#he seems kinda mysterious which i like; i really love when characters have layers

[torawro]

y’all . . . . . .

[markantonys]

This is actually really funny but I came across a post a few days ago arguing that the show made the characters more assholes than they were in the books and it was the most baffling post I ever read. Cause like they softened the characters in the show. Everyone is nicer and not as prickly I guess I would say. Which of course helps so much with the EF5 feeling like actual friends!

i feel like i've seen takes like that too and it is SO wild to me haha i guess maaaaaaaybe moiraine is more of an asshole in s2 than she was in the books? but that's because she's undergoing a major trauma she didn't undergo in the books, and also because by moving her from Mysterious Mentor to Actual Protagonist in these first 2 seasons, the show is endeavoring to portray her as a deeper, more layered, and therefore also a more flawed character since she's filling a main role rather than a supporting one.

then as for the kids, i can't imagine why anyone would think they're bigger assholes in the show! early book!nynaeve goes around beating people up with sticks and being an absolute terror to everyone around her, whereas in the show she's still got her fiery nature but it's toned down so that she feels more like someone who is a reasonable adult despite being hot-tempered (......okay, semi-reasonable. bless her <3). and one thing that really strikes me is how caring and tender she is with mat in 1x06 (and vice versa with him being so happy to see her) when in the books the two of them were so weirdly antagonistic to each other for most of the series. changes like that really make the EF5 friendships so much warmer, like you say, and it's especially great with nynaeve to show how fiercely devoted she is to ALL her people, including mat.

meanwhile, book!mat is allergic to admitting he cares about his own best friends, but in the show he's much more openly affectionate, though without losing his jokester nature. book!perrin is a condescending jerk in so much of his internal narration, but in the show he's a total sweetheart and so kind and lovable, and actually IS the gentle giant that book!perrin only claims to be. book!egwene is already flawless in my eyes, but she does seem to genuinely care about and respect her emond's field friends more in the show (in the books she sometimes viewed them as kinda like her cringe friends from home she doesn't want to be affiliated with now that she's moving onto bigger and better things haha tho ofc she did always care about them when push came to shove). i thought her jealousy-of-nynaeve arc in s2 was so well-handled because it was obvious how much love and respect she still has for nynaeve despite being frustrated with her currently, which felt like a realistic representation of a troubled time in a lifelong friendship and made egwene come across as sympathetic and relatable instead of as petty and jealous, as an arc like that could have easily reduced her to if not handled properly.

and rand, i suppose he has rougher edges and a hotter temper in the first 2 seasons than he did in the first 3 books, but that gives his character some much-needed grit and definition since his personality is pretty bland in the early books, and underneath that the show makes it so incredibly clear how much love he has for his friends and how kindhearted a person he is (just like they do with nynaeve despite HER temper)

[misc-obeyme]

i would read the barbatos essay ‼️

Anon, you have made my entire day lol. I'm always worried about answering asks with lengthy posts because I can really ramble on and on. But since you asked for the Barbatos essay, well...

Buckle up 'cause this turned out quite long! I'm putting it under a cut just so people don't have to scroll.

There's only one section of spoilers, which I indicate so you can skip it if you like!

Here it is, my Why I Love Barbatos essay:

Okay, first we have his design and the color scheme. That teal is just so pretty. And the way his hair has that one streak of brighter teal? Perfection. I very much think Barb would look amazing with long hair, too.

The way his uniform is altered to look more like a butler. The way he's always wearing those white gloves. When he actually does take off the gloves?? Though I do wish they had given him a casual outfit, they kinda do this with all the side characters - all of them are missing at least one outfit that the bros have. BUT it's funny to think that Barb just wears his uniform all the time instead AND sometimes he does take off the jacket when he's about to get into something. Such as in the Dust-Fighting Demon SSR and the Face Paint Charm SSR.

And then there's his human world outfit?! It's perfect for him. Elegant and unique and just visually interesting. And if iirc it's like a tea merchant outfit? I mean. Of course it is.

Demon form? Perfection. THAT TAIL. I wanna touch it so bad. And his horns are just so different from everybody else's. They're so unique. And the outfit? It's like butler uniform but upgraded. The patterns and the colors and the frills that come out of the wrists I just love it so much.

Needless to say, I very much love Barbatos's design. Visually he's just so pretty and I think that is part of what initially drew me to him. But in the end, what it really comes down to for me is personality, too.

I think there are a couple of things about Barbatos that I really love that just made him become my absolute favorite.

He's not instantly in love with MC. People have talked about this before. It takes basically all four seasons for Barbatos to say or do anything that indicates he might have feelings for MC. A lot of his more romantic interactions happen in his Devilgrams and the events, which are outside of the main story line. (A Party Just For Two UR card is one of my all time faves when it comes to romance with Barb and most of it happens in the kitchen lol.)

The thing about this that was always interesting to me was that he didn't act like he was NOT interested or that he disliked MC or anything. In fact, he always seemed to be curiously intrigued by MC. While most of the other characters usually develop a kind of crush on MC before they're just straight up in love with them, Barb is just kind of like, oh you are interesting. But that's it until much later in the story. And even THEN we don't get a straight confession out of him.

I have always been a fan of the slow burn. The little moments that just steadily increase the character's feelings, the build up, the anticipation... it's so good.

And then there's just how mysterious he is in general. We know very little about him. In the beginning I was like okay so who is this guy? He's just a butler? I don't get it. And yeah, he's a butler, but then you find out he's also got time powers and portal powers and suddenly he's a lot more than just a butler.

NB spoilers here for his Tea Time With You UR+ Devilgram:

The story in this Devilgram really hints to there being so much more about WHY Barbatos is Diavolo's butler. He talks a lot about atonement and how something he did had a profound impact on both Diavolo and Solomon. He won't tell us what it was because he's not ready to reveal it, which is not surprising, but also indicates that it still weighs on him pretty heavily. At least it does in the NB timeline. To me, this added a whole new layer to his air of mystery. We don't know why he stays as Diavolo's butler except that he says he likes it and that's what he wants to do. But there is clearly another piece to that involving some self imposed penalty for whatever he did.

End spoilers.

And even though there's a lot we don't know about him and especially his past (which to be fair, there are probably a billion years of past there so we'll never know all of it lol), he just has this comforting way about him. Once he accepts someone as sort of being in his charge, he takes care of them without being overbearing. He sort of does this thing where he gives each person in his life as much as they need from him.

Diavolo is the obvious example and he needs the most from Barb. So Barbatos does a lot for him and Dia is always his priority. But then we've also got characters like Luke and Solomon. With Luke, Barbatos is always ready to teach him how to bake or give him advice when he asks for it. But he also doesn't smother him or anything. He knows that Luke has Simeon and Solomon that help him, too. And with Solomon, Barbatos only really helps him when Solomon asks. In the OG, it's pretty clear that by that point, Solomon is incredibly independent. He doesn't need a lot of attention from Barbatos anymore, so Barb just lets him do his thing for the most part. But if Solomon does need him, Barbatos has no problem helping. (I am assuming, of course, that the only time that Sol forced Barb to do something he didn't want to do was in the labyrinth in NB.)

And I think this tendency to care for people extends to MC as well, but he knows that MC has everyone else looking out for them, too. So he's willing to sort of stay in the background, but you know that he's paying attention to MC. He will sometimes ask MC to come help him with something in daily chats or he'll invite them over for tea and he always says something about being happy to see them.

Another thing I love about his personality is his tendency to be subtly teasing. He's always so super formal and restrained that sometimes it's hard to tell when he's teasing because he does it the way he does everything else. But we all know that one demon sticker he sometimes uses, the one that's covering its mouth 'cause it's laughing slyly. Yeah, that one. It's kind of similar to the way he always smiles even when he's angry. He never breaks his butler persona, but those who know him can tell when he's being playful and when he's actually angry. (Unless he's really angry, which we have seen in the way he interacts with Solomon in Nightbringer.)

And then there are his interests. He loves tea, as we know, and he likes to cook and to bake. For me personally, these are big reasons why I love him, too. I drink both coffee and tea, but when it comes to tea I'm really picky. I only drink loose leaf tea that I buy by the ounce and I know about the different kinds and what my favorites are and how to make them correctly. I sometimes cold brew loose leaf tea to make iced tea and I have a very particular way of making it. So like... I get all that, you know? I think I would love to experience the way Barbatos makes tea. I also enjoy cooking and baking, but I don't get to do it very often. However, I absolutely have a sweet tooth. So again, I'm just imagining tea parties with Barbatos in the garden with some tasty dessert he made and that sounds like absolute heaven to me lol.

He's also just a little less boisterous than most of the other characters. He's calm and collected. I have some anxiety issues and I'm an introvert, but I just get the feeling that spending time with him would be so nice and relaxing. There's just something about him that makes me feel peaceful and contented.

And all of that is why I'm in love with Barbatos.

If he turns out to be Nightbringer, I don't know how I'll feel about it. I'm just hoping they don't change his character too much because I love him just as he is now.

[13eyond13]

Hello, can I ask from this ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/threecheersforinking/677824836625694720/anime-ask-game?source=share

For anime/manga : Death Note and Berserk.

Thanks 🌻

Hi! Sure thing:

DEATH NOTE:

Favorite Character: L was basically a "love at first sight" situation for me and the main reason I ever checked out the anime (I just really loved eccentric loner sad boys at the time and he just looked exactly up my alley at a glance, hahaha). And he has stayed extremely dear to me and my favourite cartoon guy ever basically since! I actually think Light is a bit more of a complicated/interesting character than L is to think about in-depth, and has become also kind of my favourite one in the series in a different way over time, but L is def the one that I was really obsessed with from the start.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: I love everything up until the Yotsuba arc the most I think, I just find it so much fun in the beginning of the story when everything is so well-written and so exciting and tense and fast-paced. The university arc stuff MIGHT be the part that I just find the most fun and funny in the way that Death Note is known to be, with all the detailed little mind games and bitch moves and shocking reveals every other page, ahahah. I remember laughing out loud so many times during that section of the story just due to how ridiculous it gets and how often everyone is pulling the rug out from under each other nearly constantly.

And my favourite scene is probably the "first ever friend" scene in the manga. I WILL NEVER STOP THINKING ABOUT IT it's just so funny and mysterious and intriguing and layered to me

Character I Think is Underrated: Mikami is fairly underrated, but at the same time I myself am not the best at intuitively understanding him or creating content about him either...

Character I Think is Overrated: Matt (sorry I actually like him in the manga, but I just don't think he's that interesting really)

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Lawlight! I never needed much convincing about this.... I went straight from watching the anime to going "omg they should have kissed..."

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The anime's audio elements are just so iconic and so good a lot of the time! It makes some of the manga scenes SO MUCH better just with stuff like the gregorian chanting while Light's writing the names. And no lie, it's really easy to follow as a story without even seeing what's happening onscreen, too. I used to listen to the English dub while drawing or doing my work sometimes and it felt almost exactly like an audio play.

-

BERSERK:

Favorite Character: Guts is by far my favourite! Which was a total surprise to me, because I thought he was going to be a pretty boring macho action hero cardboard cutout type guy going in. I got very attached to him while reading the manga after a few volumes, and now he's one of my all-time faves...

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: I'm going to be very basic and say The Golden Age, but IT'S JUST REALLY GOOD OKAY. It's better than good, it's the reason the series went from just "ok this is pretty interesting" to "OMG WTF THIS IS SO GOOD I'M SO INVESTED NOW"

And my favourite scene?? Hmm.... extremely hard question, but I feel like the sword fights between Guts and Griffith are definitely some of the peak moments. Their first one is iconic in so many ways, but the second one in the snow really got me in the feels and made my stomach drop and my heart beat a bit faster as well!

Character I Think is Underrated: I feel like Casca is just kinda hard to talk about with other fans. She's my second favourite character in the series, but I feel like it's just really difficult to discuss her without it just getting either depressing or into too sensitive territory or something? I love her dearly in the manga, but the fandom space here seems only much fun to talk about Guts and Griffith in for me

Character I Think is Overrated: I am not THAT well-versed in who is overrated or underrated in this fandom, but I feel like mostly almost all the characters aside from maybe Griffith and Guts are a bit underrated and under-explored in fan stuff that I've seen? That might be entirely on me and the fact that I'm mostly looking at griffguts stuff, though...

Favorite Ship/Pairing: griffguts drives so much of the angst and the drama and I think is basically canon to me at this point... I don't think it's hard to interpret Griffith as in love with Guts, but I also think Guts is in love with Griffith too in just a more furtive sort of way

Something I Love About the Show/Movie:

I only partially watched the 1997 anime so far, and the Guts theme song in it is so good! My god that's still such a good fitting song for him and his personality somehow. And I'd never actually heard it before I read the series either!

[charmercharm3r]

Stray Kids as Ouran High School Host Club

OT8

Masterlist

wc: 2.4k

warnings: none

I hate that I love this show, no one look at me :o

-

CHAN AS KASANODA RITSU

Now, it was hard to choose another character to use since there’s only 7 main characters and 8 of skz, but the appearance Ritsu had in ep. 22 and 23 did a real number on me. Ritsu is the next leader in line for one of the most powerful yakuza clans, so he was raised to be independent from a young age. Sometimes he just wants to act his age, kinda like Channie he's five. They’re both just always wanting to be a better version of themselves, which is why Ritsu wanted to join the host club in the first place. He takes in “strays” and shelters them within his clan, which if that doesn’t convince you that Chan and Ritsu are one in the same idk what will. There was also the bit where Ritsu meets Haruhi for the first time and develops a little crush on her while he still assumes she’s a boy, then later walks in on her changing on accident and is still attracted to her. I remember Chan mentioning something about feeling like he was intimidating to approach, same as Ritsu who people assume to be scary but really they’re just big softies. They both just want some love! When everyone finds out how sweet they are, it’s hard not to fall for them. Ritsu doesn’t end up staying in the host club to lead his clan, but Chan would make a great host considering how flirty he is. I can imagine it going something like this…

Having some tea, “you like my dimples? Feel!” He takes your hand and leads it to his cheek, except he doesn’t let go even after you poke him. Instead, he guides you to cup his cheek and lean into it, smiling sweeter without looking away from your eyes. “Your touch is so gentle, isn’t this nice?” The skinship is what makes you keep coming back and requesting Chan every time.

MINHO AS MORINOZUKA TAKASHI

Okay, I was really struggling to choose who suited Minho the best (Kyoya was a strong competitor). But Mori just made so much sense the more I thought about it. They’re both seen as the silent types, brooding and mysterious– which is all true. Though, they’re both the kind of people you have to get to know slowly and sort of sneakily, if they find out you’re trying to truly understand them, they’ll run away! But not because they’re unsure, more like they’re afraid of voicing their real emotions out of fear you won’t want to stay after they reveal more of themselves. They’re both observant and let people come to them. Mori and Minho are wildcards when you finally peel away all their protective layers, one day they’ll barely speak two words and the next they won’t leave you alone. Mori is also extremely protective of those he loves, take Honey for example. Minho is the same, loving quietly but when you realize that’s what his small acts of service are, it’s like he’s carrying a permanent banner above his head written in bold letters saying, “I care about you! (maybe too much…)” You’ll never doubt their feelings.

“Oh, you have something right–” he reaches across the table and thumbs across your lips, wiping away some stray frosting, “here.” You watch with your mouth slightly dropped as he brings the same thumb to his mouth and licks the frosting away. You’re a blushing mess while it seems Minho hadn’t given it a second thought. Except, he was jumping up and down on the inside, afterall, he isn’t touchy with everyone and you happen to be his favorite customer. Something about how you bring treats for his cats ever since he briefly mentioned them a while back.

CHANGBIN AS HITACHIIN KAORU

As we all know, Changbin is nothing short of a gentleman. But he is also very playful and loud. When it’s needed, Changbin can be super serious or not have a single care in the world. Kaoru is the younger of the Hitachiin twins but is clearly the more mature one (i.e. the Hikaru-crushing-on-Haruhi arch). When the Hitachiin twins are together, they’re absolute menaces that can only be calmed either by Haruhi or someone even more annoying Tamaki. Changbin has voiced that he has very big feelings, but proves that he can control them. He isn’t afraid of those feelings and utilizes them in his creative process. Much like Kaoru, Changbin doesn’t let his emotions blind him side eyeing hikaru x haruhi again. Even though both twins have romantic feelings for Haruhi, Kaoru doesn’t act on them much out of love and respect for his brother. Changbin as Kaoru just makes so much sense to me, even though I really did consider putting Mori just for the sake of muscles and Mori’s 6’4 ass. Changbin doesn’t seem to need very many friends, but the ones he does have he knows are some incredibly good ones. He sees the good in people and will do anything for them if they can see the good in him as well.

On a walk with him and you come across a large mud puddle, “oh, let me carry you! Can’t have your pretty shoes getting dirty.” He lifts you easily and steps around the puddle as carefully as he could. Changbin doesn’t stop walking, escorting you all the way back with you in his arms. “You’re so cute, I wouldn’t mind holding you like this whenever you wanted. I mean, as long as you wouldn’t mind having lunch with me when we’re done.”

HYUNJIN AS SUOH TAMAKI

They’re both princes, what can I say? I have no self restraint. Tamaki is dramatic in every sense of the word and lies more on the irrationally emotional side, especially with Haruhi. Though, that is because Tamaki is also another one with big, big feelings and he has trouble managing them sometimes. Sort of the same with Hyunjin, they’ve both found outlets for their big emotions. Hyunjin has his art and dance, to which he pours his soul into. When required of them, both Tamaki and Hyunjin leave no room for error. The happiness of others is what both of them thrive off of. They try to stay optimistic and see the beauty in everyone, which is only a small portion of what makes them attract attention like moths to a flame. Both of them can lean a bit on the obsessive when it comes to the things they want to excel at or when they want someone’s attention. Tamaki has a few hidden talents, such as playing the piano. With Hyunjin, it’s his art. It stuns everyone upon finding out they’re much deeper than just a pretty face, only making you love them even more. Tamaki’s attachment to Haruhi stems from the fact that she didn’t just see his looks or money, but rather he himself. Tamaki can be painfully oblivious at times and needs it to be right in front of his face in order to understand, but that’s okay because like Hyunjin, once he gets it, he really gets it. 

Hyunjin has his art supplies the next time you’re scheduled to meet. “I want to draw you, if that’s okay. I’ve wanted to for a while, actually.” You don’t mind the silence as he concentrates on his sketchbook, looking up at you every few moments with a particularly tightly wound-up expression that indicates how hard he’s focusing. He doesn’t take long, not wanting you to get bored. But when you tell him you don’t mind, Hyunjin lets the biggest smile spread across his lips. “How did you know quality time is one of my love languages?” The following meeting, he gifts you the drawing which is now painted with a beautiful assortment of water colors.

JISUNG AS HITACHIIN HIKARU

Jisung feels things very, very deeply– which isn’t a secret, just look at this man’s extensive discography. Like Hikaru, they’re playful and like to have a good time, always wanting to make people smile. But also, Hikaru has immense trouble voicing his feelings in a way that makes sense, usually coming out as a burst of pent up anger because he can’t articulate it the way he wants. Hikaru and Kaoru are usually up to no good, which is why Jisung and Changbin as the twins makes perfect sense– the Hitachiin twins aren’t pockets of sunshine together like Jisung and Felix, but rather raging balls of chaos that leaves not a lot, but just enough damage to make you weary and side eye them from across the room. Jisung is also very loyal, though introverted. Hikaru is the same way, unless approached first, you won’t catch him looking your way. Hikaru is deeply bonded to all the other hosts in different ways, like Jisung is to his members. They’re both silly and smiley and love a good laugh, but they need that extra reassurance that what they feel is valid, no matter how big or small.

“You loop it, then make some bunny ears–” “I know how to tie my shoes, Jisung,” you giggle, patting his hair as he looks up from his kneeling position in front of you. “If you knew, I wouldn’t be down here doing it for you, would I?” He laughs back, resuming his mission of teaching you to lace up your shoes. When he finishes, Jisung stands tall before you and pets the top of your head the same way you did to him. You thank him and he smiles big and bright, “can’t have you falling for anyone but me, right?”

FELIX AS MITSUKUNI "HONEY" HANINOZUKA

Everyone knew this was coming, c’mon now. They’re both cute, love sweets, and both martial artists. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the creator based Honey off of Felix because they’re one in the same. Honey’s personality is big, there’s a lot of sides to him you wouldn’t see because he doesn’t like anyone viewing him as anything but happy, much like Felix, they don't want anyone to worry about them. Despite their child-like natures, Felix and Honey are very observative and can read people rather well. They hate seeing their friends upset and go to great lengths to cheer them up, even if only a little. Do I dare mention their attachment to plushies? Usa-chan and Dwaekki would be besties, not to mention they’re both pink bunnies. Honey is someone who just seems like he needs to be protected, queue Mori. Felix is always being babied by the members, even if he doesn’t do the same back to them. Honey explains that Tamaki and the host club is the reason he’s able to be himself, much like Felix and his members. Their endless support encourages Felix to be nothing but himself, everyone is head over heels for him and can’t do anything but take care of him.

“We should have some cake! This one tastes really good with the tea,” Felix all but shoves his own cup of tea towards you and finds the best looking slice. He only grabs one fork, insisting on feeding you. As you chew, his eyes are staring at you widely, awaiting your reaction. You tell him it’s delicious and that he’s right, the tea and cake are a great combination. Felix gently rubs the underside of your chin like a cat and feeds you another piece, “I knew you’d like it. It’s sweet, like you!”

SEUNGMIN AS OOTORI KYOYA

Do I even need to explain this one? Kyoya is the cold, detached type of host but everyone knows it’s just a front in order to avoid emotional confrontation. Seungmin is blunt and straightforward, but like Kyoya, it’s charming. Never rude, but rather classy in the way they approach topics. Kyoya is logical, never forgetting to remind the hosts of their duties while also accomplishing his own. Seungmin is like Kyoya in the sense that their first priority is honing their abilities and applying them wherever needed. Kyoya is also the single holder of the brain cell in his and Tamaki’s friendship, Tamaki idolizes him for him ability to stay cool in the most stressful of situations. Much like Seungmin’s relationship with Hyunjin, Seungmin just breathes and Hyunjin is on the floor laughing (who can blame him, mans is a comedian).

You asked Seungmin to help you with your math homework, which was a mistake. It had only been forty five minutes and you were already regretting letting homework take up your time with him. He’d been doing his best to help you, but you just weren’t getting it. “C’mon, I know you know this. You’ve got such a big brain in that pretty head of yours, you just gotta use it.” Backhanded, but nevertheless a rare compliment that made you blush and put the homework aside all together.

JEONGIN AS FUJIOKA HARUHI

Okay listen, lisTEN, LISTEN! Jeongin is just the main character, alright? The world does in fact revolve around him. To the host club, Haruhi is their favorite girl, even if she doesn’t act like the ones they’re used to. But that only makes them love her even more. Jeongin doesn’t necessarily care about others opinions, he just needs to exist and all the members fawn over him. Leave it to Jeongin to do the bare minimum and have every single one of them giggling and kicking their feet. With Haruhi, she has the mannerisms of a warmer Kyoya. As a host, she isn’t cold but she isn’t overbearing. Jeongin is the same, he gives just enough to make you want more. He understands both the male and female gaze, making Jeongin just that more attractive. He’s the youngest, but has the mindset that could easily be mistaken as older because he has such high expectations for himself. Jeongin and Haruhi both expect greatness from themselves, Haruhi in her studies and Jeongin with his singing. Depending on who they’re interacting with, Jeongin and Haruhi’s personalities may shift a little. When he’s with Seungmin, Jisung, or Felix, Jeongin has someone to tease and bicker with since they’re closer in age. The older members minus Chan sometimes tend to let him act younger and enjoy the small bit of babying. Jeongin is the epitome of main character.

Spending time outdoors during the spring was a necessity, asking Jeongin to accompany you for a stroll through the gardens. Walking shoulder to shoulder, he loved talking about the latest fashion trends from all over the world. “Windbreakers will be making a comeback, I’m telling you!” The breeze picked up and made you shiver. “Told you you would get cold. Here,” Jeongin began taking off his cardigan, “keep it for the weekend. Maybe when you give it back, it’ll smell like you when I get to wear it again.”

-

A/N: let’s all ignore how terrible this show actually is and just look at it extreeeemely surface level🫣

[x-liv25-jamieswife]

tig characters/couples as ts songs - sparks fly and averyjameson

literally every single lyric fits them, but i'm obviously not going to do all of them so here are the ones i love the most. also i really need to start rereading the books cause i sort of forgot some important details about them, and so some of this might not be accurate (i apologize for that but i find these really fun to make). this might also get repetitive cause i love them so much and can't stop talking about them @reminiscentreader made a comment about this under one of my posts which inspired this. this song has been my #1 aj song forever, but seeing her comment made me want to make this post even more. i apologize for any spelling mistakes (or if anything doesn't make sense or if its repetitive), this was made at 3am, and i don't feel like going over it.

"you're the kind of reckless that should send me running but i kinda know that i won't get far"

although avery knows that jameson will probably end up hurting her because of how careless and reckless he is, she still can't help but be drawn to him. she convinces herself (in the first book) that its because of the mystery they have to solve, but i think subconsciously she knows that she loves being around him and that's why she can't seem to stay away. she waits for him when it comes to looking for more clues, and goes looking for him when she finds something. no matter what, she always goes back to him.

"drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain, kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain, cause i see sparks fly whenever you smile"

there are many layers to this. this one is also a little less accurate than the other, but the idea remains the same. in the first book, jameson takes the pain away after avery got shot at by kissing her, but he also ends up hurting her by telling her she doesn't really mean anything to him. throughout the book, we see him hurt her unintentionally over and over again. the reason why she's scared of getting together with jameson at first is because of the pain he causes her. she wants him to drop all the bullshit, and say that he wants to be with her and love her. to kiss her on sidewalks and dance with her in the pouring rain instead of hurting her and pretending she means nothing to him. while she's scared of getting together with him and denies her feelings for him, she also can't help but be attracted him. her heart lights up whenever she sees him (a feeling she doesn't get around grayson in my opinion). although we don't have jamie's pov, i also think he feels somewhat the same (not the being hurt by her part though). he's always seeking her out and talking to her. we also know that he's hurting cause of emily, and i think being around avery lessens that pain.

"get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down, give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around"

jameson, throughout the first and second book, gives her just enough for her to feel something for him and to forget the pain he causes her. although she knows getting together with him might hurt her, these little moments haunt her at night. she can't help but the think of the what-ifs, and overtime, starts finding it harder to convince herself why she shouldn't be with him. she doesn't want to feel this way, but she can't stop thinking about him, and it's messing with her head. (jameson also has green eyes). this also sort of applies from jamie's perspective. avery will do things that make him realize how amazing she truly is, and that he underestimated her and his attraction to her. these little things stay with him at night, and slowly he started to fall for her.

"my mind forgets to remind me, you're a bad idea, you touch me once and it's really something, you find i'm even better than you imagined i would be"

this kind of goes with what i've already said so far, but avery knows he's a bad idea. she isn't stupid, and she's very protective of her heart. she doesn't like to get hurt, but being around jamie makes her forget all of these thoughts and makes her ignore these warnings her mind gives her. jamie kissing her and touching her cheek always manages to make all reason leave her and wonder why giving in would be such a bad idea. overtime, jameson realizes that avery isn't just a game to him, and she's so much more (so much better). the more he gets to know her, the more he realizes how smart and talented she is, and he can't help but fall in love with her.

"i'm on my guard for the rest of the world, but, for you, i know its no good"

no one knows them as well as they know each other. they both know how their minds work individually and together. they know about their feelings and insecurities, and they only really open up to each other. i mean, they literally have a codeword for being honest with each other. avery has never liked being vulnerable and thinks with her head and not her heart, and jamie is always acting as if nothing is wrong when in reality he's hurting. these are their shields that protect them from the rest of world. they only allow themselves to break down in front of one another (and their siblings but anyways). i also made another post about how i think the codeword was created as a result of past communication and trust issues. they know how much keeping secrets hurts each other. they know it's no good.

"just keep on keeping your eyes on me, it's just wrong enough to make it feel right"

this is also really similar to other lyrics i've talked about, but avery forgets all reason when she's around jamie. he manages to sneak his way into her heart and make her feel things she's never felt before. him looking at her or brushing his fingers against her cheek make her feel so attracted to him that she starts to wonder, for a second, if he's really as bad as her mind makes him out to be.

i hope this is good. i haven't read the books in over a year, and so i've forgotten some details. some of this might not be accurate, and i wished i had more examples. i might make an updated post after i reread the main trilogy.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: December 2023

And so the year draws to a close! Big movie month and hoping to carry that over into the new year.

……….FILM……….

Turning Red (2022) Late to the game on this but it’s so great! When they talk about the ritual and that the words to the music don’t matter, I knew it was gonna lead to 4*Town playing a key role, but what they did on top of that was a genuine surprise and what takes this to the next level: they embrace the obvious setups but add an extra twist to the payoffs. So great.

The Fate of the Furious (2017) Okay I really love the idea of evil Dom so this movie moooooostly works. I’m still getting caught up on the series but even knowing that Han is alive, it’s still baffling that Shaw is embraced by the crew. He killed that whole hospital wing! 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) These are of course Christmas films and I’ve noticed a transition in myself having not seen them for many years. I once liked the earlier movies for how faithful they were to recreating the books, but I now see how that the accuracy is at the expense of the movie’s pacing. Still really impressed with how well cast the core trio is even at this age.

The Santa Clause (1994) Nostalgia overwhelms my perspective on this but, as far as I can tell, this holds up pretty well. Starting Scott off as just...kinda the worst makes his transition all the better and I think is where Tim Allen is at his best. Plus a lot of really great sight gags which I don’t really see anymore (like the Denny’s full of sad dads).

Confess, Fletch (2022) Fun and the sort of movie I wish got made more often. Not all of the humour really landed but the characters were engaging and the mystery lead to a lot of fun. Perfectly decent rainy day watch.

The Night Before (2015) A lot of ups and downs with this one. At it’s best it’s very funny but when it slows down it really grinds to a halt. I wonder if the hangover movies have the same challenge. Also 100% thought the steroid injection was insulin.

Frosty the Snowman (1969) and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970) Two Rankin Bass classics that really highlight the best that this production company could do.

No Hard Feelings (2023) and Easy A (2010) The former was a pretty fun comedy that didn’t have a lot of comedy and the later was a comedy that I remember loving when it came out but not really connecting upon rewatch. Would I still recommend both? I think so, but only lightly.

……….TELEVISION……….

Blue Eye Samurai (Episode 1.01 to 1.04) A good chunk into the season and really digging it. The characters are rich and layered and the show is doing a good job of exploring those layers in an engaging story. Plus the setting/time period allows for a lot of really great visuals. Definitely making the most out of the premise and stoked for the rest of the season.

Poker Face (Episode 1.08 to 1.10) Such a satisfying series. The majority of the episodes stand on their own but the bigger picture occasionally pops up, until the end of the season where it becomes the main focus. Just like TV used to be! Really beautiful wardrobe and set design, all the actors seem to be having a great time, and each episode feels thoroughly realized. Big fan can’t recommend enough. 

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Episode 1.07 to 1.08) Came into it expecting something else and it’s gonna take some time to adjust to what it was. Gotta rewatch but really no complaints! 

……….YOUTUBE……….

Plagiarism and You(Tube) by hbomberguy Yes I did watch a 4 hour video on plagiarism and you should too. VIDEO

when the director is overqualified for the job by CinemaStix I never really considered how similar the early Harry Potter movies but it all makes sense. VIDEO

Stop Taking ANY Advice From TikTok by Extranet Shaquille A quick and light reminder that social media isn’t worried about truth or accuracy in any way. VIDEO

The Marvelization of Cinema by Stories of Old This succinctly explains (to me, at least) why some modern remakes/sequels/reimaginings land and some don’t. In short you gotta ask if it’s purpose is to tell a story or maintain a brand. VIDEO

……….READING……….

There is a Tide aka Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie (Page 122 of 224) Picked up a bunch of old Agatha Christie books at a thrift store (partly because of the cool covers, partly cause I like mystery as a genre but never read it). Turns out this is EXACTLY what I needed right now. It’s been a while since I was this stoked to keep going with a story and this specific story feels like a great influence on the first Knives Out movie in that it’s centred around a lot of family drama vying for control of a deceased benefactor’s money. So stoked and gonna grab more of these when I can. Hey do you have old DELL copies of Christie novels you don’t want? Lemme know.

Tiger in the Stars by Zach Hughes (Complete) Okay so I picked this up while thrifting. There were DOZENS of these Laser Books and figured I’d try one and see what they were like. Turns out...not that great. Some fun ideas but moved at a snail’s pace and felt like there was a lot of padding. Something like this feels like a Goosebumps book (short, quick output, somewhat formulaic) but in comparison, I think I’d prefer R. L. Stein.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 2 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Again rereading as the series draws to a close and it’s still such a joy. These characters are fully formed right from the beginning and it’s such a good study in dramatic escalation as right now it still feels light and fun and I love it.

The Michael Moorcock Library: The Chronicles of Corum Vol. 1: The Knight of Swords by Mike Baron, Mike Mignola, Rick Burchett, & Kelly Jones (Complete) Love these illustrated retellings of the old pulp fantasy novels. Sometimes the limited page count leads to pacing that feels rushed and a scale that feels smaller than the grandiosity of the subject matter, but every adaptation requires sacrifice. Gonna keep going with this series and also try to find the original books!

……….AUDIO……….

Cold & Blue All Over (Demo) by Blue Freezie (2023) A little punk, a little surf rock, a little rockabilly, and all a good time. Big fan of this album and hoping there’s more to come.

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Tuesday D&D crew is back in Neverland and sorting out this Elf problem! They’ve killed one and are on their way to killing some more. It’s more nuanced than that and you can read all about it here.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 D&D crew just robbed a funeral and started a riot! Who knows what’s gonna happen next.

And that’s it. See you in January!

[ben-talks-art]

Nimona was so great I wish it was a show

After seeing the trailers and clips and hearing about the premise I was really excited about watching this movie.

It looked fun, the main lead looked awesome, the animation seemed charming, it just looked like it was going to be a good time while exploring a very relevant theme even for today.

And long story short, that's basically what it was, just a really good fun time exploring a really relevant theme. It was as super solid movie with a super solid main character.

I don't think it's perfect but it did what I hoped it would do, showing this tiny girl with a sharp-teethed smile being awesome and kicking ass.

(Spoilers for the movie below)

For those who don't know the premise, the movie tells the story about a man about to become an official knight who gets framed for a murder and ends up getting hated by the whole kingdom forcing him into isolation.

Once Nimona finds out about this she considers the idea of becoming friends with him since people also hate her for things she never did, so at least they could be hated and hunted down together.

The guy doesn't trust her at first but with time they start to get along and develop some absurdly charming chemistry and eventually through their combined efforts they managed to make people see that neither of the two is as bad as everyone thinks.

At first I was a little skeptical since I didn't want to see yet another "Last of Us" or "Logan" story about some grumpy old dude learning to be a father after taking care of a spunky little girl, a trope that I'm just freaking sick to death of seeing so much, but they handle it really well in here by instead of making it a father-daughter relationship it's more like just two outcast friends hanging out.

He's not raising or taking care of her. Heck, if anything, she's the mentor figure making him realize his views of the world aren't as simple as he thinks.

And like I said, they have such a great chemistry. At first it's the usual "simple character gasps at weird character" routine, but they drop that after some time and it becomes more about him just going along with her antics and joining in on the fun.

The best part of the movie is just these two hanging out and being weird together. I could watch a whole show about them just having fun doing whatever, I just love seeing them that much.

Their interactions are so enjoyable to watch, a lot of it coming from the voice acting doing a perfect job showcasing their personalities. I just adore hearing them talk to each other. There is so much emotion and character in their voices that I feel they could just be reading a phonebook and still would be fun to listen to.

Which kinda brings me to my one problem with the movie...

The two leads work so well together and are so likable and charming... That they kinda make the rest of the story feel just a tiny bit lacking.

The major plot involving the crime mystery is... sadly not that interesting in my opinion.

You've seen these scenes before, you heard these lines before, you know what's gonna happen and how they're gonna solve the conflict, you know exactly who the culprit is and why they did it the second they appear on-screen.

It's the usual "who's the real monster" story and "people who fear what they don't understand" plot.

It's not bad, and it's sadly still relevant to remind people that they shouldn't hate on things just because they're too afraid of the unknown, but it's just a story we've seen so many times already and there isn't really that much new here.

They play around a little with the idea that the kingdom is always trying to be under the light because they are afraid of what they can't see in the shadows with several shots of the knights being literally under sources of light at all times and in the climax of the movie we see a being literally hides their true self under several layers of shadows, and stuff like that is handled really well, but when you come down to it it's still the usual story about the dangers of making assumptions under the wrong or lack of information.

One thing they addressed that I really really liked was how they point out that kids are taught from an early age to discriminate as if it was a normal thing to do and why it's so hard for adults to let go of this discrimination since it's basically like rejecting what your entire life has taught you.

I think the story should have leaned more on that. Instead of being about solving the mystery of "who did it?", it would have been, in my opinion, more interesting if it was about Nimona showing her friend how he's been slowly brainwashed his whole life, kinda like what happened in How To Train Your Dragon where the main lead has a scene of him realizing that everything he knew about dragons was wrong, or even in this movie's creator's other work, She-Ra, where the female lead, Adora, realized she and many others were being lied on by the bad guys her whole life.

Or heck, they could have turned this into some sort of "Beyond Good and Evil" setting where our two leads go around finding proof about the lies of the government and work underground to collect evidence and show the citizens the true colors of the kingdom and through that bringing the people to their side.

I don't know, I just feel like the idea of having these two working together to reveal other truths would be more engaging than just the usual "scared people do dumb things" plot.

Again, the scenes with these two working together once they got on the same page were my favorite parts and I really wished I could have more of that.

But I know why we can't have more of that. This is a movie with three acts and we need to do the usual movie with three acts thing, establish the conflict, explore the conflict, and solve the conflict, all while introducing all the relevant characters, setting up their motivations, and having them go through some character development by the time we reach the end so we can pass on the moral of the story.

And sometimes when you need to focus on all that you end up with not enough time to focus on other elements, which is why I really feel this would work even better as a show so we could have more time dedicated to the two leads just being great and doing cool things together, exploring this world and maybe even adding other characters for them to interact with.

I feel like Nimona's biggest flaw is that its leads are way more interesting than the story they're in.

For instance, the fact that Nimona has shape-shifting powers is freaking awesome and leads to tons of cool and creative scenes of her just going from one shape to another... But it also feels like a bit overkill for the problems they come across.

I kept waiting for some sort of big epic battle where she would have to face some sort of squad of super-enhanced knights or something, or maybe they would go How To Train Your Dragon 2 and reveal they also have a secret evil shape-shifter on their side for her to fight, or maybe they would do it like in the series Kipo and have the big villain copy Nimona's power so they could have a transformation fight in the same way they did it in the Sword on the Stone movie.

I don't know, I just feel like Nimona's antagonists are kinda boring for how cool she is. She barely even interacts with them when I think about it.

But yes... I know that's not the point... It's not about Nimona punching some cool bad guy in the face as if we were in a Marvel movie...

it's about sending the message of how adults keep trying to find faults and problems in things that have no faults and problems just because of their upbringing, fear, lack of guidance, or outside manipulation, and how much that behavior needlessly hurts the innocents who have no means to resist and how that corrupts the young into following their example and keeping the cycle going.

It's about how when you treat people like monsters they start to consider becoming monsters as well, showing how powerful our actions and their consequences can be even if we don't think about it.

It's about how hard it is to sometimes see that we are making a big mistake that's keeping us from stepping into a whole new world of possibilities that might be even better than the world we have now because of how scary it is to leave your clear comfort zone and adventure through the unknown.

It's about a whole bunch of relevant themes and messages that can help people become even better people...

That said... It is a little hard to look at a character THIS cool and not go "I wish she would fight something cooler."

Like... Look at all the promotional images of her grinning while starting to shift into a dragon and tell me you don't want to see her in some super big epic battle against some really cool villain. (Or maybe that's just me? 🤔)

But... Then again, that does fit into the message of Nimona not having to be what people think she is or want her to be and instead learning to accept her for who she really is, just a girl that wants others to stop finding non-existent problems with her.

So, yeah, I'm not gonna get angry at a movie for not being exactly how I wished it was when the whole idea is that we often get too angry at things for not being how we think they should be.

Bottom line, I like Nimona. I love the leads, love the voice-acting, the transformation scenes, the chemistry between the characters, the interactions...

The message is kinda "been there done that", but many people still need to hear about it even today so, who am I to complain...

I just wish I could see the leads hanging out more and doing more things outside of this main plot. I feel like this works as a great pilot for an ongoing story with these two and would be more than happy to follow them in other adventures (the movie literally ends with the walls to a whole new world breaking down ala Attack on Titan).

So... Can I get a sequel or a tv show, please?

[anotheronedsaf]

So I was just wondering how you got so good at character design? I mean these have got to be the most iconic and recognizable DSAF design interpretations I’ve ever seen. What is your process when designing characters?

omg thank you so much!!

(sorry about the rant I love talking about character designs)

Ever since I was a small specimen, I was always interested in how to make a memorable design (meanly shapes) while also using color theory on how each color complements each other. so when I making these versions, I took into account the original designs while also using shapes such has I know I wanted Pen to be a kind and huggable kinda guy so I primarily used circles and thanks to his original design been orange, it helped with making him seem like a warm guy while making Dave, I wanted them to look scary and distain so I used sharp edges and again thanks to the original been purple, it adds a layer of mystery to it like "why do you do this". I can't really talk much on the phone guys since their designs are pretty concrete already but one thing I noticed is that both phone guys (from DSaf 1 and 2) have a red phone and usually red means danger so I made this version of Phone guy (Steven) a bit...suspicious. When it came to the puppet, I wanted to give him a dream like feel to the deign so I used the fnaf 6 puppet has a bases for the design along with using elements from NiGHTS to give that dream like feel. The uniforms they wear are a shade of light blue which brings a sense of calmness admits the chaos that is freddy fazbender pepperonerie. Also one thing I would also like to add are that Pen’s and Dave’s pants colors are switched to show that they have a different approach and mirror each other. Another thing I like to add with my character are cat-like and dog-like features like how when Dave gets spooked, their "back spikes" frizz's up and when you think of Pen, you think of a nice dog who is very protective of he's friends ya know? I've gone through many versions of these characters and the one thing I wanted to do is make them simple. I originally had some accessories on them but I wanted them to be simple at first and has time goes on, their designs well change, showing a since of growth in them. One last thing that I always done with all of my oc's is to show change through their hair but I can't get into that without spoilers so tee hee. Also the way I draw them is on purpose since it adds the simplicity to them and some may have noticed is that I never use black or white with expectations for the eyes.

Again sorry for the rant, i cut out most of what was ramblings and I hope this gives you a new look on how to make your own OC's :)

[pocketsonny]

For the character ask meme: 2, 8, 14, and 16 for Ryoken and 18, 24 for Jin! :D

Ryoken! <3

2) When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

It's so hard to pin-point THE moment...like, I always liked him but I think with his face reveal I started to really like him JKASKJD I'm weak for white haired pretty boys okay! xD

But back in S1, I would've said my fave was more Yusaku and Ai than Ryoken. As the series progressed tho, and I started to pick apart Ryoken's character more...as I wrote him...I just came to love him a lot!! And I kept going back to s1, and appreciating his S1 self more, analyzing his actions...now I can ramble for days about this guy. SO MANY LAYERS TO HIS GUILT!

8) Your favorite outfit of them

He wears the same blazer and ankles pants every day, what outfit KASKJD Okay listen this guy has 10 of the same outfit, he's stupidly practical, SOMEONE TAKE HIM OUT SHOPPING!!

I do really like his avatar looks tho, I'm a fan of 👽 S1 alien look, but his s2 avatar is very pretty as well (I'd say I like the color scheme of his outfit more in s2 more!).

I do think he'd looks sooo good in turtlenecks...

14) Best storyline they had

S1 storyline for Revolver/Ryoken is very solid, you can draw a lot about Ryoken's character and actions, his way of thinking at that time. I love to go back to it to pick his character apart. PLUS HE'S SO GOOFY BACK THEN, I love that (even though it gets sad when you think he got to have that much fun because he was gonna...sacrifice himself with the Tower and everyone else so like, he didn't care! fuck it! he can be terrible cause nothing will matter in the end! GAH o|-<)

THO I also love the storyline(? if it can be called that) he had with Soulburner/Their duels. I always wish we'd got more of them...like I know i'm biased cause I love the ship and them individually, but their final duel is SO GOOD!!

16) A childhood headcanon

HMM the one I'm thinking of right now is cute/sad: he learned a bunch of like, tricks? Or stuff that would impress potential friends he made, like yo-yo tricks or card tricks , small things that'd make him look cool LOL. but he never got to show anyone.... :''')

Also he read a lot about astronomy...he always liked stars.

Jin!! :D

18) How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

I think Jin was a bit of a shy kid, but cheerful back then. He was always going somewhere with Shoichi, holding onto the back of his shirt when he was scared...they played a lot together. Shoichi had other friends from his grade, but Jin struggled to meet other kids his own age, which made Shoichi spend so much time with him so he wouldn't be lonely :') Also partly what made him so protective from early on.

Jin also always liked reading a lot--he's very curious! Liked fantasy when he was younger, mystery novels...

24) What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

HMMM 🤔

I do have a HC to kinda work with canon's "all of jin's memories of the incident where deleted when lightning used that 1 LP". Because I think that's dumb BUT...what if what that made was just repress the memories.

Like. Jin is AWARE there's a gap in his memories. And he's aware Shoichi is hiding something from him--but he hasn't told him that. Because whatever it is, seems to make him brother terribly sad, even when he hides it.

Jin often has vivid nightmares that he doesn't know the source of, either. He hasn't told Shoichi--if some mornings he's particularly exhausted, it's because he stayed up reading again. Doing homework. Playing a game. He doesn't want to cause his brother any more worry, because while his memories are foggy, he does remember Shoichi caring for him for a long time, he remembers the care facility he stayed at, but he doesn't know WHY he was there. He's just pretending all is normal now.

It does frustrate him though that Shoichi won't talk about it, or tell him--he feels people around him know something he doesn't.

This something i want to write for Future Circuit but the biggest secret may be that when he heard about the L.I on TV, something tugged at him...and he may have started to investigate on his own about it, trying to piece things together. Part of him doesn't want to know what's behind those nightmares and visions--too afraid to really KNOW but he also hates how people seem to be keeping stuff from him.

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT AKJSKJDS he may have other. smaller, more chill secrets like. secretly uses his parents credit card for gacha games--JK JK (but what if lol )

[robean-chan]

the new defunctland video on the disney channel 4-note mnemonic & disney channel's bumpers is really making me think about one piece's eyecatchers again, mostly about how only 5 seconds of music conveys SO MUCH about each character

luffy's horns are the most similar to the sort of adventurous themes in the OST - like set sail! (not me going "hey wow i know I've heard something like this in the anime" and then checking the full version of this piece again and YEAH i was thinking of the full version.) its adventurous and silly! the trailing notes of the melody feel like you're sailing, letting the music be carried away by the wind!

zoro's theme was once described as "sounding like an army of demons is approaching" and that's never left me. it screams early Zoro, a bounty hunter, trying to look at him through a hot atmosphere

nami's theme is lighter and airier; interestingly, its not overly mischievous. its calm, like a warm afternoon, like nami at her happiest (and then, a tiny rising sequence of notes plucked on soft strings, as if shes creeping around or behind you to steal)

usopp's is so chaotic - i dont know the exact musical term for them, but the arpeggios? runs? they evoke Usopp, well, running! He can't stay still, or hes fighting an enemy and cant take them head on

sanji's eyecatcher music also (memorably) appears in the anime, usually when he does something kinda cool or goofy! i dont know music genres well enough to describe it - is it jazz? blues?? if it were blues itd be a funny pun. either way i think this firmly communicates sanji's position as arguably the most important crew member (he feeds them; if he didnt feed them there wouldnt have been a crew to begin with) through its two strong piano chords & then the deep sturdy horns. but of course, the melody soars and croons a bit at the end, it's his goofiness

chopper has an emphasis on wind instruments, and the way they pull forward and back in the melody is reminiscent of his fear of people & the way he both loves attention and hates it. also it sounds somehow wild to me, like a trail of footprints from an animal

robin's sax (i think that's a sax, I am not a musical expert) is mysterious and mature, it knows what it is and doesnt try to do nearly as many things as, say, usopp or chopper's themes do. but its not closed off, either, the piano dancing upward in the harmony brings in some of robin's levity & humor, even as the melody is sloped downward

franky's theme is interesting to me because it was originally heard in alabasta during Usopp vs Mr 4, but nowadays it's so synonymous with Franky that it's hard to imagine it being used so generally! but the drumroll and the trumpets exude so much energy (the drumroll in particular feeling like a nod to franky's very first introduction) and then the last 3 notes just. SCREAM, in the best way possible. it's such a cool and exciting piece of music, and it's even cooler in its fuller state

brook's theme is haunted, okay! it very much suits his pre-timeskip self, especially the emphasis on orchestral stringed instruments (as opposed to like. an electric guitar or something funky, which might suit his post-soul king character better nowadays). but I like this a lot: the way it opens up frightening, like you're seeing him through the fog, and then it clears up and it's delicately silly. the hints of binks' sake, too

vivi's eyecatcher theme just sounds like a princess, like the kind of disney princess in a white palace from a culture that looks vaguely European in inspiration? it sounds like curtseying and practicing manners; it spirals downward before crawling back up, similar to how nothing seemed to ever go right for vivi through most of the alabasta saga

jinbe finally gets his own eyecatcher and...!! its Luffy's theme. :/ I assume that he'll eventually get an eyecatcher with his own theme, and that this is the music they'll draw from for it - with that in mind, this song has history to it, theres layers and drama. its sincere and determined and wholehearted and I cannot wait to see what they might use from it for an eyecatcher

that's not even to mention the artists who animated these! the OG wanted poster eyecatchers are iconic, and the more modern wanted poster eyecatchers that show important locations to each character are so cool & are an awesome updated take on the OG eyecatchers. My favorite ones, tho, are the spyglass eyecatchers! getting to peek in on the straw hats for a moment and have them interact with the viewer before panning to objects important or characteristic to them is so fun and says so much about each member of the crew and what they're like. they have the most personality of all the eyecatchers to me!

the one piece eyecatchers are so beloved and they have so much care and attention to detail in them. I'm by far a musical expert but I wish I was so that I could accurately point out what's happening in these 5 SECOND LONG(!!!) compositions to convey so much character in such a short period of time

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 6: Scream 3

Moving along through the Screams with Scream 3. I realized as I was watching that I was sort of looking for reasons to dislike it, which wasn’t really fair. Overall, and trying to be as fair as possible, it was fine, just… long. Kinda exhausting. Despite its best attempts to have some sort of plot or at least through-line or something, and to connect that plot or mystery with Sydney even though she had very little screen time, it didn’t feel so much like a coherent story as just sort of a landscape or a universe, where various random plot points, many of them murder, were happening. And like that’s fine if you enjoy the universe and just want to settle in and be in it for a while. But even though I just finished watching, it already feels like sort of a wash.

I was disappointed that they killed off Cotton so early, because he seemed to me like a character who could be interesting to see develop, a good combination of funny/ridiculous and actually quite menacing. Also, for a franchise, Scream really does kill off most of its decent characters. The ensemble in 2 was nowhere near the level of the ensemble in 1996, and yes I am one of those people who is mad about Randy getting killed in Scream 2.

Gale and Dewey carrying much of the film was fine. I do like them a lot, and their romance was probably one of the stronger story lines in the movie—and one of the more coherent. They’re good at carrying both the mystery (with their intrepid reporter and cop traits) and the humor. In truth, for being a horror-comedy series, I haven’t really been finding the movies all that funny. I would say they’re really primarily horror-slashers. Most of the humor in 1996 was of the meta variety, and when 3 included jokes, they felt, to me, often a bit randomly placed. I mean there were some good ones, like everything about the Carrie Fisher cameo, and most of the stuff with the 2 Gales, and the little joke about the broken statue or the ‘are you threatening me exchange,’ but a rollicking sense of humor did not move the plot swiftly along.

It had some good set pieces, in particular the explosion at the mansion and the encounter between Sydney and Ghostface in “Woodsboro” and I suppose the final killing spree was okay. I was pretty exhausted by that point, kind of done mentally. Also really distracted by the set being the same as the school in H20 lol. I respected the devotion to adding ever more layers of meta—not just referencing the movie-based-on-the-movie but following its actors, visiting its sets—and I liked that, versus Scream 2, it used more of the lore and backstory of the original.

I had mixed feelings about the use of the voice changer as a plot point. On the one hand, that certainly is a way to continue to push the boundaries of the scary voice on the phone, and it’s true that technology, whatever is the cutting edge of it, is a big part of the whole Scream thing. And I also get that this movie was playing around a very little bit with the is the horror psychosis angle, which gets a little deeper when characters legitimately cannot tell who they’re talking to. And yet, though it worked intellectually, somehow I didn’t feel it. I guess I like the familiarity of the Scream killer always approaching first on the phone. That is scary in itself to me, without, like, thinking you’re talking to a loved one first, without that scam of it. It’s hearing the phone ring and immediately being afraid, not having the fear come in later, when the voice switches tones.

I also felt, connecting again to how it was about 10 hours long, that the misdirection with the order of the kills was a little… unnecessary. The same misdirection existed in Scream 2, honestly. How important was it that the first victims had names that matched the Scream 1996 victims? Not very. Similarly, how important was it that a few victims had kill orders that matched the ones in the film? Not at all. And an awful long time was spent following that track, before the film just veered away into something else. Again, this is all fine if you just want to hang out with the Scream characters for 2 hours. It’s only a complain on the level of, like, plot.

And then finally, the Maureen stuff. I…. have such mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I appreciated a lot of it. I liked that they fleshed Maureen out, I liked that we saw Sydney’s trauma return to the loss of her mom, I liked that we saw the ways in which Maureen herself was a victim, the why of her only alluded to unhappiness. And I think it was quite ballsy for a film like this, essentially a fun slasher, to get right up to saying the r-word, so that even without it, we all know we’re talking about a rape. But then somehow it all became about Maureen the villain again, didn’t it? The rape seemed like it was just there to explain the brother’s existence, and then to put another sin at Maureen’s feet: that she didn’t want to accept a child born of rape into her home. Well, she shouldn’t have to. That’s what I think. So what am I supposed to feel for Roman? Sympathy because his mom rejected him? Disgust because he’s the killer? Surprise at the twist and not much else because just like every Ghostface, he’s another interchangeable horror psychopath? What was that extended hand holding with Sydney at his (first) death? Was that supposed to be meaningful and deep?

I wish the killer had been a secret sister and not a brother, and that her purpose was to draw attention to Maureen’s rape. The Sydney Prescott story is famous, so you leverage that with another meta layer of murders, and leave clues about Maureen at each one, hoping at last someone will uncover her story and right the long-ago injustice. As Sydney says early on, none of the murders would have happened if her mother wasn’t… the way she was, and why was she like that? Because of entitled male violence. And the man behind the assault, if not the rapist than the instigator, the one who created the situation in which it happened, doesn’t even feel bad! And his kill is so short and unsatisfying, like an afterthought. The killer-sister would have planned to frame him, and she would still be the villain, and Sydney would still defeat her, but their final handshake would have real meaning, because she's sympathetic, and she’s a counter to all of the scuzzy men who have inhabited the franchise so far (I don’t mean all of them (Dewey) but see my notes on Scream 2).

And if it’s too unrealistic to have a female horror director in 2000, she could be the woman playing Sydney (by the way, a weird sort of sleeper favorite character of mine, among the smaller parts, I don’t know why): the big sister who wanted the life of her little sister, identifying with her, feeling she is her. Maybe part of her plan is not that Sydney takes the blame for her murders but that Sydney joins her in the murders, really and legitimately. Maybe she even considers it, for a brief moment. But only very brief, because of course, Sydney would never do that.

I will say I liked the ending a great deal, especially as an intended finale for the whole “trilogy.” A happy ending for our surviving characters, and a happy ending for Sydney, and the happiness is shown by the way she lives her life openly and with friends, not shut off, not isolated, not scared. The door swinging open in a breeze, and left open: that was really, really good.

[twopoppies]

Hi! I hope it’s not too annoying of a request but I was wondering if you or your followers can think of any fics that are kinda inspiring academically, especially regarding British literature, if that makes sense? I just finished rereading Come As You Are and every time I read it, it motivates me to read more and practice my writing because I want to be more like Harry from that fic hahaha and I’m looking for more fics which evoke this feeling since I’m starting my masters in October and I need all the help I can get. Thank you so much! (I absolutely love your master post and its my go to couple times a week!)

Hi sweetheart. Hmmm... I just reblogged my Dark Academia fic rec, but other than that I think it would be fics where one or the other are writers/poets etc. Not all of these are heavy on the writing/poetry, but they're all great fics.

Make Your Words A Weapon by @helloamhere (E, 36K) I recently read this a second time and it’s even better than I remembered. I love everything this author writes. This one just really hit me hard for whatever reason. Maybe it’s the way they explore Louis’ anxiety and coping mechanisms and pain and the way he pushes people away and protects himself, but also wants someone to push back just a bit and love him despite all of that. And the way Harry is the perfect foil for all of it, while also feeling like a fully developed character himself. Yeah, it’s probably all of that. Plus soul marks! (Musician Harry/Music Journalist Louis)

Our Lives, Non Fiction by @indiaalphawhiskey (E, 114K) this is, quite literally, the best fic I’ve read in years. It’s so well written, clever, funny, emotional, and sexy. Its draw you in immediately and you’ll end up falling in love with these characters before you know it. Don’t miss this one. Harry and Louis are both authors.

An Invincible Summer by Brooklyn_Babylon / @twopoppies (E, 45K) this one is mine, I hope you like it:

Never content to stay in one place for long, a few months down south researching for his novel seemed like an idyllic, slow-paced summer to Louis. He wasn’t ready for the blistering heat, the backbreaking work of watermelon picking, or how stifling the attitudes in rural Georgia would feel. And he definitely hadn’t anticipated falling in love with the farmer’s son.

The summer of 1946 would turn out to be everything worth writing about. Farmer Harry / author Louis

Mine Would Be You by @crinkle-eyed-boo (E, 115K) Beautifully written, flawed characters and an emotionally engaging and ANGSTY plot. Super hot smut that made me cry like a fool. Banter, OT5 friendship, and the gritty realness of New York as a backdrop. Loved this one. Artist Harry / Author Louis

where your lips land by BriaMaria / @briannamarguerite (E, 12K) Ok, I’ve recommended this one a few times and I really do love it. Anyway, I love fics where the two of them are both artists of some sort (Louis is a poet in this one, Harry is a photographer) because it allows for another layer of understanding and connection and support. I particularly love the way Louis’ tattoos are woven into this story with layered meaning. And, as always, just beautiful writing.

you’re writing lines about me by snazzyasalways (T, 4K) This is gorgeously written on that Dreamy, poetic style I happen to love. Louis is a blind poet, Harry is a baker, Harry falls in love with Louis’ words, then with him.

another hazy may by deLILah (M, 41K) Another author who writes great fic after great fic. This one has that dreamy quality I love and there’s also something about it that, at times, reminds me of a little bit of a Raymond Chandler novel. I know that’s weird...but, yeah, it does. Anyway, I love this one. Such a good read.

I would name the stars for you (I would take you there) by orphan_account (M, 91K) This is just beautifully written. Angst. Mutual pining. Dumb boys. Beautiful descriptions of art and creativity and fame and beautiful poetry.

Little Technicolor Things by scary_crow (M, 72K) This is truly one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I have ever read and it is an absolutely travesty that it’s not being talked about every day. This fic is gorgeous and poetic and romantic and heartbreaking and an explosion of metaphoric images and everything I never knew I needed but now that I have it I want to read it over and over and over.

But If This Ends by nonsensedarling / @absoloutenonsense (E, 107K) This author referred to this fic as their “depressed vampire” fic while they were writing, and it is that. But it’s also a unique story with beautifully fleshed out characters, plot twists, and super hot smut. Go check it out! Vampire Harry / Writer Louis

24K Magic by @justalittlelouislove (E, 33K) FINALLY a category in which I can rec this author! I love everything they write, but this was the first one I’d read and it’s just great. Smooth dialogue, sexy smut, great description of character growth…just a really fun fic.

the best part of me (was always you) by @moonshinelouis-archive (E, 6K) Gorgeous writing. The descriptions of heartbreak and missing someone and still loving them were really well done. And I cried. Of course.

'Sup by MediaWhore (GA, 7K) Divorced, awkward Harry pining for silver fox Louis is a trope I never knew I needed, but I love it so much.

I Will Never Rust by stylez (E, 38K) I must have read this at least 5 years ago and I honestly don’t remember details, but my notes say “gorgeous, sad, sexy” so... I’m crossing my fingers that old me knew what she was talking about. It’s frat boy Harry so that could go either way. LOL! Student/Poet Harry.

Loyal Knight and True by rainbowninja167 / (E, 52K) Really original story, mystery and magic, great characterizations. All around a very good read!

Turning Page by purpledaisy (M, 68K) This author does a wonderful job with their characterizations which makes their fics such a pleasure to read. This one really has you rooting for curmudgeonly Louis and skittish/secretive Harry to figure their shit out and fall in love. If you like this one, make time to read this author’s fic, Walk That Mile – it’s one of my all time favorites. Sports journalist Louis.

Black with Autumn Rain by Whimsicule (T, 93K) This author is a favorite. If you like intense, creative stories, with complex characters and tight dialogue, you should read all of their fics. This one has the flavor of a Daphne du Maurier novel – dark, creepy, and moodily romantic. Plus a supernatural edge. It’s so good. Journalist Harry.

That Sounds Fake But Okay by dancingontheceiling (E, 113K) This one has a little bit of everything: Enemies to lovers, fake relationship, famous/not famous... plus, really good writing and some sexy smut scenes. Actor Louis / journalist Harry.

Sing When You're Winning by hazmesentir (NR, 91K) another one I read ages ago, but I always like this author’s writing and the premise of newly out footballer Louis and journalist intern Harry who somehow snags the interview, is such a fun one. And I don’t know why it has an NR rating, there’s plenty of smut.

feel the chemicals burn in my bloodstream by togetherwecouldbealright (M, 123K) I read this one so, so long ago that all I remember is that I loved it, that there’s some really romantic and sweet moments, and that my notes from way back when only say, “OMG this one is so good! And I’ve barely gotten to the smut!” HAHAHAHA! Journalist Harry/prince Louis (this fic has been deleted, so the link is to a download).

[kabutoraiger]

double... whatta tv show!

wowow is usually the place to go for more Artistic dramas but the vast majority of those are like. about crimes or political conspiracies. very interesting to see something like this which has no mystery to solve, no deaths, no corporate sabotage, just a slice of life about two Are They Gay Y/N theatre homies doing acting gigs,

except the presentation here actually isn’t dissimilar from a murder mystery bc the main characters are SO dramatic about their emotions and occasionally unmoored from reality. i would love to see more dramas like this get made where “will these 2 men ever fuck each other” is treated with the same sort of gravitas as finding the killer would be in another show.

i mean just on the basis of production value i’d recommend this show to most people - it’s very atmospheric, well-shot, i especially loved the music used in it which made me feel some kinda way.

it all combines together to really capture the strange mindset of these two people who exist in this like dreamy borderland between their real lives and their entwined identities and their acting. certain scenes actually reminded me of my favorite movie of all time millennium actress, so. bonus points there. i do kinda wish double had leaned into the “boundaries between reality and fiction blurring” angle a little more; i think it could’ve done some wild stuff with that. but as is i still enjoyed what it was going for.

if it has any issues i’d say... the end does feel a bit abrupt. you expect some big final confrontation about their relationship but it all happens inside takara’s weird headspace without the real yujin being present and you kinda feel like you missed a step in the finale and wish you had more of yujin’s actual perspective on all this. but perhaps it makes sense that you don’t get it. maybe even he will never know how he really feels since it’s so wrapped up under layers of Acting Hyperfocus.

i’m still not totally sold on chiba yudai in this. he’s very good as takara, especially his cuter, naive moments, and he is a good crier i’ll tell ya what, but takara is also supposed to be this like enchanting magnetic stage presence in every role he takes and. that part just doesn’t really come across in yudai’s performance. i’m not sure it ever could have come across bc that’s just not the vibe yudai conveys. it does take you out of it a bit.

the other minor problem is the fansubs which are good enough for your average jdrama but. this is not your average jdrama. it’s laden with parallels and subtext and complicated exchanges that even if i was fluent in the language might give me pause, but as someone reliant on subs there were several times when i just couldn’t really grasp what was being communicated at all. (some weird turns of phrase used by the subber too and they get one character’s name wrong every time it’s spoken which was driving me up the fucking wall.)

so maybe only really recommendable to people who don’t mind being a bit confused by media. in the end i found the nebulousness to be more of a pro than a con, honestly. it’s a fun show to sit and think about after you’ve finished an episode. like me going “damn.... being a theatre person seems exhausting”

[wesavegotham]

So don’t hate me but I’m kinda liking damian’s animated versions better than his comic one I really like his comic one but after all the shit happening where he has been nerfed nonstop getting beat by Thomas Wayne Batman, the teen titans red hood (although Jason attacked from behind like a bitch) and now flatline beating him. Not to mention Bruce not being a father and Damian now Being blamed for everything when they all have no room to talk. God I was satisfied when his old team died in future.

This is going to be a really long post, my apologies in advance.

I absolutely get where you’re coming from. I personally still like comic Damian more because I feel like there is more nuance and layers to him compared to the animated universe Damian, but that is simply the fault of the limited time they could spent on him in the movies.

Movie!Damian certainly wins more fights than comic!Damian and was never regressed in any way that is comparable to the shitshow that was Teen Titans (2016).

You’re adressing a problem I have with comic!Damian too right now, a problem that I’ve already talked about with some people here on tumblr in private. Which is that for all the talk about what Damian can do the comics have rarely shown all those skills Damian should have being used in the actual story in recent years and that is frustrating. I find Damian’s arrogance interesting as long as I feel like he can at least back it up in some way, but in recent time he comes off as just an idiot because he has done almost nothing but fail and lose and the writers still have him act like he’s the greatest. But it doesn’t feel like he can back up his confidence anymore. At all.

If I had to name a skill that differentiates Damian from the other Robins right now then I could only list his skill to hide from Batman and that is a skill he only has for plot convenience. We don’t see him do anything to cover his tracks, we are only told that he somehow did it. And I’m pretty sure that the second this skill stops being convenient for the story it will vanish once again. It will probably end like it did with Jon, where Damian somehow hid so well that Jon said they would never find him in Teen Titans, when they wanted an excuse for Jon to not get involved with his friend’s fall into darkness, but now that DC wanted them to interact again all of that is forgotten and Jon has no problems finding Damian.

Damian is not the most social Robin, nor the most intelligent one and considering how he seemed to lose against everything and everyone in recent years I can’t say with a straight face that he’s the best at fighting or the most skilled. And that IS a problem. Damian will never be known for his social skills or his detective skills, those niches are already taken by Dick and Tim, but in theory he should be a great fighter or a highly skilled person. Damian has sacrificed his entire life for training, both in the league of assassins and during his time with the batfamily. But if Damian sucks at fighting (as in: he loses a lot more than he wins) and his skills play no significant role in advancing the plot, then what is the point of his character? Great, he’s good at drawing and likes manga now, but how will that help with a fighting tournament? Or with solving the mystery behind the league of lazarus? A protagonist is usually supposed to be able to change the situation he is in, that is why he’s the protagonist and not someone else. So what makes Damian so unique that only  he can solve the situation he finds himself in during Robin and not someone like Conner Hawke? Or what makes him unique in the batfamily? I hope Robin adresses that soon. 

Of course now one could say “He still has an unique position as Bruce’s biological child”, but that also was completely irrelevant in recent years. For all the moments since the start of Rebirth that had batfam-fans complaining that Damian was favored by DC because of his status as the only biological child of Bruce, there were actually very few interactions between the two. Stuff like Bruce talking about Damian or saying that he loves him was primarily found in scenes in which Damian was not present. Or it came way too late, like in Teen Titans (and Bruce refusing to hit Damian in the face because he is his child sets such a low bar, I refuse to acknowledge that as a sign of love)

If you look at how Bruce actually treats Damian or describes him then there is little love there. He ignored his 13th birthday, did nothing when Damian left him after the events of Justice League: No Justice, it had no impact on the Batman books at all, Bruce only called Damian for missions like two times, once in City of Bane (which was just so shitty, as I already explained in a previous post) and a second time in Detective Comics #1017 (He sent Damian to find a missing kid in a snow storm, while he dealt with something else), refused to comfort him at Alfred’s wake and when Bruce reflects on what happened in Teen Titans he blames most of it on Damian’s personality, both in Detective Comics #1030 and in Robin #1, and both times there is nobody questioning Bruce’s asessment. He really doesn’t have anything nice to say about Damian and apparently we are not supposed to disagree with him. So in summary: Damian seems to have no skills that make him indispensable for the batfamily, Bruce seems to have a very low opinion of Damian’s character and now that they have decided to give us Bruce searching for Damian the only reason for that seems to be that Bruce suddenly feels responsible for his child, even though that should have already been the case when Damian seperated from him in 2018 or at least directly after the second Teen Titans annual.

Even the kinda nice things Bruce says about Damian in Robin #1 can be called into question if you think about them. He says he has no doubt that Damian can take care of himself...and then we see Damian getting his heart ripped out at the end of the very same issue. Of course we know that Damian’s story doesn’t end there, so I won’t judge this too harshly yet, but to me this didn’t come off as Damian being able to take care of himself.

And I get letting Damian lose at the start of the tournament to establish Flatline as a threat and to make it clear that this tournament is not a game. I also get that Damian’s fight against King Snake was supposed to make sure that we still think of Damian as competent even though he loses later on. But at least for me, winning against King Snake was not cool or badass enough to make up for the fact that Damian was easily killed, in front of everyone, by a literal nobody like Flatline. King Snake is an old, blind guy, that didn’t show up in any DC comic I read since I started in 2018 and that was apparently beaten by Tim in his solo comic when he was 14 back in the 90s. Sorry, but that just isn’t impressive enough for me, especially since I’ve seen Damian lose so much in recent years. It doesn’t establish Flatline as a badass, it just makes me think that Damian is not that great of a fighter and shouldn’t be in this tournament.

I have some more thoughts on the tournament that make me wish that the arc will start being less about winning the tournament itself and more about something like taking down the league of lazarus soon (mainly the fact that a fight about being the best fighter is useless if the big guns are not taking part, the fact that you can only win by killing your oponent, which should be a problem for Damian and how nothing we know about the rewards for winning, becoming part of the league of lazarus und apparently immortality, is desirable for Damian), but this answer is already too long.

I’m going to be honest an admit that I did not like the ending of Robin #1 at all and that I hope that Williamson will show Damian being competent really soon because I’m not here for another pointless arc about Damian learning humility. I want to see Damian win for once, you know, like other protagonist usually do at the end of an arc and if Damian can’t even win or tell us what’s going on with him from his point of view in a book about him then I’m probably going to feel very disappointed by this book.

[vanhelsingenthusiast]

.... Omg! Can you please give us analysis of each character and how they are portrayed in the book and then the movies?

Oohh ok! (I’m just gonna go thru the characters and how they are in the book vs how they are usually portrayed in adaptations. These things do not apply to every single adaptation, or even necessarily one specific adaptation, full disclosure, lol) (also this will be very long, so, it’s under the cut.) 

Mina: 

~ In the book: kind, sweet, caring, motivated, intelligent, interesting, funny. I could go on and on. The protagonist. She IS the moment. She could defeat Dracula without the men but the men could not defeat Dracula without her. I said what I said. 

~ In adaptations: typically kind, but may or may not be any more intelligent than the men. Typically portrayed as a damsel in distress, though in the book she isn’t. Almost always Dracula’s love interest. Sometimes she even low-key betrays the Crew to help him. Her personality is very often reduced to one or two traits/archetypes so she can better fit the role of Dracula’s love interest. 

Jonathan: 

~ In the book: Damsel in distress. He can sometimes come across as boring, because he’s the only very average person in the book, but that’s because he’s supposed to be. It’s a compare and contrast type of thing. Even then, he’s incredibly brave, and incredibly determined. He represents the average person, rising up to the challenge. 

~ In adaptations: oh, Jonathan?? You mean the only reason why Mina and Dracula can’t bone??? Yeah but it’s fine if Mina cheats a little bc also he’s an asshole for no reason ://// 

Lucy: 

~ In the book: A delight. Absolute angel. Everyone loves her and she loves everyone but not always in the way they want. If she could she would move all of her friends into a little cottage and bake bread and make tea for them for the rest of forever. Part of the reason why her transformation into the Bloofer Lady is so scarring is because she was genuinely so good-hearted before that. 

~ In adaptations: lol she has three suitors so she must be suuuuper promiscuous (side note: not a bad thing but most adaptations portray it as such), and also because of that she definitely wanted Dracula to turn her into a vampire. 

Arthur: 

~ In the book: Lucy’s fiancée. Also he’s fuckin loaded so he helps fund the whole expedition. Interpretations of him change kinda drastically because he’s not given much canon personality or back story, but he’s overall a pretty decent guy. He can be mean but, like, in a loving way. 

~ In adaptations: if he’s there at all he’s usually Just Some Guy. Which, like. fair.  

Jack: 

~ In the book: a psychiatrist who desperately needs to see a psychiatrist but he is not self aware enough to know this. Used to be Van Helsing’s student. He definitely can be an ass (especially to Renfield), but it’s usually more that he just doesn’t think how his actions affect other people all the way through than him actively being a terrible person on purpose, if that makes sense. Him and his interest in science and technology symbolize the heralding of the new age, which is in contrast with Dracula, who is only ever “living” in the past (bedum tsss). 

~ In adaptations: sometimes he’s Van Helsing’s peer rather than ex-student. Usually he doesn’t still keep a phonograph, or even an active interest in technology, which is...a disservice. He can either be nice, or mean, usually not very nuanced or interesting. Honestly I feel like usually in adaptations he’s kinda just used as the gap to get Van Helsing there and then he does nothing after that.  

Quincey: 

~ In the book: literally the guy who kills Dracula. A Texan, as well, which seems funny now but at the time it was a fairly common trope to add in a foreigner. He’s pretty calm always, especially in a crisis, and also willing to step up and do whatever’s needed of him. And, again, he literally kills Dracula. Easily one of the more important characters in the book, except he doesn’t keep a diary so most people don’t acknowledge this. Also at one point it’s stated he’s rich af iirc so that’s funny. 

~ In adaptations: what do you mean we should add the guy who killed Dracula??? Nah it’ll be fine without him 

Van Helsing: 

~ In the book: he’s the hero of the story (not the protagonist, that’s separate). Him and Dracula are character foils. He’s the guy who knows everything about vampires, and also the guy who specifically knows how to stop Dracula. Even then, he isn’t a professional vampire hunter, or even, like, an expert. He just happens to know a shit ton about this. His name means “father of multitudes” and he is the Designated Dad of the group. He probably makes everyone hot cocoa and tells them weird stories about spiders drinking oil from lamps after a long day. 

~ In adaptations: murder grandpa is an asshole who also has no idea what he’s talking about because it makes Dracula look better 

Count Dracula: 

~ In the book: the villain. He could represent a lot of things — anything from a plague, to the past creeping up and not staying buried where it should, to Stoker’s internalized homophobia, to Stoker’s own xenophobia or antisemitism, or all of the above, or none. He has a lot of layers and each layer is a new level of villainy. We don’t know a lot about him, admittedly — who he was in life, why he became a vampire, what all of his powers are, or even his motivations for coming to London. He can represent any evil we want at all, which makes him a very affective villain. Also he’s supposedly related to Atilla the Hun which is funny af to me for no reason 

~ In adaptations: incel!Vlad III 

Renfield:  

~ In the book: admittedly, he does not have much baring on the plot. He tends to act as a meter for how close Dracula is at any given moment, until his death when Mina takes over that role. However, he introduces many themes and topics into the story: insanity, corruption, idealization of evil, etc., and he and Lucy work together to showcase how vampirism corrupts and how it can destroy even relatively innocent people. Even though Renfield has a bit of a reputation of being violent and volatile, he only ever really does something violent once, which wasn’t even entirely of his own volition and he sacrifices himself for the greater good. 

~ In adaptations: oh no scary evil insane man1!!11! he’s obviously just horrible it’s not like Dracula is manipulating him!11!! if Dracula were to manipulate him then Dracula wouldn’t be a sympathetic antihero :((( 

The Three Weird Sisters: 

~ In the book: the antithesis to Lucy’s suitors. They are supposed to be seductive, and dangerous, above all. They might be Dracula’s victims, or they could be some other vampires unrelated, we don’t really know. Not much is said about them and that’s likely very much on purpose. They have the same air of mystery about them as Dracula does, if not more. A lot of the horror in this book is based in the fear of the unknown. 

~ In adaptations: walking boobs with fangs. Usually so much is changed about the story that none of the above is even relevant or can be applied to them. 

Anyways thanks for the ask and I hope this answers your question :)