I've recently been watching these very interesting Star Wars video essays on YouTube (yeah I know, a rare breed) and it brings up these comments Lucas has made about how he views Star Wars as almost like a silent film in terms of how important the visuals are to him in comparison to the dialogue. But this essay also points out how important Lucas finds all of the "rhyming" moments in his trilogies and the way he utilizes them to remind you of something else for emotional or thematic reasons. And there's so many of them, both in visuals and in dialogue, and it's interesting to consider how important this is to him, the repetition for a purpose as well as the storytelling through visuals above everything else and then to look at Star Wars since the Prequels came out and realize how little has really been able to match up to those ideals since then.
The ONLY thing that's come out since the Prequels that I think really hits these two things the same way is, in fact, Andor. One of the things I noticed about the way people discussed Andor as it was airing in a way I haven't really seen for any of the other shows or films was the visual SYMBOLOGY. So many times I saw people noticing the Imperial cog everywhere, from the aerial shot of Narkina 5 as the prisoners escape to the architecture of Mon Mothma's house. There were people picking up on the use of items in Luthen's shop that are familiar from other things to give this idea that Luthen is from another time, he's attempting to preserve this world he lost, that if you're not looking closely enough you won't notice what he's really saying or doing with this shop. The color choices for the different locations and people got analyzed because the people involved spoke about how they intentionally utilized color to SEND A MESSAGE about the characters and the world. We know that the people who made the costumes and sets really worked hard to treat Star Wars almost like a period drama and study the history of the franchise as if it were a real place so that the things they came up with felt like they belonged in this world everyone knows so well even if it's completely new. And of course there were all of the myriad references to things from Rogue One, the constant repetition of "climb", the sunset on the beach, etc.
Nearly EVERY SHOT in this show was created with so much intention behind it in order to say something meaningful about the characters, the world, this specific story they're in, and the overall saga of Star Wars itself. It's insane how much greater impact this show was able to achieve through the incredibly careful usage of visual symbols and thematic repetitions, much like Lucas did before them. It feels like they didn't just study the history of the galaxy far far away, but they studied the history of STAR WARS and what Lucas was trying to do and say with this story. They peeled back his onion a bit more and were able to create something that really has that same visual feel even when it's not created for a child audience. It also is experimenting with its narrative style through its structure and through Cassian's character being allowed to be somewhat more reactive than proactive, and while that didn't work for everyone, it does feel like it's following in Lucas's footsteps of experimentation through Star Wars. Push the boundaries of what Star Wars is and can be and what you can say with it.
But this only works because they peeled the onion back enough to TRULY understand all of the messages Lucas was sending with it. They got the heart of Star Wars and despite its lack of space wizards, despite the lack of most major characters in the Saga, this was a show that honestly got the message more than just about anything else Star Wars has put out since the Prequels. The choices between selflessness and selfishness, the themes about how you always HAVE to make a choice even when it feels like you don't have any (sometimes ESPECIALLY when it feels like you don't have any), and how important it is to make sure to choose the path of compassion above everything else. The themes of connection to others, the symbiotic circle and the impact even the smallest person can have on world around them, it's RIGHT THERE and it's CENTRAL to Andor's storyline.
So yes, it experiments a little with narrative structure, but it's possibly the most Star Wars thing to exist Revenge of the Sith because it honestly truly GETS what Star Wars was about, both in its themes and in its filmmaking. A lot of people said that Andor didn't feel like Star Wars to them, usually because of the lack of space wizards and the fact that it's not a story aimed at children. But to me, Andor is EXACTLY what Star Wars is and has always been. They're stretching the boundaries of what Star Wars can be, but it's saying the exact same things Star Wars has always said, it's just saying it slightly differently. This doesn't feel like fanfiction to me, not really. Unlike things like the Mandoverse or the books, Andor isn't just taking some of the toys out of the sandbox and going to play with them somewhere else. Andor is IN that sandbox. It's building a slightly different sandcastle, but it's still within the sandbox, using the same sand that Lucas did.
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I was watching a Youtube video of all the Cinematic from the new Overwatch Invasion update (cause heaven knows I ain't buying it) and I noticed at the end Ramattra has this like.. Burn? Mark?? On his chest that goes through his cape
So I downloaded Overwatch on my PC to get a look at the Wandering/Traveling Monk skins this scene is using and I noticed..
Traveling and Wandering have a lot of visual differences, most notably in the burn the originally got my attention.
Wandering has been used canonically to show Ramattra's monk days previously, in his origin story and in the Developer commentary, but interestingly the artwork in those videos is lacking that very burn
Overwatch character designers are very good at visual storytelling, especially with Omnics (I could write an essay on what they've done with Zenyatta), so I believe this burn may very well be what became the Last Straw for Ramattra, what pushed him to leave the Shambali, what caused his fall into violence and eventually Talon.
Was he attacked? Or was he attempting to protect someone else? Despite his best efforts to shield them, the shot fired right past him, scorching his metal, cutting through his cape, and taking their life...
I hope we learn more about it.
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Vincent gets used to [Halloween Town] in small increments. Here, he blends into the environment so well that residents are surprised to find him a newcomer.
…
He speaks with the Werewolf, avoids the awe-struck vampires and listens to the band in the evening, perching on the light pole to overlook the sprawling township.
-Smoke and Mirrors Keep Us Waitin' On A Miracle by Gothams_Only_Wolf (@bamfcoyotetango ) on Ao3
I’ve been rereading some of my older Ao3 bookmarks and idk what possessed me, but I had to draw something for this one lmaooo
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DEV LOG: 2023 Recap!
We wanted to post this update at the end of Dec, but time got away from us! We have a lot to look back at in 2023...
❁ We released Trouble Comes Twice!
We're very proud to have released our first game as a studio!
There were some rough patches, so we are forever thankful for the support from our players, backers, patrons, family, friends, and the talented freelancers who helped this project become more than just a dream.
Although we couldn't be more grateful for the positive reception, we're also noting down feedback and criticism for future projects. We're confident that our experiences working on TCT will help us make even better games in the future!
❁ Trouble Comes Twice: Bonus Stories!
Trouble Comes Twice: Bonus Stories is a DLC we've been working on for the past months and it's also going to be our last major public update to the game before we bid goodbye to these characters.
This DLC isn't a sequel or anything major, it's more like a collection of short bonus stories (hence the name) so it'll be relatively inexpensive. We mostly recommend it to players interested in more than one of the couples, that way you'll get the most out of the content!
We don't dare to promise an exact release day yet, but we're currently wrapping up coding and should begin testing before the month's up. So probaaaably February for the release?
❁ Burn the Midnight Oil
Towards the end of 2023, early production began on our next visual novel Burn the Midnight Oil. You can catch a small sneak peek at two of the six romance options above.
Starring vampires, demons and other horrors of the night - it's a supernatural neo-noir romance drama set in a fictionalized version of 80s England. The player steps into the shoes of the vengeful private detective Circe, a vampire infamous for hunting her own kind and the reluctant cop Dante, a short-tempered half-demon torn between his human side and the world of the supernatural.
We're excited for everyone to meet Circe, Dante and the rest of the cast when we officially announce this project later this year!
❁ Plans for 2024
We have a handful of goals for 2024, some bigger than others.
★ Releasing the DLC for Trouble Comes Twice!
★ Burn the Midnight Oil Announcement + Kickstarter
★ Other things and secrets...?
Thank you for an amazing 2023 and here's to a great 2024! ✨
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Nameless
Part Twelve - Apostate
Page 4/10
I love that the Grand Inquisitor belongs to a species that avoids direct sunlight.
Perfect for visual metaphors about being ~blinded by the Jedi's light~, and I take it to show how he adapted to life in the Temple in a way that works contrary to his nature.
The comic is also available here on AO3.
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For those of you who are curious, these are what Bucky’s tattoos look like in You Watched Me Burn.
I don’t have the dragon one on this sheet, I’m still working on it, but these are the other ones :D
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