#i love the screencapped post so much btw

[etirabys]

Argumate lists:

[rafikisboy]

Love is where they are~

[dhmis-autism]

Red Guy being deluded with his crush on Duck is equally funny, me thinks

Just this feral full on rabies man Duck who commits war crimes and Red’s delusional ass goes “he is so dreamyyyyy ❤️❤️❤️”

HE'S GOT THEEE WORST TASTE AND I WILL STAND BY THAT FOREVER.

Like, Red has got his issues, but you could see why people would like him. Sooo many people have/had a crush at him at one point it's unreal. NO ONE FEELS THAT WAY ABOUT DUCK GDGDF

THERE'S SO MUCH WRONG WITH HIM... FOR GODS SAKE LOOK AT HIM.

look at his PANTS LEG

[best-enemies]

You know what I don't see people talking about enough? Catherine and Warrick. Yeah, they're good colleagues and friends but at the same time they have this insane chemistry that drives me up a fucking wall every time they share a moment. And they do feel an attraction to each other, as has been shown many times (Catherine being jealous when Warrick got married and wondering what could have been, that scene when she nearly falls and he catches her...). I know they had to follow the rules but god they had such a good relationship and worked so well together. I loved their scenes, including the platonic ones.

[baby5fanclub]

THE SILLIESSSSS‼️❄️🏳️‍🌈❕

[notfreetoday]

MPW: Segasaki & Yoh - Language Analysis Part 1

Subtitle Corrections: EP 1 || EP 2 || EP 3

My Personal Weatherman is a story about the relationship between Segasaki and Yoh, so rather than being introduced to the characters, we the audience are dropped right into the middle of their relationship, and the only way we learn about the characters as individuals is through the way they interact with each other, and how that contrasts with how they interact with the people around them.

The show does an incredible job of keeping the portrayal of their relationship consistent across the use of character design, wardrobe, lighting, cinematography, acting choice, directorial choices and of course language use. But not everyone who watches has equal access to that last one, so I try to be as detailed as possible in my subtitle corrections posts. I'm also a bit of a language nerd. Now, I want to get into their actual relationship, because I think there is a lot of information about how they feel towards each other that's just getting missed. Also I love them and this is how I spazz.

This post is the first of four in which I hope to show how the dynamic between Segasaki and Yoh is reflected in the way they speak - specifically, in the way they address each other, and the style shifting, or speech level shifts that they both demonstrate with each other, using scenes from Ep 1 - 3. I'll be using my own translations for this, some of which differ from the Eng subs. (Please bear with the nerdiness - I don't want to assume how much people know about Japanese)

Prefacing this by saying that this language analysis is made specifically in the context of Segasaki and Yoh's relationship. There is a power imbalance here both in terms of social hierarchy (senpai/kouhai, age gap, successful/non-successful) as well as self-image (self-confident/self-conscious). Now, most of the time we see this manifested linguistically as the party with more social power using casual language forms, whilst the one with less power remains polite or formal. However, there is much more to human interaction than that, as we see in MPW where both Segasaki and Yoh shift in and out of Speech Styles often, depending on what they want to say and accomplish, as well as their emotional state.

1) Quick & Dirty Guide To Speech Styles/Formality Levels

Formality/Politeness is a spectrum and is expressed mostly through grammar and tone (sorry for the shitty word doc screencap):

1) desu/masu = formal/polite. Standard go to with the anyone you meet. 2) Generally speaking, the longer the sentence/the more syllables you hear, the more polite the sentence 3) The less direct you can be, the more polite you will sound 4) Word contractions (tsuzukereba -> tsuzukerya) = informal + impolite (but not always rude) 5) Slurred end vowels (iranai -> iranee) = informal + mostly rude, but not always (you just sound uncouth) 6) Most words have "formal", "informal" or even "rude" variations 7) CONTEXT DETERMINES EVERYTHING Btw when I say "speaks roughly" or uses "rough speech", I mostly mean (4) + (5)

2) Speech Styles and Shifting Between Them

tl;dr Japanese Speech Styles function like the verbal equivalent of personal space - the more formal/polite the level, the bigger the circle of personal space you maintain. Shifts in speech styles indicate: 1) perceived changes in vertical and/or horizontal distance 2) the assumption of a position/role of the speaker in relation to the listener 3) changes in emotional state/the desire to convey emotion 4) the consideration of "polite company" In this post we will look at examples of the first one - Vertical and Horizontal Distance.

Speech Styles: The Long Version (English Speaker POV)

Consider the way you speak if you were to say, give an important presentation in front of potential clients, versus the way you'd speak to an acquaintance you ran into on the street vs the way you'd speak to your closest friends. Different situations call for different ways of speaking - you're more likely to speak in full sentences and pronounce your words clearly for the first situation, and say "yes" instead of "yep" or "uh huh". You're also more likely to be blunt/direct with your friends than you are with clients - "You know ILU but do not under any circumstances buy that ugly ass shirt".

These context-dependent changes in speech patterns are similar to the changes in speech styles/formality levels in Japanese. Think of speech styles as the verbal equivalent of personal space. The more formal/polite the level, the bigger the circle of personal space you maintain. Dropping a level when you shouldn't is the verbal equivalent of invading someone's personal space and can make people uncomfortable and sometimes even angry. In Japan, the baseline "distance" with the average person is the way you would speak as if you were giving a presentation. Dropping to casual/informal speech might be tolerated (just like how you can tolerate someone sitting close to you and asking some questions, but it's uncomfortable), especially if you guys are around the same age, but dropping to "what's up bitcheees" when you should be at "hey how're you doing" basically tells the other person "I don't have even the basic level of respect for you".

In the same vein, the closer you are to someone, the more welcome you are in their personal space, and thus the lower the level of formality/politeness you'll keep with them. You trust that even if you speak bluntly, they'll understand you aren't trying to insult them. When and to what extent you drop a level is usually negotiated between individuals (either directly or indirectly). Once a level of casualness is established, your friends are going to look at you funny if you suddenly get all formal with them. They might even come ask if anything's wrong, or if you're angry at them or why you sound "cold". These shifts in speech levels therefore mark more than just the vertical distance between two people (ie, differences in social hierachy), they mark the horizontal distance (ie, how close people of the same "in-group" are to each other) too.

Having said that, there are times when you will shift to a more formal tone even with your friends or family - for example, when you're hosting a game at a large party and want to explain the game rules to everyone, you might enunciate your words better or keep the jokes to the minimum in order to convey the information is clearly and efficiently as possible. Similarly, if you've been appointed the leader in a group project and need people to pay attention and listen, you might change your tone of voice to command attention. In other words, when you assume a particular position, the way you speak changes too.

Finally, the way you speak to your friends/family in the presence of others (or "polite company", as they used to say) might also change - you might have no qualms cursing up a storm with your best buddy at the bar, but you might do your best to avoid being too vulgar when you're in front of their parents or your boss/university professor.

3) Segasaki and Yoh: Vertical & Horizontal Distance

Segasaki and Yoh are part of the same "in-group" in that they are in a relationship, so the horizontal distance between them is very small and before sunny days it's a negative distance - this is shown in how both Segasaki and Yoh use informal speech with each other (they generally omit the desu/masu forms aka use plain forms, and both use the informal pronoun "俺/ore" for "I" with each other).

That said, there is also a hierarchy within that relationship (though their individual perceptions of that vertical distance differs) which stems not only from the nature of their living agreement, but also is likely to have carried over from their university days, when they shared a senior/junior relationship. Thus, generally speaking, Segasaki speaks quite roughly with Yoh whilst Yoh tends to use polite forms more often. Keep in mind however, that Japanese is a gendered language, and "rough speech" tends to be seen as a masculine speech pattern and can sometimes be normal between close male friends/family (otherwise, it is the verbal equivalent of getting up in someone's face and pushing them). The key here is that Yoh sticks to an informal, but more polite level than Segasaki does, and it is that difference that shows the power differential.

Horizontal Distance aka "We're Very Close"

Despite Yoh's very valid complaint that Segasaki takes "man-of-few-words" to the next level (itself a liberty you'd only take with someone close to you), Segasaki only drops to rude forms in Ep 1 once:

晩飯いらねぇ(banmeshi iranee) - slurred vowel [literally - "dinner, not needed"] Banmeshi is a more informal way of saying dinner (normal = yuu gohan). Despite the slurred vowel, this sentence is not dismissive nor rude - it's what you'd expect between close friends/family.

In Ep 2 we hear Segasaki speak a lot more roughly to Yoh, as below, and of course during the almost-argument. But though his words are rough his intonation is often soft and he's quite tender with his touch. So, we can see that Segasaki isn't being disrespectful per se - he's not speaking roughly because he sees Yoh as beneath him in the social hierarchy - rather, he's demonstrating intimacy, familiarity and possessiveness, all at once. In fact, the more possessive he feels of Yoh, the more he drops his levels. As mentioned earlier, you only do this with people in your "in-group", with whom you know will understand you aren't insulting them.

遅くなるからいらねぇっつっただろう (osokunaru kara iranee ttsutta darou) - slurred vowel, word contraction, informal end particle [I told you I wouldn't need it cause I'd be late right?] Though somewhat in keeping with Segaski's curtness, this is still a pretty harsh sounding line - but note how Yoh doesn't seem offended or intimidated in the slightest - he understands that Segasaki is tired after a long day, and in return Segasaki softens his tone when he next asks "What did you make?"

Vertical Distance

It's easy to focus on Segasaki's use of rough, assertive langauge as an indicator of vertical distance, and I pointed out quite a few scenes in Ep 3 where he ends off what is essentially an order with assertive sentence-final particles. But focusing on this alone gives the mistaken impression that relationships with vertical distance go one way only - down - when in fact they are bidirectional. There is a mutual dependency between both parties, as we see clearly in MPW. Linguistically, this is portrayed through Yoh's choices to shift up a speech level.

Just like how Segasaki is introduced to the audience through his proposal direct, informal and very forceful speech style, the first interaction we see Yoh have with Segasaki is a proper, standard greeting:

おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) [Welcome back] Okaerinasai is the full, proper way to say this, but a more casual and common way to say this would simply be "okaeri". See Ep 3 for discussion on standard greetings.

When Yoh thinks about Segasaki in his head, he often uses rough speech the same way Segasaki does, including the rude pronouns "aitsu/koitsu (that guy/this guy)", and yet when he speaks directly to Segasaki, he maintains an informal but still polite/neutral speech style. He rarely shifts down to rude forms, barely coming close even when drunk and emotional, but he does often switch up to a more polite level. In the above example, Yoh uses the full standard greeting in response to Segasaki's unspoken request:

俺、帰ってるんだけど (ore, kaetterun dakedo) [I've already come back, you know] Ending with "dakedo" implies that speaker is going to follow up with something, usually a request or a question. In Japanese, this request/question is often left out, because the context given prior to "dakedo" is usually enough for the listener to fill in the gaps themselves. In this case, Segasaki might want a greeting or dinner, but at the very least, it's clear he wants Yoh's attention.

We know the standard greeting earlier was a style shift upwards because later in the episode, when Yoh says good night, he uses the casual version "oyasumi" instead of the full "oyasuminasai".

Even outside of standard phrases, Yoh's baseline is informal but not rude:

あ、いま準備する (Ah, ima junbi suru) - plain form [Ah, I'll prepare it now]

Probably the most telling is in Ep 3, when he's caught off guard whilst folding laundry.

あ、なに？ (Ah, nani?) - plain form [Oh! What?] He answers Segasaki naturally, with just a word, as opposed to a proper “Hai/Yes?”, which he’s done sometimes when he’s unsure of himself, or if he's addressed directly.

So, we've established that Yoh’s baseline with Segasaki is informal but not rude - he feels comfortable enough with Segasaki to default to casual speech, but he acknowledges the power differential between them by simultaneously accepting Segasaki's rough speech as well as not dropping to it himself. This also tells us that the shifts up to formal/polite speech are deliberate and mean something. In EP 2, the shift demonstrated his insecurity surrounding his jealousy and their lack of physical affection, whereas in EP 3, he does it as a way to convey his gratitude.

In the next part, we'll look at how both Segasaki and Yoh use speech style shifts to convey emotion as well as to assume a particular position. Hope you enjoyed this!

[vaguely-concerned]

A bunch of screencaps of Pan. Because he is everything to me

you see the thing is....... I would die for him. he's offering his life for hers and he pulls it off looking endearingly sheepish yet resolute about it the whole time. only a heart of stone or, unfortunately, the furies could remain unmoved

have you ever seen a man so beautiful you started crying etc.

he's just a lil guy! you wouldn't be like... lastingly mad at someone who's just a lil guy, would you?? 🥺 (the fact that he's thousands of years old and hides behind a tree for a while because he's worried Grace is there to yell at him fhdskjahf)

>:}

his salty petulant little floating pose in one version of the 'Lost Girls' variant of 'I Can Teach You' is SO funny to me fsdkjfhas. you do kind of keep insulting him to his face in that route I guess I would start to get testy after a while too. listen no one else in grace's fucked up new divine family showed up to help her out is it his fault he comes across in the shiftiest possible way (I mean yeah kinda sorry buddy)

still cracks me up so bad btw. 'good try but you have severely underestimated how much of a freak I am'. kickass!grace and pan have sort of a “Be real with me or Imma kick your ass”/”Promise? ;)” thing going on. I think they should roleplay about it with better boundaries and communication later

I got these for another post I'm working on but man... I love what I've privately dubbed his lil college professor stance

SIR!!! my heart sees him and fills with such simple clean delight just look at him go

yes good

I want to do another post like this just for his romance too but I simply had to... I had to. look at this. beautiful. it's enough to make a person think maybe it's going to be alright after all

[viviraptor-art]

This is somewhat random, but I'm the person who originally made the screencap edits (and some art) of Ryuzaki with brown skin. I saw you cringetober alt fashion art and I was shocked (you're very talented btw!). It's so weirdly comforting to see that some small, random thing I did years ago is still going strong in the fandom. I was just sitting at my computer messing around and posted it. I can't explain how incredible it is that the shrimpshipping fandom embraced it and gave the idea a life of its own, even all this time later. am not in the fandom anymore but I saw your art through a mutual. In a weird way, it felt like home.

Thank you 🦖❤💚🐞

oh my gosh, no, thank YOU!!

i was definitely inspired by some older art of ryuzaki here on tumblr when i first started drawing him with darker skin. headcanoning him as half-filipino like me has brought me so much comfort and joy over the years, and it's so great that similar interpretations preceded me, and continue to be shared by others!

i know that what i do will always be "worth it" because i'm doing what i love, but it's responses like these that make it seem worth more than i can possibly imagine. you've seriously made my day 💕🦖

[iloveschiaparelli]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: My Love Letter Part 1

Okay okay okay SO Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes longpost time just my whole opinion/analysis/love letter for the whole film beginning with my Wes Ball backstory so skip to the Ruin screencap if you want to skim past all that.

I haven't talked about it on tumblr yet but I'm actually like a huge fat fan of the Maze Runner cinematic series directed by Wes Ball. Really I'm just a fan of Wes Ball. It not only singlehandedly got me through my first year of high school but also became the reason I ended up entering the film industry. I've watched all 3 movies at least 4-5 times each. Probably like 20-30 for Scorch Trials at this point because it's my favorite. I can quote probably at least half of it from memory. I've watched all of the BTS content that was on the DVDs + the bloopers on youtube like i was obsessed ok.

2019 was like the second worst year of my life so imagine my distress in january 2019 when I found out about Wes Ball's next movie, Mouse Guard, got Super Hyped Up for the multimillion dollar mice-with-swords movie (I eventually read some of the comics btw it's insanely good) And then within the same week found out Disney pulled the plug on the project after acquiring 20th Century Fox. TWO weeks before production was scheduled to begin. I was livid. I'm still bitter about it. Wes Ball then released the demo reel for the film to the public which iirc also had temp music.

So anyway yeah that was awful but then! I think it was later in 2020 that it was announced that Wes Ball was going to be directing the 4th POTA movie. This kicked off me seeing the original 1968 film and then the trilogy and wow did doing so increase my excitement. In my opinion Rupert Wyatt/Matt Reeves' directing styles and Wes Ball's were/are very compatible. I also took the time to get caught up on as much of Wes Ball's old projects as I could get my hands on at the time, including his animated short Ruin (screencap below). Which is fantastic BTW and apparently was purchased by Fox for a feature film that was never made (???) I swear, filmmakers have their past works splattered all over the internet like body parts after a landmine explosion: Good luck finding everything.

Now, Finally Finally FINALLY!!!!!!!! Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is out. I meant to see it on the premier night but my boyfriend broke up with me 2 days before so I forgot. I saw it tonight instead! So now with the backstory out of the way I can finally talk about the actual movie.

First of all, the beginning of the film absolutely WOWed me!!!! It honestly feels like a callback to Ruin, the way that the buildings are overgrown and the post-apocalyptic setting is super evident and feels so delightfully reclaimed by nature. It's also really neat to see how far VFX has come since Ruin was released if you compare the opening shots of the movie with the wide shots in Ruin. Wes Ball himself is also a VFX artist, so it's really neat to see how that affects his work especially since Planet of the Apes is by nature a very vfx-heavy franchise. This movie absoutely popped off in that area but we'll get to that.

Secondly, I forgot how much I missed Ball's directing! Oh my goodness, the performances he gets out of the actors are always so authentic. I still have yet to see a performance by Dylan O'Brien that was as raw and believable as in the Maze Runner movies, and I'm like halfway through Teen Wolf already. In the action scenes especially, I love how characters in Ball's movies, you can really feel their pain. Since pain and physical discomfort aren't communicated directly through film, we often forget just how hard it is to get back up again after getting kicked down, but with Wes Ball you never forget. Ugh, when Noa was getting beat up on top of the bunker at the end of the movie, I caught myself catching my own breath when he coughed up blood. Like, yeowch!

Additionally, everything this man makes is just, like, a masterpiece? On a technical level at least. That's really the mark of a good director, whose job is not only to evoke a performance from the actors, but also to tie together the whole crew. And KOTPOTA really showed off how well the team worked together. Just the establishing shots alone in a lot of these scenes! Oh. My. Word. You can clearly see the fruits of labor of not only the concept artists, but also the VFX artists and production designers, and how they worked with the DP and actors to get the shot. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:

There are more that I'm thinking of, but unfortunately without a digital release available yet there's a limit to the screencaps that I'm able to obtain. The shot where Noa is walking up the escalator following Raka and you see the plane in the background indicating that Raka lives in an airport is one of them. There's also one or two establishing shots in nature that just show off the setting. The opening shots, of course. And then the shot where it pans up and you see Eagle Village for the first time. There's also an aerial of Proximus Caesar's camp, but I'm unable to find that one as well. The main one I want to look at is the telescope.

Just, like, Hello???? It looks like an art piece. This screencap is a little closer in than I'd like, but in the full frame you can see the absolute mastery of composition that it is, you can totally imagine it as a painting. Which in my experiences usually means there's a painting behind it somewhere in the process, lol. Let's go concept artists!!! But then you see how the colors are just, perfectly balanced, the plant growth is realistic and accentuating the set, and so on and so forth. It was just absolutely breathtaking to see for the first time. I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped. I did a lot of stimming during this movie just to stay quiet and not start babbling about the film pipeline to my father in theater auditorium.

Even more magic happens when Noa steps onto the set, and starts messing with the telescope. Suddenly it's real, it's tangible, it's touchable. Transforming what was likely a matte painting at one point into a set that the actors can interact with, and then into a shot where almost everything is overlaid with VFX, and having it look so real like that is truly magic.

The ship also had me dumbstruck, but slightly less so because we saw a similar setting in The Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2018. Although it was slightly different for sure. What had me going even more in this movie was how much the characters interacted with the ship, moving in and around it, and trading glances with one another from on the ground and up inside. In TMR:DTC, you really only see the decrepit ships in the background, and one is referenced as a plot point but the characters never actually physically interact with any of them. So it's much easier for our brains to categorize the ships as gimmicks to help us believe the scene.

It's when props like these are woven into the scene as tangible objects that our brains start to shut up about the CGI and really start to believe what's happening onscreen! and KOTPOTA did an amazing job at this. Please bear in mind like, I literally have zero specialization in VFX, it's not my field and although I draw, I've never done concept art for film. I honestly believe that I'm simply in an appropriate level of awe for what this film accomplished.

The other thing that amazed me was how stylized the setting was. The greenery was so green, the ocean felt like a painting, the ship was red, the telescope shot is very, very blue. Several of the shapes used in the ape's costume design are simplified. And yet, despite the stylization, it never feels cartoony or polygonal, it still feels completely grounded in reality, and I could really believe I'd see it in real life. I think this owes partly to the fact that we rarely inspect any of these simplified items at a close distance, aside from Raka's necklace which appears to be made of either bone or whittled wood. It also owes to absolute geniuses in color grading that kept the stylized colors realistic enough for our brains to believe. Overall I'd take the visual style of the film to be Impressionist. I love impressionism.

My main interest in filmmaking is writing/directing. However, most of my experience lies in costume design (Student films rarely need costume "design" so its usually coordination) and production design. As a result I spent a good deal of my time watching KOTPOTA zeroed in on the production design.

I love post-apocalyptic science-fiction/fantasy worlds like this partly precisely because of how much you can learn from the production design alone. When Mae enters Trevathan's room for the first time I swear I was eating it up. Every single prop in this movie was carefully thought out by the PD, which is why his room absolutely stood out from the rest of the setting that we had seen up to that point. It was distinctly "human-centric" as opposed to the rest of the movie. I remember seeing it in the theater earlier today, laying eyes first on the bed by the door, thinking that it must be something they set up for Mae, but then wondering why or how the apes would know or want to set up a human-style bed for Mae when we're so many generations removed from human-dominated society.

Next it was on many miscellaneous table objects, thinking to myself "That looks like how a human would treat a space. Apes are generally too big to decorate at that scale." and then my eyes roved on to the furniture, seeing a human-sized table, human-sized chair, human-sized junk everywhere! Slowly, by observing the room, I gained a stronger and stronger sense of "there is another human here," which upon observing the rows and rows of books became "a smart human like Mae, who unlike her can read" (Remember at this point we still believed that Mae and her mother were the only smart humans that Mae had known growing up, and that she had been pursuing the opportunity to meet other smart humans and join them).

It was only upon the instant of realizing that this was a smart human that Trevathan spoke and appeared on the stairs. It was absolutely perfect timing. THIS, guys, is exceptional production design. It was honestly my absolute favorite piece of production design in the entire film, especially because of how much it contrasted what we've become used to seeing in the series as humans have diminished in population and apes and nature have taken over the space instead.

That exact sense of change or "otherness", that noticeability of contrast upon seeing what is honestly a pretty "normal" human space if you look at it in the context of our existing society, is only present because of how well PD treats the rest of the movie. In order to make a completely normal space feel strange, you have to change literally every other space to something alien but consistent with itself. And KOTPOTA does just that. The job was begun in the original trilogy, with the decline of humanity depicted across decades, nature taking over the gas station and the dam and even the city. But this movie had the biggest challenge because of simply how many years had passed before the story even began. Society as we know it today is completely and totally obliviated in KOTPOTA's setting. In every set that the characters interacted with in any way, PD had to fabricate a space where humans had been but the virus, decades of decay and post-apocalyptic living, and ape encroachment had transformed it.

This also brings me into the subject of the rich culture we see emerging in the world of the apes through this movie. The original trilogy, especially the first and second film, was all about the ape's identity. In the first film Caesar wonders whether he is human or ape, and whether apes are pets or equals to humans. He eventually comes to the realization that humans are never going to look out for apes the way that apes will and decides to become that person. In the second film, Caesar and the other characters involved have to figure out what being an ape means. Does it mean strength is power? That humans are always an enemy to defeated? Or a similar species to live alongside? It's about establishing what the ape race's relationship is to the human race. The third film I didn't get to rewatch before seeing KOTPOTA, but iirc it was about whether humans and apes could ever coexist, which is a theme we see continued in this movie, albeit in a slightly different way. Either that or more likely it was about whether apes will repeat the same mistakes as humans.

Anyway, I digress. In the script we already see a rich culture emerging in hints, right from the start of the movie. It's in the hunt for the eagle eggs at the beginning with mentions of some kind of coming-of-age ceremony, followed by Noa reminding Anaya and Soona that they must "leave one egg always. It is the law." Already in the first five minutes we've established that this particular ape civilization not only has cultural traditions surrounding youth and coming-of-age, but also rituals and laws surrounding their relationship with and the conservation of nature. And through dialogue we extrapolate that these apes have bonded animals (eagles). It honestly felt like a crossover between Native American Indian hunting practices and How To Train Your Dragon, which is wild I know. (Also can we talk about how the eagles in this movie actually made eagle sounds???? And not falcon sounds! Finally we're breaking the bad habit of making up animal noises to sound cooler when the original already sounded super cool by itself.)

So in just a few minutes guys!! We already have so much. Then the trio heads back to the village and has their first encounter with the Echoes (Ekos? If anyone could get spelling on that for me that would be fantastic) but are too afraid (or law-bound) to get too close to or cross through the tunnel "into the valley below". So through these we establish that there is a taboo around not just humans but also around leaving the village. The clan has taken an isolationist approach wherein they not only forbid their young clan members from leaving but also withhold information about the outsiders from them until they've come of age. Guys the cultural system arising here is absolutely wild. Like sorry not sorry but I eat this stuff up. (Screenwriters-- this is prime example material of "show don't tell")

There's also all of the ape social communication rules that we've already gotten used to, mainly a variation of the palm-up/palm-down gesture as a means of showing respect (submission) and asking for permission/approval.

In this movie however the hands are mostly closed and the palms are down for the sub as well as the ape they're seeking approval from, as opposed to the trilogy in which the submitting ape always had their palm up. At first I chalked this up to cultural differences among clans since we learned that this clan is not the clan descended from Caesar's apes in the trilogy, but then Caesar's descendants were doing it this way too? So I don't really know what to make of it but I'm going to decide that it's just global cultural evolution (at least, as global as the real-world evolution of Old English into modern English).

Through the production design of the beginning sequence in Eagle Village, we see that the eagles catch fish and then the vast quantities of fish and the smokehouse indicate that fish caught by the eagles are the main source of food for the Eagle Clan. We also see feathers as a motif throughout, worn especially by the parents and the elders as a sign of social status (we know it's social status bc Sylva rips it off of one of the elders as an intimidation tactic and everyone audibly gasps, indicating it worked). That last bit is honestly more costume design, they popped off too but one thing at a time or I'm going to become incomprehensible. I will repeat myself. It is inevitable.

Then throughout the film we learn that not only do they adhere strictly to the "law", but that that law is set by the elders alone. We also learn that they primarily relate to their eagles by singing to them which!!! is just!!!! so!!! metal!!! I love it. The way it plays into the end scene with Proximus just AGHRGHJHRHGR GROWL BARK BARK FERAL NOISES>

ahem

Also we see them building nests at home for their eagles and they've figured out falconry tools for the aerie and everything on their own like??

Then in contrast we see what's left of Caesar's clan, it's descendants. Proximus Caesar, we learn later from Trevathan, has gone completely fangirl over the ancient roman empire and decided to emulate it because "he likes it" and it makes him "feel good" (yeah he's probably the most textbook tyrant I've ever seen in media), choosing to morph Caesar's teachings into his own new worldview rather than adhering to them properly.

So the culture of Caesar's clan is very heavily roman-influenced, often copying practices outright such as the insitution of slavery, a lot of the fashion choices and even the way that banners are put up around the camp and the way that Proximus dines at a low-set table filled with an overabundance of food. And he has a throne and crown, and there are roman numerals inscribed on both his and Sylva's necklaces. But we still see influences of Caesar's original society, most noticeably the persistence of the window symbol and the architecture of the dam. The architecture wouldn't be significant at all, instead being noted as a stylistic choice for the whole series, if it weren't for the fact that it's different from Eagle Clan's architecture.

If Eagle Village resembles those spaghetti bridges that engineers build for class, with thatched roofs, then the dam at Caesar Clan's camp is much more brutalist by comparison. Eagle Clan was very spindly and focused on height and lightness of building materials: many of the logs were thinner and longer, more spaced out, and sometimes rounded at the ends. By contrast, Caesar Clan's dam is built with stumpier logs, closer together, and spiked at the top. The dam is also shored up with soil and other materials. Which yeah, is typical of beaver dams but is also typical of the structures in the original Caesar's village in the trilogy.

Unfortunately, there's only one image currently available of Eagle Village and it's after it was burned down. But you can still see how it differs from Caesar's village, instead of being chaotic it's more organized, allowing for a more lightweight structure.

This (below) is the closest I could get to having a picture of the dam's architecture, but you can still tell how it's more similar to OG Caesar's architecture than it is to Eagle Clan's, even though it's using a completely different building material (scrap metal instead of hewn trees).

Eagle Clan's architecture is also a further effect of how their society revolves around making a life bond with eagles, which are flying creatures. So of course they would be inclined to taller structures, especially ones that are more lightweight and have structural patterns, imitating the way that birds are built (see above).

I'll continue in part 2 as a reblog because it's 1 am and I'm running out of steam but YALL I need you to understand: It's been 6 years since the last time I had a Wes Ball film to overanalyze and rave about. I have SO MUCH to say about this film.

[yukidragon]

Can you do a theory of how S.D.J got stuck in a tape? (Ik there isn’t much clues but I just wanted to ask) :)) Btw LOVE YOUR THEORYS!!! :D

Awww, thanks! I’m really happy to hear that you like my theories. 💖

Unfortunately, there is very little evidence at this time to create a solid theory about why Jack was trapped in the tape to begin with. I can, however, talk about what we do know about the tape so far and what my headcanons are.

I will be using some screencaps of the demo as well as images that were posted publicly on Sauce/Jambeebot’s public twitter before it was closed down, as well as links to the official Sunny Day Jack twitter. Gentle reminder to everyone - please don’t repost any of the private images posted on the Snaccpop Studios Patreon. The crew relies on those kind donations in order to make the game at all. Consider joining it instead, donating to the Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack kickstarter, or just spreading word about this engaging game.

With that said, let’s start off with the tape itself.

An ordinary but old and cracked VHS tape with a sticker on it bearing the words “84′ Incident” written in smudged red marker. It’s pretty well universally theorized that the video tape captured Jack’s death, which appeared to take place during filming of the SunnyTime Crew Show. We get a shot of the incident itself here on the twitter page. (Pun not intended.) There was also apparently children on set as well who witnessed the incident, according to the actor who played Cloudy-Belle Sue.

We get a glimpse of this incident as well in the style of a children’s drawing on the title screen of the demo, along with a closeup of the tape.

After that, Jack was trapped in the tape for (presumably) almost 40 years. To him it was a place where he couldn’t dream, where he felt cold, and where he buried his old self as Joseph to fully embrace the role of Jack.

Then MC gets a hold of the tape, pops it in a VCR, and is introduced to a rather confused but relieved Jack... only they don’t remember that. They just woke up the next day and Jack was just... there. Now the tape won’t play again, so there’s no telling exactly what is on it.

Seems pretty standard with ghosts possessing something involved with their murder and haunting whoever interacts with it right, right? What I find interesting is Jack is always called a ghost(?) The fact that this is in question at all suggests to me that there’s something more going on with him than the typical ghost can’t move on from their horrific murder story.

I think the fact that this is in question plays a part in how Jack was trapped in and is still connected to the tape. There’s too few clues to be sure of how that happened, so it’s just left to pure speculation on our parts. All we can be relatively sure of is that it’s related to Jack’s death and the incident itself.

You know, let’s take a moment to examine Jack and what he can do now. Maybe it’ll give more ideas about how he got into his situation.

Jack is quite an interesting sort of ghost(?). While it’s tempting to look at another game involving ghosts made by SnaccPop Studios, the Groom of Gallagher Mansion, as a point of reference for how other ghosts are depicted, I’m going to stick with strictly SDJ-related sources.

Jack is solid to MC (unless they don’t want him there), and can be perceived by all their senses, but no one else. He doesn’t show up in mirrors or recordings. According to a line from the Patreon-exclusive virtual body pillow, Sleepy Time Jack, he has a heartbeat. He has bodily fluids such as spit, sweat, and semen, as shown in the demo. He feels warm to the touch, not dead at all.

Well, maybe not all the time.

Jack has the power to influence other peoples’ thoughts and feelings. It’s most obvious with MC, where we have seen instances where he seems able to outright read their thoughts/narration, but he was able to influence Nick’s mind to the point of nightmares, insanity, and self-harm. For the most part he can’t interact with others, but it seems there’s a way he can force it?

Or maybe Jack could be perceived by others... but he has a reason to choose not to exert that much influence on reality.

Maybe it’s because he’s not strong enough yet at the start of the game?

MC’s love seems to make Jack stronger. There’s a “piece” of him in a place others could never reach, and that piece of him grows bigger and stronger. The stronger it gets, the closer he gets to being “one” with MC forever.

I think that “piece” of him is inside of MC and is vital to keep him solid and real. I suspect that Jack might have a “piece” of MC inside him as well... one he can make even bigger by taking more from them and giving more of himself in return, as suggested by a quote from the “no” route.

I want him to re-write me in this moment. I want him to do what he wants to help me forget anything that isn’t him.

He’s taking some part of me...

Infecting me with some kind of fever... Some need...

And I don’t want to admit it...

But I want to surrender and let him fill it.

Although MC is under supernatural influence that makes them addicted to the feelings Jack gives them, it seems as though their wants and desires towards Jack play a key part in everything.

In the game, if MC keeps their distance from Jack emotionally, he gets “colder” to them, and it could get to the point that they can’t touch him anymore. I imagine, if they turned their back on him completely, they could make him disappear altogether.

The influence Jack has on MC is subtle most of the time, just really good feelings mostly. I theorize this is a supernaturally-enhanced sort of empathy due to MC having a piece of him inside of them (and likely vice-versa). I believe that’s how Jack can detect MC’s emotions in return and catch some of their thoughts. It seems this works both ways, as suggested by the “yes” route, where MC can sense things about Jack but is too caught up in the pleasure they’re sharing to really think about it much.

He was close.

He didn’t even need to tell me.

I suspect if MC knew how to use this power, they might be able to have more of an influence on Jack.

After all, it seems as though if MC is going through something like, say, the pain of a period or being drunk, Jack experiences these things too. At least according to a couple posts from the Jambeebot twitter.

(Again, keep in mind posts and art from Sauce’s twitter need to be taken with a pinch of salt when it comes to canon, as things can (and have) changed before the final product of the game.)

Jack himself says that MC makes him feel love, and he’s so happy to be with them. What if that’s why whenever MC spends time with him alone, they feel so happy? What if MC is literally feeling Jack’s love and happiness, which is why being around him feels so addicting? After all, isn’t it addicting to feel loved by someone so unconditionally?

It can be resisted as well, though even when they do in the “no” route, it’s a very weak resistance. MC is addicted to the warm and fuzzy feelings Jack gives to them, which Jack can intensify and doesn’t want to give that up.

I was suffocating in his embrace.

Something about the air was thick and sticky.

Like I was breathing cotton candy…

Like I was under a spell.

Jack even keeps asking in the “no” route if they can feel how much he cares about them, how good he can make them feel.

MC themselves admits earlier that they feel for Jack. He likely can sense that, which could be why he said they make him feel love.

There’s a strong emphasis here on consent and feelings, as well as pieces of both MC and Jack.

Also, before we move on, I want to quickly add that Jack might have the ability to manifest items as well. We know how confused MC was about blueberries appearing out of nowhere, but Jack could’ve snatched them from a grocery store or even snuck them into MC’s cart/basket when they weren’t paying attention so they eat healthier. However, what is harder to explain away is a full change in wardrobe that is distinctly themed around Sunny Day Jack and fits him perfectly. Somehow I don’t think MC bought that for him at the store.

As I’ve mentioned before in past theories when it comes to my own personal telling of the story, Sunshine in Hell, I think Jack has a piece of MC’s soul and MC has a piece of his soul in exchange. I think that whatever happened when MC watched the tape, it created a sort of contract between them and Jack, one that requires consent on both their parts. It requires that continual consent and for their bond to be strengthened in order to give Jack more strength.

It sounds almost like a ritual was performed, wasn’t it? Maybe Jack’s costume as a demonic incubus isn’t too far off the mark from what he is now.

Who knows... it might even be why MC is so tired lately.

(Though they could just be exhausted from being overworked by an uncaring boss.)

Which leads me back to the 84′ Incident. What if Jack didn’t simply randomly possess the recording of what happened because he couldn’t move on? What if his soul was trapped in that tape all this time? After all, he seemed so confused at the start of the game about what’s going on and what happened to him, which suggests he didn’t willingly go to, as he put it, hell.

The entertainment industry is a truly frightening place. Money, power, connections... they can bury so many secrets, even people and memories. There are rumors of unsavory things like crime rings and cults. The studio behind the SunnyTime Crew Show seems to have a dark side as well considering it buried the memory of the show and the murder of Jack under the threat of NDAs.

So now, let’s talk about LambsWork Productions. As I previously touched upon before when analyzing the teaser picture of an undead Jack looking in a mirror, the name of the studio is very interesting. A lamb’s “work” is to be sheered for its fleece, or butchered for its meat... sometimes both.

I think that LambsWork Productions was connected to a cult, maybe even built by a cult outright. I believe what happened to Jack to trap him in the tape may have been part of a ritual.

Jack was a teenage runaway who changed his name from Joseph, hiding his real identity. We don’t know how he was discovered by the studio, but he would be someone with no connections, and no family, maybe even no friends.

Who would look for him if he went missing?

This seems counter-intuitive doesn’t it? Jack was a famous actor with many eyes on him. So many people, kids and adults, loved him.

What the people loved was a character he played. Even when being interviewed, Jack had to stay in character. He couldn’t be “Mr. Haberdae” even when talking with a reporter who wanted to learn more about him.

The studio made a creation that was loved... and what if that was part of the ritual? What if Jack’s murder was planned all along? It would explain how they could so quickly and thoroughly bury all evidence that the show ever even happened if they were prepared to do it ahead of time.

Being loved and being willing plays a part in Jack’s powers. What if that ties into the murder? What if Jack, this fictional entity the studio made up, needed to have the love of countless people, and the distress and pain they felt from seeing him die, along with his death?

For what purpose? It’s hard to say, but Jack’s powers are nothing to sneeze at. For all we know, whatever MC underwent to be bonded to Jack by watching the video wasn’t actually meant for them... it was just the first time it actually worked.

After all... consent plays a part. If Jack didn’t consent to, say, his murderer getting a piece of his soul and control over him...?

Now we’re really going deep into headcanon territory here, and it ties into the tragedy of [Redacted] and the lover who used him. I will stress that my headcanons will likely change as more evidence comes out or as I work on it more before writing it into Sunshine in Hell, but I figure it might be entertaining to tell it anyway.

It goes like this: someone with a lot of pull and connection to LambsWork Productions, maybe even the owner in charge of it all, wanted supernatural powers. They were connected to the occult and learned of a ritual that would require the absolute obedience and enslavement of a soul, as well as love and innocence of children to create a servant that would do whatever they wanted.

What it required was a person who is utterly devoted and willing to submit to the caster. The easiest way to do that? Why, love and desperation of course. Find a person who has nothing and offer them a life they always dreamed of... they just need to be obedient, sacrifice more and more.

This person is pushed slowly to do more, give more of himself. He is pushed to act a certain way all the time, painted up as this new persona to further signify that he is no longer [Redacted] but the always helpful Jack. He needed to want to be this character they created... who they were going to make real with the ritual using his willing soul.

When the target is primed to be obedient and utterly addicted to needing the caster and everything they have to offer in every way imaginable, and is loved by many innocent children... that innocence is destroyed as part of the ritual by having them witness his death.

The ritual results in this creation that will do anything for their master... provided it is consenting on both ends. The victim doesn’t even need to know it was all a setup. In fact, it’s better he doesn’t know in order to ensure he’ll remain desperate in his new inhuman state.

The recording is the medium to create the connection to the new supernatural entity. There was just one teeny, tiny hiccup.

Consent.

The person who performed the ritual and wanted those powers wanted to make that connection, but Jack? Ho... they might have twisted [Redacted]’s heart to be desperate for their love and everything they provided, but Jack is far from stupid. Whether he started to suspect before his death and hid it, or he realized what was going on when murdered, who’s to say? Either way, he did not consent to his former lover taking a piece of his soul when the tape was played, and thus the ritual failed, no matter how many times they replayed his tragic death.

The tape was kept as a reminder, a snuff film for entertainment purposes until it gets lost or discarded in some other way. The culprit would have to figure out what went wrong, how to perform the ritual correctly next time... Or another member of the cult who learned of the ritual decides to try again, believing they know what went wrong.

Maybe the problem was relying on romantic love. What if the “lamb” to be sacrificed was someone who would have a stronger bond to the caster, maybe even more desperate for love and approval than a lover. Say, perhaps... a blood relative?

Actors sometimes join cults. If, say, Jean joined and found out about the ritual and wanted it to work out for himself, well... he does have a child from one of his sugar babies who wants to be an actor, doesn’t he?

What stronger love is there than a parent and child, especially a child who might have spent a lifetime wishing for his absent father’s love?

Well, Jack might argue his love for his sunshine is stronger. After all, unlike those monsters who damned him to the hell of the VHS tape for selfish purposes, they didn’t need him like Alice(/MC) does. They didn’t long for love as desperately as he did... and he was certainly so very desperate for even a speck of warmth after 40 long sleepless years trapped in a cold empty hell...

Soooooo... yeah. That’s the headcanon I currently have for what Jack is and why he was trapped in the tape. With how few clues there are, I’m not banking on this headcanon on being anywhere close to accurate to what’s going to happen in the game. Chances are very good that this headcanon will change and evolve as I get more ideas and more hints are dropped. Still, I find the idea to be fairly entertaining, and I hope you did too.

What does this mean for Jack, Alice, and their connection of souls via the ritual? I’m going to have to think about that a bit more, but whatever it was, it was something worth a hell of a lot of trouble for the studio to go through...

After all, Jack has a pretty impressive array of powers already, and they’re only going to get more powerful, maybe even manifest other unexpected ways we haven’t seen yet, as his love for Alice and hers for him grows ever stronger...

Of course, with an MC resistant to that love? Well... that might explain the glitches we see here.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: If I Were A Rich Man/Girl

This video was released on the 24th of July, 2021, and is the first guest feature of the amazingly-talented miss Ashley Diane, as well as Cesar's first video as an actual Voiceplay member! I'm not entirely sure how much I'll actually have to say about this video, but there was no doubt in my mind about me making a post for it, so let's dive right in!

A few things right off the bat:

1. It's cool how the screen "opens up" at the start of the video; I believe Voiceplay did the same thing or something similar with In The Air Tonight iirc (and both videos end with the screen "closing back up" as well)

2. Definitely a bit more of a creative video format for Voiceplay, with the completely-white setting and the cuts between different shots of the vocalists - it's not got choreography or any overly-complex direction (probably), sure, but it's not exactly a "everyone stays standing or sitting in one spot" video either. Shoutout to Layne, who was in charge of this video as well as the arrangement!)

3. Oh my god Geoff is wearing a shirt that isn't just black, white, or blue! 😂 (listen, I make fun of him because I love him, but also you know I kinda sorta have a point!)

(Bonus note: Layne and Tony are credited with costuming in the description, so clearly there was in fact some deliberate thought put into everyone's outfits)

Okay but for real, everybody is styling in this video! (Also one could argue that technically Geoff has the most "simplistic" outfit overall in this video (which wouldn't be for the first time), but I shan't hold it against him)

Also, related to the first image and not the one above, but I'm pretty sure Eli is wearing the same hat he wore in Bang!

Oh yeah and Geoff has a lot of lovely smiles in this video, so, y'know, I'm a fan 😁

(Also peep the bit of grey coming through on one side of his fringe/bangs <3 )

"Please" (SIR-!)

This is a very random thing to care about but whose hand is this? I thought it might be Ashley's, but no, she's got yellow manicured fingernails in this one (very cute btw) (oh and also her top is long-sleeved). It's not Cesar's hand, obviously, and I'm 95% sure it's not Geoff's hand (especially since there's nothing on the wrist. it could be Layne's hand, but does he still have that wrist tattoo on his right hand? So basically, either it's Eli's hand, or one of their behind-the-scenes helpers (Kathy maybe?)

Queen. Love her

(Also shoutout to both Eli and Layne for the lighting design on this one!)

I'm assuming these are all fake dollar bills? (Also how do you do shots like this? It looks very cool. A fan/blower? Someone dropping/throwing them down from above?)

Cesar: *Looking all cool and suave with the dollar bills*

Geoff: Ooooo money! :0 :D (turn your brightness all the way up!)

(I love him)

Go off, Eli! (I like his outfit too!)

Get it, Cesar 💅

🤔

Crazy how lighting colouration can alter the perceived colours of things. Ashley's top doesn't look yellow at all here!

"what?" (girl you know dang well what!)

(I knew this moment would be worth at least a couple of screencaps and it did not disappoint! 😁)

Honestly between Ashley and Geoff in this video, serving Looks (different kinds, though both as powerful), and vocals, well, if I wasn't bi already...

And that's the video! Certainly not a standard Voiceplay video, but frankly does VP even have a "standard" these days? Their music videos can be literally anything, near impossible to predict. Also, this is a killer arrangement from Layne, and one so dang complex that even though I've by and large mastered the lyrics, this is one of the few where I've been trying to memorise the arrangement, but there are bits I forget or can't replicate the right way (not that I can go as high as Ashley can (that freaking riff! girl!) and definitely not as low as Geoff, but y'know). Stay tuned for my next Voiceplay Visuals post! It's probably gonna be a big one!

[wangmiao]

Kun, I just started to watch Three Body because of you. Thank you for your gifs as always! I also want to ask why Zhang Luyi is called Yudan since you mentioned it in a screencap post. Does it have anything to with fish balls because you know I love fish balls?

hello, friend! so sorry for the delay in answering this. i'm super glad that you started three-body because of my gifs. that's like the best thing to hear for a gifmaker. i hope you like the show.

and thank you for taking the hint in my post and asking the question lol (i don't want to post something that nobody's interested in xD, at least i know one user is). i have some visual demonstration below for anyone who doesn't read chinese. his name is 张鲁一 when you type it horizontally, but he signs vertically a lot as below (btw, he signed in traditional chinese, and i typed the simplified chinese beside it. the end result is the same). so the 鲁/lu in his name consists of 鱼/yu (fish) on top of 日/ri (sun), and when you add 一/yi (one) below 日 you get 旦/dan (dawn). basically fans broke apart 鲁一/luyi and re-combined them into 鱼旦/yudan. zhang luyi weibo studio's name is actually 鱼旦先生工作室, so i think he definitely approves the nickname from fans.

to answer your question, 鱼旦/yudan doesn't mean anything, but 鱼蛋 which sounds exactly the same as 鱼旦 does mean fish ball. i think some fans do use 鱼蛋 as his nickname too. ps. i'm so pleased by your love of fish balls lol! they are delicious!

BTW, if in three-body cfandom, you see 双鱼/shuangyu (double fish) or 鱼尾鱼旦(蛋)/yuwei yudan (fish tail fish ball), it's refering to yu hewei & zhang luyi. why? because yu hewei's last name 于/yu sounds exactly like 鱼 (fish), and the third character in his name 伟/wei sounds exactly like 尾 (tail). hence, yu hewei is 鱼尾/yuwei (fish tail). i hope this makes sense, and i'm always amazed by the cfandom's ability to create nicknames.

people do use double fish or yuwei yudan to express how much they'd like zhang luyi and yu hewei to work together again in other works. fans also use those for shiwang AU works with yu hewei & zhang luyi's other characters. to make this reply more visually pleasing lol, i'm taking some screencaps from this amazing video which is basically about how shiwang met in 4 different life times/universes before. i'll be screaming at any casting directors to look at them and cast them in the same show/film again!!!

[mdhwrites]

I'm not really gonna ask anything, just complain.

I'm tired of seeing puppet Amity and emperor Luz everywhere, what's even so special about it? What's the appeal???

People see 2 seconds scenes without context and make it that episode's entire content 🤦

I don't know if ep 3 came out already but I'm not looking forward anyways.

…Angst. Angst and new designs which are probably the two most powerful motivators for The Owl House fandom. Why do you think S2A felt like it damn near cut the fandom down to its size?

This actually has to do with kind of fandom culture in general. The most visible part of a fandom is its artists. Their work is quick to consume, easily posted and reposted (with credit you'd hope but… sigh) and the easiest to take inspiration directly from the show for. Every week there'd be at least one screencap redraw that the fandom would do whenever a new episode came out. Honestly, the finale's big Lumity screencap redraw is really awkward looking to me out of context. It's not hard to see why these are so popular though. The reference is directly in front of you, it's a moment people are already talking about and you yourself probably liked the posing too so why not redraw it? It's a hell of a lot easier to do than come up with a bespoke story concept based off of each episode in a series.

That isn't to call art easy or the like, just that fanart is the backbone to a fandom for a reason, at least in my opinion. Twitter has a character count limit. Reading Fanfiction on Instagram blows. Tumblr is the closest to a place where longer form videos and stories can be posted and they still take MUCH longer to consume and share and without as much guaranteed return on effort spent. There's a reason the internet as a whole LOVES art from a commercial and consumer standpoint, even if they also keep trying to screw over artists because yaaaaay capitalism.

But screencap redraws aren't going to be everything. The more potential in the story, the more people will be able to come up with evocative concepts and stories and even make comics about the show. This was a BIG part of the fandom's peak between S1 and 2. Everyone had their own take on how Lumity would get together. Everyone had their own idea for how Amity might confront her parents. Amity in general was just a font of inspiration and the concepts with Luz weren't played out or felt contradictory to the more cynical character we got in S2 so angst with her about her mom, her world, etc. like that was still something everyone was tapping into, especially since it felt like the portal being destroyed was such a big deal.

I made a large Twitter thread the other day btw about how just shit the Portal Door is from a narrative perspective, first as a nitpick in S1 and then just a genuine problem in S2, because of it being gone, but that's a different blog.

But post S2A… What did you have? Camila's promise was never going to end satisfactorily, to the point where it goes from a moment of Luz being a good daughter to an almost inhuman monster towards her friends because it is handled so poorly. Amity is pretty much resolved outside of being happy to be Luz's girlfriend because she's already stood up to her parents, integrated into the rest of the cast and even already addressed the only piece of angst the show ever allows for her with her relationship and that's being an obsessive enough girlfriend. Sorry, I mean a good enough girlfriend. sigh Gus has had an episode but was overshadowed, Willow has had like a half dozen lines this half a season, King has been pretty much absent since his episode, Raeda was still mostly an Eda episode with literally every element of that episode just to shove Momma Eda down your throat…

It's not surprising that post S2A, the fandom has felt in general much quieter. Minus A: Huntlow and B: whenever they get a new design they can turn into Luz/Lumity angst. Everyone remember the teaser for the Collector's design that was done during a livestream and how that consumed the fandom for a little while because of possessed Luz ideas?

The puppet Amity and Belos Luz hype was effectively that. It brought even the casual artists back because they had a new, easily evocative design available to them that also had very obvious potential for angst. How many "I'M NOT LIKE HIM" pictures came out regardless of how weak any parallel between Luz and Belos is? Luz crying over a temporarily dead Amity is saddening, even if she's been little more than a puppet for the writers for a while now.

It's just how fandoms work. It's not even necessarily a bad thing. Dana has been VERY good at keeping the fandom alive during things like hiatuses. S1's hiatus is when the Betas were most popular because they dropped at a time when people were starting to wane from the show and now they had an entirely different angle to work from for anything Lumity they wanted to do alongside just good designs to draw. Most Lumity and Huntlow artists redo any piece that Dana does for the two ships. It's very effective for keeping a social media presence for your show honestly.

I won't even act like I'm above it. While I commissioned reference sheets for Rich Witch to make it easier to commission more artists for these characters, that wasn't the only reason. Rich Witch had a Reddit page (that I should clean up honestly) and its pinned thread includes the reference sheets and physical descriptions for the characters who don't have reference sheets. This is because I recognize that that makes fanart easier and that fanart is a lot easier to share than text blurbs. It is one of the ways to try and cultivate a following online nowadays or to help your fandom grow, at least in my opinion.

Can it be frustrating? Absolutely. I mean, Huntlow fanart has probably done way more damage to my interest in Hunter than anything else because it always emphasizes Hunter as nothing but a failure. Hell, it also emphasizes Willow's strength commonly and very little else about her character. Lumity has bored me for a long time in art because 90% of it is just cute fluff which isn't bad but it's not compelling. And I mocked both Belos Luz and Puppet Amity, despite the designs for them being good and the art being good, as shallow because narratively it means very little.

And the larger that disconnect becomes, the more frustrating a trend in the fandom is going to be. Plenty of people hate the Betas because they hate the edginess or the fact that a lot of people used them to start creating spicier material. There's not much anyone can do about that though. While a creator can try to promote a kinder fandom, fandoms are inherently too emotional and too large to really control outside of helping the show grow or find a new audience. It's just a part of that culture.

And frankly, I'm going to be bothered by the toxicity and inhumanity (guess what fandom will dox you for liking a ship between a bi girl and a straight guy?) of fandoms long before their art trends.

[stormyoceans]

your horny puen thoughts oh my god give me more

SFJKSGFJSGJKSH i swear i don't want to be that person but every time puen opens his mouth he ends up saying the most unhinged things and i just [HEAD IN HANDS] YOU CANNOT BLAME ME FOR ANYTHING IM GONNA SAY AFTER THIS TAKE IT UP WITH EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THIS SHOW THEY'RE THE DERANGED ONE FOR PUTTING THESE THINGS INTO IT

like, they honest to god put hints of sugar daddy/daddy kink in the show???? which admittedly took me by surprise but it actually makes SO MUCH SENSE for puen's character, because it's true that he never had anyone taking care of him so that’s something he craves, but he also never had anyone HE could take care of: no parents or siblings to dote on, no friends to cherish, no lover to spoil…. but now he has talay. and if there’s one message the show has REALLY been set to get across is that puen LOVES to see talay enjoy himself and the things he likes, especially when puen is the one to provide those things for him. a clear example is given by all the times puen buys talay food or just straight up feeds him. he also likes to drive talay around and give him flowers and buy him gifts

it’s not hard to imagine how this can translate into their sex life. i honestly genuinely sincerely truly believe that puen gets off on pleasuring talay. i really can’t think of anything that would give PUEN more pleasure than having talay under him and taking his time to explore every inch of talay’s body (touching it, kissing it, licking it, biting it), until he finds every single spot that makes talay moan and fall apart. puen would revel in the feel, sight, smell, and sound of talay, he’s been wanting to eat talay out for so long (and THEY CONFIRMED IT) im pretty sure the first time he actually gets to do that he’s gonna come untouched just from the feeling of talay’s body trembling through his orgasm all around him

puen’s scent kink also means that he’s gonna steal talay’s clothes all the time, especially when he’s travelling or spending the night out because of his job and he’s missing talay so much he needs to be surrounded by talay’s scent to help him sleep (and im pretty sure puen jerked off more than once while holding one of talay's shirt against his face but you haven't heard that from me)

last thing im gonna say before hiding myself out of shame is that puen clearly has a thing for talay’s neck and for manhandling him. i haven’t made a proper post about it, but i swear i have an embarrassing amount of screenshots (i swear im normal) of puen grabbing talay by the back of his neck. most of the times it happens when they’re kissing, with puen using that as a way to pull talay in. and then there is his OTHER favorite way to pull talay in, which is grabbing his arm. it’s hard to show this through screencaps, but go look at the way puen grabs talay in ep 5 (part 1) and ep 10 (part 4). it’s, frankly, a lot. i wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that puen likes to push talay around a little and to squeeze and mark his neck a lot during sex, doesn’t matter if he tops or bottoms (i do think they switch btw, i mean the show is literally called vice versa. but srsly, even if puen is into the sugar daddy thing and loves to take care of talay, there are moments where he wants to be taken care of too, and when talay becomes more bold puen is definitely gonna be putty in his hands)

IM NOT EVEN GONNA TOUCH ON THE FACT THAT IN EP 10 PUEN THREW /REWARDS/ INTO THE MIX BECAUSE I NEED TO MANTAIN AT LEAST SOME SEMBLANCE OF DIGNITY JUST KNOW THAT HE IS HORNY AND INSANE

in conclusion:

[abusivelittlebunny]

I haven't thought about Logan since it came out, and Logan/Donald had never so much as crossed my mind, but your posts are truly mind-blowing and much appreciated. Thank you for all the lovely snacks. 🥰🥵

I couldn't take credit alone my wonderful mutual @conradrasputin has given me a tremendous amount of inspiration with their screencaps and even vids and them and my other mutual who welcome my rambling have been giving me a great boost! Just like you did now!! I really appreciate when people reach out or even just comment that they like my stuff and it really fuels my creative (&nasty) flames 🔥🔥🔥 I'll definitely try to write a cohesive fic with these two but I'm really busy atm irl so for now enjoy my reblog rambles and tags I swear there will be more coming ;))

BTW now I'm completely on the whore Donald train so my Playlist for this bitch is just naaaasty. I listened to Kim Petras - Treat me like a slut and immediately I thought aight what if Donald was sitting in Logan's limo and he started blasting this song just to annoy and rile up Logan while singing along with it right next to Logan. He likes to sit next to Logan after his client of the day gets dropped off, he gets lonely in the spacious back all alone and Logan is fun to tease. Logan tries to turn it off but Donald keeps putting it back on, barking laughing at Logan's red face and when he finally switches it off he just keeps singing it to himself until Logan has enough and pulls over and shoves Donald's face in his crotch telling him if he wants to be treated like a slut he fucking will be. Donald is so happy if he had a tail it'd be wagging nonstop as he gets Logan's cock down his throat right where it belongs. Anyway from now on that song is Donald's anthem.

[lenorethequietbookkeeper]

(Screencapping the og post cause it's pretty long)

Ok so this is something I've wanted to do with my own old fucks, but I didn't know exactly how I wanted of go about doing it!!! Until my mate @prettyputrified sent in the ask that gave me an idea; polyvores!! So anyway, I made some more "What's in [x character]'s bag" type posts as a response to this!

(Shout-out to @/cuuno for the og concept btw! Png credit will be in reblogs)

(Read tws in tags before proceeding)

-----

Sylvain's Bag

Work Bag: The plain black bag Sylvain takes with him when he goes on jobs. It contains only what he needs, which are usually no more than his weapon of choice and his collection of burner phones. Oh, and a pack of cigarettes. Murder is pretty stressful after all.

Casual Bag: Sylvain's own personal purse and wallet. Despite his rough and violent demeanor, he loves self expression and indulging in the emo/pastel goth aesthetic.

- Pocket 1: Self defense pocket. The streets of Pythonel are a dangerous place, so Sylvain makes sure not to leave the house without a gun and/or knife. The weed is purely for sale by the way, not edglord enough I guess.

- Pocket 2: Self care pocket. Contains his own personal phone, which he decorates in cool stickers he finds while out and about. Also makeup and protection, in case he wants to doll up for someone he fancies.

-----

Aldin's Bag

Shopping Bag: Aldin just uses the same plastic shopping bag he got ten years ago to carry everything. Usually has empty cans and drug garbage in there with everything else. Phone is busted to hell, but you know Aldin's broke ass can't replace it. Get your shit together man what is this???

-----

Jeagar's Bag

Bag: Ann made it (and basically all his clothes) for him. She tries to include stuff she knows Jeagar likes on it. He never says it aloud, but his old ass appreciates it. Always has bugs inside it that he finds in dire circumstances.

- Pocket 1: Used to store weapons and cigarettes. Usually alternates between his collection of fancy weaponry when he goes out. Matchboxes are from Ann's thrift shopping. Never buys any of his cigarettes, instead he digs up used ones from the dump.

- Pocket 2: Leisure pocket. Contains whatever books he's reading at the moment. Carries around his favorite songs on cassette tapes because the radio people have bad taste. Phone is an old ass brick phone he's had for the last 20 years. How does that thing still work??

- Pocket 3: Emergency pocket. Always has at least one Molotov cocktail in his bag. Just in case.

-----

John's Bag

Backpack: Simple brown backpack John brings when he goes on trips. Has his keys and pins that he finds funny. Tomagachi is a gift from Ferris for when he's stressed out.

- Front Pocket: Sketch pocket. Has all his little sketchbooks and pencils for when he's bored. Also draws on pieces of loose paper like receipts and used envelopes.

- Inside (smaller part): Comfort pocket. Has porn and alcohol in it all the time, always. Keeps more hardcore drugs in a vintage tin case. Please don't ask about the wedding ring.

- Inside (larger part): All the random shit he's stolen. Purely does it to satiate his "tendencies", as he calls it. Usually takes valuables or vintage items, but will nab literally anything if need be.

-----

Charles' Bag

Backpack: Old backpack Charles covered in cool stickers and patches. Loves creepy stuff and clutter, which shows in how he decorates most of his belongings. Negative space who?

- Front Pocket: Fun shit pocket. Ready access to drugs, money, music, and most importantly, video games. Phone is some dinky bullshit covered in stickers. Actually has to replace it semi-regularly due to being a temperamental little bitch that destroys shit.

- Main Pocket: "Important" storage pocket. Where he puts his bong when he goes out to a buddy's. Pretty much always has a shitload of random snacks. Always contains at least two guns no matter what.

-----

Ferris' Bag

Handbag: Bag Ferris stole from a thrift store and covered in patches and pins. Decorates the same way Charles does, but has more vintage and kidcore-esc tastes. Oh and also sexy ladies.

- Pocket 1: Storage pocket. Always has drugs on him, either to sell or use. Keeps his wallet in there for business purposes. Mainly has weed, but will also carry other stuff too.

- Pocket 2: Fun pocket. Books and video games for when he's bored. A rough draft of whatever gross fic he's working on in case inspiration strikes him. Weapons used to make potential inspo. A camera to capture said inspo. Phone is nothing special, just a sticker-covered little flip phone he actually takes decent care of.

- Lunchbox: Usually carries this along with his bag. Keeps the bigger snacks and drinks he can't stick in his bag. Organization is important after all!

-----

Daniel's Bag

Handbag: Alternates between one of his many vintage-looking, designer handbags. Loves excessive gold and jewels in his accessories. Minimalism is so overrated. Daniel's cutesy pink and white flip phone is hardly anything special on the surface. Gets a bit strange when you realize it's the only bit of modern tech in Goldberg. Weird...

- Help Pocket: :)