#the ''concept'' in question is so far always just like.. a backdrop in the background

[wickymicky]

gotta say, after hearing that vixx were concept kings for a long time, i had pretty high expectations when checking out some of the songs whose titles I've heard mentioned now and then for pretty much the whole time I've been into kpop... i think maybe my expectations were a little too high, tbh

[nanowrimo]

3 Most Common Worldbuilding Mistakes for Writers and How to Fix Them

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. World Anvil, a 2021 NaNoWriMo sponsor, helps you develop and organize your characters, plot, and world setting. Today, World Anvil founder Janet Forbes is here to share some pro tips for worldbuilding. Don’t forget to check out the offer to NaNoWriMo writers for 30% off a World Anvil membership!

I talk to hundreds of writers every week, in our World Anvil Q&A live streams, our World Anvil writing challenges, and meetings with our professional authors. And mostly, they’re encountering the same few worldbuilding problems! Here are the 3 most common worldbuilding mistakes, and how you can fix them:

1. Mary-Sue Worldbuilding

You’re probably familiar with the Mary-Sue—a flawless, artificial-feeling main character. Mary Sue Worldbuilding follows in the same vein. If everything in your setting is directly related to your main character, it feels like the world revolves around them. It’s too convenient and artificial. That’s Mary-Sue worldbuilding.

Mary-Sue worldbuilding is usually caused by worldbuilding exclusively around your plot. Introducing larger-scale conflict in the backdrop of your setting, current affairs like civil or religious movements, war, disasters, or technological breakthroughs, can help expand the world beyond just your main character. 

Your main character might interact with these elements, or more usually, with problems caused by them. For example, they might help some refugees from “that war over there”. But your character should not be at the core of everything—they’re not the cause of the war. Other things are happening outside of your story, in the background. (Pro-tip: this is a great way to reinforce your genre and themes, and make your world feel alive and expansive, too!). 

Fixing Mary-Sue Worldbuilding Of course you’ll need a series bible like World Anvil to help you keep these current affairs organized, connect them together, and make sure you don’t lose your notes! Use World Anvil’s worldbuilding templates to get inspired for your big conflicts, and remember - you only need to write a few bullet points to start with! You can always expand more later (we’ll talk more about that in a moment).

World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Templates are custom-made by experts to help inspire and guide your creativity—and you can customize your own templates too!

2. Mosaic Worldbuilding

You know those computer game worlds where each area feels like a self-contained zone? Where the “desert” region and the “forest” region have no trade, communication, or overlap between them? That, in a nutshell, is Mosaic worldbuilding. It ruins suspension of disbelief, makes your novel setting feel false, and can pull your readers out of your story! 

Fixing Mosaic Worldbuilding

The best way to avoid Mosaic Worldbuilding is to make sure that you have a clear overview of your world early on, with each major region and concept penned out in just a sentence or two. That way, each region will feel like a connected aspect of your seamless setting, not a tile shoved on the side. 

On World Anvil, each world setting has a “Worldbuilding Meta” section to help you detail the 10,000 foot overview—the big stuff. And not just your physical world and its people, but your genre, your motivations, and your themes. This invaluable reference tool helps you expand your setting and add more detail, and will also help you sense-check what you’re adding!

Once you have a clear picture of your meta, and know the overview of your world, it’ll be easy to make use of cultural aspects like imports and travellers, cultural diasporas and geographical transition zones to make your world seem more connected and less artificially divided! And you’ll be able to do it without spending too much extra time worldbuilding. Which brings me to my final common worldbuilding mistake…

World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Meta tool helps you focus, streamline and sense-check your world setting! It’s full of guides to create an excellent overview for your worldbuilding project. This is the view mode of Manifold Sky by B.C.G. Wurth.

3. Worldbuilder’s Disease

Sounds nasty, right? Well, Worldbuilder’s Disease is a very common problem—a compulsion to continue worldbuilding things which aren’t actually useful. Here’s my favorite example—the “elven shoes”:

In your world you have elves. They wear shoes. So far, so good. Maybe there’s a plot-point where an imposter’s revealed because they’re wearing the wrong shoes. So you fill in a few details on your series bible. But if you find yourself writing a 5,000 word treatise on elven shoes through the ages… honey, you have worldbuilder’s disease.

I use shoes as an example, but it could be anything. It might be detailing three centuries of monarchy, or expanding unvisited areas in excruciating detail. Sure, it can be fun, but all that time spent on unnecessary parts of your setting isn’t helping you polish the core parts—or get your novel written! It’s distracting you from your primary goal. 

Curing Worldbuilder’s Disease

There are three major causes of worldbuilders disease: 

Lack of perspective

Lovers of prose

Fear of losing your ideas

1. Lack of perspective

Lack of perspective can often lead down a worldbuilding rabbit hole. Keep clarity on what’s important in your setting with tools like World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Meta. This helps you define your active worldbuilding area - not just geographical but thematic areas—which helps  streamline your world and your project, so you can be sure you’re spending your time where it counts!

Also, be clear with yourself WHY you’re worldbuilding the element you’re working on. Keep clear notes in your series bible about how this new element fits into your novel. If it’s little more than set dressing, you only need a few words. For a core concept, you might need more.

2. Lovers of Prose

As writers, we love to write (duh)! But for most of us, writing in prose in our series bible can cause serious problems. Not only does it mean that you write MORE than we should (your get in flow, words happen!), it’s also harder to reference your ideas quickly later on. Stick to short, organized articles in note form. Make sure the salient information is there, and link in anything relevant. You can always expand to prose later if you need to.

Keep your series bible in brief notes with clear headers! This character article took 5 minutes using World Anvil’s character template which automatically adds the headers. The linked articles help me easily reference related people and places as I’m writing.

3. Fear of losing our ideas

Fear of losing our ideas is actually one of the most common reasons for worldbuilder’s disease—that we’ll forget or lose our notes if we don’t write them out in vast detail. To combat this, make sure you have somewhere to keep your world details safe, organized, tagged and searchable. Then you can reassure yourself that you can go back and develop more later if you need it. 

Obviously, World Anvil is custom made for this, backing up everything in one place and linking everything together, so you can easily search, reference and update your series bible whilst writing your manuscript and not have to worry about losing things!

Anything here ring true for you? Or maybe you’re struggling with another worldbuilding mistake or problem? You can always hop into our live streamed Q&A sessions on our Twitch channel and ask us directly! We go live three times a week to answer questions about writing and worldbuilding, as well as helping our community with World Anvil queries too! Maybe we’ll see you there. And happy worldbuilding :)

Janet Forbes is a published fantasy author and RPG writer, whose recent credits include the Dark Crystal RPG with the Henson Company (coming 2021). In 2017, she and her husband created World Anvil, the ultimate worldbuilding and novel writing platform. World Anvil helps you organize, store and develop your worldbuilding and series bible privately, and market your books to the world too! The inbuilt novel writing software, accessible from anywhere, integrates seamlessly with your worldbuilding. And when it’s time to publish, you can export, or publish directly on the World Anvil platform and monetize YOUR way! Check it out at World Anvil.

[clarkgriffon]

i got 2 yeses to talk about the icarly revival and that’s good enough for me. 

okay, so the icarly revival was nostalgia bait. obviously we all knew that going in. but it was weirdly endearing revival bait and at the same time was very obviously flawed.

this got really long so im not going to bother most people with scrolling

so, the show starts with an excellent premise: carly is rebooting icarly without sam and needs to find what her vision is. but the problem is... they don’t utilize that like at all after introducing it? the web show pops up a couple times throughout the series when a backdrop is needed, for example, when freddie & griffin are touting griffin’s MLM scheme, but otherwise, the web show is pushed far in the background. sure, carly deals with a few modern consequences of being online, such as going viral as a meme, but the concept of the internet and more importantly, carly’s webshow is severely underplayed.

so that takes us to carly. they do some things right with carly, playing on some of her original character traits quite well, such as the fact she’s a notorious busybody. one thing i really liked as well was her relationship with harper and the way it was differentiated from her relationship with sam. in particular, the episode where harper makes carly’s finale dress into a new red carpet look was excellent development there. but there’s a lot of focus on carly’s love life in the revival that, as i mentioned in the previous paragraph, seems to supercede the webshow. now, carly’s love interests were always a Thing in the original 2007 icarly, but in the revival it really does feel like the question of season 1 turns into: is carly going to find a boyfriend vs. the original prompt of “can carly revive her webshow?”

speaking of carly’s love interests, let’s talk about freddie. i think the writers really struggled with freddie’s character. 2007 icarly freddie has a couple of core character traits: being in love with/obsessed with carly (which is resolved within the original series, so they can’t bring that element back), being a techie (which they attempt to adapt into his desire to be an entrepeneur/have his own startup, but this focuses more on him as a businessman than as a techie which confuses me), and being bullied by sam. with no sam, the writers choose to have the narrative bully him instead. he’s down on his luck, constantly fails, is bullied by his own daughter, and things just generally cannot go right for him. and because this isn’t a nickelodeon show and physical assault the way sam did it isn’t as funny as it was on a 2007 kid’s program, freddie isn’t getting physically abused anymore, but getting emotionally torn down again and again, which just isn’t satisfying to watch! the highlight of freddie’s character turns out to be his relationship development with his adoptive daughter millicent, which is sweet, heartfelt, and just about the only way he gets to win this season. i also think that carly & freddie’s relationship is pretty underplayed in season 1- a lot of the scenes they get together are ship bait, and they get a few genuine heartfelt moments in s1 but as the only 2 members of the original trio in the revival, i think they justified more screentime together.

millicent, freddie’s adoptive daughter, was a surprising highlight of the season. i was skeptical about it in theory since freddie and carly are still so young in the series, but she gelled well and had a really fun dynamic with a lot of the cast, especially carly and freddie. she was a little on the nose for what they were trying to do with the “new generation” of internet users, but overall i enjoyed the character. 

i also enjoyed what they did with spencer. of all the characters, he felt truest to his 2007 coutnerpart. maybe it’s because 2007 icarly spencer was an adult and the adaptation was just that he was an older adult. jerry trainer was spectacular, as always. i think the biggest falter with spencer was that he was underused and didn’t have a designated pair. a lot of time the main characters in icarly have counterparts- in the 2007 icarly, though there were variations- there was often a spencer plot and a main trio plot, and spencer would have various characters he could riff off of, like gibby or others. in the revival, a lot of the time carly would have a solo journey or was with harper, freddie was with millicent, and spencer was kind of left floundering for a storyline.

and our last main character, harper. now, harper is interesting because i really enjoyed her relationship with carly and how differentiated she was from sam (trying to create a sam carbon copy would’ve been a disaster). I also enjoyed that she didn’t HAVE to be connected to the OG characters to be relevant- she got her own storylines even without carly or spencer or freddie. but i think where harper fails is that she’s very exclusively connected to carly. the original show, as i said, has a huge TRIO vibe and the fact that freddie is almost nonexistantly connected to harper loses a lot of the essence of the original. 

but like i said- it’s nostalgia bait. and the way this really hits in the wrong way is with its guest characters. They bring back characters for the purpose of bringing them back with no thought to their original characterization. if they were going to focus on carly’s love life as much as they did, it’s shocking to me that they brought griffin back as an MLM joke rather than a real love interest- it had nothing to do with his original character and was a huge missed opportunity- they could’ve addressed carly’s growth from breaking up with him for his beanie baby collection to having a more well-informed view of masculinity. but instead he’s an MLM schemer? and it felt like that with a lot of the guests. they were there just so fans could point and go “wow! that’s freddie’s mom!” i would say the most well done one was nevel’s reintroduction, drawing on his original characterization and pulling a crazy scheme to marry carly because he’s still holding that flame for her. it was absurd and silly, but it was nevel (though they sort of ruined it in the end by nevel getting his happy ending with the girl carly thinks is a robot). 

another place the show struggled was in its comedy. it really couldn’t find the feeling with its jokes. when it wasn’t pulling on old gags for laughs ( “was it supposed to catch on fire?” “never is”), i think they were trying to “adult-ify” the humor and it just wasn’t working. icarly in the original did have a lot of random = funny and i’m glad they decided to steer away from that, but by the end of season 1, i still don’t think they’ve found their comedic voice.

so, why did i think it was good? why did i still enjoy it overall? because i think if i added up positives and negatives, negatives would probably outweigh postiives. but i think that despite it all, the icarly revival was endearing. i thought the actors, particularly the returning actors, did a great job breathing life back into the characters and i did enjoy seeing them again (although, weirdly, i think miranda in particular was a better actor in the original than she is as an adult in this role). i think the show has a lot of great actors and has a lot of potential as a revival. i like that it’s not a reboot, but a continuation of the canon.

so, we’ll see how season 2 goes. i’m holding out hope and i think even if it doesn’t address a lot of these problems, i’ll still be decently entertained.

[rogue-hammer]

ENTRY #2: ELDAR (PART 1)

“I watched the Forging of the Widow Makers, the 12 swords of Kaine, I watched as one was stolen and hidden far away.”

Eldar. The ancient Race, one time masters of the Galaxy and Seers without equal.

ELVES IN SPACE! SPACE….Space….space…

Believe it or not there is quite the history to this race outside of the typical hum drum of being the most powerful psykers, or, dumbasses who gave birth to Slaanesh. The history of the Eldar and their varied kin goes all the way back to Rogue Trader, and their lore has seen many an interesting tale told. The question is, do you have what it takes to make something out of it all?

Will you follow the Path of Asuryani?

Become a Exodite?

Mayhap an Outcast?

Or have you followed the path of Damnation?

#1 Study the history and model scope of the Eldar

As much as I love poking fun at any Knife ear, and their fans, I admit to a love of how otherworldly GW have made the Eldar over the years.

Going all the way back to the RT era, when the eldar where mostly but Corsairs and Enigmatic Xenos who seemed to materialize from the ether and sow discord for some unknowable reason, to the Golden Era of GW where these space elves where given a giant and truly inspiring background of triumph, a fall, loss, and desperate measures taken to keep their now dying race alive in the face of a hostile Galaxy.

For this reason I suggest to anyone interested in Eldar as a faction, to go back in time and visit some old books and codexes, as well as the classical ranges of minis.

Eldar once looked the part of eerie and almost frightening Alien creatures from a time before man crawled forth from his birthworld.

#2 Throw out the meta

First things first. Many of us probably grew up knowing the Eldar in their Post 2nd ed form. From 3rd ed’s chopped down Codex, to the easily abused expansion, and finally culminating in the 4th/5th ed incarnation of what has basically been the Eldar mold in modern times.

Hordes of Aspect warriors, spam grav tanks, spam Wraith-units, Spam Psykers and yes now a days, Spam Wraith Knights.

Or if you lean to the dark side, ummm Spam Raiders. Yeah just, Spam Raiders.

To put it blunt, Eldar meta is probably the most boring of all git-tastic play styles in the game of 40k, challenged perhaps only by Tau.

Throw it out. Read the lore. Apply it.

Eldar don’t have Hordes of ravening Aspect warriors to send in waves at their opponents.

Raiders are cool, if you can afford to have them and risk losing them in a raid. And your not likely to toss your most veteran Kalabite warriors into an attritional grind against Mon’kei gaurdsmen.

Wraith constructs are a nigh unthinkable resource to ever waste, and oh yeah did we mention not every fucking Eldar Force takes an Avatar of Khaine as it requires a heavy cost in order to even summon one of those things?

The Aldaeri have an interesting and sophisticated way of waging war, and they have highly advanced tech and powers in order to over come their foes, even if your actually trying to put some theme into it.

Lets discuss some interesting ways to look at your Eldar, seperating them into the 2 official factions, as well as ways to whip up an Exodite army or Corsair force.

#3 Craftworld Eldar.

Craftworld eldar are the main stay of the Aldaeri race, and the one lots of people tend to flock to when it comes time to game. And why not? Aspect warriors? Wraith Constructs? Tons of psykers and Autarchs? Whats not to like?

So how does one go about making a CW Eldar army worthy of a true hobbiest?

First things first, find a theme that digs deep into the lore. Are you;

-A Craftworld Defense force, using the might of your titanic space fairing world’s militia forces to fight off attackers. Squads of Guardians/Storm Guardians, backed by mobile weapons platforms and War Walkers. Your troops sailing into combat aboard Wave serpents and Viper Attack craft, all under the covering fire of punishing Heavy weapons platforms? Remember that all Eldar serve in the defense of their CW, and guardian and basic military based tech in an Eldar army is still some of the best around ( The best in certain editions).

-A Specialized Craftworld force, highly trained in a certain area of combat? Crack open the old 3rd ed Codex Craftworlds sup. And find some excellent ways to theme an army based off the major worlds, or perhaps mix and match certain styles in order to create your own world, with a unique color scheme, heraldry and history streching back to the fall, or even farther. House rule in the various advantages and limits of the old CW sup. And enjoy playing with the different styles of balance. (Just do your friends a solid, don’t abuse it.)

-A Doomed host heading into the Eye of Terror? Many CW Eldar have made the perilous if not downright suicidal journey into the Eye. Within that hellish realm, the Crone Worlds lay, the ancient now consumed home worlds of the eldar. Within them are many secrets, Spirit stones and other relics the Eldar greatly desire to have returned to them. Is your army such a quest? A brave Warrior Autarch, or Visionary Farseer having gathered those warriors of the Aspect temples to fight through the horrors of Chaos and retrieve something of unimaginable value?

-The Fist of Asuryani mayhap? The biggest and most powerful weapons the Eldar can bring to bear, hammering their opponents into submission by sheer might of their advanced fire power? Fire Dragons and Dark Reapers scorching the earth and slagging enemy armor, while Prism tanks and War Walkers streak and sprint ahead unleashing salvos of lance and Shuriken firepower into the enemy ranks. Batteries of Heavy Platforms annihilating units from a distance all the while the ground infantry providing cover support to your valuable aspect squads.

-Perhaps the Quick Death is all you need. After all what is more fast and fleet than the Eldar? Eldar on fast moving grav vehicles of course! Jetbikes and Vipers, Falcon tanks combined with the Shining Spear Cavalry and swift Swooping Hawk and Shadow Specter Aspect warriors to run circles about your slower more primitive opponents, cutting and blasting them to pieces before they have a chance to react.

-Maybe you watched Predator one too many times and have a thing for Stalking and killing your enemy from the Shadows or from unexpected angles. The hidden strike is a component suited to the crafty Eldar race, able to hit opponents with Striking Scorpions and teleporting Warp Spiders. Speedy hard to hit Harlequins and deep striking Autarchs and Hawks can be used to to tie down valuable enemy units while Rangers pick off targets of value from the safety of range and cover.

However you manage it, always remember that the eldar war machine is a finely crafted tool, with all units having a value within the force, not just the big OP units that so many others enjoy spamming.

Choosing a backdrop for your army is an easy way to find what units to select for thematic purposes, from Militia, to Seer guardians, Maiden World security forces to simple insertion armies meant to retrieve something stolen by lesser races or eliminate a target of future threat seen by the visions of the seer councils or Lost Wraith Engines on a distant barren world, awakened by a roaming warlock and his followers. Any unit in your army can become a core idea for your force’s history and reason for fighting. Thats the beauty of an army whose whole design is one of unique characteristics and fighting styles.

#4 DARK ELDAR

The Dark Kin, The Damned Path, The Drukari.

Dark Eldar are certainly a far cry from their CW kin, yet they have lost none of the potency and ancient power of their race, and indeed are far more arrogant and vicious.

However, different as though they may be, finding a unique concept in the Dark Eldar may come with a bit of a challenge.

In the earliest days of 40k, the Eldar where a unified faction, and in so much where a bit of a melting pot of all of what we see today across their various sub armies. The Dark Eldar seem to have been born out of GW’s need to mirror the High/Dark Elf style of WHF, and so sliced away the more destructive and often times treacherous and debased acts of the RT-2nd ed Eldar and formed a faction that, while having its own unique character is a bit on the smaller and often mashed together side. But there is unpicked fruit in the thorn covered garden of ideas for Dark Eldar. Lets have a look at ways you can theme and structure your own Kabal, Coven or Cult, or an unholy alliance of the three.

-A new Kabal rises: An excellent theme often over looked by most players is the concept of a new and young Kabal, lead by an aspiring Archon, only just starting to take his/her place in the dark city. This lends an interesting way to re-model an army and veer away from the typical spam of Elite warrior units and raider craft and focus more on the unique character of each unit. Basic Warriors making up the core of your force, backed up by the toughened meat shields of Wracks, sent into battle by a Haemonculus that has attached himself to this rising star. Meanwhile your Archon sits secure in his own personal Raider the only one at first in the army, directing the flow of battle as he sends in payed off Street gangs of Hellion riders and Scourges to do the work he himself would not dare put himself at risk for, waiting until the enemy is bruised and bloody before descending down from his craft to feast on the pain, guarded by alien mercenaries kept for ease of their greed and less ambitious minds.

-Mayhap you enjoy the idea of just going full gang? An entire force of wild eyed crazed Reavers, Hellions and Scourges mounting up on wings and craft, screeching across real space in thuggish raids to secure flesh and power to rise about the lower scum of the city streets. The various elements banding together for mutual greater gain before fighting over their spoils giving rise to powerful Leaders that take the street alliance higher and higher into the spires of the Dark City.

-If lowly gangs and young archons don’t suit, then perhaps Highborn power and elite warrior code is more the poison of choice. Few can match the ferocity and skill with a blade that the dark kin possess. An army that worships the blade, made of Incubi, Veteran Wyches, Succubus’ and maybe even a powerful Archon, much a Swordsmen in their own right as any proud member of the Incubi Temple. Holding to a code of seeking out the greatest challenge to sharpen their blades against, engaging enemies head on with raider and Venom craft to quickly close and slaughter their way to infamy and higher praise in the ranks, shunning the pathetic court intrigue and power plays of the  other Kabals and cults, seeking only gain and perfection through bloody handed combat and death. A good alternative to the often typical Wych cult raid.

-Or the More Esoteric route? Haemonculus covens are all well and good, but do even these twisted flesh shapers come close to delving into the darkness that lies within the heart of the dark city? From the depths may rise an even more infernal and mysterious force for you to command. Born of the Beast masters who bend the creatures of the warp to their will, and the dreaded Mandrakes, sinister daemonic dark eldar who creep from the shadows and snatch their victims away. Truly an army lead by a Coven leader, so immersed in the dark arts of arcane science and flesh would be a terrible enemy to all sane life. Unleashing webway portals in the hearts of peaceful worlds, or worse, the middle of crowded hive cities for the vile things of the dark kin to reap bloody carnage on, dragging victims back to the benighted realm for sacrifice and experimentation too horrible to consider.  

-Take to the air perhaps and rule the skies above worlds who fear the dread shadow of your lightening speed craft as it passes over. An army made of Raider, Ravager and Fighter/bomber craft, even it’s troops never setting foot on the ground except to reek carnage in it’s aftermath, once all has been pulverized by shockwaves of horrifying munitions and bombing runs, the enemy position reduced to smoking craters of gore and blinded wreck. Their ears ringing with the echoing screech of your craft’s engines as they sore across the grim skies.

-Or maybe the final and most deadly of all weapons. Fear. Does your army not even dine to soil its hands in the proud defenses of your enemies? Do they instead send forth the most hideous and perverse works of the dark kin to shatter the mind, and break the soul before the body is even touched? Floating Talos and Chronos pain engines, their sanity blasting bodies shrouded by the dark wings of Shrikes and raider craft filled with wracks and beastial creatures ready to be unleashed once the damage is done. Medusae and other strange contraptions born of the Dark Eldar’s crazed intellect striding alongside Archons wielding the most horrifying weapons to inflict the worst possible trauma on a foe.

To quote the 3rd ed. Dark Eldar Book. The Dark Eldar are not nice. Not nice at all.

When considering the theme and characteristic of your army, not unlike your CW Eldar, ask yourself, what is the history of each unit on the table? Then consider what perversity and malign goals have brought them forth. Then, multiply that by something ten times worse. Are even a thousand Imperial souls merely an appetizer for your Archon who has fallen to such depths of need he must draw out even the most simple act of pain infliction to its most perfected measure?

Does your haemonculous make it a private goal to break and torture Astartes? His ambition to see the very limits the super enhanced minds and psychologies that a Space marine have can endure? Do they prefer the sweet meat of psykers, or the flesh of their more noble kin? Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is bellow a Dark Eldar and their arrogant quest for self sustaining torture and arrogant aggrandizement.

To be continued in PART 2 (Exodites and Corsairs)

[rkjinwook]

• • •  STARTING LIVE!

       02AUG2020  |   🐥 JINWOOK’S HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🥳 🥳        DURATION   |   1:02:22

it’s a cute set, albeit typical for this kind of broadcast. the staff have provided jinwook with a fixed camera framing his mini birthday table, complete with multicolored balloons decorating the back wall. there’s a small tablet to monitor the stream and comment feed, which jinwook fiddles with as he waits. in retrospect, he thinks it would’ve been nicer to hold a more casual conversation with fans for his first solo live, but that might just be the nerves talking.

he fills the silence with music, his guitar in his lap. it’s an everyday sight, but jinwook realizes most fans won’t have heard him play much, so he takes care to warm up cleanly, and warm up his vocals too. he only alternates between a few simple chords, though. it’s the sort of background music he used to hear when he’d occasionally attend church services with eve. as jinwook plays he imagines an audience quietly filing in, taking their seats at his birthday party as they each receive the live notification. finally the staff motions for jinwook that the actual video is starting, and he rests the instrument in his lap, out of view for now.

“hello! i’m convex’s sunshine, jinwook.” the greeting is bright and familiar as he dips his head toward the camera. it’s unlikely that the viewers, who arrived so early from a notification, don’t know his name, but it can’t hurt to start off formally. “today is my birthday! yay!!” also evident from the title and the backdrop. jinwook gives himself a round of applause anyway. then he picks up a party hat from the table and slips the cone over his head. “tada~” 

“since we can’t meet in person, i wanted to greet you all with a live today to celebrate.” there’s a pause as jinwook adjusts the thin elastic of the party hat. he takes a breath. “last year, hmm...” he taps a finger to his cheek as he thinks back. “oh, last year i made cupcakes! i was helping our team sphere on the mgas.. so i couldn’t meet consta that time, either.” jinwook hums in thought, suddenly a bit nostalgic about his time as a coach. he shakes his head. “so i’m excited to try this out now.”

“let’s see...” he says, quickly moving on, “is everyone settling in here alright?” he peers over the tablet and rests a finger over the chat to pause its scrolling speed. the amount of viewers is staggering and the number only keeps rising, but jinwook focuses on the individual users sending messages instead. it’s a relief to see the majority in his native language. “hello and hello and hello,” he says, reading off a string of usernames and greeting each one individually, “and thank you for coming, and thank you for coming, and thank you for coming~!”

when jinwook releases his finger from the screen, the chat jumps back to life, shifting too quickly to read. he frowns and tries to pause it again. it takes some concentration to read off the unusual username combinations, but he does his best.

💬  :  happy bday 🥳 🥳 🥳 💬  :  you look handsome!!! 💬  :  happy birthday oppa~ 💬  :  thank you for being born 💖🎁🎁 💬  :  bare faced jinwook is the best!

“ah, thank you~ hello!! thank you too~ thank you for being by my side! oh! this one...” jinwook is startled into a laugh at the last comment, bringing a hand over his mouth. when he drops his hand he shows his full face to the camera, grinning. “this is definitely not bare faced jinwook, but, still i appreciate you thinking so~”

as he tries to keep reading, he tilts his head and squints. many of the messages are just full of celebrating emoji or animated emotes. it’s less to parse, but more noise to sort through. “ah, so much emoji in chat, you all must’ve learned from me, huh...” he muses.

after another minute he leans back again, his nerves settled. well, jinwook’s never had much trouble even talking to himself, so it shouldn’t surprise him that speaking to a bustling chat window comes naturally, too.

💬  :  did you have a good day so far?

“i’m happy today!” jinwook answers confidently. “my grandmother always wakes up early on sunday mornings, so i called her on the way to practice! and later tonight i’m going to video call with my family. actually i told my sister what time i was going live, so she might be listening too?” jinwook squints back down at the tablet and bites his lower lip. “ah, the chat is going way too fast to tell...”

💬  :  where are the other members!!

“hmm, training?” jinwook grins. “i’m taking a break to talk for right now~ but we are all working very hard otherwise!” he shares another smile, proud of himself for not mentioning anything further - although if his eyes sparkle, he can’t be held responsible. “they might stop by at the end!”

“that reminds me!” jinwook reaches below the table for his bag, pulling out a fresh journal that jaehyun had gifted him in the morning. he holds it up for the camera, proudly showing off the nice foil accents and the fold-out attachment. “my roommate, haru, got me this really pretty notebook. it’s supposed to work as a real midi keyboard.” jinwook’s runs his fingers over the cover. “he has good timing since i am almost out of pages in my old notebook... i’m excited to use it.”

💬  :  oppa’s hair is cool today!

“my hair, ah..” jinwook reaches absently to touch it, pleased. “it grew!” it’s worn longer than it was for pretty u era, freshly dyed and parted down the middle. he’s lucky he’s even allowed to have it showing for the live right now, since it’s a similar shade to his old cut. “i’m kind of happy, since it feels healthy recently...” he chuckles a little, the compliment leading him to another train of thought.

“speaking of cool, consta, did you guys see our call me baby special stage last week?” jinwook looks up to the camera and leans in, curious. “the concept was slightly darker for us, since unit black is so, you know... cool.” jinwook gestures vaguely but laughs at the understatement. it’s not a big enough word to describe some of the biggest superstars in the industry. “we have songs like rock but it’s different from convex‘s usual image, maybe,” he adds thoughtfully, knowing full well that their next comeback is inching in that direction. “do you think we suited it well?”

💬  :  convex is cool too!

jinwook nods, pleased by the positive responses in the chat. “so it was okay, then?” he laughs a little because of course, they’re all biased fans and he asked for it on his birthday, but it’s still reaffirming. “mmm, it still felt a bit refreshing and funky like convex, too. so i think there can be a middle ground,” he says, as if simply imagining how things could evolve in the future. “something smooth like that stage?”

something smooth. jinwook’s thinking of crazy in love, specifically, but the title song itself is an even bigger departure from their pretty u sound and aesthetic. “ah..” he shakes his head with a sheepish grin, “i think i’m rambling a lot.” jinwook takes a dramatic deep breath and collects his thoughts.

then he shifts away from the tablet to pull up the guitar in his lap. “i wanted to answer a lot of messages, but i actually prepared a song for you, too.” he strums a bright chord for emphasis. “it’s nothing fancy but i thought consta would maybe enjoy something like this. so i don’t have to sing happy birthday to myself, or anything,” he jokes.

🎵  :  heartz / minhee&luda — i’ll be there

“this is one of my favorite songs recently! i thought it would be nice for our fans, too.” it’d been an easy choice when jinwook was preparing for this stream. it’s a recent sphere release, plus he’s been listening to and singing the song since it came out, so he already knew most of the words. still, jinwook pulls up the lyrics on the tablet just in case. since he frames it as a fan song, there’s no need to change the gendered parts, although he doesn’t think he would have bothered, either way. 

jinwook only slows the tempo and lowers the key slightly to fit his guitar and his voice. the song has a different energy with an acoustic guitar instead of the bouncy synths, but it’s just as sweet and upbeat. he takes his time, singing all the way through both verses and two choruses. 

just before the bridge, jinwook trails off with a little smile. “ah, i just practiced up until here so far...” he keeps strumming idly as he leans over the tablet again. the comments flood with cheers that jinwook only can read some pieces of. it feels good, though, and jinwook feels confident about the vibe.

he watches several prying questions about heartz fly by in response, and carefully doesn’t acknowledge any of them. “of course i’ve been cheering for heartz,” is all he says. “i really liked around you and vivid also! and i’m excited for the next singles released this week, too.”

💬  :  please a convex song next!!

“oh,” he says, “a convex song?” jinwook takes a break, first, to roll out his wrists. then he hums in thought, searching for something he could play on the spot. “do you remember this one?”

🎵  :  convex — 20

he transitions into a familiar guitar intro. long-time fans might recognize it as the vocal unit song from convex’s debut album, but jinwook is pleased to introduce it to anyone else who’s unfamiliar. personally, he thinks it has held up pretty well over the past two years. “shh—” he mimics the sharp first line, then smiles as he continues strumming and begins to sing.

the song proves difficult to solo, and jinwook wishes he’d thought to prepare more material ahead of time. a medley could’ve been nice, but with all of the comeback preparations going on..... instead jinwook giggles as he trips over the lyrics, attempting the first verse’s backing and lead vocals both together. “hm..” he mumbles, glancing up at the camera. he casually redoes the section to make a decent recovery, and the chorus soars as intended. 

“ah...” says jinwook wistfully after he eases to a stop, “i’ll have to come back to that one someday. that one is nice to sing to consta, too. i always liked the lyrics a lot. you’re my twenties~”

he taps his fingers against the body of the guitar and is reminded of the special day. “but today my twenties are officially half-over, aren’t they? wah... scary....”

twenty-five. he stares blankly toward the tablet, thinking he should follow up: then i’ll just spend the second half of my twenties with consta!

these days, though, it feels like an unfair promise to make.

💬  :  like a gorilla like a gorilla!

his eye catches on one of the suggestions breezing down the chat window, and it interrupts his brooding with a burst of laughter. “gorilla? de:code’s gorilla?” he repeats. he tries a few chords but they’re not in the right key, and jinwook grins as he puts away his guitar on its stand. “i don’t know, that one would be an interesting acoustic cover.” he sings a little phrase of it anyway, a random adlib from the ending: “girl you make me feel~!”

“but!” he points a finger at the camera, not wanting his opinions to be twisted. “maybe one day i could cover their song beautiful, or i’m fine from predebut!”

💬  :  what are you listening to recently?

“hmm... what is new?” jinwook absently adjusts his elastic party hat elastic and pulls out his phone. “i like lee hi’s holo! per_se have a nice summer album.. with o sole mio, and of course...” jinwook hits a pretty falsetto as he opens the music app: “this is how i feel about you, twilight~”

“it’s like twilight, yeah~” he flicks through his playlist and wonders if he should just share screenshots of the whole thing on fancafe. “ah, and eclipse’s comeback!” he adds. “look, isn’t the album cover pretty?” his screen is probably illegible, when he holds it up close to show the camera, but at least his enthusiasm is clear. “i like their night side the best, with that unique rock sound...” jinwook pauses, and reconsiders. “actually, navillera was totally my style, too.” he shakes his head and grins. “eclipse is definitely cool no matter what.”

💬  :  it is already 4 in the morning here why 😭

english. jinwook has glazed over every message in foreign languages but he laughs at this one. he trips over a stilted reading of the comment, and quickly switches back to korean to answer. “i’m sorry ahh, next time i have to think of different timezones, right?” he tilts his head. “mm, it seems impossible to find a good time for everyone all around the world? but i’m happy you could visit with me for even a little bit. please make sure to rest well~” as an afterthought, he finishes in english: “and goodnight~”

💬  :  can you show a rap verse? 

“rapping?” jinwook’s eyes light up at the suggestion, and he laughs out loud. “can i tell a secret?” it’s not the right question to ask, judging by the staff’s reaction. but jinwook leans in sneakily, and continues despite their concerned looks. “we tried to switch parts for adore u once, so i learned seungcheol’s rap! that choi seungcheol,” he says with a grin, “has pretty good expressions on stage these days... his parts are fun! i like practicing his pretty u verse, too.”

he tells the story casually, although that part switch was not just boredom in the practice rooms, but an official planned anniversary release. that weekend in incheon is still a fond memory despite the disappointment of never getting to see the final edit.

he rolls his shoulders. “anyway, i don’t have the nice low voice for it, but there is a little melody to his parts a lot of the time...” jinwook postures up for full effect and puts on his best rapper expression. “how can you dazzle so much? you’re so pretty it’s—”

it’s probably for the best that he is interrupted by a loud knock and a rowdy chorus of happy birthday starting right outside the door.

➡️  :  continued in part two...

[offbeatcappuccino]

Do You Like Brahms? (Ongoing Review)

Do You Like Brahms? Ongoing Review Cast : Kim Min Jae, Park Eun Bin, Kim Sung Cheol, Lee You Jin, Park Ji Hyun, and Bae Da Bin Streaming Platform: KOCOWA (also can watch it for free on many other websites) Year: 2020 ( ongoing)

Note: I will not be talking about any cons in this review because the show is still in its early stages and much of what I initially perceive as cons may actually end up being pros with plot development towards the end of the show :) Actors’ Background: Last weekend, I was watching some episodes from a show called “Tempted” aka” The Great Seductress”. Tempted isn’t really a great show and it gave me major Gossip Girl vibes, but I really liked the character Lee Se-joo and the actor who played him was Kim Min Jae. After doing a quick Wikipedia search, I was surprised to know that Kim Min Jae( despite also being a college student) is quite the accomplished actor with supporting roles in hit dramas like Dr. Romantic, Dr. Romantic 2, and Guardian: The Great and Lonely God. Do You Like Brahms is his second time playing a leading role in a drama.

The female lead, Park Eun Bin is also a pretty accomplished actress, who’s acted in dramas like Operation Proposal, Hello, My Twenties (Netflix), and her most successful drama so far has been the drama Hot Stove League (2019-2020).

Fun facts about the two lead actors is that Kim Min Jae played a cameo role in the 2014 drama Producers, which starred Kim Soo Hyun ( Its Okay to Not Be Okay) and he shared screen space with Woo Do Hwan ( The King: Eternal Monarch) in Tempted, and Do Hwan acted in drama called Save Me with Seo Ye Ji ( Its Okay to Not be Okay). In addition, Park Eun Bin acted in Hot Stove League with Oh Jung Se ( also starred in Its Okay to Not Be Okay). Synopsis : Do You Like Brahms? is a drama set against the backdrop of the field of classical music in Korea. The story revolves around two protagonists Park Joon Young, a talented piano prodigy, who’s won numerous accolades at various global piano competitions, and Chae Song Ah, a business major who decided to repeat four years of undergrad to major in violin. Their stories intersect when Joon Young decides to return to Korea for a sabbatical after his successful North American tour and Song Ah chooses to take an internship at the Kyunghoo Cultural Foundation, the same foundation which offered its first scholarship to Joon Young to help support his musical studies. The growing relationship between the two characters and the conflicts that they face with their friends and families as they struggle to succeed professionally, but also personally forms the crux of the plot.

The title of the drama Do You Like Brahms? has a lot of significance to the actual plot of the show. Johannes Brahms was an accomplished German composer and the most famous story about this personal life is his unwavering love for Clara Schuman, the wife of another famous composer, Robert Schuman. The title is significant in the drama because Brahms is the only composer that Joon Young outright refuses to play, but also because both Joon Young’s life and to a certain extent Song Ah’s as well parallel Brahms’ own life.

Pros: Foil and Theme : I guess this isn’t really a pro about the show, but from a literary analysis perspective, it's really interesting to see how the characters are developed to be a foil to each other. For those of you who may not know what foil means, Foil is basically this literary concept, where one character directly contrasts another character. From the way I’ve analyzed the show, I strongly believe that Joon Young and Song Ah contrast each other in many significant ways, but it's interesting because their lives also parallel each other at the same time. They are diametrically different in the sense that Joon Young is this amazingly talented pianist, but for Joon Young, playing piano has been a source of oppression and burden.

Joon Young only competed in competitions because the prize money was the only way he could support his financially struggling family. While many argue that Joon Young’s career is nearing the beginning of its end, no one questions his brilliance or his right to call himself a musician. On the other hand, Song Ah loves playing violin for the sake of playing violin, but she’s nowhere close to being considered talented by any societal standard. She’s last chair ( in orchestra, the best string players are seated closer to the front and worst towards the back) and she’s also last in her class. Many of her friends, peers, and family are bewildered by the fact that she threw away a Business degree to pursue a passion that she’s only somewhat decent at.

I think this contrast between Joon Young and Song Ah really forms the basis of a fundamental question that this drama raises- Should we pursue what we love or what we’re good at?  I think this question is really significant, especially because we live in a hyper capitalistic society, where I think we’re obsessed about competing amongst each other and becoming the best at what we do, so that we appear as desirable candidates on the market. But, in order to have a truly meaningful life, should we pursue what truly brings us happiness and joy even if it means we’ll always be considered average and we won’t receive the accolades and promotions that come with professional advancement.

Realistic and Nuanced Acting : A common problem that arises when you’re doing any type of drama based on playing an instrument is that very often a show will show an instrument being played the wrong way, or will rely on professional musicians as body doubles to play the instrument. As someone who played violin from the ages of 11-17, I can confirm that this drama does such a good job highlighting all the nuances that come with playing the violin, whether it be tuning your instrument , your string breaking, or even rubbing rosin against your bow, and even the sentiment surrounding being last chair in orchestra was really nice to see because you know the show writers really did their research when they decided to write the script for the drama. Also, major shout out to Park Eun Bin for her vibrato technique and I guess it helps that she played violin at the college level. Same goes for Kim Min Jae, who also knows how to play piano. Fun fact about the show is that many of the pieces played by the characters in the show were actually played by the actors themselves and they spent a considerable amount of time brushing up on their skills to play some pretty complicated pieces.

Chemistry & Depiction of Relationships: If the chemistry between Ko Mun Yeong and Moon Gang Tae from Its Okay to Not Be Okay could be described as a combustion reaction, the relationship between Song Ah and Joon Young is like a beautiful yet slow recrystallization happening right in front of your eyes. There’s something fulfilling and wholesome about both of these relationships, but I think that Song Ah and Joon Young’s relationship is something that we all can relate and aspire to.

I really get a lot of flack from my friends for my use of this term, but I truly value “organic relationships”. I consider organic relationships to be the type of relationships that form spontaneously. Organic relationships are the relationships that you start to form because you kept running into this person on your way to your Organic Chemistry class and one day, you decide to hold the door for them cause you’re nice and before you know it, it turns out that next semester, you’re both in the same Cell Biology class and decide to be lab partners and before you know it, you’re besties.

Organic relationships that happen simply happen because they happen and there’s no intention by either of the two parties of how this relationship is gonna turn out. I really like how Song Ah and Joon Young meet randomly and start out with just saying hi to each other and then they slowly transition to becoming friends before becoming a couple and all three phases are beautifully shown. I love how in every part of this process, they respect each other’s boundaries and openly acknowledge their feelings when they’re together. They also practice active listening with no judging or unnecessary advice. But, also, like normal people in relationships, they stumble and deal with awkwardness, arguments, and regrets, but they navigate these obstacles in a healthy manner.

I also love the chemistry between the two leads. I especially love how Joon Young's eyes seem to light up every single time he sees Song Ah and how Song Ah giggles and smiles just a little bit more than she usually does when she sees Joon Young.

[calamity-bean]

Chambers (2019)

Anyone around here watched Chambers?

I binged it recently on a whim, knowing nothing about it, when I started, other than the basic premise: a horror series about a teenage girl who starts having strange experiences after receiving a heart transplant. Supernatural horror about transplant recipients is an established trope, so if you’re familiar with it, then I reckon you can imagine the major (heart)beats of where Chambers is going with it. But just because it may be familiar doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable ride!

And I did get pretty engrossed. The horror elements were not, to me, particularly scary, but they were well done. I grew attached to several characters quickly, especially the protagonist, Sasha, and her uncle/guardian, Big Frank. Characters almost always carry a story for me (more so than plot), and I liked getting to know the character dynamics here and watching the more domestic subplots unfold; Sasha’s actress (Sivan Alyra Rose) has to carry a lot of the tension and emotion based on her performance alone, and I think she did a great job. And I love the setting: the Arizona desert, which Chambers fills with vast expanses and roaring sandstorms and lightning that boils through the wide, wide sky. It’s a beautiful and effective backdrop, and I found the horror/mystery elements and the character work strong enough to rec Chambers to horror fans on the basis of those elements alone.

But I think what really makes Chambers stand out are its themes. Specifically, its critique of cultural appropriation, which underpins the setting as well as the narrative in many ways. It’s a story led by a Navajo protagonist that draws its horror from the idea of being taken over and used without permission by forces that are conspicuously ultramodern, performative, and white.

More explanation of what I mean by that below, but I’m going to get into spoilers to do so (some major), so... Short version, Chambers is worth a try if you’re interested in horror stories with female and/or Native American leads; for the long version, spoilers under the cut!

Cottonwood versus Crystal Valley

So. Like I said, Chambers is set primarily in Arizona, in two towns surrounded and separated by desert.

The first is Sasha’s hometown, Cottonwood. It’s smallish, working-class; money is a pressing concern for several characters there, and the high school Sasha attends is implied to be limited in its resources and academic opportunities. Notably, many of the residents we see are nonwhite. Sasha is Navajo, as are her uncle Frank and her boyfriend TJ, who is also half Pima. (Sasha, Frank, and TJ’s actors are all of varying Native American / First Nations backgrounds; I’ve seen articles saying Sivan Alyra Rose is the first Native actress to star in a Netflix series, and it’s certainly notable that this series has multiple Native leads.) Sasha’s best friend, Yvonne, is black, and we see plenty of other brown and black characters in supporting and background roles.

The other town, Crystal Valley, was home to Sasha’s heart donor. Becky was the same age as Sasha, and her sudden death under strange circumstances provides the mystery that drives much of the plot. The contrast between Cottonwood and Crystal Valley is... striking. Becky’s family and friends are all conspicuously wealthy and white-collar. Their school is extremely modern, in its facilities as well as in its sensibilities, and academically elite. And the vast majority of the students, Becky included, are white. Which makes it VERY intentional irony, of course, that Crystal Valley High’s mascot is...

...the Braves. YEAH.

I’ll say right up front that I’m (1) white and (2) not particularly well versed in Navajo culture (or the cultures of other Southwestern peoples) or in the specific issues relevant to them today. I’m sure there are people who could go into Chambers’s portrayal of Sasha, her community, and their concerns with much more nuance and depth than I can. But even a viewer with superficial knowledge can’t help but notice that cultural appropriation is very much a theme of this show, both in the details and in the grand scope of the narrative. Sasha feels like an outsider right away as (through the sponsorship of Becky’s family) she switches schools from Cottonwood to Crystal Valley, and the more time she spends there, the more the weirdness and isolation pile on.

One of the most conspicuously weird elements involves a New Age–esque group called the Annex Foundation, which Becky’s family has some sort of connection with. The Annex folks are very into crystals. They are very into energies and yoga, ayahuasca and equinox festivals, and burning sage. Their beliefs and behaviors are a grab-bag of practices loosely adapted/reinvented from all sorts of traditions, whereas the members themselves, as far as I can recall, are almost all white.

I’m not super well versed in the New Age movement either, but I have read that this exact sort of thing is something that the movement has been widely criticized for irl — its tendency to borrow beliefs and customs from various world religions and appropriate them to the movement’s own purposes, thus using them without permission and divorcing them from their original context. We see this idea echoed everywhere in the speech and accoutrements of the Annex Foundation members. We see it in the way Sasha is pressured into leaving Cottonwood and trying to assimilate into Crystal Valley. And we see it in the way that Sasha’s supernatural connection with Becky, whose memories and personality begin to seep into her, literally begins turning Sasha white. 

There are tons of other little details that flesh out this theme — far more than I can get into. I don’t think Chambers portrays all its white characters as evil or unsympathetic. But it’s absolutely grappling with race and with a specific racialized phenomenon, and I think supernatural horror is an interesting context in which to explore it. Sasha’s relationship with her own race and culture is also complicated. As a result of her upbringing, she hasn’t had much contact with her extended family, and she feels disconnected from and somewhat ignorant of the wider Navajo community. In contrast to much of the horror coming from appropriation, her efforts to reconnect with her own family and heritage become a source of inner strength.

There is one major aspect of the overall plot that’s connected to this theme and that... didn’t quite work for me. But it’s a plot point that crops up VERY late in the game, so major end-of-season spoilers in this next section...

Spoilers! Big Ones!!

It becomes clear pretty early on, imo, that the Annex Foundation is the villain of the whole piece. I’m fine with that; it’s what I expected, it makes sense, it’s coherent with the overall theme. It’s furthermore eventually revealed that Becky’s death was connected to the Foundation’s attempt to use her as the earthly vessel for a demon they summoned out of the desert. I’m... like... okay with that. I’ve mentioned in the past that I find horror about spooky masked/robed cults of demon worshipers to be... How can I put this? SUPER cheesy. So cheesy that it can ruin an entire story for me. That’s just a personal preference, though, and even I don’t know how to completely account for it. But whatever. It’s just one aspect of the overall story here, and it fits in with the broader themes well enough. I can deal.

But what bothered me, in this case, is that the demon in question is revealed, in the season’s final episode, to be... Lilith? For some reason?

There’s no mention of Lilith before the season finale. There’s nothing, before the finale, related to Jewish mythology, Adam and Eve, “the divine feminine,” or conflict between male and female — like I’ve said, the primary thematic tension is based on race, not gender, and I don’t think gender really plays a role in the show’s exploration of cultural appropriation, either. Yet suddenly these concepts are brought in during the season finale?

I guess the idea that the Annex Foundation would glom onto a random figure from a different world tradition fits in with the whole idea of cultural appropriation, but I don’t see how Lilith specifically fits in. I don’t see why she’s taken the form of a cloud of dust/smoke out in the Arizona desert. I see themes of complicated mother/daughter relationships in the earlier episodes, but nothing related to femininity as a force unto itself (which is what the Annex folks start going on about at the very end). On the one hand, I really appreciate that this series casts a white neoreligion as its ~strange, mysterious, dangerous supernatural force~ (as opposed to the many stories that use a white/outsider POV confronted with ~strange, mysterious, dangerous~ indigenous forces), but honestly, I had been thinking that perhaps the “demon” was some sort of spirit that was native to the desert and that the Annex Foundation had simply stumbled upon it, mistaken its nature/identity, and was trying to appropriate it for their own purposes. I think that would fit in with the appropriation theme and would also explain why the spirit was not a good fit for Becky’s body (ultimately leading to her death). Moreover, the very end of the season implies that Sasha does have some kind of harmony with the “demon” inside her and can utilize it and live with it in a way that Becky never could. If this “demon” were some sort of spirit that was native to her own land and that the Annex people had tried to appropriate, I think that would fit in with the theme of Sasha reconnecting with her own heritage and finding strength in it.

So... yeah. Still trying to figure out how I feel about that aspect, or whether I missed something somewhere along the way, idk. Maybe it’ll make more sense to me in season 2, if it gets renewed.

Overall...

Regardless, though, Chambers still has a lot going for it. It has a talented and diverse cast with many likable and/or interesting characters. It incorporates difficult, relevant themes into its narrative and utilizes its setting to great effect, both in terms of the cultures it explores and in terms of the landscape itself. I think the horror elements were done well, though in much the way I expected. If you’re already familiar with the “transplant recipient has supernatural connection with the donor” trope, then yeah, it's the “transplant recipient has supernatural connection with the donor” trope! And imo, the members of the Annex Foundation telegraph “EVIL CULT EVIL CULT” from pretty much their first appearance, so I wasn’t exactly shocked. But the acting, writing, themes, and setting are all strong, and I became invested in several of the characters very quickly. So if any of this sounds interesting to you, consider giving it a try!

[dent-de-leon]

Hey Leo! Sorry for the random questions but do you recommend The Dragon Prince? Is it about the dragons or are they like background lore or something? Thanks!

Short answer: hell yeah,, it’s so much fun!! Give it a try if you love fantasy adventure stuff. Long answer: 

DRAGONS ARE MY FAVORITE THING EVER SO I WILL TELL YOU THAT I ABSOLUTELY CAME CAUSE I HEARD “DRAGON” AND “PRINCE” AND “DRAGON PRINCE” AND THAT SEEMED TO SUIT MY VERY SPECIFIC INTERESTS,,, there’s a lot of lore and they seem to be more or less the ruling forces of Xadia, the land of magic and elves. But they’re definitely not just a backdrop piece, they’re major players! Sadly we don’t get to see as much dragon action in the first season, but the entire focus of the main trio is to protect a dragon that’s a royal heir, the eponymous “Dragon Prince.” 

And so,, bit of a spoiler, but you DO get to actually meet the Dragon Prince in the series,, they hatch right before season 2 and become one of the traveling companions of the main trio. They’re the cutest little baby dragon!! Again, I’m sorry for the spoiler, but if I say like…there’s a dragon companion Eventually and you know that episode 1 introduces a dragon egg, like…it’s kinda hard to talk about without giving away, and DP certainly didn’t shy away from advertising Baby Dragon in all the promo stuff for season 2 so I figure you’ll run into it anyway. And we see glimpses of other dragons as the episodes go by, and they all exude this sense of absolute awe and power. So if you came for the dragons,, there will!! Be!! Dragons!! 

But what else is at the forefront–even more so than the dragons? One of my other favorite things in all of fantasy ever. ELVES,, and lots of them!! All elves–and indeed, all the magical creatures native to Xadia–are born with an innate connection to something called an arcanum, which is a kind of really cool elemental magic!! The writers of Dragon Prince are some of the people that splintered off from the Avatar series after Last Airbender (so they were uninvolved with Korra, but part of the original series). And you can definitely see that in the influence of a lot of the lore and world building. 

Each race of elves having their own affinity for a particular arcanum is definitely going to be reminescent of the whole bender thing. These arcanum are also known as “Primal Sources,” because they’re kind of this mystical, primordial energy that controls the natural forces of the universe. So you have: 

Moon Arcanum (Moonshadow Elves: value loyalty and their oaths above all else, honorable, mystical, withdrawn, spiritual, duplicitous, illusionists, assassins, conditioned to never show fear)

Sun (Sunfire Elves: masters of the forge, unparalleled craftsmanship in their weapon and armor smithing, destructive, nurturing, charismatic, passionate, can invoke either a “rage” based state to rampage with increased strength and speed, or harness their “light” in order to heal) 

Sky (Skywing Elves: Keen minded, clever, value their freedom and autonomy above all else, gifted with flight)

Earth (Earthblood Elves: Patient, steadfast, stubborn, introspective, inquisitive, very in-tune with the balance of the natural world, value harmony and discovery) 

Ocean (don’t know what these elves are called still,, rip,,, but: Peaceful, empathetic, deeply connected to others, forge intimate bonds, adaptable, versatile)

Star (Startouch Elves: very rare, elusive, have a vast concept of time and space as seen through the lens of infinite cosmos, gifted in divination, posses ancient magic and potential secrets of the universe) 

The main conflict of the show is actually between the humans and the elves. They used to all live together, but then humans betrayed the others through the creation of dark magic, a sort of “cheat” since humans aren’t born naturally connected to any of the Primal Sources. Since they’re cut off from the arcanum, they saw their only viable means of practicing magic as sacrificing other magical beings to draw from their life force. This can be anything from crushing bugs to ritual use of phoenix feathers, and even killing dragons. So that’s how you get the alleged “sixth arcanum,” Dark Magic. And honestly, lots of Magical Creatures weren’t a Big Fan of that. Humans eventually went to war with the elves and dragons, and!! Yes!! They lost. And got driven out of Xadia. 

Dragon Prince takes place sometime later, and is essentially about heightening tensions between humans and elves, and likely, the very inevitable impending war. There are numerous human kingdoms, each with their own politics, as well as everything we’ve yet to discover about the interrelationships between differing arcanum elves. The series features two human princes trying to navigate their role in society and expectations for the future alongside the emerging threat of war and disconcerting realization that Xadia isn’t quite as sinister as they thought. There’s also their new friend Rayla, a Moonshadow Elf and trained assassin–who has decided to grudgingly open up her heart, and maybe give humanity a chance (I love her). You also have the obligatory Dark Magic sorcerer with his own agenda and secrets. Not to mention his jock son and dark magic daughter, who are honestly both so quirky, endearing, complex, and can just steal the show. 

I also have to mention General Amaya!! She’s the general of one of the human kingdom armies, and she’s also mute. All her soldiers communicate with her in sign language (and it’s actually correctly animated ASL!!). Everything about the way this character was brought to life was so amazing and, not knowing anything about her beforehand, I was so pleasantly surprised by her strength, charm, chivalry–she’s amazing. And it’s clear that considerable research and effort went into representation here. 

Other reasons to watch include one of my personal favorites,, Hot Elves,, you’ve got both Runaan and Aaravos here and they’re all I can focus on whenever they’re onscreen. They both own my heart and soul and they’re 100% perfect I’m very thankful I can always look forward to them,, 

Unfortunately, I can talk about how much I like Dragon Prince all I want, but I also have to definitely mention there’s a relationship between two queer characters in a flashback of season 2, and they’re both killed off soon after their introduction. That left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve seen people “compare” it to Voltron, try to claim it did things “better,” but that’s honestly all ridiculous. Not to mention, VLD’s LGBT rep was always meant to be Shiro, and he was still around, whereas TDP introduced two minor LGBT characters and then proceeded to kill off their only LGBT characters an episode later. This isn’t me trying to complain or start a fight or anything, but it’s a matter that raises valid concerns and was understandably upsetting for people, so I feel like it’s fair to warn anyone going into it.

As a whole, I do love TDP though. Really, the fun here is in the characters and charm of the series. It’s also really not a show that takes itself too seriously, which is kinda nice. A lot of people have said it was too childish for them, which I can understand, but the whole thing feels very storybook and endearing to me. There’s also certainly layers of nuance there, with political games, duplicitous motivations, usurping kings, self-sacrifice, betrayal, the grieving process, how far you’d go for someone you love–I think there’s definitely some substance to it. I’d recommend that most people at least give it a chance to see if it’s their thing. And if you do, I hope you enjoy it 

[lyricalafrica2]

‘Emergence’ National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo September 6th - 19th October 2019 A few pics that I’ve finally managed to upload and a summary of my processes and review of the show and how I felt it went. In my usual way, fairly personal in places. I wrote it immediately after the show and views are always going to change within time. It’s been a few weeks now and I’ve made the transition from Zimbabwe to Botswana, I’ve had time to recover and chill for a little while. Not much drawing going on, but a whole load of sweating as the the season heats up! I feel at this point to write a review of the creative processes of my show may be a little warped in light of the fatigue I’m feeling, however my intention is to do one again come the end of the month when the dust settles to see how my opinions change. Given the subject matter, I’m also curious as to the impact on my own sense of self, immediately after and going forward. I found it strange that immediately afterwards, my focus was drawn to myself, how I looked in publicity photos and not the actual way the show went. Vanity you may think, though that old devil of self-consciousness. This hit me within a couple of hours of the show ending. Going from the heights of adrenaline and excitement, swiftly to over tired and self-critical. I questioned why more artists didn’t attend, berated myself for looking fat, my habit of nervously over gesticulating and the over animation of my facial expressions. Being struck with all of this just after midnight after two hours sleep if that and venturing onto social media in an attempt to quell my restless mind. Before bed, I’d bounced around the cottage in a fir of sheer delight, like an excited child might, amazed and happy that I’d successfully made it to completion. This midnight hour saw me overanalysing everyone and everything, even down to a known artist who turned up, said nothing to me and shuffled off into a corner to eat popcorn and nuts on his own. Not a well done, nor a comment on the content, just nothing, perhaps a slight look of disdain though. Was I just imagining this? Was this silence comment enough on what lay before him? These thoughts are just as responsible for limiting behaviours and in voicing them honestly, I’m hoping they simply release into the ether and just disappear. So, the exhibition was divided into three rooms, for which I wanted to take people on a journey, from conception. Not to say I incorporated every bit of work that I produced. I tried to curate carefully, it was interspersed with pieces that were a bit more literal, leading to much more abstracted concepts. Wording and symbolism, not just because; but because they are a powerful means to switch on the brain and indeed the heart. Positive and powerful. If you think positive, positivity will perpetuate, and vice versa with negativity. You don’t make it anywhere telling yourself that you’re wrong and a terrible person. For this reason, I was pleased that there were a number of children attended. I think instilling in children how important it is to love and respect themselves properly, allowing those little flames of excitement to become brightly burning and sincere passions are important. Most realise only too late where they went wrong and how detrimental it can be in trying to adhere to societal norms. Be yourself, they’re the most important person you will ever encounter. I tried to covey through my mixed media approach, the fragility, but also the resilience of the human spirit. How it could be quashed when handled wrongly, we’ve all had our wings burnt so to speak, we’ve no doubt all had our wings clipped too. Been told to be too cautious, know our limits, not been supported properly at the mercy of someone else’s ego. It can be hard not to absorb these things as we make our way through life, we are constantly in awe of someone else, rather than looking within for the amazing facets we already have. I hold my hands up and confess I am absolutely guilty of this, but in also being a therapist, it becomes so clear how things invariably work. It can be heart breaking to watch someone go through life, never realising there potential, thinking they have to conform to x, y or z, just to be accepted, so they can consider themselves a worthy human being. Whatever happened to simply being a good person and just allowing yourself to shine? Doing your thing, being encouraged to discover all that you are? I have that philosophy of, if we all learnt how to truly accept and love ourselves, our lives would be far easier. We would be able to perpetuate that to our neighbour, to the animals that surround us, to our environment. Can you imagine if we all lived consciously taking a little more care like that? The recurring themes of fragility, fractured, bound and freedom were used throughout the exhibition, never asking people to see the point, but encouraging them to come to their own conclusions. Flashes of mirror, captured people in the moment and very much made them a part of the exhibition pieces. Veining, flight paths, patterning and themes which were very much more emotive were all explored in different ways. Liberal and freeform use of diluted oils on damp surfaces allowed mixed colours to merge and bleed, blown, feathered allowed to run and bloom. Free to behave how they needed to behave. Added texture and collage offered additional light, movement and the suggestion of dynamism to these much more abstract pieces. I’ve never used oils in this way before, but I enjoyed it and would explore it further in the future, potentially with more colour in the background. The mainly white backdrop was an attempt to maintain some form of purity, as in the essence of just being. Smaller pieces formed a panel, with suggestion of cuts and scarring that can be recovered from. It’s never too late to learn to use your wings and take flight! Again the use of the wording ”Public Notice”, I wanted these pieces to be vital in drawing people in, in for introspection, an invitation to look for their own potential. To untangle themselves from societal norms and controlling hierarchies, to find what they were really about and to love and accept that. I wanted people to walk away with a sense of wholeness, or at least an impetus to do some self-exploration. A deeper sense of knowing that they are about so much more than the façade they present to the world every day. The façade that they have built in in reaction to the rules and regulations laid down to keep us all in line. The final room was a room I set aside to be filled by my installation pieces. The recurring symbolism of the eyes, the distorted, obstructed retinas, the colours that represented the opportunity to discover potential. The gaze, from one eye to the other, connected by the knowing, the denial, one an authoritarian with the same infinite potential as the next. Likely undergoing their own demons and using that control to supress and satiate their own need. But what if they found themselves a little more, looked at themselves a little kinder, would there action on the rest of the world still have to be so outwardly commanding? Is all this required because we can’t validate ourselves, we seek to control others, because we can’t control or accept ourselves? Paper bark, shards of blunt glass, fishing wire and chicken wire were all used to create a somewhat ethereal, spiritual effect, because well this was a fairly spiritual topic, but not in the head in the clouds kind of way, more a put yourself up there with the best kind of way. Take accountability for your own height, don’t accept that ceiling just because. It’s usually glass and if someone has led you to reinforce it, it’s about time you smashed it down yourself! So why leave the comments on the butterfly till now? Aside from the very free nature of the butterfly and the way it emerges from the cocoon to reveal its true identity, I wanted that sense of liberation. Detachment from what had come to be expected of it. The Commodore butterfly really did bring it home and in that sense, never accept that you have to be second in command. Be the captain of your own ship. Know that you are precious and that you deserve to be the best version of you, which can only be granted by you and only ever you! The fractured painted mirror adorned with glimpses of butterfly and glass again, was there to suggest that we can all be a bit broken, but we’re still beautiful. Use you power to transform that power into something positive, let it make you strong, don’t let it drown you. Life is tough yes, but it’s also sweet and beautiful. And in that, my final piece invited people into a little box, through the abstracted eye, to see what they could see. I see you, what do you see? It seemed an appropriate if more abstracted carry on from my oil portraiture collection, “Who Am I?”. After having seen my exhibition for the first time alone since Friday need to summarise my feelings here. Am I happy? Yes, after feeling so out of sorts over the weekend. Could there be improvement made on the way that I broach the subject? Of course, but isn’t that the meaning of life? To live and keep learning and to try and improve oneself and approach daily? I really enjoyed the installation and sculptural work. It’s not something that I generally do due to constraints on space, tools and materials aren’t so hard to source back home, but I tend to simply get caught up in painting. It was good to be able to combine that and be able to produce such a multifaceted body of work. I’d very much like to continue exploring this. Feedback from the audience was positive and most people pointed out at least two favourite pieces. The large bright eye and butterfly, the fractured mirror piece and the other sculptural pieces went down well and were said to be a quite unexpected addition to the exhibition. In this sense I was pleased I managed to offer something that was different to the usual standards of exhibition. If I were to do it again, what would I do differently? I’d perhaps pay more attention to the interactive element, maybe think it through for longer, use ribbon instead of thread as it is fiddly and time consuming to tie onto the chicken wire backing. I’d also likely do more sculptural elements. That for me has to have been the highlight, besides the different and at times intoxicating use of the oil paints. Of course the invitations went out rather too late and the carefully selected soundtrack went virtually un noted, the aromatherapy oils that I had infused the room with evaporated and disappeared off into the ether through the open doors. All things that need tweaking, but as they say, not bad for a first attempt at a National Gallery.

[eorzeasntm]

Hi everyone!  Last week our models battled to the death with the primals.  Our intrepid Warriors of Light risked life and limb for some of the best battle shots we’ve seen in the history of the competition.  

The ever present threat against Eorzea, primals are our primary foe.  How are you keeping Eorzea (or Doma or Yanxia) safe from these menaces?

However, even though everyone did a great job this week (and gave the judges and the community absolute fits - the rankings were all over the place), only one model emerged from the pile of corpses with the best overall score by a mere third of a point: 

Rymmrael Bhaldraelwyn

Congratulations!  Not even Ramuh’s beard can stand up to your fierce display of paladin strength.  Time for a shave and a haircut, primal!

The next round of ENTM Tumblr Cycle 10 will hopefully be posted sometime before midnight EST on Friday, October 12th - assuming Michael stays far, far away. 

Please check below for feedback from our judges.

A note from Kat:  Models, please know that if you have any questions or want clarification from a judge on a critique, you are welcome to DM them from the Discord channel.  Often when the round is this excellent the decisions come down to tiny nit picks, so a suggestion for how a shot could have been improved is not always the same thing as a low vote in the ranks.  You could be a judge’s favorite that week and they’ll still have something to say that could have made it even more amazing.

Judge Kusuh

Hey all! Just as a note: these critiques are being written on the road due to a major life move! These may be a bit shorter, but as always, feel free to reach out me with any clarifications!

Ni’ko: Colored marker is an *amazing* color choice for this picture! Everything about this picture adds to it in an amazing way: the dark sun in the back center drawing the shot together, the line connecting you and Ifrit, the ice shards adding sharp edges to the frame of the shot; everything adds something! Here’s my caution though: this picture walks that very thin line between enough and *too much*. While everything in a shot can have a purpose, there is such a thing as overloading a frame, even if you believe it’s all necessary! I want you to keep an eye on that in the coming weeks, making sure to really keep an editorial eye on what you do. 

Cowbot: The deadly slice of Odin gives me some maaajor flashbacks to the DPS checks of that fight when it came out, so I’m glad you were able to catch it in a much more showy and epic light! I believe the cinema frame here was a good choice, it’s like the climax of a movie! Now, here’s something I’ve noticed in a few of your shots, including this one: you are a lalafell, and therefore you are shorter then most of your fellow models. This is going to produce unique challenges, mostly in terms of visibility. In this shot, while the look and effect is great, I’m having a hard time seeing you! For the future, I want you to try zooming in a lot more! See what you can get from a different perspective. 

Ysildor: I very much appreciate the choice of color and use of the tools available to you in gpose, you’ve clearly put a lot of thought into what you need to do to make the shots as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Here’s what I’m noticing this week: the shot feels a little crowded to me. This mostly comes from the fact that while you are clearly engaged in combat with Odin, the fact that you two overlap on different planes makes me wonder exactly where you are looking and aiming your attacks. Whereas I commonly ask others to zoom in, I’d like to see what you can do with a wider shot in the weeks to come! Let’s see how you do with much more room to work with.

Judge Vederah

Azalea:   Stylistically there's some pretty neat things happening here. I love how you put some thought into the glamour you wore for this particular shoot- helps your character fit in with the shot and helps with the narrative. I also like how both you and the primal are super imposed over one another. His might may be looming over you, but the ferocity in the characters expression shows where the true power lies. However, the picture is so over saturated with blue and green hues that you lose a large portion of the primal's shape and a lot of the details on the floor for that mechanic. Perhaps a different filter, or less direct lighting would've helped. Lily:    I love how crisp and clear this image is- like almost to the point where it looks like a screenshot from a cut scene. How your character is positioned in relation to the primal makes it feel like they're actively engaged in battle. I also really like the contrast between your character's blue hued armor against the warmer toned backdrop and Ifrit.  It's a really well composed shot- and the only thing I could point out as maybe something to change would be to scoot the shot a touch more to the left so it's more centered.

Rymm: I love the pink and deep blue tones of this shot- and how you matched your glamour to it. It's always important that your character fits into the settings. I also really like the angle of the shot and how it directs the eye over to Ramuh who is just being completely surrounded by that amazing lightning graphic. I think the only con to this image is that it's a little dark around the edges.  So much so that it almost makes the image as a whole too muted. If the lighting was a touch brighter, those amazing colors would've popped even more- making this image mindblowingly good.

Judge M’Telihgo

Wren: I want to start by saying how much I absolutely adored your picture from last week.  You were front and center and in the irrefutable focus of your picture.  That picture was you and everyone knew it.  Why?  Partly you are in the center part of your picture, we always start there when looking at an image.  You are the only thing that is blue.  We can see your beautiful face, you should show it to us much more often, you are very pretty!  I’m sorry Wren, I cannot say the same things for this week.  It helps that you are the only thing in white, it really does so +1 for you.  I’m kinda sad that I cannot see your face this week.  I also have pink hair and thanks to a request by my bf, I am using the same hairstyle right now.  I would love to see how your face looks with it too.  A slightly different camera angle to focus on you a little more and show your face could be just what you need!  Shiva commands much more of the area of this picture than you do.  Neither one of you are facing the camera and that would help your image too.  I can tell you are trying, and you do get credit from me.  This next round is for a close up, please, let me see how awesome you look in that!!

Ona: Your picture also suffers from your face being obscured.  Taken from the opposite side, much more of your face would be visible since the hairstyle is asymmetrical.  I like the effect, it does look like you are fighting Garuda, you lined it up well.  Unfortunately, it leaves you in a weird pose that I feel detracts from your image.  I do think a different outfit may have helped you some too.  You skin tone doesn’t pop against the blue background, it makes you blend a little bit and since your armor is light and has a low coverage it takes some focus away from you.  I like the lighting on Garuda, it makes her look like she has some depth to her and that is also something that you lack because of the pose the action left you in.  Again, it’s a nice pose and it works well for the action part, just not so much for the you part.  Keep at it, I know you will get there.

Judge Rongi

Adam: This week you really used contrasting colors to your advantage. I love the colors in this shot! This pencil filter was a genius choice because not only does it make the background look fantastic, it also made you look like youre straight out of a comic book. You look amazing in this shot, but one of the hard things about taking screenshots with mobs is getting them to also look good. Garuda has a lot of appendages, and as such, if she isnt in the right position, she can become a confusing mess. If Garuda had looked like she does in Ona's shot in your shot, I think this picture would have been much stronger. 

James: Normally I do not like these portrait style shots, but both you and Haila really pulled out some great shots with it. While you both pulled it off very well here, I think where you faltered in comparison is by not doing a back shot. In the shot you submitted it looks like you are summoning the Pheonix yourself, a lot like Azalea did as well, but I think it would have been stronger if you had been facing the Phoenix. Many models this week are facing away from the primals, but the way they are positioned makes them still seem engaged with them in battle. The Pheonix's wings are also cut off at the tips, which I dont think a horizontal shot would have fixed because then we couldn't have seen you either. I didnt rank you low, but I wanted to explain why I didn't rank you super high. 

Nadede: Wow! This shot is amazing. I love the color contrast, the pose of both of you, the way you fit like a puzzle piece into the silhouette of Leviathan, everything. I feel like you went for something less flashy, and it totally paid off. I wish we could see more of a weapon, where your hand is being cut off at a strange place, but not focusing on that, only looking between you and Leviathan, i think this shot is great. Wonderful job.

Judge Kai

Chee: Good job with the setup of this image. I love that you’re dominant, and I can see you clearly! Also, you were very smart to wear lighter clothes, seeing that the ground and sky are much darker. It makes you pop without needing to force it. The lighting is also lovely, and I love how dramatic it looks on your face. Concept wise, I see what you were going for but it seems more like you’re getting ready to flee than actually face this menace. Also, the outfit you chose to wear, while great color-wise, is a bit off where it pops out with the knee. Unfortunately, SE didn’t map these outfits to fall naturally when turning and having such a pose, so it ends up just popping straight out and leaves my eye wondering what exactly your body is doing. Overall, love the lighting and I see what you were going for but I don’t think it quite got there. As for the outfit, kudos on picking a color that makes you stand out, but from the waist down it’s just not working for me.

Haila: First off I will say this… that is a beautiful shot, and I love that you made it a long shot and not a wide. It really gives you the height to show how massive this creature really is! That said, concept-wise I’m not sure if it comes off as facing a foe. It seems more like you’re summoning it, and you’re the for about to lay waste to a bunch of innocent people (which hey, I’m not against this because it’s awesome looking). Nice job on the lighting, and on picking an outfit that makes you pop. As for the back to the camera, I’ve always said I'm not fond of it unless it really adds something to the image, and I’m not sure if this really adds to it. Overall it’s an awesome picture, you pop and have nice lighting. Seeing Levi fly out of the water like that is amazing… but I’m just not sure it really follows the concept, as well as some of the others, did.

Lantis: This looks like a battle shot, and I love how you have yourself leaping into the air to meet your foe head-on. Concept wise, I’ll say you hit it pretty much dead on. I’ll also say that it was smart for you to use the glowing weapons and that arc of light under you to attract the eye. If you didn’t have those bright color to pull the eye to you, I don’t think this would have worked as well as it does. The image does come off very dark, and your clothes almost blend into the background without the help of the light around you. If you’d somehow made this image a bit lighter, or have worn something that popped a bit more I think it would have helped your character become more dominant in the image. Overall I think this is a great setup, and the concept is spot on, but the darkness of the image leaves you dependent on bright pops of color to attract the eye instead of your character. 

[escherstrange-ffxiv]

ENTM Fresh Faces BTS: #1

Sometime in January Eorzea’s Neo Talent Management had a Fresh Faces cycle - if you hadn’t joined ANY of their previous cycles (or auditioned and didn’t make it) you could try out. Small pool of contestants, short cycle, no knockouts, and best of all, no reshades/mods/post-processing so a PS4 schlub like me could get a fair shake! Why not!

I didn’t win, but no reason why I can’t talk about my attempts. 

Without further ado, let’s start with Week 1.

Week 1: Starry Night

“Sometimes being the Warrior of Light can be a difficult job. Seeing that you’ve made it this far, why don’t you show us how you like to relax under the Starry Sky! Take an image of your character stargazing, any zone and expansion are open to this. The night sky with stars must be visible in the image.”

My first regret is that the hyur midlander does not have a pose with outstretched arms like this:

The closest I could get was the Haurchefant pose where you raise your arms before a downward fist pump. I already knew where I was getting my stars - open skies is so cliche, let’s do it through a window! Biggest window was the Crystarium room, all I have to do is stand there and look at the stars!

Exceeeeept...

Shimatta, the window wasn’t as wide as I thought. Limb darkening can frame the window. Dammit, the limb won’t rotate so it’ll cut out the stars.  No, I can’t tilt the camera higher because then I’ll just have stars. Maybe if I do it in B&W-

Yeah I can’t see the stars anymore nope nope nope >_< OK scratch limb darkening. Maybe some colour filters will help darken the wall...

13 attempts later... ...Eh. It’ll do. Nothing in my head worked out anyway. *mopes*

Judges’ Comments:

“Very pretty night sky, I’ll take a gamble and say this is from the room in the Crystanium? Just like with Forthyn, a simple concept and one that I like, but there were a lot of things that could have been added to the overall picture. There’s a lot of negative space because of the amount of black from the walls starting to mix with the sky in itself, and your character wasn’t enough to fill it all up or take the spotlight completely. You gave us a nice Starry Night, we can interpret what he’s doing, there’s at least a bit of depth to see that well, but your gambling with the backshot didn’t pay off enough. You gotta be more careful with it, as only very specific situations will give you a chance to play it off and knock it out of the stadium. This theme in particular is like that one trick question you get in tests of whether to use it or not, and while a backshot is tempting and a choice that many would consider given how your character should be gazing at the sky, sometimes it is best to try all angles possible and compared them before setting on a single one. You gave us what we asked for, but you will have to go a slight extra mile to give your screenshots a more unique touch to them. Try to experiment a little more! The next challenge will be one to put the same trick question in play, and it’s all down on you to find a perfect balance between your character, and the overall concept you wish to show us.”

“You took a risk with a back shot here, like several others did.  The decision to face out of the window, toward the night sky, and have your arms raised up gently, is almost enough to make up for the lack of visibility to your face, but not quite.  The window here is very plain and the overall scene is so dark, I don't get much of a sense of why your character is looking outside.  Your outfit selection is solid, however, and your lighting ensures that your character pops right out from the night sky.  I also see a brush filter, which was a risk unto itself since you could have blurred out your beautiful sky.  Thankfully, it only is impacting your coat, and between the lightning and door frame, and the very bright lighting on your character, the entire shot gives me a sense of surrealness.  If that was the goal of your shot, you succeeded.  With back shots, though, always be sure that the other parts of the image compensate for your character's face not being visible.”

“Going in to this competition I knew you’d be someone to keep an eye on; you clearly know how to draw in a viewer. You’ve got an excellent use of framing to pull us in here; the vignette blends in well with the brick and metal to mute it, and the glowing windows draw us right to you. The pose is telling us a story; perhaps you’re praying to the night sky, or even in the middle of a tirade and the night sky is the only witness to your frustrations. Your hair colour pops well here (though perhaps I am biased), and is a great way to bring focus on yourself. My concerns here, though, are that we don’t really get to see too much of you in this shot. Never let your backdrop upstage you, the model we want to see. That being said, the sky is starry, yes, but very faint in the background. It is a largely a visually uninteresting collection of night sky, and needed some excessive storytelling to really sell it. My other final concern is just a nitpick; this shot is clearly meant to be centered, however is it a bit off-center. Take the extra time to line the shot up, especially if you’re going for symmetry. You sought the night sky for answers, but, alas, the stars were mute.”

Somewhere around the final week I was wrapping up the role classes quest and was in Lakeland. I took another shot of the stars.

Sometimes there is a reason why people keep taking pics under an open sky.

[fabrickind]

Revolutionary Girl Utena Liveblog: Episode 1

It all begins here! Join me for sex, violence, intrigue, and lots of rambling analysis about societal structures.

After the opening theme, this episode starts off with a fairytale framework. The curtain rises, and we are told the story of a young princess who was saved by a prince on a white horse. 

I know about two things, and that’s film theory and fabrics.With that, I have to say...the animators here clearly have no idea how fabric folds work.

Besides the surprising amount of foreshadowing in the opening theme animation, this sequence sets a lot of the tone of the series. It takes a familiar structure and changes it, though at this point in the series, you may not be aware of these changes. This is just a straightforward shoujo about a girl finding her prince and living happily ever after...right?

The spinning rose frame here is another recurring element in the series. What this episode is telling you is that this is a story, a fantasy. It is a framing. It had to have been framed by someone or some perspective. It is aware of itself as narrative, and is pointing the audience to also be aware of it as narrative. The brilliance of this framework is that the show starts of fairly straightforward, if a little weird and “anime” in its presentation, so that you go along with its premises, like you would with any other story out there. This is a series that teaches you how to watch it as you go, and devices like the opening framework simultaneously throw you directly into the show’s devices and hide their own functioning until much later in the series. Suspension of disbelief and playing into common genre tropes will do that to you.

The spinning rose frame quickly disappears once we change shots, but the play-like animation style remains. Everything looks like it is from a popup book, with the very flat-looking character models (faceless at that) against more realistic but clearly hand-drawn, and somewhat unusual/abstract/surrealist, backdrops. they even cast shadows.

Though, we do get one shot of the prince kissing kid!Utena’s face in the actual style of the show, and properly animated instead of in the stiff cutout style -- is this memory somehow more “real” than the rest? Or is the fact that this memory is mixed in with the “play” aspects a way of telling us that even the “true” memory is not to be trusted? The prince placing the ring on her finger is animated in the same style, and then it immediately cuts back to the stiff cardboard cutout style. These seem to be the “real” memories we get in episode 34, but with this show, there’s no real way to tell what is “real” or if such a concept even applies. (I won’t get too Lacanian here, but I think that the concept of the Real might be applicable somehow...)

That said, the pairing of imagery and spoken lines is really interesting to me here.

Something something being trapped in your coffin something.

Actually, the first time I saw this series, I thought “I’m going to be so mad if it turns out that Utena was dead the whole time” after watching this sequence for the first time. Years later, I’m still not sure if I should be mad or not.

I just noticed the appearances of the rose frames and when they do or do not appear in this sequence -- at the very start, when the prince is leaving, and when the princess decides to become a prince. the colors are red, then white, then pink. I’m sure there’s a reason for this, and I think it has to do with the (literal, in this case framing of Utena’s story. More thoughts to come in later liveblogs.

No liveblog would be complete without repeating the main question: “but was that really such a good idea?” Brave viewer, you will have to draw your own conclusion on that by the end.

After the fairytale opening, it appears to be a fairly typical slice of life schoolgirl shoujo fluffy nonsense show. We get our introduction to Wakaba, who calls Utena her “boyfriend,” and then the camera pans over to the school and lingers on the suspiciously phallic tower, until it cuts to some nice scenery shots of the school’s important locations, including the rose garden and the forest that contains the dueling arena. The phallic tower features very prominently in these shots, but the triumphant music signals that this is just a series of normal establishing shots of the school and not massive foreshadowing.

I am a bit jealous of their architecture, though.

Our introduction to our intrepid heroine comes about by way of the sound of footsteps and images of fragmented parts of her body. We get her feet, an overhead shot of her turning all the ladies’ heads, and then her feet again, this time with a slow tilt up her body until her face is revealed. This doesn’t seem to be an attempt to sexualize her or objectify her, but rather to slowly establish her as our heroine. There’s a bit of an element of shock here -- we first see her as a cool, level-headed girl, but then the moment she opens her mouth (her first line is “weird getup?”), that image is dispelled. She is trying very hard to fit a certain image. Our introduction to her is also our introduction to the teacher who is always hounding her about her uniform, establishing this character as someone who is willing to bend the rules, but only within the already established framework. Checking the student rulebook shows this quite clearly -- she’ll wear a “boy’s” uniform, but she’s still working with the system of both the rules established by the school and the system that establishes a difference between “boys” and “girls” in terms of clothing choices. 

I get a distinct sense that Utena here is set up to be both a typical shoujo type character and an atypical one, but in ways that are working within the shoujo economy of representation, which becomes thoroughly queered by the end of the series. She’s a girly-girl at heart, always insisting that she’s just a “normal girl” and that she doesn’t want to play basketball with the boys, yet she’s also a fairly typical tomboy figure in that she’s fawned over by the other girls at the school, she plays sports, and she bucks the rules to a degree. She is simultaneously both sides of the binary set up, yet she doesn’t end up as the simple Feminist Figure™ of the boyish girl who still retains her connection to femininity, or the figure who rejects femininity because she finds masculinity to be Stronger and Better, even as she’s set up as such from the start. That’s part of the framework that we’re trained to think within, however.

I think my favorite part of this sequence is Utena doing all of her weird poses for the camera and then the teacher literally breaking the fourth wall. That showoff.

The show pretty clearly sets itself up as spectacle, here. We know that we’re watching something, and it’s letting us know from the very start.

Who else but Utena would hold court in the middle of the school, her pink masculinity and youth contrasting sharply with the feminine, older, green teacher who is her mirror here? We are removed from the action here, much like the students watching from above, but we are also set apart from them, even as we are still firmly put in the place of “audience.” We are watching the in-universe audience, which puts us in a unique position, where we can become self-aware of our position and they cannot.

Utena insists that she’s a girl and doesn’t want to be a boy, yet claims that she wants to be a prince. The (perpetually offscreen) boy that she’s talking to doesn’t seem to understand the difference, and I think this says a lot about the show’s use of gender -- to an outside party, “prince” is conditional on “boy,” but the world that Utena gets wrapped up in seems to have “prince” and “princess” as the genders, not tied to the outside concepts of “boy” and “girl,” even as they are very strongly tied to societal concepts of masculinity and femininity. (I would say that “duelist” is a category that moves between these, and that “witch” is the other side of “princess”...but we have many weeks to go before we get there) Utena is set up as very naive here, but that’s what makes her so powerful as a protagonist. She’s trying to fit into these societal structures, but she’s doing it “wrong,” and her lack of understanding of the similarity between “boy” and “prince” (among other things) both sets her up to fall completely into these categories and find a way around them. Eventually.

More frames within frames, but this time, we’re suturing ourselves to Utena’s point of view as we watch a story largely play out for our benefit. There’s an odd sense of flatness in this frame, as if she’s looking at a painting rather than through a window. Of course, while Anthy is actually being abused (and in far worse ways than we can imagine in this first episode), this entire scene is staged to help give Utena character motivation, and the framing of it and the explicit sense of watching cues us in to that.

One thing that always strikes me about this show is the use of overlap editing. Our first example is in Saionji slapping Anthy -- he doesn’t slap her twice, we just see it twice -- which not only puts emphasis on the action, but it expands the screentime of the action (vs. the story time). What we sees takes longer than what “actually” happens, and this establishes early on the sense of time that this series uses. (Another very obvious example is the sword-pulling sequence -- the actions don’t happen multiple times, we just see them multiple times.)  Time here is cyclical -- it doesn’t matter if Saionji slapped Anthy once or hundreds of times in that moment, because it’s all of those times, and none of those times. “Natural” time doesn’t have an effect here.

I would like to take a moment to appreciate Wakaba. she’s too precious.

Our first Student Council meeting is somehow both the most normal one and the most unusual one. No baseball games or rows of fans in the background?

And yet, the council actually calls Saionji out on his behavior, which seems rather unusual. I feel like even though Utena isn’t here to witness this meeting, it’s still entirely for our benefit -- setting up Saionji as a villain, letting us know about this ~shadowy organization~ (full of huge dorks), and establishing further that Saionji’s treatment of Anthy is Not Okay, which puts us on Utena (and Anthy’s) side. Of course, Anthy’s own actions here are largely performance, in that she’s acting the role of the Rose Bride.

A few things to note in this meeting:

Miki taking “minutes”

Juri’s dramatic posing that would put even a Jojo to shame (just a little more of a side lean and bring that hand up to your face, Juri...)

Everyone repeating Touga’s line back

Miki dramatically using his stopwatch (3:12 is the time when he stops it)

How TALL are you, Saionji???

Though, the way in which romance is framed here is interesting to me. they all call Saionji out on his abuse, but don’t ultimately actually do anything about it. Even though everyone knows that his behavior is wrong (as evidenced by not just the fact that they’re confronting him, but but things like Miki sweating and shaking when dealing with the situation), they’re quick to brush it off as a surface-level “oh they’re just lovebirds and we shouldn’t meddle in their affairs,” even as that contradicts their previous words and actions. Of course, no one here is really seeing Anthy as human, just as an object to help them get what they want, and they aren’t actually seeing the “engagement” as a romantic relationship, but rather an arrangement based on power.

I’m not sure if the dueling rules change here or if Saionji is just poking fun at his fellow councilmembers.

“If you’re so concerned about the rules of the Rose Seal...

Later, it’s pretty clearly established that End of the World tells the Duelists (at least in this arc) who is going to duel and when through his letters. Is this something that is relatively new once Utena arrives on the scene? Or is this something that was happening all along and there was a set order before? (This changes quite a bit once we get further in the series, of course, and motivations and Duelists change up a bit)

A few things about the love letter scene

Wakaba has amazing stationary

The crowd is entirely boys (what is this space? Is it a boys-only space, or does it just happen to have a lot of boys in it?) (There’s actually a lot of really interesting framing in this scene, but I won’t cap it all)

Utena’s comment about “real” men. This plays into a lot of ideas about how a “real” man would act in certain ways (in this case, as typically, this would be acting as a gentleman, setting immaturity [=boyhood] against maturity [=manhood] as the marker or masculinity, rather than setting femininity against masculinity as the marker of manhood), which ultimately ties back to the distinction Utena makes between a “boy” and a “prince.” Princes want to protect women (princesses) in distress, at least in Utena’s mind. She’s basing her gender policing on roles rather than on appearances, which is how her gender expression is often policed. Same framework, but a different way of conceptualizing it within there.

In the next scene, Saionji claims that he didn’t post the letter, and then changes to claim that he used it to give everyone a laugh. I actually believe the first claim. It would make more sense if it were posted in order to frame him as more of a villain within the world of the story (not that he isn’t a terrible guy already) to further push Utena into dueling. 

Though, can we take a moment to appreciate how amazingly ridiculous the story of this show is? Some jerk made the protagonist’s bff cry, so she challenges him to a duel for the sake of getting revenge and accidentally wins a girl in the process. 

Our first Shadow Girls play: “But be careful, brave hero. There are rules in the forest. Do you know what they are?”

Besides a very ominous bit of foreshadowing here (and where the narrative starts to break down), I think this speaks to some of the issues of systems of power that I’m been drawing out here. Utena has walked unknowingly into a system of power that she doesn’t fully understand, while also largely following the rules of that system (while not being wholly determined by them). The Shadow Girls outright state this in the very first episode. Yes, it could easily refer to the actual rules of the dueling game, but this is RGU we’re talking about. 

This also begs the question -- what perspective are these shadow plays coming from, and for whose benefit are they? I feel like this answer would change, even, once we get to the Black Rose Saga and C-ko, but it’s worth asking early on. Utena is directly addressed, but she doesn’t seem to have (conscious, at least) awareness of the plays until the BRS (and then episode 34), so it seems as if the plays are for our benefit as the audience. And yet...are these characters omniscient? Who are they (aliens) and where are they getting their information?

We get that great imagery of the magical door with the special key (the ring) and then everything in the landscape shifts to open up to the dueling arena. I’ve always loved how Utena is a little bit “wtf?” but then doesn’t really ever question it again that there’s a forest with a ton of impossible stairs in it somehow behind the school. Or the fact that it changes from night to day once she enters, speaking of weird concepts of time. (Is the light from the projector just that bright???)

So that’s what they meant... :P

[insert obligatory note about how this is more literal than anyone realizes at this point]

[insert obligatory note about deflowering]

[insert obligatory note of “who the hell is ringing the bells at the start and end of each duel?”]

Actually, a real note on the bells -- are they wedding bells or funerary bells?

Is Anthy’s shock during the duel feigned? Or is she actually surprised that someone seems to be dueling for her sake (and wins)? I think it could go either way.  (Also, obligatory note about the “senpai” clapback and how great it is)

When Utena is walking home and Anthy is there to declare herself engaged to Utena, but Anthy doesn’t move in with her until later...where do they go? What happens in that space of time?

The duel itself is pretty much setting up the structure for the series here, so there isn’t terribly much to note besides capping some of the more interesting juxtapositions of lyrics and characters. Pull the sword, duel, Utena wins. It’s when this structure changes that the duels start to get really interesting, and I’ll have more to say about those particular cases, and maybe more about what the dueling structure itself means. As for now....I’m tired. And glad to be done with with the first episode of my liveblog.

For anyone who actually read through all of that, thank you for sticking with it!! :D I’ll be posting up the next episode next week, and I hope to do one a week until I’ve finished out the series. 

Please, let this spark discussion and analysis, and always feel free to send me analytical questions. :]

[blazichu]

Inquisitor as a Companion Meme Variation from Oatscarwilde

Inquisitor’s Name: Ashkost Adaar/Ashkost Meraad Race / Class / Specialisation: Kossith, mage, shapeshifter Gender Identity: Female

Varric’s Nickname for them: Cinders

Short bio: A Kossith apostate from the Free Marches. She grew up on the border between the Marches and Antiva in a little house in the Green Dales, with her three parents, sister and godfather/honorary uncle. One of her mothers, her father and uncle were Tal-Vashoth, and her other mother was a Vashoth. She and her sister learned magic from one of their mothers and uncle, and enjoyed occasional visits to Ansburg or Seleny. During one such visit, Ashkost met and, subsequently, covered for the head of the Katoh Antaam Mercenary Company, Parshaara. With a few years, she would join the company.

Though they operated in the Free Marches for years, they eventually migrated south in The First Battle of Kirkwall’s wake, as tensions against Kossith were on the rise. They were hired by a Chantry official to help keep the Conclave from becoming violent, but were held up and only arrived after the Breach had opened, at which point the only thing they could do was aid the relief effort.

What would their companion card look like? Has her right arm raised, but bent at the elbow to cover her left eye, palm outward. Where her arm/hand overlaps her face, it’s blacked out, possibly with a smoke effect. Her other hand is held in front of her, palm extended toward the viewer. Though the backdrop is dark, the aforementioned overlap is darker. There are silhouettes of horned figures in the background.

Recruitment mission: Fierce Horns and Strange Eyes: Speak to one of the two Kossith standing near the Singing Maiden (in Haven) or Herald’s Rest (at Skyhold) to unlock a war table operation, recruiting the Katoh Antaam mercenary company as allies without official ties to the Inquisition, so as to employ them where the Inquisition forces would be seen as a threat. Leave for any main area with a rogue/mage or be a rogue/mage to trigger Ashkost’s formal introduction.

A rogue will recognize that someone is following the party, and a mage will sense the same. When the Inquisitor demands that the stalker reveal themselves, Ashkost reassumes Kossith form and initiates a conversation. If Bull has been recruited, she wants to know why the Inquisition has hired another mercenary company when they already have one on their payroll. If Bull hasn’t been recruited, she questions whether the Inquisitor understands what mercenary companies are and how it might look to have hired one.

The Inquisitor can give her a reason, or realize that the real issue is that she doesn’t trust the Inquisition’s intentions with the Katoh Antaam. If called on it, she’ll admit that she believes they’ve only been hired to be sent on a suicide mission. The Inquisitor can recruit her one of two ways: assure her that they have no intention of sending the company to their deaths and invite her to see for herself, or cite a ‘hold your enemies closer’ line of thought with the same invitation. The latter will recruit her with lower approval than the first.

If told that she’ll just have to trust the Inquisitor, it opens up the option to dismiss her.

Where they would be in Skyhold / Haven: At Skyhold, outside the kitchen, on the balcony near the stables. In Haven, between the training ground and frozen lake.

Personal quests:

·        Quest 1: The Ignorant Look on Them: Companion quest. Ashkost admits to having used her specialization as a shapeshifter to become someone else, because she’s not someone she wants to be. In a way, isn’t that a betrayal of the self? If she can’t even trust herself, how can anyone else trust her?

  Option 1: Take her to Redcliffe, reassure her that she’s fine—she’s flawed, but that’s not damnation. Regardless of what she has or hasn’t experienced, her feelings are valid.

  Option 2: Take her to Lake Calenhad, across from Kinloch Hold. Tell her that she should be grateful for what she’s been given in life, because most mages have it far worse than she does.

 ·        Quest 2: Of Certainty, of Equality: Romance quest. Ashkost asks the Inquisitor if they can talk somewhere private, and they move to the Inquisitor’s room. She tells them that she was born intersex, and asks if they’re comfortable with that. The Inquisitor can treat it as a betrayal, and potentially cut off the relationship, or reassure her that it doesn’t change their feelings and lock the relationship in.

·        Quest 3: Ashes to Ataashi: Ashkost is goofing off/showing off some of her abilities—specifically an in-between form she’s been working on as a step towards teaching herself to maintain a dragon form. Unlocks a war table operation to consult Professor Frederic, whose input helps her get a handle on what she needs to do to attain the form. Requires completion of Frederic’s Livelihood.

How to get their approval: Being pro-mage/anti-Circle; being curious about magic/willing to see it used casually or for fun; sympathizing with people from other situations (races/nations/ability); be willing to help her understand things that may seem obvious, but that she wasn’t raised with an understanding of; make an attempt to learn/show interest in learning and understanding the differences between Kossith, Qunari, Tal-Vashoth and Vashoth. Prove to her that they’re worthy of her trust.

How to get their disapproval: Express that mages should be locked up, made tranquil or killed; assume that they know better than anyone else; belittle her for cultural differences/not knowing something; lump all ‘Qunari’ concepts together; be extremely pro-Chantry. Betray others for material gain/”without having a reason”.

Are they romanceable? Yes. Any gender or race, mages get approval bonuses. Can you have sex with them? No. Are they open to polyamoury? Yes, with the exception of Cullen or Cassandra. If they can be romanced and are not, will they begin a relationship / relationships with other character(s)? If so, who? If neither is romanced, she will awkwardly pursue Josephine. If the Katoh Antaam were recruited via Connections, they will begin a relationship by the end of the main game. If not, they will by Trespasser.

Who are they friendly with? Josephine, Dorian, Varric, Sera, Cole. Sometimes Iron Bull.

Who do they dislike? Cullen, Vivienne, Cassandra. Sometimes Iron Bull.

Companion card changes: (use a text descrip. if you have no images)

·        Loyalty: For Quest Option 1, dragon motif—horns are emphasized, may have a second, smaller pair. Hands are being held in front of her, just under the bust, crossed at the wrists with storm and inferno effects forming the suggestion of wings. Where her arms overlap her body may be blacked out, but her hands definitely aren’t. For Quest Option 2, tower motif—horns are downplayed. Her left arm is held up, overlapping both of her eyes. Overlapped skin is blacked out, but her eyes aren’t. Her opposite hand is resting on a grey pillar patterned like brickwork. A lake and distant tower can be seen in the background.

·        Romance: In profile with her horns curling down. She’s resting her forehead against a crook-ended staff. Her hair is down and her eyes are closed. Has a yellow-tinted backdrop with open gates in the distance.

Side Missions: (eg: fetch / gather / kill quests) Pick Your Poison: Collection mission. Help gather several specific herbs to help Ashkost create a custom vitaar. Each herb awards approval, finishing the quest gives a vitaar.

Opinions on mages / templars / how the world is going to shit? Pro-mage, horrified when she learns exactly how they’re treated in Circles, as she’d always assumed they were more of a school than anything. Bordering on violently protective of mages she’s befriended (read: Dorian). Anti-Templar/Chantry once educated, and begins to involve herself with efforts to remove mages from under them. Thinks Orlesian politics are ridiculous.

Something guaranteed to make them leave the party: Side with the Templars and then sacrifice the Chargers. After disregarding two of the things she identifies with the most intensely, she’ll say that the Inquisitor has proven how trustworthy they are and will leave regardless of how the rest of the encounter progresses.

Special Events: Choose the option to ask her about the Qun. She’ll flatly tell the Inquisitor that she’s Kossith, not Qunari, and her parents risked their lives to leave the Qun behind them. (If Iron Bull has been recruited, she’ll preface the statement by saying they’re better off asking him.) From there, the Inquisitor can choose to ask her to elaborate (which earns approval) and she’ll give a brief rundown on the differences between the terms ‘Kossith’, ‘Qunari’, ‘Tal-Vashoth’ and ‘Vashoth’. The Inquisitor can respond positively or insist that they’re all basically the same thing.

After the above, ask “Do you consider yourself Andrastian, then?”. She laughs it off and says that, beyond a slightly fanatical following and the fact that one of the Marches’ chantries got blown up, she really doesn’t understand what that entails. She’ll pause, admit that the Katoh Antaam left shortly after the First Battle of Kirkwall, and ask if the Inquisitor knows “Why, exactly, did they see fit to blow up their own building?”. Regardless of the tone of their answer, the Inquisitor always references the Mage-Templar war. “Oh, right. Templars. They’re Chantry too, aren’t they? Interesting skillset, there… scarier than Parshaara after a poetry slam, but there’s certainly potential.”

After the above, ask what she thinks Templars are. “Well, it’s like paper, rock, scissors (exact words subject to change), right? …you know, having to explain strategy to you like this isn’t very encouraging.” (Human mage Inquisitors have the option to respond along the lines of “…in a sense.”) The encounter ends.

After the above, speaking with her will trigger a cutscene instead of just a dialogue. Between Cullen and Cassandra (and, potentially, Vivienne if she’s been recruited) she’s come to the conclusion that she was wrong about what Templars are. “You’d—you’d set me straight if I didn’t get it, yeah?” Over the course of the conversation, she gets the gist of why the Mage-Templar war is a thing in the first place, and ends the encounter in mild disbelief, vowing that she’s going to verify this as best she can. In any following conversations, she’ll be considerably less complacent where the Chantry is concerned.

If the Inquisitor has spoken with her regarding the Chantry prior to selecting a specialization, she’ll confront a warrior who chooses to specialize as a Templar. If a mage chooses to become a Knight-Enchanter, she asks for clarification as to how it factors into the Chantry workings.

If the Inquisitor chooses to recruit the Templars without pursuing the mages, she’ll question their intentions. If they choose to recruit the Templars after discovering the situation with the mages, she’ll accuse them of having an agenda in regards to the Mage-Templar war.

Takes a major approval hit if Bull’s Chargers are sacrificed, acerbically asks if the Inquisitor plans to do the same to the Katoh Antaam. Any further banter with Iron Bull will begin to sour.

Imprisoned at Redcliffe: How is your Inquisitor holding up in Redcliffe, being slowly infected with red lyrium over the course of a year? Has red lyrium growths—one covering her left eye and beginning to encrust the horn on the same side of her head, one emerging from her throat. Unable to speak at a normal volume and can only manage a whisper. Will complain of a phantom taste, and ramble on trying to figure out what it is. Doesn’t seem to process who the Inquisitor is or what they’re trying to do—only acknowledges changes of scenery as it might pertain to what she tastes. Will sometimes whisper in Qunlat instead.

As the party leaves person by person, she’ll say, “You lied. We’ve been sent to our deaths,” before exiting. If she was flirted with up to this point, she’ll instead approach the Inquisitor, give them a kiss on the cheek, and say, “It was you. I tasted your arrival in the lyrium,” give the same strange little laugh she’s been making the entire time as she rambled, and whisper “Good luck.”

At the Winter Palace: Does your Inquisitor enjoy the party, any special events with them at the Palace? She idles in the garden, near the fountain and trellis. Though she’s aware of all the eyes on her—made worse by the fact that she’s, essentially, helping to represent the Inquisition—she tries to find enjoyment in Orlesian cuisine. She’ll comment on being stared at, and joke that if the Inquisitor needs a distraction, she’s the Kossith to ask. The Inquisitor can take her up on the offer when it comes time to climb the trellis.

If her approval is high enough, the Inquisitor can tell her not to worry and that “I’ll handle all the politicians. Trust me.” It’ll get a laugh out of her.

If romanced and asked to dance, she questions whether or not that’s a good idea—that she doesn’t know how to dance, and (unless the Inquisitor is Adaar) wouldn’t they be happier dancing with someone closer to their own height? Dwarven Inquisitors can earn a little extra approval with a humorous answer. If pressed, she will relent. If left, she’ll offer a dance at Skyhold instead, where there are no onlookers.

In the Fade: Your Inquisitor’s reaction upon entering the Fade? Archdemon’s taunt, and Inquisitor’s response? Epitaph on their grave?

Reaction: “Pardon my King’s Tongue, but… Andraste’s tits.”

Taunt/response: “Why do you continue this futile effort, Meraad? You know full well that none can be trusted. To repeatedly make the same mistakes… are you that naïve, or have you simply lost your mind?”// [long pause] “Okay, but why would I trust what you have to say, of all people? Do you even qualify as a person?”

Grave: Unable to trust, unable to be trusted.

Trespasser: What is your Inquisitor up to two years after Corypheus’ defeat? Any special events with them over the events of Trespasser? While she hasn’t cut ties with the Katoh Antaam, she didn’t return to them after the end of the main game. She’s been working with Fiona and the College of Enchanters, and, through her, they’ve been making use of the Katoh Antaam much the same way the Inquisition did. Since the College is affiliated with the Inquisition, she’s been in contact with the Inquisitor from time to time—but mostly hears about what’s going on through Josephine.

If she was romanced, the Inquisitor can propose to her. She’ll ask them if they really think that’s a good idea, given their status and her background/affiliations. If they insist, she’ll resist the idea, referencing her parents, who never married, and potentially accusing the Inquisitor of using her as a set piece. If they back down and leave the decision to her, she’ll bring it up the next time she’s spoken to and accept.

If neither she nor Josephine were romanced, they are in a relationship. If the Katoh Antaam were recruited via Connections, they’ve been in said relationship since the end of Inquisition, and Ashkost references the Orlesian opera they recently attended. If the relationship has just begun, she’ll be nervous about it and ask the Inquisitor their opinion on a poem she’s been working on.

Other Major Events: Any other major events that happen with them over the course of the main game? Will mistakenly use various malapropisms in banter and conversation over the course of the game—notable examples include “Andraste’s tits”, and one utterance of “Dread Wolf’s balls” if she’s in the same party as Solas.

After hearing one of the above malapropisms, the Inquisitor can select a flirt option which basically goes, “’Andraste’s tits’?”/”No, these belong to me.”/[Flirt] “That’s quite the burden for one Kossith. I can help you carry it.”

[andrewuttaro]

2020 State of Star Wars

The State of Star Wars in 2020 is counterintuitive. After perhaps the most anticipated movie of this relatively young century in “The Force Awakens” released in 2015 the following installments in the mainline series were divisive at best and roundly reviled at worst. With that backdrop, non-traditional Star Wars content has become shockingly good comparatively. Save for a botched video game launch everything beyond the movies has met a level of quality tantamount to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in my opinion.

From comic books and visual dictionaries to TV shows and background narratives, the State of Star Wars is actually incredibly good beyond the films. The consumption of entertainment media is always a subjective art, but one doesn’t need to look to hard to see a consensus cultural opinion in the Post-Sequel trilogy Star Wars world: disappointed interest. Our world at large is polarized as ever right now so of course every declarative statement on anything is a big fight but on this 2020 Star Wars Day I thought I’d take a whack at the big picture.

I’ll get my opinions out of the way right now. The “Last Jedi” (2017) was intentionally difficult. It grew on me in its own right (and got me interested in Rian Johnson’s filmography) but the impact it had on the whole continuity was damaging at best. I should have seen it coming but there was really no coming back from it for a Director like JJ Abrams. I found “Rise of Skywalker” (2019) borderline unwatchable. The first two acts were cringy fan festivals followed by a conclusion I found insulting to science fiction fans the world over to be honest with you. Repeat viewing did not help. I’m one of those nerds who salivated at the Duel of Fates synopsis. With that out of the way I want to take a stab at the 2020 State of Star Wars in a way that at least attempts to be objective.

Star Wars for All

Star Wars was always supposed to be the Superman of space operas: a story for everyone. Forgive the platitude but we live in a time of increasingly segmented media. Memes are big deal for us because they’re the rare shared piece of culture almost everyone enjoys sharing in. Star Wars had uphill battle with the mainline movies trying to be for everyone in this world today where nothing if for everyone except death and taxes. Perhaps this is one reason we were heading for sequel trilogy disappointment even if Disney had a cohesive plan for it.

“Force Awakens” accomplished close to universal appeal by redoing “A New Hope”. Box Office returns at the very least shows they did a good job. Leaving the more toxic elements of the Star Wars fanbase out of the equation the “Last Jedi” aggressively threw out the sacred elements of the universe for the sake of subversiveness that ultimately did accomplish something I applaud as the Democratization of Star Wars. That is to say the force is for everyone now. In spite of all its flaws that movie did something Star Wars has always been about at a basic level.

That said, the way that was executed fundamentally damaged the continuity going into the trilogy, and Skywalker Saga, finale. I liked the Colin Trevorrow script because it picked up on some loose ends of “Force Awakens” while also not ignoring “Last Jedi”. I realize that’s just a script though and it probably would’ve had a certain level of disappointment as well. Whoever directed the final installment was going to struggle no matter what. There is an irony here in that the finale of “Rise of Skywalker” is this giant fleet of essentially everyone coming to save the day in the ultimate Star-Wars-for-everyone moment.

Nobody is at fault for liking any Star Wars film or any piece of Star Wars content. I understand a certain segment of the fanbase was overjoyed to see Rey and Kylo have what was later called a kiss of gratitude. The film wasn’t even made well enough to fully satisfy that segment. In attempting so hard to be for everyone JJ Abrams made a Star Wars finale that was for almost nobody. The level of narrative shorthand it takes to write “All the jedi now reside in you” as a central plot conceit is unbelievable if it didn’t precede a Dragonball Z style energy fight. Star Wars isn’t dead, it’s alive and well. But I’d argue a solid 70% of people who consider themselves Star Wars fans would say that is in spite of the Sequel Trilogy and not to its credit.

As for the anthology films we might have two ends of the spectrum in “Rogue One” and “Solo”. “Rogue One” was a great movie that had an unnecessary premise while “Solo” was a mediocre movie with an interesting premise. “Solo” may have done better and been viewed differently had it not followed “Last Jedi”. The sad reality of it’s box office returns is Disney may not be interested in more movies about the Star Wars Universe’s criminal underworld. That’s a shame. “Rogue One” on the other hand should be proof positive of something most Star Wars fans have been clamoring for: more story in this universe separate from the Skywalkers. What made that movie great was compelling, efficient character development. If announced projects are any true indication it looks like we may have a good chance of getting that.

The Future of Star Wars

I follow this twitter account called “Star Wars Stuff”. I’m a visual learner so the tendency toward photos and concept art is fun for me. The account often posts screen grabs with captions like “The Best Story ever told” and “Reylo is Canon now”. I don’t think there is any inherent opinion of this poster other than… well… “Star Wars Stuff”. I think this is an interesting way to look at the future of Star Wars. If the Skywalker Saga is truly over than everything from here on out is just Stuff. As I said before that’s a good thing, but it poses some interesting questions about what we think of this fabulous fictious universe.

Is Star Wars truly for everyone? Yes. The toxic minority of the fanbase was turned off by the “Last Jedi” and unsuccessfully pandered to in “Rise of Skywalker”. Announcements of more diversity oriented projects like this “female-centered” series in the works signals to them that nerd culture is truly pop culture now. If you can’t handle diversity in your content then Star Wars is not for you anymore. You can’t be included in everyone if you don’t think everyone is deserving of being in Star Wars. I’ll be honest, Oscar Isaac and Daisey Ridley expressing no desire to be involved in Star Wars again gives me pause but I think the property as a whole is still intact enough to attract diverse enough talent.

What is the central organizing plot of Star Wars if the Skywalkers aren’t it anymore? I think I’ve looked at the prequel trilogy with a fresh set of eyes after these recent movies. In spite of all their camp they were compelling in the way they built up to what we knew was already coming: the Fall of Anakin Skywalker. I don’t have the answer to this question, but I think the details of the projects that have been announced offer some anecdotal thoughts: Star Wars will continue to be the socio-political opera of our modern society. Every integral piece of content in this universe, especially since the Disney purchase, has provided commentary on everything from twentieth century politics and the War on Terror to family structure and what love truly means. I believe Disney is capable of continuing to execute on this fundamental premise of Star Wars media.

What does it mean to escape to a Long Time ago in a Galaxy far, far away? When the scope and design of media from Video Games to Streaming is evermore self-aware and intentional in the worlds and narratives they create Star Wars really does offer something unique. I’m a sucker for good science fiction like James S.A. Corey’s “The Expanse” and I love to escape to that world. However very few fictional universes have roots in the 1970s. Yes, books and concepts being made into newer media forms have roots in content as old as Greek mythology. But very few science fiction properties, perhaps only Star Trek in a disjointed way, have two-three generations of cultural commentary built in. Star Wars, as long as new content comes, will be the broadest share science fiction universe out there.

Thanks for reading.

[civrilla]

we are one :

spectracy’s ( sense8 ) inspired squad // diverse playbys // diverse ages // diverse membergroups // all open! //

eight strangers from different walks of life and situations, suffering through their own struggles and secrets until they suddenly develop a sensory link. and everything changes as quickly as one can blink: they feel joy for no reason, pain when they have none, sorrow with no explanation but the tears still fall. they’re speaking languages they haven't even heard, throwing fists when they never learned how to punch, and they find themselves in unrecognizable places but they don't feel lost. skills, emotions, sensations, they're bleeding, mixing, washing themselves into one another’s veins, marking the very beginning -- their rebirth as a piece of a suddenly combined brain.

-- the ability of the sensory link is that of a bewitching character, and i’m thinking that it probably recently awoke for these characters after they started coming into contact with one another. so there’s bound to be quite a few of them that have always thought they were bereft until they found this fun surprise, and/or some witches who got stuck with one kind of crappy gift only to find out they also have this, or somebody who’s been dealing with a really shitty curse only to find out they now have this to deal with as well. 

-- keep in mind: all the roles can completely be adjusted! it’s more or less me spitting out different ideas, rather than anything set in stone. stuff can be genderbent and changed to fit your concepts -- no worries! however, it’s important to me that the characters are all of varying personality types and, hopefully, backgrounds. that’s what i’ve tried to achieve with the roles you see here. you’ve got some good guys, and some sort-of-not-so-good guys.

THE CHARMING, taken by eos → pretty boy who was born in a cage that looks like a castle. prince, why are you so afraid of the destiny that awaits you? your name will inscribe itself onto the earth, onto the seas, and your bloodline will shake the very ground. so how come you're so scared to take the crown? your parents are giving you their kingdom, so long as you be a good boy and never frown. → your voice is husky honeyed sweeter than sugar, a symphony played by a single instrument, a raga with no notes. people are hypnotized and enamored, they never want you to stop talking. almost. herein lies your greatest strength: being the enchanter. open your mouth, and you can attract an entire room's attention, capture an innocent's heart, sway enemies to change their alliance mid-battle. you are the prince charming, able to weave straw words into gold. → herein lies your weakness: you're just a guy with a lot of stuff. learn to patch up that hole inside you, sweet prince, before it finally swallows you up.

❖  nice table manners, basically ur real stereotypical prince charming

❖  #1 smooth-talker; his other biggest skill is telling you which fancy fork to eat your salad with

❖  has been catered to his whole life (wants to be independent but poor boy doesn’t even know how to work a microwave or washing machine, 911 send h e l p)

THE PROTECTING, taken by piper → little guardian, you were always brandishing a shield for the weak and the fallen. but you must always remember: you’re just flesh and a beating heart and bright eyes, you are not indestructible. you can not save everyone. bones break under heavy weight. even atlas couldn't carry the world forever. put the weight down, sweet girl. you are not a titan. you are human. you are so human it hurts.

→ maybe in another universe there is no darkness, no bad guys, no all-encompassing doom. maybe in another universe, you don't have the weight of the world on your shoulders. but, unfortunately, in this world, you do. herein lies your strength: you're the mother hen, the shield, the one who keeps others stable. you may not be able to brandish a sword, but you can still cradle cheeks with gentle hands and whisper encouragements to those with sad smiles. to win a war, there must always be someone like you: a bright soul in the backdrop, who watches over the soldiers and nudges them back in line when they get off course.

→ herein lies your greatest weakness: you're so busy protecting others that you forget to shield yourself. little guardian, this world is nasty and cruel and will eat you up; why do you always forget that if you don't protect yourself, you're going to burn up?

❖  mother hen

❖  occupation maybe tied to protecting others? like a cop?

❖  forgets to protect herself? this could lead to something? idk

THE FIGHTING, open → there are two versions of you that people notice. the first is the one where you are all sharp angles, making yourself even sharper. you smile with razor blade teeth whenever someone gets cut, a danger and warning all in one. but if others stick around long enough, there are times where you will touch pretty faces with careful fingers, eyes like stars and a heart as big as the solar system, wiping the red off their cheekbones. you never minded getting a little blood on your hands, after all. → brave warrior, how come each syllable that falls from your lips has a sharp edge? barbs that scathe and bite with angry, mottled bruises left in their wake. a stain and poison, your own skin covered in battle wounds. who are you fighting, if not yourself? herein lies your greatest strength: you know how to throw a killer punch. little warrior, you've always done more talking through bloody knuckles than your mouth. hello morphs not into good-bye but an undecipherable look with a bitten-back tongue and hands in fists and knuckles embedded in the skin of a clenched jaw. → herein lies your greatest weakness: no one taught you how to stop. anger has always been your greatest enemy, hanging in your life like a backdrop. don't you see what's wrong here, little warrior? once you start fighting, you don't stop. not until someone's stopped breathing, and you're the champion at the top.

❖  one hell of a fighter

❖  but doesn’t know when to stop throwing the punches

❖  boy’s got some serious anger issues

THE HEALING, open → you heal wounds and skinned knees. you help others, but you, yourself, are not something to be mended. after all, you always tell yourself that the only person who can decide whether or not you need fixing is you. those who keep trying to find places to repair, who twist with screwdriver questions and hammer with sharp words, are not trying to help you, girl of gold. they are trying to help themselves, and you have turned from project to person. let them go. make them let go of you. → golden girl, herein lies your greatest strength: you've always been notorious for mending the broken. your childhood was spent playing doctor, operating on your extensive collection of stuffed animals. → repairing others is some sort of sickly-sweet remedy, because when you heal others, you like to think that it's slowly healing these fractures lying beneath your skin too. herein lies your greatest weakness: you think that healing others will heal yourself. it won't, little golden girl. it never will.

❖  has medical skills (doesn’t strictly have to work within medical field tho)

❖  thinks healing others will heal her broken soul, so sad :’(

THE THINKING, open → one must wonder what kind of past could have given birth to this: a heart restrained by wrought iron, with love scrutinized as though it can be explained in a formula and living beings studied underneath a microscope. darling girl, why do you detach yourself from the world like so? the thing about you is that you come off cold, too blunt, insensitive -- sometimes people wonder if you're really even human at all. → you have a beautiful brain, bursting with curiosity, and theories, and numbers, and knowledge, and you're logical to a fault. herein lies your strength: you're so damn smart. you've devoted yourself to the pursuit of knowing, to understanding, to learning. you may be distant, but you have taught yourself so much -- you know, at the very least, how to sharpen words into a point to drive through a heart. → lonely little girl, herein lies your weakness: this thirst for knowledge has tainted your blood. you have such a big heart but you're afraid that your studies are all that you will ever love.

❖  kinda sacrificed a social life in the pursuit for knowledge

❖  hence she has p much zero social skills

❖   big heart but unable to find love

THE RUNNING, taken by emri → this blood, this fear, this constant running, running, running. dear boy, what did you ever do but hide with shaky legs and then run with them? shaking still, feet always flying over the ground, looking over your shoulder and expecting to see a shadow chasing after you. what made you this way? why are you so afraid? → you're a retreating form disappearing into the inevitable darkness, your back broken from the weight of all the burdens you try to carry. but herein lies your greatest strength: you're the quickest -- perhaps, not the bravest -- and you can get so far on those two shaking legs, if you only try. hiding from shadows has taught you something too, darling boy: you know how to keep your head low so as to be unnoticed in a crowd, how to find the best scraps in a cold dumpster in an alley, how to scout out the best safe place in the stark coldness of night. → herein lies your greatest weakness: you can't run too far before you need your fix. fingers cracked and bleeding from the way you try to scratch away the concrete walls that cement you into darkness. little runner, don't you know? the drugs are not your savior. they'll ruin you, you know. stop shrouding yourself in fear and anguish, you're so much brighter when you smile. why can't you just stop running away, even for a little while?

❖  an addict maybe?

❖  the #1 hands-down at navigating the streets and making yourself invisible

THE DECEIVING, taken by cirilla → darling, you've been kissed with a large dark stain upon your heart. it crushes you into tiny glittering pieces, and you twirl through the air. what did this to you? why do you think this darkness inside you is actually okay? → so, you've faced darkness. you've swallowed the nights that ripped you to pieces, and swam laps in the broken glass of peoples' words. herein lies your greatest strength: you've learned how not to flinch when facing the pain, and are the best at elaborate facades. deceit sears through your very veins. you've hidden your wounds behind such a pretty mask, twirling and spinning, finely-dressed smiles spilling from your mouth. they might call you a princess -- a blinding beauty -- and, oh, how easily white knights mistake girls dressed like a daydream as soft and sensitive and needing saving. → remember this: you may be able to disguise your sharp smile behind colorful lips and pretty dresses, but one day, someone's going to come along, and they'll see past it all. but herein lies your greatest weakness: you've built your throne on your show and darling, it’s gone on for so long. how do you stop this performance? when will you finish singing the song?

❖  damn good at lying and acting

❖   but how do you find true friends or love when no one knows who is actually you underneath?

THE CHEATING, open → dark eyes and a dark heart, nature has molded you into a target; strike like an arrow. in this world, you get beaten up or you learn to fight tough, because life does not go easy on you. there is a fire fueling your veins, and you let it run wild, but you must learn to contain it, wild girl, before it consumes you up. → you have a lot in common with the others: you've faced darkness and come out on top, you've lied your way through things, and you've fought hard enough. but herein lies your greatest strength: you've actually not done it at all all. you're quite the filthy cheater; when you've had your nails freshly painted, you're not eager to enter a brawl. scheming is your strong-suit, it's all about the details, picking apart the puzzles until you find the opponent's critical weakness. everything is a game, but when no one's looking, you're the wild girl who likes to change the rules. → the problem with cheating is, once you find success, you refuse to play fair. herein lies your greatest weakness: you're falling deeper and deeper into this ring of fire, so before long, you're going to hit rock-bottom. fiery heart, what made you this way? why did you start changing the rules to games, dancing on the lines of danger, tempting the hand of fate?

❖  probably addicted to gambling and her luck’s bound to run out

❖  has one hell of a poker face

❖ master of drawn-out schemes and switching opponents’ cards when they aren’t looking -- sneaky, sneaky.