#but these are my thoughts from like. A costume design perspective and how costumes inform character for narrative purposes

[isan0rt]

Actually, @lightandfellowship asking about other Dark Road historical fashion thoughts on this post did kind of get me thinking about it and you know what I think is really interesting? Is that there are only two students that are at any point wearing entirely Western-looking (non-Japanese) clothing without an obi and obijime, and that’s Xehanort (pre-arrival at Scala)...

And Baldr.

Even Master Odin is wearing an obi and obijime despite otherwise dressing like Gandalf, but we’ll leave him aside for the sake of this discussion.

For the most part the students are wearing fusion clothing, but that’s typical of the Taisho era. The Taisho period, which immediately followed the end of the Meiji Restoration, was a period of great change in Japan, and of Westernization. It was very common for people to wear a mix of Western clothing with traditional Japanese clothing. You can see a lot of this in the Dark Road students; 

(This got really long lol. Discussion of the secondary and tertiary Dark Road students’ design choices, culminating in discussion of Eraqus, Xehanort, and Baldr’s designs and what they might mean in the context of a Taisho-period-adjacent setting, under the cut).

- Most of the male students, plus Urd, are wearing very loose, bloused pants, probably tobi trousers or karusan-bakama. 

- Vidar, Vali, and Vala have some of the most traditionally Japanese silhouettes among the upperclassmen. Vidar is wearing a sleeveless lapped garment that isn’t strictly traditional, but has a very Japanese look to the way it’s assembled and to the color styling, while Vali is wearing pretty authentic-looking Japanese faulds, and is obviously supposed to make you think of the kabuki ideal of a ninja. Vala also looks EXTREMELY Taisho-period; the wearing of silk-painted or embroidered, brightly-colored hakama with an obi and furisode or kosode was extremely common for girls in the Taisho period. Vala has some sort of fantasy puff cuff-sleeve-thing instead of furisode, but her hakama and obi are lifted straight out of the 1910s. Interestingly, these upperclassmen, like Eraqus in the lower class, survive the longest.

- Heimdall, Sigrun, and Bragi are all wearing a mix of actual traditional Japanese clothing and Western elements. They are all wearing short kimono, with Sigrun having a very classic obi styling, Bragi is wearing traditional workman’s clothing (a hanten and sarubakama, with an obi without obijime, interestingly), and Heimdall appears to be wearing a kosode, with obi and obijime. However, Sigrun is wearing leggings and gaiters, Heimdall has some WILD thigh-high Three Musketeers boots and that very intensely high-collared, French-looking bolero jacket, and Bragi is, as previously discussed, wearing a bomber jacket (and also Chuck Taylor sneakers, Bragi you sneaky, deeply anachronistic guy).

- Helgi and Hoder, interestingly, appear to be blending Japanese and Chinese clothing styles; they’re both wearing obi and obiage, but Hoder appears to be wearing a cheongsam, and while Helgi is wearing a sleeveless kimono as a shirt, his fur ruffs very much evoke some traditional theatrical depictions of Son Goku (the Monkey King not the DBZ character); but I’m not that knowledgeable about Chinese clothing so I won’t make too many conjectures here.

- Urd and Hermod and Vor all have very fantasy-like designs, with the girls having fewer garments from either real Western or Japanese styles. Hermod and Urd as discussed have the bloused pants, Vor’s coat looks VERY much like a traditionally silk painted kimono that’s been altered to have a Western tab-collar, but has a traditional Japanese rope bow on the back, and all three are wearing obi and obiage. However, Urd’s robe/cape thing is VERY Western Fantasy Wizard, meanwhile Vor is wearing actual pumpkin pants. Hermod’s looks the most period, with his haori retaining the traditional lapels but altered to have Western bishop sleeves, and he’s wearing VERY WWI-style gaiters.

Now lets talk about the other three, who are actually our main characters; Xehanort, Baldr, and Eraqus.

Eraqus is absolutely wearing nothing but traditional Japanese clothing (aside from the obvious Kingdom Hearts elements of the turtleneck and crossed suspenders). He is wearing extremely traditional hakama, with the most traditional haori of any of the cast. His hair is partially loose but what is pulled back is pulled into something like a topknot; Eraqus is designed in every way to evoke the look of the samurai class. What I think is significant with that is that, as mentioned, the Taisho period followed the Meiji Restoration, when the samurai class in Japan were more or less disbanded in the face of modernization of Japan. I don’t think it’s unrelated that at this point, the Scalan society that considers Eraqus a ‘blueblood’ is also in decline, and is ultimately ended within Eraqus’s lifetime. He is the last of his kind, and he is dressed like it.

Then, there’s Xehanort. When he leaves Destiny Islands to go to Scala he’s dressed in an outfit that calls to mind Ephemer’s, and is extremely Western and modern-looking; which makes sense, since he was raised by Player, and the KHUX time period has very modern and Western fashion (remember Bragi’s Chucks?). But once he’s a student, he’s replaced his button-down shirt and collared sleeveless duster with a turtleneck (Kingdom Hearts, lol) and haori of his own, an exact photo negative of Eraqus’s haori except that Xehanort’s is sleeveless. But Eraqus is a blueblood, and as far as anyone in Scala knows, Xehanort is a nobody and a foreigner; he is still wearing Western pants in a Western style, held up by a Western belt and without any obi in sight. Xehanort was born in Scala, and he resents being seen as Just Some Guy, but he doesn’t belong there like Eraqus does; his haori on top is trying to make him part of that world, an equal to Eraqus, but what’s underneath reflects that Scala doesn’t consider him either of those things.

And then, there is Baldr. 

I’ve seen other posters point out that his clothing is all black, under a white jacket (I’m sorry I don’t remember who pointed this out!), but also, Baldr has the most Western and contemporary clothing of all of the characters in Dark Road. In contrast to Xehanort, with his loose, pre-WWI-era jeans, Baldr is wearing contemporary skinny jeans with a wallet chain and fashionable low-buckled boots. He’s also wearing a waistcoat, and a bolero jacket with what looks like knit cuffs. He doesn’t fit in with the others at all, even less than Xehanort does.

And pointedly, like Xehanort, he is not wearing an obi.

I feel like it’s not a coincidence that this game visually sets its characters in the Taisho era, the time period that transitioned Japan from the traditional Japan to the modern, Westernized Japan of the 20th century, and the character who puts a permanent end to Scalan society is the only character dressed entirely in Western and modern clothing. Obviously I can’t say for sure what the intent was, but at the end of the game, the three characters left standing are Eraqus, dressed in the most traditionally Japanese fashion, Baldr, dressed in the least, and Xehanort, the fusion, who is dressed like Eraqus on the surface, but underneath, is dressed like Baldr.

[stuckinanotherfandomohno]

Please do let me know if anyone else has done an analysis of this already as I’m sure it would be more detailled (and coherent), but I wanted to look at the immediate presentations of heaven and hell in the first episode of Good Omens and how they are both made pretty uncomortable.

While the set design of heaven is pretty cold and uninviting, it doesn’t neccessarily feel openly hostile from some people’s perspectives. Instead, I think they show how weird heaven is through the choice of lens:

They use a pretty wide lens throughout most of the scene- definitely under 50mm and probably under 35mm (I guess 18-24). For those who haven’t been cursed with Technical Film Knoweldge this sort of causes the same effect as those pictures you may have seen when people use the ‘0.5′ lens on a phone to take a close picture of a person’s face. We feel really close to the actors, like we are practically breathing in each others’ faces.

Different lenses cause different types of warp(?) on an image- to my very basic understanding a wider lens (18-35ish) makes faces look thinner and unnatural, while a closer lens (50+) makes faces look wider and closer to how we view them with our eyes. I use this information to console myself when I don’t like how I look in pictures- it’s probably the type of lens.

This wide angle lens also helps heaven to look really empty:

Aziraphale (and his surroundings) are squished thinner to show the rest of the surroundings which makes heaven seem so much more vast.

Typically you may hear that placing the camera at a low angle makes the characters in the shot seem more powerful, but I wouldn’t necessarily say this is true for either of the two wide shots here. Instead, it just feels uncomfortable, as if the audience is watching from a little too far back, and from a weird perspective.

To summarise, heaven may look clean and smiley, but the wide lens and low angle makes the characters seem warped and off-putting, even if the audience can’t put their finger on it.

Hell, on the other hand, immediately looks hostile.

The flies, the low saturation (~absence of bold colours), the cold greenish tint of lighting. Gross.

In this instance, however, a closer lens is used. I presume something like a 50mm? This is a lot closer to what our eyes see naturally and a more typical lens to use for these types of shots, so we (the audience) are more accustomed to this sort of visual language.

The camera is virtually at eye-height from the start of the scene as well. It’s just a lot more comfortable to look at, even if the costumes/set depicted are a lot more slimy.

I just found it really interesting how both heaven and hell have a comfortable aspect, and an uncomfortable aspect. It sort of drives home the themes about greyness- it would be almost hypocritical to introduce heaven with relatively comfortable colours, set, and cinematographical language, and to introduce hell with gross colours, set, and cinematographical language.

They don’t stick to this throughout the whole season, possibly for good reason possibly not (ie I haven’t made up a reason for it yet) but I thought the attention to detail in this introduction was really cool!

[in-pleasant-company]

Hello new friend,

I'm a 41-year-old white queer femme who has just recently retrieved my three AG dolls from the attic where I put them away before I went to college. I have Kirsten, and the original release Felicity and Addy. I brought them out to clean up and give to my daughter, but have found they have released a great deal of stored up energy, and I have been deep diving into the world of AG since I put it down in 2001. I have been working my way backwards in your Tumblr, and am in 2020 now. I want to thank you for your clear love of and dedication to American Girl, and I really appreciate your various thoughtful perspectives, especially as it relates to the historical PC and current Mattel relationship with race and ethnicity. As an Elder Millennial, I don't really know how to Tumblr, but you can find me on IG as quiltereina (my public account), so you can see that I'm not a total weirdo-in-a-bad-way - just a domesticated rebel with grandma hobbies living in a hippie suburb of my hometown of Washington, D.C.

I found my dolls, but not their clothes or accessories yet, which is a devastating. I received the dolls as gifts, but I earned all of their clothes through chores. I have already sewed more clothes for my girls (plus the three new ones I have purchased since Jan 1) than I had the entirety of my childhood, having leaned to sew in the intervening years. I am balancing the desire to recreate all of the clothes I had, using time-period appropriate prints and patterns, but in my own preferred color schemes (mostly pinks and purples), a sort of alternative history recreation for my own inner child, plus the desire to make fun and frilly costumes for my five-year-old's enjoyment. In these pursuits, I have not only saved the Pretty Dresses PDF from AGPlaythings, but have been searching for patterns that will as closely as possible replicate the Meet outfits for my girls; I have found Addy's from doll-princesse, and think I can wing Kirsten's from her school dress, but Felicity? Still searching.

So I have one very specific question - a woman in a 18" doll facebook sewing group claims that there was 1992 Pleasant Company book of patterns released, which included Felicity's Meet Dress. I have searched the ends of the internet; she is not referring to the PC Pretty Dresses Patterns; there is no record in the AG Wiki or in the Library of Congress for this book. She said someone on Etsy was selling copies of the book and the FB poster got blocked for harassing the Etsy seller for selling a book still under copyright, but I cannot find the like on Etsy or Ebay. Have you ever heard of such a book? Or is _someone_ -lying- on the internet? And if you have any other deep-dive pattern suggestions (I've seen everything on Etsy, PixieFaire, Pemberly, etc), I'd be grateful, and also happy to compensate pattern makers/recreators.

If you've made it this far, thanks for your time reading this, and again for your insightful and informative Tumblr-blog.

Best,

LaLa

Hi, welcome! It's wonderful that you're giving some love to these old dolls once again!

As for the book with Felicity's pattern, it sounds fascinating. I will keep a lookout for it. It's possible the book was an internal, company only creation that was meant for creating the mockups before the doll clothes went into production in West Germany (and later in China). I will say that there was a set of doll patterns (or possibly multiple sets?) that were briefly available from Colonial Williamsburg that the person may have been remembering as Felicity patterns. It could also have been a pattern that was made available for special events at places like the Madison Children's Museum. I know of a pattern for Felicity's Bedding that is associated with the Madison Children's Museum.

The patterns available from Colonial Williamsburg were from Past Crafts patterns (labelled Evoking Period Style for Dolls), and I'm almost positive that there was a set of doll clothes patterns designed by someone who worked in the textiles department of Colonial Williamsburg, but I haven't been successful in tracking them down.

Edit: Could it be they were talking about the GIRL sized pattern for Felicity's Meet Outfit? It wasn't in a book but a paper envelope like commercial patterns.

Edit 2: I reached out on the AG Playthings message board and got some answers. Yes, the pattern does exist but it was never available for sale from Pleasant Company. I imagine it was an internal document that was somehow leaked/stolen. Mystery solved!

[melliotwrites]

Hi! My brain has been going on and on and on about this musical and I’d love to know some lore about what happened to the Adamandi characters in freshman year! It’s hinted at and talked about a couple of times and I’m really curious.

Hi!! I'm really glad you're enjoying Adamandi! Thanks for the great question as well :)

Disclaimer that this is from a writing perspective, and also a snapshot of how we thought about the characters at the very beginning of the production process (when we wrote this draft of the script). Our actors, director, and designers for the Princeton production all came up with ideas about what happened to the characters, so if you're interpreting the choreography or costumes or acting choices or something, you might get a different takeaway (which is part of the magic of a collaborative art form like theater!)

(Stage directions and info about the characters is under the read more!)

The primary source of information in the script for what the characters are doing freshman year is A Word to the Wise; the characters enter as freshmen and then age up to seniors throughout the course of the song. This is the stage direction we wrote for the beginning:

The costume descriptions are meant to signify that when each of the characters begin their education at Address, they don't quite fit in. Quincy comes from an affluent family but is expecting to be met with prejudice by the rest of the student body, so they overcompensate by overdressing. Vincent is an international student from China, and they doesn't have the money or the knowledge of cultural norms in the United States to dress exactly like the other students yet, but they're trying their hardest. Ambrose hasn't found his niche with the sports extracurriculars and spends his time doing pottery instead; Beatrix doesn't care about fitting in yet, so she isn't consciously branding herself as a journalist (and hasn't yet changed her name to an Anglicized version). Portia isn't there because she is a Sophomore in the current day so she hasn't arrived at Ardess yet!

As the song progresses, their costumes change to signify their transformations into the jaded Seniors we know and love: Quincy dresses down to fit in, Vincent gets his long coat to show that he *isn't* trying to fit in, Ambrose and Beatrix get the signature clothing of their school clubs which are also their primary social groups, etc.

The first verse of A Word to the Wise (in theory) encompasses their freshman year, so the stage directions during the song show their social situations and relationships to other characters:

Vincent and Ambrose gravitate together, as roommates and fellow visual arts enjoyers (I also have adopted Tobias' headcanon that this is because Ambrose is trying to "teach" Vincent about being a guy and wants to bond with him over gender things, since he's never met another trans person before). Quincy and Vincent haven't met yet- Quincy, excluded by their year for both their intellectual airs and their race, hangs out mostly with older students who indoctrinate them into Ardess' toxic achievement culture.

Student 5 was played by the same actor as Adrian in the Princeton production, which fit this moment well; initially, Ambrose is trying to use his privilege to protect Vincent from the Marmorei's bullying, but it just means both of them are excluded. Beatrix gets invited but not socially accepted into the Newspaper club.

At the end of their freshman year, Ambrose gets drawn in by the Marmorius Society and slowly stops hanging out with Vincent, leaving Vincent alone.

The second verse of A Word to the Wise loosely covers their second year at Ardess. Beatrix joins the Ardess Daily, and Ambrose officially gets tapped for the Marmorius Society (they're specified here because of the lyric about secret societies- the Marmorius Society is intended to be one of those secret-but-not-secret societies at Ivy League universities that people join by invitation.)

At the end of their sophomore year and the start of their Junior year, Vincent is officially alone, as is Quincy, since both of their friends have more or less abandoned them. Beatrix is fighting for recognition in the Ardess daily, but she remains a Ghost Writer- unrecognized officially but used for her journalistic talent. Ambrose has decided to imitate the Marmorei as much as possible, and is carefully crafting his appearance to that aim- a harbinger of things to come.

The rest of the song covers Quincent meeting, the arrival of Portia, and Ambrose becoming the leader of the Marmorei, but I'll leave it there since you just asked about freshman year! The most significant things that happened Freshman year are Vincent and Ambrose being roommates and Beatrix getting headhunted for the Ardess Daily. Thanks for the question and I'm glad you're enjoying the show!

~Mel

[superexplosive]

Finishing up my fifth (final?) complete run of Cyberpunk 2077, my first ever Street Kid (usually I default to Nomad because I legit have actual real world rally racing opinions).

Spoilers ahoy!

Still going with the Nomad Happy Ending because it's the least hopeless. Currently in the middle of an alt manual save detour through the end of Phantom Liberty to finally lock down the King of Pentacles and Tower achievements. Will then hop back to the original save where all the gigs and side jobs are already done with the least hopeless outcomes available, thus canonically fixing Night City forever, you're welcome.

From there, we betray Reed and send Songbird to the Moon WHERE SHE'S FINE AND BEST FRIENDS WITH LUCY WHO IS ALSO FINE BY THE WAY. Then it's finally time to Meet Hanako at Embers and do the Nomad Happy Ending so Panam can marry V and Judy and live happily ever. Lest you think this is spiraling into the realm of the fanfictional — the mortality of V's condition is oversold to the player by a couple characters who are just spitballing from incomplete information.

Vik is a great ripper, no question, but he is not a neuroscientist and he's never encountered anything like the Relic. And, yes, Hellman designed the Relic, but they never tried plugging one into a living person and then killing them in a way that also damaged the Relic just to see how that turned out. Of course these guys would look at the, whatever, NeuroStability progress bar on V's bioscans and conclude from Number Go Down that she must be dying. The game is full of narrators who don't know they're unreliable.

As is clear through the actual gameplay, V's consciousness and Johnny's are simply converging. They become more aligned in thoughts, deeds, and goals as the story progresses. The game demonstrates this to us in a couple super obvious ways: there is no reason for V to reload the Malorian like that, and it's easier for Johnny to "take the wheel" every time. The game even gives us the means to demonstrate this: whomst among us has never set up a costume slot with all the iconic Johnny-wear? Or killed Adam Smasher with the Malorian while wearing it?

It has always been meaningless to distinguish between them — Johnny is already an integral part of V's neurobiology by the time Tak finds you in the trash. The fact that we ever see and hear Johnny as a separate entity is mostly for the player's convenience — it would be less satisfying and probably alienating for us, the audience, to experience this story from V's perspective if Johnny has no tangible on screen presence for 100+ hours.

Eventually the Relic will "finish" and Johnny will be V as much as V will be Johnny. This is no more a death than when you read a book that changes how you think about life.

[kikyan]

Greetings,

I am requesting a Twisted Wonderland Match up. I am 19, I am bisexual and I go by any pronouns but I’d like to stick with they/he. My hobbies are writing, drawing, acting, reading, costume/fashion plus character designing and I adore gaming and anime. People who are close to me describe me as calculating, ambitious, creative, sassy, polite, observant and curious and I do have some mood swings (not as extreme as Floyd’s though). My MBTI is INTP and my astrology/zodiac sign is Taurus.

Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great day.

I apologize profusely for the delay, I moved and started a new job all in the span of last week so it's been quite hectic. However, I did NOT forget about these match-ups, TRUST I will finish them! Starting off with yours! I focused more on your MBTI than your zodiac sign, so I hope my research did not fail me. Without further ado, I match you up with Leona and Idia being a runner up!

Okay, a huge disclaimer that I wanted to match you up with Vil but then I was like, "no that sounds too similar, Vil sounds like them" and then I realized that I unintentionally almost gave you a kin and I was like "no I can't do that to him I need to give them a match up not a kin" so Leona for sure is the match-up! It might be short because I only used your MBTI because I was reading about your sign and some things contradicted each other from the sources I was reading so I decided to play it safe.

From your INTP (introverted, intuitive, thinking, and prospecting) I got that you're a flexible thinker who seeks unlikely paths and takes risks, experimenting with personal creativity along with a willingness to learn. You pride yourself on your unique perspective and intellect. Which makes sense considering your hobbies. You have a lot but they're all artistic which leaves room for creativity and plenty of risks. When writing you can include twists to engage and shock readers, and use language and dialect to convey simple emotions/thoughts into something unique and unheard of. Same with drawing, you can take a unique approach to something and jot it down, you're in charge of your reading, but when it comes to design, acting, and fashion, you're the one in control and can let your mind run free. People describe you as calculating and creative, meaning you pay attention to many details and without a doubt, these small details are just a small part of the big picture you have envisioned. You're ambitious, no doubt when you have a plan you focus on it and try your hardest to see it to the end, however, a possible weakness to this is that you may be a perfectionist, wanting it to be done right. If it's not, your mind won't rest till it is. You may tire of social interactions and need a break, surrounding yourself with things you enjoy which would be gaming and anime. When it comes to love, you take relationships seriously and want to connect with your partner on a real level. Not just like them, you want to be with someone whose company you can enjoy and who you can admire (and can keep up with your mind). You're observant, calculating, and curious, so I get the vibes that you put a lot of effort into relationships. Observing your S/O and finding a way to express your emotions in a way that resonates with them and vice versa, you pay attention to every little detail and are curious to see how this pertains to your S/O. I think you want to know more about them, seeking information to make sure they're comfortable in the relationship and planning how to go about it.

I pair you up with Leona because while Vil does sound great (but also similar), I think many forget how understanding Leona can be. He's not some lazy lion lounging about but I think we bring up how he does have depression and how it affects him so much that we forget his other traits. Yes, Leona is depressed and he has no motivation to do anything because of it. However, we can see in certain events that he does take joy in doing certain things and talking to people, and he values the interactions he has with others. I think he's a perfect match, from what I gathered from what you've told me and from your MBTI, I think you're someone who loses themselves inside their work, constantly striving for it to be perfect. This can also bring out mood swings (which you said you have). I think Leona can help you relax. Unlike someone who also gets lost in his work, Leona would remind you to take breaks. If you stubbornly say no, he'll take you out on a break or bring you something to help you relax, but he'll reassure you that it's okay. Maybe even constantly commenting on things here and there that can help your project. We think of him as someone who doesn't care, but he does. I can see maybe a scenario where you're struggling and don't know what to do or add to your most recent project, but Leona just casually mentions something that just solves it. He tries when it comes to you. The main thing with Leona is that you guys don't have to do anything special to feel loved. I think you and Leona would be content just doing your own thing in the same room if that makes sense? Like he could be napping and you could be writing or drawing, but he's content napping next to you and you're content knowing he's near you. Even better when he's actively helping you, because he won't want a reward or anything of the sort, he's happy and content because you're happy and content. He's content helping you out or just spending time doing nothing but being around you. While he does have a temper he would never abandon you if you do have a mood swing, he would stay with you or give you space, however, you feel but he will check up on you after it! As a yandere, I think Leona (mind you I know I fumbled the bag with his headcanons because they sound so plain) would create a situation where you turn to him. Again, he enjoys your company but he wants it frequently which doesn't help when you're constantly hanging out with someone else or just busy in general. I don't see him as the type to take away your hobbies so he'd try to take up your time and slowly isolate you. Create a situation where you seek him out, want him by your side, etc. That feeling of dread that someone looking at you with predatory eyes, for once it's not rook, it's him. I feel like I give these characters too much credit, maybe one of these days you'll notice that it's a pattern that it all leads to him, but who knows what else he has in store.

Time for Idia, which I picked because of the same reason! He would enjoy your company, sure having someone to talk to who understands you is amazing but I think real love is just being able to bask in each other's company. Maybe you join him in games or choose to be alone in your own world designing a new character, who knows. He enjoys the silence if there is any, he loves how he feels close to you even when there are no words being spoken. Without a doubt, though Idia is great, if you need any help with character designing, he's the one to ask. He can tell you all about tropes, and how to balance a character in terms of personality, qualities, power level, etc. He's the expert (one could say). He enjoys finding someone who can also play with and relate to him. He adores your hobbies and does his best, offering advice here and there or letting you take the flow but being the one to hand you stuff or even buy materials, "I thought this would look good here" or "you were running out of this so I just got some more". He's content either way. I think he might even relate to wanting to put effort into the relationship. He's also an overthinker and would research/observe what you like to impress you. He would present you with something and anxiously await for you to say something. Start to think of scenarios where you hate him or hate his gift. However, I think that both of you could come to work on the relationship. I've always said the healthiest relationship is one where both can grow and mature together (and fight, if yall can have a fight but work towards a solution together rather than having someone storm out and not talking about it, that's healthy). I think Idia could learn more about himself and you during the relationship, realizing that it's not the usual cheesy romance stuff but rather being there for one another. While both are unique in their own way, they both do a good job when it comes to understanding you and giving you your space/support.

Thank you so much for your support and hope you enjoyed your match-up! Hope to see you around!

[rabarbarzcukrem]

My thoughts on The Irregulars

Okay, I've just binge watched Netflix's The Irregulars. To be honest I didn't know pretty much anything about it before I started, I decided to check it out because I had heard Watson was canonically queer in this version. Glancing at the synopsis made me think that it would be a story of Sherlock Holmes's cases told through the perspective of the members of street gangs he hires to find information for him (which I thought was a cool idea with a lot of potential). So I was pretty disappointed when I started watching and found out that 1. it was fantasy and 2. it had nothing of the iconic cases from the original source material. I hate when shows take crime cases and add ✨ supernatural ✨ twists to them for no reason, because what's really fun about this particular genre is gradually figuring out how the crime was orchestrated. When you add the paranormal to that, it's harder to look for clues and draw conclusions yourself because magic makes anything possible and you need to wait for the show to explain it to you.

But I was really pleasantly surprised that the show didn't take the "crime but with a magic twist" route and committed to the idea, making everything revolve around the supernatural instead. So Holmes and Watson aren't regular detectives, they specifically deal with paranormal cases, Mycroft isn't just working for the government, he's a member of a magic cult.

I've seen many people complain that this version makes Holmes, and especially Watson completely unlikable, but this darker characterization is actually the thing I enjoyed the most. When it's done in the usual way, with Holmes as the brilliant detective and Watson as his companion, the narrator and a stand-in for the audience, he needs to be passive to some degree, because the structure of the story demands that of him. But by placing them in the background, you can stop treating them as narrative tools and actually focus on them being characters. And when you take this approach, and look at the things Watson actually does - choosing to associate himself with an eccentric drug addict and lead a particularly dangerous lifestyle - it starts to make sense that he's a little bit fucked up, actually. Also I'm a sucker for unrequited love and gay yearning, so he was bound to be my favorite.

Sherlock disappointed me a little bit to be honest. He's alright I guess, I just wish they'd do something more interesting with him. But they gave him a cunty earring, so that's a plus. (Also the actor reminded me of Taika Waititi for some reason...?)

A small part of me kind of wishes that instead of changing their characterization so drastically they'd simply make their own characters... But in that case I would have probably never watched this show, so I guess it works as a way to draw attention.

The main characters are... fine? A very typical YA fantasy team (*cough* Six of Crows *cough*). I liked how casually yet maturely they handled the sexual stuff between them, I liked Billy's struggle with his trauma. Most things about them was done well, although it was nothing revolutionary.

What really bugged me was the costume design. I won't be complaining about historical inaccuracies because it's clear the show wasn't going for realism, but why couldn't they have just chosen 1 time period (or a set of silhouettes at least) to take inspiration from and commit to it? The fashion is all over the place.

All in all it was okay? Definitely better than Warrior Nun, another cancelled show - very flawed and clumsily written but still close to my heart. It's a shame there won't be a continuation, but I don't think there needs to be.

[sourkilko]

Click for better quality

I wanted to make my own redesign of Booster cause I wanna draw him more but I need a consistent reference, so I just patchworked a lot of stuff and added in some of my own things

I put a lot of thought into this and I have a lot of design notes I'll throw under the cut, but main points I wanted in my Booster design was the mullet, bring back the jacket over the costume, and bring back the prosthesis. Skeets doesn't have a lot but he's a mix of modern Skeets and Human Target, cause I love his little fins in that

I really tried to do right with Booster's arm, and I spent the most time with it outta everything. I think it had a lot of potential for him, but it only led to getting a shitty, poorly written "fix" in an awful series. Extreme Justice sucks

I spent a lot of time researching actual prosthetic limbs, and reading about experiences people with limb differences have with different prosthesis, and I'm really glad I went down that rabbit hole cause it was really interesting hearing different perspectives and learning about something I honestly had no clue on.

Eventually though it clicked that I might have been really stupid and thinking too hard, because I didn't think of how any of this information would translate into the incredibly technologically advanced universe

Booster's arm is made with STAR Labs tech, so I really needed to start looking in universe

I started referencing Cyborg from a few different places, and combined it with several references from actual prosthetic arms to finalize Booster's arm. I imagine Booster is nowhere close to being as advanced as Vic, but they are working on a similar base

The pads on his hand give him a sensation of touch, though I don't imagine it's the same as his non artificial hand. There's a lot of casing around the joints to protect them, since it would be frankly irresponsible to send him out with areas that could be easily turned into weak points

STAR Labs built the original arm, however it had only been enhanced since he got it by Kord Industries

Ted does a lot of work on Booster's arm when he has to, including being the one smacking stickers onto the back of his hand. He built Booster Shots into the arm through a retractable opening in the forearm. Booster definitely couldn't do all the maintenance on his limb by himself, but he isn't helpless and can manage smaller fixes

Booster's jacket is a mix of his Conglomerate jacket and the Injustice 2 jacket. I loved the sleeves and the star on the injustice jacket, but I didn't love the general cut. Alternatively, I love the style of the Conglomerate jacket, but it just lacked color. Booster wearing brands on his jacket is cute and I love it, I think it's just so fun. I don't love though how it's shown in Smallville, I see Booster having more respect for his costume than to add labels or decals to it, so he would invest in a jacket he can wear like a billboard

The brands are a mix of actual ones he's promoted in universe and a few toss ins. Blue and Gold Restoration just felt right to put on, same with the Kord patch. Neither are real sponsors, he would consider it a free shout out.

The star is meant to represent Goldstar Inc, Booster's old company from like, forever ago. They didn't have a real logo as far as I've been able to find and really without context Booster just has another star on his jacket, but it does have a meaning. If an explanation for why he has a defunct company logo is needed, blame it on some nostalgia

Banana Co, Vertigo Comics, and EZ Caskets are real advertisements he's sponsered, with Banana Co actually having a patch and Vertigo and EZ being on his casket

I think the pride flag pins are self explanatory and we can gloss over it

There's a stripe on his torso, a section on his right thigh, and the heels of his suit with Waveriders colors. I thought it would just be a fun incorporation, and there's really not a ton more thought in it than that

I think Booster needs shitty undyed roots to stay humble, and I think that mullet he had around Death of Superman was the best thing that ever happened to him, it was the most important thing to do for the redesign and it was the first part I thought of

Last thing, I don't know how easy it is to tell cause of the orange goggles, but he's got brown eyes now. Just a real plain change but I wanted it, the blue eyes were too much

I'm not a huge comic guy, I just like what I like, and I like the JLI a whole lot. I know there's retcons and entire universe rewrites and a whole lotta things in grey areas, but I really don't know anything that's canon or not canon or even relevant. I just wanna have fun with the characters I like so if there's any issues with timelines or things not lining up with my sources, I definitely know, but I don't wanna hear it because I will never absorb the information right.

[laikaflash]

I’m babbling about heraldry from a fighting game again

This is sort of a redux of my post about the mostly horse-themed heraldic motifs on some of Siegfried’s designs. As before, I’m starting with his PS1-exclusive Soul Blade costume. Specifically, the back of it.

(Screenshot taken from SPGAMES’ video.)

I thought there would’ve been at least one drawing of this coat of arms in concept art, but all the illustrations of the tabard-and-chainmail costume I've found only show him from the front. I wasn’t even entirely sure what the charges (beasts) on it were supposed to be, but my best guess remains that they’re dragons. The same game mentions in Siegfried’s “Edge Master” story that he was named after “the famous hero”. That would be Siegfried from the Nibelungenlied, who gained nigh-invulnerability from a literal blood bath after slaying a dragon (except for the back of his neck, where a fallen leaf happened to land). It’s a nice touch.

Here’s my hypothetical (and likely ungrammatical) blazon for the coat of arms: Per pale, Gules and Azure, two Dragons, Or in Dexter and Argent in sinister, combatant.

It’s hard to find an example of a coat of arms divided per pale and with charges that aren’t counterchanged and I see why. (Seriously, my only other reference was Joffrey Baratheon’s.) Grumbling aside, it does follow the rule of tincture (metals on colors). For reasons that will be elaborated on later, I don’t think this necessarily meant to be Siegfried’s arms, as it may appear. The combatant attitude (pose) of the beasts is a fitting choice for him though.

From the same game, we can see another gold dragon on a red field over Ostrheinsburg during the siege by the unseen Marquis Andre. The blazon would be mercifully easier: Gules, a Lindwurm ondoyant Or. (This dragon has two feet and no wings, so it counts. “Ondoyant” means “wriggling”. Undulating, if you will.) I’ve posted about this before, too. The Soul Archive website specifies that this banner is his. It’s not visible here, but an engraving of the same Lindwurm can be seen on a render of a catapult in the linked post.

Though a little difficult to make out, atop the towers toward the left are the damaged standards of Sir Stefan. Scratch that. Those are imperial banners of the Holy Roman Empire. (I don’t think it worked that way, but I’m not going to harp on that.) The imperial eagle can also be seen on the walls in this stage (see below).

(Screenshot taken from Raivop’s video.)

These look metallic and, judging by the perspective and scale, huge. Little information is given about Sir Stefan aside from his hiring Siegfried as a mercenary, but the former’s description as an “independent knight” might mean that he was a Free Imperial Knight. Ostrheinsburg was his castle, and it is shown to be enormous. In the second image, you can see in the far distance a keep surrounded by several rings of battlements. Even in the ruined parts shown in subsequent games and concept art, there’s a sense of grandeur to it inside and out. It would seem that Sir Stefan was a powerful knight.

I have to wonder how long Marquis Andre was able to enjoy his victory before Nightmare took over Ostrheinsburg. I don’t remember if any of the canon said his fate outright, but it’s a safe guess that he didn’t survive.

Later games gave Siegfried and Nightmare equine motifs, at least in certain costume details. (And in the latter’s case, the pun comes with the territory.) In most of his designs over the series, Nightmare’s helmet had a long, prominent spike on the forehead and flaring metal plating on the back of it, reminiscent of a unicorn’s horn and mane, respectively. (Although, some designs eschewed those for a long, red mane from Nightmare himself.) Soul Calibur VI took this a step further with this winged unicorn rampant in his character portrait. (Strictly speaking, its attitude is forcené. Couldn’t get a pun out of that.) It’s a surprisingly majestic thing for this monstrous knight.

Funny thing is, heraldic unicorns were often more goat-like (with cloven hooves and a beard... and a lion’s tail) and symbolized wildness itself. For lack of sources, I’m a bit iffy on where winged ones fall in this, though.

For comparison, below is Siegfried’s character portrait. If you put just the backgrounds side by side, you’d see the beasts almost as mirror images, combatant if you will! My interpretation is that the broken horn symbolizes that Nightmare is still a part of him, however much Siegfried will try to sever himself from him. Thinking on it again, it’s occurred to me that, unlike antlers, broken horns don’t grow back. In that light, the broken horn may symbolize that Nightmare still has some power over him, albeit in a weakened state.

While the intent here may be that they’re two sides of the same coin, this could also be a carryover from his 2P outfit in Soul Calibur III. Note the winged horse on his tabard. In the leftmost drawing in the top image, the tabard itself appears to show a coat of arms.

(I forgot whose video I screenshot this one from. I believe it was of a mod.)

The in-game model shows a second winged horse on the back. I don’t know if I’m more put off by the charges being in the first and second quarters or the Argent charge on an Or quarter. By itself, a possible interpretation of the pegasus (pegasi?) is fame. I’d speculate that the intended symbolism here is related to the phoenix motif on his default outfit (the reddish feathers on the pauldrons, what appears to be a phoenix—assuming it isn’t a stylized eagle—on his belt buckle), i.e. a metaphorical rebirth. The pegasi may symbolize him rising above his past as Nightmare.

Personally, there’s a reason I headcanon a variation of the above as Siegfried’s coat-of-arms. While it’s hard to pass up the dragon motif for him, I think of the winged horse suits him as something of a reminder of how he started: a son of a knight. A coat-of-arms is passed down from father to son, so in my mind, it’s also something that keeps him connected to his own father.

[lacbainkyllesblog]

TECHNOPRENEURSHIP BLOG

It's a quiet long since the last time I created a blog and now let's get started to our new product which is the “Smartubs” a short term for Smart Tumblers. The first blog I created is related to coffee but now let's go on to technoprenouship industry. How do we come up with this idea, from coffee to smartubs? The idea of having something that can be turn into cold or hot is the main reason we come up in such innovative products.

Tumblers are typically insulated cups or mugs that are designed to keep drinks safe while on the go.

For any occasion.

Smartubs are compact, convenient, and built to keep your drinks insulated for hours. They feature a streamlined design for comfort on the go, a lid to help prevent spills, and insulated materials that seal the temperature. Can keep your warm drinks warm and cold drinks cold for hours. Whether it’s your morning coffee on the way to work, some spiced chai around the campfire, or iced tea to keep you refreshed on a hike, tumblers are a versatile option.

Business Proposal

Our target market this time are the upper middle class people specifically the campers, military, traveler, professionals, office workers which all have the common situation the inaccessible of cold and hot water during camping, hiking, traveling, military operations and even office working.

We also like to reduce Plastic Pollution because for every six bottles people buy, only one is recycled that leads to a big problem given the fact that water bottles do not biodegrade.

The Innovative Product

Smart Tumblers

Smartubs was made of HDPE plastic in it’s outer frame

- BPA Free Lid

-Leak Proof Designs

- Premium Copper Coated

-Vacumm insulation

- Food Grade Stainless Steel

- Durable Stylish powder coating

-Anti sweat and Burn Free design

Main Features

The main feature of SmarTumb is to serve cold and hot coffee or any other liquid matters. Moreover, it is stainless is not just durable however it is the safest when it comes to storing food or beverages. These feature of the product will keep the costumers buy it for more. This innovation serves as strength to the business to go along with the competition in the market.

Designing our innovative product literally cause us a lot of time for but it’s actually fun things to do. We did a lot of research study about it and designed appropriately.

Our team wants to provide a sustainable and cost-effective product that will effectively meet the preferred taste of the target customers. Additionally, we aims to provide customers with high quality and users – friendly product to attain good sales that would allow business to obtain better return of investment.

Annual Market Survey for the Smartubs.

We the Ab History 1 students did an Annual market research survey questions to our target via face to face interview and online. Our team would like to know about the target customers perspective about the Smartubs in order for us to provide an outstanding quality and service for our customer. We believe that giving the customers the opportunity to be involved and influential is going to support our development in the future. For us doing survey might be the best thing to do because they want to make their voice heard. “I like sharing my opinions,” one of the target market told us. They feel that by sharing their perspective, they can make a difference.

Business Hypothesis

The innovative product can run successfully if going to creat a Business Model and asking Annual Market Survey will help our product development.

Team Decision

Our team really having a hard time figuring what products we should innovative at first. We decided to do a survey in order for us to determine the point of pain of our target market.

Lesson learned

Making a decision without proper information makes the group complicated. And at first the thought of Entrepreneurial Mind is somewhat we thought similar to entrepreneurship in senior high school but later on we've come to realize that it's far different but what we thought off. Since entrepreneurship is more focus on business and how it well grow while Entrepreneurial Mind is only the thoughts of what we're thinking that would interest the customer. However, after those failures , we finally got the right prescriptive and the team still cope up with what have happened. We still managed to conduct our actual and online survey , which we can now point what are the point of pains that were addressing . Furthermore, through our hard works and sweats were successfully done with our conducting of data's and informations. And through this activity I learned that in order to have a business you must first address what are or is the problem in a certain place or location so you could have an idea on how to solve the problem. And to know what you should do to help them and also how could you benefits from it . Technopreneurship from the word "techno" is technology and "preneurship" is from entrepreneurship, simply put together that means entrepreneurship in a field of technology. This is a kind of field which the entrepreneurs uses technology to make their business known in the public. And it is able to acquire and reach more customers and choose from the best suppliers, to build better relationships with their target market. Technopreneur begins their business with nothing but with a brainstorming idea. It identifies present practices and assesses some new ideas to do something different. A person who is engaged in technopreneurship creates a product or solution that uses technological solutions to change the way of doing something in an orthodox way. It improves how we have done something before and how it has to be done in the coming future. Also, technopreneurship involves the creation of a product or solution that employs technology solutions to transform the way people do things in a traditional method.

Overall, tecnopreneurship is not a product but a procedure of synthesis to improve and create innovates the future of a person, a nation, and the globe as a whole. In this digital world, professional development programs, as well as training, have required to succeed in a knowledge-based society. They produce various strategic thinkers who have the relevant skills and talent to grab success in a changing global atmosphere at a fast pace.

[twh-news]

We spoke to Tom Hiddleston about Loki, PowerPoint presentations and the nature of free will

Despite a decade of playing Loki in several Marvel movies and now a TV show, Tom Hiddleston isn’t tired of the role. “There is always something new to be found,” he says The edge.

This week is the premiere of Loki on Disney Plus, a six-episode series that marks the character’s first lead role. It is a story of time travel and branched timelines as Loki is captured by an organization called the Time Variance Authority (TVA). It combines action, humor and some old-fashioned detective work, while tackling serious topics such as the nature of free will. There are also some new faces on board as Hiddleston is joined by Marvel newcomers Owen Wilson, who plays a TVA agent named Mobius, and director Kate Herron, best known for her work on the first season of Sex education.

Prior to the show’s premiere, I had the chance to talk to Hiddleston about his time as a character, a presentation that made him feel like an “amateur academic giving a thesis on Loki,” working with Wilson and Herron, and whether our lives are predetermined. Typical Marvel stuff.

The following interview has been edited and abbreviated for clarity.

We are now at a decade where you play Loki. How have your feelings about the character changed or grown over that time?

I’m honestly just thankful that I’m still here. I find that I am always surprised and happy that I get another chance in it. Long before I was cast, Loki was just the most fascinating and complex character with such depth and range, and he’s been in Marvel comics in several iterations for 60 years, and he’s been in our thoughts, in stories we tell as humans, for hundreds, if not thousands of years. I find that even though it has been 10 years, every time I come back, there is always more to discover. There is always more to dig because these impostors are kind of mercurial and shape-shifting. So there is always something new to be found.

"“Loki is out of control. He’s a man on the run.”"

Now that you’ve focused this six-episode series on Loki, what were you looking forward to exploring with this? What were you hoping to dive into?

I think he’s really opening up and bringing out his many different identities and facets. In my preparation to play the character, I’ve always seen him have so many different and seemingly contradictory characteristics. You think, “How can all these characteristics exist in one person, in one being?” And yet they do.

Loki has always been a character in all MCU movies that seems to be very controlled. He seems to know what cards he has in his hand and how he is going to play them. And Loki, in the TVA – this organization that rules time – has gotten out of hand. He’s a man on the run. And he is motivated by a desire to understand. Suddenly he discovers that there is all this information that he does not have, and he has to get his hands on it. And that actually gives the series great momentum. Loki is on the back foot, everyone knows more than him, and seeing how he adapts, seeing how he improvises after that – if improvisation is possible in the TVA. That’s a question we’re trying to raise, whether you have free will.

I read about the Loki school you led to prepare the team for the character’s history. How did you prepare for that? Did you actually know it all, or did you have to do a lot of research?

I wish it wouldn’t be 10 hours long. I knew I had to summarize what I found useful to tell the crew. It came about thanks to Kate Herron, our director who has done an extraordinary job on this whole series, and he thought maybe it would be a good idea to get everyone together because there were so many department heads, different crew members – production design, costume design, cinematography, camera, sound, stunts – and wanting to make sure everyone had the same information about Loki, and it might be helpful to listen to my experience. I was trying to explain how we constructed Loki’s arc across the six movies he’s in the MCU and figure out what was useful in that arc and what we could leave behind.

I suddenly felt extremely nervous, as if I were an amateur academic writing a thesis on Loki. You’ll have to ask the others if it was helpful at all. But at least we synchronized the watches and we started from the same place.

"“If I were tall enough to use PowerPoint, I could retire and become a full-time professor.”"

So is there a PowerPoint file out there somewhere that will leak out one day?

If I was highly skilled enough to use PowerPoint, I could retire and become a full-time professor.

I did have a few clips. I thought there were some clips from the movies that could be helpful. It was interesting, even though it was about how the costume had changed over the years and why. And when does Loki wear the horns? Are the horns a casual thing? Are they a ceremonial thing like a crown? Is it an extension of an inner intention? Do the horns come out if he’s particularly evil? Why is her hair different? Sometimes he wears a cape, sometimes not. Sometimes he uses magic, sometimes he uses his own body to fight in combat. All questions that people were curious about.

I know this was meant for the rest of the crew, but was it helpful for you to go through this again as you prepared to jump back into the role?

Oh yes, absolutely, just to refresh myself about certain decisions we had made and why certain things were changed… sometimes you try to bring very elaborate and beautifully illustrated comic book panels into a physical reality on a movie set and figure out how to merge these two worlds. It was interesting. I got some great questions about how he moves the way he does and where certain things showed up in stunts, especially hair, makeup and wardrobe, how the clothes changed and why we made those choices.

It was interesting to refresh myself on the extraordinary input, because I carry the inspiration of great people with me. [Thor director] Kenneth Branagh and Alexandra Byrne, our costume designer; Bo Welch who designed the first Thor movie; Charlie Wood who was production designer on The dark world; the whole crew of Ragnarok; Mayes Rubeo, the costume designer of Ragnarok; and people like Douglas Noe, who has been doing makeup on Loki for a long time. So there was a lot to unpack.

Both Kate Herron and Owen Wilson are newcomers to the Marvel machine. Is it helpful to have such an external perspective?

Absolutely. Both Kate and Owen came in with so many questions because they hadn’t lived in Loki’s head for 10 years. They have a fresh take on it. Kate was so well prepared and so well researched; she even brought in new Marvel Publishing material that I’d never seen before, about Loki’s inner world. Owen came in and asked me a lot of questions about my experience. I remember him saying, “Tom, why should I?” you do you like to play Loki?” And I found myself saying, “Well, he’s just got this whole range. He can play the light keys, but he can also play the heavy keys in the bass clef. And somehow the character has both.” And he loved that way of thinking about it, he said, “I think I could say that on the show.” And so it was really his very intelligent question that took us elsewhere in the story.

Given the themes of the first two episodes, I have to ask: do you believe in free will?

I hope so. Free will is such an interesting, eternal question. I think people have asked to what extent we have the power of self-determination, self-realization, choice about our actions and whether we can control the course of our lives. It goes back to evolutionary or psychological arguments about nature and nurture and why we are who we are. Maybe it’s the journey of a lifetime to find out, to really take the wheel of your own life. Because we are set on a path in childhood, I think, often by accident – the misfortune of birth, where we were born and when – and we are propelled in many ways by the unconscious.

That’s a complicated answer. It’s a complex question. So I hope so. I hope true free will is possible. But for all of us, I think it can be a long journey of self-discovery.

[heavenfordoms]

”Innocent“ Hug (Deku x fem! Reader):

Pairing(s): Deku x reader

Warning(s): 18+ minors DNI, cussing, manga spoilers, riding, death, semi-public sex, eating out

Genera: angst to fluff to smut

A/N: wait this was actually fun and easy to write for me wtf

Fandom: My hero academia (boku no hero academia)

Glossary:

Y/n = your name

Summery: Bakugou looses his life in battle and y/n goes to comfort Deku, soon Deku ends up forgetting about Bakugou as y/n rides him

You sucked in a breath, holding it for a while as you stared at the villain in front of you. You where crouched down low so you knew that he couldn’t see you. But you sure saw him. Your quirk was called memory, you could memorize anything that you wanted. The downside to this quirk is that while your mind was full of knowledge your body was weak so it was no good for battle-training, another bad thing (or more annoying then anything) is that we can’t forget it, ever, even if you wanted to. You remember every single detail of your life and every single thing that has happened to this point in grave detail. Not like you wanted to remember it, but you felt so worthless that it was almost blood to memorize everything. Like how there where five street lamps outside the bar. They where dimly lit and flickered every five second, each one after the other. The one on the very right was the first to flicker then it would go all the way to the left. Sometimes the one in the very middle would shut off at random times as the other lamps brightly shone in the night-sky.

“Could you stop mumbling?!” Katsuki whisper-yelled at you. You slightly cringed at the blonde male’s words before nodding your head in a form of acceptance (for some reason people saw that as acceptance so you did as well).

Katsuki is a young man of average height for somebody his age, with a slim, muscular build, and a fair skin tone. He has short, spiky, ash-blond hair with choppy bangs that hang over his eyebrows. His eyes are sharp and bright red in color. His hero costume is composed of a tight, black, sleeveless tank top, with an orange "X" across the middle, forming a v-neck. There are two dots along the left line of his collar, indicating the support company that designed his costume. His costume also has a metallic neck brace worn with rectangular ends that have three holes on each side. His sleeves reach from within his large grenade-like gauntlets to his biceps. His belt, which also carries grenades, holds up his baggy pants with knee guards, below which he sports black, knee-high combat boots with orange soles and eyelets. His mask is jagged and black, and as it goes around his eyes, a large, orange-rimmed flare shape protrudes from each side.

You focused your eyes off of Kastsuki and onto Dabi, the villain who was standing guard outside the bar. Dabi is a fairly tall, pale young man of a slim, somewhat-lanky build, described to be in his early twenties. He has white hair with a few red streaks at the crown that spikes upward around his head, hanging low over his eyes, which are thin, turquoise in color, and heavily lidded. Before the reveal of his true identity, his hair was dyed black. His most striking features are undoubtedly the patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that cover much of his lower face and neck, all the way down past his collarbone, below his eyes and on his arms and legs due to him having a quirk at a early age and not knowing how to control it. These appear to be attached to the rest of his skin by multiple, crude surgical staples or hoop piercings. He has several silver cartilage piercings in both ears, and a triple nostril piercing on the right side of his nose. He also seems to be lacking earlobes on both sides of his ears upon close inspection, he wears a dark blue jacket with a high, ripped collar, and matching pants, cut off above his ankles, a pair of dark dress shoes on his feet. He also has a plain pale gray, scoop-neck shirt, below which a gray belt with a circular pattern wraps around his waist, a leather satchel attached at the back.

Nobody knew his real name, until now, Dabi had revealed himself as Touya Todoroki. Everyone now calls him Touya but it never settled right in your gut to call him that. His name was Dabi to you and it will always be Dabi. It didn’t matter if he did a big entry and say that he is part of the Todoroki’s Dabi didn’t seem like them. The Todoroki’s where a strict family with ruled set in place. Endeavor, now the number one hero, had tried to welcome his family with more open arms. You could tell that Dabi’s opening was not out of grief for his family but instead out of spite. Like saying to Endeavor that he needs to take a chill pill with this whole anime redemption arc thing that he has going on for himself (and you didn’t quiet disagree with the oriole scarred man either).

You often thought of life like a anime, it was easier to explain. If somebodies life was broken they just ended up in the wrong anime. It also helped reminded you that every villain has a backstory. You never got to see their perspective in things. You never got to see what happened to the villains after they got defeated. Nope. You never got to see that, maybe if people saw the villain’s side. Everyone would hate the hero‘s and build their own path just as villains do. They make a path that no one has ever gone on, slowly making it a dirt road and them turning it again into an actual road that everyone can go on. Villains never got the roadwork. Hero’s probably always destroy it.

“So what’s the plan?” You leaned in close to Katsuki and whispered in his ear, Kastuki tensed up next to you and sucked in a breath before looking at you through pointy eyes.

”I will distract scar-man while you go and get Deku from the bar.” Kastuki explained, you nodded your head ‘yes’ before you pointing in the direction you where going to go. Kastuki grunted to himself as he crawled slowly in the opposite direction. Sending explosion at Dabi’s face before ducking behind a large wooden tool-box that had the words ”Back Bend Inc” on it in Ariel black font. Although it had been there for so long that the black ink looked to be a dark smoky gray. You quietly padded off into the opposite direction, your head ducked and eyes darting every five seconds to catch every detail around you.

Silently, you slipped into the bar. There was a wooden plank that held up the first stand, it looked to be pretty normal from here. There was dark wine stands that had a light brown color to them. The walls where colored with a sand tan. Over by the bar there was stacks and stacks of different liquor that people could have. Above was the general black chalkboard menu, there was smeared blue chalk that said “SPECIAL: Burbon” the strong smell of liquor and whisky hung in the air. There was a cigarette hanging off the ledge, still lit and everything. It looked pretty normal, but there was a slight piece of the cigarette where it was unwrapped and that told you enough to not say ’fuck it’ and have a smoke break. Turning your head slowly you walked up to Kurogiri. Information began flooding in your head about the villains and the bar. Unluckily for you everyone noticed the smartness you had and quickly found out your quirk. They began to flood your Brian with information. Information that a kid didn’t want to hear. You heard everything when you where just in High School. Now, everyone hated your quirk, everyone fucking hated it. The people who raised you said that you where a monster and that they didn’t know you anymore. But the sad part was you didnt do anything wrong. After hours of racking through your mind you couldn’t find a single moment where you did something bad. “I need to see Tomura.” You stared blankly at the mist villain. Kurogiri's entire body is made out of a dark purple mist, save for his eyes, which are glowing yellow. He normally wears a very elegant suit with a tie and has a metal brace that goes from around his collarbone to just below his eyes. It was pretty simple description of the villain, but there wasn’t much to him.

“Now?“ The male inquired, a hint of annoyance traced his smooth and calming voice. His voice sounded a lot like a gently sea softly rippling in the waves. But in actuality he was more like a thundering storm as the large ocean waves crashed harshly against large dark-gray-almost-black rocks.

“Yes, it is important.” You answered, putting a fake smile across your face. You still heard the faint sound of explosions from Katsuki and knew that you didn’t have a lot of time. Katsuki only could hold off for fifteen minutes before he went full on battle mood. And the villains would definitely think at something is up. Kurogiri hummed thoughtfully before nodding his head in agreement and holding out his purple misted hand.

”Come on dear…” The man whispered soothingly and smiling up and down at you.

“Thanks!” You chirped getting up and going behind the bar, following the villain down the stairs that creaked underneath your feet.

“BOSS!! Somebody wanted you!!” Kurogiri called, you took a deep breath before flinching as you looked into the villains base.

It was the same red bricks that seemed to be different colors every brick that was placed down to make the wall of the bar. There was smooth fake wood counter with clean royal red plush bar stools with the smallest backs on them. There was a few hero posters scattered around the base, one medium sized All Might poster hung to the right of a small screen TV. The dull gray light picketed on and off as the headlights didn’t provide much protection against the dark loom of everything. Different types of bottles hung on narrowed shelves behind the bar. Right next to the bar was a metal door, the window had cages around it and a long shiny knob that went down the left side. To the right of the door was a old faction radio station with LED lights surrounding it. It was currently playing Take Me to Church, apparently just starting to play it seeing how the introduction was still on. You narrowed your eyes before leaning against the red brick wall and giving everyone a swept gaze. All of the villains names that where forced to memorize came to your head all of a sudden.

Himiko Toga was standing in the farthest left, spinning in the red barstools.

Himiko is a relatively petite, fair-skinned girl who is very prone to blushing and is frequently described as to having a rather pretty face. She has slightly inward-tilting bright yellow eyes with thin slits, making them somewhat resemble those of a cat, and her wide mouth is also rather feline, as both her upper and lower canines are more pointed and longer than the rest of her teeth, giving her a vampire-like appearance. Her hair is a pale, dirty ash-blonde and is styled into two messy buns, with numerous wild strands sticking out at all angles from their centers and where they’re fastened, a straight fringe and two chin-length side bangs to frame her face. Himiko’s outfit consist of a plain seifuku with a Kansai collar, both the skirt and the shirt dark blue with a double white trim, which is paired with a red scarf that she ties loosely below. Over this, she wears an oversized beige cardigan with a rather long hem and cuffs, and pockets on either side, the right one shown to hold a number of trinkets on either a keychain or a cellphone strap. She sports knee-length black socks and dark brown dress shoes with thick heels, the same as the outdoor uniform shoes students traditionally wear in Japanese schools.

Tomura was standing next to Himiko, a bored expression clouding his features.

Tomura is a slim man with deathly pale skin, tinged yellow, and wrinkled a great deal around his eyes. His lips are chapped and uneven, a small mole on the right underneath, with visible scars on his right eye and under his lip. He has messy grayish-blue hair of varying lengths, the longest clumps reaching to about his shoulders, left hanging over his face in uneven waves. His eyes are normally obscured, but when visible, they are usually stretched wide in a rather maniacal manner, their bright red irises are very small.

Interestingly, when Tenko was at the age of five, he bore a striking resemblance to Izuku Midoriya, with his blue hair originally being dark black in color, while also having dried patches of skin around his eyes, though his lips were shown to be healthy in appearance. After his Quirk manifested, his appearance changed giving him a wrinkled face and changing his hair color.

Nobody else was in the base, the rest of the villains where busy surviving customers or dealing with Bakugou.

Then you saw him

Deku…

Deku has been a classmate of yours for a while, although you guy’s rarely talked to each other you always admired his strength and wisdom. Soon he became the number one hero and you became the second, Bakugou and Todoroki following closely behind. The only real reason you where able to make it to number two was due to the popularity votes for citizens. Everyone liked you, they loo up to you. So rationally you often teamed up with Deku. He was not good with the citizens since he never got a chance to talk to them due to the fact that he broke his bones in battle often but his quirk was amazing. And you didn’t have a lot of strength so that gave you time to connect with the citizens. The two of you working together helped everyone live a better place. Now seeing him tied up and helpless, it made you pretty angry.

“I would love to sit here and chat, but I got a hero to save!” You smirked as you raced on ahead and grabbed Deku, pulling him out of the chains before the villains had any time to react. Standing next to the hero you where slightly taller (mind you he hasn’t grown since high school so that wasn’t really anything to brag about being taller then him).

”HELLPPP!!!” A scream shouted from Kastuki, your eyes widened as you sprinted off to get the number three hero. Deku closely followed you as he got his quirk ready. But by the time that you rushed out you knew it was too late. Katsuki had been crushed by the blue flames that wrapped around his body.

“KACCHAN!!!” Deku screamed, DabI whipped his head around and started at the number one hero.

”You idiot!“ You hissed as you grabbed Deku’s arm and made a run for it. Dragging him out into the open where a bunch of other hero’s where’s standing just in case something happened. You noticed that they where busy on their phones and probably didn’t even hear Katsuki screaming for help. You rushed Deku to the side of the red brick building and waited for a ambulance to come pick Deku up. Once they carried him away you narrowed your eyes at the pro-hero’s.

”I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I AM GOING TO KILL YOU AND YOUR FAMILY IF YOU ACT LIKE THAT AGAUN!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH STRESS YOU PUT US THROUGH??? DYNAMIGHT COULD HAVE STILL BEEN ALIVE IF YOU HAVEN’T SAT ON YOUR ASS ALL DAY AND ACT LIKE A BUNCH OF FUCKING SLUTS!! I SWEAR TO GOD I AM GOING TO RIP ALL OF YOUR HEADS OFF, FEED THEM TO MY DOG, MAKE MY DOG SHIT OFF A BRIDGE AND SEE THE SHIT SMEERED ON THE TIRE, GET A LIGHTER AND BURN THE CAR DOWN, TAKE THE ASHES AND PUT THEM IN A GROUND, I WILL TAKE THE GROUND WHERE THE ASH IS AND MAKE IT A STRIPER CLUB, AND THEN GET A EXORCIST TO PUT YOU TO HELL!!!” You started cussing them off, the pro-hero’s shuffled uncomfortably and looked at each other with weird stares. They knew that they where in shit when they pissed you off. You weren’t very easy to piss off so when somebody pissed you off they knew they were in deep horse shit.

*** You rushed into the hospital bed where Deku was at. Your breath coming out in short puffs as you stood on the edge of the male’s bed and watched as thick tears streamed down his face. You grew soft and laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down baby…I am here…” You reassured, slowly climbing on the bed and getting on him. Deku gulped thickly at the closed distance between the two of you and began sweating nervously.

“Y/n!“ You yelped, trying to scoot back. You looked up at him and gave the male a cocky smile.

“What? Are you suggesting something?” You leaned in and whispered in Deku‘s ears. Deku whined before nodding his head ‘yes‘ you rolled your eyes and began to unbutton your shirt. Popping out a few buttons in the process. Gently, you pulled down your panties and threw them to the side, lifting up your skirt and showing your ass to Deku. Deku trembled slightly and started licking at the entrance, slowly, he began eating you out. You moaned quietly before bucking Your hips backwards. Deku gasped before moaning also and continuing to do his work. Once Deku are you out for a few minutes you pulled away and Deku looked at you with large puppy dogs eyes. His Greek emerald eyes blown wide in lust.

You leaned down and took off his pants with your teeth, dragging your nails up his clothed hero uniform shirt. Deku bucked his hips up and whimpered. You smirked into the material. Once you actually got the pants down you slipped off his boxers and starting to get settled on Deku.

You and Deku had this off and on thing. You guy’s weren’t dating each other and fucked other people but it was always a delight when you got to fuck him. A smile always formed on his lips when you topped him. He always thought that everyone was going to leave him to be the top, so it was reassuring when he saw that somebody cared about him enough to dom him and show him who is in control.

You where snapped back into reality when Deku gasped in shock as you took him all in, groaning slightly at the fact that you took him with such ease because he has been in you so much. Slowly you waited for yourself to adjust (which didn’t take that long) before you started bouncing up and down. Deku threw his head back and moaned loudly as felt your walls clench around him. You kept bouncing on him up and down in a rhyme pattern.

“Come on baby, thought you liked it…” You pouted, looking down on the green haired hero and smiling cockily.

[omar-rudeberg]

Omg I have been loving your Parallel posts and reading your take away from different scenes. Especially the one you did on colour theories!! How did you learn about all the meaning behind tiny details and nuances? And do you really think they had all of those details so intentionally in their minds when they were creating it? Specifically things like Wille always being surrounded by blue (the Queens outfit for his first statement, his scarf, his bed covers etc), and how golds and yellow kind of followed Simon. I also loved what you wrote about character growth with the two parallel of the boys at the windowsill and the two scenes in the music room.

I just think to be able to notice these seemingly insignificant details and take such clear intention from them is amazing insight on your part and it’s been so interesting to read them then go rewatch the series with all that in mind.

I really hope you’ve got more thoughts to write!

I need you to know that first and foremost I am jaw-droppingly surprised that you took the time to pop in with this message, and it’s so thoughtful and considerate !! Thank you so much ?!

My Young Royals Parallels posts are the first seeds of ideas I thought others may possibly be interested in, and the first content I really made, so they’re like my little babies - thank you for treating them with so much TLC !!

Look, in terms of whether or not the show’s creators had every single minute detail that I’ve alluded to in the front of their minds when planning and shooting the series... no. I don’t think so. Some of it I believe was definitely intentional - all the B L U E in the boys’ end of episode 4 sequence? I’d have a hard time believing that was coincidence, especially with the removal of all their blankets and deep blue pillows for the start of episode 5. The Queen I’m on the fence about, as blue has been a Swedish royal colour for a long, long time, but I do think some of Simon’s golden imagery was very planned. Specifically the “We haven’t done anything wrong.” scene, where the blues & golds (or orange & teal, if you follow modern mainstream film critical colour theory) are screaming that they’ve been put there to serve a higher purpose.

Whether the writers / directors / set designers / costumers / cinematographers had all of this planned out to the tiniest detail or not though is, in my mind, irrelevant. I subscribe to the death of the author theory, which I believe I may have alluded to in my post about ‘blue curtains’. Once a piece of Art is released into the world, there is birthed an Audience for the Art. And this Audience is comprised of different perspectives that will reflect the Art back on itself in different ways, always and evermore creating New Art within the initial frame. As a viewer of Young Royals, you fill in the gaps in the story with your own experiences, and connect the dots in your own unique way. Your Young Royals is not My Young Royals, is not anyone else’s. But some of our beliefs, thoughts, ideas about the show may overlap; your ideas may spark ideas of mine; my ideas may feed into yours. The sincerest joy I have known in this Young Royals tumblr space is that there seems to be this inherent respect between different people’s interpretation of the Art, and willingness to engage with different perspectives to greater your own knowledge and depth of understanding of the emotion in the work. This is community. This is storytelling. This is connection.

Now... you wanna know a secret? I’m not really sure how I’ve come to think in these parallel-esque ways. I despised studying Literature in high school. I did a business degree and am currently working in quite a procedure-driven job. I’m not even a fan of too much critically “Good” media - you know, those books & films & tv shows & plays that people tell you to read/watch, because you simply ‘have to’, because they ‘changed the face of xyz’, generally filled with allegories and symbolism out the whazoo?

But I was a prolific reader when I was younger, so maybe that helped? I’ve been making & playing music since before I could spell my own name. And I’ve always had this innate ability to draw in information, synthesise it together and put out a coherent narrative - both with Things and with People / Relationships, so possibly that too? I also have such a passion for the abstract / absurd / impressionist perspective, and this has led me to think about colour, line, mood and metaphor in intricate ways.

But at the end of the day, I’m afraid I don’t have any real answers, my friend. I’m convinced that somehow Young Royals is just zapping secret sauce through our screens into the brains of us all who have been mysteriously, creatively awoken (again) by it’s siren call.

I’m just following the call & diving in deep.

[cobalt-knave]

(Spoilers for MAG 197)

So I’m seeing a lot of discussion surrounding Annabelle Cane’s choice of costume, as it were. Why choose to appear to Jon more monstrous and spider-like than she generally presents herself if all she wants to do is talk? Is it theatrics? Well, here are my thoughts on the matter:

Jon has a deep distrust of what he perceives to be monsters wearing human masks. He goes off on Helen for “wearing her face” several times despite the fact that Helen always says that she is “not wearing anything.” I know that Helen has had some dishonesty come to the surface, but I feel no reason to not believe those comments. That is what she looks like at a given point in time. No, she’s not the original Helen, but she isn’t not the original Helen. Jon never believes this, and he hates her for it. This is also tied to his interactions with, hate of, and fear of the Stranger, who do wear human faces that are not their own. Not-Sasha as well as the skins of Gertrude and Lietner in the Unknowing have doubly engrained this distrust in him. To be a monster and wear a human face is a lie (there is also some self loathing here as well, but that is a separate analysis).

So why would Annabelle Cane, who appears human generally as far as we know, choose a monstrous spider form to meet Jon? Wouldn’t that make him more afraid or angry? Jon hates spiders! Well, Jon would be inclined to see this as her true and honest form. He would see it as her not lying to him. Despite the fact that she appears more frightening in a literal sense, she has made herself seem more trustworthy to Jon, which is what she needed to tell him this information. The Web always has an angle, and I don’t think the monstrous spider form was just a cool opportunity for sound design. 

Think if she had appeared in her normal form. I think that Jon would have felt compelled to bring up the innocent college student he read about in the statements. He would have measured her against the person she was before the Web and hated her for it. He would have not been able to fully listen to what she had to say because he’d be partly focused on the Web and how it took her. In the monstrous spider form, his mind has no reason to go there. He is talking to a servant of the Web, not a twisted person like himself (from his perspective). 

Not to even mention, this is Mr. Spider’s house. He heard that recording right before entering. That is what he expects to see. Mr. Spider has finally come for him. To see something different than what he expects, especially something so apparently so benign would throw him off a bit as well even subconsciously (as logically he is expecting to find Annabelle Cane there looking how she was described leaving). 

tl;dr - Annabelle Cane chose the monstrous spider form because Jon distrusts what he perceives as monsters with human faces. By choosing a monstrous form, Jon would be more likely to trust what she says rather than assume she is lying.  

[calamity-bean]

Wanted a better look at the embellishment on Yvon’s jacket, so I took some caps! Some general observations:

The jacket is basically in the cut of a tunic, falling to about midthigh and with the left breast wrapping over the right so that the sides of the lower skirt-like part overlaps.

Symmetrical decorative patterns are found around the collar (meeting in a shallow vee over his upper back and gently tapering in front to form lapel shapes that terminate around the waist, covered by his belt) and also around the sleeve cuffs.

The prevailing motifs seen in these designs differ between collar and cuffs. The ones around the collar seem abstract: curving linear and geometric patterns. The cuffs, however, share the curving line style but are more representative, depicting floral/botanical elements.

I had initially wondered whether some of the round/raised bits might be beads rather than thread. I found some real close-up shots in which you can see the stitching, though, and it looks like the bits I thought might be beads are just loops or whorls of thread, so I think I can confirm that it’s all thread embroidery.

I’m putting the rest of this under a cut because it’s quite long, but: basically, I was interested in the style of decoration on his jacket, particularly the floral aspects, and attempted to do some historical research. I honestly was not as successful as I would’ve liked, and this post has actually been sitting in my drafts for almost two weeks now because I kind of got stuck. But on reflection, I still do want to share the screenshots as references, my observations, and at least the gist of what I looked into and what I found.

So! Under the cut: rambles about what interested me and what info I was looking for, links to the work of modern Ojibwe and Métis artists, and also a brief note on Yvon’s rifle strap, which I think is quite interesting as well!

Basically, when I was initially collecting the above images, my interest was particularly piqued by the floral decorations on the cuffs. The show identifies Yvon as Anishinaabe, and Zahn / Nat Geo have identified him specifically as Ojibwe, and I had a vague memory of reading at some point that Ojibwe art is particularly associated with floral designs. Floral designs not being solely unique to Ojibwe art among indigenous arts, and Ojibwe designs not being solely limited to floral ones, but a strong association nonetheless. I think most famously this takes the form of colorful, intricate embroidery with tiny glass beads:

(image source: Native American Artist-in-Residence: Jessica Gokey)

This is often done on black velvet or, as in the case of some of Gokey’s work that I saw, on black broadcloath, which I would say is probably about the same type of fabric Yvon’s jacket is made of — a plain, dense, sturdy wool. Although my understanding is that Ojibwe didn’t begin using colored glass beads of this sort until they acquired them via trade with Europeans in about the 19th century, beads made of other materials would, of course, still have been available in Yvon’s time, and I was still curious about whether the designs themselves on his jacket accurately reflect authentic patterns and motifs used by Ojibwe people. What was clothing and decoration like among Ojibwe and Anishinaabe people in the 17th century? What styles and materials were used? Are the elements in Yvon’s embroidery more generic, or are they recognizably specific in style to his culture, etc.?

And so I began with the Wiki-ing and the Google Scholaring and the skimming of articles. Unfortunately, a lot of the most promising-looking sources were only available as printed books (some of them quite expensive, too), so I didn’t have access to them, but from the articles I was able to browse, I did learn some relevant things. I found sources saying that before glass beadwork, Ojibwe decoration did use other types of beads and also used embroidery, which tracks with what we see on Yvon. I found a number of sources saying that floral motifs specifically were introduced to people of the Northeastern Woodlands in the 17th century via contact with Europeans, particularly nuns, who brought with them their floral embroidered fabrics and their floral folk arts.

However...

Although there were plenty of mentions of Ojibwe beadwork and floral designs, and a good number of more modern examples, I had difficulty finding in-depth information that discussed it specifically in the context of Barkskins’s time period (or prior to European contact, either). Sources focusing on the art in later time periods might still be relevant to what Ojibwe decorative arts were like in the 17th century, but I just don’t know enough to know. The example images I found were of beadwork from the 19th century or later, and even then, they were buried in a slew of Pinterest results that I really don’t consider reputable sources, because sure, they might be legit, but they might also be completely mislabeled. 

In general, I felt less than confident about what my searches turned up. This is a topic I know little about, have no personal or academic experience with (not being Ojibwe and not having formally studied anything relevant to this), and I’m wary of misinformation here because I know that indigenous people have spoken about seeing biased, simplified, and outright inaccurate info presented even by sources that should seem credible, like museums. Not to mention conflicting info. Remember I mentioned I read about floral designs being introduced (or at least popularized) by European art? And yet I also saw other sources rejecting this idea that Ojibwe floral motifs have their roots in colonizers’ art rather than simply in drawing their own inspiration from nature. In general, I just didn’t feel confident that I had the insight or education necessary to evaluate my sources or synthesize conflicting info, and my brief, superficial research didn’t seem reputable or interesting enough to shed any particular light on Yvon’s clothing. So I basically put this post aside.

(image source: Native American Artist-in-Residence: Sarah Agaton Howes)

But ultimately, I still want to highlight Yvon’s embroidery, even if only from an aesthetic, costume-detail perspective, and I also want to share some of the lovely videos showing the work of modern Ojibwe artists I came across while I was looking all of this up! Here’s another link to this video featuring the work of Jessica Gokey, which I inserted near the top, and here’s one in which Greg Bellanger discusses some of the history and process of his art. In this interview, Sarah Agaton Howes brings up the idea of Ojibwe floral designs as a historical means of teaching about medicines and preserving that cultural knowledge, especially in times when passing down such knowledge was suppressed. I thought that was very interesting and am kicking myself because I did actually look briefly at a thesis extract on Ojibwe botanical/medicinal knowledge, but now I can’t find it again. I also enjoyed this shorter video with Howes as well. And this video featuring the work of Delina White gives us some examples of these floral designs primarily as embroidered thread, like on Yvon’s clothing, rather than as beadwork:

(image source: Delina White)

The final video I’ll link is this one, which is about Métis floral beadwork rather than Ojibwe. I don’t know how similar/different the two styles are (nowadays or historically), but since Métis share roots with Ojibwe and Anishinaabe people, and since Métis culture developed out of the setting, cultural interactions, and approximate time period of Barkskins, I thought it still relevant enough to rec here. Not to mention that it’s just pretty and I wanna rec it. All of these videos offer a lot of interesting information and perspective on the craft itself as well as on the history and tradition.

Before I go… One little costume detail I do feel reasonably confident offering my own speculation on is that the decoration on Yvon’s rifle strap appears to be quillwork — porcupine quills dyed and shaped into designs. I could be wrong, but the texture, colors, and pattern look very similar to the examples I’ve seen, and it’s an art form that would certainly have been established, culturally relevant, and available to him in this time period. So that’s the tiny bit of original input I’ll contribute to this post!

In general, I think the whole Barkskins team — costume design very much included — has shown that they put a tremendous amount of research and thought into the design and construction of this show. I’m sure Yvon and his costume were no exception. And I love the overall look!

[tonyglowheart]

Idk who to talk to about this but last year I came across a white couple that got married as Wangxian and am kind of dreading people getting married as bride!XL (I mean I don’t think I’m comfortable with it even when they’re cosplaying the character’s Period but I’m trying(maybe failing) to be generous) bc it’s specifically CHN marriage tradition. Knowing how people can love EAsian media yet be racist towards us anyway, the growing global sinophobia just makes this feel worse. Am I overreacting?

Hi anon!

I don’t necessarily think you’re overreacting because your personal sore points are informed by your specific life experiences and the kinds of racism and microaggressions you’ve encountered and grown weary and leery of. I know I have points where I react to/against, that doesn’t affect everyone, and may not even affect a majority. At the very least, there’s reasons why I shy away from engaging with fic and specific fandoms in certain spaces, that I know are valid for me, and may be discussed as far as how it parallels or plays into wider trends, but that that doesn’t necessarily mean it translates to blanket prohibitions or guidelines or such.

From what you’ve described to me, I think I’d be wary of it, but not altogether against it? I think if someone is doing a cosplay wedding.... that’s kind of whatever to me. When something becomes a media franchise like that, I kind of feel like that kind of thing is going to happen. It may not be perfectly equitable as far as like playing into issues of Orientalism and colonialism/postcolonialism/neocolonialism go, but also from a more personally pragmatic point, there’s only so many fucks I have to give, and there’s things that, if for no other reason than personal sanity, I have learned and am letting to let go. We can’t redo the history of the world so as to completely erase or eradicate Western colonization or the structures and patterns laid out in history for neocolonialism.

Another thing I have to grapple with, is that we/I shouldn’t turn our ire to the individual. On an individual level, the specific person isn’t enacting systemic inequality, even if their actions play into it. The best we can hope for, if we have the energy and means, is to reach out and try to connect with people and explain our perspective and our history, to see if we can connect with them in such a way that they understand what we’re saying and where we’re coming from. That’s not something that can be forced or brute-forced.

The bride!XL matter... yeah is more of a sticking point - although to me, bride!XL’s costume is still a costume, its patterns and motifs are slightly atypical for your traditional bridal attire. I do also want to kind of point out that the “traditional” Chinese wedding attire tends to be based off a Qing dynasty style and design, which has a further internal complexity of it being “Chinese,” but not being traditional Han ethnic clothing and rather based more on Manchu traditions. Similar to the topics ppl grapple with regarding the qipao/cheongsam, and part of the reason for the hanfu revival movement.

For me personally, I find it... unideal for people to be dressing up in a “costume” for marriage, especially when it DOES tie into the culture, but at the same time I feel like if people are going out of their way to dress as bride!XL (and not just “oh I found this “bridal costume” and thought it would be cute”), then that means Xie Lian and TianGuan means something to them. Watching wedding dress shows, the whole Western tradition of white or close-to-white gowns IS very strong, if not with the bridal party then with the families, so poteeentially for them to break from that, hopefully to me means that it DOES mean something to them, even if it may not be what I or we want it to. I think for me, if people were co-opting marriage traditions or customs in an uniformed matter, I’d be more tilted about it lmao, but that’s me and my comfort level.

I feel you tho on racism and sinophobia and people who will consume EAsian media but still be racist towards people. I think that’s a valid point of contention. I think you see it played out in the greater fandom :/ Not, tho, always in every case that’s popped up as a “racism” issue. But I do think it’s there, and I think some of the recent discourse on racism in fandom - which was prevalent what feels like a year ago but was actually a couple months - also has roots in real issues and trends.

Hrmm tl;dr tho? I think you’re valid and not necessarily overreacting, because there IS a lot of history and honestly, contemporary actions and trends, which make that uncomfortable and possibly even damaging. But at the same time.... I think generally on a fandom level, these individual situations are somewhat inevitable especially for larger-reaching fandoms (as far as like the fandom bell curve goes), and aren’t necessarily single-handedly enacting and enforcing all of those bevvy of -isms. And even then, as an individual, we can’t stop other people from making the decisions they make and doing the things they do with their own lives. The topic is complicated bc we have the the confluence of fandom competing needs and racial/social justice competing needs which is, you know, complicated by additional swathes of intersectional identities and issues. 

I’m sorry I don’t really have an easy answer for you or any kind of reassurance or anything. But I don’t necessarily think you’re discomfort is invalid, but at the same time I think it’s a good opportunity to try to reflect on it, interrogate what might be some more extreme impulses you might have as far as reacting or responding, and practice self-care where you can as far as curating your experience to be as harm-free for yourself as you can and focus as much as you can on the aspects you can control instead of remaining in the agonizing of the factors that are outside of your control. Because as much as it might gall me, there ARE factors I cannot personally control or influence, and that can even include people who are, on paper, in my immediate sphere of influence. If they don’t want to listen to me or find other competing needs more compelling, I can try to reach out and explain where I’m coming from all I want, but I can’t force anyone to reciprocate or honestly, even listen. So instead of focusing my energy onto the minds I can’t change, I think in the long run it’s more productive and more enjoyable to focus on the things I CAN affect. And on some things, I find I’ve had a better/more enjoyable time blacklisting instead of focusing overly on the factors outside of my control and trying to force things outside of my control to somehow happen anyway.

Now of course, it’s easy for me to SAY that now lmao. I mean, I know I’m not without flaws or salt. My saltmines run deep and my wounds remain rather sensitive and not yet numbed by time and my salt does indeed runneth over, maybe more often than ppl who aren’t me and who are following my blog for specific things would rather. And I don’t have it in me to always be magnanimous or extend people good faith without a second thought, especially if it’s something that hits a trigger. But idk, psychologically speaking, and even just from a personal level, it’s not helpful to me or even potentially to others to be so focused on things I can’t control or influence and to like be stuck in suffering so much. We only have so many hours and so many brain cells to devote to things.

...I literally have no clue how to wrap this up oh god. uhhh real tl;dr ig: anon I think you’re valid, but also like... from my personal experience... I’m suffering either way so for me I’m like. might as well learn to let it go so I’m not actively suffering over this particular thing and either free up braincells to try to building towards thriving or so I can suffer about things that are due to “me” reasons, or short of that, I do not see.meme it so at least I’m not being actively triggered by it (I think this is more where I’m at right now,,,, lmao,,, F). Ur valid tho, I know the struggle of “am I the one being issues” but that ALSO becomes stifling (or it did for me), when I felt like I had to shut up and behave so as to not ruffle Westerner feelings. But also suffering is rough and I encourage you, for your own peace of mind, to explore ways to lessen your suffering, bc that shit is rough.