#do you like my dwarf

[cuddlytogas]

So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

[biancadavri]

Oh don't get me wrong I'm sad we've been getting so little about the dwarven kingdoms as much as the next orzammar fan but hey! If you get really into surface dwarves and their lore you can get fuck-all about them too!

[unnonexistence]

imo a core part of the newmann dynamic is like... you've got these two very very intelligent people who have spent most of their lives being Smartest Guy In The Room. which feels great! but also, it's very hard to form close and trusting relationships when everyone else sees you as Smartest Guy In The Room. and if you maybe don't have great social skills to begin with, you can't figure out how to compensate. and it's hard to build up solid self-esteem when the only thing people value you for is your intelligence, and a lot of them resent you for that, too. so really it is very very lonely.

and then they meet! and neither of them is the smartest guy in the room anymore! and that is both EXHILIRATING (omg! someone who gets me!) and TERRIFYING (the fragile pillar i built my whole self-esteem on is crumbling! help!).

they do NOT know how to cope with this. best they can do is being obsessed with each other.

[ambusterpm]

Cool older cousin Bifur taking the boys out for a camping trip

[gncrezan]

tagged in a wip whenever by @night-triumphantt !!!! i am not even working on any big piece so you get a collection of the dragon age sketching i'm doing on different layers, trying to figure my rook out and learning how to draw lucanis who against my will has enchanted me actually

not tagging anyone but pleaase feel free to do it if you like!!!

[ybkitten]

Oh no who's coming through the forest brush??

A Tourmaline from back in January, due to popular demand (the demand is @taylor-titmouse, whose character this is).

[xellandria]

Week two of the Bonfire Art Bash: Storytelling! I always enjoyed those colouring/story combo books as a kid and wanted to continue this year's personal theme of "things I could hand/mail to their characters' owners if they wanted them," so I made a trio of colouring pages, then coloured them myself! Gave it a stained glass look too, both because that makes it more satisfying to colour (for me, anyway) and because it's a neat effect that's easy to pull off—avoid large uninterrupted swaths of space and repeating the same exact colour next to itself and you're golden.

Bonus: the heights of the characters aren't quite square but they were designed to make one big continuous image if you hide the "middle" borders!

[beatx-mavie-archangelx]

“dear Mahal, did you mean for dwarves to look like that or was it an accident.”

[whoblewboobear]

Still pushing the Zara/Jace agenda 😘 if he asks nicely she might top him bc she’s such a good friend

[littlemissgeek8]

I started replaying Inquisition in preparation for Veilguard, and fell head-first into loving Varric. I'd always liked him, but I'm more salty than ever that Mary Kirby refused to let him be romancable. Give me my sweet hairy dwarf please!

So I spent two days drawing my Cadash with Varric because I ship them a lot, referenced heavily from a picture of Bruce Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo (with liberties taken with Cadash's hands. :3)

[eggsistential-breakdown]

quick and loose (24 hours and counting) thing i tried to finish before move-in i'm calling it here i was defeated 😔 let's see if i can finish it before classes actually start (no) featurnig partial view of my krita setup (default) god be with ye all i need to be doing last minute packing in five-odd hours and then i will not sleep for four entire months god be with y'all

[optimisticrunawaygalaxy]

Saw this screenshot and knew i had to hit him with the transgender beam

He thought being a hologram would give him the body he wanted :(

[biancadavri]

i love how the letter cadash can get from a dwarf HoF in inquisition only takes in consideration that both characters are dwarves and not if they have a similar background because then from brosca, the castless, the closing bit about knowing what's like to be looked down on but to keep fighting no matter what etc etc feels very genuine but from aeducan, the fucking (favorite!) child of the late King of Orzammar, those same exact words kind of read like

[alulangel]

Winchester Directive 1521: Pilot Picks the Music, Shotgun Shuts His Cakehole // T // deancas // ~5k words // written for the ProfoundBond Exchange: Space

Written for @adromelke !

Having never seen Red Dwarf I unfortunately could not pull off an AU, but I hope I may have captured some of the vibe? Also featuring food and a brief appearance of wings! I hope you enjoy!

Summary:

A space AU that boldly asks: "what if Sam and Dean Winchester, but on a spaceship." After their food bio-resequencer gets stuck on the leafy torture of Sam's plain salads, Dean sets off on a deadly mission to scavenge old ships for parts to fix it. But while on an abandoned mining vessel, they brothers encounter a strange, otherworldly voice trapped in the ship...

Excerpt:

They head to the bridge. Things aren’t even close to desperate, not yet, but it’s been two months of no credits, repair after repair, running from system to system. Their bio-resequencer broke, stuck on the last meal it had made. Which would be fine, except the last meal that it had made was one of Sam’s stupid fucking salads, so all Dean had had to eat–apart from what they could buy fresh on-planet when they had the rare chance–was Lepus Saturnalia food. He was dying for something else. Anything else. Sam was, unsurprisingly, not at all sympathetic to his plight.

“It’s good for you, Dean,” he’d say, which was bullshit, because any spacer worth their salt knew that it was your mind you had to keep healthy first and foremost, and days and days staring out into the black picking at a bowl of leaves was enough to make anyone want to throw themselves out the airlock. Good for him. Ha. It was killing his spirit, Sam , what was good about that? And it would be one thing if it was just a bio-resequencer problem, but the trouble with flying a vintage ship like Baby was that they didn’t make S-class Impala cruisers anymore, and trying to find someone with the know-how to work on it and easy access to parts was a pain and a half. And that was just on one of the outer worlds that still used the barter system, not one of the “civilized” planets that used Edlund Corp. credits. If Dean ever met Carver Edlund, he’d like to greet him with a swift kick in the ass.

Read on ao3

[lelianasbong]

please please please please pleeease i need the shadow dragon & lord of fortune surnames!

[y-rhywbeth2]

Who decided the drow should have so much fucking lore anyway.

('I should've been a drow.' You can't fucking stand Cazador or your 'siblings' you would not fucking want to be a drow. Although I guess Astarion would make a fair Vhaeraunite.)