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stagefoureddiediaz · 10 months

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RWRB costume/ colour meta!

Ok, lets do this!!

Man have I missed writing costume/colour meta, so its good to have something to write about again! This took me far far longer than it should have - I kept getting distracted by the film while I was working on this - I'd go looking for a clip or to grab a still and end up just watching the film again 😂😂😂 but I've finished it and I hope you all enjoy it! Grab a beverage of your choice because this thing is a beast coming in at over 7000 words - I totally understand if you want to skip, but I have ADHD and do not know how to be concise 😂😂😂

Red white and royal blue employs several fun and interesting costume and colour theories (also made use of in the set design) to help tell the story of Alex and Henry. I’m not going to write a detailed meta for each costume - I just don’t have the time - but I am going to look at some costume/ colour details in focus, especially for Henry and Alex as well as highlighting other interesting choices! I also do not have the picture limit (I need more than 30!!!) to include every image I would like to, so if you want to see what I'm talking about, you might have to go check out the relevant scenes (I'll try to give you timestamps where I can!) I’ve kind of tried to do things chronologically, but I’ve left Alex and Henry to the end so if I don’t talk about them very much in the rest of this meta - that is why! putting it under a cut because its so long!

The royal Wedding

There are a couple of key themes here, the wedding party (consisting Lady Martha, Bea and Henry) have a distinct colour palette - dusty blue, dusty pink and Ivory, with the exception of Prince Phillip who is in his red Dress uniform - they’ve used a red uniform to make him stand out, convey that he is more important than the bride (what with his being in line for the throne and all that jazz) and hint at power - red is a power colour.

I’m not sure what royal orders the collar and riband that Henry is wearing are supposed to represent as they don’t belong to a specific British order - if I had to take a punt I’d say his red collar is meant to be a AU version of a Knight Grand Cross of the order of the bath but the one he’s wearing certainly isn’t a real order in the UK (it isn’t meant to be an order of the garter as that is the highest ranking order and Henry would then also be wearing the light blue riband we see on Prince Phillip) the royal blue riband with the red edging is more i line with the night grand cross of the order of Victoria, although in real life that riband should be for in the opposite direction. My feeling is that they wanted a red collar on Henry to play into the red as a symbol of power theme they’ve used on Prince Phillip, placing Henry as having the ‘power’ in his conversation with Alex (as he is on home turf) and the royal blue sash is a deliberate choice that I will talk about later when I focus in on Henry and I think its actually pretty significant as a choice. essentially the order insignia he is wearing are not real orders which is totally fine as this is essentially and au royal family!

We do have to talk about that wedding gown - not royal in the slightest - spaghetti straps and a low back would never be allowed for a royal bride, the dress is also too long on her (but that’s a different conversation about budgets and rental gowns so we’ll let it slide here!!) and her hair should also be fully up - not in the half up do she has going on! The colour is also wrong - she would have been tied to a very limited colour palette of white or ivory - no colour in a royal wedding gown, so the blush colour we see is a no go! I totally get why they did what they did with her gown in terms of colour and I’m fine with that choice (i’ll explain more in the next paragraph), I even get the fairytale princess look they were going for with that dress - but when you’re trying to portray a family so stuck in tradition and history etc, I can’t help but feel that they missed a trick to show her as buttoned up, conforming to the crown etc, especially as we never see her again!

At the reception we see pretty much everyone in colour of some description, with the exception on Alex and Nora who are both in black - this is why Lady Martha’s wedding dress is a pale blush pink colour rather than white. The only reason that the men aren’t in colour (if they’re not in dress uniform) is because they are wearing white tie for the formality of a royal wedding, otherwise I think we would’ve seen coloured ties or some such on them. This is intentional because the room has a general (muted) wash of colour which serves to highlight Alex and Nora, making them stand out and look like they don’t really belong.

Its a way of creating a them and us vibe and helps to establish the rivalry between Alex and Henry - we have a British scene, full of colourful clothing and the only identified foreigners are in black and white. We actually only see a black and white colour palette for the clothing of the Americans until Alex returns from his PR fix it trip to London after cakegate, while nearly all the Brits all were colour of some description - we can see this clearly in the hospital - all the children in colour, Henry in blues and - Henrys security in coloured ties while Amy is there totally in black.

Alex himself does wear navy blue but its a dark navy and that jacket is actually two tone - black and navy and its paired with black trousers in this scene - we see it again later - paired with taupe trousers which really helps to establish this idea of colour entering Alex's world once Henry is in it.

Sets

I’m going to pause on clothing here to quickly talk about the sets in the film and their colour palettes because they fall into three distinct categories;

We have the sage dusty greens, gold and bright reds of the British spaces - they have a regency and victorian air to them, all very traditional, opulent and royal in feel - they are the definition of a gilded cage and are ostentatious and Henry’s bedroom even fits into this mould (its very telling that we only see very limited physical intimacy between the two of them in this space - because its a space that neither of them truly fit or belong in) with its sagely green walls that echo the green walls of the state room the big royal family showdown occurs in.

Then we have the creams, taupes and beiges (with a bit of minty green for the walls of oval office) of the America spaces combined with the very intentional colour choice of that rusty orange (there is also the red room but that is a whole other conversation - I’ll go into it later).

The Rusty orange is such a colour choice, its rich and eye-catching. All colours have meanings associated with them - these can vary wildly depending on where and how they are used and have both positive and negative connotations.

Generally speaking, orange is an attention grabber - its energetic and stimulating, but it also conveys transformation and endurance. This orange has brown undertones which means we should also reference brown colour meanings when thinking about what the colour means on screen - brown is a safe colour and it is also strong and reliable, but it can also portray a sense of loneliness - that is something I think is a really interesting concept - we see Henry in Alex’s world (through the text chats as well as in the first blowjob scene) on the rusty orange sofas and one of the underlying major parts of who Henry is, he is enduring like the orange (and his royal status make him an attention grabber without needing to try) but there is that underlying sense of loneliness - yes he might’ve had a crush on Alex since the climate conference, but as soon as the air had been cleared between them during the PR trip Henry reached out and pursued Alex because he was lonely and wanted a friend - not knowing if it could ever be more than a friendship.

Then, finally we have the spaces Henry and Alex occupy - spaces which are just theirs to occupy - spaces when they are themselves - these are predominately yellow and blue spaces, with some deep colours such as the teal we see on the walls of Alex’s room and the red room.

I’ll go into more detail about all the yellow and blue in this film a bit later on in this meta, but to provide a comment on the red room - red is a colour of passion and love, but this shade of red they’ve chosen maintains that orange undertone we see in the rest of the American spaces.

I wrote a post on the choice of red calla lilies and how they are both a symbol of love and commitment, as well as a phallic symbol of sexuality, and I know Alexander Hamilton was on the wall in the book, but he is there not only because he was very likely bi, but also because he was the subject of what is known as the first political sex scandal - something our boys are essentially also themselves going to end up becoming!

Once Alex does return stateside we start to see colour begin to fill his world. This is a really interesting thematic choice - think how the wizard of Oz (a film very much associated with gay culture - ‘a friend of Dorothy’ was a slang code used by gay men to identify one another and there is obviously the rainbow connotation) begins in black and white and then transitions to colour as soon as Dorothy wakes up in Oz. This film is playing on that same trope/ concept - this is a story essentially told from Alex’s perspective, so Henry and his world is already in colour - its only when Alex enters that world and becomes entwined with it that colour starts to seep into his life - its done in a much more subtle way, but it is there - even during the text bantering they have going one while he is watching a film with Nora - it is a black and white film (‘Some Like it Hot’ - its self a film that helped open conversations about queer identity and the queer community at a time when the Hays code was still in operation and when Sodomy laws still existed in the US, but that is a whole other conversation and lots has been written about it before, its one of my favourite films and if you want to know more then head to your search engine of choice or hit up my inbox! It’s also a film our director Matthew Lopez adapted for the stage which is possibly partly why it was chosen for this scene- as a nod to his other work!)and they are both wearing grey while Henry is in colour (cream and blue - playing into the queer coded yellow blue theming) and sits on the bright orange sofa.

I cannot tell you how much I am in love with the Koi carp on Alex’s dressing room wall because the symbolism - the symbolism!!!!! Koi are seen as a symbol of strength, patience, perseverance, love and bravery they symbolise success through courage. Koi are known to swim against the current and overcome great obstacles - there is a Japanese proverb ‘Koi no Takinobori’ which translates as 'koi swim up waterfalls' and as the word Koi in Japanese also translates to mean love the proverb therefore means that love can go against the current and overcome great obstacles and if that isn’t the perfect metaphor for Alex and Henry’s relationship then I don’t know what is!!

I am obsessed and I adore the set designer for including that wallpaper in general, but especially in their text banter flirty developing relationship - the writing is essentially on the wall for where their relationship is going and how its going to unfold - they are literally Koi swimming agains the current and overcoming great obstacles to be together!!

Back to the costuming!

As I said previously - when Alex returns from the PR trip we start to see increasing amounts of colour and it starts with blue - Oscar is wearing a blue shirt - a colour we only see him in for that scene and then again at the end of the film - during election night. Its an important choice - Henry's colour is blue - its the colour we nearly always see him in some form of blue so for this to essentially be the first colour that appears in the clothing in Alex's world is telling in its own way - it is the beginning of the slow saturation of Henry in the world of Alex. Oscar is always in tan colour-ways apart from those two scenes and generally speaking we see him wearing Mexican tribal and geometric prints/patterns and cowboy boots - playing into his Mexican heritage, but also establishing him as Texan.

Miguel is clearly set out as the baddie to us all - head to toe in black all the time expect at the PM dinner - when he has to wear a white shirt because its etiquette - but they do make sure to give him black buttons on that shirt - which separates him from everyone else in dinner dress very clearly and keeps the undertone of untrustworthiness going.

The other thing to note is the grey fuzzy jacket he wears when being interviewed on the news. I’ve spoken before in my 911 meta’s about how the use of the grey fuzzy patterning is symbolic of confusion or obfuscation and that holds true here - Miguel is called out as being the one who hacked and leaked the emails by the presenter and he tries to bluff his way out - to obfuscate the truth.

We see the idea of green and jealousy play out a couple of times in the film - the flirty girl that tries to commandeer Alex and kisses him at the NYE party is wearing a very blatantly iridescent green dress which sets her apart from the rest of the crowd and then when the crowd drops low we also get the green lights on the DJ desk - while the scene is a play on the I saw you across a crowded room idea, there is also that undercurrent of jealousy - Henry is Jealous of Alex’s ease and that he cannot have him loudly and in the way he wants - highlighting that jealousy helps to build into Henrys later actions when he throws caution to the wind and kisses him under the tree.

Ellen Claremont has a narrow colour palette as well - we only see her in black in that first scene and in the ‘new Texas strategy’ arguement with Alex, after that her dominant colour is cream and we also see plenty of red which is a power choice - she wears it in scenes when she needs to convey power and status such as at the PM dinner or when she is shutting down his Texas strategy. The cream is the base colour for her - its a colour of elegance, sophistication, it is also a neutral colour - playing into her position as POTUS, but also when she wears it in one on one scenes with Alex, it is a sign of her being a mother rather than the POTUS.

Zahra tends to wear blacks with one blue/grey cashmere jumper and when we do get colour on her they are jewel tones - purple and teal. We also get some more grey fuzzy patterning - again playing into my previous statements - here it is very much about confusion rather than obfuscation - she only wears the fuzzy grey when she finds out about Alex and Henry and has her mind blown by the knowledge. Its a perfect costuming choice for this scene as it conveys so much about where her brain is - that her mind has been blown by this huge thing she as just become privy to and it helps make her facial expressions even louder!

Nora wears a full spectrum of colours, the stand ones are obviously the red bodice and trousers she wears for new years and the pink shirt she wears in the office when Alex is having a mini bi panic and figuring himself and his attraction to Henry out. Generally speaking a characters costumes are meant to be about them and their own character, however with a film like this, everything is a driving point for the two main characters and so, other characters costumes will, at key points be less about the character wearing them and more about driving the story of the mains forward - this is very much the case with Nora’s red outfit (and we have already talked about the green of the flirty girl at new years representing jealousy).The red is very very red, it is meant to stand out and is a nod to romance - for both herself with Pez and for Alex and Henry, but Red is also a colour associated with passion and sexuality as well as fire and heat - essentially it is a marker that things are about to kick into action on the romance scale - we are heading from friends to lovers.

The pink shirt plays into the same theme - its a continuation, but a cooling down - less about the heat and passion of a sexual encounter, and more about the concept of romance and relationships - because that is what the conversation is ultimately about in this scene. We have the bi flag background helping to visually tell us what the conversation is about, but we also need to have that subtle reminder that this is not about fire and passion it is about the potential for romance - for love - because if Alex is going to hook up with Henry, it isn’t going to be a hook up, it going to be real. We do of course see things heat back up in the red room (as they should), but ultimately that is the last of the fiery heat we see - from then on anything connected with Alex and Henrys relationship is much more steadfast - the blues and yellows I will talk about in a minute!

Lets talk signet rings!! We see them worn on the male members of the royal family - so King James, Phillip and Henry - as well as Alex when Henry gives him his ring. their use is telling and significant. James and Phillip both wear their signet ring on the little finger of the right hand, while Henry (and Alex) wears his on the little finger of the left hand. in a general sense one would usually wear a signet ring on the little ringer of the non dominant hand - so if you’re a lefty you wear it on the right hand and vice versa if your right handed. This is not what is being portrayed here - all three of them are naturally right handed (yes I did spend far too much time on google to find this out!!) which would in theory mean all of them should have their rings on the left little finger and yet only Henry does.

There is however another explanation - a ring worn on the right hand is symbolic of tradition conformity and rigidity and royalty (traditionally the monarch would wear a ring on the right hand and this was offered to subjects to kiss), wearing it on the dominant hand as a sign of power/ dominance. Henry and then Alex wear Henry’s ring on the left hand - the traditional hand that wedding bands are worn - because of the concept of the main artery running from the heart down the left arm and into the left hand, it is a symbol of love and life and connection to another person and is where the concept of the red string of fate comes from (which ties in nicely with Alex referring to the rope in his chest pulling him towards Henry). This all gains greater significance when Henry gives his ring to Alex and that he choses to also wear it on the left hand, its essentially a symbol of engagement and eternity - it is a sort of pre engagement I guess - and is a low key statement from Henry he is giving Henry Fox to someone for eternity - to Alex.

Right, shall we talk about the yellow and blue theming that I keep mentioning. This specific theming, tends to be seen more in sets and lighting than costumes - although we do see it used in costuming too (looking at you Bea!!). For those not aware, there is a tendency to use yellow and blue colour-ways for queer story arcs - if you look at Heartstopper (esp s1) they have been using it to great effect , and it can be seen in other shows and films with queer character arcs to such as 911 (and Lonestar), as well as plenty of other mainstream media if you’re looking for it. I don’t know when or how it became a colour way associated with queer relationships - especially mlm relationships - I’ve not had the time to deep dive into that particular research spiral - but suffice to say we see it put to very very great effect here in Red White and Royal Blue - we only ever see it used as a colour way when it is regarding Alex and Henry and their romantic relationshipI’ve included some of the blue and yellow we see (couldn’t fit it all in - 30 pictures is apparently not enough!!!) surrounding Alex and Henry and there is plenty of it. The first time we see this yellow/blue theming come into play is at the turning point - when Henry opens up the lines of communication with his text message. Alex is in his room - the first time we’re seeing into his room - a room painted dark blue and full of yellow accents - the lamp on his desk and the unit to the side of the sofa, as well as the very yellow and blue painting we see above his bed (which was commissioned for the film and so the colour choice was very much deliberate). Just to show how prolific the yellow/blue colour way is here is a list of most of the occurrences - I've tried to include as many of them in the pictures as I can as well.

The copy of People is yellow and blue, the Jacket Alex wears for new year has gold and blue embroidery. The PM’s dinner has blue lighting with gold curtains and there are a lot of blue and yellow dresses being worn in the crowd when Alex is watching Henry. The cushion on the sofa behind Alex is yellow and blue. Then we get to the French hotel room and the Eiffel Tower - it is literally all yellow and blue - everything - even down to the blue (extra safe) condom packets. the New York hotel room is dark blue and gold another is a blue bottle of lube on the side (the condoms and lube are very much a deliberate colour choice - there are a million different colours you can buy both in so if the colour wasn’t important they could’ve chosen any, esp as fuchsia and red is the most common colour for both in the durex brand in the UK).

In England - Henry mostly occupies green spaces - in keeping with the royal theme I wrote about earlier - however the room he is most himself and most comfortable in is the music room/ library which is yellow and any time we see him in that space, he is wearing blue. It is telling that when the emails between Henry and Alex are hacked, his sanctuary is full of ‘old white men in suits’ and Henry cannot go in there - symbolic that who he is - his true self - has been violated and he is being forced into ‘royal coded’ spaces - back into his box as it were!

Back to costumes and he two blue hoodies. I’m gonna get a bit of hate for this, but the blue hoodie is actually two different hoodies! - they are slightly different shades of pale blue - Alex’s is much more dusty blue, while Henry’s is much more baby blue, they are also different cuts - Alex’s a traditional sleeve cut while Henry’s has a raglan sleeve cut (think baseball tee). There is the idea with these two hoodies that they are at different points in their journeys, but still connected and i love that we see them in them at really key points of crisis - they are a comfort blanket in a way - Alex wears his during is bi crisis and again when he's watching Miguel on the news and figures out who the hack was, while Henry wears his when he lets Alex in - when he opens up and unspokenly confesses his love for Alex, when he agreed to take the step and be brave - both are wearing these hoodies in moments when they need/want comfort the fact that they are wearing such similar hoodies speaks to the fact that in it is the other they want that comfort from (even if Alex doesn't actually realise it during his min bi crisis).

And now to our two mains - lets start with Henry.

Henry

The bulk of Henry’s wardrobe is double breasted suits - a key theme for the members of the royal family - not one else where’s them - its a fun costuming choice, cease generally speaking the double breasted suit isn’t in fashion at the moment - the film fit single breasted suits we see on the rest of the characters is. It's a very clear choice to create a them and us concept in a visual and telling way. the other thing to note about these db suits is that only Henry wears plain fabric - the ones we see on Phillip and James are pinstripe or woven stripe. I want to quickly mention the tie King James is wearing because of its very obvious pattern. it is the only loudly patterned tie in the entire film - all others are either, plain , striped or spotted. In the book Henry says that patterned ties are considered too political (i'm paraphrasing and can't find the actual quote!!) and here we have a king playing with politics wearing a patterned tie - I love tiny nods like this to the original source material that only those of us who love the book will pick up on - its just a tie to the ga!

Henry himself wears pinstripes - when he is at his most royal - so for example when he is taking part in the PR exercise post cakegate. His ties also fit into this theming - he almost exclusively wears striped ties excepting at a couple of key moments - when he’s undertaking skulduggery and the yellow one he wears for the election. at all other times he has stripes on his tie. the stripes get wider or skinnier depending on the situation - the wide ones tend to be for royal events while the skinnier stripes tend to be connected to Alex.

Another thing to note with Henry is the lack of black he wears - the only time is at the most royal of occasions - the wedding - all the rest of his suits are varying shades of blue or grey (and cream) even the tux he wears to the PM dinner is a dark navy with black lapel rather than black - it differentiates him from everyone else in the room (esp Miguel) and shows him as the object of Alex’s gaze. I also want to mention the royal blue theme we see on him - something I love Keith Madden for doing - Henry nearly always has something blue on him and a lot of the time (especially connected to times when he is doing something connected to his status as a royal) we see him wearing something royal blue - its why his riband at the wedding is royal blue rather than the lighter blue of the order of the garter - but we also see it in the royal blue socks we see him in several times, the royal blue pyjamas when the hack/leak comes to light and the blue shorts in Texas when he’s lying on the bed before he leaves to return to England. We also see him in a lot of blue shirts keeping that blue theme connected to him.

Then there is my most beloved check theory - (its a theory connected to 911 for those who don’t know my costume metas already) Check is connected to foreshadowing of trouble - Henry wears a check/plaid pattern at a couple of very very key moments - at the bar in Texas - when we see Alex realise his love is the forever kind, when he is back in England having broken his own heart in a misguided attempt to save Alex (gingham shirts in pink and blue) and then the suit he wears when he choses himself over the crown and steps out onto the balcony with Alex to greet the crowds has a subtle check pattern (not sure if you can see it its the pictures but if you watch the scene you should be able to) all of these are moments which foreshadow the upcoming or current trouble in his life.

Yellow roses - symbol of Texas being flipped - from Mexican to independent (and eventually becoming part of US) - symbol of the fact Texas is about to flip blue from red. Yellow roses are also a symbol of good luck more generally and the yellow tie is a great choice to suggest neutrality in the election scenes (at this point in time Henry still has royal status). We see Henry in a grey suit with this yellow tie - this only further highlights his escape from royal life - when he is un the US we do not see him wearing the navy blue suits we see him in in England - the only exception is the dark navy dinner jacket he wears to the PM dinner . In the US he wears either a grey suit or the cream/light blue suit we see him in when he visits the lake house and the light blue linen jacket we see him on his light back to the UK is the only single breasted jacket we ever see him in - I would have loved to have seen the grey suit at the end also have been single breasted, but I'm guessing budget constraints prevented that from happening, as it really would've highlighted the difference between Henry George Edward James Hanover-Stuart Fox and Henry Fox!

At the lake house we get a piece of costuming that I love - the slightly differing short lengths we see on Henry and Alex - it Alex’s shorts are always shorter than Henry’s - it maintains that sense of Henry be more closeted and buttoned up - the overhead shot of them on the pontoon shows it really clearly - the two of them have similar leg lengths which serves me well here to show this point - the shorts Henry is wearing are at least 3 inches longer (possibly more) than Alex's - it isn't just that one pair of shorts - all 3 pairs of Henry's shorts are longer - its a costuming choice thats s perfectly in keeping with their respective characters.

The final thing to talk bout is Henry’s rainbow turtle swim shorts - a cute nod to his being gay - especially as Alex is is his purple bi swim shorts. But there is also the fact that they are turtles. Turtles are a symbol of steadfastness, longevity, perseverance and transformation. they can also be seen as a symbol of everlasting love. there is also the concept of carrying the weight of the world - which is seen in its most explicit way in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels - where a giant turtle carries the world on its back. All of these metaphors and symbols perfectly fit Henry and his relationship with Alex - it is a symbol of the enduring nature of their love for each other, the perseverance we will see for them to overcome the obstacles thrown at them, the steadfastness of their love, as well the transformation we are seeing Henry go through - from closeted gay thinking he has to conform to the very rigid and dated ideals of his family - to the freer Henry we see in the US - the real Henry and the version of himself he so desperately wants to be but thinks he can’t - he has the weight of the world on his shoulders at that moment a la the disc world turtle.

Alex

Alex, obviously has the largest number of costumes, as well as the largest colour palette, but even that is pretty limited. In the same way we see Henry’s wardrobe go through a subtle transformation, we also see the same for Alex, almost in the opposite direction - while Henry’s wardrobe becomes freer, Alex’s becomes more grown up - more mature and conveys his growth as a person - becoming more certain in who he is. I’ve already written a fair amount throughs this meta about Alex’s costumes, so this section is a little shorter than Henry’s for that reason!

We get rebellious Alex to begin with - the leather jacket easily conveys this to us, its almost a universal symbol or rebellion in costuming speak at this point and one of the reasons I like its use here is that it very quickly sets him apart from everyone else in the film - yes its early on, but he is the most casually dressed character by a long way - and this jacket it the antithesis of the buttoned up penguin suit from the wedding - it emphasises how uncomfortable Alex was in that environment and as a result gives the heavy drinking we saw before the cake went flying purpose and visually sets him up as the lead and as a rule/ convention breaker. The same is true of the greyscale with leopard print Hawaiian shirt which is meant to contrast him dramatically with Henry, who is still stuck in that stuffy double breasted suit prison of convention and expectation to behave a certain way - the costuming does a big chunk of the work in giving us rebel v prince in those opening scenes. I actually like that they brought the leather jacket back for the drive to the lake house - it sets up Alex’s falling in love arc nicely - in that it allows the idea of rebellion to continue flowing through the story - Alex wanting to be outing proud in Austin and not grasping that that isn’t an option Henry at this moment in time and is a nod to his not really understanding the different places he and Henry are in when it comes to what being out means for them respectively.

I’ve already written about the black and white colour way we see him in until his PR stint when we start see colour appearing in his wardrobe. I’ve put the pictures roughly in chronological order because it helps to show his progression, but it also shows the increasing amount of blue in his wardrobe, especially in moments connected with Henry.

To pick out some of my favourites - the Mexican pattern shirt with the red cardigan is wonderful - we have the shirt hinting at Alex’s heritage - in blue with the chunky knit red cardigan - I’ve written above about the use offered as a colour of passion and how that passion ebbs and flows - this cardigan also plays into that idea - it is the first time their texting becomes flirty - even the text message is in a red bubble on screen. This idea carries on with the orange red tee he is wearing during the turkey conversation - I made a post about that outfit being the same colour way as the turkey in question and how to talk turkey means to talk honestly and openly with someone - the very thing we see in that scene.

I adore the subtle yellow and blue jacquard embroidered New years jacket - the moment our boys connect and we move further into the lovers part of the enemies-friends-lovers trope and it keeps the yellow/blue theming an active part of the storyline. - the contrast with Henry’s orange tie is a choice - while there is a lot of colour at the NYE party Alex blends into the background while Henry is quite literally tied into the orange theme we’ve already seen in the furniture and sets - orange stands out and now we the audience are being drawn into unconsciously making the same connection that Alex is making - Henry is lonely, but he is an enduring and attention grabbing part of Alex’s life - it only further reenforces the direction of Alex’s gaze - green wearing flirty girl who??

We have a fair amount of Alex and the bi colour ways and we subtly see it coming into play from more or less the moment they start messaging - the light purple tee and purple message boxes, flowing through to the women sufferage wall and the fact he is wearing blue and purple in that scene with Nora in pink to round out the there colours. then we have the blue and purple colour ways he wears at the lake house - bolder and brighter - contrasting with the more muted shades from before - showing that he has recognised and accepted that part of who he is - he’ now out and proud and his parent know about him. I’ve used the old subtle a lot, but this is yet another example of transformation and growth for a character done subtly through colour. We also see him bathed in bi lighting at the bar when he has his 'OH I feel forever about him' moment at the Texas bar - he is the only one in that whole scene lit in that way - Henry is blue lit, while there is a more general lighting scheme that is blue/red dominant for the bar as a whole.

On to Alex’s suits and ties - he seems to have 5 suits and a jacket (not including the formal wear - tux and tails) a black one, 2 navy blue ones (one with a woven pinstripe that he wears in Paris) a bright bluish grey one and a grey one along with the black and blue waffle jacket we see him wear both on the PR trip and at the Polo match. I am obsessed with the fact that when he is in England he wears the navy suits and jackets whereas in the US he wears the other colour s suits - in the same way we see Henry less buttoned up and wearing grey and lighter blues in the US, here we see Alex fitting into Henry’s world and the navy blue suit uniform of the Royal family - its a wonderful piece of costuming that tells so much of how each of them are fitting into the others worlds, especially wen the black and navy waffle one is only worn early on - it is the cross over garment!

The ties have a similar story to tell - we see him wearing 4 ties - a yellow one we see in the beginning in the news reel and never see him in again and then we get the lighter blue striped one at the polo match - the one most similar to the striped ones we see Henry wear - suggesting he is trying to fit into this new world - Henry’s world - that he’s been invited into - its somewhat jarring for his character and plays on the idea of trying too hard - its therefore telling we don’t see it happen again - we only see hi in a striped tie again at he end during election night and accompanied by the black suit we saw him in a couple of times on the campaign trail in Texas. the blue tie is the only other tie we see him wear and it nicely connects all the key moments he has while in his suit - key political moments - his speech at the DNC followed by his speech to the press after the email hack and when he is at Buckingham Palace facing up to the King.

The final ting to talk about is the khaki green shirt jacket - I cannot tell you how happy I was with this costuming choice (and not because it was screaming Eddie Diaz from 911 vibes) khaki is so associated with military - with the army - anti is the most perfect choice for this scene - army are about war - they go somewhere to fight - to storm the palace etc so to have Alex - who has never worn anything remotely like this before rock up to KP to fight for his relationship - for his love - is the perfect choice, its a subtle yet clever way of emphasising the Alex has chosen to fight for what he wants - for his relationship with Henry and what makes it more telling is that we only see him change out of it once Henry has explicitly stated that he will try to be brave and that he wants history to include his love for Alex. It is why we see Alex in the yellow and blue Mexican patterned jacket - he no longer needs fight for his love because he has won - this yellow/blue jacket is a piece of costume tied into pivotal moments - we see the jacket twice - when he wins his bid to get the Claremont campaign to focus on Texas and Ellen tells him he’s going to Texas, and again when he has won the day with Henry and they are back together - in some ways that makes this his victory jacket - victory in his own personal battles - battles that are central to who he is and his development and I think that’s petty neat!

Hopefully you've enjoyed this deep dive into the sets and costumes of the film - I've loved writing it and I can only hope its coherent! Feel free to hit me up with any questions or comments and likes and reblogs are love ❤️🤍💙 thank you for reading and until next time...

#this really is a monster post!!!#rwrb meta #red white and royal blue #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #rwrb movie #first prince #costume meta #set meta #meta #long post #kym costume meta #costume theory #colour theory #colour theory meta #kym writes meta

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pinktom · 5 months

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Hi, what do you think about the recent rise of tomarry haters who ship bellamort?

I have a feeling this one won’t go over as well as my anti-Tomione post.

However, what the server wants, the server gets. 🐍

If you like Bellamort, if you will be offended by opinions that are anti-Bellamort, do not expand this post.

I am not putting this in the tags; I am not shoving this in anyone’s face. Don't click it. Don't send me pissy anons about it. Unfollow me and move on.

Background context

First of all: a concession. I know every Voldemort-related passage in Harry Potter like the back of my hand. If you don’t think Bellamort can be found in the subtext, you’re either biased or due for another close reading. Unlike Tomione (which almost always depends on a complete fabrication of their personalities) and Tomarry (which requires a significant tone shift from the books), you can easily write Bellamort as an extension of canon.

I don’t hate Bellamort because it’s nonsense. I hate it because it is not nonsense; it feels very real. Voldemort’s and Bellatrix’s relationship, in the canon text, is that of Master and Servant—and for me personally, any such dynamic between a man and a woman is disgusting and I have absolutely no desire to read it.

Here's some specific icks it gives me.

Fanon Bellatrix is bullshit; her real form is repulsive, whiny, and pitiful

There’s this common fanon misconstruction of Bellatrix that portrays her as a thoughtful femme fatale who enjoys a close, intimate relationship to Voldemort on nearly equal terms. I find this tacky at best.

Really, Bellatrix is a pathetic, sniveling wimp who would crawl around on her hands and knees and bark like a dog if Voldemort asked her to do so. She’s not strong; she’s weak-willed and pathetic. She's the kind of pathetic woman who accompanies a man on his killing spree and kills her own kids for said man’s affection.

This passage from Order of the Phoenix pretty concisely captures their dynamic.

Also, Tomarrymort writers love to make her past love of Voldemort and (*pukes*) it makes my tummy ache

Ever find yourself reading a fascinating Tomarry fic only for—midway in—Voldemort to reveal his true love is Bellatrix?* Or wax poetic about how beautiful she is, how special to him she is?

It's 2024. I immediately close the fic when this happens. If I’m reading a Tomarrymort fic, I don’t give a fuck about Voldemort’s past domestic abuse trysts with the most spineless woman in the entire HP series.

And the kicker is . . . for what? Because Bellatrix proved herself to Voldemort by licking his boot and wiping his asshole? Please do not try and convince me she is a sinister spooky gal, she plainly isn’t. She’s an embarrassing blithering pissant who does not foil any of Voldemort’s traits.

And PLEASE do not try and convince me she offers Voldemort something Harry doesn't in terms of being an equal partner or someone he respects, because I cannot fathom how the woman who squeals "MASTER MASTER PLEASE I'M SORRY DON'T HURT ME - I'll wash your anus with my tongue, PLEASE master!" is somehow more respectable than brave, upright, dignified Harry.

*I’m NOT referring to a specific fic. I have been in this fandom since 2011, and I have read it dozens of times, on FF and AO3 alike.

Lastly - they're not a pretty picture

I'm just going to say it... you know those people you kinda knew in high school who now post about their kinky sex life on Facebook? The girl who posts "Daddy 🥺 ?" and the dude responds "Yes, kitten?" in the comments? The chick who has no shame in posting her wolf-tail butt plug or joining a bunch of kinkster groups?

The girl who later ends up getting the shit beaten out of her by said repulsive scrote (no shock) and posting about it on Facebook only to repeat the cycle again and again?

That's literally what Bellamort makes me think about. It's not even like it's deeply upsetting so much as it's disappointing: A reminder of the lowest very promising, very beautiful women can get for men who ought to be curb-stomped and thrown in a ditch.

Tbh the best ending for Bellatrix in canon would've been if she disemboweled and slaughtered Voldemort for ruining her fucking life with his ridiculous tacky cult. He's my baby, but he's a vile scrote first, and I wish Bellatrix had realized what a toxic, life-draining narcissistic psychopathic moron he was. But alas, she too was a pathetic worm.

#anti bellamort #shipping wars #server #asks #i have covid and i'm really mean rn #tw domestic abuse #tw brutally mean #tw anti men hate speech

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redux-iterum · 4 months

Note

I'll start over lol, legacy naming can be fine if done well but i don't think it has. Hollytuft + Sibs appeared to us as adults so we don't get to know about them. Cinderheart was cute until we had the whole "shes actually cinderpelt lmao" moment. The two Mouses and Leafs just had no excuse to be there. And if I was Ivypool and my kid died I would NOT want some random cat immediately naming their daughter after her. Isn't that kind of traumatizing? I got rid of all legacy namings that occur -

in cats younger than Holly in my AVOS/TBC allegiances and in my rewriting exercise I'm making Sparkpaw just be really obsessed with being Firestar's kin so her eventual naming of Flamekit makes a bit more sense. At least I can excuse 4 Robinwings to the Erin's forgetting they all existing(not a valid excuse tho imo), having two Frecklewishes is just insane. Was literally nothing else an option? Frecklesong, Freckletuft, Frecklemint? I've also noticed stuff from the beginning like having a semi - prominent Ashfur in Into The Wild's ShadowClan then immediately having Ashkit/(fur) in Fire and Ice's ThunderClan. At the very least, literary-wise, it feels like too much repeating too quickly. I'm not against two Bobs existing at the same time but still…I've actually put down a good fic because they named literally everyone in TC after a dead cat and I got annoyed lol. Names were like, Ferndust Bluestorm Frostheart etc

TV Tropes has a trope relevant to this: One-Steve Limit. While it's very common for people to share names in the real world, in fiction it's avoided to make things easier on your readers/viewers and prevent repetitiveness. The point of not sharing names is for each character to stand out on their own; often when there are multiples of one name (for example, Heather in "Heathers"), there's a reason to it, usually to mock the hivemind-nature of the characters or establish a theme of putting people in boxes they can't escape from (such as in Steven Universe where every gem of one type shares the same name and remains stuck in one role for their entire existence).

In the case of Warriors, I feel that "rule" rings truest. To be entirely fair to the writers, they have hundreds of characters to name, most of them never even showing up in the books beyond being mentioned in the allegiances. A prefix or suffix is going to appear multiple times - that's just unavoidable, especially if you have rules in place for what names are allowed that limits your options. I can't blame them for that issue coming up a few times accidentally.

What I can blame them for is deliberately using names that have important characters attached to them barely a generation later. In a setting where you have to keep track of every name, even as a reader, it's going to cause nothing but trouble if Greystripe dies and in the next book there's a Greykit in the very same Clan. It creates a constant stream of Grey-, which can accidentally confuse readers, or at the very least trip them up for a few seconds - something you DO NOT want in a story, especially one aimed at kids, where things need to be clear and concise.

#ask #cydbys #i speak #naming #names #writing

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skyfallscotland · 3 months

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So I’m looking for some advice. My therapist has suggested I find a hobby to help keep me productive instead of sitting in my depression. So, I decided to start writing again. This has led me to start my own fic for Fourth Wing. It has definitely brought me more joy than I was expecting, however I’m also having a lot of doubts on my own talent.

I’m afraid I’m getting too stuck in the details! I’m getting frustrated trying to keep to the original story while expanding my own character within it. Then there’s the whole other issue of being grammatically correct surrounding dialogue and details and I guess just general sentence structure (anyone else can relate?).

Do you have any advice or suggestions on writing? Anything to keep me from hitting a wall? I admire your writing and honestly feel that you’d understand the mental struggle I’m having, soley based on how you fleshed out Remi’s mental health in your brilliant fic.

Thank you if you decide to answer!!

🖤🖤

That's so good that you're getting enjoyment out of it though! It really helped me too. What kind of fic are you writing? Is it with an original character? I find that a lot easier because you're not confined to the characterisation of the canon characters.

In what way do you feel stuck? With the plot? Because you can always change aspects of it if you're not feeling it, it's still fun to read and that's what fanfiction is all about.

For me personally, some of this is why I don't post as I write, because I need the time to go back over things. I also write non-linearly sometimes. So what that looks like for me is that I write what I feel like writing - if I feel like writing the first kiss scene even though it's five chapters in the future, I write that and put it aside to come back to, then go back and fill in the blanks. Things like that tend to help keep me from hitting a wall.

If you're not feeling it right now too, try and write something else! I'm stuck at a section of Truth & Talon right now, for no particular reason, my brain is just finding it boring and doesn't want to initiate, so I'm writing something else today to give it a break and then I'll come back to it.

I also tend to just write how I want to write and then I'll come back and edit things over and over. For Truth & Talon I wrote like twelve chapters and I was happy with the story but then I felt like Xaden was too out of character, so I went back and edited again and again. It kind of helps me to do that rather than worry about getting things like that 'right' the first time.

When I go back and edit like that I often change a lot of thing for grammar and structure as well. I always find it best to just write when you're feeling it, pour your soul (and grievances lol) out onto the page and then come back and do the finishing touches later. I google a lot of grammatical questions.

Also, remember the characters and plot in the original text are a certain way, yes, but whoever you're writing can be a catalyst for change. They influence the people and events around them, so don't be afraid to change what 'should' happen or how people 'should' be. Canon-Xaden would never open up to Violet the way he does to Remi, but that's because she's taught him how to.

Lastly, if there's something you want to write and you're stuck, read a little and see how other people handle it. For smut for example there's heaps of smut thesaurus' out there that I use, but if I'm stuck with a specific type of scene, I'll search out one-shots with that theme and see how other people do it, that can make it easier for your brain to come up with 'your way' of it, if that makes sense?

Try not to feel too hard on yourself, it really is just a 'practice makes perfect' situation.

I am the least concise person ever, so if any other writers can chime in, feel free! 🖤

#writer things

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voxofthevoid · 1 year

Note

your thoughts on the other (popular) yuuji pairings? 👀

How many hours do you have 👀

I love too many Yuuji ships for my own good, honestly. But I'm not much of a multishipper, so everything else comes secondary to goyuu. Buuuut JJK is also the first fandom for which I've liked multiple ships enough to try and write more than just my OTP, so it's safe to say I like these Yuuji ships a hell of a lot.

Putting it under a cut because concision and I are arch-enemies. Also, I don't want to clog up the ship tags with my ramblings, so before you click through, know that this talks about nanayuu, chosoita, itafushi, and sukuita.

Caveat that I've read very, very few JJK fics, so I'll be talking mostly in relation to canon and my own writing.

Here goes, in order of adoration:

Nanami/Yuuji

Their canon dynamic is so good; I love how Yuuji's exuberance contrasts with Nanami's reticence, and more than that, I love how they're both intrinsically kind in a really similar way, even if Nanami's version has been tempered by the harsh realities of their world. Plus, it never gets old just how much Nanami lets Yuuji get away with—I mean, Nanamin, seriously. He protests once and then goes "well, guess I'm Nanamin now." Amazing. Predictably, Shibuya did unholy things to my poor heart. When the "You've got it from here" scene gets animated, I will lose my entire goddamn mind.

That said, I started out liking them platonically, but well, other than vertical incest, there's no relationship dynamic that's safe from my gremlin hands, so I wound up shipping them sooner than later. Specifically, I wrote a goyuu fic with a heavy focus on platonic Nanami&Yuuji and plummeted headfirst into shipping them, so now I've got like three different ideas that's a mix of nanayuu and goyuu. If I don't write at least one of them, someone should punch me.

Chōsō/Yuuji

Listen, brocon just comes very naturally when Chōsō is involved, and it doesn't help that sibling incest with fuckery potential has always lit up my brain (Sam/Dean from SPN, Vash/Knives from Trigun, etc.). What I like about their canon relationship is the...imbalance that's kind of there, especially at the beginning. Chōsō has family revelations after hallucinating one near-death-experience-induced (and Yuuji's NDE at that) picnic scene and is immediately ride or die, while Yuuji's just there going "???" He's treated complete strangers with more delicacy than he affords Chōsō when they're alone in Shibuya, which makes perfect sense given the circumstances and Yuuji's mental state at the time. And even once Yuuji seems to remember his "mum" and realize Chōsō is his brother, there's the distinct sense that Chōsō's attachment is a hell of a lot more intense and more explicitly connected to the blood relation, as opposed to Yuuji's usual warmth to an ally and friend. And that contrast of complete, immediate devotion and cautious, burgeoning affection makes me want to do unholy things to them both.

Which is why Chōsō is currently getting enthusiastically eaten and eaten out by Yuuji in my Word document. It's not even subtle as far as metaphors go.

Megumi/Yuuji

A friend described my thing for this as a "tiny, doting crush," and it's pretty accurate. Canon sells this pretty hard from the get-go, and something that struck me is that, a lot of the time when you have a shonen hero who's dragged into a new world, it's a female character, usually the future love interest/main heroine/first girl, that does it. In JJK, you have Megumi in that role—fun all over. Also, the narrative is highly consistent about highlighting both of their complicated feelings about their involvement in the other's current predicament. Their interactions are also interesting from the beginning, both the lighthearted moments and the heavier stuff. And the manga panel split between a freshly Sukunafied Megumi and a very horrified Yuuji remains one of my favorites.

Thing is, since canon feeds me pretty well in terms of this ship, I don't feel much of an urge to read or write it. I have one(1) idea that's a mix of goyuu+gofushi+itafushi+goitafushi (it's...complicated), but it's pretty low on the priority list.

Sukuna/Yuuji

I'll be frank: I want to like this ship a lot more than I actually do. And that's mostly because Sukuna is a bit hit-and-miss for me. There are parts in the story where I've loved him and parts where I wanted to step on his face—not in the fun way either. And ever since he took over Megumi, I've been in "step on his face" mode. Their canon relationship appeals to me mostly because Sukuna brings out a side of Yuuji that only Mahito has managed, and their scant interactions while sharing a mind and body were pretty interesting. The blend of hostility and humor was nice, and I kind of like that there's pretty much zero chance of it getting resolved like with, say, Kurama and Naruto.

Anyway, I do see a lot of potential in this ship for hate sex, except what I'd like to see is a very specific dynamic that I haven't been able to find—and one that's complicated enough that I'm not sure I could write it either. I might try some day, especially if inspiration strikes.

Thanks for asking, anon ❤

#i love my anons #anon #jjk

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gyroshrike · 1 year

Note

if there r no filler episodes in avatar then what about the great divide

Oooooh, I don't know if I want to go sticking my nose into potential Avatar Discourse, but I will just for this because I actually love this episode AND I have strong opinions over what people complain is "filler."

This probably isn’t going to be very organized or concise because if I try to make it too fancy, I’ll take forever to write it and never post it ahaha.

So, for starters, the only kind of episodes I refer to as "filler" is usually for when an anime series catches up to the manga chapters and the production team has to stall by making up new episodes to tide the audience over. To literally fill up empty space.

For example, Naruto episodes 143 through 219 are "filler" because they were never in the manga and they needed episodes while they waited before jumping into Naruto: Shippuden. Then they completely returned to the canon plot.

Filler is what I use to categorize new content written to act as a pause or spacer between canon plot arcs when they don't have enough canon content to work with. AND I usually tend to refer to episodes as filler when they are entire arcs, not just one episode or scene added for fun or to flesh out plot or characters. I'll elaborate on this later.

If a writer goes in, writes a script, and consciously makes the decision to have an episode as part of the story... that's not filler.

People seem so caught up on the Main Plot that they jump to label anything that doesn't technically contribute to moving it along as filler. These people aren't considering that it's not just Plot that makes up storytelling. Every episode of Avatar contributes to the overall experience in some way.

They flesh out the characters—either themselves as people or their dynamics with each other. We get to see motivations, how they think, how they handle different conflicts, who they are as people.

They contribute to world building—the world of Avatar is so rich and interesting, on it's own, but also in its current state of transition as a land shaped by war and refugees.

Immediately this episode visits 1.) the themes of Aang's role in solving conflict and 2.) Katara and Sokka's differing ways of doing things.

Aang is not above simple motivations. Custard tart. He's not some all knowing wise man, he's a person who gets hungry, gets driven by silly things. We also get to see something very important. Aang gets angry, but not very often, so it’s impactful to see what makes him angry. He's not above getting fed up with bullshit. He's realistic and rounded! He gets a chance to get angry at people selfishly putting lives at risk.

There's two rival clans who have the same goal and Aang agrees to protect them on their journey and help keep peace between them. The conflict between the two clans have origins so long ago neither of them can prove which origin story is true, but they are determined to cling to their hate for the other and refuse to work together to the point of endanger their own lives and the lives around them. And right when the fighting is about to come to a head, Aang steps in to say he knows the TRUE origin story and the conflict was actually just a big misunderstanding.

He... He LIES. Aang LIES to end this conflict that doesn't matter! And I think that's so cool. The first time I saw this episode, I thought to myself, "Ah, well that's really lucky that Aang knew those guys. I guess Being 100 Years Old plot point saves the day again. That doesn't bother me, but wow, it sure is a convenient thing." Then, out of earshot, AANG REVEALS THE TRUTH. He totally made up that story! There was no coincidence! That blew my mind as a kid! And that is so much more realistic and it gives us such cool, interesting insight to Aang's character. Aang's moral compass is very strong and he will fight for what he thinks is right. But he's also not unreasonable or stupid to get so hung up on what's "good" or "bad" on paper because, "Oh nooo, lying is baaaaad. We can't do thaaaaat it's wroooong." Which is something I feel like we expect out of characters like him. We see him lie, we see him steal, we see him cheat.

I really think this is a great example of how Aang believes in spreading joy and reducing suffering in the world above all else. Not black and white morality and rules of what a good person is or is not supposed to do.

I feel like shows that have morals to teach often rigidly set their "good" characters (especially characters like Aang) to Never Do Bad Things Ever (which is why Avatar is so good, because it challenges that.)

Lying was the right choice there! It was the smart choice! Aang's job is to keep peace and he made a choice to tell a lie that wouldn't hurt anyone in order to create peace. Between two rival clans! Who have been rivals for a century! And it having such a stupid solution really reflects how stupid the conflict was. It's also a good example on how history can get totally warped until no one knows the truth anymore, but these clans would rather cling to forgotten half-truths and hate each other than seek a solution for a better future.

This episode even lets us see a bit into Katara and Sokka as characters too. Katara sided with the Gan Jin because she believed they were the victims and had the moral high ground. Sokka admits to taking the Zhang’s side, "Because they fed [him]." That's still the show taking time to flesh out these characters for us and deal with a type of conflict they haven't before. We now understand the siblings better as characters!

This episode also gave us more inside into the lengths that people of the world have to go to in order to escape the war. It’s not just this one town or this one group of people. It’s everyone who is feeling the effects of the Fire Nation. We see examples of it over and over and over again and I feel like that is important.

The argument about fun, silly, or side plot episodes being "filler" makes me angry because if those episodes DIDN'T exist, people would complain about the reverse. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people critiquing shows or other media for having too many characters and not taking time to develop them all, for being all action and not taking time to breathe, for not showing us the characters domestic sides or letting them have fun.

Shows deserve to have down time, as do the characters, either literally or from the main plot. It lets us see fun new sides of them, see them dealing with situations we haven't before and in almost all episodes that I see people calling filler, but were written intentionally, we get so much fun character development or insight which is a GOOD THING.

Revisiting the anime thing, let me be clear, I don't think ALL extra episodes or scenes added that weren't in the original iteration is filler. In the Boku No Hero Academia anime, we see a whole pool scene added that wasn't in the manga, along with a scene of Bakugou and Kirishima walking together afterwards (I THINK that wasn’t in the manga, sorry if that’s wrong). These scenes give us just a bit more sense of the class's dynamic outside of school and the growing friendship between Kirishima and Bakugou, which becomes plot relevant later. These kinds of things help better establish the emotional ties between the characters and make it more believable and satisfying when high stakes emotional conflict happens.

In Spy x Family, the anime made a much bigger event out of Anya's school acceptance celebration, a whole episode. Just because they close to drag it out and give it fanfare it didn't get before doesn't mean it's filler. It was just fun! It was just breathing more life into what was there! And that scene gave us an exciting way to see the lengths Loid, Yor, and Franky are willing to go to make Anya happy, (even if Loid frames it as being part of the mission) while giving us the audience a darned good time.

The Owl House production got cut down and basically all the "filler" episodes had to be ditched. Luz pretty much says in the show that we lost out on a beach episode! And we were pissed about that! Everyone would have loved a beach episode! That's what happens when you cut "filler" stuff. We lose out on fun shenanigans and seeing our heroes and how the operate in domestic settings, because people can be very different people in the "battlefield" verses in a home. Or in a dangerous situation verses a fun or safe one. Hunter basically didn't know what to do at first in a safe environment. That's an important thing to learn about characters!

Characters just doing things has meaning. It has use. It has weight. Your story is as much your characters and world as it is your plot. Fleshing out any of those is worth taking the time to do so.

[Aang hate is not welcome on this post]

#avatar #the last airbender #asks for me #jollysunflora #long post #I am not looking to argue or debate or further discuss the Avatar series #or the quality of its writing or anything related to this post #A friend sent an ask and I answered it #I am tagging it for my own organizational purposes #You can reblog it by all means #but keep any fandom discourse away from me #and if you hate Aang you can keep your comments to yourselves

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incomingalbatross · 7 months

Text

Commute Radio Recap: Week Ten!

Since I'd finished all my music recs, I decided to branch out to some artists I either hadn't heard at all, or wanted to listen to more of - some from Tumblr, some inspired by the things I'd already been listening to lately.

Presidential's James Monroe episode. I...am not sure how much I retained (I gotta make better notes right after listening, not a week or two later), but it was interesting.

Artifexian: So the thing about this podcast is, episodes are on hour and a half long and there's no way to predict how much of it will have anything to do with the episode description. Sometimes the hosts spend a while talking about their lives, or other projects, or something. On the other hand, they're very pleasant to listen to, and when they do talk about stories and worldbuilding I'm always drawn in. So I like this one! I just have to be ready to keep my expectations a little in abeyance when starting an ep.

Art of Manliness: I still go back and forth on this one - not sure if they have a clear distinction between accidents and essence when it comes to their topic :P - but this ep was fine, and I'll listen to more.

Being Human: Continues to be interesting! I am along for the ride on anything concerning Catholic psychiatry, it's a genuinely important topic.

Close Reading: I love this one. Continues to be three highly intelligent people discussing Little Britches in chunks. Will be listening to their thoughts on other books whenever I reach the end of this one.

Maisie Peter's The Good Witch: Apologies to the mutuals and followers who love her, but my verdict on this one was that she is just not my vibe. I think I like her in small doses, but more as an element in a playlist than as a primary source of music, you know?

OTGW soundtrack: Re-listen, but 'tis the season! (This was literally on Halloween actually.) Love this one, always. I have Thoughts on some songs but not concise enough to put here.

Scythian's Roots and Stones, Old Tin Can, and Dance All Night: So Scythian is a "Celtic rock/Americana" band founded twenty years ago by a bunch of Christendom College graduates (I believe), and they're FUN if you want high-energy 19th-century folk and things derived from that sound. Lots of immigrant songs mixed with more modern ones. I'd listened to Dance All Night (a best-of album) before, but not the others. Hoping to get through their discography sooner or later.

And then I also relaxed my rules and did some relistens to old standby music, which doesn't get a spot here because I wasn't doing it for my Education or Cultural Enrichment. :P But I think continuing to line up albums to listen to for exploratory purposes is fun, and the best kind of listening for my commutes!

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the-one-who-lambs · 3 months

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You said in a post that you were ok with asking about wrighting stuff so here I go-

How would someone go about improving their wrighting? Are there any exorcises to do that will help get better? People have told me that my wrighting is good but rarely tell me what I should do to improve on things im not good at and make the things I am good at even better

As for improvement, there are two main factors: practice and feedback.

For practice:

Make it a habit. Obviously, writing every single day is unrealistic. But it should be something you can get into a routine of doing if you enjoy writing! Some writers work on/update their projects sporadically, some churn out 50k words in a month, some focus on one project or smaller projects-- there's no way for me to tell you what works best for you personally, so developing a routine is a good way to teach you what does. The more often you write, the quicker you'll likely improve.

That said, if you're writing and find yourself stuck on a scene, don't be afraid to step away from it. If you have an idea for a scene that comes after what you're working on, there's no shame in giving yourself a little annotation or placeholder, and then just writing a scene that'll come later. Often, the transition comes as you work on the next scene!

I have favorite writing exercises I like to do when my writing feels stale. To me, it's the same as stretching your body to make sure you keep your body active and engaged, or warming up before going on a run; I do writing exercises that I never intend to necessarily "put" anywhere in my longer WIPs (or sometimes they turn into oneshots!). A few exercises I love:

Write your idea in a different genre, with a different point of view, or different tense than you're used to writing in. The drawback: sometimes it's hard to switch back. I typically write in past tense, but did an exercise in writing present tense a few months ago. When I went back to working on my WIP, I found myself switching and making constant tense changes by accident that I had to edit out later.

The classic "drabble." Take one idea and break it down as abstractly as you can. Then, write a story that is 100 words exactly. This is a fun one to test how clearly you can get your idea across concisely and eloquently.

My personal favorite is a sentence structure exercise. If your syntax sounds flat, grab a book and flip to a random page, and pick a random paragraph. Then, break up the sentences you read into chunks/clauses, and try to rewrite the sentence/paragraph you originally wrote in this new sentence structure. Obviously, don't copy phrases from the source material you're looking at to practice with, but trying to rewrite your style in a new voice often lets you branch out into writing in ways you'd never thought to try before! I'll give you an example of this exercise, actually, and walk through the steps as I'm working through it myself:

If you're writing a first draft, ignore this step, but sometimes I like to do this while editing. Pick a sentence (or a few) that you're not happy with. Here's the original sentence I wrote: “So why do we start the day with basic berry bowls?” The Lamb asked Narinder when they reached the cooking pot.

Pick a book and pick a sentence or two. "It's what Mom wants," his sister said again, and all three of them knew the depth and complexity of their mother's wishes, their mother's whimsy. (Source: Half Spent by Alice McDermott)

Break the sentence into chunks. This is a compound-complex sentence with an independent clause, a conjunction followed by another independent clause, then a dependent clause. "It's what Mom wants" is a declarative sentence spoken in dialogue. his sister said again is an action phrase. and all three of them knew the depth and complexity of their mother's wishes begins with a conjuction and goes on to describe internal reactions to the action phrase. their mother's whimsy is a dependent clause that makes use of repetition to emphasize the traits of a particular character. You don't have to get this specific when breaking down syntax, and you certainly don't have to write all this out, I'm explaining all the technical stuff for the sake of the example! So, we have: "Declarative dialogue" (subject) (verb phrase) (conjunction) (other subject) (verb) (objects) (repetition of object).

Now let's restructure the sentence I originally wrote, imitating the syntax from the example! "We start the day with basic berry bowls," the Lamb told Narinder, as if he didn't know what he had eaten over the past three years for every breakfast, every single morning.

The revised sentence doesn't have much narrative similarity with the sentence I'd used as a reference, but it reads with roughly the same syntax. If I fall into a habit of writing dialogue that reads all the same way, like this-- "Dialogue dialogue dialogue." Character said as they did some sort of action. -- then I can practice this exercise and get my flow back.

...Anyway. One last tip for practicing: please take regular breaks. It's tempting to get into the Writing Zone and go at it for five hours straight, only to realize afterwards that you're severely dehydrated and have skipped two meals and you're about to piss your pants like a racehorse if you take a step with a centimeter too long of a stride. This is especially important if you're writing on a computer; give your eyes a screen break! PLEASE.

And read!!! Not just other fanfics, but published stories as well!

For feedback:

Yeah, it's intimidating, but ask people for constructive criticism. Get a writing buddy who will cheer you on and be their hype buddy as well. (This may or may not be why like 75% of my friends I met through the cult of the lamb fandom are also fic writers: I see someone write with me and we are kids playing with barbies and I am inviting everyone to play our fun little game of pretend.) Work through edits with them and forgive yourself for not being perfect. Remember that you are doing this for your own enjoyment and it should not stress you out too much. It is okay to be frustrated with your own work, though, as it can be grounds for improvement!

Get a beta reader if you'd like to help you catch any errors. I know people who find them tremendously helpful, and I also know people who prefer not to have one because they feel it adds unnecessary pressure to a hobby that is for their enjoyment. It's up to you! I don't have an official beta reader but, uh, @surfdudeboy might as well be at this point.

If you find yourself having to explain your work (especially before you show it), that's probably a sign that you need to communicate more clearly in your work.

Take critique gracefully and respectfully when you receive it (as long as whomever is giving you genuine constructive criticism isn't being outright unkind). Thank them for their time but don't treat all reviews as if they have equal merit.

Also, learning how to critique and give feedback to other people's writing will make you a stronger writer as well, because you're practicing how to recognize what works and what doesn't work, and how to identify why a piece of writing has a particular effect.

Think of writers you admire or writers whose style inspires you. Think about what you appreciate about their works, and see if you can try it out. It's also worth a shot to go to them and ask for writing tips.

Look! You're already doing this step well, because you reached out for advice! Hooray!

Overall:

It's okay to make mistakes. You are allowed to love your work and be proud of it, as the writer you are now, while also seeking to improve.

Don't feel pressured to remove the parts of your writing that make it yours.

If you're working on a long-form project, indulge in some shorter projects along the way as well. Writing isn't an ultramarathon, it's a few miles max a day. While in the depths of the "enemies" stage of The Risen Lamb and the Fallen God, I suddenly had a massive craving to write the fluffiest cuddliest bullshit and later on some unabashed poetic yearning ( <- thanks to Sara for the hammer of a brainworm that made me write that poem). Keep your eye on the prize for the longer project, but don't burn yourself out trying to stick to one thing and one thing only!

Finally, leave yourself little notes while you write about your own symbolism, about your characters, and about your writing process. Watch your growth, so that when you doubt you've come as far as you have, you know where to go to prove your mean thoughts wrong.

Happy writing, and best wishes! You've GOT THIS <3 !!!!

#hannah's rambles #whoops i took an hour to write this i hope you see it DGLDFGLDKFGJ

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thediktatortot · 2 years

Text

There's something bugging me about some of the responses to the first and second fandom vent posts I made that I just want to elaborate on.

Just because I say fandom moves faster now, or that people jump ship quickly, doesn't mean you're not allowed to switch fandoms or move on.

What I mean is there is a locust effect going on right now with the majority of fandom, not the individual experience.

This environment has been created by corporations like Netflix and Disney, Tiktok and Vine... It's not an accident, it's on purpose.

They want you to move onto the next thing the second something new comes out. They want you to forget about S1 of some show because they didn't get the binge factor out of it the first month it released and now it's a dud to them.

They PURPOSEFULLY do not count re-watches or watches outside of the first month or two of a seasons existence. It's a feature, not a flaw for them. They don't care if S2 has inconsistencies from S1 because they don't care. They get writers to make something catchy, make it eye drawing and interesting. They make a pretty convincing S1 and then let the ball drop with the rest because there's already 3 more S1 shows coming out next month.

You can like multiple things at once.

You can leave and come back years later from a fandom or a favorite piece of media.

You can stay in one thing for the rest of your life because it tickles your brain in a way that's good.

You can have health issues and have to leave fandom and never come back.

But the point I'm trying to (very badly because i'm not good at putting my thoughts to concise words) is that the normal life of fandom is an ebb and flow thing, key word, normal life.

Modern media has ruined it because the second you no longer have time or find something else interesting, the modern world of media wants you to forget about it like it never happened. They want you to pay another shiny gold coin to them for their next little story that you'll enjoy but never get that final season for. They don't want you to stick to things because that doesn't make them money.

There are fandoms I've stopped actively participating in, but never left.

I LOVE Final Fantasy 7. I've loved it since it came out and I was just a 6 year old watching my mom play her brand new shiny PS1. There are times I still go back and read favorite fics of mine from that fandom, or art I still have printed out from highschool in binders I'll never be able to find again.

It's not about how long you stay here, but the choices, the friends, the community you make out of it while you're here.

Capitalism does not like quality.

Capitalism likes quantity and indispensability because it's what makes them the most money.

#Fandom Wank #Vent #You don't have to stick to fandom forever #But make it fun for yourself and everyone else while you're here #What's the point otherwise?

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mdhwrites · 1 year

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🦝 hey I'm back 👋

And wanted to ask about your thoughts on Luz's trauma that you mentioned in another post. Also I think the writers exaggerate the whole "accidentally helping Philip" thing. Didn't seem that big of a deal to me as the fandom and the show make it out to be

So while I get, since it's a teaching blog (that reading back I don't like how long I spent on the example), I've technically answered this before when talking about trauma in fantasy media in general because... it's tricky. To put it mildly. But I will reiterate at least some of it here to become more concise. I... Hate it. I don't think it's well done, I don't think it makes sense, it doesn't match the past, etc. It is something the writers clearly wanted in the show but didn't put the time into. Let me show partially why for Philip's trauma specifically (and I'll actually talk about Luz's bullying here but later). So we have an episode where Luz is finding frustrations with a personal goal of hers. She finds something that will allow her to achieve this goal and promptly sets out to take care of it. In the process, she meets obstacles and an ally that, despite red flags, she accepts immediately to continue on her quest. Once she gets to her goal though, she finds out that she had unwittingly helped someone who wished ill intent on her and those close to her. She escapes death and saves those she cares about before getting back to her normal life, her goal unfulfilled. And besides scale, there's actually very little embellishment I just did in describing Witches before Wizards... But you thought I was describing Elsewhere Elsewhen. Because the two are very similar in structure and the mistake Luz makes. Luz even effectively lives a fantasy in Elsewhere Elsewhen with the lie she makes and the fact that she is so implicitly trusting of Philip for no reason than he can help her and gives her compliments. Much like the wizard. HOWEVER... The wizard is funnily enough done BETTER. The only paradox, true paradox, in Elsewhere Elsewhen is that if Luz didn't show up, the journal would have been burned (and there are ways to explain that actually, like him remaking some early entries or only the introduction at all). This is because Philip was already actively working on this goal, gotten one person killed for it and was actively seeking for others to get him to the Collector. Luz was not necessary here. Luz WAS necessary in Wizards because of her connection to Eda so she is genuinely to blame for putting Eda and King at risk.

Now no, trauma is not rational... In the real world. This is a fucking narrative. Consistency and reason is what allows readers to understand what the fuck is going on. When you break those, you get into threatening suspension of disbelief where... There better be something your audience is getting back for their suspension. So what do we get for Luz? Well... We lose our cheerful protaganist for a while... Kind of. Her mood shift is entirely S3 and I'll actually get back to that. We lose it... And never get a proper resolution. It's apparently really short in Thanks to Them everyone going "We don't care, we still love you," which thank god the rest of the cast is sane and they didn't do that trope but... There's a real fun thing in episode 2 of Season 3. Camila's speech that leads to Stringbean being made doesn't address the problem in Luz's head. It addresses perhaps one of them but not the one that has been consuming our protaganist and stopping her from interacting with people. It doesn't properly stay targeted on the problem we've been having to watch Luz whine and be overdramatic about: Making mistakes. BUT IT STARTS THERE. But literally none of Camila's words reach Luz until she reveals that she's a secret nerd. It's part of what I consider to be really bad about that scene honestly. Actually addressing the plot? Actually talking about the specific event? No. None of that mattered. None of that is what is addressed and yet the speech still appears to have gotten Luz finally out of her funk. And that's frustrating. But let's actually talk for a moment also about what this sort of trauma normally does. So you make a choice. That choice leads to horrible consequences. As such, you may reasonably flashback to it and the like anytime you have to make a choice that feels mildly important. For Luz's especially: Anything that might affect another person. Luz after Hollow Mind still, you know, tries to convince King to not trust and leave the Titan Hunters, decides to swap places with Hunter and abandon everyone else there who could make a decision instead, tries to stay in the Isles, leaving her friends without a human guide in the human realm and nowhere to stay without her, etc. like that. She doesn't act based on the trauma. She just gets whiny and overdramatic. It's actually the same problem I have with the trauma in Reaching Out. The trauma is "Death of father mixed with potentially lost of her mother". Logically, these would be used to make a character more cautious. Scared of any little thing that could hurt those they care about. Or, they become more disconnected from others so that they cannot be hurt like this again.

In Reaching Out, Luz watches her girlfriend doing underground, unregulated combat and finds this BORING. Finds it entirely unengaging. When her girlfriend is hurt, rather than talking about the injury itself or harassing the healer to do a good job, she tries to chat about the past. These actions do not match what you're trying to have be the source of her problems. You're treating it as generalized anxiety (if even that) when trauma hits different, especially in a narrative where you cannot just go "It's trauma, I don't have to explain it." I appreciate that mocking phrase for fantasy being versatile. And I know I said I would get to Luz's bullying when talking about Luz's trauma but someone recently made me realize that a lot of the characters exhibit similar issues to Luz with their past trauma aspect and... And that's another blog. This has gotten long enough. To sum up though: I don't think the Owl House does trauma well in almost any regard and the fandom makes this worse by calling literally anything bad that happened in the last fourth of S2 trauma. Probably to try and make the show sound more serious than it honestly was interested in being up until that point.

#Luz #The Owl House #Rambles

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alexbkrieger13 · 1 year

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I was bored so decided to translate the Sweden press conference with Peter. I'll translate all of it. Instead of doing a summary where just the parts I deem important get picked. It's actually easier to do than to think about what to include and what to leave out. Especially when he's talking 😂 Maybe you can make a tag for this? It says much how Peter reasons about both individual players and the Sweden squad building.

"Welcome everyone! Since we started this in 2017 it'll actually be the first possibility to have this kind of camp with allsvenska players, with one exception. We've had before, went to South Africa a couple of times. Then it's been during Fifa dates. This time it's no Fifa date and for us in the wnt management we're very happy we can go through with this. It's not many countries that maybe have activity here depending on budget, and it shows the Swedish federation are very far ahead who can implement this camp. It of course also means at this time we have no game because very few countries have activity. We go from there and will get back with the set up when it comes to training, potential playing of game and so on. But at the moment there's no international game decided.

When it comes to the squad I can also make clear, or confirm, about Rosengård. During longer period of time actually when we started this I've had contact with Renée Slegers, who's the Rosengård coach, and understood it'd be unfeasible that the players from there could be at this camp. Partly it's statutory vacations they shall have and so on. They play Champions League until 21-22 December. So there are no Rosengård players called up.

Peter presents the squad. He just says the players names and their clubs.

And as you can see here Julia Roddar is in Hammarby so she'll be available for this camp. When it comes to Sofia Jakobsson they start up later in San Diego, and I've talked with her and San Diego. So there's a possibility for her to attend. Else it's allsvenska players who are in the squad.

Well, short and concise. We're looking forward and it's that which is nice. Often at this time you maybe look back and so on. But now we want (to go) forward. A World Cup year and an inspiring camp for players to present themselves and at trainings be able to show us you both short- and long term want to be in a A-national team - women.

Press manager opens up for questions.

Q: Peter, a couple of questions: Hedvig Lindahl back in the squad again. How do you view her level right now ahead of a World Cup? To take a spot back in the Swedish squad?

Everyone who has followed this (knows) Hedvig and I had a discussion. We decided, or I decided, that during the autumn I wanted to look at other keepers and let Hedvig get settled in Djurgården and start it up. Then we've had continuous contact and, that which I said then after the Euro is exactly the same that goes now. Which is the demand with a national team is that you shall go with the best players. We're going to go with the three best keepers, best backline players, best midfielders (he actually forgets to say forwards...) and Hedvig is one of those players who is competing, so we've had the possibility to look at six keepers this autumn and it's there we are now. So the three best keepers go to the World Cup. If it's Hedvig or someone else - that, the spring (part of season) and the performances both national team camps but also of course in club teams show.

Q: If it should come to it's between her and someone else, how much will her experiences heading into championships mean do you think?

It's hard to say but experience, that's always something. Then we put performance in a first aspect. Age doesn't really matter. It's the best ones who shall go. We've had for example someone like Hanna Bennison who's very young and who's been with us for a longer time, and she felt very experienced when she came into the squad. It's more maybe how you are as a personality and so on. And Hedvig is a personality who is very skilled in many situations, not only on the pitch but also outside it. But you shall be one of the best keepers. That is the assessment Magnus and I have to do in this situation.

Q: I'm thinking about the squad as a whole. When you see the many new names in a Swedish squad: is it above all individual qualities or is it players who you see could take a clear spot in your clear gameplan and in your way of playing?

That's the initial position of course that we look... Then there's some players, young players, who've been in U23 for example. Hanna Lundkvist we had last time. Freja Olofsson in Madrid who are also competing but can't present themselves at this camp. But the initial position is of course that we look short term, is there anyone or some who could be relevant for the World Cup but also of course long term. And it is very important to see players at trainings. That makes it so you get a comparison. In this squad we have some, like Jonna Andersson and Sofia Jakobsson, who have been with (us) very much. So we get good reference players too and we have some young ones, and we have some we've been keeping an eye on who are a little bit older but who haven't been with (us), like Felicia Rogic and Fanny Andersson, who are two examples. Nellie Karlsson that we've discussed but who now get the chance together with these young ones. So we have a bit different categories of players. But all who go there will probably feel 'Wow I have the chance'. And then if it's now for the World Cup or further on, they'll called up because they're going to be able to play in a Swedish women's national team.

Q: Hi Peter, you have some players from Eskilstuna, a club which doesn't exist (in Damallsvenskan) anymore. How did you react to that message? How do you view those players situation that they're in?

We'll get to see. We'll see what happens. We don't really know if it's going to be an appeal or what it's going to be. So we've picked the squad here today and then we'll see if they remain, where they end up or what it'll become. But generally it's always sad when (club) organisations aren't capable of running their activity like here. But I'm not read up on this. It's essentially an Efd issue when it comes to the clubs operations and that you're capable of running this. For me I feel of course mostly sad for the players, who maybe have rooted themselves and sometimes maybe want a future there. But now it'll be something else. Everyone remembers what happened in Kopparbergs/Göteborg when you were in a chaos period. There maybe some of these players will be too before you know what happens. So the hope is that these players who are called up now will be able to attend the national team camp, meaning they play in clubs so they'll be available. Should anyone become a professional abroad it could be you can't be with (us) here but when it's about clubs (he's talking about Eskilstuna) then, well... It's always sad when it happens but somewhere you haven't done it quite right. That's how it is.

Q: Abrupt changes between topics here. But it's a World Cup going on right now in Qatar for the men. It's been a huge focus on political decisions. Fifa has decided to not allow these captain's armband for example. It'll be a World Cup for you next summer and you have a national team who gladly take a stand in issues that don't have to do with the football. What are you thinking about the situation that's become around this men's championship and does it make it so you have to talk more about different situations ahead of the coming World Cup?

Not in the same way I think. It's like you say here, we'll be at a World Cup in Australia/New Zeeland and then it'll surely be... Then it's Fifa that decide which have its regulations and all. I can just say like this. I think that when this decision was made then if it was in 2011, or I don't really know when, I think it's very strange that an organisation that has both men and women, makes a decision about to put a championship in a country which couldn't really have a women's championship if you say it like that. So already there it has become wrong, so I understand that the reactions have been many for a longer time but... We've been, under our (time) period we haven't been hit by this but... We could go through with the things... World Cup 2019 that was our latest World Cup that Fifa arranged so... Well, it wasn't like that what I can remember at least. I mostly remember the football-wise parts maybe from there but nothing that in the now should disturb the World Cup in New Zeeland.

Q: But it's nothing that you want to decide ahead that we leave the political standpoints at the side or something, so it won't be this messy situation just before or something like that you've thought of with what's been?

Nah, for the time being not but it becomes like a discussion you'll have from the Swedish FA's side and those in charge there, down to Marika and down to us too and at lastly to the girls who I know is far ahead in many of these issues of course. So we'll see where we end up there but it's nothing we're discussing right now.

Q: Hi Peter, you said potential playing of game at the camp. Is there a risk there won't be any games at all?

Well it could be. But because (what) I said... many nations haven't budgeted for this, and then you're going to put a national team together to go there. So I think it's not certain we'll get an international game. Then we'll see if we solve it another way. If we don't get it, it's all the time things we can't affect. We're working very hard of course to get something but if it'll be a game there, against a club team or an internal game that we'll figure out. But the players will get the chance to present themselves also in a game environment even if it won't become an official international game.

Q: A question about a player who can't be with here (at the camp), who wasn't with last time. Rolfö. It was maybe answers from her and you that didn't say so much why she wasn't with. Is it something you can develop now a couple of weeks later?

No, not really. It's like with everything, you have... I mean Magnus and me we work very much and of course all national team coaches, club coaches, have individual talks with players (where) you talk about everything and that's something that we talk about and all. And it's not like we have a Youtube channel where we put all individual talks, which maybe would be easy for many to follow. You have these talks and from that different decisions are taken in the whole. So I have nothing more to comment for that situation so well.

Q: Is there a risk she won't be with again further on for the same reason?

No, absolutely not. It was for that occasion on that decision and this camp she can't attend. So when we call up a February squad I'm clearly counting on she'll be with. It's nothing else.

Q: Hi, I was just going to check. Rosengård's decision, how do you view that and would've you loved to have a player from there?

It was like I said. I early saw that, when the draw took place and we started to plan this camp it was for me obvious that those players shouldn't come along. I think, not us, but Janne here with the men's national team had the corresponding with clubs that gone far and didn't have players with. So for me it's absolutely nothing. One hundred percent support for that club and their players. Because it can become a very long season for them. So the potential national team players in Rosengård would get a very long season. Both with Allsvenskan that halts sometime in July and then we go maybe July 10. Then you're going home to play Champions League and be at it with everything. So for me it was one hundred percent that decision. If Renée hadn't taken it I'd taken it for her.

Q: Me again. It's not so often the mnt and wnt go to the same place like this. You have more Algarve experience. Have you left any tips of your gold nuggets at the coast for Janne?

I don't know but my first experience - sorry Fredrik - then I traveled with Fredrik Madestam by car. That I can recommend to not do. Because that was a little spooky I can say. No but I haven't so much. We'll be close by. We'll watch an international game and so on. To have some little meeting there to talk and discuss. But outside the office complex I don't have any tips there. There are no record stores. Janne isn't interested like me so it'll be another discussion.

oh cool thanks for this

#swewnt #swewnt translation

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krys-loves-otome · 1 year

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🪄💎🌈🕯

Let's Get REAL Fanfic Writer Asks

Putting part of this under a read more as I do talk about IkePri spoilers (specifically for Leon's route) as well as some potentially upsetting material.

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🪄: what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you’ve finished a fic?

Sleep or find something distracting to do to let the fic sink in. I know, I know, I preach 'don't look at the numbers, it's not a measure of your skill as a writer, they don't even matter that much in the grand scheme of things.'

And yet… I'll still refresh the page to watch the numbers go up. Yep, I'll confess to doing it. Thus why I try to make it a habit to post later in the day (sometimes before bed time) so that I can stop myself from letting those numbers get to me.

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💎: why is writing important to you?

Because, without it, I wouldn't have a voice.

Ever since I was a kid, I've always struggled with verbal communication. I don't talk a lot verbally and, though it has gotten better with time and practice, it still doesn’t feel like it's where I would want it to be. With writing, I don't have to worry about verbal ticks, volume, diction, or word stumbling. With writing, I can be as clear and concise as I want to be, plus the added bonus of creating stories.

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🌈: is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

A New Resident was hard because it was the first time I'd done a birthing scene, plus trying to balance vampire lore and having 4 characters interacting at the same time without trying to leave out anyone. Sebastian was originally going to be in it too, as a sort of mouthpiece to figure out the vampire lore, but I switched him out for Arthur more for his experience as a doctor and I felt bad for just using Sebas as a prop and not giving him much to do. All he would have been doing was be a receiving piece for Comte and Leonardo, so his role got significantly cut down to make Arthur more the one asking questions.

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🕯: was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn’t think it would take you?

Name ended up in a different place than where it started, mostly due to time constraints (it was originally a Fictober entry from last year). At first, I wanted to expand upon Leon's interactions with the original Fourth Prince (and to put my own spin on it by changing the Fourth Prince's gender), but though I did make some attempts to write what happened between the two of them, again, due to time constraints, I ended up going with Leon telling the story to his daughter, which, admittedly, is a bit more of a boring approach, but I still think it's a cute little story as is.

#meme thingys #ask me things #other options I considered for the works that made me struggle but it would be hard to tell:#the Comte x reader fic where she passes away in the end #I've done death in fics before #heck in my ygo days there was one fic I did that was set in a post-apocalyptic world #and some minor characters were mentioned to have died from exposure to the elements so there's that #same fic even has one of the main characters going berserk bc the enemy had found his mom's corpse and they were basically destroying it #then the main character viscerally killed the enemy soldiers that had messed up his mom's corpse #it was quite graphic #like damn krys what the hell #BUT back on topic #portraying death in fic #not always easy #but I think this one was easier bc of the surrounding times that created it #aka it was made in 2020 so... yeah...#plus it was a very soft and sweet fic despite its theme #so it wasn't too hard thus why I didnt' talk about it above #another one was the IkeSen x ace reader headcanons list #trying to be considerate of the sexuality #esp when you're still relatively new to it yourself #didn't put it up there as I had forgotten about it and it was already going on long enough so

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izdatazn · 6 months

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Welcome to S.U.I.TS Initiation By Fire

TERRAN 4 - YOKOHAMA

"I'm glad we arrived just in time," Hideki remarked, his voice filled with relief. "If it hadn't been for us, that thing would have killed you. Kumiko did nothing to protect you."

"At least I made an effort!" Kumiko shouted defensively. "That must be the target! I thought we had him!" She stormed off for a moment.

Ren came over and helped me heal my hand using a strange pink glow.

"Come here and let me stitch you up," Nanako said, following Kumiko.

We were still on the rooftop while the others tended to our wounds. Ren nervously shared with Hideki how he had fought the figure one-on-one, even though we all knew it was a lie. As I looked at each of them, confusion lingered within me.

Nanako spoke again, her voice apologetic. "I'm sorry for keeping this a secret, Kobayashi, but Modegi-san and Asuka wanted to wait until the right time before revealing it."

"What?" I asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Hideki explained concisely, “To put it simply, your friends were targeted and killed.”

“Targeted? And killed?" My confusion deepened.

"Yes," Ren confirmed calmly. “Your memory knows that you’ve met me and my sister when I was in middle school and high school respectively but your memory was altered when we died protecting you. We’ve been entrusted by Shigihara-san to protect you from our current enemies."

“Although we aren’t the strongest people in this group," Hideki added earnestly,"we are committed to carrying out this task despite risking our lives.”

"Okay," I said hesitantly, still trying to process everything thrown at me."But why do I need protection? Why are those things attacking me?"

"It's because you’re special,” Kumiko interjected with conviction. "You may not realize it, but our enemies want something from you; something even Daisuke and Asuka don't fully understand. You are one of the few special people here." Kumiko's voice softened as Nanako healed her wound. She joined us in our group and continued, "We've tried altering your memories multiple times, hoping you wouldn't remember. But it seems after that incident a few months ago at the café, your memories can no longer be changed."

"It's not just within this school, Kobayashi," Hideki revealed. "Our enemy has gained influence in the Yokohama area, but we also have our own sources there."

"It's not only happening at school but also in Yokohama," I felt overwhelmed by the amount of information they were giving me. Kumiko yelled at Hideki for sharing more details.

Hideki defended himself by saying, "He would have found out sooner or later when he stepped outside of school. We won't be safe until we capture or eliminate our intended target."

The pink glow around my hand disappeared and the injury was completely healed. I squeezed my hand to check for any pain; there was none.

"Look," Kumiko sighed. "We can't protect you and search for our target at the same time, but the situation is getting worse. We need your help in finding the leader in this school. I'll give you some time to think, but be quick about it."

The sound of the bell echoed through the classroom, marking the end of our first day back at school. While my classmates chattered excitedly and hurriedly made their way around the room, I sat quietly at my desk. The noise level was moderate, both in our classroom and in the hallway as students began to depart for the day. Unexpectedly, Hideki took a seat next to me.

"Don't let it bother you," Hideki whispered.

I sighed, burying my face in my arms. "How can I not? I thought I knew Kumiko."

"She's protecting you. We all are," he reassured me.

As we spoke, a few people sprinted past our classroom with heavy bags, followed closely by Sho and Nanako. Shortly after them, Saki dashed by in the hallway.

"They're practicing hard today," Hideki commented. "They have a match against our rivals."

"I should be with them," I replied sadly. "The track and field tournament is coming up."

“You need to rest for a few days to heal your injury” Hideki stood up and walked over to me, patting my shoulder gently. "I need to go take my sister home," he said reassuringly. "Don't be too hard on yourself; everything will be okay." He then left to join his sister outside of the classroom.

I remained seated for a few more minutes until only a handful of students lingered in the room with me. Finally deciding it was time to leave as well, I passed others who were congregating in the hallway before descending a flight of stairs towards several shoe cupboards near the entrance. After changing into different shoes there, I exited through the door and joined everyone heading towards the gate.

Lost in thought about leaving school for the day, I didn't hear someone calling my name until I felt a light tap on the back of my head. Turning around to see who it was, Kumiko appeared beside me with a smile on her face. She playfully flicked my head and asked if I was okay.

"I'm fine," I nodded solemnly.

"How's your injury?"

"What injury?" She raised her left hand with a smile. "Nanako patched me up really well." Changing the subject quickly, she said, "Oh, there's this café I've been wanting to go to. Will you join me?”

“What about training?”

“I’m only missing a day.” She answered. “They’ll be fine without me.

I agreed to join her, but I didn't expect it would be in the city, specifically Yokohama's Chinatown. As usual, it was crowded because everyone had finished work and was having dinner.

"Why does it have to be in Chinatown? I thought it would be closer to school," I complained.

"Stop complaining and keep walking," she said, tightly holding onto my wrist since we arrived at Chinatown. She probably knew that if I had known beforehand, I might have tried to run away. In fact, I probably would have.

Kumiko turned a corner and led us into a narrow alleyway. People passed by without noticing us or questioning why two young teenagers were in such a suspicious-looking place. She stopped and slid open a door, releasing my wrist before stepping inside. I stood outside for a few moments until she reappeared.

"What are you doing? We're waiting for you," she exclaimed before disappearing back into the building. Once again, curiosity got the better of me as to who was waiting for us or perhaps just me. Deciding to investigate further, I entered through the door and closed it behind me. The room was cramped with only four chairs surrounding a half-oval table. Kumiko, Asuka, and Daisuke were already seated while one seat remained empty next to the door where I sat down. They were no longer dressed peculiarly; Asuka wore her uniform while Daisuke sported his white coat.

"Should we really be here?" I asked cautiously. "We're underage."

"Don't worry kid," reassured Daisuke as he took a sip from his drink. "I'm not planning on getting all of you drunk at once—I can't carry all of you if that happens." He chuckled lightly.

"They wanted to meet up with you outside of school and somewhere undisclosed," Kumiko explained as she noticed the bartender emerging from the back area. "Mr. Watoga, may I have some water?"

"Coming right up," Mr. Watoga replied as he cleaned one of the drinking glasses before turning his attention toward me.

"I'll have some water and sashimi," I replied politely.

He turned and walked towards the back, leaving me feeling uncomfortable sitting in the cramped restaurant. The others seemed unfazed, continuing their conversation about everyday life.

Asuka Shigihara is a dear friend of ours whom I have known since we were toddlers. She holds a special place in my heart. She attends a prestigious school that recruited her for her exceptional skills in track and field before my school had the chance to recruit her. Unfortunately, I don't get to see her as often during weekdays even though we live in the same neighborhood as Kumiko and me.

Moreover, Asuka takes immense pride in her father's ownership of a renowned Japanese confectionery shop in our vicinity, which has been handed down through generations. Since its inception here, the store has flourished and branched out across Yokohama and other areas. Even with numerous branches, patrons from various locations still make it a point to visit the original store. On occasion, Asuka lends a hand to her father during her leisure time.

On the other hand, Asuka's mother has a job in close proximity to the emperor and prime minister, and possesses more influence than my own father. This is because her family has a long history of working with previous emperors and prime ministers since the Meiji Restoration. It is another achievement that Asuka can be proud of. Despite her mother being occupied with the responsibilities associated with working alongside the prime minister, I occasionally witness her lending a hand at their store as well. The tale of how Asuka's parents crossed paths remains a mystery; she hasn't disclosed it to me either.

As I observed Daisuke Modegi, who was quietly sipping his coffee, I couldn't help but notice his every move. Daisuke Modegi is a few years older than us and is currently engaged in post-graduate studies. We first became acquainted during our second year of middle school, shortly after he had graduated from college. Back then, he was just another unfamiliar face that crossed my path. To this day, he still remains one of the most enigmatic individuals I've ever encountered because he only confided in me about his college journey and post-graduate studies until today that is.

"Kid," Daisuke spoke up breaking my thoughts."Your awkwardness is making me uncomfortable.You don't need to worry."

"About what?" I asked.

"We are inside an illusion shield." Asuka spoke up too."No one knows about this except us. Our enemies can't feel our energy when we're within this shield."

"Enemy?"I asked."You talk like this is normal."

Kumiko added,"He can't feel the presence of friend or foe within a five-kilometer radius. Yet he felt their presence when danger approached.”

Daisuke shook his empty cup."He does have power but doesn't know it yet.I'll skip formalities and get straight to the point because we keep getting interrupted."

Asuka continued,”We were also tasked to protect you from a dangerous group that’s been hunting you down since we were kids.” The bartender stepped out from the back with water and food. He gave them to us as Asuka ordered more food. The bartender nodded and walked back in. Asuka continued,"What's difficult for me in general is that I can’t protect you when I’m at a different school and Daisuke studying his post grad which I assembled Kumiko and our friends to help us out. There’s enemy trackers in the general area."

"General area?" I asked."You mean my school?"

“No, Kobayashi." Asuka paused, looking at me.I waited for her to speak. Instead, I felt multiple enemy presences nearby, but then suddenly they vanished. My heart started beating slightly faster, and I felt a bead of sweat on my forehead.

"That is the shield level lowering for you feel our enemy as well as our ally within a five-kilometer radius," she said calmly. She reached for a piece of chicken near me and took a bite before continuing. "As you might have noticed, they've spread out in Yokohama, but the real danger lies at your school where they're coordinating with their leader.” Kumiko added as she took another sip,"We can't keep protecting you while altering your memory. Your body seems to be rejecting these alterations these days."

"Alterations?" I asked in a low voice."What do you mean?"

"You're not the only person who has this gift," Asuka explained. The owner came out from the back again and placed ramen noodles in front of Daisuke before going back into the kitchen. As she took another bite from her food, she continued.“Usually we put spells on special people until it wears off when they turn 20.”

Daisuke slurped his soup, mumbling through his chewing.“But for some reason, the alterations are getting shorter because your body is strongly rejecting them.”He swallowed and drank some water before continuing.“That dream you had with the Red Lady? It’s real.”

Confused, I looked at him. He repeated himself, "The Red Lady is real and you're not dreaming this time.” I poured a pitcher of water into my cup and took a sip. The others continued talking while I stared forward, lost in my thoughts. The fact that the Red Lady was real and wanted something from me weighed heavily on me. I felt my hand shaking as I held the cup to my lips.

"You have the same expression as our friend when we revealed that she's also one of us," Kumiko said, interrupting my thoughts. "But I don't want you to end up like her."

She had mentioned her close friend multiple times, but I didn't realize she was just like me. I didn't ask what happened to her since it was a sensitive topic, but Kumiko continued speaking as she took another bite of tempura from her bento box.

"Anyway, let's switch topics."

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