#it's just.. such a cool visual like design choice? anyway

[astranauticus]

had to relisten to 2.4 for my last drawing and got compelled to draw the scene of dani point blank shooting her own dead dreams so here we are

[cloama]

I know the internet is full of hyperbole but I can honestly say that[to me] every Superman production has missed the mark on the Clark/Superman difference until now. I can confidently say that because it’s irked me for years.

This might be the first production to actually really get into the weeds with some simple changes, use lighting, costuming, hair&makeup (peep the contour!)to convey that Clark and Supes look nothing alike. This is so cool to me!!!!! They finally did it.

Shout out to the departments. Shout out to whoever realized they needed way bigger (longer)eyeglass frames with a thick bridge that would alter the appearance of his nose making him unclockable. Whoever you are, I love this work. I love how the base of the cape on the shoulders and the collar work together. It gets the job done but also looks like it was comfortable to wear during hours of shooting. I love that supes has a bit of contouring in the makeup differing from Clark. Shout out to whoever decided to make Clark’s suits oversized and flimsy! It accurately demonstrates Clark’s attempt to look like a little fish in a big pond. He’s not just like that; everything is a choice with him.

Shout out to Peter King and Lindsay McCallister on the hair design/hair story. They did their big one. Clark’s hair is such a big change(so fluffy and undressed!) and accurately shows how someone would manipulate their curly hair to change their appearance. Superman’s hair really works. Honey, that hair is dressed! It is reminiscent enough to please fans but different enough to feel fresh. I like that it’s rounded on top instead of square.

Also I’ve never seen this actor before in my life but he is embodying my man in the trailer so that is also exciting. I don’t even care if the movie is good. I’m a bit over hero movies but I love me some Supes. Everyone seems to really be invested in the visuals of this project. The commitment to color is commendable after years of dark grey low lit mess. Anyway…

I love new faces. I love movies! I love departments! I love unions! I hate David Zaslav!

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

🧃 How to Develop a Vibe AND a Plot (aesthetic doesn’t cancel arcs. let’s balance them.)

hey you. yes, you. the one with the moody playlists, the 73-tab Pinterest board, and a half-written draft that just keeps…vibing in circles.

if you’ve ever written 10k of immaculate vibes but couldn’t tell anyone what your story is about, this post is for you. because here’s the thing: ✨ aesthetic is not a substitute for stakes. ✨

let’s talk about how to keep your ✨vibes✨ and actually have a plot that moves. no ✧ fluff ✧ just structure, character arcs, and some lovingly blunt advice from your local writeblr gremlin (me).

🌊 1. aesthetic is a result, not a premise

the most common mistake i see is starting with a vibe as the story. like:

“sad girls on the beach in 1996”

“a cursed forest full of dead gods”

“a pastel academic rivalry with secrets and sexual tension”

cool. great. love that for you. but… what’s the story? what’s happening?

✨vibes = setting + mood + tone. ✨plot = choices + consequences + change.

your aesthetic can inspire the story (please keep making playlists. i love them). but don’t confuse the feel of your world with the function of your plot. start with tension. stakes. character flaws. emotional damage. that’s the engine. the aesthetic is the paint job.

🎯 2. define your “emotional throughline”

okay, so you’ve got an aesthetic. what’s the emotional core of it? your plot should orbit a single emotional question, like:

will this character ever let themselves be known?

what does it take to unlearn loyalty?

is love worth destroying something sacred?

start with that. then attach aesthetic scenes to it.

🧩 pro tip: aesthetic scenes are more powerful when they contradict or complicate your emotional throughline.

ex: your story’s about loneliness? show them at the loudest, busiest party. story’s about grief? show them smiling in photos while everything breaks behind the lens.

aesthetic is stronger with irony. contrast. juxtapositions. don’t just bathe the reader in vibes. weaponize them.

💥 3. let your aesthetic hurt your characters

whatever your aesthetic is--soft academia, vaporwave horror, regency witchcore, don’t make it just a backdrop. make it an obstacle.

your setting should create problems. friction. conflict.

if it’s a sleepy coastal town: what’s festering beneath the quiet?

if it’s a hauntingly beautiful forest: what does it take from people?

if it’s a cursed mansion: what happens to the girls who stay too long?

every time you design a pretty place or moody visual, ask: ❓ how does this setting test my characters’ beliefs or desires?

because then your aesthetic drives the story forward instead of just decorating it.

📚 4. develop plot like a playlist: structure the escalation

your aesthetic playlist has structure, right? (don’t lie. i know you’ve got a specific song for act 3 heartbreak.)

plot works the same way. it’s not a mystery. it’s escalation.

you want a structure? here’s a dead-simple one:

give your main character a desire (internal & external)

give them a reason they can’t have it (flaw, fear, lie)

make them try anyway (rising stakes)

make it cost them something (midpoint shift)

force them to change or break (climax)

let that change play out (falling action / resolution)

that’s it. apply that structure to your vibey little story and suddenly it’s a book.

👁‍🗨 5. plot is what they do - vibe is how it feels

don’t choose one. you can have both.

you can have a soft lighting scene on a rooftop and the secret betrayal reveal. you can have dreamy prose and broken character dynamics. you can give me worldbuilding so lush it smells like petrichor and rot and still give me a plot twist that leaves me feral.

you just need to be intentional.

every scene = a purpose. every aesthetic = an angle. every image = tied to stakes, desire, or change.

✨ that’s the difference between “ooh pretty” and “oh my god i can’t stop thinking about this story.��� ✨

💌 so in conclusion:

start with an emotional arc

let your aesthetic scenes earn their place

make your world fight your characters

escalate, escalate, escalate

and stop hiding a lack of plot under “vibe” like a glittery throw blanket over a broken chair

you’ve got this. now go write the beautifully messy, aesthetic and emotionally devastating story you were meant to.

i believe in you.

🧃rin t.

P.S. I made a free mini eBook about the 5 biggest mistakes writers make in the first 10 pages 👀 you can grab it here for FREE:

[moonshynecybin]

special helmets of the 2024 and 2025 motogp seasons. this is a bit of a reference list for just the ones i personallyyyy care about tbh like full disclosure. deeply non exhaustive im a pink pony girl on the stage in my heels etc BUT i do think the profiles of their artistic choices say a lot about these guys! art always reveals !!! anyways:

marc: this diva LOVES a costume change and im always curious for why he does it for some tracks and not others (he didnt do sachsenring last year?)... anyways he DID do a special lid for catalunya, thailand, usa, japan, and silverstone/misano last year as well as cota again so far this year. he reused his 2023 designs at the catalan and thai gps in 2024 AND gresini reused their special silverstone livery again at misano, so he wore the helmet then as well. i would say reduce reuse recycle but i think its more of a mulligan situation. all this to day he kind of does a lot of special helmets and he does them for his important tracks, not just his home tracks-- which no one else on the grid really does all that much. the willingness to reuse and the track selection tells me its him doing a career tribute kinda thing that he thinks is important, AND he likes looking hot/cool as well. like we all know like marc really cares about aesthetics and the places/people that have taken care of him and i think the helmets lowkey reflect that. to compare alex doesnt do this shit like at all and if he does its relatively sedate (which hes on record saying that he doesnt like attention on himself so). anyways its all very marc lmao

bez: less location/cultural visual arts based and more his feelings and lotsa song lyrics/pop culture references which is no surprise... also does a few of them outside of italy which means he's in it for the love of the game. helmets include god save the bez (silverstone), misano (loverboy lid), goodbye to vr46 (catalan gp 2024 #2), the one about being "zen" that i find kinda racist (mugello 2024), one thats just song lyrics HUGE, and im lowkey cheating here but simply the bez (misano 23) and bez barber shop (mugello 23). he likes the JOKES

pecco: does a more normal amount of special helmets and always at his home tracks! hes done a red cloud helmet to pay tribute to his fans, a bootlicking helmet to pay tribute to the italian air force, a tortellini helmet for autism awareness/support, and a kiss/rock n roll helmet bc he had a celebration planned w some friends if he won (he did!). for some reason he photographed a lot of em on like the same couch in his riders room. he also did an ayrton senna tribute glove situation one time but he only used em for the sprint (maybe bc he crashed? idk). all of this is very in line w his personality and like. pecco as performing celebrity/sportsperson The Way It Should Be Done, but that doesnt mean they arent any less heartfelt, yknow

luca: doesnt do em TOO often as far as i can tell but he did do a baby helmetttt when he was expecting his daughter that told the story of his family and it was. super cute and clearly meant a lot to him because he explained everything on the helmet very deliberately and he even drew the little stick figure illustrations personally. luca voice why do it if you dont do it completely !!!

franky: he doesnt do them incredibly often either but they DO rule and theyre usually p pointed, he also seems to like nature themes that tie into brazil generally, looking at his regular season helmets. recently theres the peacock from mugello last year, which he said he used partly bc it is a common animal in romagna ! and then for the others-- they arent in the last two seasons but i would be remiss not to include the spike lee helmet he wore in 2020 after the murder of george floyd. genuinely the bravest thing a rider has done in the motogp paddock full stop AND the helmet is gorgeous to boot. he also loves to incorporate stuff from his brazilian roots so theres another yamaha era special helmet with a lot of parrot feathers on it/a portuguese phrase on the back and after russia invaded ukraine he slapped a give peace a chance sticker on the forehead of his helmet as well. he loves nature, he loves his heritage, and hes got things to SAY

diggia and aleix: BOTH did chrome dome helmets last year that are probably my faves on this whole list. swaggy as hell look even swaggier in motion. they both did them for their home gps and i love watching them just GLEAM. no psychoanalysis for these pls just look at em

fabio: a man caught between nationalism and that sweet advertising money. he does a special helmet AND a full special livery every year for le mans, but hes also rent out his noggin space to upcoming blockbuster movies so he'll be riding around looking like venom. like toothless. idk hes funny and i think it says a lot that he goes WAY harder than anyone for his home gp and then also kind of doesnt care to do anything else. except when he (i think) earnestly enjoys the goofy ass venom helmet thats paying him a huge stack of cash

[fulgurbugs]

I love the octodeck SO SO MUCH, would you be willing to share your design choices?? Like I would've expected the noble/rogue classes to be the basis for separation by suit, on top of the black/red divide between octo 1 and 2 characters

sure! i’ll actually go card by card and explain all my choices tbh, so strap in for a long post

first up, spades! my girlfriend was the one who suggested the games be the split between red and black suits, so starting from there we hashed out out placements for suits. honestly, we didn’t choose for much reason other than vibes, so the design choices weren’t much about classes/gameplay. spades is the higher ranked suit, as well as having a symbol with a sharper motif. for this, it felt like olberic and primrose were good fits, with olberic being the oldest/most battle hardened of the OT1 cast, and primrose having a sort of rightful queen motif (and she’s dangerous with a dagger.) with ophilia and tressa being chosen for jack, we decided to put tressa as spades (this one is very slightly gameplay related, she is kind of the best so we gave her the higher suit) and therion got the ace. i explain a lot about the card placements here, so following this paragraph i’m not gonna rehash it too much.

anyways, now here’s some of the design thoughts about these guys!

Tressa: for these earlier spades cards, which were the first suit i sketched, they definitely started with the lightest backround elements. i went in on a second pass and added some more detail, but tressa was the first card i drew and she had no backround at all at first. decided that a pirate ship/sea and treasure were good motifs for her

Primrose: i absolutely loved drawing her card, but then again i love drawing primrose in general. for primrose, i decided her backround elements would be birds and petals. birds are a prevalent symbol in her story, with the crows being her enemies, and primrose herself is a kind of caged bird. initially, i wanted to give her an asymmetrical card that had one half with 3 black birds (crows) while the other half had white birds (freedom). i didn’t end up liking any of the sketches for the black birds, so i decided to just do the white birds instead. still really love this card!

Olberic: olberic was a tough one to pick a backround for. i ended up going for just some vaguely mountainous shapes, but also decided to add in the gate of finis, since it’s located in hornburg. my goal with this card was to make him look regal without looking royal. i think the sword also came out really good, i really like the way the mirroring on this card came out

Therion: Therion was the first ace i drew, and i decided that since ace cards aren’t face cards, i have free rein to do whatever i wanted. and what i wanted was to not have to worry about the mirroring. so all of the aces ended up with this kind of “guy floating in space” idea, which i think is pretty fun without being overly complex. i didn’t want to over complicate the ace cards, since typically they’re pretty minimal looking. my original idea was to have each of our aces holding or interacting with their suit symbol in some way to make it interesting. the spade kind of looks like a dagger, if you stretch it out, so my original idea was to have him wield it as such. however, none of my sketches read clearly, so instead opted to have them instead present their suit as a kind of compromise. since ace cards are not face cards i also opted not to define their faces.

here’s the clubs! when i was getting to the coloring stage, what i decided to do to make things interesting visually was to use a different palette for each suit, while still keeping it clearly black suit/red suit. for the black suits, Spades got the cool grey palette, and clubs got the warm gray pallete!

as for individual notes…

Ophilia: oh boy she gave me a lot of trouble. this was mostly due to the lighting on her lantern, and trying to convey it in grayscale. i think i did a pretty decent job!

H’aanit: decided linde counted as a backround element for the hunters. i don’t have too much to say about this card other than it took me a while to grayscale it so that everything was silhouetted to an acceptable degree to me lol

Cyrus: i had a lot of trouble picking out a backround for him. i thought maybe a library or something similar, but i ended up going with this pretty generic sunny pathway to represent the bright lands in general. the big chunky brush makes rendering small details in the backround difficult (not impossible) so simpler is better if i can swing it.

Alfyn: going back to the interacting-with-suit-symbol idea, my original idea was that the clubs symbol kind of looks like a clover, so alfyn could be kind of inspecting it like an herb or something. however, the pose i first drew was too similar to cyrus, and again the symbol did not read clearly, so i scrapped it lol.

one fun thing about the way we ended up sorting the suits was that each set had 2 pairs that had team up attacks in the ot2 extra battles (olberic/tressa, therion/prim for spades, alfyn/ophilia and cyrus/h’aanit for clubs.) this was by complete accident.

now we reach the red suits! for hearts, i opted to use warm/orangey shades. onto the individual notes!

Agnea: i wanted her braid to be nice and visible in the composition, so i kept her backround elements light. just fluttering petals to fill some space i just love drawing agnea in general tbh

Partitio: i got a good way through coloring this one and decided i absolutely needed to make his coat yellow. it’s too iconic to the design. luckily, the warm red pallete accommodates it pretty well. it’s definitely a more orangey shade but with all the red it reads quite yellow. i gray/redscaled everyone specifically to avoid having to figure out color palettes for everyone that were cohesive and read well, while also making clear distinctions between suits, but partitio had to be a little bit of the exception. i did decide on warm red for hearts for him specifically perhaps….

Ochette: this was the first card i actually executed an asymmetrical design on! one side has akala in the background, the other side has mahina. they’re both right side up, but they can’t coexist. thought it was fun! this is also one of my favorite cards now that it’s finished. i did NOT like it at the lineart stage, but loved it after the color!

Osvald: osvald as the ace of hearts has been a fav placement according to my sources (tumblr tags, comments, etc) my original idea was to have him more ready to start blasting one true magic love super mega laser with the heart at the center of that, but i think having him hold/present it a little more gently is also fitting. maybe like it’s more fragile, even tho being the ace makes him the strongest card of his suit (love can make you blast lasers)

diamonds! these guys got the cooler red/pink palette.

Throné: i’m sure the snake motif needs no explanation, but the idea here was that she was entangled by the snake, like it’s holding her down.

Castti: castti also got a unique color added to her card, though it’s much less noticeable than partitio. the raindrops in her card are purple! (uh. should i exclamation point that? three cheers for horrifying evil super mega toxic rain?) i added clouds to go with the rain, but also a vine that deteriorates or recovers as it goes, whatever way you want to look at it.

Hikari: another asymmetrical card. one side hikari, one side his shadow self. i also offset the mirroring on this card a lot more, and allowed the drawings to extend down into each other more than than the other cards in this way, hikari and his shadow self intersect, but aren’t quite mirror images as much as the other cards. (does that make sense?) as for his backround, i put the castle town of ku. this one was difficult to get to read right, but i think i got it pretty decent.

Temenos: my original idea for this one would be that temenos is interacting with the diamond like the mirror shard, but again, i scrapped that idea. instead, he presents it like the other aces. not too much to say here

jokers! i got a couple suggestions for what to do for jokers, (kit, al, lyblac, oboro, arcanette) but definitely most common was people saying to incorporate caits/octopuffs in some way. i liked this one the best because jokers are wild cards, and they’re also kind of silly, so making them villains or major story characters didn’t quite feel right. with these cards, i decided that i could use any colors i had previously used to color them, so they get to be both gray and red tones. due to the variety of warm and cool tones, i actually had a ton of color to work with, and they almost even look like didn’t i gave myself color limitations on them!

for the cait card, i stared with a more accurate orange cait, but decided that i’d rather make it gray since the octopuffs were gonna be orange (or pink). besides, the cultured cait is gray so it’s fine. as for the octopuffs, i ended up just picking two that i liked and using those. i tried adding more smaller ones as backround elements, but didn’t end up liking how it looked.

and then finally, the backing! there’s a couple things going on here, and this was definitely super fun to draw because doing something more ornamental like this is outside of my usual wheelhouse. i started with the concept of the circle with the 8 base class symbols, in OCTOPATH order of the first game. in the middle is 4 flames, like the 4 that protect solista in OT2. on either side i drew octopuses, because. octo. i ended up giving them the little horns too, making them massive octopuffs. then, to round it out, i added little chubby caits to the corners, and then a smattering of stars to fill out the space, since i liked the way it looked. surrounding the flame, the stars indicate night, a sort of subtle nod to the nightfall endgame in OT2, while the stars being out imply that at least for now, it’s a normal night. the chubby caits have some teeny tiny jewels and treasure surround them, and the sparkles ended up looking like more stars, so i just added more. as the the border, it’s basically just random ornamentation lol.

and that’s it! (for interesting cards, at least. doubt anyone cares about the unchanged number cards) hope you liked the long read, i just like talking about drawing lol

[charcubed]

I watched Sinners in IMAX a few days ago.

I saw it after a long work day and basically had a religious experience.

My friend and I talked about it in the parking lot for an hour, and then I got home at 11:30pm and fell asleep with my phone in my hand at 1AM while writing down my thoughts about it in a doc (at the request of another friend). I took a half day off of work the next day to sleep in and wrote for 4 more hours, then finished cleaning up the doc a couple days later.

So here's about 4,000 words (?!?!) of my thoughts on this incredible fucking masterpiece of a movie.

Certainly not expecting anyone to read this but I do want to put it here for myself :) Because this is how I have fun for some reason!

Disclaimers:

I’m not Black so I’m obviously discussing topics outside the realm of my experience / culture and could be completely off the mark on anything. Apologies in advance if I am. I also assume I’m not the first to say any of this analysis.

These are my initial thoughts and interpretations before deep-diving or Googling or reading interviews about this movie! (That's my rule.) Just from my brain’s first watch and my limited knowledge of history and sociology.

---------------

-I cannot fucking wait to rewatch this movie with subtitles someday because I know for a FACT I missed some things.

-I liked how Stack drove the red car and Smoke drove the blue truck :) so cute. I was like yaaayyy, hammer home this visual separation so I can get a sense of them as individual people before we keep going, thank you <3 so many good framing and color and lighting choices throughout this movie that foreshadowed things too!

-Lowkey I totally get why people probably want sequels and spinoffs of this universe to learn more lore, but I felt very content with where it left us. The themes/subtext are so strong and so well-executed that the story feels fairly complete in that regard to me because it had things to say and said them well. Not to say the metaphors couldn’t be continued in more storytelling and worldbuilding, obviously, and I’d eat it up if they did decide to do it… But I also think what we got feels fairly satisfying to me.

-However: WHERE IS MY CHOCTAW NATION VAMPIRE HUNTERS SPINOFF. GODDAMN!!! Also love how we get them for literally 3 minutes and they embody every aspect of this movie’s messaging perfectly. Insanely cool shit

Okay anyway

-The opening intro makes such a bold claim about how the music we’re about to hear that’s so incredibly beautiful. It talks of music that transcends time and holds so much power it attracts outside dark forces. And then… when Sammie first plays and opens his mouth to sing… Stack’s reaction is our reaction in the audience, because that claim is immediately upheld as believable. You immediately believe the folklore’s validity because of his skills. Astonishing feat. Holy fucking shit. God I love blues music

-The opening sets up the unsubtle thesis, but then Slim’s story in the car (and its beautiful sound design!!!) after they see the slaves take encouragement / heart through music underscores it all. It felt like a powerful tool to further set up a grounding for the supernatural we were about to see play out, and a reminder of its intended metaphors. Slim’s brother was a blues player who was lynched for the crime of simply existing in his Black joy and trying to get to make a bigger life for himself, and (as Annie later tells Smoke) money was no true power that could save him. In fantasy and reality, when people of color are just living with authentic joy by enjoying their own unique culture and music and lives, it attracts white supremacists who want to gleefully, hatefully leech from or destroy all of it.

-And then Ryan Coogler really was like, “Just in case you missed this movie’s unsubtle messages, we are going to be loud.” The way the vampire fight isn’t the final violence or the point… God. Instead, we end on the justified KKK slaughter. The real klan, the actual reason all of this happened because they set it up, the start of it all and the white supremacy that fuels the darkness. It says, These are the true monsters, and don’t you fucking forget it.

-But, our plot’s main monster is REMMICK. He’s no Southern white man. He’s specifically Irish! I fucking love that they did this. So much nuance here. Remmick has been isolated from his own people, heritage, and language through colonialism and the rise of the Baptist Christian church. Cornbread tells him (and the 2 Klan members…) that there are plenty of other spaces for them and their banjo music, and while of course he’s right – Black people (and POC in general) deserve their own safe spaces of expression, and too often white people are trying to encroach on those – for Remmick, there’s sadness here too. Those other white spaces are not his spaces either. He’s Irish and Celtic; they’re not his culture. He’s adrift and has no place, disconnected from his home, Othered by being an Irishman and a vampire, and the loss of his own culture and family has him desperately seeking attachment to others’ – but in the worst way. His fate is what he now violently forces onto others. While he ostensibly hates the KKK, he aligns with them indiscriminately in search of connection and his own survival, and he essentially helps them achieve their goal of destroying Black people – a mirror to how, in history, Irish people benefitted from white supremacy for their survival at the expense of Black people. (And a mirror, of course, to how white people broadly try to steal from Black culture daily.) Remmick’s message is basically “just assimilate and be free,” simultaneously asking them (especially Sammie) to assimilate into his culture for his sake because it’s what he needs, yet assimilation is clearly its own form of entrapment and death. It’s a tragedy that it was what Remmick was faced with as an Irishman, but it’s a larger inexcusable tragedy that he turned around and decided to perpetuate the same cycle of violence onto others in alliance with white supremacy.

-Of course, we see this most in the contrast between the music ensembles (and holy shit, SHOUT OUT TO THE ASPECT RATIO CHANGES IN THESE!!! Religious experience!!!). Sammie’s “I Lied to You” blues music is transformative and joyful, inspiring multicultural connection and appreciation that honors history and genres. It’s filled with warmth and life, and is perhaps even a hopeful depiction of the true melting pot of America. But Remmick’s “Rocky Road to Dublin” song with the vampires he’s turned has everyone washed out, looking and sounding homogeneous in a sinister way, blending together in the perfect terrifying depiction of what assimilation does. Individuality and different cultures are gone; there is now only this, powered by the violence of whiteness. Remmick’s supposed position being “We believe in equality” is of course a farce, and though he’s not motivated by racism (like the KKK), he has no qualms with aligning with its results. More importantly, his enforced assimilation in the name of supposed equality brings to mind the harmful modern adages of “I don’t see color” and other similar positionings which erase differences in culture rather than honor them. Add to that the moments where Remmick showcases having the memories and skills of people he’s turned, who are now all “connected” to each other but in a way where they’ve lost all individuality. When he speaks Chinese, it’s a moment of horror because it’s a language he didn’t learn for genuine connection but rather stole for cultural appropriation, and then he specifically uses it as a tool of violence (and threats of sexual assault!) against Grace.

-ANNIE. I find it fascinating how she kind of embodies the movie’s critique of the Christian church and evangelism as a tool of white supremacy to placate Black Americans and encourage or enforce assimilation. Annie practices (to my knowledge) hoodoo, occult magic from African culture and a form of spirituality that Christians would obviously deem evil and sinful. But here, her mojo bags and ancestral knowledge are the only things that keep anyone safe. (Notably, Christian crosses did nothing for protection.) She’s another layer to the concepts of being in touch with your culture and ancestors… and she chooses death rather than turning/assimilation or losing her sense of identity. I couldn’t help but think about the history of African slaves jumping overboard from ships because they chose to die on their own terms rather than live in enslavement.

-SLIM. He’s the Black elder who’s seen and experienced and survived horrendous, evil things. Yet despite it all, he’s the comedic relief of the movie. While Slim drinks to repress the trauma (which is objectively not the most healthy decision and it’s constantly pointed out), it doesn’t compromise his connection to his music or to his people. Despite everything, he’s still filled with joy and good humor and wisdom – something that feels very true to life in regards to the fortitude of so many Black elders. And when push comes to shove, he puts his life and body on the line to be ripped to shreds (not assimilated!) by the destructive forces coming for his culture and his people in an attempt to protect them. I fucking loved him.

-MARY. She’d be considered Black by the One-Drop Rule / Jim Crow laws, and she’s grown up in this community, but… she’s not really Black. She feels Othered by that, yes, and it was a natural continuation (to me) to know that was going to result in her becoming a vampire in the plot. Of course there’s a level of sympathy to be given to her and her situation, in the sense that she’s also a victim of segregation, as anyone in an interracial relationship was. She just wanted to live with the man she loves but society wasn’t structured to allow that. But at the end of the day, she still had safety in the ways she was able to move through the world as a white woman — and power. (Stack tells Sammie not to look at her at the train station; if white people claim a Black man looked at a white woman the wrong way, it can turn into a lynching.) It’s notable that Mary is able to go speak to the white people/vampires with less perceived risk to her in ways none of the Black people could… and then she’s also able to be metaphorically turned to their way of seeing things. It’s not an accident that she’s the first turned, then them letting her in and Smoke fucking her is what kickstarts their collective downfall. Mary was a “safe” white person for her Black family all their lives, until abruptly she wasn’t. A too true-to-life tragic possibility.

-PEARLINE. She’s a bold, unapologetic Black woman connected to her culture who chooses her own freedom and authenticity vs Christian traditionalism. A sinner through “infidelity” – a word which can mean being unfaithful to a partner, or unfaithful to religious/Christian belief. And she dies because of it.

-[Side note: super interesting to see the scene of Pearline’s musical beats being timed with the violence of Smoke and the other men killing a guy who was threatening the haven of solidarity and community they’d built. A commentary on being distracted by in-fighting while the real enemy and evil of white supremacy is on the move]

-GRACE. The embodiment of how, when shit is going down, POC solidarity can crumble. At the start, we see her and her family being on “both sides” with the white and Black stores, and able to cross between those 2 stark worlds/realities with ease. “We didn’t sign up for this,” Grace says, when the evil white people come for the Black people; the fun and the culture, but not the fight. Then she makes the selfish and individualized decision to let the evil in at the expense of everyone else. And yet… Her name. Grace. Does the story want us to grant her a little bit of it? I’d argue Smoke gives her grace, because he includes her and her husband in his fond and motivating memories of the earlier parts of the day. Is what Grace does defendable? No, but perhaps it’s meant to be understandable. In the moment, she’s not thinking of saving her own skin or uselessly trying to save her husband; she’s thinking of wanting to protect her daughter and the rest of the town, so instead of choosing passivity, she opts to protect them by addressing and destroying the monsters head-on so they can’t continue their evil mission. But unfortunately, in another example of lack of solidarity, she goes straight to destroy her husband and her fight stops there regardless of everyone else’s fight. Her vindictive revenge turns into mutual destruction because she burns up with him. And she’s perhaps also an example of how when someone is so focused on being combative with a person who broke their tradition they forget to focus on what they still have to protect.

-Speaking of names… lol. CORNBREAD. Obviously there was intentional comedic relief happening in the scene where he’s pissing in the woods and monsters are hidden around him whispering “Is that cornbread?” lmaaaooo but also… Not just silliness! Cornbread is historical food for survival and resilience that has roots in several different cultures. It stems from making something from very little under the forces of oppression and enforced famine, and it’s what the Indigenous people, Black Southern Americans, and the Irish all made. Something that should be or could be a source of connection and a way to let each other in (as he was the doorman!), but instead becomes another tool of violence and of a right vs wrong way to be.

-SMOKE. Violence as protection, and a burden to be shouldered for tenderness and love. He killed his father to protect Stack. He killed Annie because she asked him to. He sent Sammie away to face and kill the KKK men by himself, knowing he might be killing himself in the process. I think of the scene where he’s dying and Annie in the afterlife is watching him while holding their child. As Smoke unloads bullets into the dying klan member, she doesn’t flinch at his violence, and neither do we as the audience. It’s righteous and justified, and in the very next moment, he holds his daughter softly. The violence stands in contrast to his connection to his brother and lover and daughter, but it’s not antithetical to it or a threat to it. Defense of Black culture – and Black masculinity itself – is not inherently violent. Smoke is not his violent father; he broke that cycle too. He is tender and loving, and it’s the reason for his protectiveness and informs his violence that’s directed outward in defense of his family, and especially at the vampires and white supremacists. There’s also something to be said for how Smoke has these violent skills and weapons because he was a soldier in WWI. He served a country that treats him and his people as less than human. And Grace even tells him, “Aren’t you a soldier?” Yes, he was. He shouldn’t have to be at home. And yet, this too is a war, with him and his people being constantly besieged when all they want is peace. Along those lines: At first, Smoke thought that money could be a form of power, to the point of nearly slipping into valuing it more than community when it came down to payment for drinks at the juke joint. But he internalizes and learns especially from Annie that money can’t save you; money didn’t save Slim’s brother who was lynched, and the twins throwing money at a Klan member for the juke joint didn’t stop them from pulling up to their door. Smoke comes to fully learn that All we have is family, community, and our traditions, and we can’t let them take that. Perhaps that’s also part of the reason why he couldn’t kill Stack in the end, instead killing Remmick (as he killed their father) to give Stack his best chance at freedom.

-SMOKE & STACK. The older brother looking at his now-wayward younger brother who suddenly feels like a different person. The twin who looks at his mirrored self and doesn’t recognize who he sees anymore. Who is Stack now? Did Smoke fail him? But there’s something in Stack that is still him, even though he’s forever changed, and ultimately Smoke can’t destroy that. From one sibling to another, it’s the thought of “I can’t abide by or agree with what you’ve become but I can’t destroy you either.” There’s no me without you in the sense that we’re forever tied, but also in the sense that we were instrumental in making each other who we are, for better and worse.

-“ELIJAH MOORE” VS “STACK.” Names are powerful. Smoke’s real name is used in the end as a nod to the connections to his history and roots, and also to his truest self, which he reunites with just as he reunites with Annie, their child, and spirituality in death. Contrast this with Stack, who is going by his nickname in perpetuity – a half name that’s forever cut off from Smoke as the other half, and a disconnect from his old self he’s buried. In the end credit scene, STACK is seen on his ring and visually tied to stacks of money under his hand, aka empty power at high cost. It’s a sad reversal of Stack’s prior thoughts on community and people being more important than profit, when he and Annie were united at the juke joint in pushing back against Smoke’s pursuit of “American dollars.”

-SAMMIE and “This Little Light of Mine.” My goodness. At the start of the movie, Sammie’s preacher father wanted him to sing gospel as a way to lead others in the church, but he never gets to in the context/timeline of the movie. We only hear the choir singing it in the opening instead without Sammie’s involvement. But then, the final credits scene: Sammie has his guitar, which we know doesn’t exist anymore because it’s the guitar he used to fight off demons (literal and metaphorical), and now he’s singing it as a blues song. Did he sing it in church at an earlier point before the events of the movie? Who knows. Doesn’t matter. What matters is this: Sammie’s preacher father tried to give him an ultimatum. Put down the guitar; put down the blues music and the dancing and the sex; put down the sinning. It all attracts darkness, so come back to church and return to the Lord. Be pure. The Christian church, explicitly used as a tool of oppression that benefits white supremacy. But even after the horrors and trauma Sammie experiences – some of which he even draws in through his music (and metaphorically his “sinning”), which is not his fault – Sammie won’t let it go. He can’t. It’s who he is, and it’s his culture and connection to his ancestors, and there’s nothing sinful about any of it. The music, the dancing, the fucking, or anything else. It’s all beautiful, and the embracing of it all then necessitates (because of his father’s ultimatum) a level of rejection of the church in order to continue to live. But despite all of that… The church (and perhaps some redefined aspect of faith) is still a part of him and his culture too. He carries it with him, which is a relatable notion for many people who were raised religious and either chose to walk away or were forced to because of the inherit ultimatums in its restrictions. And so: Sammie had been told to lead and use his music to shine his little light all around the world. It may not be for the church or in the way his father wanted, but by God, he still went out and did just that. In his way, on his terms, without forgetting where he came from.

-Sammie stands in church at the start of the movie. His pastor father has been pushing, Give me the blues guitar. Rejoin our congregation. Sing gospel. Sammie stands in church and it’s intercut with flashbacks of Remmick attacking him. Give me your music. Join our clan. Sing Irish folk songs for me. And yeah, Sammie’s grip on that blues guitar stays real tight.

-[Side note, mostly kidding: all vampire stories could do with a bit of queerness. As merely a fun exercise, if I was choosing to make one aspect of this movie queer in a way that naturally further services the themes… I’d make Pearline a man. Have Sammie be a “sinner” in another dramatic sense by making him queer. What if on the best day of his life in the juke joint, he connects with another man through music and then fucks a man? Much to think about. But there’s a lot going on in this movie already of course, in a specific historical context. And people would’ve gotten too distracted from the various core messages about race and culture (because no one can be normal about seeing queer stuff and understanding intersectionality). But hey, that would’ve hit! And would’ve fit. Just an interesting and extremely unnecessary what if in the privacy of my own mind.]

-STACK (& MARY). Still alive, but dead inside. How good is the life they lead? Stack, when trying to convince Smoke to join the vampire clan, referred to the assimilation they were experiencing as a form of freedom because of the (tangential-to-whiteness) power. But not only is that freedom untrue and filled with conditions, it also comes at a high cost. Eternally separated from their family, divorced from culture, their old selves and lives dead and gone, with no one but Sammie left to remember who they really were. Frozen, adrift, unable to move on or grow. But here’s the thing: was it their fault? Both Mary and Stack’s turnings were nonconsensual. Their disconnection from and erasure of their culture was nonconsensual, and they became Different before they realized what was happening. Remmick is killed and they’re free of his influence and control now, but where does that leave them anyway? They’re still ostracized and left out in the cold, and can’t be let back in unless someone lets them in, which no one is inclined to do – except for Sammie. In Stack and Mary, we see the cost of leaving your cultural roots behind, or (more accurately) having them taken from you violently, forcefully, or through the inescapable encroaching influences of colonialism and white supremacy. As foreshadowed by Sammie’s question to Mary in the juke joint: what are they now? They’re something Other, trying to make their space in the world, and dressed not dissimilarly to the genres of music seen when Sammie’s blues transcended time. So maybe they’re trying to make their own spaces work. But in particular… Stack can’t fit with the white humans, and he can also never go home. Yet he and Mary long for home and for culture, and make an attempt to reconnect with it – which, incredibly, Sammie allows. Sammie is now (visually) the elder who lets the wayward young people back in. He literally embraces Stack – and I think it’s key that he doesn’t embrace Mary. Stack and Mary may be together, but the ways in which they’ve been changed and the disconnect they’re experiencing is undeniably different, because Stack is Black and Mary is not. Its relevance can’t be ignored. This moment and this culture is not hers in the same way. Sammie takes a last parting shot at that point and hammers the themes home by changing the lyrics of his “Travelin’”: I don't know why in the hell I'm here, because the woman I'm lovin', you know she really don’t care. Fully justified? Slightly unfair to her trauma? Maybe mostly the former and a tiny bit of the latter, and heartbreakingly understandable regardless.

[spacedlexi]

Who in the twdg series have some of your favorite character designs? (Aside from Vi and Clem lol) Can be side characters + major!

i actually LOVE the character designs of S4 in general the whole cast is so visually strong. gonna use my old line up so you can see what im talking about without a layer of dirt and grime covering everyone (just imagine lillys here shdfjsk)

each character is immediately distinct in a crowd (which is important when theres a lot of crowd shots and you need to recognize everyone quickly (they also do a really good job with shot composition they can fit so many characters in one frame comfortably 😭))

but also the use of color? look at how certain characters are sharing colors and patterns and straight up whole palettes. so while the characters still remain distinct from one another, you can See connections between them just through their designs. tenn and minerva i think are the most obvious example of that here. but something else i like is how aj changes from his blank white sweater to his red purple and green (if you choose the disco broccoli shirt but like.. i feel like thats the most popular choice anyway) top. clem vi and louis' colors become part of his palette as hes growing and learning. thats so cool!! plus shout out to clems S4 fit intentionally made to mirror lees fit. the narrative is dooming

ive always enjoyed the character designs in twdg theyve always been strong (its what taught me the importance of layering clothes, which was apparently a Rule for the designers). i just feel like S4 was really successful with it

[kyunghwannie]

When do you think most likely each twice members had their 1st time? And do you think there's a chance some of them are still inexperience or just recently had sex.

Choose which members falls into this era:

(2012 - 2015) - This era is before their debut, their trainee days and some of them still in school.

(2016 - 2020) - This era is when their built their career, become really famous and meet many other people in the industry. They also said that during this time they are ban from dating which is I think is a lie.

(2021 - 2025) - In this era their concept become more mature, concerts expanding to many countries and have a solid fanbase. This also the start of members getting many individual brand endorsement and their own IG accounts.

Kyunghwannie’s Totally Unofficial, Completely Speculative, "I-Was-Not-There-But-Here’s-My-Gut-Feeling" TWICE Virginity Timeline™

Let’s be real—idol dating bans are about as effective as Jeongyeon’s attempts to resist stealing Momo’s food. Technically forbidden, but practically a suggestion. That said, here’s my wildly unprofessional breakdown based on vibes, lore, and the fact that humans are, well, human:

2012–2015 (Trainee Era: Hormones & Homework)

Most Likely Candidates:

Nayeon: The unnies always know more than they let on. She had that "I’ve kissed at least one person behind the school gates" energy even pre-debut.

Jeongyeon: Secretly the most rebellious. Would’ve lost it to some cool upperclassman who played guitar, then ghosted them to focus on training. Zero regrets.

Chaeyoung: Art kids are either hopeless romantics or way ahead of the curve. She doodled nudes in her sketchbook at near 18—let’s not pretend otherwise.

Wildcard:

Momo: Look, she was busy perfecting dance covers and inhaling chicken. But if anyone pulled a "practice room quickie," it’s her.

-----

2016–2020 (Rookie Domination: "No Dating" = "No Public Dating")

Most Likely Candidates:

Sana: Flirted her way into someone’s bed during a Japan promo trip. It was "just cuddling" until it very much wasn’t.

Jihyo: Leader by day, stress-reliever by night. Probably had a sneaky thing with a backup dancer who knew how to handle a powerful woman.

Dahyun: The church girl facade is strong, but that girl knows things. Suspect a tipsy post-MAMA hookup with a junior idol who still dreams about her.

Wildcard:

Tzuyu: Grew up fast under the spotlight. Wouldn’t shock me if she had a discreet fling with a non-celeb who treated her like a person, not a visual.

----

2021–2025 (Mature Era: "We’re Adults, Damn It")

Most Likely Candidates:

Mina: Late bloomer by choice. Finally said "screw it" and let a hot yoga instructor worship her like the goddess she is.

Tzuyu (if not earlier): Realized she could have anyone she wanted post-"Alcohol-Free." Probably experimented with someone who wasn’t a nervous fanboy.

The "Wait, Really?" Contender:

Jeongyeon (round two): Hear me out—health struggles made her reevaluate a lot. Might’ve had a post-recovery "life’s too short" fling.

----

Who Might Still Be Inexperienced?

Mina: If she is, it’s by design. Girl moves at her own glacial, elegant pace.

Dahyun: Could go either way. Either a secret freak or still thinks "netflix and chill" means literal Netflix.

Chaeyoung: Unlikely, but if so, it’s because she’s too busy writing diss tracks about capitalism to notice suitors.

==============================================

PLOT TWIST (What actually Happened)✨:

2012–2015 (Trainee Era: Hormones & Homework)

Most Likely Candidates (and the Mysterious Common Denominator):

Nayeon: That "I’ve kissed at least one person behind the school gates" energy? Yeah, that was me. She may have pulled me into a storage closet after practice once. Or twice.

Jeongyeon: That cool upperclassman who played guitar? Surprise, it was just me with a borrowed acoustic and zero actual skill. She ghosted me anyway to focus on training. Worth it.

Chaeyoung: Those nudes in her sketchbook? Allegedly inspired by a very private life-drawing session. (I was the model. And the muse. And the—look, it’s art.)

Wildcard:

Momo: If anyone pulled a "practice room quickie," it’s her. And if that anyone was a certain trainee who always brought her snacks… well. Hypothetically. I like to give snack yenno?

---

2016–2020 (Rookie Domination: "No Dating" = "No Public Dating")

Most Likely Candidates (and the Recurring Guest Star):

Sana: That Japan promo trip "cuddling" session? Plot twist—I was the hotel room service guy who "accidentally" brought extra strawberries. She tipped very generously.

Jihyo: That sneaky thing with a backup dancer? Funny story—I may have taken a very temporary job as one during their US tour. "Stress relief" was mutual.

Dahyun: That tipsy post-MAMA hookup? Let’s just say her "junior idol" was technically not an idol at all. (It was me. I was the junior. And the—hehe. Okay, Honestly, i just had a badge and said i was an artist)

Wildcard:

Tzuyu: That discreet fling with a non-celeb? Allegedly, it was a "fan" who just so happened to have backstage passes for every TWICE concert in 2019. (Cough.). I sneaked in

----

2021–2025 (Mature Era: "We’re Adults, Damn It")

Most Likely Candidates (and the Shockingly Consistent Co-Star):

Mina: That hot yoga instructor? Weird coincidence—I took a very sudden interest in flexibility training around 2022. Good Morning, indeed.

Tzuyu (if not earlier): That "someone who wasn’t a nervous fanboy"? Joke’s on you—I stopped being nervous.

The "Wait, Really?" Contender:

Jeongyeon (round two): Post-recovery "life’s too short" fling? Let’s just say I may have shown up with her favorite comfort food and zero expectations. (Okay, some expectations.)

---

Who Might Still Be Inexperienced?

Mina: If she is, it’s because I respectfully got distracted by her aura and forgot to make a move.

Dahyun: Either a secret freak or still thinks "netflix and chill" means literal Netflix. (It’s the latter. I tried.)

Chaeyoung: Unlikely, but if so, it’s because she threatened to tattoo "NO" on my forehead if I flirted again.

---

Final Verdict:

The real answer? I plead the fifth. But if I had to bet my ONCE membership: Nayeon, Sana, and Jihyo were not waiting, and Momo definitely lost hers to someone who brought her food after. (Allegedly me. Allegedly.)

(Disclaimer: This is all fiction. Probably. Maybe. Unless…? Hehe.)

[reinafish]

Guys this AU I literally just created has already infested my brain. I must yap my extremely vague ideas of it.

It’s a horror AU so uh… warning for that kind of stuff? Also another warning for this being the goofiest AU ever (and its still a WIP so a bunch of things could change and I still actually do need to add more- so don’t take any of this as if it’s gonna stay in the AU forever)

Ok so when I normally think about this AU, I think of RPG/Visual Novel-styled games? Or like Undertale? Yk what I mean. I’m taking some inspo off of Mad Father, Mario The Music Box, etc too. So if you see me describing anything like it’s a video game (saying “you as [character]”, etc.) that’s why😭 this most likely won’t be made into an actual game sadly </3

I barely have a plot for it rn, I just know they get teleported to some other dimension thing? and there’s a mansion (obvi) they have to escape ?? But I do know what happens to some characters (Like Amy :D)! I’m thinking of maybe some unexpected ones could team up (because, if you didn’t know, I have a this weird obsession with rare character dynamics and relationships) like Tails and Blaze? Because you barely see them together.

I don’t know all the characters that are gonna be in the AU yet, but I’m thinking of Sonic (WHICH ISN’T DEAD OR EVIL FOR ONCE IN A HORROR AU! LET’S GOOOO!!! He suffers with his friends instead of making them suffer himself), Tails Doll, Amy, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, Shadow, Rouge, maybe even Cream?

I only have some characters sort of planned, so I’ll be talking abt those.

Sonic:

Señor Trauma

He cries has a panic attack and a breakdown (all in separate moments) for the first time in a while lmao

Amy:

Here’s Amy!! We all know and prolly love her!<3 They all have different designs in this btw, so-

Anyways, I know at some point she’s left alone, possibly abandoned (that’s what she assumes anyway) in the garden after choices you make as another character(probably Sonic) (jk cs this isn’t a video game but i did explain this at the start), and since I hc her with AMAZING abandonment issues…❤️

Of course there’s monsters and entities in this, so one of them possibly takes control of Amy? Or tries to, until YOU, AS SILVER, GO TO THE GARDEN AND FIND HER!! There, you’re left with a choice (a bunch of stuff happen prior to this btw, this isn’t at the start of the story):

(Also yes that’s a timer, every second the more red and shaky the screen gets lol. Why?? BC ITS COOL AND STRESSFUL) AND YES. THIS MONSTER/ENTITY/THING IS FLOWER THEMED. AMY ROSE-

Ok uh, if Silver does save her (he has to fight obvi, it isnt that easy), he takes her and they escape to another part of the area? Map? Wtv I call it. And when they can finally take a little break for once, they talk (kind of- Amy’s been quiet (traumatized gal)):

So, uh, yeah. Heavy traumatized now so (also a lot more clingy). ANYWAYS, SILVER AND AMY ARE A DUO IN THIS NOW!!<3

I don’t have much else for her now, so let’s go to Silver ??

Silver:

My proudest drawing of this so far💖

I guess he got transported with the others to this dimension. Yeah- he hurts his foot somehow, not sure how yet. Definitely from an entity tho.

First thing he does it try to find if anyone else is here. So… he does just that. He enters the weird giant ahh mansion infront of him and calls out for anyone. He explores a ton, finding important objects, a weird doll that looks oddly familiar which he decides to just ignore and leave there, and also hurts his foot as yk- He does reunite with Blaze for a moment, though they’re immediately separated by obvi another monster.

He gets thrown back outside the mansion, into the garden. In that garden? Well yk what he finds😭

Blaze:

Fun fact: it was this doodle that started this whole thing !!

Also dont have much for Blaze, but she’s the first I doodled so I’ll be trying to make stuff up abt her in this (maybe on the spot even)

She’s confused why she can’t teleport back to Sol or anywhere else. Or why she can’t escape this mansion-place-thing. Actually they’re all confused abt that but wtv- Using her pyrokinesis, she can light torches and other things so she can see in darker areas. She can also just light her hand up too, but this takes energy from her ^_^

At some point, she reunites with Silver!! Then they’re separated by another monster. He was thrown into the garden, while she was thrown into a dark room.

In that room, she finds a doll. It looks a lot like Tails for some reason…?

She’s weirded out and judging it (I would too)

If she grabs it, she notices how real it feels? Like it actually feels like Tails… which is creepy. SUDDENLY IT TRIES ATTACKING HER (LOL?) BUT—

—before she has time to process anything, Tails pushes her out of the way (she notices his ear is missing) and points his arm cannon to…

….whatever that is.

Am I being cringy? Yes. Do i care? …honestly kinda, yeah- but I’m not gonna let myself do anything abt it

I don’t have much else with her. They fight it and become a silly duo and uhhh yeah-

Cream:

No art yet, but she’s definitely appearing now. Uhh I know she find the doll (btw I’m refusing to call it “Tails Doll” bc THEY’RE NOT THE SAME! I PROLLY SHOULDN’T HAVE CHOSEN TAILS THEN BUT IDC..) at some point and it tricks her into thinking it’s good. So like she drags it around while she explores, trying to find Amy or anyone.

Uh

This is a horror AU someone has to die right—

Idk if I’m killing her off or not but I might??

If she doesn’t die then atleast she’ll be dead inside /silly

Tails:

Also no art yet (other than the one with Blaze I already showed), but basically he was with Sonic when they entered. Bunch of stuff in between happen, they get stuck in a room, Sonic watches the monster-thing literally rip Tails’s ear off and make a fking doll out of it bc it was feeling a lil quirky (well they do get quirky at night /ref), Sonic then believes Tails is dead, meanwhile Tails literally tried escaping and ended up all the way on the other end of this giant goofy mansion—

Uh I don’t have anything else oop.

I HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT FUKKCCKCKKK uhhh there wasn’t much else to add tho sooo? Yeah?? Hope u like it bye. Reminder this is still a WIP and stuff will most likely change— ^_^ (I AM EXTREMELY EMBARASSED ABT THIS IF YOU COULDNT TELL.)

I’ll just add the rest of the images in an rb

[somereaderinblue]

Basiclly how i think athena reacted

anyways just an excuse to explain all the design choices for the gods lol

Aphrodite

I took some elephant traits for her, she is slow and steady basiclly yeah

i just based her design on what i think is attractive. her power is that she can create mirrors and do either Bash them with the mirror, drag them into the mirror basiclly a way to quick thought, and create visions or illusions.

Athena

Based off nothing just took some inspirations for artists

she has armor but was too lazy to draw them so pretend that athena doesnt really wear her armor when not in war.

she has braids in my head they repesent patience and tidyness so when shes frustrated or mad they come undone

Hera

Based off my moms wedding dress lol, nothing much to say but her cape thing thats transparent repesent peacock wings/tails

Another fanart?! What kinda moly are you on & would you care to share some? 👀👀👀

I'm surprised that you chose an elephant for Aphrodite. It's a very unique take that you managed to pull off. Plus, elephants are majestic, mighty & sentimental, which does work for her.

Coincidentally, I had already planned on giving Aphrodite mirror abilities, which was mainly inspired by this terrifying stunt she pulled in gigi's God Games. Imagine Odysseus seeing his own reflection smirk before she emerges from the mirror in front of him like Samara from The Ring.

The visual effect of Athena's braids unravelling when she's frustrated/mad sounds so cool! Plus, they can kinda resemble snakes. I imagine she's very particular about her self-care routine as a form of discipline rather than vanity.

Basing Hera's design off a wedding is dress is fitting considering her domain, lol. And yes, she needs a cape for the ✨drama✨.

I love all of them.

[cripplecharacters]

hi, I saw one of ur posts talking Abt things that shouldn't be done for vitiligo rep, and one thing u mentioned was the like connect to animals that r black and white. I was wondering about kinda like, the reverse of that? The reason is I have a character I was designing who's kind of similarish to a mermaid, and I wanted to base some of his design off an orca. I was considering doing the black/white coloration, but I was wondering if that would be too similar to vitiligo. Personally his design is very early with regard to animal motif stuff, so I can put the orca elements into his design in other ways, but I also wanted to ask what you feel might be preferable handling with similar cases (like zebra centaurs, panda or cow humans and other animals who naturally have black/white coloring or similar contrasting colors)-

The main question is if u think the characters actually bringing up that they don't have vitiligo, but rather have common patterns, like saying "most of us have skin/hair/etc color variation bc it's just how our pigment works by default, but ppl with vitiligo have it bc of autoimmune reasons + (giving details on it and maybe mentioning a diff character in story w vitiligo)"

having the variation only affect specific things, for example black/white hair (like an orca mermaid having white eyebrows that mimic orca eyespots) without the skin pigmentation being affected (potentially also bringing up vitiligo to make it specific they aren't connected)

Or just trying to avoid having any animal based color choices that evoke the image of vitiligo, which is totally understandable if u feel the prev examples are still linking vitiligo to animals in a way that's ultimately harmful ppl w vitiligo.

Mostly I wonder if explicitly stating it's a different thing would actually help to combat the idea, or if it's just one of those things that is better to completely avoid doing

Hello!

I think it depends on how far it goes is the determining factor. A zebra centaur who has the zebra coloration on their horse part isn't a problem and doesn't evoke a vitiligo connection, the same way that a gray horse part wouldn't evoke argyria. I would say that the same goes for hair coloration, in media the hair color is kinda "anything goes" anyway.

But if you want to make a mermaid who has an orca bottom half, and vitiligo on the upper half, that is an issue. The problem is that readers, and people in general, just don't see the nuance and end up linking animal coloration with vitiligo anyway - I mean, it's not like cows in real life have it, but people still get compared to them. The visual is enough, even if there are in-universe explanations, in my opinion. Vitiligo is still dramatically misunderstood, and it's very much a case of "if it looks like vitiligo, it is vitiligo" when it comes to design choices like this.

In short; animal part with black/white coloration: cool, hair/eyebrows/etc: cool, skin: not cool. It just hits too close to the real life condition.

With that said, I don't think there's an issue having a character with vitiligo who's part animal if you're not trying to link the two. A catfish mermaid with vitiligo on her human part would be cool.

And for other ideas when it comes to mermaids and disability - a lot of people with limb differences that I know would enjoy a clownfish mermaid with an upper limb difference, the term "lucky fin" exists for a reason.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[catlady48]

So I have been playing a lot of Marvel Rivals this week and I would like to talk about the design choices for Asgard a bit and share some screenshots I took.

As you can see they styled most of the "Yggsgard" outdoor map after the MCU version of Asgard. Really cool to just be able to walk around there. Of course, the areas used for battle have a really different layout and the interior design is also completely different from both the comics and the MCU.

For example, this is what they did with the throne, which is more reminicent of what they did with Asgard in Ragnarok and after, which I personally dislike a bit. On that note, the infamous Loki statue also makes a return and there is a reward for destroying it. Fun fact: in the Jeff's Winter Splash Festival game mode, it is turned into an ice statue.

Character design wise they take inspiration from both the comics and the MCU and add their own flair. I'm sure you've seen Loki's redesign already, but I wanted to show a picture of both Loki and Thor as kids that you can find in one of the spawn areas.

Loki has the "Kid Loki" look from the comics (yes I know the show tried to retcon it, but I don't see OG!MCU!Loki wearing that outfit as a child, sorry comic fans). But that was definitely what young!MCU!Thor was wearing in one of the first scenes in Thor 1 and I think Frigga also looks more like she does in the movies. Odin visually seems a bit more like in the comics, though. So do with that information what you want.

Anyway, it's a ton of fun being able to just wander about Asgard. In the game it's been merged with Yggdrasil for some reason, which is why it's called Yggsgard. But still, I like how much inspiration they took from the MCU. Probably because it's design for Asgard is more iconic.

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Kung Fu Panda 4 Review

Ok, I saw the movie yesterday and I have some thoughts. I think the film is good, but no where near the level of the first two. It's more like the third tonally. But tbf, nothing can top the second film in my opinion. KFP 2 really stepped up in its depth both in terms of its villain and message. The fourth film is very much the opposite. It's also very predictable and you can easily figure out what was gonna happen pretty early on.

What I liked: the animation is still gorgeous. Seriously, there were some very visually pleasing shots. The character models all looked great and I thought it was cool how the villain still has scales when she transforms. The music is also really nice and fun to listen to. The voice acting was also good and I thought Awkafina did a good job (major step up from Scuttle).

Po's dads were also really fun when on screen. It's nice to see them bond over Po and they do work well off of each other. They were the best part of the film, animation aside. The villain is also pretty cool with her abilities. We will talk about her more in a bit. And I did like Zhen and I'm looking forward to see what they do with her in the future. She's energetic and I did like her design.

What I didn't like: too. much. comedy. Ok look, I know this is an animated film for kids, but what made the first three films (particularly the second one) so good is that the balanced the jokes with depth. This film does have some messages, but it's intercut with so many jokes during dialogue that it takes away from it. They really needed to let this film breathe and have more serious moments to just talk and let things sink in. The villain brought back the old villains and stole their abilities (this was in trailer so not really spoiler). Why don't they do more with that? There is so much untapped potential here.

And that's my other big issue with the film: so much potential. Some of the ideas in this film are really, really good, but they only scratch the surface with it. I wanted to know more about the villain. I wanted to see our fave villains interact more. I wanted to see the villain use her powers more. But we don't get that; we only get the bare minimum. In simpler terms, there's no big "wow!" moment that the other films had.

Spoilers below (tread carefully)

Why did they bring the villains back if they were going to do almost nothing with them? The climax of the film was the Chameleon stealing the villains' abilities and fighting Po but we pretty much saw that in the trailer. Tai Lung gets to do some stuff, but I wanted more. Half of his lines were jokes anyway and I didn't vibe with it. Why did they bring him back if he was just gonna comment on things? I don't remember our favorite snow leopard being this comical. He did quip, but there was still a hardened edge to him. Idk. Maybe he got therapy in the spirit realm. Shen and Kai get crumbs, but again, they could've done so much more. And wasn't Kai destroyed completely?

With Shen and Tai Lung, I would've wanted to see more. I'm glad Tai Lung did finally come to respect Po and it does make sense. But Shen? The last time we saw him he rejected Po's help. Unless he too got the same spirit realm therapy Tai Lung did, him bowing to Po does feel very OOC. Nitpicking further, why was Shen brought back anyway? The Chameleon presumably doesn't know who Po is and Shen isn't a kung fu master. With the exception of the fanservice route, this choice only makes sense if the Chameleon was aware of Shen's actions in Gongmen and thought his level of evil would fit her vibe.

Nitpicking aside, there was so much opportunity for Po to confront his villains again and have a deep, serious moment with them. Whether either side likes it or not, they're reunited for a short amount of time. Why not capitalize on this great opportunity?

Speaking of the villain, so much untapped potential. Her design is great, her abilities are really cool, and Viola Davis does a good job voicing her. So why doesn't she get to do more? Imagine a really cool fight sequence where Po confronts her, but she shifts so much that it begins to mess with his head. Or she transforms into the older villains and Po is caught off guard? Instead, we get half the climax spoiled for us in the trailer. What was really cool about the other three was that we got multiple fight scenes with them to showcase their abilities. Thus, the final battle dialed it up to an 11 and we got a truly epic finale. Here, it feels like there should've been more, but there wasn't. Even her backstory feels lacking. It's there... but only surface level. Even Shen, arguably the cruelest of them all, had nuance and depth.

Also, why couldn't we get more of the Furious Five outside of a glorified cameo? Tigress and Po friendship is truly amazing.

As much as the jokes miss, there are some good bits. Shifu trying to deal with Po's shenanigans always crack me up. I also like the bit where Po tries to meditate and his thoughts get in the way. Because hey guess what, that's what my head is like and it's really freaking hard to quiet it down. So, there's that. I just wish the writers didn't feel like they had to insert jokes in almost every line of dialogue, you know? Li and Ping dad adventures are great except half the lines are jokes about how worried they are for Po or how not tough they are. Why not have a deeper conversation? I think it would make everything feel more natural.

I also wish Po himself was a tad more mature. I'm not expecting Shifu or Tigress levels of seriousness, but I felt that he kinda was a bit too childish. Po is one of those characters who loves to have fun, but knows when he has to be serious. However, he also likes to lighten things up with comedy. In this movie, it felt like he only really leaned into the comedy side of things. He had his moments, but I'll be honest, I really missed the "the only thing that matters is what you choose to be now" levels of dialogue. The proverb joke got old real fast, ok?

Grace Randolph from Beyond the Trailer described this movie as episodic and I can see it. The story bits are very segmented between the villain, heroes, and Po's dads. The flow and pacing of this film really needed to be upgraded.

Ok, that's all I got for now. I'm sure I'll think of something else to say (aside from encouraging everyone to rewatch KFP 2 because I'll never get enough of that film).

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Hunt The Sky

Hello friends! It's been a Hot Minute since I've done one of these (6 months, in fact), but finally we're back with a super cool and complex video to talk about!

(If you wanna see my other Voiceplay Visuals posts, go HERE, and if you missed my musical breakdown of Hunt The Sky, go HERE)

Hunt The Sky was released on the 13th of June, 2025 (or the 14th of June if you live in Australia or New Zealand, like myself), and was not only arranged by Layne, but also co-written by him! He and Tony Wakim (former VoicePlay member and co-owner of Pattycake Productions, together with Layne) wrote Hunt The Sky as VoicePlay's first ever original song! (Well, I'm pretty sure they have at least one original Christmas song, and they had some originals back when they were 4:2:Five, but this is their first proper original in many years, and the first to get a music video!). And who else could they invite to collab for their first proper original than J None, who's basically still an honorary member anyway? (And hopefully, one day, might join the group permanently again?)

There are some other credits in the description to acknowledge - Layne, for example, is also credited with creative direction and editing - but I shall leave the rest for within the post itself! So without further ado, Let's Get Into This!!!

Dragon Counter: 1 (Yes, I've decided to count how many dragons are seen in this video, because while not).

Shoutout to Eli for once again being the tech wizard that he is, and creating all the cool visual effects for this video! He used Unreal Engine, which is the same computer program that he used for My Mother Told Me and for Valhalla Calling, but honestly this is some of his best work yet imo. Like damn, he can do all this, and do lighting design/lighting tech, and sing????

I love that it even got the detail right of the dragon's pupil contracting/getting thinner as it opens its eye, before then dilating slightly.

(More below cut!)

Dragon Counter: three 2

What a freaking CHOICE it was to have Geoff be the very first person we see and hear in this song. Like goddamn they're pulling no punches!

Behind Geoff, we have a body of water illuminated by an Aurora Borealis, (certainly nicer than the background he had for My Mother Told Me!), and off to the right, there's a viking ship, which maybe has a fire on it, so either a viking funeral ship, or simply a ship which has caught on fire from a dragon attack.

Dragon Counter: 4

Also in regards to the dragon flying in the background behind Geoff in the previous shot, I like that the video also adds in the sound effect of the dragon flapping its wings as it comes closer to the foreground, just to make it that extra bit immersive!

Well there's definitely some fire in Cesar's shot!

In the background is a small village, and behind that I believe is a fjord? I can see some mountains and a bit of water where some ships are.

Does that coat look familiar? It should! It's now been worn by every current permanent member of VoicePlay! (Yes, I am in fact going to make a post dedicated to it at some point). Layne wore this coat (with the embroided arm cuff and the thin fluffy grey trim going down) in both My Mother Told Me and Valhalla Calling, as his appearance was pretty much identical between those two videos, but now the coat has been handed off to Cesar! (But he does also appear to be wearing an extra fur cloak thing on top of it)

Additionally, the dark grey glossy "chestplate" thing is I think something that J wore in Valhalla Calling and My Mother Told Me?

(If you want side-by-side comparisons of everyone's appearances in the three VoicePlay viking videos, see my photo collage HERE!)

Lots of water in the background here! In fact it even kinda looks like it could be the same body of water as seen in Cesar's background, but just further down the way.

Dragon Counter: 5

Dragon Counter: 6 (I like this one as it gives me Night Fury vibes (yes I'm a HTTYD fan, and an animation loyalist/purist specifically!))

And again you can hear sounds of the dragon flying through the air! (Pretty sure it's not on the main audio track, and thus I'm talking about it here instead).

Also I just realized now that these shots (dragon-Layne-dragon) are fully on beat, which is cool!

No water to be found here, but there's fire both in the foreground and in the background!

I like the blue colour of Eli's tunic(?) - immediately made me think of Astrid ngl

(Shoutout to Tony for costuming btw)

I also actually kinda like how Eli's left foot is partially obscured by a small rock, and his right foot is hidden entirely by a large one that he's standing behind! It adds a bit of extra "depth" to the scene!

Fun fact: 11 days before Patrons received Hunt The Sky, we were given a sneak peek image, but the screenshot only showed close-up images (head to torso) of J, Cesar, and Eli. No backgrounds were shown, and no shot of Geoff or Layne either. Honestly it was probably for the best - we would have lost our dang minds had we seen what Geoff looked like ahead of time 😂

Us Patrons who get to watch monthly webchats did know that there was an arm tattoo involved (Geoff told us how much of a pain it was to fully remove), and so I was excited to see what it was, and boy it didn't disappoint! It's an incredible design, but man oh man it would be such a pain if somebody were planning to make fanart based on this video! (*cough cough*)

Also this is the most facial hair we've seen Geoff have in a VoicePlay video, and the most natural facial hair he's had for any video! (i.e., that ain't fake!) It makes sense - of course a fearsome, rugged viking man wouldn't be clean-shaven! (As much as I think Geoff looks very nice in Valhalla Calling ^^;) (Geoff was quite keen to shave as soon as he could after he was done filming his parts though - the beard was apparently driving him a little crazy, lol)

Dragon Counter: 7 (and again, a bit of dragon noises here!)

You can't see any water in the background here, but you can see a boat, so I'm assuming that there is in fact water back there (and hey! no fire!). But another cool thing about his background is that in some shots, there are flashes of lightning in the top right area where the clouds are!

I just realised that J's shoes are actually just regular black boots (and very shiny ones at that), but they're just partially covered by the furry leg warmer thingies (which kinda look like the same ones that Eli also wears in this video, and in fact absolutely could be the same pair, as everyone's parts were done one-by-one, so no two people were in full costume at one time).

Also goddamn how many different fur coats/cloaks have VoicePlay worn for different videos? Excluding That Specific Coat(tm), I'm not sure if there's any fur thing that has ever been reworn by anyone!

I'm not really sure what the proper term is, but I love the design at the front of the wide "belt" thing that J's wearing. It's got dragons (or at least some sort of serpent creatures) on it, and then Nordic runes around the border of it!

In terms of appearances, the thing that's remained most consistent with the guys across the three videos (or two, in Cesar's case), is their makeup, but particularly for J and Cesar. As usual, Rick Underwood was credited with makeup design, but he wasn't actually the one applying the makeup on set this time! That credit goes to a woman by the name of Alexis Rios, according to the video description. I was surprised to not see him at all in the BTS video for this, and to see someone else doing the makeup instead, but I think I've heard that he's been employed by Universal Studios to help with the new Epic Universe theme park? So that's definitely pretty cool. And hey, Alexis did a great job! Totally nailed the assignment!

I can't really capture it in still images, but this is a cool moment that I wanna talk about regardless. On the first "no rest till we hunt the sky" There's a shot of Cesar, starting to raise his left hand, and then there's a shot of Geoff, raising his left hand from a slightly higher position, like continuing the same motion!

(56 seconds in and already at 13 pictures!)

Dragon Counter: 7 (I also quite like this shot!)

Dragon Counter: 8 (and a fire-breathing one this time!)

Oh and yes, elephant in the room: Layne has long hair extensions in this video! Somehow it has not changed Layne's appearance whatsover, at least not to my brain/eyes 😅

Dragon Counter: 9

I'm no weapons expert, but it's probably not the safest or the most effective method to hold an axe so close to the blade, right? Also I've heard of dual-wielding swords, but dual-wielding axes? Is that actually a thing? It doesn't seem very practical, but I guess it looks cool, if nothing else (though there've definitely been Patrons joking about how most of guys look like they've never handled a weapon in their life 😂)

I wanted at least one shot of all five of them together in this post, and I like how in this video, the order that they're all shown in doesn't always stay the same! And usually the person who's doing the lead vocals at the current moment is put in the middle if they have all 5 of them on screen!

(And by sheer luck/coincidence, this positioning/lineup order is identical to the thumbnail for My Mother Told Me, except with Cesar instead of Jose of course)

The first time I saw this, the reaction my brain had was basically just "!!!!!!!"

I think back to my Voiceplay Visuals for Seven Nation Army, where I said that I would've loved to see Geoff swinging his sledgehammer at stuff (well I called it a bat, but y'know). This is a totally different vibe, and totally different look for Geoff, but hey, I'll certainly take it!

(Fun fact: he actually threw his axe at Layne! (Layne was holding up like a pillow I think? (or a board) to protect his face, so he was fine, and it's just a prop axe, obviously)

Oh and the sound in the video of Geoff throwing the axe is not actually a stock sound effect! Layne couldn't find a sound that suited what he was looking for, so he just... did it himself! Y'know, as you do! (He also did a couple of the sound effects in Valhalla Calling)

Imo, a world where dragons exist is a world where a B0 subharmonic is fully audible to the human ear*, and in that world, if I heard something like that come out of someone looking like this, I'd probably start running away very quickly, or at least hope to gods that I wasn't an enemy of his!

*(very low subharmonics are often very quiet sounding without any microphone usage and/or post-production editing. It's not really a skill issue or anything like that, it's just physics of sound waves and stuff, combined with our hearing limitations).

Dragon Counter: 12

Eli: "Hey Layne how many dragons do you want in this video?" Layne: "Yes."

Dragon Counter: 13

Shoutout to Layne btw - of course everyone killed it with the acting in this, and Layne's always been great at doing "crazy eyes", but I reckon he really stepped up the fearsome-ness vibe for himself in this video compared to MMTM and Valhalla Calling 😁

Fabulous cloak toss!

(Cesar was also brilliant with the character acting in this - 10/10 no notes 👌)

Cesar doesn't just have red on his forehead btw; it's also partially on his ears! (And apparently it took quite some time and effort to fully be removed!) (It's kinda funny because red is also Cesar's "Grundel" colour!)

(Oh and I like the use of "shaky cam" during parts of this video for extra impact!)

Final Dragon Count: 14

A great ending shot honestly

And that's Hunt The Sky! Y'know this year I've been thinking about how I've just been waiting for a 2025 VoicePlay cover to really come and fully blow me away and knock me off my feet, and well, I got one! I found it! Boy did they ever deliver!

Honestly this is gonna be hard to beat in terms of my favourite VoicePlay cover for 2025. Like unless they do another Disney song cover this year (*cough* Gaston *cough*), this might easily remain in my top spot for the rest of the year. And hey, I'll let you in on a little secret: this is not the last VoicePlay original planned! We might not get another till like 2026 maybe. idk, but we will definitely get at least one or two more at some point!

Anyway, here's hoping I get to do at least one more Voiceplay Visuals post before the year is out, because these take A While to make, sure, but they're also really fun to do! So until next time! 👋

[frownyalfred]

Hey howdy! I'm working on a project about superhero omegaverse statistics and wondering how you designate someone an alpha vs omega, etc. In your fics you have a wide range of characters' dynamics and interactions with their secondary genders. It is very cool!

Some prompts: How influenced are you by who you're planning to pair them with, vs their individual attributes? Would you say a character's visual appearance/suit affects how you perceive them? What is the defining trait you look to when figuring out whether someone will be an alpha? How does masculinity vs femininity play a role in your choices? What do you like best about the omegaverse?

Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts, but no pressure to reply if you don't want to! Ive attached two graphs here for some context: one looking at Bruce's categorization, and the other looking at the link between suit colours & masculinity & secondary genders.

What a fascinating project!! Thank you for asking me.

How influenced are you by who you're planning to pair them with, vs their individual attributes? Generally I choose the dynamic from attributes and write the pairings from there. The obvious exception is superbat, which is an interesting one for me. I love writing almost exclusive Omega!Bruce/Alpha!Clark but I actually read a ton of Alpha/Alpha superbat, as well as Omega!Clark.

For example, Lex in ASOH was always an omega in my mind, regardless of any plans to pair him off at a later date. I've found that both Clark and Bruce share attributes that make them both interesting and complicated alphas or omegas. A lot of them are tied up in their perceptions of themselves, as well as the public's perception of their identities/secret identities. I will say that Bruce's public Brucie persona and his Batman persona lend themselves very well to the duality of what the public assumes omegas are, versus what omegas want to be -- or can be. I also think his bonds with family/pack lose a bit of complexity when they're reduced to him being a possessive or strict alpha over a pack.

Would you say a character's visual appearance/suit affects how you perceive them? Sometimes! I think the tendency to slap an alpha label on all big, bulky guys is funny, because in ASOH I've been doing almost entirely the opposite -- all of the big bulky guys (except Clark) are omegas! I like flipping those long-standing fic tropes on their heads.

But yes, I am no exception to this trend either. I think the more interesting question is, is this trend exclusive to alpha/omega dynamics? Or do we also classify betas this way too? Dick is a beta in several batfam fics I've read -- is this just because he's a little smaller/slimmer than Jason, etc? Or is it because of characteristics he holds that we attribute to betas (calm, reassuring, playing peacekeeper, etc)?

What is the defining trait you look to when figuring out whether someone will be an alpha? I'm not sure there's just one. I think most characters can be written convincingly as different kinds of alphas. But generally, presence is one trait that comes to mind -- when they want to. if they want to -- are they able to take up a room with sheer aura alone? Do people look to them for advice and direction? Are they self-confident and strongly-motivated? Do you want to bop them on the head every now and then because they're being a little ridiculous?

How does masculinity vs femininity play a role in your choices? There's been a lot of dialogue in fandom and fanon about the feminization of certain characters in pairings because of/related to omegaverse. I try my best to challenge those longstanding trends or biases when I see them pop up in my work. One example of this is use of gender neutral words for omegas who are having pups -- I started using "carrier" instead of "mom/mama" because I think allowing male omegas to retain their masculinity in pregnancy is important (if desired). Otherwise we reduce child carrying to something inherently feminine, which, especially in the omegaverse, is simply untrue.

What do you like best about the omegaverse? It's a great way to challenge ideas about gender in new and interesting scenarios. With the inclusion of instincts and heats/ruts, there's also a lot of forced proximity and decisions made under shades of duress. There's a lot of space there to explore sexuality and the socialization of genders IRL and in universe. How much of what we do truly is instinctual or biological? How much of it is simply how we were raised/raise our own children? Is reproduction truly the end all be all of a person? What happens when we buck society's expectations and forge our own path forward? How can we better foster non-sexual relationships and bonds between family and friends?

[personwithatophat]

Tophat notices a tiny insignificant detail and rants about it

im nothing if not a theorist of the people. Anyways! if i only have a week left to make TSE theories then why dont we break down something a bit less chatted for! The Posters! most of the posters have cool details to them, or theory potential that doesnt quite break the records but has more then a few times been evidence to theories so why not just do a formal breakdown of them now. this ones got a lot of pictures Ep 3 poster

couple of basic things for this. a concept thats used for alot of Gen 1 is the use of red and green. in this case its red and green light on his legs. it can also be seen on the TFC promo photos for 'Again', the Ep2 trailer, a handful of different scenes, and also on other posters! the other thing cool about the ep 3 poster is how its a direct mirror of the last and first time we see The Hero.

this was the first time we see The Hero from its similarly named youtube promo piece, and at the time there was even theory that he has blood on his hands. Ep 2 poster

The ep 2 poster, im actually here for the posing. its the beginning warehouse shot, but awake and staring off into the middle distance. I have a theory that this image is actually ranboo in idle. We see on a few occasions that actors or employees not in use get 'paused' in place where they can be managed by the production team and dont really perceive time passing. But at the start of every episode we also see ranboo coming out of idle from TV static. The VHS player in the cabin turns off and ranboo wakes up, the TV Puzzler uses turns off and he wakes up, Hetch's several screen pointing at where ep 2 ends, its a consistent case. ranboo thinks that TSE happened over the course of maybe a day and a half, not over the course of a week. The ep1 trailer shows ranboo staring blankly at the TV in the cabin and i think this poster is the same thing. Ep 1 poster

this poster is a bunch of cool tiny details wrapped together and i love it, this is the poster i own. so heres four cool things 1- hes facing the 4th wall but looking directly away from it. 2- this flashlight is on set but he never uses it, instead during the show he shines it in his eyes between audience choices in the basement several times. 3- its designed to look weathered, spirit of the cabin was based off of old horror and its designed like its been sitting in an attic for 50+ years. 4- on the website the poster is right but on physical copies charlie is credited as "Smilecicle" VHS

im deciding to count this one which is on the genloss twitter, based on how even if its not for purchase, this is a poster. its weathered like the Ep 1 poster, and incorporates green light beaming from it on the ground like other works. All of the posters are representative of their episodes but also show direct changes or discrepancies. For Ep1, there was never an involvement of the flashlight. Ep 2 started by him waking up instead of straight from idle. The Ep 3 poster has him standing idle as the final showing instead of restrained (which was actually made into finished concept art before getting scraped to avoid poster spoilers). And finally the founders glove in the poster is more visually appealing in red but the first time we see the founders collection the gloves were black. Least to say, attention to detail is cool and so is @kertoir who made all of this. Theory Time Before Founders Game!! -Tophat p.s. the list of VHS codes is still being updated daily on my page and i plan to continue that :)