#its frustrating lmao

[gh0stbreath]

🪱🪱What the Sylvworm doing?🪱🪱

[twilights-800-cats]

hey there! hope you're well.

I agree with you about the Leopardstar SE, but I think there's plenty room to have Onewhisker in his SE. There's little known about WindClan right before TPB, which would have been Onekit era, and some insight on Onewhisker in WC's exile and his relationship with the kittypets and Fireheart specifically would be cool, especially the moment he decided to do an 180 on Firestar.

Honestly i was just hoping for Onewhisker being overall a bit two-faced all along and shedding his "sweeter" side once he became leader but overall still putting on an act his whole life to hide the haunting shame of his past, a guy trying to convince himself every step of the way that this is for the best and firmly trying to ignore his prior life. Maybe even realizing that the only reason Tallstar picked him at all was because he was Fire's friend, and realizing how much he resented Fire all along because he was a heroic kittypet that proved him all wrong about Smoke and their son.

It might all be wishful thinking that it didn't all boil down to misogyny AGAIN for no reason.

Except the authors and editors decided not to show those portions of the story - what we got pre-tBP was important, sure; we needed to establish Onewhisker's relationship to the kittypets and Twolegplace - but the SE did this at the cost of skipping over the arguably just as important Clan/kittypet relationship of Onewhisker and Firestar, which might've done more to flesh out Onewhisker's worries about allowing kittypets into the Clans.

Instead we got like, three total paragraph's worth of content regarding him and Smoke, and Onewhisker and Whitetail stuff that was really unnerving.

It makes his 180 on Firestar come out of literal nowhere. You get one paragraph where Onewhisker admires Firestar, and then chapters later they're enemies. There's no context given through actual in-text events, just narration.

It's an interesting idea that Tallstar made Onewhisker leader because of his friendship with Firestar. It could've increased the bitterness - not being chosen for your own merits, but because you happen to be chummy with Tallstar's friend. If that was an angle they took, it'd be really cool.

Onestar, I think, has a really interesting personality. He's, dare I say, one of the most character characters in the series as a whole. That makes writing a book solely about him difficult, I think, because the Erins can't resist making the narrative bend over backwards to apologize for a character's actions when they're in the forefront for too long.

I said in my initial thoughts for the story that Onestar being a scumbag is fine, and a good thing; but giving him too much space in a book to do anything had the Erins making up excuses for him left and right and that's... not good! It makes him seem really inconsistent and mishandles what could've been a cautionary tale about how lying to everyone you know is really bad, actually.

For another example, if Mapleshade's Vengeance had been a full-length SE, I just don't think it would've hit as hard, because the events would've been stretched out too long and the Erins would've been tempted to excuse her actions. MV is a short, tragic story told by an unreliable narrator and it's great.

They could've cut out most of the rehashed content and ended up with a much tighter, more put-together story. Maybe not novella length, but certainly not a bloated SE. Anyone interested in Onestar's character would've gotten to that point by reading tPB > AVoS anyway.

Putting all that stuff in there took time away from the more important parts of the story, what was arguably the point of it to begin with. By the time you hit the AVoS portions you're bored and you kind of just want it to end, especially when they ruin the surprise of Onestar not knowing who Darktail was.

Not to mention the whole prophecy they had to stick in there for some reason. From the Tribe of all groups - not even StarClan. The Tribe. It's just padding.

I think this story was desperately in need of revision and refocusing, maybe even shelving until they could make something better, more worthy of the time an SE would take up. Or they could stuff it into a novella or comic and be done with it.

I think Darktail was a lot more deserving of the spotlight. We still could've seen Onewhisker being a scumbag, and through Darktail's perspective (if he was a character that didn't start out evil as a baseline) it could be very effective. Not only that, but a Darktail story would at least dare to give us some new information without retconning old stuff lmao, something these SEs just seem allergic to lately.

Onewhisker is a character that's worth exploring in more detail, but they fumbled the ball on LH and dropped it entirely here, which is a huge shame. They're going too far, and telling the same story over and over again, worse and worse each time.

As for the misogyny... it's baked in at this point. Whether the Erins and editors realize it or not, these books have foundational problems, and unless those problems are examined and dealt with properly, they'll keep cropping up.

[lokh]

i'm a sucker for the earring exchange trope

[royalarchivist]

A 100% accurate representation* of what would've happened if Cellbit had recruited the rest of the Favela 5 to help him infiltrate the Federation to save Felps.

(Inspired by this post)

[lunarin64art]

That feeling when he can't stand to see you that way, no matter what you do, no matter what you say😩😭💔

[ef-1]

tapping the "do you even like Lewis or do you just like shipping him with a white man" sign

[guardian-angle22]

911 Lone Star -> S4E8 | TK & Carlos Exchanging Looks

[woennix]

every single time i hear slimecicle sing i understand the feeling of being mad at someone's talent bc wdym this man is funny, talented, has good improv, witty, is handsome, a good person, good at acting/roleplay, creating stories, AND a good singer (without barely any training afaik)

[fob4ever]

I'LL be evil i’ll take one for the team. what the actual fuck is mcr doing. its literally such a disservice to their fans to operate like this without like ANY communication... leaving people guessing and wondering for like 4 years now. and yes obviously they can do whatever they want theyre MCR but at a certain point it just feels so hollow and weird. how dare you an avid fan who's dropped >$500 on tickets directly funding their children's college tuition DARE pry or even ASK about the future of your favorite band after theyve "come back" from the break. for 4 years now. nurse please!

[freakurodani]

The parallel between Sokka and Tenzin as their fathers' sons.

Sokka, left at 13 as his father and all the other men head off to war. Hakoda tells him "being a man is knowing where he's needed the most" and he needs to protect his sister, his home.

Tenzin is the second airbender. He is also half water tribe, he's a man. When Aang dies, he will be the last airbender. He understands what he needs to do.

Untold amount of pressure and responsibility have been thrust upon them by their fathers. Though, I believe it is not all intentional, but the unfortunate circumstance of being the fathers of sons who take responsibility incredibly seriously.

In Sokka's case, "protect your sister" is a vague instruction. It was meant to give him purpose, to help him feel okay about being left behind, He is too young for war, his father does not want to bring his child to slaughter. But Sokka will die with purpose. He will train the children of his tribe so they will be protected, he will face a fire nation ship until his last breath. He cannot go to war, but Hakoda did not see that war was all around them. In trying to give Sokka purpose, Hakoda put their world on his shoulders.

We do not get to see Aang be a father (in the TV shows), but we know he had hopes for the future. All his children were air nomads, and the air acolytes brought his culture back, but Tenzin could bend. This part of their culture is one ONLY they share. I do not think Aang would hide this, he is joyous that he gets to share his culture. When he feels respected, he always is, he taught the air acolytes after all. Off handedly, he could say, "I'm hopeful for a future where there are lots more air benders," and that, which feels mostly innocuous to him, is the nail in the coffin of Tenzin's fate. He is Avatar Aang's son, and the future of the air benders. It would not matter that Aang meant a future in generations. Tenzin sees the responsibility and it's his. He is his father's only air bending child, he knows what he needs to do.

Being a parent is not understanding the way the things you say harm your children. Even those things that feel innocuous in the moment can be life altering. Especially the more the child respects the parent. Purpose and Hope for those with a broader perspective, can be death sentences to a life that could have been when expressed to those who idolize the former.

[cynicallyneutral]

kokomi, watching me pull on her banner the 77th time, with 0 intention of coming home

[ganondoodle]

saw an older post from @golvio talking about miasma in totk (engl gloom..) and mentioned miasma RAIN

and it just kidna lead me to think up more stuff for the game that would have been so logical and cool as hell

if you have played kingdom two crowns, its basically about building a kingdom and defeating some weird goo monsters (idk the lore that well unfortunately) that spawn through portals each night, and once you destroy a portal there will be a bloodmoon night in which they attack wayy stronger

so what if instead of the bloodmoon being only that one cutscene to respawn enemies and clear cache, what if the whole night was coated in a red glow with the bloomoon looming over you the entire time and the cool ass cloud moving super fast effect from botw, with monsters spawning en masse, maybe even unique ones that arent seen anywhere else- or maybe rarely underground, this red night being the only time they will be able to spawn on the surface and the sky- NPCs running to hide and barricade themselves (so the outpost in front of hyrule castle actually has .. a function) and it beign an actual danger to you as well miasma rain being a possible special weather condition either happenign only during those bloodmoon nights or perhaps a few nights in advance to subtly warn you about whats to come soon, with the rains effects being that it slowly takes your health like acid rain if you stand in it for too long, and rarely a bloodmoon enemy spawning already, to give you a clear taste and warning of the coming night, they could form from the puddles building up from the rain!!

once the sun rises it will all calm down, maybe with a tiny cutscene using the good ol sunrise music from ww and showing people opening the gates of the towns again to transition the game from that event to a reset version again

it wouldnt just serve to make the gameplay and world more alive it would also help the narrative (not going into the HUGE problems i have with it in the canon game again) it would actually make it FEEL like you are living in a world on the brink of being swallowed by miasma and mosnters- botw was a looming threat in the background, with the security of zelda keeping it at bay but it still was there and in tone with the theme of the game (cough cough unlike some other newer game)- it would only make sense to then make totk be one where you actualy live through the catastrophe and try to find out its roots and help adress the core issue bC GODDAMN WHAT A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY IT WAS TO CONTINUE THE SUBLTE BUILD UP FROM BOTW INTO A MUCH MORE NUANCED AND INTERESTING STORY TO F-

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

MRS. PIGGY HAS AN UGLY SWEATER! I REPEAT: MRS. PIGGY HAS AN UGLY SWEATER!

it's baggy in the wrong places and overall Not Very Good! but that's to be expected seeing as i've never crocheted a sweater before, let alone one for a stuffed animal (and i had to kinda bullshit the pattern, seeing as it was made for a more proportional/bigger aminal). i'm proud of it. she looks nice and cozy for the coming winter months

[sexygaywizard]

Literally unironically seen some posts like "wow the no fly list seems pretty islamophobic I can't believe this was happening" girl what world have you been living in

[teardew]

drew over something from june 2017

[chaos0pikachu]

So @doyou000me sent me an ask about the film making of Love for Love's Sake (which I have learned is based on a novel and now I'm very interested in reading it lol) so having watched the currently available episodes the big thing I noticed was the shows use of Aspect Ratio.

"In simple terms, the aspect ratio of a movie is how wide the frame of the movie is versus how tall it is, usually expressed as a ratio. For example, most TVs and computer monitors are 1.77:1 (more often expressed on consumer packaging as 16:9), which means the screen itself is 1.77 times as wide as it is tall. The higher the first number in this ratio is, the wider the screen will be." (source)

I know, nerd math.

Basically you know those black bars you sometimes see on the top and bottom of the screen when watching a film or tv show? That's a director filming in a specific aspect ratio:

(source)

Film makers use aspect ratios in a ton of ways, there's a lot of examples out there from Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino), and Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan) where the former used aspect ratio to invoke the film making style of old westerns, while Nolan used a taller aspect ratio for fight/action scenes to give the scene more physical impact.

A recent example that I've seen that I think applies really well to Love for Love's Sake is Marry My Husband:

See how the first scene has black bars above and below? The director is using a different aspect ratio than in the second shot (these are both taken from ep01). What does this signify in the story?

Flashbacks. Flashbacks in Marry My Husband are always filmed in a different aspect ratio than scenes in the "present" storyline of the show. Perfect Marriage Revenge also uses aspect ratios this way.

Love for Love's Sake does something similar but instead of flashbacks it uses aspect ratio to denote between "worlds".

The game world is filmed in a longer aspect ratio than the "real" world which is filed in a different ratio (not a standard full screen but it does have a taller ratio than the game world):

This, so far, has been consistent in the four episodes that are out. We have another return to the "real" world in I believe ep03 and we see this same aspect ratio dynamic.

Another thing I noticed is the "real" world's color saturation is much higher and warmer than the "game" world, but it's also (ironically) much more enclosed - this could honestly be a story choice or a budget issue - and boxed in. Something I don't see discussed a lot in terms of cinematography in BL is the use of Lines and Shapes in film and how they add to the composition of a shot.

I really like this video on the subject though it focuses mostly on animation it's still relevant:

Now if you look at the "real" world scene in Love for Love's Sake we see that the protagonist, before we even know who he is, or anything about him, is in a highly saturated room, warmly lit, but also boxed in:

The warmer saturation denotes a sense of intimacy, which makes sense in a bar setting, but the boxed in frame around him gives us a sense of tightness, tension even, maybe a sense that he feels trapped. We later learn through dialogue he's unhappy with his life and unhappy with the way the novel story he read has played out.

Then, when the scene transitions into the "game" world, the protagonist is in a different aspect ratio, the color grading is now more desaturated and has a higher blue hue to it, the character is also in an open space and filmed front forward facing instead of from behind:

This all works well because the audience knows, even before the character does, they are in another "world" and its very different from their own. It creates to specific aesthetics which help set the worlds apart from one another.

For more on color theory, this is one of my favorite videos on the topic which has more to do with like, hue and saturation rather than "the blue curtains mean xyz" which is a singular and narrative heavy way to focus on color theory instead of how color adds to the tone, emotion, and world building of a piece of media.

I think the first episode of Love for Love's Sake is the best filmed of the episodes so far, the budget starts to chip away in other episodes but I do want to give them their roses b/c they do work within their budget well. There's a lot of interesting visuals used especially with the game pop ups that I really like, and some nice camera work. The editing is a bit weak at times but there's been some good choices too.

I also really liked the scene with Yeo Woon running and how his feet lit up and how that aligned with his affection points going up. The editing for that was well done.

So yeah, those are my film making thoughts on the show for now lol

Check out other posts in the series:

Film Making? In My BL? - The Sign ep01 Edition | Aspect Ratio in Love for Love's Sake | Cinematography in My BL - Our Skyy2 vs kinnporsche, 2gether vs semantic error, 1000 Stars vs The Sign | How The Sign Uses CGI

[like these posts? drop me a couple pennies on ko-fi]