to see murray was just kind of... lame. the whole thing just felt like an excuse to get the two of them alone together, yknow? which is fine i guess people contrive all sorts of situations to get characters alone together for romance reasons but in this case i think it just really doesn’t work for me because of what it’s juxtaposed with. like, will is POSSESSED, and jonathan is just off on a mini road trip and sleeping with his bestie, and jonathan never seems to communicate to joyce/will that he left town, and joyce never like... thinks to tell him that will is like sick and fucked up and they’re looking at him in the lab??? like it’s so weird i know joyce always forgets about jonathan when shit’s happening with will but jfc you’d think at some point in that like... 72-ish-hour period where jonathan was out of town she would have thought about him. like at least once. maybe i’m forgetting something and she mentioned him sometime and i missed it but even still, i hate the juxtaposition of nancy and jonathan just like cheers-ing at murray’s place and sleeping together and whatnot while everyone else is dealing with possession or trying to hunt down dart yknow? it feels really boring in comparison and i think it could have been done far better. like it was SO insanely easy for them to get into the lab and get an admission of guilt and escape with it!! i think it might have been a lot more engaging if maybe someone from the lab tailed them to murray’s place and they had to like lose the tail and race to get the recording out to as many news outlets as possible before they got caught, or something like that. the tension in their plotline is completely resolved in episode four!! episodes five and six are just them screwing around and addressing envelopes. while there were a lot of strong ideas in this plotline (i really enjoy nancy going out of her way to get justice, and the fact that they have to water down the story to make it believable), i just think the focus on nancy and jonathan getting together hindered it a lot without adding a ton to the plot or their individual characters.

season 3

strengths

starcourt mall as a setting

while i don’t think the mall was utilized quite to its full potential (something i could make a separate post about if anyone’s interested), i do think that starcourt was a genius addition to the series. i’ve said this before, but building a new mall is a literal Perfect in-universe justification for a significant leap forward in fashion and aesthetics, and it provides a great location for characters to just... be characters. idk how else to articulate this i just think that the mall is a great setting to let people interact with each other and to bring people together who may not have been otherwise (i.e. scoops troop). not to mention how sick it was to see the mall get wrecked toward the end kdjncdkm like they were able to do so much more with the mall in terms of like The Finale than they could with just the byers house or the cabin or the school or even the lab. i love all the back tunnels they run through it’s such a fun like acknowledgement of how this glitzy eighties mall is just a real place where employees get shipments and take out the trash and shit idk it’s all about the perfect facade and what’s hidden what’s underneath what’s hiding in plain sight etc etc i’m just saying words now. anyway. 

willingness to experiment and go against expectations

gay robin. neon aesthetics. giant fucking meat monster. i know some people hate both the neon and the meat monster but i personally think they were kind of amazing and like. yknow regardless of personal tastes i think it’s impossible to deny that s3 had a lot of incredible visuals, and they’re all visuals that just wouldn’t have been possible if the show were too afraid to stray from its s1 aesthetic. robin being canonically gay (and her resulting friendship with steve) and the season’s striking visuals are two things that most everyone (besides like homophobes skjncdknm) can agree were great, right? and they were both departures from where the show began and what we all expected!! so yeah i think while some of the experimentation in s3 wasn’t ideal it was also that experimentation that allowed for some of the season’s strongest elements to come about.

the hospital sequence (and the season’s action/horror scenes in general)

this one is fairly self-explanatory. while they may have underutilized the “body snatching” element of the season, the hospital sequence with nancy and jonathan fighting off their possessed bosses did an amazing job of building tension and creating a genuine sense of really intense and personal danger.

in general i think that s3 melded action and horror rather well, particularly in the sauna test, the hospital, and when the mindflayer busts through the roof of hop’s cabin. horror can come from many things, and in this case, st elicited horror largely from the feeling of helplessness, and it was really effective for me personally. i think it worked better for me than s1′s brand of horror because it doesn’t rely so much on a lack of knowledge or a sense of suspense that inevitable disappears upon a second viewing.

the body horror we got in s3 was also really fun! that’s it i just think all the blood and guts and slime were fun and i would like more of them. once again, the impacts of body horror are less dependent upon the viewer being in the dark or unsure as to what’s happening, and as such i think it tends to be a little more effective at eliciting reaction in the long term.

timing and mechanics of the battle of starcourt/finale

i think the battle of starcourt is just fucking awesome, and beyond that personal opinion, i think it’s the most high-stakes and intense finale of all three seasons, and this is for two main reasons! 1. el is out of commission, and 2. (almost) everyone is in the same cental location. this means that (almost) everyone is in danger all at once, and they are all working together at the same time to fight the same threat. s1/s2 have their groups more fragmented for the finales, and while i understand why in each case and i wouldn’t call either season’s finale necessarily weak, i do think the centralized nature of the s3 finale just Works on another level. in s1 and s2, large segments of the cast are already perfectly safe by the time el dispatches the primary threat. in s3, however, everybody save for dustin and erica is still in danger up until the last moment, and el is seemingly (you can def debate how much power she still had in her when she peeked into billy’s mind and whether the memory broke the mindflayer’s hold on him or if she was actually controlling him to some degree) completely vulnerable. this increases the tension and raises the stakes, making the finale a real crescendo to fortissimo as opposed to a series of little mezzo forte moments. i hope everyone reading this knows music idk how else to phrase that my brain is stupid.

emphasis on friendship and adolescence (but in a different way than s1/2)

this is definitely a controversial one but i think that s3 really did like... show a side of friendship that had been more or less unexplored thus far in the show. el and max were amazing, and i think it’s really nice that we got an opportunity to see the kids have some growing pains as well as see them support each other through Normal Adolescent Stuff like boyfriends and breakups instead of just like. death and trauma. this is maybe just a personal preference, but i think it can be really enlightening and provide a lot of depth when you get to see how characters respond to normal everyday conflict and not just how they respond to giant world-ending conflict!! letting el use her powers for goofy teenage shit like spying on boys and messing with mean girls at the mall is not only fun for her and the audience, but it also really emphasizes just how much those powers are a part of el, making it that much more devastating when she loses them at the end of the season. 

weaknesses

tonal dissonance

so this is like. obvious. but it must still be said! i won’t go on and on about it since we all know this so i’ll try to like talk about it from an angle people don’t usually? anyway. it seems to me like they were maybe a little worried about s3 being too dark. while the choice to really lean into humor was definitely driven by the sorts of eighties teen films from which s3 drew inspiration (like fast times at ridgemont high), i think it was also done in an attempt to alleviate the more troubling implications of some events in the season, particularly the russian bunker plot. like, yeah, st can be incredibly dark, but if they’d played the whole “children being stuck inside of a foreign military base, tied up, tortured, and drugged” thing completely straight without the humorous elements that exist in canon, it had the potential to be like... disturbing on a new level. steve and robin don’t have powers like el yknow their kidnapping/torture doesn’t have any sci-fi elements to sorta soften the blow. they’re just innocent teenagers being brutalized and traumatized by grown men. so anyway yeah i think maybe the writers were concerned about this storyline coming off as too dark and they wanted it to be a little more whimsical but they ended up pushing way too hard in that direction and creating extreme dissonance at times. this goes for joyce/hopper/murray/alexei too, but to a lesser extent. i think the ridiculousness in that group felt a lot more like... realistic. but still. 

newspaper plot

once again i feel like i don’t even need to say this skjdncmn we all know it was insane how the show basically ended up delivering the message “while misogyny is a serious problem poverty and classism are not” and i’ve said it on this blog a million times so i don’t need to repeat myself. i’ll focus on another weak point of this plot: the fact that it completely separates nancy and jonathan from everyone else. once again, the show’s preoccupation with j/ancy held them back! like... can you imagine a version of s3 where nancy and jonathan both worked in the mall? i have a lot of ideas about this possible au and like how the plot could play out differently if they worked in the mall but first of all it’s just more realistic, second of all it further utilizes the mall as a central setting, and third of all, it would bring everyone together. as it is in canon, nancy and jonathan were unnecessarily isolated from the rest of the group, and this isolation was detrimental to both of their characters. like, they only ever get to interact with each other! if they’d gotten summer jobs in the mall, they could have had more interactions with the kids/steve/robin, and they absolutely still could have had a similar argument! maybe in this case, nancy notices the rat thing (or something else odd) herself when taking out the trash behind the mall, and she wants jonathan to ditch work with her to check it out bc she thinks it may be related to the lab. jonathan doesn’t want to ditch work because he needs his job, nancy argues that they’re working shitty mall jobs anyway and who cares if they get fired, and we get more or less the same thing as s3 without the cartoonishly over-the-top misogyny. i mean honestly i think the rat shit could have been cut entirely it didn’t rly... accomplish much of anything. in my opinion. like imagine s3 without the rat plot you literally would not be missing anything except it would be more surprising when the dudes melted into goo at the hospital. so yeah i think it would have been better if nancy and jonathan had jobs at the mall, weren’t isolated from everybody else, and were maybe absorbed into the party’s plot or the scoops troop’s plot from very early on, allowing them to interact with more characters and have a less... dumb.... plot. like god splitting up nancy and jonathan between the party/scoops troop would have been So Much better i just. sdkjcnksdmn anyway yeah.

briefness of group reunion/separation of groups

remember in s2 at the beginning of “the gate,” where mike and hopper had a confrontation and max and el met for the first time and el hugged everyone and steve and nancy had their sad little moment together outside... where’s that energy? obviously the s2 reunion wasn’t that long either, but it made space for some significant emotional moments to take place. s3′s reunion had some hopper/el/mike resolution, but besides that... there was nothing, really. i just think that the whole group getting together in s3 was SO exciting and powerful the way they did it (with both the scoops troop and the adults having their own Big Moment reconnecting with team griswold family), but the emotional potential was more or less squandered. 

i also think in s3 at times they were really stretching to keep everybody separated even though it made no sense. and like... in s1 the separation worked bc nobody else knew that (x group) was experiencing weird shit too, and beyond that, each group (as i mentioned in the s1 section) was sort of operating within their own genre and bringing something unique to the season. they’ve stopped doing that though! now, the groups aren’t separate bc each plot is tonally/structurally different, the groups are just separate bc... they need to be, because it’s a big ensemble cast and you can’t just have them all be together for a whole season or it would be way too difficult to coordinate things and keep the show dynamic. all this is to say that i’m excited for s4 because the location differences make it so there’s a Reason for each plot to be separate at the beginning, and i think that’ll work better.

general ridiculousness

i dont mean like i think it’s bad that they made jokes this is just me lumping in all the dumb shit like hopper not worrying about el and not wanting to check on the kids, him and joyce bickering long after they both know they and their children are in danger, max seemingly forgetting that billy is a racist abuser, etc etc. i think many of these are just a symptom of the show 1. trying desperately to keep the groups split up a certain way even though it may not make any sense, and 2. trying to fit into a certain genre/trope mold when their actual characters are more complex than the tropes they’re imitating. this is so fucking long already i am not gonna elaborate further rn but i trust u all know what i mean.

soooo... yeah, that’s about all! i mean it’s not all there are definitely many more things i could talk about and i know i focused sorta disproportionately on the teens which is my bad :/ but i’m done for now. thank you for asking, and apologies for the delay in responding!! i’m sure some people reading (if anyone read this far) will disagree with some of what i’ve said and that’s alright like i’m not The Authority on st or anything i’m just trying to talk about like my own thoughts yknow? so yeah luv u all i hope someone enjoyed reading this!!

[lisasstars]

Ok I have finished The Way Of Kings…

It was AMAZING!! 😱❤️ Flipping FANTASTIC!! ❤️😱

Don’t think I will be able to articulate into words how GLORIOUS this book was!

My thoughts: Spoiler free!

Brandon Sanderson is a master of creating incredible world building. It felt so unique and detailed; feeling as if you were there experiencing and seeing the places as if you were the characters yourself.

The plot was so engaging and interesting; how everything was tying together and making sense. All came perfectly together. Yet still left questions that will be explored in the next book, which I’m definitely reading straight away, as I need to know what gonna happen and see the characters’s explored more and developed even further!

Honestly, the amounts of twists and turns especially towards the end was incredible! 😱

The characters are amazing! They were all so well developed and interesting; I was rooting for every single one. Each one had me happy and sad for them. I love them all!! 😍 (Apart from the betrayers 😠 🗡)

Kaladin, his story about his life and family had me in sobs; where I had to stop and wipe my face as I couldn’t see the words. 😭😭 His determination and the will to not give up and how he cared for his bridgemen was so heartbreaking yet inspiring. ❤️❤️ Bridge Four!! Love them all so much!! Also, syl, love her. She is adorable but also so caring and loyal. Loved how she helped Kaladin and was there for him to act as a friend and a constant in his life when he really needed her. Want to know more about her and see her develop into the being she is becoming.

Dalinar is such a interesting character and a good father; his POVs were so engaging, it had me feel really sorry for him, the things he was experiencing, feeling at times isolated and unsure of himself due to what is happening.

Adolin is so interesting and engaging, I loved all the scenes he was in. He is such a shameless flirt but also full of such care and loyalty to his father and his men. I loved his protectiveness towards his brother, how he stands up for him and looks out for him. Can’t wait for more of Adolin!

Renarin is really intriguing and I throughly enjoyed the scenes we had from him; I want to know more about him as he appears so sweet and innocent. Always there for his family and to lend out useful information without any judgment.

Shallan is really interesting and I really admired her determination and care for her family, her purpose to help them. Her witty sense of humour had me grinning like a Cheshire Cat, and I felt really sorry for her especially towards the end with certain people and what has apparently happened to her in the past to make her feel troubled and unsure. Found her really sweet but also, stubbornly determined in her cause. (I related to the stubbornness) 💗

Jasnah is interesting and what she said about religion and morals, ethics etc had me really thinking and contemplating about views and about life in general. Found her to be charming in her own way and really want to find out more about her.

Navani is interesting and I want to know more about her past and how she will develop as a character.

All the side characters were amazing; from Wit 😏, to all the Bridge Four members, Szeth, Elhokar. All were incredible and engaging, so exciting to learn more about them!

So there are my thoughts. Basically me saying how much I LOVED this book! 🥰

Not sure if any of it made sense but in short it was a BEAUTIFUL INCREDIBLE book!!

Honestly, had me blown away by how engaging the plot and character were. The plot didn’t overshadow the characters and vice versa!

Despite being over a 1000 pages long it didn’t drag or feel slow; it felt so engaging and entertaining, that I wanted to keep reading to know more!

Well I’m onto start Words Of Radiance. I NEED to know more about the plot and the characters! So no spoilers for the next book please, thank you!!

[cruelsister-moved2]

i didnt lose followers for saying that so hopefully its not as controversial as i worried it was <3 i do think it's more an issue on the slightly younger and very tiktok/twt active end of the community bc personally I started my gay journey in the era of mogai hyperindividualism>_< and having seen that explode I kind of came to the conclusion that every lgbt person will have a unique experience of themselves and you can talk to two people of the same identity who will articulate their personal relationship to gender completely differently (and there are also similarities across groups so that u know potentially one lesbians experience is more similar to one bi woman's than to another lesbian's etc).

so I'm most interested in unearthing where the power differentials are in our community in order to be able to address them and aside from that mostly content to just like trust each person to have the most intimate understanding of themselves and not necessarily need to articulate it to everyone more than necessary to place them in said power structure. like people who rail at tme/tma language really irritate me because its literally designed to be fairly vague about what you personally identify with but specifically to indicate whether or not you have the potential to enact transmisogyny. youre not being like, invalidated because this intracommunity power dynamic is being identified...

WHEREAS the younger and very online generation are having to learn the same lesson about individualism and micro-categorisation that I did but with a higher element of performativity. also due to basically the lowest levels of homophobia in modern society plus increased detachment from older lgbt people, that generation have become much more invested in concepts like validity and intracommunity dynamics.

thats not inherently bad, but in combination with detachment from the broader reality of living in society as an lgbt person it is unbalanced, and also spawned an obsession thats emerged under the Queer Paradigm where being more oppressed = being more queer = being more validated. so your actual identity is reliant on your potential to hypothetically experience a hate crime rather than just like who you are and how you relate to others.

like it's interesting how any time these people have privilege pointed out to them their immediate response is something like "so im not queer enough for you:(" and its like. why does being told you dont face x issue or wield x power over other lgbt people reduce ur experience of ur gender or ur attraction to others in any way? it clearly isn't true because a gay person in a liberal accepting country is no less gay than a gay person in a country where their sexuality is illegal.

so im not really sure how we came to link these concepts together but I would really like if we could unlink them!! if not for any other reason than bc being gay and trans is and always has been a joyful experience when we let it and i really dont want it to be defined around misery... and because many will only ever articulate it privately to themselves so we can't metre the validity of their identity based on how many times theyve been called a slur... well im done im gonna go text my girl boyfriend now thank u everyone

[purgatoriorpg]

admin c-senpai, please, if it’s not a bother, can you please give us some writing tips? you’re so talented, I’m literally shocked, no joke, your writing is flawless!!!! The aesthetic??? On point

Anon, this is so lovely of you to say. Thank you!! It depends on what kind of writing you’re talking about as I find depending on the format or purpose, your approach and style can change dramatically to suit those needs. But in general, here are some things off the top of my head that have helped me over the years:

PRACTICE: I hate the cliche of this but truly practice makes perfect. I’ve been writing or roleplaying in some shape or form for 10+ years. No matter how long or short the writing was, or how objectively “good” or well thought-out, everything I’ve ever written has helped me become a better writer. Writing is a craft and a skill, the more you do it, the more you’ll grow and learn how to be even better. Write badly, begin with self-forgiveness.

VOCABULARY: I don’t know if this is still considered a taboo anywhere? but I write with Google Thesaurus always open. Not because I deliberately want to write ‘purple prose’ or sound more elevated but because my short-term memory doesn’t always contain all the vocabulary that I actually know and sometimes you need a different / unique / more interesting word to articulate what you want to say in a sentence. I love finding more interesting ways to phrase a particular sentence — especially if it adds dynamism or rhythm to the sentence / imagery / moment. I also used to keep a list of favourite words / phrases that I would refer to for inspiration, collect your own favourite words and sprinkle them in your writing for flavour. 

VARIATION: One of the easiest ways to make your writing more interesting and readable is to vary your sentence structure and style. Each sentence has a rhythm and sense of beat — if you were to read it out loud, what would it sound like? Using longer words, longer phrases and clauses will lengthen the feeling and emotion whereas shorter, sharper sentences and simpler words will strike closer to the heart. The best examples of this are where poets and authors will drop in a short punchy three or four word sentence (or even just a single word) to punctuate a verse or paragraph. It’s where they put emphasis. Use structure to build momentum and atmosphere, and also to hit hard and fast when you need it to. 

REFERENCES: Everything I’ve ever written has been full of references to all my favourite things — mythology, divinity and biblical lore, classic literature, etc. It’s also an easy way to craft metaphors and imagery that immediately create associations in your audience’s mind. This is basically where having a place where you collect your inspirations and favourite quotes comes in handy. Also Pinterest boards, Spotify playlists, etc. 

STRUCTURE: This depends on what you’re writing but even in roleplay where things are spontaneous and unplotted, I always try to go into a thread with a rough idea of what I want my character to have said / felt / done by the end of the interaction. It might be down to my Capricorn Moon but I love structure, I love having things plotted and planned down to the very last detail. Roleplay interactions don’t fit perfectly into this formula because you want to use your chemistry with your partner and let your characters’ imaginations run wild, but you can have an idea of the ‘end goal’ of the thread, i.e. the point that you need to arrive at by the end. I approach all roleplay ideas with this question: “What needs to happen at the end of this event / scene / thread?” So even if you don’t know what exactly will happen, you know what the end point is and how you get there will just unravel organically in real-time writing.

IMAGERY: Imagery is probably the thing I’ve spent the most time unconsciously perfecting and refining throughout my time writing and roleplaying. Every character I write has a specific aesthetic and set of references I’ll call on and repeatedly use throughout their writing, e.g. an actor or dramatic character — Shakespeare, plays & theatre, tragedy; the head of a crime syndicate — war, blood, divine violence, biblical references; a young prince — the Trojan War, Greek mythology, sun imagery; a doctor — surgery & death, the Reaper, flowers & immortality. This is one of the ways I paint a specific image and vibe for my characters that translates through to everything I write — metaphors / similes / analogies / everything that goes into a response becomes infused with those particular references and aesthetics. I also really like using specific occupations, disciplines or hobbies to explore a character’s mindset and terminology e.g. science, engineering, music, medicine, astronomy, art. A musically inclined character doesn’t merely pause, they’re resting between beats, their silences are interludes, or a conductor’s wand hovering in the air before the next movement, their movements are a violin bow singing through the air, their laughter is a cadenza, their grief is an elegy or a requiem. You can do the same with literally everything — scientists that are obsessed with the stars, or death, or immortality, or nature; engineers that approach everything like a schematic, a problem to be solved or deconstructed. Your character’s worldview frames the unique language you can use and the way you describe them.

MOTIVATION: My final bit of advice is probably something I’ve arrived at and become clearer about in more recent years, which is, understanding your character’s root motivations. To write a really compelling and interesting character, you need to know what drives them and what makes them tick. This is why in the application for this roleplay, the first thing I ask is the Impetus. What would your character kill for? What would they die for? Push them to the extreme, and dig deep into what their core is. When you know this, it informs everything you write about that character. They have purpose, they have a reason to do XYZ. Every character in a story needs purpose to be interesting, otherwise they’re just floating around without meaning. Even characters that lack purpose want something, and that something should shape their actions and development. Ultimately, knowing what your character wants outlines their ‘plot arc’ in your story or roleplay. Their goal is what they will achieve at the end. They will experience obstacles, develop / progress / regress, and encounter allies / antagonists on their journey to achieve this goal. Whether you love or hate a character, someone with a strongly defined purpose and motivation will always capture people’s attention.