#maybe i have a different taste in character designs than others idk

[ro-botany]

There are a number of "features" Fire Emblem and various other works in the anime/manga style used to denote unattractiveness/ugliness, Validar has almost all of them even without the grey skin and no good guy in Fire Emblem: Awakening has even half as many "ugly" features as Validar.

Even outside of anime, Validar looks like Disney's Jafar, whom is directly stated to be ugly. Even Japanese sites notice the resemblance and "Jafar" is a nickname for Validar or Fauder in that part of the fandom.

Fire Emblem is very much into "ugly people are evil" and "beautiful face equals beautiful heart even if its well hidden at first", with Awakening being even more on the nose about it than other Fire Emblem games.

Even the official 4Komas for Awakening crack jokes about Validar's ugliness, so I disagree that Validar was designed as attractive.

Besides if Validar was attractive we know he would've been recruitable in spotpass content.

Ok, I think there was a slight misreading of my previous answer, so let me split this one up into more obviously delineated sections.

Re: the game's character design trends:

Yeah, Fire Emblem does have a problem with designing their villain characters to have "ugly" features. It's a major ongoing flaw of the series. And it's particularly egregious with Validar purely due to the contrast between his design and Robin's. I wish these games would cut that shit out, I truly do.

If they didn't look so different it would be so much better. Make Robin look a little more like their dad! Give them a darker skin tone and adopt some of Validar's features, like the thinner face and higher cheekbones. Make them look related, and don't make the good guy white and the bad guy brown gray, and it wouldn't fix Awakening's shitty character design trends but it would help a fucking lot with Validar specifically.

We agree on this point, anon. It's also something that has already been condemned at length in the circles I run in. Like. This Has Been Talked About.

Re: the spotpass recruits:

Walhart is recruitable. Like, I understand the point you're trying to make, but Walhart is at first glance an even more stark example of the Villains Are Ugly phenomenon, and you can recruit Walhart in the spotpass content. You can marry him with Robin, even.

I think the reason Validar isn't recruitable is more about the fact that he's not only been vaporized on screen by endgame, he's also the second-to-final villain in the game, the guy who jammed a lightning sword in Chrom's kidneys, and Robin's abusive dad. I don't think the Shepherds would WANT to recruit him even if he was available for recruit.

Opinion rooted in personal taste:

Even with all their attempts to make Validar physically ugly, in spite of how shitty the design intent there is, there's a shockingly small amount of changes you would have to make to his design to make him a good looking character imo. Especially when compared to other Awakening villains like Walhart or Excellus.

Seriously. The dude's built like a high fantasy elf, that's not an inherently unattractive body type. Give him a skin tone that makes him look like an alive human, give him back his eyebrows, tell him to stop squinting 24/7 and turn off the eerie underlighting, make that one wrinkle on his forehead a bit less ridiculous, and you've got a pretty aesthetically pleasing older guy right there. Bonus points if you give him a more flattering hairstyle than whatever the hell his hair is doing by default.

Here, look, I even went to the trouble of editing one of his warriors sprites to show you what I mean, in both original eyeshadow and slightly more chill eyeliner flavours.

Like yeah he's not a Standard Pretty Anime Boy(tm) but he's like 2 inches away from being good looking, imo. You can't tell me that if he looked like this he wouldn't be a niche tumblr sexyman.

Shame he comes packaged with an absolute dogshit personality tho

[ohno-the-sun]

Spoiler heavy fnaf ruin dlc rant up ahead

I am so fucking proud of steal wool they really took every criticism from the original game and fixed it and even added more

Like Cassie actually acts like a human being?? And like her knowledge of the original characters and cute little comments on every item are so endearing there is so much detail going into this.

The fact that they expanded on one of the fan faves Roxanne and giving her a great arc I’m in love I’m so happy

They honestly gave more depth to all the animatronics too like we finally see Bonnie’s design and get and get a taste as to what happened, also that poster Freddy gifted him I’m crying they are so cute and gay I love them

😭😭😭

Also the whole dark ride section with Monty is so fascinating like is that narrative kind of true or is it just fabricated by fazbear inc to cover up the decommissioning of Bonnie

Why replace Bonnie with Monty?? Why not make a new Bonnie model?? With the prototype label on Freddy it may be confirmed that they make multiple models (well we already kinda knew that with Freddies comments but oh well)

Also Freddy?? Like is that our Freddy or a different one?? They very clearly highlighted the prototype label so they want to emphasize it, but then the head is still missing like in the princess quest ending so what is the truth??

Feel bad for chica fans tho she really was sidelined hard

Aaaaa and my baby boys!!! There’s 3 now aaahaga

I was really not expecting eclipse to be the way they were, very… normal? Is that the right word?? Like obviously a little delusional on when the daycare is gonna open again, but in the right mindset of like this child needs to leave this place is not safe. It is interesting to me that both he and Roxy thought that it was Cassie’s birthday, maybe that was the last day before she left the plex? Or maybe that was the day the plex caught fire? Or maybe most depressingly we are playing on Cassie’s birthday so the animatronics have it in their systems what her birthday is and wish her a happy one (if they are in the right state of mind lol)

Some peeps are upset moon is a little too villainous

I think you can still say it was mainly the virus but I would argue even if it’s not the virus I feel like moon is kinda justified here. Like sun has been shutting him away for a long time before this (if the books are to be believed but also in general) so when he finally gets a chance to roam free of course he’s gonna take it. And idk about u but if my alternate personality was constantly trying to shut me out and I finally got control, I probably too would try and keep my control for as long as possible. Also from what I have seen so far, not even moon is all that aggressive? Like he grabs you at the beginning, but I think that’s just his very ineffective way to get kids to sleep and other than that he just kinda stays away

Poor sunny baby is stuck in the ar world 🥺🥺 I didn’t notice at first but yeah everytime you talk to him it’s only in the ar world. And the end part where you switch them out for eclipse if you do that in the ar world, he says not for me it’s for moon.

I will say though I noticed the voice acting for them changed a little this game, like both have a higher pitch and are more goofy sounding? Like more gremlin energy than evil villainy. I wonder if that was on purpose? Both of them sounded more like the other so maybe that was the reason? Interest interest

Also their mouth moves?? Sort of?? That’s so silly to me they have a whole working mouth system and their face mask doesn’t work with at all 😭

Does give me lore intrigue tho cause like why do their mouths move but not anymore?? Did something happen?? Are they just not maintained enough?? They also move outward instead of up and down (at least from what I saw) so is the mechanism different?

Also the way that sun and moon talk about eachother is so interesting. Like moon says the light hurts “us” and sun says “no the other me” like they seem to almost consider eachother more connected than we first thought, like they’re not just coworkers or strangers they are almost like two sides of the same person. It’s very interesting and I wonder where people will take this.

Overall great job I’m so excited to comb through the game and find every little secret (especially regarding the dca) aaaa

Ok ok update moon does have a jump scare but it’s ridiculously hard to get and I’d still argue he’s not as vicious as he was base game. I mention in another post but eclipse being as kind as he is and being (presumably) a combination of both AIs, gives even more evidence moon is supposed to be kind and caring like his posters suggest but something went wrong. Also Cassie’s comments on their plushes show that there were kids who truly liked the daycare.

[fashion-runways]

Do you ever post things that you think are tacky, or do you try to only publish pieces and work that you admire? Like are you publishing just fashion that you like or trying to stay up to date on the fashion world, regardless of your feelings and taste? Thanks for running this even while you're going through a hard time right now 💜

kind of but not in a bad way? like there are a lot of collections that are tacky but fun or interesting, so ugly that it becomes interesting and weird and pretty. so, you know, yes but also not really. i post stuff that i like and stuff that i think my followers will like, i try to post variety so it's not all the same pretty princess dresses stuff and everyone can see something new or interesting or use stuff for their different characters not just the hyperfem red carpet gala looking ones, since i know a lot of people use this blog for art or writing references, but i'll never post something that i genuinely don't like or don't find cool. like if there's an ugly collection or a boring ass collection i'm not going to post it, even if i think some people might like it. i mean idk maybe im too full of myself because i genuinely think that if i think something is ugly or boring then everyone following me will too lmaoo but you know! there's a lot of stuff i post that i think looks cool and people really do not give a fuck, so there's that too.

i stay up to date, yes! i actually have a doc with all the links of every collection i want to post and i keep adding on as fashion week keeps happening, i check on a few sites and on instagram every day, i watch the shows on livestream if the designers do livestreams even, i just really love fashion lmao this blog is an outlet for that and a way for me to share what i love with people, hopefully show them fashion is more than just one thing and one style and one body shape and one popular designer and so on. idk, i have a billion things i want to post from the recent fashion weeks but my mouse kinda works like shit and i can't afford buying a new one right now, i have other things i have to pay, and i can use the pad in my laptop but it makes my hand hurt so i'm putting off making all the edits i want to make lmao i probably should soon, but i have enough things drafted still that i'm procrastinating that process. i'll give myself carpal tunnel eventually, i guess lmaooo

thanks for this question!! and for loving the blog!

[racketballz]

hi! I’m not sure if you are open to questions like these but I was wondering since your designs have changed over time, what was something new or deliberate you changed about the rrb and ppg designs that you didn’t have or maybe just changed before? like compared to your old character design sheets!

Okay so I will try to think because a lot of these are second nature so I forget ! A lot of these are because I know how to draw better also my taste has changed and I’m more uhh realistic??? Maybe LMFAO

BOOMERS design sheet is a lot more conceptual than he is like shapes and inspos because I was struggling with that at the beginning I think that I would say that I have his shapes down now on the other hand I think that all the other ones I just tweak stuff! He has a square jaw and droopy puppy eyes! There always something boomer is wearing that matches what’s bubbles is wearing it’s usually jewelry because it’s subtle he has the longest eyelashes and like pretty nice lips I think they’re like a little bigger than bricks but I think I make them around the same size (butch has the smallest) a lot of design choice when it comes to boomer because he was the last one I figured out to me it’s like filling in holes that I had available from his two brothers! Like boomer has a nice arms and actual butt

CURRENTLY in a stand off with butch his design has been pissing me off lately =_= I will say that in my he is a little skinnier than his was before a lot of the ~body modification~ weren’t originally on the sheet but that’s what happened (I also have a grasp on the exact type of clothes I put him in and stuff which I had no clue at the time I just kept putting him in a tank top) a lot of things have changed conceptually I feel like I have a lot of things going on with him idk I need to just do his first or soon or something 😭

Brick is p much the same uh brick is intentionally is wearing a lot of clothes at all times idk if that’s in the sheet also he he’s very drab and not flashy his color is read but I put him in like burgundy and tired aged looking tones that are closer to earth and clay(?) compared to like boomer and even butch sometimes! though this doesn’t help much considering his hair fuckin orange and his eyes are bright red LOL but he tries his best

Blossom is p much the same I really went in on hers so I have nothing else to add :) I think

Bubbles changes a couple of things her hair is like green in shadow idk if that’s on there I forget but it’s to bring the whole thing back to blue since she’s lacking in a lot of that in her undertones and stuff hmmmmmmmmmm her head shape is different and I think I said her eyes were down turned but they’re just big and bright now! I think with bubbles I want to see the whites of her eyes all the time I think originally too she was monolid but not anymore

Buttercup…I think her bangs are different! There’s probably other stuff but I feel like I tweak her the most but it’s like little stuff every time I can’t even tell LOL

[gunpowder-arti]

okay i will allow myself one (1) post about the suns pronoun discourse

god. okay. on the One Hand even their designer hcs them with he/they iirc but on the other hand it leaves a. bad taste in my mouth? i guess. and like... there's a difference between a he/they nonbinary person identifying with the character and projecting his identity onto them (which is completely valid !!) and someone just. seeing them as a guy but They're Totally Nonbinary I Swear. also like ... honestly i would be less iffy about it if anyone Ever hc'd them as using she/her. yknow? and it's like. Not to drag shipping into this but as i have Observed, people very much interpret sunstone as an mlm ship and depict it as such. and i just. man. i dont even know if i'm making sense with this but like

there's a difference between just hcing them with different pronouns than they use in-game and shoving them into the hole of Boy Nonbinary (tm) and honestly at this point i do not immediately trust that it's the former rather than the latter

maybe this is just because i come from the Trenches of hollow knight + utdr. idk. but anyways

if you insist on not they/themming them you could at least use a bit more variety i think. give them she/they or neopronouns it'd be good for you

[inmh01]

So I’m always happy to dunk on feminists who scream “SEXUALIZED!” at any woman who displays more traditionally feminine traits, because some of them think any women with a cup size larger than A is “sexualization” and frankly they are indiscernible to me from religious fundamentalists that think any sign of cleavage on a woman is inappropriate.

At the same time, what exactly is happening in your head when you think “a pair of faceless female robots with large breasts are inherently superior in design to other female video game characters because they get my dick wet” is a good tweet that doesn’t make you look like a weirdo?

I haven’t played Atomic Heart. IDK if the robots being sexualized is relevant to the plot or their character or not- nor do I care, because the devs can design their female characters however they like. Sexualize them all you want, I don’t care- sexy can be fun.

But conversely, devs do not have to make their female characters “sensual” or “feminine” to your tastes, because the defining factor of a good female character or their design is not if they get your dick wet.

IDK who the character on the bottom left is, so I can’t fact-check anything else about her character-design. But she doesn’t look masculine to me- she just looks like a woman with short-hair. And I shouldn’t have to tell anyone familiar with video games that a lot of devs are fond of finding ways to give women short (or very contained, like in braids or ponytails) hair so they don’t have to animate longer hair.

The top-right lady (Selene Vassos from Returnal) is modeled on this woman.

It’s a pretty close match. Are we now going to argue that her model isn’t feminine enough? Selene isn’t designed to be “sensual”, she’s designed in the same vein as Ellen Ripley: A female scifi action character who wears clothing that makes sense for her role. And yeah, those clothes aren’t always going to be particularly “feminine”, because that doesn’t make narrative sense.

Aloy is not meant to be “sensual” either, she is meant to be a post-apocalyptic warrior. Additionally, picking a deliberately awkward shot of her face from the State of Play trailer to downplay her femininity is a red flag that you’re not being intellectually honest. I’ve played this game: Aloy’s face is normal. Dude deliberately found a shot where her face looks weird because of the angle.

Also, you can get different outfits for her in-game. Some of them are less conservative than others and show off her body and curves more, but most all of them make sense in context for her to wear because they involve armor and animal hides.

And then of course we have the massive L of deliberately cherry-picking these four characters for bullshit reasons when I can just as easily post shots of Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters, Mia Winters, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield (all from Resident Evil), Kara, Chloe, and North from Detroit: Become Human, Julianna Blake from Deathloop, Elizabeth Comstock from BioShock: Infinite, Dani Nakamura from Callisto Protocol, Bayonetta, any of the female characters from Until Dawn or The Quarry, most of the female characters from Assassin’s Creed and Final Fantasy...

I don’t see him congratulating the Resident Evil team on making Lady D sexy (or maybe that was because thousands of other people beat him to it? I recall Lady Dimitrescu’s sexiness being relatively uncontroversial) or the Final Fantasy XV devs for giving Cindy big boobs and a revealing outfit.

You get my point, right? He specifically cherry-picked four characters (and within that, cherry-picked specific pictures of those characters) that are not overtly feminine in appearance when he literally had dozens of other options to pick from- but those options would disprove his point.

tl;dr bad twitter post, Feminist Frequency would be grudgingly proud of your cherry-picking skills my dude, and female character design does not and should not always revolve around whether or not it tickles your pickle.

[mauesartetc]

What do you think of characters that act the opposite of what they look like? Like a character who wear sweet lolita, but is shy and keep to their selves? Or maybe a character who dresses refind, but is brash and violent?

Idk why, but I just find it kinda fun cause its reverse expectations.

I think it puts a fun twist on things, but ideally a successful character design should convey some of that character's personality to the audience. It doesn't have to come through the clothing, but it could come through the pose and expressions.

A while back I answered an ask about Loona from Helluva Boss, mentioning that one way to make her characterization more interesting would be to give her a bubbly, cheery disposition that clashed with her gothic attire. Let's see how that would look.

Despite looking the same, this is clearly a different character. Reminds me of the Teen Titans body swap episode where Starfire switched places with Raven.

(Body swaps are a great way to practice drawing your own characters' mannerisms, by the way. If you can recognize who's occupying the other person's body through poses and expressions alone, you're doing great.)

So yeah, I guess clothing is a more accurate indicator of taste than personality. Personality can certainly influence taste, and of course there are other factors at play here, such as time period and occupation. But for the most part, personality becomes more evident through how the character behaves rather than what they wear.

[cannibalizedyke]

ever after high/monster high unpopular opinions

yeah idk i'm bored and in an eah/mh mood. deal with it (ily)

i prefer eah to mh. i'm sorry, i grew up with eah, and though Now i can really appreciate mh, i will always like eah more. tbh i think the story is a bit deeper and honestly better oops

i don't like toralei all that much. this one i'm scared about bc i know everybody Loves Her, but i just. idk. i don't Dislike her or anything i've just never liked her nearly as much as the other characters. and i don't love her design very much, it just doesn't appeal to my personal aesthetic taste. she feels like a meaner, less aesthetically pleasing version of kitty cheshire to me (yes i know toralei came first but still)

now i do dislike frankie. i think she's super boring i'm sorry i don't hate her or anything but. idk she annoys me. i like her design tho

i like cupid's character in eah. maybe it's just because i grew up with ever after high and i'm biased but i don't think she's terrible in eah. i get the argument that they kinda reduced her character to a dexter simp and that she's more passive and yada yada but... number one she was in a whole different and entirely new world. it makes sense for her to be more passive and shy and stuff because she's in this new world that's totally different and that has a Lot more rules than the monster high universe. and also the fact that her personality kinda becomes dexter is kinda... realistic? like it's not Healthy don't get me wrong but like. a lot of people will become really obsessed with somebody they're attracted to and it can be normal for a lot of people to turn their crush into their personality. i think had the show gone on we would've seen cupid branch out more and get over dexter and become the cupid we knew and loved in monster high- we just didn't get enough time with her in the land of ever after. also i like her design in eah i like her mh design more but i think the ever after one is really cute!! also i think her personality's kind of adorable in ever after high.

i think some of the mh reboot dolls look really cool. like don't get me wrong the swimsuit ones and the family ones and a lot of the others are So Bad but a lot of them i really like!! i can't think of any examples and don't have to energy to look them up but i went through all of the monster high dolls with my bsf the other day and i remember liking a good amount of the reboots.

apple x raven makes me so uncomfy. my mom pointed out to me that raven's dad being the good king implies that her father is snow white's dad and that just makes me feel very icky about rapple. bc that means they are related. blood related. that means raven is snow white's half sister. and therefore apple's aunt. discosting.

i like lagoona!! a lot!!! i get that she doesn't have Much personality but idk. i think she's sweet and i really really love her and her design. fuck gil tho

raven annoys me tbh. i don't hate her or anything but she just kinda irritates me and i don't like her voice very much. sorry erin fitzgerald

i don't like darabella. i think it's boring ok there's no spice no flavor i don't like it!! i Get that she makes him a better person i Get it it makes Sense but No. i like daring x lizzie aha. i think the reason i prefer dizzie is because #1: spice and #2: with darabella rosabella makes daring a better person but he does absolutely nothing for her. like he does nothing to break her out of her shell or make her think of herself more or smth like that it's completely one-sided. with dizzie (and cerise x daring, which i also like but not as much as dizzie) you see daring sacrifice himself for lizzie's sake and you see lizzie soften around him. it's mutually beneficial and very, very cute. i love them.

alrighty!! hope these were enjoyable, and don't feel bad if you disagree with me (also don't send me hate over it bc that's not cool!!) it's my personal opinion and the things i say mean absolutely nothing y'all i'm a fucking idiot. love u

[cicadabooks]

a review of Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve (Magic Tree House book)

because some friends were waxing nostalgic for these books, and I never read them, and so I finally picked up a few of them.

looks promising? castles and stuff.

wait, didn’t these kids go learn about dinosaurs, but now there’s Merlin? Ok... we’re just going with it. (idk, The Time Warp Trio was MY jam back in the day.)

stuff happens, they meet someone who barks at them, but it’s a friend, also there’s Merlin for like a micro second, anyway they get to the castle

what

Wait, this is legit kind of scary and creepy. I don’t like this. Little kid me would have not liked it either. I was not expecting to be actually spooked.

....“safe from the bone” is a pretty good line.

anyway it turns out there’s a pretty easy explanation: there’s a ghost/invisible dog thing carrying the bone. Whew! we like to see some order and reason around here.

Moving on,

sick! they all turn into ravens! that’s what I’m talking about. Classic. also they fly around and do stuff as ravens.

(Animorphs was also my jam back in the day, why do you ask. I’m too scared to reread it now though.)

oh shit look who showed up. well at least the Raven King is polite.

Now I need to explain some context. And the context is: what image do you think of, reading this? Your immediate mental character design, based on the description?

Below is something like what assumed:

Real scraggity - maybe Howl’s Moving Castle movie version Howl (in bird mode) plus general scruffyness. This wierdo lives with, and resides, over some corvids.

Anyway,

below is what the illustrator, Sal Murdocca, slaps on the page.

who tf

pecs + armor muscle

what

I thought this character was a nerd who had a bird beak for a nose, what is this

I’ve been reading a book full of placid drawings of children wandering around and cute little ravens - where did this come from. Sal Murdocca letting loose I guess.

Anyway here’s another shot of the raven king

To wrap up the story, the protagonist kids save the day, the raven king turns into a baby raven (!?), the ghost dog turns back into a real dog, etc etc.

The children walk through Ye Olde Town

frankly the two kids look kinda bored here. Like they’re trying to be politely excited. 30 books in, they’ve seen it all.

The two children go back to their own time, it’s halloween,

oh my god, the protagonist kids aren’t even trying. I know the gag is that they are now not scared of pretend costumes, after their adventures - but these kids look seriously jaded. Meanwhile, take a study of these fellow childrens’ costumes. They’re actually pretty well crafted. Like, effort / money went into those. Also because Sal Murdocca once again went a lil wild and drew the hell out of that hairy eye ball. Anyway, these kids could at least pretend to be a little scared, even if they are jaded adventures, just for the other kids’ sake. Right now they look like they’re giving the royal wave to passerbyers.

Final notes: Although I came upon these books years too late, I could see younger kid me maybe getting into this book in particular. I did already have Animorphs, The Time Warp Trio, and also Camp Haunted Hills (esp book 3 with the time travel) - maybe my taste was a little more out there / different than what the Magic Tree House books offered?

Bonus: Also, I saw that the current edition of this book has this cover -

which tbh is probably savvier from a marketing perspective. “slap that sal murdocca version raven king on the cover STAT,” I can see the marketing team saying. Personally, I’m still glad I went in not knowing anything and having my wtf moment when I saw the illustration reveal of the raven king.

(Also, for some reason, the marketing team/whoever deciding - “and UP the muscles even more on the raven king on the cover.” Because... these book are ‘More challenging adventures for experienced readers, ages 7-10’ (from the publisher site) and that’s what we do?)

Also small nitpick but I read the chain mail as more silvery (in sal murdocca’s pencil drawings), not the sameish charcoal black as the raven kind’s skin color. (Also sal murdocca‘s illustration was better tbh, I’m assuming someone else maybe illustrated this cover. idk who, because I started looking around the website and both illustrators involved in this series have chops, so idk who did this cover)

Also, wait, is the brother pushing his little sister towards the raven king? There’s a lot happening in this cover.

[bookshelfdreams]

So, "everyone is a human being and everybody is worth the same", except people who think differently than you? Such thinking errors always come from people on the left and people on the right, because none of you are participating in the real life where you have to interact with ordinary people and make good, worthy things together. And THE MEDIA IS HERE TO STIR SHIT UP, not to portray any truth. Peace!

ugh, idk. I know the fur-and-leather aesthetic is popular for a reason (although how much of that is genuine preference and how much is just being used to it is a debate for another day). Objectively, I suppose it is kind of cool to drape an entire dead animal over your shoulders and wrap your feet in leftover furs? Matter of taste. Not my thing, personally, but I understand why costume designers and producers do it. Empathize the shoulders, big stompy boots make the character look badass etc.

The problem is more.

Well, first of all, we're refusing to engage with people in the past on their own terms, do we? People have such a skewed perspective on what premodern societies actually looked like. And that's not a given, if you go back a few decades, the medieval period was portrayed very differently. More colourful, more - well, I suppose a modern audience would find it gaudy and ridiculous, wouldn't we. But if we actually look at visual sources we have from that time, paintings, illuminated books etc, we find a vibrant world full of bright colours.

But the lack of colours isn't even the problem. I think it's just symptomatic of us, the audience, refusing to challenge our own preconceived notions about what the past was actually like. And that's got to do with this pervasive idea that time is a linear progression from "less evolved" to "enlightened": The past was a drab, dreary wasteland where people were superstitious idiots running around caked in mud and randomly killing each other. Vs today, when we know so much better.

That's obviously not true! We have always been people. If I could meet someone from the year 725 AD, I would tell them about my cat and we could bake bread together and be best friends. Maybe that's the thing we should empathize, that across time and space, we humans have so many things in common with each other.

It's the lack of empathy for our predecessors that I find concerning.

And anyway, the biking aesthetic completely breaks the immersion, at least for me, shoulder furs etc are just so impractical. What use is a cloak that can't get wet? When they do their warrior/raid stuff, do they constantly stop to grease their leathers? Do they take their clothes to Ye Olde Drycleaner.

Also, it just looks unbelieveably stupid.

[werewolfinthelivingroom]

Rating Different Versions of Will Blake

Because Fever Swamp Brain is real

Official

OG Book: Not much to say, he was clearly just a dude. A guy alright. Twist is there just because we need a twist, but you can feel a good chunk of personality whenever Cassie antagonizes him.

8 R.L. Stines/10

Graphix: Great design since the art style is killer, and absolutely love the way it’s more obvious here that he’s actively interested in Grady for some reason. The gay undertones are slowly becoming apparent.

10/10

OG TV Show: Will’s actor has to take on both Will and Cassie’s roles in the story since Cassie got cut, but he really does bring Will to life as a character. He’s a more active threat, even if he canonically dies in this version. The eclipse scene though? * Chef’s kiss * absolutely gay as hell, if Will Blake was in Twilight (and the actors were all the same age) he would’ve bagged Bella AND Edward. 

11/10

Movies: My personal headcanon is that the monsters in the Manuscripts are beta versions of the characters in the official books, and this is why almost none of them match their book versions in either personality and design. The design is absolutely killer, but it’s obviously not the twelve-year-old if his six pack and tattoo weren’t obvious enough. Even the branding makes it clear that this is “The Werewolf of Fever Swamp” as a character, rather than Will Blake.

If he was a character in the book I can totally see him as like, Will’s cooler older brother who’s also a Werewolf and maybe Will would have less trauma in my fic.

0/10 as a Will, but 10/10 as a Design.

Horrortown: Just like Bart.

IDK maybe the designers just saw the word “flat-top” and went buck wild, I would believe his character design belonged to CONAN before Will Blake (ToT). Personality wise, he’s straight ;^; also if he wants Marty to leave Courtney alone, he should just date him - boom, problem solved. When he isn’t being the “Am Am Werewolf” in Courtney King’s General direction he’s pretty fun since he’s basically a Dogboy.

6/10

- IDK if Will cameos or even gets a mention in the Fever Swamp comics besides sharing the name “Blake” with a main character. Hit me up if he ever appears in anything else. Fanfic Will’s in the Readmore.

Non-Canon

The Werewolves of Fever Swamp by Monokuma_memes(X): My own Will and I’m not deluded enough to rate my own writing, so read it yourself and make your voice heard. He’s gay and has trauma and that’s all I’m spoiling now.

?/10

You Never Grow Out of Your Goosebumps Phase by bluemandycat(X): Kickstarted me actually sitting down to write my fic, mostly because I wanted to put my own fucked up Will out there. Beware because Grady and Will aren’t really healthy at the point the protags of this fic find them, but you do feel a little bad for Will when he’s not being a dick. For what little we see of him, very interesting.

6 bullets from Cassie/10

Goosebumps United... (2014) by Lord Candycane(X): Aw yes, the Infinity War of Goosebumps/j. Not much for Will to do in this fic besides cameo every once in a while, since there are like...100 characters here. Though I do like the idea that Grady and Cassie just keep him in check like it’s their job. He also gets to be emo about being a Werewolf here! No gay undertones, since Grady holds most of them in that one chase scene.

5/10

Goosebumps United (2021) by Sweetiebuttons(Ao3:X and FFN:X): Okay, so SB made a fic based on Candycane’s fic(basically their own take on the idea) and just went hamwild. It’s crossposted on FFN and Ao3 but for some reason under different names and also FFN has more chapters uploaded(maybe they’re retooling the fic for ao3??). SB portrays him much more sympathetically, sometimes to a kinda cheesy degree? Honestly. it’s pretty endearing in a “webkinz milk cat” kind of way. Absolutely love him becoming friends with people that did this to him:

Not to expose myself for having terrible taste as a kid, but I like the touch of comparing Will to another gay-coded werewolf. Will gets to meet other werewolves and it’s definitely fascinating to think how he’s the only lycanphobic werewolf in GB canon - there’s even some more Fever Swamp lore based on what little we had in the first United fic. I do like how Will is now the straight man and just has to deal with constant BS from his fellow werewolves, and I especially like the idea of Will not being comfortable with how gung-ho Grady is about being a werewolf. 

The dialogue is kinda confusing, and Will just goes all over the place and never finishes the interactions so we don’t get much. But I do like the ideas that are presented here.

6/10

Werewolf of Fever Swamp by sweetie buttons(X): Okay this fic is a revisionist piece on Grady having a Father/Son relationship with the Swamp Hermit, and Grady doesn’t become a Werewolf. Will is irrelevant in SB’s sequel to this fic, but for what was shone he sticks closely to his book counterpart. Except for the reveal, because like...Will did not even feel like he wanted to eat Grady. Like every description of him felt like Will wanted to cry and throw-up over how beautiful his boyfriend is. This Will would’ve bit Grady on purpose 100% and the Hermit and [REDACTED] were homophobic to get in the way of that/j.

5/10

Welcome to Goosebumps High by DanielDaponte(X): Not much to say, its Monster High but Goosebumps and it got put on permanent hiatus. But Will shows up for one chapter, now an adult and the school’s gym teacher(C.E. Teacher??), which is honestly the funniest thing that has happened with the character. I also forgot about the main character thirsting after him, which is doubly funny.

10 Werewolf Thirst Traps/10

The Goosebumps School(and it’s many sequels) by SquadMemberK17(X): This series is so fascinating, I could go on about how bonkers the sequels get and how weirdly engaging this self-ship fic about the hat guy from the Dead House live action episode. Like, a bunch of Goosebumps protags are brutally murdered in this fic it is so mindboggling. BUT we are here for Will and he’s a side character in the MC’s friendgroup, in fact, he’s the first person she meets. Will is weird because the author has a bunch of weird ships besides the main one with her self-insert, but Will gets paired with Hannah Stoneman from Werewolf Skin in what I can only call...Monster race shipping? Will honestly had more chemistry with the main character and Grady. Speaking of Grady!

The plot has Sarabeth doing weird shit to destroy the main character for some reason and it would take forever to explain, but one of her plans include getting the Swamp Hermit to kill the MC and Will. You see, in this canon the Swamp hermit killed Grady when he got turned and reveals Will’s past to the MC. Will then saves MC and kills the hermit, and after this traumatizing event it’s never talked about again?? Also, Grady’s cameo just involves his severed head so have fun with that (ToT). Will still had better chemistry with a Dead Grady than he did with HANNAH. 

Goosebumps Adventure by Stone-Man85(X): It took me too long to realize this fic plagiarized the Haunting Hour movie, and even a more embarrassing amount of time to realize Grady and Will don’t show up (even in the Fever Swamp chapter). This led to a rabbithole that decimated one of my non-GB discords, but as for the Fever Swamp chapter I did not expect that much homophobia to be thrown into my face. Also, RL Stine is a real person in this fic and dies in the first chapter.

-85/10 a plague upon the Author’s house.

- I’m not talking about the fic where a dude’s fursona has a yaoi moment with the Movie version of Will. Or the Wattpad selfship fics. 

[rinisbowen]

So i was recently watching this video from the stranger things costume department person (idk what role she had so i'll just say person 😂), and she was saying how most of her outfits for the characters protrayed their mental state, or part of their arc (like max wearing dark clothes when she's depressed).

Do you think the hsmtmts costume department does the same here? Would that somehow explain Nini's questionable outfits? If so, how would you analyze their clothes to fit their arcs?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

hi! thank you so much for the ask- this was a lot of fun. at some point i do still plan on eventually making some posts about character wardrobe, but idk when that'll happen, so this is a cool opportunity to do a little taste of that for y'all!

so... i think costume departments can definitely do different things with wardrobe, whether that's intentional color schemes for different things, matching like- their storyline, showing growth and confidence through more bright colored or bold choices, maintaining a consistent look for the characters (probably one of the most important goals of a costume department), etc.

--

while i don't think nini's outfits are necessarily a part of the whole like- mental state thing... (she's actually one of the most consistent characters as far as wardrobe is concerned. her staples are florals (particularly in season 1, but she does a few times in season 2, or at least once lol), tops with collars, hair ribbons, and sweaters, also layering to a certain extent (in 1.01 it's not a skirt with flowers on it- it's a dress under her sweater under her pink jacket with the collar-like design). she's also almost always in more soft / not necessarily muted but sometimes muted colors- the one exception being the outfit with the hot pink sweater in 2.06. i'll say she does wear somewhat more intense colors in season 1, like the red sweater she wears with the while stripe, her other red sweater/crewneck, or maybe even if we're talking her blue sweater with the yellow stripe (but i mean... it's not that bright, it's a deeper blue), but those aren't quite so bold when taken in tangent with the whole... hiding in a sweater thing, and for the red ones- the fact that it's east high colors and she's playing at being mr. popular waterpolo captain ej caswell's girlfriend... yeah. i'd be shocked if they weren't doing it on purpose. fun fact, other than in the finale, nini and ricky seem to be better with one another when she's not in red in season 1 for the most part. (i'm probably forgetting an episode or something, but i remember thinking about this a long while back).

i'll add that in episode 1, for her audition, she wears a little grey east high sweatshirt, her lucky sweatshirt, and the nervous little nini hiding in a sweatshirt compared to the girl in the red dress in the fantasy... yeah that was intentional. she's falling back where ej puts his whole self forward in the troy jersey. another thing- like yes yac is a boarding school so it makes sense they have like- uniform policies (though clearly not an actual uniform per se), look at how DARK nini's clothes are there, yac is repressive, so everything is dark and definitely a bit gloomier than the (admittedly still sorta dark, bc cinematography choices for season 2 were certainly made...) lighting at east and at slices. also though- she still has her little ribbon in her hair. she still has that little detail of something that makes her clearly nini. clearly different from all this. she doesn't fit there.

--

now for an example of someone who we definitely absolutely do see their mental state in their wardrobe specifically (at least the once)- ricky "i'm in pajamas at school and my parents are getting a divorce" bowen. i'm blanking on what episode (or episodes) this is- but he shows up to school in his pajamas in season 1. and he's not doing so well at the time. example number 2142 of ricky not being totally well mentally. signs of depression include not "taking care of" your appearance, i know we talk about ricky having anxiety but imo i'd add depression to the list. now we can blame this on mike's mental state as well i suppose- maybe he's not doing laundry because he's not doing well with the divorce. but i mean- ricky's old enough to do his own laundry- he for sure at least knows how.

also when they put him in that slc pride shirt from nini's moms- it's pretty big on him, it makes 6'1 joshua bassett look smaller, more fragile, when ricky, in those scenes, is definitely pretty darn fragile... like yeah- it's not his shirt, but it's a costume choice for his character.

--

but yeah- i think wardrobe/costume departments have a lot of things they try to keep in mind when dressing their characters. and putting a character in dark clothes to show they're in a darker state is a choice that can be made fairly often i'd say in tv/film. it's a very helpful visual for viewers, and that's the goal. the goal is to assist the other departments in conveying what they're trying to convey.

a lot of their choices will definitely be meaningful- olivia rose keegan talked about in an interview (in terms of how different it was doing this show vs. working on a soap like days of our lives), how neat it was how much attention to detail their was because of the time that they had to work on things. she recounted sitting there for like three hours on the first day just talking about what they thought would be right for lily's hair- a luxury they never ever had on days. like they spent that long on a recurring character- working out how it would make sense for lily to wear her hair this season.

this is to say- costume, makeup, hair- it all is done with intention. they care about telling a coherent story, and using a visual- like costume for example- is a great way to help tell it. anything that adds to the full picture is a part of telling that story. i'm not saying every single piece means something, but everything a character wears was picked out for a reason, even if that reason is- this feels like something character would definitely wear.

--

one thing i find amusing- how much the like- l'amour, love, paris, french words in general, etc. shirts occur on this show. miss jenn even wears a crewneck that says "merci" on it in the season 3 trailer haha, so i was reminded of it in that moment. i feel like maybe that imagery is coming back into style lately but- it feels like it was a thing that was in so long ago at the same time?

[doofus-and-dragons]

Thoughts on Red, White, and Royal Blue(Taking notes helps me retain information so ofc I do it about my media like a goddamn nerd)

Overall thoughts:

I give this movie a 4/10. The actors were incredible and the jokes landed where they were suppose to. I was really excited for the movie, and I probably would have loved it if I hadn't read the book first (I don't regret reading it first. I adore the book, probably going to reread it). For me, the pacing was just extremely distracting. I didn't know where I was at any point in time. By the time I would figure it out, I was somewhere else. I also think that the removal of certain characters (June,Rafael, and Leo), the sugar coating of Zahra, and the microdosing (idk what else to call it) of other characters (Nora, Bea, Percy, and Shaan) really takes allies away from Henry and Alex, along with major plot devices within the main story. I felt like the movie cut out a lot of scenes (Star Wars, historical letters, the Rumors, Henry's date with June, the campaign, Nora in general, Alex's reaction to the leak, and the exposing Richards to name a few) really hurt the integrity of this movie for me. I was super excited going in, but now I'm just kind of bitter.

I did like how Henry and Alex's actors had some (from my pov) really good chemistry. That or they're just really good actors. They are, but like...differently. loved Oscar, loved the charcarization as a whole (other than maybe Bea (she felt kind of bland) and Zarha (she felt sugar coated). As a whole, all the actors (and yes, I do mean all) did an amazing job. Set design was absolutely breath taking. Most of the music was spot on (still salty about "Your Song" being cut out but yknow), and I'm a band kid and a theater kid so music means a lot to me. I loved the little metaphors, like when Alex gave Henry the key to his house (a bold choice, but it worked). I feel like Ellen deserved more of a "Im struggling to find an election balance and a mom balance" arc that Book!Ellen got, but Uma Thurman did a great job with Ellen. She didn't play too hard into the accent, and it was tasteful (much appreciated by the by). Loved Amy (wish we could have seen he do crafts tho...and her dog). LOVED it when they decked Henry out in commoner clothes!

So, yeah. My review of the movie is a 4/10. Here are the notes that better explain my personal opinion. If you enjoyed it, I'm so happy for you/gen.

Notes:

• The lack of June as a character takes away so many plot points and character building opportunities from all of the characters

• The loss of Leo as a character takes away from much of the drama not only within the First Family but also within the debate

• Who decided Miguell as a character???seems like they took that Post reporter from the book and turned his affection to Alex instead, which I guess they had to since the tossed June.

• I love Ellen,  Oscar, Zahra, Amy, Pez (why can't they ever call him pez?), Nora, and Shaan. 

• The movie is moving really fast.  I can hardly keep up with.  I'm constantly in a state of "Wait, where am I?  Why am I here?  This isn't supposed to happen yet is it?"

• I can't explain it, but Henry has very gay

• Where's Rafael?  He's like the reason for the climax (lmao)

• Sending him to Texas? But he's not supposed to be there yet! 

• I'm so lost that I can't keep up with the movie.  I can't even enjoy the sap from the email reading because I'm really confused.

• The acting is really good!  The pacing is just off.

• I hate this Miguel guy. 

• HENRY IS SUPPOSE TO BE CONFORTING HIM BECAUSE OF THE BETRAYAL

• Not enough Bea

• I am enjoying this 20 Questions scene, very cute yet very sad

• Zarha is suppose to be angrier at him for being awake.

• Henry in the closet will never not be funny to me.

• "...good morning!" -Prince Henry of Wales, 2023

�� "And my sister" "awww I didn't know that!" "Yeah she was really happy for us."

• "Tetnhically I'm the spare!" "Not talking to you sir!" So funny!

• I'm assuming Miguel is the leak

• I'm back to being confused.  Also, not enough Amy.  I need more of her.  I need to see her dog Johnathan

• "She happens to be a he....and he happens to be henry..."

• Ellen is the best mom I love her

• I WANTED TO SEE ELLEN'S POWER POINT COME ON AMAZON :(

• Love how he's got a University of Texas Austin hat (it's not UT to me I'm from Tennessee, UT is University of Tennessee)

• Love how they Texas-ified Henry

• Sad we didn't get the kimonos

• So Oscar is Sen. Of Texas??? I thought that was Ellen before elected?

• Haha gays

• Needs more Pez

• Ok, wait, I know where I am! The start of the week of sad!

• Already? It feels like I've been sitting here for like half an hour.  I'm not retaining any of this.  God the pacing is killing me

• Also they didn't include them Skinny dipping which is honestly tragic

• Sad gay prince hours

• *megamind meme* No bunk beds?

• Bea calling him Hen is the world.  That's it. 

• WHY AM I ONLY GETTING ONE SCENE WITH SHAAN?

• Alex was suppose to be angrier, making a scene.  Shaan needed to almost throw him out. I need more Shaan.

• Eye opening for Henry time ehe

• Did he put his ring on the mantle I didn't catch it. 

• He was suppose to have make up time THEN go to the museum I'm lost again

• I can't help falling in love" and not "your song is" a choice

• They didn't bring up Sampson :(

• Wait he was suppose to put the ring on the chain.  It was sweet to give him the key tho.  I see you "key to my heart" symbolism.  I see you and I love you.

• DAVID!!!BABY BOY!!!

• Where's Zarha's anger? Alex's concern?  AHA Zarha and Shaan engagement real??? 👀

• Miguel is the leak and I dispise him.

• No meeting with the king? No Catherine? No Phillip getting hot tea spilled on him?  Tragic.

• Henry not getting to get a word in is tragic.

• I love Alex's speech it's so heart wrenching

• I need to see zarha's anger- oh Shaan is into it isnt he?  Love those two!  They are the true heros of this movie. 

• "I'll break the sound barrier for you" 🥺😭

• Henry playing Yankie doodle and Alex playing God Save The Queen is wonderful

• "Im white and upperclass so my affection comes on strings"

• Alex fidgeting with Henry's ring 🥺

• Stfu Pip, the fact you're the only one sitting on the side of the king is telling

• Stfu king Mary (he has no name just king so he's king Mary now).

• "Uh-bec-becu-because!!" 🙄

• Bea needs to spill tea on Phillip pls

• We don't get to see Alex's rslley speech? We're already at the election?

• No Zarha/Shaan makeouts? Srsly?

• No Liam? Where did the bikes come from?

• This movie has so many plot holes, it's like driving down a secret highway...

[hirazuki]

I AM LATE BUT BACK, sorry work ate my life |D but yes! camelot movies are a bit different; mostly in order of events and dialogue and how certain events happen, not the big stuff, but some stuff is shuffled around and altered for time purposes. i'm pretty sure they also added mordred vs sanzang in the second one, that wasn't in the game. but it's still good! it's very very good, it's just a bit edited down etc because they crammed a whole chapter into 2 ovas rather than a whole 24 ep anime.

the extra anime does sound fun! i absolutely fucking adore Robin and Drake, so om nom nom more content for them is always wonderful, and i like nero's route in the game best so i'm glad it's her starring-- i should definitely check it out at some point once i finish apocrypha.

(i...am very early on into apocrypha. i need to finish that. i love everyone in it, they're all delightful. especially astolfo and achilles, though honorary mentions for karna and vlad.)

kojiro BALLS honestly he's really cool and i hope he gets more stuff in future events, we do get a 'gudaguda' historical japan event every year and i think they finally ran out of sengoku shenanigans, so maybe he'll get to star in a future one? here's hoping he deserves it (or maybe he'll be in that new koei tecmo game, since musashi is in it!)

you have excellent taste tbh, everyone on that list is amazing, and i stan shishigou SO HARD you have no idea he's So Cool. waver too, i love him as small and dorky but also older and...still dorky. but hotter. Gil, Cu, Emiya, Robin, Merlin, and Dantes are some of my favs but honestly i can't name a servant i HATE 100% (okay yes i can, but that's just one of them XD)

No worries!! UGH I hate when that happens, I wish work was just. not a thing XD

Oh, yeah, that makes sense, with Babylonia they did a full anime season; I wish they had done the same for this, but I'll take what I can get! I don't really have the time/interest to explore the game chapter for myself, but I wonder if I could maybe find a let's play or something to watch, I'd be interested in seeing the content in full.

Haha, Apocrypha is also very differently structured in terms of Holy Grail War dynamics (14 servants on the field....... it's so many....) but I really, really liked it. Lots of pain, of course, but it's so well written and executed. Enjoy!! Astolfo is a gem <3 (Achilles I'm not a fan of, but I've never liked him in any form/media and idk why; I like to pretend we don't share heritage XD BUT that's just my personal taste and, as a Greek, the Apocrypha team did an absolutely excellent job with his portrayal! I honestly have zero complaints about how they've handled any of my culture's mythological/historical figures, they consistently produce some of the most intuitive and nuanced interpretations I've ever seen).

It's just my curse, always falling for the side characters with the least amount of screen time lmao. I hope so!! Fingers crossed! (though Musashi favoritism kind of abounds in sword/historical circles, so it that might not mean anything -- but I'll be very pleasantly surprised if he does turn out to be in it!!).

Lmao THANK YOU! You have excellent taste too, Gil is one of the best boys and Cu is amazing as well <3 Shishigou is just so badass (and a necromancer, so instant bonus points for me) and his attitude is so relatable, he'd be my number one pick for a Fate mentor figure, you know? YES I love both young Waver and older Waver, and can I say how much I adore that he's so completely and utterly out of shape? Wheezing when he runs? I love that about him XD

I haven't spent too much time with Robin and Dantes so I can't really say anything worthwhile other than they are awesome and I love their designs, but MERLIN is also a top choice, 10/10, he's absolutely irritating but also a delight and his relationship with Fou is one of the best things ever.

Same! There are definitely characters that I don't like, as in, they don't vibe with me, but no one who I dislike as a character in terms of their role/purpose in the story, everyone is extremely well written.

[omiscurls]

Heyhey! I couldn’t find your rules, so idk if this is allowed or not, and if it isn’t feel free to ignore this, but may I request Childe with a reader who has depression? Thank you

tough

a/n: hi!! sorry for that, the rules are added by now, i chose not to describe depression itself, because it looks different on everyone, and you may not relate to what applies to me, but i'm hoping you'll find this enjoyable instead!!

plot: character helping the reader out of a breakdown, or a bad headspace

contains: tartaglia, kaeya

warnings: bad copying mechanisms, low mental place, nothing too serious mentioned

tartaglia

now, he's a man of action less than words, even though he's good with those, too

and to add to that, he's also a very perceptive person - if some negative vibe lingers on you for too long, he'll notice right away

however, relying on his experience, he opts to give you space to figure it out on your own, first, he wouldn't like to be making a huge deal of something that was just a worse couple of days

it's when you don't show up at your usual dinner spot, that he gets a little tingle in his brain, telling him to not dismiss it this time.

and so, he makes his way over to your place.

"ya there?" you hear on the other side of the door, followed by urgent knocking, sort of breaking you out of a trance, but you can't find it in you to go and answer it. he'll go away, you think, even better. your apartment is messy, you're messy, too, and it's not the right time to be receiving visitors. so you stay quiet.

"you do know i know you're in there, right?" he speaks up again "the blinds would be down if you weren't"

come in, you want to shout, and although no voice leaves your throat, soon the door opens anyway.

"hey, what's up, you weren't on the- oh." he stops in his tracks in the middle of the corridor, and you're already mentally prepared to a snarky remark about your sorroundings, but the only thing he says is a lighthearted "why're you sitting on the floor?"

the first thing he thinks about is to level with you, so he plops himself down right beside you, and you bet it looks funny - you in yesterday's clothes, in a big, probably smelly, mess, and then a harbinger in full military outfit right beside you.

"i-" you try to say, but your throat seems too dry and worn out, so you opt for a whisper "look at his place"

he indeed does, hinting the small note of desperation in your voice.

"what about it?"

"it's a mess!" you sigh, covering your face with your hands, out of both embarrassment, and fatigue. you take a big breath before continuing "so i wanted to clean it up, i even brought all the... all the things, but it's so much stuff to do, and i'm tired, and- and i don't know!" you choose to stop as not to snap right then and there. "i can't even do my shitty chores right like an adult" you mumble, massaging your temples.

"and is sitting on the floor helping?" he simply asks, and for a second, you're almost mad at him for not being more... cooey and fuss over you a bit more. he sounds cold.

"what are you-"

"really, is it helping?" he repeats "because from how i see it, every little thing would seem bigger if you looked at it from this angle. come on" he nudges you before standing up, and offering a hand to lift you up. you, however, shake your head.

"i really can't deal with it today, childe, i'm sorry"

"just stand up" he pleas, and the second you take his hand, he helps you up in less than a second. when you're on his level again, he sneaks both his arms on the sides of your waist, and sort of sways around a little, before speaking again. "what if, what if we do it little by little? look, we'll start over there" he puts his hand on top of yours, and lifts your arm to point to the full sink along with his. "and that'd be it for today! and then tomorrow... actually, let's not make plans. we'll just pick something tomorrow, and do it then. does the sink sound like a lot to do?" he asks.

"do you want me to be honest, or do you want me to say no" you mutter, earning the heartiest and brightest laughter you've heard in days from him.

"always honest. but come on, i'll help." he rolls you out of his embrace, causing you to feel a sudden wave of cold, it was comfortable back there, you think.

however, as he works through the dishes with you, the pile does seem to lessen, and doesn't rule over your kitchen anymore. every time he hands you a plate to dry, he smiles as wide as he can, and it doesn't seem to bother him at all when you don't smile back.

"remember" he starts again, after a while of comfortable silence. he looks ridiculous, doing the kitchen duties in an outfit designed mostly to look presentable and slay enemies in it, but the look on his face is dead set. "the first lesson you've gotta learn before going off to battle something, is that the best defense is always, always to fight back. and if you don't think you can manage that, well, that's why nobody ever battles alone. it's common sense to have someone watching your back. and as for you, not only are you a great warrior yourself, but you've also got the best second-in-command willing to help you out. don't forget that."

kaeya

as for him, he's also perceptive and empathic, but the difference between him and tartaglia is that he does believe people have the right to figure some things out on their own, he's a firm believer in the magic of secrets

that's probably because he himself doesn't like to share too much about his deeply personal feelings

so he'd obviously see some wave of difficult emotions coming your way, but would he immediately start worrying? probably not

the guy doesn't have healthy copying mechanisms himself, don't think he expects those of others

every other night the two of you meet up at the tavern, kaeya always ordering wine, you asking the bartender for whatever was in store today, but it's never anything alcoholic.

and just like nearly always, you're seated at angel's share, him noticing you're not particularly in the mood for talking, and choosing to entertain you with as many stories of the day that went by as he can remember.

the waiter interrupts him, asking if your minds are already made up regarding the drink. now, kaeya always has you picking first, but since he sees you're still analyzing the card (as if you expected to find anything new), he goes first with a drink he knows charles makes really strong.

to his surprise, when it comes to you, you just mumble "i'll have the same he had"

before the waiter has a chance of writing that down, kaeya tells him that actually, you're gonna need a minute or two more, and to erase the order you've both put in.

as he walks away, the calvary captain's eyes pierce through yours.

"that's a pretty nasty drink you wanted there" he starts, feeling he can't let you handle your mess this time, preparing to dig a little deeper into what's on your mind.

you shrug your shoulders.

"hey" he speaks up a little firmer, hand moving to cover yours, and even though they twitch as to retreat from his grip, you let it be. "tell me what's up."

"nothing's <up>" you accentuate. "can't i even have a drink now?"

"obviously you can" he nods "as long as i know you're trying it just for the taste, and not for the strong kick it's gonna offer, cause that's a dangerous path that only leads to nasty places." concern shines through his gaze, and an encouraging smile is wandering somewhere in his expression, however his lips are still pressed into a tight line, the same he forms when he's either fighting or arguing.

you stay silent for a good long while, before sighing.

"maybe i want the kick. good, or bad, maybe i want to feel... something."

the sentence sounds all too familiar, as he shakes his head and takes your hand, leading you towards the exit.

"what're you-"

"you're obviously not in the right state to be in a bar, of all places" he states almost coldly "so i'm getting you somewhere safer."

the two of you leave the bar, and walk out into the cold of mondstadt's street, covered in the darkness of the night. you walk past him, not leveling up to him, just tagging along to whatever he's going.

it comes as a surprise, that you're neither headed for your apartment, nor his, nor the knights' headquarters. he's guiding you in an unknown direction, until you reach a dead end.

he clims up a small building, offering you a hand and shaking off your confused expressions and questions. "you'll see" he says. the two of you walk from roof to roof, and countless times you tell him it's ridiculous, but then, he jumps onto the city's wall, helping you out with two hands this time, sitting you down right next to him on the stone surface of the wall. it's a little wet from the night's humidity, and cold, and probably dirty too, but the moon shines right at you, and from this perspective, you see thousands of lights in houses, taverns and shops, from the bottom up to the cathedral.

going up from that, a calm and peaceful lake paints the landscape blue on the left, and even from up here, you see a sea of lampgrasses shining through the leaves of wolvendom forest. if you squint, lights are still on in dawn winery, and the path to liyue and all the other lands swirls around near diluc's house. there's so much you can see, even if the night limits your vision.

"i like to come here when i need to gain some perspective over what is happening in my life right now" kaeya speaks really softly and quietly, bordering on a whisper. "it's a beautiful view, even someone as insensitive to art as i am can see that, but other than that... it's huge. and even though it is, it's also alive. every single one of those beings whose lights are dying out as they slowly go to sleep one by one, they're alive. they're not a scenery, they're their own, individual worlds. and they all coexist with each other in such a clever manner, don't you think? they have their differences, they might even hate each other, or wish the worst upon the other's name, but from up here? they fit together like puzzles of one, big picture."

"that's a nice way to put it, for sure" you whisper, looking down onto your knees. his finger pushes your chin slightly to make you face him, and he smiles at you gently, thumb brushing against the skin of your cheek.

"you know, we each have our own worlds, built from scratch from such fragile materials. we have our worlds rise, shine, and crumble before our sights. we look over the ruins of them and think, this is the end of the world. there's nothing more, it's all dust now. but from up here, you see how many other worlds there are - everyone has their own. not everything that is happening in your world is true. you see it from first person's perspective, and therefore the view might be disturbed by many different aspects. you might not see the picture, you just see the broken puzzle fragment that can't fit with the rest, and you're ready to throw away the entire picture, without finishing it. but being here, it reminds me... the world doesn't end on the ruins you see. you can always ask someone to help you build them up again, and of course, you can expect it to fall into pieces once more, but this time, you'll keep in mind, there're-" he stopped, pointing to the city's lights. "so many people to help you raise it up to the clouds."

"your metaphor is really complex" you chuckle, but his face stays still.

"it's not the end of the world if your puzzle piece is broken. and the ruins are not unfixable if you feel too tired to build them up all by yourself. if anything, that's a start." his hand travels up to keep the hair from getting on your face, since the wind blows pretty hard on this height. "what do you say we start your puzzle once more, toghether?"

-

your friendly reminder that you can request things [here]

[disneylanddilettante]

The Disney Renaissance Killed the Disneyland Star

This post has been brewing and stewing in my brain for some time.

We here in the Disney theme park fandom are prone to lament the modern attraction design philosophy that says everything must be based on a movie. Aside from spectacularly clueless comments about “a random mountain in India or whatever” and misuse of the term “barrier to entry,” the reason behind it seems to boil down to: That’s what guests want. On the one hand, this is very clearly an excuse to do what Marketing wants (because film IPs are proprietary in a way that broad concepts are not, and can be merchandised accordingly), but on the other hand…it seems to be…kind of…true? The vast majority of the public, in my experience, does think of Disneyland (which I am going to use as synecdoche for all Disney parks, because it’s the one I grew up with, it’s easy to say, and because I can) as a place where you see Disney characters walking around as if they were real, and go on rides based on Disney movies, and anything else there is just to, idk, fill space until they can think of a cool movie makeover for it.

I have spoken to people online who quite enjoy Disneyland, but also think the Enchanted Tiki Room should become a Moana attraction, Tom Sawyer Island should be something to do with The Princess and the Frog, and the Matterhorn should be turned into Frozen. When I challenged them as to why, they didn’t seem to understand the question—what did I mean, “why?” Isn’t it self-evident? A couple years ago, one of the Super Carlin Brothers (I don’t remember which one; anyway I couldn’t tell them apart if you put a gun to my head) made a video expressing bafflement over the use of Figment as a mascot in Epcot because “He’s not from anything.” As if a ride in that very parkwere nothing.

So there is something to the assertion that film IP tie-ins are what regular guests expect and want. But the question remains as to why they want that—after all, it didn’t used to be that way. Costumed characters and rides based on movies have always been part of Disneyland, of course, but in past decades, the most elaborate and promoted attractions were the ones based on unique concepts that had nothing to do with the movies. The reasons to love Disneyland were things like the Haunted Mansion and the Mark Twain and Space Mountain…not so much the chance to meet Mickey Mouse. So what gave the public the idea that it was all about movies and characters? I’m sure there are several reasons, but I’m going to focus on one that I don’t see brought up that often.

I’m going to blame the Disney Renaissance.

Let me give you some personal background. I’m a young Gen-Xer, born in 1977. I was a child of the 80s…and in the 80s, Disney wasn’t doing so hot. Feature Animation had dropped to a cinematic release about once every four years, the live-action division was even less productive, and the corporate raiders were pawing at the door. In those days, when I saw a Disney movie in theaters, probably four times out of five it was a re-release of an older classic. (Anyone else remember when that was a thing?) There wasn’t much new at Disneyland either. The biggest thing to happen in the first half of the decade was the remodel of Fantasyland, which added one new ride—based on Pinocchio, a 43-year-old film—and otherwise just rearranged and refined what had always been there. On the other hand, the big Imagineering projects of the 60s and 70s were mostly still going strong.

The upshot is that if you were a Disney fan in those days (there weren’t many of us, even in my age cohort), you were a fan of the older movies and/or the parks. And for all its genuine quality, that stuff was showing its age. It was made in decades past, and there was a corniness and a quaintness to much of it. Most of the kids my age considered Disney “baby stuff” and were eager to put it behind them. It seems to have been a widespread phenomenon, because I don’t remember the park being very crowded when I was a young kid. Queues for even the roller coasters tended to top out around 45 minutes and it was very rare that we didn’t have time to do everything we wanted on a given visit.

And then, the year I turned 12—the year my age bracket hit puberty and could definitively be said to have outgrown cartoons altogether (except for the weirdos like me)—The Little Mermaid hit theaters.

Two years later, we got Beauty and the Beast.

And the hits kept coming. Suddenly, Disney was the hottest thing in entertainment again. Not just kids—by this time the generation that would come to be known as Millennials—but their parents watched these movies and went wow, this is really good. Disney is better than I thought. Maybe we should rent some of those older movies that I remember from when I was a kid. Maybe we should go to Disneyland… Unlike in the past, when families went to Disneyland because it was advertised and known as a family destination, families went to Disneyland because the kids were going gaga over the new Disney movies and the parents wanted to make them happy.

So a whole new generation of fans flocked to the parks, most probably never having been before, or not recently. They didn’t know what to expect. They just knew they loved these new movies with their endearing lead characters (so much more full of personality than Snow White or Alice or Pinocchio) and their big bombastic Broadway-style musical numbers (so much more in line with current musical tastes than the Tin Pan Alley ditties from Cinderella or Peter Pan or The Jungle Book). That’s what they wanted from Disney, whether they were paying six bucks a head plus popcorn, or fifty bucks a head plus lodging.

And that would have been fine but for the fact that endearing characters and big bombastic musical numbers are really hard to build traditional dark rides around. What you can do, though, for people who want to meet their favorite characters, is build dedicated character meet-and-greet spots. What you can do for people who want to sing along with Academy Award-winning songs is create huge colorful parades and stage shows that feature those songs. Best of all, if you are certain people who shall go unnamed, these sorts of things are much cheaper to create and operate than rides. Corporate was more than happy to meet, rather than try to exceed, the expectations of this new wave of fans.

The newer guests got used to seeing more-or-less verbatim (condensed) film content in the form of these shows and parades. The classic dark rides began to look decidedly odd to them—why are the movie events out of order? Why doesn’t the main character show up more? Why don’t we get to hear all the songs? And no one was there to explain it to them, because the older generations of fans had largely drifted away and the internet wasn’t quite a household staple yet. Rides that weren’t even based on a movie seemed even odder—what does a Wild West roller coaster have to do with Disney? What does a submarine ride have to do with Disney? I thought this park was supposed to be for kids, but my kids don’t recognize this stuff! They should build a Lion King ride! They should build a Toy Story ride! That Snow White ride isn’t suitable for kids; they should do something about that! I didn’t pay all this money to stand in line for an hour and a half and go on a ride that my kids don’t get!

The pattern was set. IP tie-ins were what the people wanted, and they closer they hewed to their source material, the more guest approval they got, simply because people didn’t know any different. And it has snowballed from there. The Disney Renaissance was amazing for the art of animation, but I think it was a net negative for the art of theme parks.

Tl;dr The Disney Renaissance changed guest expectations for Disney entertainment products in ways that were incompatible with classic Imagineering principles.