#image descriptions in alt text

[jet-plane]

The SNW cast getting up to shenanigans with characters from SpongeBob (from the new Paramount Plus promo)

[demon-country]

These two pictures absolutely kill me. Stolas is only 17, 18, or 19 in these photos. He is so, so fucking young to be having a baby. There are many parents who have kids at that age that deeply regret it, because raising a child is hard and severely limits your ability to go out and experience life the same way that your peers are. There are also many people who are forced into arranged marriages and pressured into having children as soon as possible that just cannot connect well with said children (Stella seems to fall into this category).

But not Stolas. He loves that little baby with his entire heart and soul. Even though he seems exhausted in that first picture (which, duh, she's a newborn, they're exhausting to take care of, especially for first time parents), he is holding her so tenderly and looks like he loves her so much he could cry. And in that second picture she is maybe 1 year old, and he looks like the happiest person alive. She is his everything. She is the tiny, adorable pocket of joy in his dark, painful, lonely world. She is the only thing that's even worth living for.

He loves her so, so fucking much, and it's completely baffling to me that anyone who isn't an emotionally compromised teenager could look at all of the photos he has with her and say that just because he has made a few mistakes lately and has split his attention to make room for someone else, that he's a bad, neglectful father. There is no one, not even Blitz, who could match the sheer depth of love he has for her. Blitz is his light, but Octavia means everything to him (to a previously kind of unhealthy, codependent degree actually, but that's a little beside the point and at least he's never tried to parentify her or make her play therapist for him despite that).

Just look at those pictures! Just look at them, and tell me honestly that he doesn't love her and thinks of her as solely an obligation. Octavia's feelings of abandonment and belief that he doesn't love her make sense, because she lacks a lot of the context that we have and her life got several major upheavals within the last two years, in addition to having preexisting abandonment issues that color her perception of the situation and a mother who was actively sabotaging his attempts to contact her for a month. But we, the audience, should see those pictures for what they are: a very young man who loves his child deeply, despite having never been demonstrably loved before; who is tender and playful with her, despite having never been shown that same tenderness or playfulness with anyone but debatably Blitz as a child. And the fact that she looks so happy as well is a very good indicator that he is the kind of loving, attentive, and secure parent she needed.

[cuddlytogas]

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

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

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

What is the difference between this and this?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[nonbinaryspy]

AAI2 characters+text posts

[dwarnian]

When you're alone with me You never come up short

[hopeful-dawn]

I was watching the moon scene again, and I only just now noticed how much taller than Shadow Sonic is! This shot is towards the end of Sonic's speech, where he's already pulled Shadow all the way upright and now they're just holding hands while Sonic talks.

Even in shots where the difference isn't quite so pronounced, Sonic does seem to be consistently a bit taller than Shadow. Shadow's shoes also definitely give him a boost too, so the height difference would be even bigger without them.

The movie really did go all out when making Shadow as cute as they possibly could!

[luseals]

The rest of my Art Fight attacks for the year! Hope everyone had a fun fight (o:

Characters belong to: @bothriolepis | ~pipuha | @pysics | @komikudikentalendo | @strawberri-draws

[justletmeon12]

I mean, they're right, but...

[thethirdromana]

The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and rug

Dracula Daily has been a bit light on things I can provide images of recently, so let's have some Victorian overcoats.

The top left is a Chesterfield overcoat, which is also what the man on the left in the top right photo is wearing; his is double-breasted. A Chesterfield is a formal coat, which I think is why it's being paired with top hats here.

The bottom left is an Ulster overcoat, though if the cape were the same length as the sleeves it would be an Inverness overcoat instead. This is a less formal daytime coat.

On the bottom right is an advert for Mackintosh waterproof overcoats. They used fabric coated with rubber, an idea which dates back to the Aztecs, but which in the UK took off from the 1840s onwards.

I don't know what sort of overcoat Jonathan would wear for a long journey to Transylvania, but my guess would be an Ulster or Inverness.

[puppeteers-xenogenders]

xenogender:

epicaeoluscharic!

DEFINITION: a xenogender that describes feeling as if you are the Wind, twisting and turning.

DEFINITION 2: a xenogender that describes feeling as if your gender is connected to Aeolus from Epic: The Musical.

★ requested ; anonymous . . < ❓ >

[dragkingsrule]

Oedipussi Rex, London-based drag barbarian

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Artist links: LinkTree, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

[jet-plane]

The Magicians 02x01 - "Knight of Crowns"

Coronation of the kings and queens of Fillory

[demon-country]

When Stolas is really, really upset, he occasionally stims by hitting his head. By Mr. Butler's complete lack of reaction, this must have been a fairly common occurrence in his early childhood.

I like that we see both happy and unhappy stims from him. The repetition feels deliberate, just like how both times see him super excited and anticipatory he does little hops or bounces (hard to tell which without seeing his feet).

Another repeated stim is that when he's happy he tends to hold his fists up by his chest, which you can see in the scenes where he's bouncing too. In Seeing Stars he even shakes his fists because he's so excited to have found red glasses that look like his second pair of eyes (he's so fucking cute, I can't stand it).

I wonder if we will see these same stims more often, now that his mask is off again and he's no longer being told he needs to hide his emotions.

[holographic--love]

Holographic Dangle Earrings | WuveHandmade

[nonbinaryspy]

AAI duology+text posts, featuring mostly obscure ship dynamics and one repost from my fic blog.

[humancelltournament]

Propaganda!

The Golgi apparatus, also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. Part of the endomembrane system in the cytoplasm, it packages proteins into membrane-bound vesicles inside the cell before the vesicles are sent to their destination. It resides at the intersection of the secretory, lysosomal, and endocytic pathways. It is of particular importance in processing proteins for secretion, containing a set of glycosylation enzymes that attach various sugar monomers to proteins as the proteins move through the apparatus.

Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Their functions include establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other electrical signals by gating the flow of ions across the cell membrane, controlling the flow of ions across secretory and epithelial cells, and regulating cell volume. Ion channels are present in the membranes of all cells.