#because a solid... maybe 70-80%? of this

[undergroundbillions]

Raggedy Ann art style masterpost!

Sorry this is a long one, but I need to make examples! After over a hundred years, how Raggedy Ann is drawn in books and merchandise has changed a LOT, and I'm obsessed with identifying different eras of the art styles and how they're combined. These aren't all of them of course but here's a few major ones.

First off, the original Johnny Gruelle & Co. style. These are the books from her first appearance in 1918 to the late 40's, when she was now being drawn by Gruelle's family. Early on they look more like literal dolls, but as the years go on they look more lively and round.

We get different illustrators throughout the 40's to the 60's, but the little physical merchandise outside of the books continues to lean toward the Gruelle style.

In the 70's, Hallmark owns the licensing, and as expected they go ALL out on merch. This era is defined by childish proportions with large heads, big eyes, and a checkered-shirt Andy.

In 1977 we get the Raggedy Ann and Andy Musical Adventure movie! Here's the most commonly used promotional art:

But this barely gets a chance to exist on its own, because in next two years both Chuck Jones holiday specials are released. As a result, there's a whole lot of promotional stuff that combines these two styles in a very strange way. Often, Ann and Andy (and Arthur) are in the Chuck Jones style, with the title and Camel from the movie. Sometimes side characters from both pieces of media make it in!

In the late 80's, the CBS Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy show along with the corresponding Grow and Learn series of books are released, with a new art style:

It's similar to the 1977 movie again, but as if they re-designed it from that above promotional shot alone. They're very much stuck in the one shape, instead of squishing and stretching like rag dolls as they do in the movie.

In the 90's you have the Snowden Target collab, which is pretty easy to spot since it's the most blatantly red & green christmassy thing you've ever seen.

Aaaaand last (and maybe least) we have Simon & Schuster's Classic branding in the 2000's. These are recognizable by solid black eyes with no whites, having the exact same expression in every picture, and visible stitches.

I will release you from this Raggedy Ann prison now. Go forth and be free with your new unnecessary Raggedy Ann knowledge.

-𝕸𝖔𝖉 𝕲𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑 𝕯.

[nalyra-dreaming]

What part of the Devil's Minion do you think we'll see in season 2? I had thoughts that at the beginning of the season they would tell us what happened that night in the bar and at the first interview. And after that, throughout the season, we will see the moments of Armand's hunt of Daniel. And in parallel with season 1, when Daniel remembered Armand, before the finale they will show us that there was something more between them, perhaps they will show a kiss, but they will leave unanswered what happened after it. A lot of things will happen in the final, so this question will remain open. And only in season 3 will we see the real romantic relationship between Armand and Daniel in the 70s-80s.

I think... we will see the beginning (so the interview and aftermath, Armand telling Daniel to run)... and maybe some in-between scenes.

I do not think we will see the whole chase, and I think the whole of the Devil's Minion arc will play out over several seasons still. Because Daniel has grown old, and his feeling will most certainly be a mess.

And whatever happened will likely be mixed with the history of certain vampires as well :)).

That said, it will be interesting where and when they will release "Night Island", because Night Island falls into a certain period, and though it still exists after the Devil's Minion period it will be very interesting if they put it into the past - or in the present. THAT could be interesting as well, if Night Island is set in the present - because Armand buys it for Daniel after all.

I think... before the finale the "love of my life" comment will come heavily into play.

Because this show loves parallels!

And Louis saying that in a scene calling back to "The Graduate" was done intentionally, and as such... it means something different. It means someone different. For both of them.

I agree, a lot of things will happen in the finale.

But I do not think the emotional ... "status" will remain open. Not for Daniel and Armand.

That will be part of the horror and twist this season, that Daniel loved so much, so deeply... and has been made to forget.

Imagine how he will feel when those feelings come back.

But I agree, flashbacks to the years they spent together will likely only happen in upcoming seasons. When whatever they plan to do with "old Daniel" will unfold.

Because I think there is ample possibility for him within the canon possibilities. Clones, body switching, replimoid bodies. Solid ghosts. (No, I'm not kidding^^). Or getting turned, of course. I bet his arc won't end so soon^^

[wilderhyperfoxations]

BELOS' MOUTH LINES- WHAT ARE THEY?

Argument/hypothesis: Belos's mouth lines aren't wrinkles, they're actually scars or the curse! (Warning- use of hypothesis and such might be rickety as yoga balls. I'm not a bigbrain, I'm just a guy with a lot of thoughts.) Evidence proving the hypothesis: No elderly character or any character has the same lines, two on top, one on the bottom, and all connecting to the mouth. Gwendolyn has deep cheek wrinkles and forehead wrinkles when she frowns. She also has sagging skin around her jaw. She's around 60/70- Belos is over 400 but doesn't look old. Terra Snapdragon has two lines above her lip, smile lines, lines under her eyes. In the scene where we see all the coven heads together, her two top lip wrinkles connect to her lip, but they do not look like Belos', and otherwise they do not connect, even a few frames later.

See? None have the same features as Belos, or even similar. Scratches are usually stylized to be some variation of red. Scars are usually pink-ish or darker. But- Principal Bump has a scar/stitches over his eye, and they are black. According to the storyboard of the s2 finale when Belos speaks to Luz, the mouth lines are not present during when he gets his green stripe removed, but appear only when it comes back. Also, in this one, his one mouth line connects to the green scar. Storyboards never depict him as old, moreso withered, tired. Especially this one. Take away that little line and you've got yourself an eccentric twink.

Okay, sure, the mouth lines are different- but if they are scars, why aren't they like Hunters' or Luz'? Maybe because it would have been tedious to color, or it is just a design choice, based on the black lines being bolder or weirder looking. Or maybe the opposite. He also has no other wrinkles besides the line when he smirks, and lines under his eyes are very dark undereye bags. They look less like wrinkles and more like exhaustion. Belos generally has an ambiguous design age-wise, without his greying hair and or the mouth lines, he could pass for a younger person, even if you keep the under-eyes- no other wrinkles are present, and neither are any signs of age on his body. Counter evidence, disproving the hypothesis: Storyboards often have inaccurate scenes or designs or things that are later removed (see Darius having purple eyes or looking mega weird in some storyboards, or even the scene w Belos where his face melts) and sometimes characters are missing scars in sbs, like Hunter here. So Belos only having mouth lines when the curse kicks in could be that, an omission for the sake of convenience.

Also it could have been a unique and weirder way to show wrinkles, evidence as to different characters who have different designs. Plus usually scars are red/pink, and these are solid black lines, more like wrinkles. And most older characters aren't extremely old looking. Without Eda's hair color it's harder to tell her age even if she's supposed to look more aged. She just looks 40 but grey, and her design is most similar to Belos' in that regard. In other storyboards Belos has no mouth lines either, while having the green line. Could be design changes or for simplicity.

Storyboards aren't reliable as evidence. The boards have inconsistent designs or earlier designs, as shown by his eyeball face or egg elf face above, as well as the lack of nose bump. The input of others: I ran a poll on tumblr, and the results were- 78.8% chose wrinkles, 17.5% chose scars, and 3.8% chose curse. There were 80 votes. One person said they were pretty sure they were wrinkles, because Belos is "old as balls" and "some old guys have dry lips". Another said scars because "his whole body seems to be covered by them", and he has "no crows feet" [or other wrinkles]. Another said that they assumed those were scars, because they look too odd and are connected to the lips to be wrinkles. The fandom consensus seems to be that they are wrinkles, and most draw/write/regard him as such. Conclusion: Who the chit knows! Evidence points to it being wrinkles, I say. But I personally believe it's the curse or scars and there's just enough ambiguity for me to hold that opinion. Could I ask Dana or something? Probably, doubt that she would reply, but also I feel like that would ruin the fun. What do you think?

[ultrone]

Just had a question, you don’t have to answer, if you don’t want to ofc. If the girls, Jackie, Lottie, Shauna, Nat, etc didn’t do Soccer, What do you think they’d be doing instead. Either other sports or clubs, whatever you think, I’m curious. Also have the loveliest day you deserve it!

JACKIE's only concern and goal would be getting chosen as prom queen, she gives me humble/himbo regina george vibes lmaoooo i feel like she’d do a lot of community service hours and force shauna to come with her so that she’s not alone. she’d be the type of girl to have more self-care items in her backpack than actual school supplies; she’d be asking everyone for a paper and a pencil on a daily basis, but would casually pull out her blush and mascara to do some retouches in the middle of class ☠️🙌🏻

SHAUNA would prolly not play any sports at all and just focus on school and extracurriculars—considering that she mentioned how she hated soccer. i feel like she’s naturally good at maths but likes writing better, or biology 🤔 if she played any other sports, i can see her playing badminton idky LMAO or volley.

NAT would spend half of the day in detention i just know it, my girl just doesn’t give a single fuck 😭 i also feel like she’d be a good drummer or bassist (i don’t think she’d have the patience to play an electric guitar, but might know a few chords on acoustic tho). i feel like she's good at history too, probably her highest grade—whether she likes the class or not.

LOTTIE would probably be class president or vice president—she's not as authoritative as tai, but i feel like she'd get chosen because she's very caring, a good leader in general and has good grades. if she didn’t do soccer i feel like she'd play tennis idky, probably cuz that's like a rich people sport lmaoooo i can see her playing volleyball too.

TAI wouldn't be class president cuz even though she's a natural leader and ended up persuing politics as an adult, something tells me that she doesn’t care much about her grades 😭 i feel like her average is 85% but a 70% doesn’t keep her up at night. i also feel like she’s terrible at drawing but would love painting in art class, she’d find it therapeutic and would actually paint cool landscapes and stuff. big bob ross fan (ironically). she’d make silly drawings of everyone; like she’d draw a stick man with a big dick and say that it’s obviously van 🤣

VAN would just stay at home scratching her balls lets be real 😭 but if she played any other sports i can see her playing basketball 🤔 i also feel like she’d be interested in film, especially the cinematography aspect of it. idky i feel like her average was a 60% LMAOO but then she improved her grades.

MISTY would run an anonymous gossip girl newspaper or something 🤣 i also feel like she’d be really good at computing or programming, not because she’s good at technology per se, but because she’s so nosy that it would be enough motivation for her to spend most of the day practicing, just so that she can stalk ppl and shit 🕵🏻‍♀️ i also feel like she’d be better at chemistry than bio.

MARI gives me silly bully vibes LMAOO she'd spend 50% of the time making fun of ppl and the other 50% judging them, she’d be a real homie to her friendgroup tho 💪🏻💯💯 i can see her taking advanced spanish every year cuz it’s her native language, so it’s an easy A—rather than learning another language and getting a lower grade. i feel like her average would either be a solid 80%, or maybe she’d actually be very competitive and get really good grades.

CRYSTAL would def do choir 😭 her friend group would be only like 3 people but everyone at school would think that she doesn’t have any friends cuz she’s very quiet during class. she’s very sweet to everyone tho so no one would hate her—but people wouldn’t notice her that much anyway.

[virgil-isnt-a-lee]

If all the Sanders Sides characters were switches, what percentage of Ler/Lee would you hc them as? (Bonus points if you include Picani and Sleep)

Virgil is pretty easy, I'd give him about 75/25 lee/ler. I 100% see him with a huge lee lean, but don't underestimate him as a ler! C'mon he makes such a good ler, he absolutely plays off the anticipation and shit, and he and Roman get into tkl fights ALL the time, and someone's gotta bring princey down a peg or two, no? As a lee, he's just the cutest little shit ever, definitely tries not to giggle and fails.

Logan, hmm.. maybe 65/35 ler/lee. Definitely ler leaning when he indulges in the playfulness, but he's very methodical as a ler, he does that slight smile as he gets someone's worst spot, definitely. Makes mental notes of their reactions too. But also he gets tickled frequently when he's been working too much (usually by Patton, Roman, or Janus)

Patton is a solid 55/45 ler/lee, like ALMOST an even 50/50, but just slightly more ler leaning. Listen, he loves laughing and making the other sides laugh, even though he is the resident tickle monster and he 100% gets evil tickle monster moods, he always ends up wrecked too, and he loves both very much, but he's morality, and he just slightly loves making the other sides laugh more

Roman is an even 50/50, okay? He may start most of the tickle fights, but let's be so fr, at least half of those he starts because he wants to be tickled and he won't admit it outright. Very playful and teasy ler, probably calls the others princes or some other noble title while tickling them. Definitely curls up into a ball when he's tickled

Janus is like a good 80/20 ler/lee. He's got no problem wrecking the others, though he sometimes feels a little less secure when he's the lee, though he enjoys it occasionally. He usually only lees in three scenarios; Remus is bored and no one else is around, he didn't wreck his lee into being too tired to get revenge, or he really looks like he needs it. Very methodical ler, like Logan, but he's very teasy, unlike Logan (usually)

Remus is like 60/40 ler/lee, like Roman, he starts a lot of tickle fights, but not always because he wants tickles. A lot of things time, he just wants the chaos, the noise and laughter and adrenaline. And the tickles. As a ler, he's teasy but mostly focuses on making the lee laugh as loud as he can (he does know when to stop) as a lee, he is very squirmy but very happy and teasy, laughs really loudly and unrestrained, too.

Now I don't know too much about Emile, but I know enough to say he's probably lee leaning with a super cute laugh, so I'll give him about 70/30 lee/ler, because he and patton definitely have tickle fights.

Remy though, listen I love Remy. He's a solid 75/25 ler/lee. The other sides (really just picani) might try to tickle him out of bed, and it'll wake him up, but he'll just pull him back down into bed and tickle him until he agrees to take a nap with him.

Send me more asks y'all 😭

[fancyfade]

NGL I do love pre 2011 batfam all having such different internal motivation around killing (and if they agree it's never OK, the why it is not OK is different for people).

Like Bruce has rules that he tries to follow. these are for many reasons, some to keep himself in check, some because if the entire point of Batman is that no other family is torn apart him killing people is literally defeating that point, it reads as generally ideology based. and I think that Bruce's character traits in the 70s or 80s where even if he doesn't kill people he isn't super distraught if they die is kind of interesting and it's a shame the writers dropped it. tho IG it could also be character development. (should note: he also has accidentally killed people but doesn't blame himself for it in some 80s comics like son of the demon)

Cass's rhetoric is based on her compassion and perfectionism and just. it's wrong period. no one deserves to die, and since she always has to be perfect, she always has to be able to save everyone even people who are trying to kill her. i feel like even if there was a case where someone had to kill someone else in self defense, cass would never view that as acceptable for herself because she should always be able to solve everything perfectly.

babs is sometimes vocally anti-killing people but i think it's fucking fascinating that she is also shown as being willing to potentially kill someone pretty often (at least pre new 52 when they removed 95 percent of her personality). not wanting to be faced with the prospect of being a victim again, she lures thinker into a trap with the intention of killing him. even after she's gotten more solid footing, she still is willing to kill to protect other people (she starts getting ready to snipe black mask when she thinks he will kill someone who was working for her in no man's land, before helena as batman shows up) and she is willing to authorize huntress to use lethal force to protect tim.

and tim's rhetoric for not killing people is very 'becuase bruce said so'. no seriously like (link) his rhetoric for a lot of what he does as robin is based on following The Rules ™. who made the rules? Bruce. and if he breaks the rules he feels unworthy. it would've been cool if the writers had acknowledged this way they wrote him so he could develop his own moral code, but I'm not sure they did in what I read. generally bruce was right because he's batman, so tim following bruce's rules for the most part is tim being right. no need to think of it further

dick is very anti-murder in ntt because heroes don't do that ™ and he seems less so in later comics. like he beats himself up a ton for nearly beating the joker to death but in later nightwing issues he's fine with people getting hit by ricochet when they are shooting at him and it is unclear if he maybe causes this guy to get hit by lightning, which kills him (but he had to do it to save a baby). i guess like with tomasi's run on nightwing and late new earth continuity, he just seems in general unconcerned with the whole debate and like. he doesn't use lethal force b/c that's not what you do, but he also doesn't let himself get too concerned about it, and when he was in NTT it was very much just. those are the rules (like tim)

damian's rhetoric starts out opposite from everyone's because killing your enemies is just what you do. like not even out of malice if writers are keeping anything consistent from the original LoS/LoA goal it should be to save people/the world. and he evolves from there. post R:SoB, fter his character arc, he seems to be one of the more anti-killing members of the batfam, probably behind cass, and a lot of it is based in the belief in people to change and his own feeling of guilt and empathizing with the people they fight because! Why was I any different from them? (he does not accept that he was a kid as a reason for why he should be held less responsible). and it's not just a case of 'not killing people b/c they are like me' he often tries to get them to reform. cass does this too.

and you have helena who is portrayed in batfam comics as like. having a super high body count but its fucking hilarious if you read her solo b/c she really doesn't. and she does kill 2 people in her solo, a lot of the time it seems to be based on even if they are a bad person and by her rhetoric they deserve to die, how she is feeling when it is going down. like she was going to rescue one of the guys responsible for killing her parents before he said something indicating he was intending on using her or something that triggered her (I can't remember the exact dialogue) which like what an IDIOT. and she also killed a serial killer, but i believe she felt personally responsible for the serial killer since she had inadvertently provided him with the means to escape from prison and failed to stop him before. i feel like even if she goes in a situation thinking "I am definitely going to kill this guy" she does not always do it, and frequently she can lean to leniency barring external circumstances. but she doesn't consider herself as someone who considers killing automatically wrong, even though there isn't a ton of things different from her situation than from dick or babs's, both of whom who have either been ready to kill people or been unconcerned if people they were fighting died or both.

and then obviously you have jason who is very pro-murder (i'm only going w/ pre flashpoint continuity b/c that's the one i've read more of), who does not care if people who aren't 100% deserving to die by his standards are killed by him (he kills drug dealers w/o giving them a chance to follow his rules to intimidate people or b/c he has no need of them after consolidating his power, he poisons people he can't control who he is poisoning in prison, causing many people to die -- both of these written by winick, generally regarded as the 'good' pre FP jason writer), because he is acting from a place of trauma and pain but believes that if he can control crime correctly he can 'fix' things -- but his reasoning is very based on his own personal experiences and not in compassion for others, or at least the people he allegedly is helping are very abstract and not real for him. and like. it's an interesting character trait because LOTS of batfam members' motives aren't really even tied into compassion when talking about not killing (dick's aren't, tim's aren't, babs's aren't), and some also have their personal experiences highly motivating them (babs, cass, damian).

i realize that steph is not on here but she is also like. really changing based on the writer (so do the others, but her evolution felt harder to track). i feel like pre batgirl-ing, she definitely feels some people deserve to die and might kill someone in anger if they reminded her of her dad and no one stopped her. batgirling, her writing is different, the writer wants to portray her as a little 'softer', more based on hope, but the writer does not actually show us how she changed, which is frustrating.

anyway i just think they're all so interesting and i love them

[runwayrunway]

No. 23 - Icelandair (With an Aside on the Role of Flag Carriers)

Sure, let's talk about Icelandair! I think they fit in pretty well with the conversation that's been slowly playing out with other European flag carriers Lufthansa and SAS about the evolution of liveries as we stumble in to the 2020s proper. (As for the second half of this ask, hold that thought for just a minute.)

Unfortunately, Lufthansa snuck its nasty little face into this post as well, and I do sort of want to give a brief content warning, as a...certain sordid point in Germany's history is alluded to, though not lingered on. Because flag carriers are sort of important. They're propaganda - and in Icelandair's case, that's okay!

Icelandair is not a concept that needs much explanation. It's right there in the title. It is an airline, and it is from Iceland. If you want a little more information, here's a summary written in 1997 by John K. Morton for his book "Jetliner Glory". (Scan mine)

As you can see, Icelandair was, at this point, rocking a supersized nothingburger of a livery. With just a cheatline and some paint on the bottom of the nacelles to accompany the logo and wordmark it feels less like SAS's belly stripes or Tibet Airlines, where it looks like a plane painted white, and feels more like they just forgot to add the rest of the livery.

While I do slightly prefer this older take with the more faded colours, the bare metal underside, and the contoured down-sloping cheatline, it's still pretty nothing.

Oh no. Oh nonononono don't do that please don't-

Thank you. That's much less worse.

The blue-and-yellow livery was adopted in 2006. I don't like this but this feels necessary. What stands out to me about Icelandair, above any individual feature of their fleet, is that they are fundamentally incapable of departing from whatever the most simplified and common design trend of the time is.

70s and early 80s. Single rule cheatline, large font wordmark, bare metal lower half.

80s and early 90s. All over paint, text moved forward to just behind the forwardmost door. Beginning of strict adherence to Eurowhite en masse.

Aughts to late 2010s. This is an era of somewhat refined Eurowhite. This allows very specific colored parts of the airframe: a block of color on the underside, a detached floating tail, colored winglets, and colored nacelles.

My opinion of this specific livery is that it is nearly identical to Delta's. Similar dark blue shade, exact same layout. The only difference is that Delta's blue engines make the livery look more coherent and Delta's logo is far more distinctive. I consider Delta to be the platonic ideal of this type of 2000s Eurowhite, and Icelandair uses the exact same layout.

I will say...it could be worse. Icelandair does not fail the Star Alliance test, so I cannot give it an F.

It's getting a D, for Delta.

But hey! Great news! They literally just unveiled a new one! And they've given me a nice webpage describing their thought process. I keep seeing more and more airlines do this with their 2020s livery releases and I think it's awesome.

image: icelandair

And they're jellybeans! I make no secret for my love of jellybeans. These come in five colours: boreal blue, magenta, sky blue, yellow, and green. Each of them is meant to represent a different aspect of Icelandic natural phenomenae, which I would expect at least partially stems from the response to their widely beloved Hekla Aurora and Vatnajökull liveries.

The two colours not pictured above: boreal blue (left) and green (right)

I really like these choices of colour. I think my favourite is ultimately magenta because of how striking its contrast is with the main blue, but none of these look even a little bad.

I do wish there was a little more integration of the jellybean colours into the rest of the livery (maybe the winglets or the engine nacelles, or as an outline on the wordmark, or extended to the underside of the plane), but the concept itself is solid and each colourway is pleasing. While I think this is a welcome change from the earlier yellow-and-blue scheme I am very happy that they kept a yellow variant.

Red engine SAS livery jumpscare in the background.

I would say the main thing I dislike about the new livery is the billboard wordmark. It's fine in theory but I utterly despise the typeface they've chosen and I find that sans-serif typefaces look fine when they're small but get uglier and uglier the larger you make them. It's a very boring downgrade, especially compared to the tasteful little serifs on the very tips of the old one. They were a minor aerodynamic touch but they were very nice compared to this, which is giving corporate brochure in a way I can't stand. At least it keeps the middle fuselage from being blank, I suppose.

I do like it a lot better on the Dash 8, though it's a little too low to the bottom for my taste. They could solve this by just making it slightly smaller, but they've apparently fully committed to a font that is, in my opinion, too large and widely spaced.

I feel like they also missed an opportunity with their logo. I've seen people say that it's a stylised 'F' to represent the company's first name, Flugfélag. I've heard someone else say that it reminds them of a stylised aurora, and I agree with them. I think there was a lot of room to play with both of these, and that it's a shape that's simple enough and dynamic enough to lend itself well to livery design, and that they could have created something so much better had they made more use of it - especially with the jellybean colours.

The final thing I want to point out is the tail. It's very blatant that the 2020s equivalent of the detached tail is the slightly-integrated tail, which loops down and just prevents the tail from being detached while still leaving the majority of the fuselage blank white without really adding much visual interest or presenting much in the way of creativity.

SAS and WestJet are two other airlines from those I've covered which do this. Now, they could both be a lot worse - WestJet has a nice wordmark and I've already talked about why SAS does a lot that's more interesting than the tail - but I can't deny that I dislike this trend. It fixes the ugliness of Detached Tail Syndrome but without adding much. It is the bare minimum. It is an upgrade from bad to nothing. And I think it's worth noting that both of these airlines, and indeed the majority of airlines with slightly-integrated tails, used to have detached tails. The Lufthansa clone of the 2020s is the Delta clone of the 2010s.

But I think Icelandair's new livery requires comparison to one 2020s livery more than any other - our old 'friend', Lufthansa.

The reason I point out Lufthansa is that unlike SAS and WestJet it does not feature a curve, but a straight line downwards. It also features more than one colour on the tail itself, sort of - I mean, it has the contrasting white stripe.

I don't think I particularly need to linger on why I like Icelandair's livery so much better than I like Lufthansa's. But I will point out one aspect in particular. The descriptions of the inspiration behind Lufthansa's livery focus on how sleek and modern it is. It occasionally mentions nebulous 'German values' (a phrase which in context refers to Europe's obsession with the most hideous sans-serif fonts on the face of the planet and soul-sucking minimalist white design but which sort of makes me shudder as a disabled bisexual Jew, a set of traits seemingly min-maxxed for being a target of...well, you know) but beyond that is wholly and almost gleefully corporate, scoffing in the face of the fact that flag carriers are almost by design intended to be unprofitable, to provide air transport to residents of their country and to serve as propaganda.

Air France lost heaps of money on Concorde, Alitalia went fourteen years without turning a profit, and do you think carriers like Rwandair or Air Niugini, which just don't have the demand to operate planes filled to capacity, are able to make money? Of course not, but they operate anyway because people need to get places and it's a statement for a government, especially one without the means of a massive European power with centuries of stolen resources at its disposal or an ultrawealthy Gulf state, to put their names on a plane and say that this is a service they are providing to the people they are, on paper, meant to provide for.

This is not a feature unique to airlines - just think about the way high-speed rail in China and Japan are inherently tied to their national identities, as something these countries have built as a service to their people and as something which makes them better places to live. Think about the Space Race, which was a dick-measuring contest more than it was for science. The US government is notorious for its unwillingness to fund science projects but if it means sticking it to the reds it's worth a couple billion to put a man on the moon.

Any sort of project which invents or builds by necessity becomes a symbol of national power. Sometimes these things are useful, like high-speed rail, and sometimes they advance science, like reaching the moon, but, like...did Ferrari World need to exist, or is the UAE willing to spend a bunch of money to say "look how awesome we are, we have the fastest roller-coaster in the world"? Did the USSR need the Tu-144? Of course not - luxury air transport wasn't a thing, they couldn't charge a premium, and there wasn't anywhere safe to release a sonic boom over, and it was rushed out in a state that couldn't really be considered airworthy just to serve for less than a year while diverting resources from actually useful aerospace projects. The Tu-144 set back Soviet aerospace engineering by decades but it was worth it for the chance to say they built the first supersonic airliner, which will remain technically true forever. Countries are chomping at the bit to displace people and abuse labourers and waste money and resources to build stadiums that will lie derelict for the rest of time just to get to say they hosted the Olympics.

These things are worth losing money for. To say 'we are willing to lose money to give our people transport and to have our own airline with our own flag on it'. Flag carriers do not need to be profitable. If they happen to turn a profit that's a good thing for the country but it's not meant to be the point. That the US has never had a flag carrier feels like a very pointed statement to me - no handouts, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and build your own damn airline. While many large airlines elsewhere have their own founders with their own marks on history and large personalities, none of them have the cultural capital that Juan Trippe or Howard Hughes do. Icelandair's equivalent of Juan Trippe is the aurora.

I cannot imagine a carrier which reflects its national identity less than Lufthansa does. Perhaps they want to forget that they are a flag carrier and by this nature propaganda. After all, despite being largely a different entity, they bear the name of a flag carrier founded by the Third Reich. They had an easy out of this. They could have stuck with their initial name, Luftag. They could even have taken the name and branding of Interflug, the East German flag carrier, but better to be founded by the actual Third Reich than by the Communists, from their perspective. It's probably better to lean as far away from what they were made to be as possible. And from their point of view to be as corporate as possible is actually probably a reflection of what there is to love about Germany, given that this is their background. I find that incredibly sad. If I were German, this would make me furious. There is so much more to Germany than anything Lufthansa has ever been. It is insulting not just to my eyes but to the idea that it is meant to be part of German identity.

Meanwhile, Icelandair's inspiration is Iceland: the natural features which make their country worth visiting. They are aware of this - they actually used the Hekla Aurora livery to promote the fact that they offered free week-long stopovers in Iceland. Their website explicitly lays, interspersed with images of aurora over snowy mountainous landscapes which seem to stretch on forever, that this is what Iceland has to offer.

And since we spend so much time in the sky, we drew inspiration from what we see in front of us, and what we see in our country from above. [...] By extending our color palette, we have a chance to bring the vibrant Icelandic spirit to the world, and to show the world the diversity of our people: The Icelandic spirit is available to anyone and everyone who wants to share in it.

At the end of the day, flag carriers are a form of propaganda. That word normally has a very nasty connotation, but it doesn't have to be things like war crime coverups and attempts to quell rebellion. In this case, it can be an encouragement for Icelandic people to be proud of something about their country as well as an attempt to drum up tourism. Is it still a calculated attempt to sell you something? Sure. But it's an attempt to sell something Icelandic people are proud of, because they live somewhere with beautiful features that don't exist anywhere else. I really want to visit Iceland, and have for years, for the exact reasons outlined in Icelandair's material about their new livery.

And does this livery actually overtly communicate these things? No, not really. I think it's something you can see when you have it explained to you but wouldn't notice at a glance. But the fact that this was considered at all, much like condor's justification for their flying striped nightmares, keeps me from feeling the same sort of disgust I do for liveries like Lufthansa's.

So, Icelandair could do a lot better. But they're doing a lot better than they ever have before. And they have succeeded, fundamentally, at being Icelandair.

I leave them with a final grade of C.

It could be better. Far better. But they're at least using the right equation to get the wrong answer. If they ever get the courage to design something which doesn't follow the dominant trends in whatever the decade's particular flavour of Eurowhite is as if it's copied from a template, I think Icelandair could come up with something really great, and I hope I live long enough to see it.

And, as a final note on their commitment to their national identity, I will be discussing their three non-crossover special liveries: Þingvellir, Vatnajökull, and this blog's first twice-requested livery, Hekla Aurora. But they will get their own post, because this one is already preposterously long, so get ready to see a lot more Iceland very very soon.

(...I really want to visit Iceland.)

[emerson-grimes-apologist]

Hihi don't mind me but do you got any voice headcanons for the funky puppets ʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ I'd love to hear them

I have a few I'm thinking about :)

Horace: The Peculiar Purple Pieman from Strawberry Shortcake? Possibly? I don't know, he reminds me too much of Waluigi I think

Thade: Either Snufkin or Jon Arbuckle. I see people headcanoning him as having this smooth, posh, elegant voice, but I think it would be funnier for him to look like an elegant goth but have a voice that makes him sound like a silly guy. Because he is a silly guy! To me

Sariah: I can see lots of high-pitched "princessly" voices fitting her tbh, including but not limited to Snow White, Thumbelina, Strawberry Shortcake.... I like Beatrice's voice from Over the Garden Wall because it isn't SUPER gentle and has some sassiness to it, but I think it would be cool if ALL my voice claims came from sources from, like, the 70s or 80s, and have that crackly low-quality sound to reflect that Candle Cove is an old TV show. Maybe I could put her voice through a filter...

Dr. Heartfelt: Ludwig von Drake (I'm kind of on the fence about this because he sounds pretty exuberant while I imagine Heartfelt to be more soft-spoken. I might look for clips of him talking softly and see what I think then. My other choice would be Matthias Schweighöfer, but he sounds too normal to me (as in not cartoony)).

Dr. Mort: Louis Jourdan (I was also on the fence about this for a while because he tends to sound a little too suave and debonair in his roles while I image Mort to sound like a little creep, but I think this clip specifically matches him vibe) (sort of unrelated but here's a clip of him SINGING! I think about it often)

Red Mary: Amanda Palmer

Susan Siren: Probably Ballora from FNAF, but I still like my older voice claim, which is Fiona Apple singing this song specifically.

Roger Rogerson: The Globglogabgalab

Bubba: Kris from Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

Starson: I said before that I was thinking of John from the Beatles cartoon for him, but now I'm thinking of Smart Gary from Spongebob. He just sounds like a little smarty.

I want to make a looooooooong voice claim video at some point so I'm in the process of looking for voice claims, but it's slow work :,) especially since I don't really have a solid "feel" for a lot of the characters (I only really really care about like 5 of them. The rest I'm kind of uninterested in rn, even though I want to develop them more in my head and get more invested in them so I can write fanfics with them and stuff like that). But I want to bring it into existence!

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S1E11: Give a Little, Take a Little

Gina and Trudy take focus and Sonny goes to jail for an informant.

Both of the main plots in this episode (Sonny goes to jail because he refuses to give up an anonymous source whose life is in danger & Gina is forced into an unwanted sexual situation with a criminal in order to maintain her cover) are used again in later episodes-- and I'm really not sure if they're better covered here or in those later outings

The opening crawl with GAYETY, yes, good, give us all the gayety

There's at least one Miami Vice episode where the footage of the seedy businesses is actually borrowed from unused Starsky & Hutch footage, meaning it's from 70's LA instead of 80's Miami, and I thought it was this one but can't find any references, so I guess it isn't?

This is great Trudy/Gina episode-- they try on lingerie together, Trudy seems upset and jealous when Gina is late to lunch, they hold hands and get a patented Miami Vice Freeze Frame about it, they hug and are generally very protective of one another. A+ Gayety, ladies.

Sonny "I am Very Mentally Healthy" Crockett swings an axe around at a warehouse worker who is tangentially involved with a drug ring, and then takes him outside and touches him a bunch and asks him if he's gay because he's the type that "guys in prison would really like"

Sonny

Sonny what the fuck is wrong with you

Sonny please stop threatening people with sexual assault in prison and ALSO AXES

I feel like Rico must be watching all this like "oh god he's gone crazy and is going to murder this guy and me"

They go to visit an attorney named Richard and Sonny literally plays the Penis Game with his name. Every time he says Dick it's louder and angrier because Sonny is 12

This is a good low-key early "the rich can use the justice system as a tool to get what they want and you, Vice Squad, as tools of the justice system yourself, cannot prevent that" episode

Tubbs' face when the judge says she thinks Sonny did a good job with his report is so cute. He's like "Yeah! You did! That's my boy who wrote a good report!"

There's a scene where Switek is practicing his (terrible) standup for the rest of the squad, and for no specific reason, Gina and Zito are just holding hands? It's so fucking adorable, like. These people are such good friends! They love each other so much! And all of them are too fucked up to know how to say it!

Sonny: Hey boss, thanks for pulling a bunch of shady favors to get me out of jail! / Castillo: I absolutely did not do that and never will / Sonny: .___. ...oh

Both Trudy and Gina just shoot guys more or less in cold blood here, which will later become Gina's favorite activity and Trudy's second favorite activity. Diversity Win! The cops that are serving as street executioners are women of color.

There is zero interaction between Sonny and Gina in this episode until the very end, where they stare at each other in silence for like a solid minute and a half. I think this is supposed to indicate that Sonny somehow feels guilty other Gina's trauma and that Gina is feeling... shame? Maybe? Because they're in love or something? It's deeply awkward and ineffective, and we can't say the writing and directing staff don't know how to show two characters who care about each other dealing with the fallout of trauma because a) that's like half the show and b) they already had that scene with Gina and Trudy in this same episode and it was much better?

Jail Sonny is like. DJ is just doing Fortune in Men's Eyes again, isn't he. Is that what's wrong with Sonny re: his constant bringing up of prison assault? Past life regression to Smitty?

[bennydwight]

TGAMM Observations, Theories, Headcanons Pre Season 2

Long post!

1.      Scratch never tells Molly his name in episode one (there’s a theory on this that his name was divulged to her as part of the curse, since it also gave her the ability to summon him with his name)

2.      In ‘The (Un)natural’, Bartholomew can be seen writing in a cutaway scene, a diary entry saying “Dear diary, I had the strangest dream last night”

3.      In the same cutaway scene, we can see the McGees moved into the house June 2

4.      Other entries in Scratch’s scare report read:

·        06/01 Pizza Steve (I get him every time!)

·        06/08 Kid with Umbrella (Transformed into umbrella. Classic Rainy Day scare)

·        06/15 Wilderscouts (Used Howlin’ Harriet story to scare campers)

5.      In the beginning of Howlin’ Harriet, there’s a brief moment where Scratch puts his hand to his chin, deep in thought. Geoff notices and, a beat later, copies the position

6.      Weird amount of Canada references. Cousin Carl from Canada, Cousin Milly from Canada, in The Lucky Penny there’s a crashed car with a Canadian sticker on the window. When Molly is looking up a Bat Mitzvah there’s a recommended video about ghost hauntings in Toronto (it has four views and was posted eight years ago). The very last moving box in Out of House And Home has a shipping sticker that says Toronto. I’d be tempted to say that’s the last place the McGees moved from if not for Molly knowing nothing of Canada. The syrup bottle in Citizen McGee has a maple leaf on it. I’d be offended at the stereotypes if I weren’t so jazzed for the representation

7.      Despite claiming to be touch adverse, Scratch can be seen instigating physical contact even as soon as First Day Frights, where he puts his arm around Molly and pokes her nose. The touching gets more affectionate as the season goes on, but even at the end of Friend-Off (where he’s arguably ‘known’ Libby less than two days and has been fighting with her for most of that time) he initiates and seems comfortable with friendly contact

8.      Scratch first admits he may be ‘McGee adjacent’ in The Greatest Concert Ever, but (as far as I know) there isn’t a solid moment where he embraces the McGee name fully. It just kinda pops up later on

9.      Scratch is already calling Nin ‘Grandma Nin’ by the end of The Curse (which isn’t groundbreaking, I just think it’s a cute detail that he already calls her grandma)

10.   In The Best Of Nin-tentions he also calls Sharon ‘mom’, but I’m not sure whether that’s because he just does now, or because he was using Molly’s words

11.   The gravestones in Andrea’s film set in Hooray for Mollywood read ‘Howlin’ Harriet’, ‘Howlin’ Harriet’s Toes’, and ‘SK’. I wonder if the last one might be Scratch’s, but that’s just a theory seeing as how we don’t know his surname

12.   Scratch was alive sometime before the invention of the internet (a safe assumption) and after the invention of colour tv. Possibly died in the 70s-80s era?

13.   If the Ghost World doesn’t get anything until after it’s dead, how come they have mochas? Or clubs? Also Scratch is shown with a smartphone at least once in Scarin’ is Carin’

14.   Scratch may also have some variation of size-manipulation power, seeing as there’s a functional pizza box with a to-scale pizza laying around his dollhouse. Maybe it’s just a way he creatively uses curses idk

15.   The. The medical bill in Out Of House And Home guys. It’s just. Look at it. Friggin. Z Ray (x2). Minus $0.49 for insurance. The epitome of America’s medical system. Would be funny if it weren’t so true

16.   Also, hard to see the date on there, but I think it’s 05/14/21 if you’re looking for a timeline. Seeing as we’ve had a Christmas episode, this would probably mean the McGees moved in June 2, 2020

17.   Historically, the larger Scratch gets, the less stable his form is. Might just be for scary effect, but might also be a mass-displacement or concentration thing

18.   But he has no trouble maintaining consistency when he shrinks, so maybe all ghosts just have a maximum comfortable size

19.   Some aspects of transformation appear to be instinctive and subconscious, linked to a ghost’s moods, instead of all shape changes being intentional (most clearly seen in The (Un)natural)

20.   The repossession notice in Out Of House And Home is in Sharon’s name, and I admittedly don’t know a lot about mortgages, but does that mean the house is in her name? Isn’t Pete the primary breadwinner in the beginning of the show?

21.   The McGees have a ricecooker in their kitchen! I thought that was a cool detail

22.   The home purchase agreement is a little hard to read in Home is Where the Haunt Is, but it says “I, [blank], agree to buy the property at [address, I can’t read it] even if it is [a tiny bit haunted]. This contract is legally binding and Candace Green cannot be liable for anything”. Candace absolutely knew about Scratch before he revealed himself

23.   Molly has type A blood, but whether it’s negative or positive isn’t specified (hello, blood poisoning). Also, flyers in the background promote Debate club, which implies she’d donating at school. As USA blood donation requires most donors to be a minimum of 16 years old (with parental consent) or 110 lbs, we can conclude that the school is illegally harvesting blood from the student body

24.   Why do they… why do they draw Scratch’s butt like that

25.   Libby’s left handed!

26.   The cart stunt at the beginning of No Good Deed is referenced in Darryl’s file as ‘Incident 314’

27.   Scratch doesn’t cast a shadow

28.   I don’t know why, but there’s a red sticker that shows up in the school a lot, especially around the lockers, and it just says ‘Souffle’

29.   Apparently Scratch has shared custody of Molly’s phone

30.   Who did the subtitles on DisneyPlus I just wanna talk

Feel free to add on/expand/debate if you feel the desire! I’m mostly just putting these here so they’ll stop swimming around in my head

[gwynndolin]

Kitschke recs, Hejira by Joni Mitchell

So, funny story, since I think Joni Mitchell was literally only added to Spotify like, a few weeks ago or something like that, I ended up not listening to this until this very moment (The last two albums and a few of the future ones, I actually listened to a few months ago; I'm only just now getting back into writing these reviews 🙃). I actually must've not noticed this actually though, because I ended up listening to another album by a band called Hejira... Incidentally, I found that album to be quite interesting anyway, so honestly I'm not too upset about that mistake. Maybe I'll take a moment to review that album sometime soon LOL

Anyway, I've always known Joni Mitchell to be a pop darling, and admittedly, the only reason I think I put off listening to her for so long is, one, laziness, and two, I think for like, 4 out of the 5 jobs I've worked in my 9ish years of retail service, "Big Yellow Taxi" in some form or another has been on the store's music playlist, and I am so awfully tired of that song. Far too much of an ear worm to be played so often!!

Anyway, "Coyote" is a fantastic intro track. Joni Mitchell's singing is so velveteen and luscious, whoever produced this record really mic'd her up super well. I really enjoy the pacing on this song too, the delivery on her singing is really evocative to me of some of Paul Simon's faster paced song, while remaining super chill to fit in with the rest of the track. I really love how prominent the bass guitar is on this song too! The guitar is mostly kept rhythm and the drums are also similarly understated, compared to the bass which feels like it is carrying the lead here.

Speaking of being "evocative" I have to imagine Jeff Buckley was a big fan of Joni Mitchell's, "Furry Sings The Blues" sounds like a track Buckley would get on to me. The sort of mix of spoken word mixed with singing, the story telling, the almost Shakespearean delivery... It's really interesting to see where these musical fonts tend to come from!

The titular track, Hejira, is a really cool one. The guitar here really reminds me of some of Pat Methany's work. Apple Music's description of the album describes this album as a travel journal, and I feel like this track really hits that most out of all on the album. It's tonally very grounded, yet foreign enough to feel as though you've found somewhere you'd like to move to, if that makes sense.

Joni's lyricism is really quite something too. Her prose is such that I often forget to even really listen to the music; I get too caught up in just feeling it. People often describe certain artist's voices being an instrument in and of themselves, and although her vocals aren't necessarily technically impressive on this record (though its not as though I'm saying her voice is bad, not by any stretch, just that this album is pretty reserved all around, not a lot of room for any particularly belt-y verses or big runs, stuff like that) her voice fits the vibe of it all so well. It sounds silly to say this album was made for her, like she's literally one of the producers of the album, but like. Idk, it's kinda perfect in that way.

Fave Tracks: Coyote, Furry Sings The Blues, Hejira

Definitely a pretty solid 7/10. I can see why this is listed as one of her quintessential albums pretty much everywhere, and I'm excited to dip into some more of her music when I have the time. I think I have always been more of an 80's music fan, and haven't really dipped into much from the 70's. Likely just because both of my parents were born in the 70's, the music they ended up listening to around me was mostly 80's stuff.

I definitely wanna spend more time with this record too. I feel like this initial first brush review hasn't done it nearly enough justice. But I have other stuff to get to!

[yourdrugisafartbreaker]

I am so mad at Music Choice right now.

For those of you without cable, you may not know hwat a “Music Choice” is. Essentially, high up on the channel numbers is the whole bloc of Music Choice channels. These channels would be focused on playing music of different genres or demographics or time periods. You got Music Choice RnB, Music Choice Toddler Tunes, Music Choice 80’s and all that and many more.

I had a system where I had 8 Music Choice channels favorited that I visited the most often, and conveniently, they were all neatly in two little blocs themselves. The first bloc had Music Choice Hit List (Popular music), Music Choice Max (Which is like Hit List but for popular Rap and EDM), Music Choice Dance (EDM but it’s not called EDM), and Music Choice Indie (Probably the 2nd best channel because it was so diverse and different). The second bloc had Music Choice Rock (This channel just screams lighter metal to me and I can’t get over it but I have it favorited because sometimes metal will occasionally pop up on it), Music Choice Metal (THE best channel because it was a mix of so many different types of metal and metal artists of varying popularities), Music Choice Alternative (The certified Gorillaz channel), and Music Choice Adult Alternative (Which is like if Indie and Alternative mixed and had a focus on leas popular artists but also had some occasional country sounding twang in there).

So, I don’t actively have a show I’m watching right now. I’ve tried to find one, and I have some saved on Tubi to check out, but I’m not fully feeling them and maybe one will more fully captivate me. Anyways, I was bored and didn’t just want to pick up my phone to watch YouTube, so I checked out my Music Choice Channels for a minute. These motherfuckers did some motherfucking up in here.

So, I go through my favorite channels and see my little Music Choice blocs. “Hit List… Max… Dance… 60’s- 60’s? When did I add 60’s?” I never added 60’s? You know what I did add? Indie. You know what I conveniently can’t find right now? Indie. WHY DID THEY HAVE TO REPLACE INDIE??!! Listen, if Indie wasn’t performing well or something, fine. But… Why 60’s and why there? It is so out of place! And, here’s the thing: You can already listen to music from the 60’s on Music Choice. You know how I mentioned Music Choice 80’s? There is also Music Choice Y2K, Music Choice 90’s, Music Choice 70’s, and Music Choice Solid Old Goldies! That is 60’s music right there! What the fuck are you thinking replacing a good channel with something you already have??!!

But, that’s fine, I guess. Nothing worth freaking out about. Alternative and Adult Alternative can kinda fill the gap, I guess. And hey, at least those are by Rock and Yacht Rock so I can-

YACHT ROCK??!!

Nope, nope, this is not okay! They did not just take the heaviest Music Choice channel I have and replace it with the softest version of rock ever! I dunno if it can even be considering rock at all! Who was asking for this??!! I’m… So pissed. I’m most likely going to do jack shit about this but… Fuck, I’m pissed right now.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

"[Motel name], how can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'll take em."

"..."

"..."

"Excuse me?"

"I said I'll take em."

"You'll take what?"

"I called the other day asking about some rooms, and I decided to take them."

"Okay. What date were you looking for?"

"I should be in the system."

"What is your name and what date were you looking for?"

"[Touron McAsshole, and the busiest week of the year, middle of February.]"

"We are booked solid that week, no openings. Did you actually make a reservation with us, or did you just make up your mind now?"

It should be noted here that not only do we have no openings that week, but every single reservation we do have starts earlier than the day he requested, so there is no possible way he could have asked for an opening on that date. There were no openings 3 days ago when he supposedly called, because all of these rooms have been on the books since before last summer.

I argue this point with him for a minute and tell him he must have called a different motel. There's one not too far from us that has the same area code and first three digits, with only the last four being different. He insists he called us and that I have personally ruined his family's vacation.

"Now what am I supposed to do, huh? Where am I supposed to stay? Who else has openings on such short notice?"

"Well, you might try [other motel] or [resort across the street], but-"

He hangs up before I finish my sentence "but I don't know what their openings look like. I don't work there."

So he's self aware enough to know that booking a room at the height of snowbird season less than a month in advance is a longshot, but seems to think that we, the cheapest motel on the island, would be the ones everyone has overlooked until the last moment. My dude, we started booking up LAST February. Every retired millionaire north of Atlanta, Georgia comes down to Florida from mid-January to mid-March every year like clockwork. While the reat of the country is experiencing surface-of-Mars temperatures, we're business as usual, 70s and 80s, maybe 60s at night.

If you're lucky, we can put you on our waiting list for NEXT February. We already have a ton of names on standby, and as soon as the 1st rolls around we'll start making calls and filling vacancies. First rule of southern tourism; February goes fast.

[indigo-flightly-falls]

I'm in the mood to talk about the Space AU more so here's some fun stuff with avians vs elytrians!

So elytrians are more what most people draw for bird hybrids. Basically humans with bird wings, and maybe some feathers on the arms or chest. Elytrian wings are typically solid colors, with some spots or patterns in some indivuals. Their wings can sometimes look similar to existing bird species, but this is only coincidence.

Elytrians have a longer lifespan then most beings, at around 400 years being considered the average. This leads to elytrian children not interacting with other children often, due to the fact that by the time an elytrian is considered an adult, there is a high chance the other child has died from old age.

Elytrians are a widely respected species, and are often teachers, historians, scientists, or librarians due to their long lifespans, which makes for a good memory!

Elytrains, apart from the wings and sometimes feathers on the chest/arms, look very human. There have been causes of dewinged elytrians (often due to accidents or by hunting, as elytrain feathers are considered good luck charms) being able to pass as full humans!

-

Avians on the other hand, are very short, and very very bird like.

Avians have wings, as well as tail feathers, clumps of feathers around the ears, and bird legs, and hollow bones. Avians are, as said above, very short. 3-3.5 feet is the average, with taller individuals reaching about 4 feet. That being said, it is possible for avians to reach a more normal (to humans) height of 5 feet under certain conditions, such as genetic makeup! Avians also always have wings that are patterned in an existing bird's pattern!

Avians have a more hidden physic feature, hardened skin on their shoulders, neck and upper arms! This is because all avians have a built in desire to perch, and will sometimes land on friends!

Avians have a lifespan of 70-80 years, and many of them live with non-human and non-elytrains due to... reasons. Said reasons are that elytrians and avians live in very similar places (forests, meadows, and mountains) and often have to compete for resources in a lesser established planet. On top of this, elytrians in the past viewed avians as we humans tend to view smaller apes: small creatures that look a bit like us, smart, a bit cute, but not on the same level of being. This is less common in the present, but it is still a part of avian history. The reason avians avoid humans is sadly a bit more disturbing. You see, there is a blackmarket-type trading ring for nonhumans, most commonly as pets or servants. Avians are a common target, due to their small size and very distinctively unhuman appearance.

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 782: Judas Priest Sin After Sin

I've struggled with Judas Priest.

But I'm also stubborn. Or maybe I'm just all too aware that I can go from not liking an artist to loving them if I can just find an in-road. Sometimes you can pick up on some little attribute in an artist's sound that says "you might not be feeling this now, but try coming back to it a little later." Whatever the reason, I keep trying to have my moment with Judas Priest despite it falling into an era and style of heavy metal that I'm generally ambivalent towards.

As I've mentioned before, I don't particularly care for NWOBHM stuff. I came into metal at a time when thrash and hair metal reigned. The thrash bands were far more ferocious than their predecessors while the hair metal stuff leaned even further into ear-worms and pop melodies. Bands like Judas Priest sounded tame and or tuneless in comparison. It didn't help that every punk band that decided to crossover in the '80s sounded like they were trying to mimic Judas Priest.

Why do I keep trying? Because on some level, there's an itch I'm trying to scratch and it seems like Judas Priest is the band to hit it. I wanna hear a kick-ass rock band with some solid riffs that still has the old analog vibe of the '70s while having a little more teeth than the average classic rock band of the era. Bonus points: cool band name (and a Bob Dylan reference), killer album art, and Rob Halford being a fellow homo.

Well, folks... I'm here to report that I have officially fallen for Sin After Sin. Album opener "Sinner" is the track that initially got me hooked. Solid songwriting, meaty riffs, epic ascending climax at the end of the song, old school guitar tones... it's exactly what I was looking for, even if it took several attempts with the album before I fell for its charms. And the rest of the album rules too. The cover of Joan Baez's "Diamonds & Rust" takes the melodic strength of the original and adds a galloping pulse. "Starbreaker" was stuck in my head for a solid week while on tour in August. "Let Us Prey / Call for the Priest" is a triumphant jam. "Raw Deal" is a solid rocker with some nice gay subtext. All in all, it still sounds like a scrappy young band from a working class town, but it also sounds like a band that knows exactly what they're aiming for and aren't afraid to be ambitious.

Apologies to my husband, bandmates, crew mates, friends, and neighbors who have put up with me blasting this record all summer. And I apologize in advance when I start deep-diving Sad Wings of Destiny and Stained Class (as soon as I find nice vinyl copies).

[impossible-rat-babies]

getting there all lazy like

Feelings on jobs here below (only the ones I’ve done recently):

—dragoon and monk are my fave of the jobs thus far. Maybe monk a bit more in terms of how snappy and fun the combos are. It flows well and feels natural. I’ve been enjoying it at 70. The job quests are in the realm of they start good and have a good premise but for me they fail to deliver a satisfying end

—dragoon is fun, but I feel like it’ll be more fun at 80. I really enjoyed it in bozja, and I miss the way 80 dragoon feels. Still it’s lots of management of buffs and positionals, but it feels satisfying. The job quest were more fun the second time, but they’re middle ground for me. Pretty good.

—ninja is bard’s management on steroids. so much remembering which combos are which. It’s got a nice flow to it though even at 70-79. I’ve enjoyed it. worth it to lvl bc the job quests are so much fun there isn’t a bad set of them through the expansions.

—samurai exists. I haven’t played it enough to get a good feel for it. i feel like I’m missing something when I play it though—it’s not all clicking yet. I enjoyed both sets of job quests a lot; they were very good.

—reaper is reaper. I don’t much remember leveling it, but it’s fun in 50 content I recall that much. job quests are excellent—200/10. I enjoyed them far more than sage, but personal preference.

—warrior is so much fun it’s such a fun tank. It’s such a solid tank. I feel like I don’t have to worry any when I’m playing warrior because it’s so simple and just Fun. Job quests are kinda….there? the humor of them doesn’t hit for me and they mention one thing in an early quest I wish they would have done more with.

—Paladin is fun too. Not a fan of how you have 173738 mitigations and I worry how it’ll feel past 70, but just playing it at 70 and it’s fun. I like it. It’s a job that came up and got me all sneaky like with it being canon for eyrie. (the job quests leave so much to be desired and I think they have the weakest job quests in 14)

—gnb is extremely fun to play. It feels tanky enough to go go go but also feels like good damage. I enjoy it a lot. the job quests are kinda middle ground for me; I feel like there could have been more content in them—I wanted more story. I wanted deeper dives of the job npcs and more to sink my teeth into.