#watched a LOT of documentaries with my parents that year

[dovedrangeas]

i don’t know what it says about me but once as a kid i caught two spiders (a daddy long legs and a brown recluse) in a little plastic container and then hung said plastic container from a chandelier above the dining table to watch them fight to the death. i did this at like 9pm and i was riveted the whole time

[riddlerosehearts]

thinking about how people who watch the emperor's new groove and somehow come out of it shipping pacha and kuzco, or thinking yzma only became evil when kuzco fired her and that she would've been a better ruler than him, are both so wrong in so many different ways and are also missing one of the things that i absolutely love about the movie. which is that, the way i see it, pacha and yzma are counterparts. as parental figures to kuzco.

like, just to get this out of the way first, yzma was a dismissive asshole to a peasant whose family was starving. and yeah, if kuzco had been in her place he definitely would've also done that, which... is why she would not be a better ruler than him. she'd just be the same because they're both horrible people in the exact same ways. her reaction to being fired is to plot murder, and as soon as his funeral is over she sets everyone to work on replacing paintings of kuzco with paintings of herself and covering the palace with imagery that makes it clear that it's all about her now. i'm not even sure why this is a discussion tbh.

and also, kuzco is literally a teenager. he's barely 18 years old. source: in the movie, yzma says at his funeral that kuzco was "taken from us so tragically on the very eve of his eighteenth birthday." she also claims in the movie to have "practically raised" him, to which kronk replies "yeah, you'd think he would've turned out better". and sure, she could be exaggerating, but what evidence do we have that she is? we learn absolutely nothing of his parents, who are never mentioned even once in the movie, or of anyone else who could've raised him, and she's his advisor who for some reason sees no problem with attending to royal duties in his place. most likely because she's his regent. also, i'm not exactly a fan of the sequel tv series "the emperor's new school" but it does have something that backs up my point: kuzco is revealed to be an orphan and just before his father went and got lost at sea, he asked yzma (who was also his advisor) to take care of kuzco if anything happened to him. so, yeah, the writers who worked on the series clearly thought that yzma genuinely did raise kuzco, and nothing in the movie contradicts this.

and i find the idea of her being his only parental figure for pretty much his whole childhood incredibly interesting because, and this also goes back into why she wouldn't be a better ruler than him--she mirrors him as a reflection of what would've become of him if he'd never met pacha. they're both incredibly arrogant, power-hungry, selfish, and cruel, with a tendency to blame their problems on everyone but themselves. yzma was even originally going to have her own reprise of kuzco's theme song "perfect world", which i really wish had been kept:

[ID: Lyrics that read:

I'Il be the sovereign queen of the nation And the chicest chick in creation I'm the cat with all the cream and ooh-la-la This deadly concentration Will put an end to my frustration Now this perfect world begins and ends with moi

What's my name? Yzma, Yzma, Yzma Yzma (what's my name?) Yzma, Yzma (What'd you say?) Yzma (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!) Yzma. End ID]

(this song can be fully heard in "the sweatbox", the documentary about the making of the movie, and is also on youtube btw)

anyway, i'm sure yzma would not exactly have been the most nurturing or hands-on guardian, especially given that she and kuzco don't exactly treat each other like family. but it makes a lot of sense to think that her behavior influened kuzco's throughout the years. and for the entire movie, she remains determined to kill him. when he tries to reason with her and admits that he should've been nicer, she says the same thing to him that he originally said when he fired her. she never grows or changes and in the end, she hurts the one person who was willing to stand by her (and even then, kronk had never fully been on board with her plan) and he ends up trying to crush her with a chandelier. kuzco on the other hand is able to realize the error of his ways, come to regret who he was in the past, and start taking steps toward being a better person. his theme song gets a reprise where it's changed from a song about one person being the center of the world to a Power Of Friendship song. why? because, as i've already mentioned, he has pacha.

pacha, who similarly to both yzma and kuzco is in a position of authority as the leader of the village but unlike either of them is gentle and humble. who isn't afraid to stand up to kuzco and be honest with him even though he's the emperor, who agrees to take him back to the palace but has no obligation to be so helpful, kind, and caring toward him--and just about every reason not to be--and still chooses to be anyway. pacha who is 45 years old (also stated in the sweatbox documentary) and can see that kuzco is practically still a kid, not a single day over 18, who has time to grow and change. pacha, who already has a wife and two kids with another on the way, but practically treats kuzco like one of his own. who acknowledges that if kuzco dies all his problems will be gone and then still worries about him and goes out of his way to rescue him after he wanders into the jungle. who sees kuzco shivering at night and covers him with his poncho, who carries him when he's genuinely too weak to keep walking, who refuses to give up on him even after repeatedly being betrayed by him because he believes there's good in everyone.

also, while yzma ends up repeating kuzco's harsh words of dismissal as she tells him of her plans to kill him, kuzco had previously repeated pacha's words that "nobody's that heartless" after he saved pacha's life. and as the movie progresses kuzco and pacha's relationship becomes more and more equal and is constantly contrasted by moments of yzma being cruel and unappreciative of kronk's kindness. a good example of this is how kronk is constantly being forced to carry yzma everywhere on his back while yzma literally walks all over him and steps on his hands when she gets down, whereas when pacha briefly carries kuzco after the latter collapses he tells him he'll have to walk the rest of the way later and kuzco doesn't even protest.

idk if i'm even explaining well what i'm trying to say here. but basically, if yzma actually raised kuzco and contributed to his current behavior, then she and pacha both are figures who guided him and helped him grow. only yzma helped him become the tyrant that he was at the start of the movie, who was selfish and callous and saw everyone else as beneath him. whereas pacha helped him see the value in being selfless and considerate of others. and in the end, yzma is stuck as a cat and nobody is concerned about her. kronk has found a new job that makes him genuinely happy, while kuzco has decided to build a hut on the hill next to pacha's and effectively joined his family. in the sweatbox documentary it's even mentioned that chicha and the kids were at risk of being removed from the film, but it was decided that they needed to be there because having just pacha as a single guy who lived alone wasn't interesting enough--kuzco needed to go from having basically an empty world where he had nobody to being able to come together with pacha's whole family. and i just think that's incredibly satisfying and beautiful. it also leads up to one of the few things i really do enjoy about the emperor's new school, which is the fact that during the show kuzco moves in with pacha and chicha and pretty explicitly thinks of them as basically his parents while he's like a son to them.

idk. i feel like my mind went in a million different directions while i was writing all this. but i guess i just think that for all of the praise the emperor's new groove gets for its comedy and for how hilarious yzma and kronk in particular are as a duo, the movie also has a lot of genuine heart that gets overlooked. kuzco's character growth and his unique dynamic with pacha is, for me, really what elevates the movie from just a funny movie that i like to one of my favorite disney movies. and i wish more people appreciated that aspect of it and saw it as a found family story in the same way that treasure planet, brother bear, and lilo and stitch are all found family stories.

[iwillbringyouruin]

Visions Magazine with Tobias Forge on the idea behind Rite Here Rite Now, the importance of soundtracks in general and how he distinguishes between himself and his characters (Visions Magazine issue nr. 377, 08/2024)

Full translation of the included interview by me below the cut - buckle up, this is a long post! There are no spoilers for RHRN in this.

Markus Hockenbrink: Tobias, have you ever watched the movie Metallica: Though The Never?

Tobias Forge: Yes, once, when it had just come out. The topic Metallica came up when we were taking care of the funding for [RHRN]. Every larger production company – and I have to emphasise here that this was before Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and her extremely successful movie about it – voiced a lot of concern back then whether anybody would still be interested in concert movies. I had to explain time and again that my movie wouldn’t be a typical concert movie, to which I was asked several times: “Oh, so something like Through The Never?” I had to deny that again. We tell a story in our movie most of our fans are already familiar with. So it’s not an entirely new concept, which is already the first distinction from Through The Never. If you only consider that there is a concert part and a feature film part, then those two movies are probably similar. But that also applies to La La Land.

M. Hockenbrink: You describe your movie as a combination of Kiss’ Alive II, Ralph Bakshi cartoons and silent film horror. Is that a kind of childhood dream that comes true there?

T. Forge: Definitely. For as long as I’ve been interested in music, I’ve also been interested in film and television. Working in film could have also been a career option for me, but I always got the rather annoying impression that one would have to go to film school to really find a place in that field. School was never my strong suit, I see myself more as a autodidact in that regard. That I had the opportunity to work on/contribute to my own movie as a sorcerer’s apprentice of sorts is a real privilege. That is a dream come true but it is also something I can picture more of in the future. Next time maybe without the band.

M. Hockenbrink: Can you remember a specific moment in your life when you realised that you were especially drawn to topics that are slightly morbid and unsettling?

T. Forge: I think that due to my family I came in contact with vastly different kinds of pop culture from a very young age. In more traditional families with more conservative parents and siblings of similar ages, you only really start with your respective journey to find yourself in your teens. Then there are often restrictions that are meant to distract from those darker influences. My parents on the other hand are very liberal and my brother was 13 years older than me. There were never limits or censorship for me. My childhood didn’t go by without rules entirely, but I was always allowed to watch or listen to what my brother was also watching or listening to. That was I was exposed to all kinds of teenage culture from the beginning. Sure, I also liked Pippi Longstocking and He-Man. But that was always combined with the French arthouse films my mother liked to watch or the horror flicks my brother was into. I can’t recall a particularly striking horror film experience, but I still remember the first time it dawned on me that movies don’t just exist, they’re made.

M. Hockenbrink: How do you mean?

T. Forge: My father worked as a documentary maker in television. His job was to connect the video track and the sound track in a fitting way for different film production. I saw Jaws on television with him as a small child. It’s important to note that my father is not somebody who can just quietly enjoy films but somebody who likes to butt in. Thanks to him I already had a kind of epiphany during the introduction. He said: “Look closely! There is nothing to see in this underwater scenery except the algae. Technically completely harmless. But it only takes the ominous music to turn the whole scene into pure horror already!” And I thought: Wow! That’s true! Later in the movie you only have to hear that music and it immediately puts you on edge, even when there’s nobody in the water right now. They don’t even have to show the shark anymore. I found it fascinating that the [viewer’s] senses/perception could be manipulated like that. Ever since I’ve been viewing films with different eyes. I can still allow myself to dive into the story but at the same time I see the practical aspect to film-making.

M. Hockenbrink: I had a similar feeling during the introduction of Shining: technically a cozy road trip in the mountains, but a pure nightmare with the music.

T. Forge: I’m with you on that. Shining is one of the best movies of all time. And funnily enough, only the intro sequence was actually shot in nature. All the other scenes, even if they were outside, were filmed in the studio. Exactly that kind of craftsmanship is what I find inspiring.

M. Hockenbrink: With that in mind, what makes a good soundtrack in your opinion?

T. Forge: We already talked about Jaws, but I can think of Eyes Wide Shut as another example. There is that short piano theme that comes up again and again, incredibly effective. A good soundtrack needs to deliver something that you don’t have to be able to see to perceive its existence. Sure, there are no monsters in Eyes Wide Shut, aside from the main character’s jealousy as an internal monster maybe. But just like the music in Jaws, the theme from Eyes Wide Shut symbolises something that doesn’t have to be shown. The sound is enough. That is also a commonly used effect in adventure and love movies. You just put in a short vignette to describe the love between two characters. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker also has his own theme, that is used every time when things get emotional and you’re supposed to feel that hope. You’ve got to pay attention to that. Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th also has a personal theme to recognise him by. Every time you hear it you immediately know “Oh shit, he’s nearby!”

M. Hockenbrink: What about soundtracks that are made up of songs?

T. Forge: With that, I’m especially thinking of Silence of the Lambs. In the scene where Buffalo Bill dresses up as a woman and dances around his basement, a song called Goodbye Horses by Q Lazzarus is playing. I have no idea how the artist felt that since the song is now so irrevocably connected to that awful scene, that you can’t listen to it anymore without thinking of it.

M. Hockenbrink: Do you feel like soundtrack work is more appreciated now than it used to be?

T. Forge: I think that it’s definitely gained importance over the last 40 years. The right song on the right soundtrack can be incredibly powerful. Just think of Stranger Things. Obviously, Metallica and Kate Bush already had successful careers before, but what happened with Master of Puppets and Running Up That Hill following the series was something else entirely. The songs were associated so strongly with the narrative, that way more people listened to them than before. Of course I’m a strong advocate for live music but I also realised that nothing is as strong as the connection of visuals and music. That is still the most powerful way to appeal to a deeper emotion through the association.

M. Hockenbrink: More or less a shortcut to the subconscious.

T. Forge: Exactly. But you can’t be cynical about that either. If I was an A&R person at a big label, I would probably also say: “You just have to find a spot for one of your songs on a popular soundtrack, then you’ll have made it!” That’s really how it is. But when you view it from an artistic perspective, when you want to reach people a certain way or bring across a certain message or a certain feeling, the combination of visuals and sound can’t be topped.

M. Hockenbrink: It especially lends itself to an immersive experience, as seems to be in the foreground of [RHRN]. An album by Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden ends at some point, then you’re gone from that metal world again. With Ghost, however, you get the feeling that the illusion just keeps on going, across several media. Did you plan the Ghost mythology like this from the start?

T. Forge: In part. When I started with the band, I only wanted to make a standalone album. The concept was supposed to be interesting and practical, but I wasn’t planning for Ghost to be a huge thing. The style I pictured has its own limits in my opinion. The band was supposed to function a certain way and appeal to a certain target audience. The concert was supposed to be a theatrical performance in the literal sense. Ghost were never supposed to perform in a normal rock club nor go on tour. I wanted more of a kind of Vaudeville show in a proper plushy theatre. The band was supposed to be as anonymous as the actors that stand on stage and play, say, Faust. The idea behind this was: Those who don’t know who the people are on stage are more ready to follow the story. Then we would perform three days back-to-back in select cities. Berlin, Amsterdam, London. Just like Diamanda Galás who can more likely be found at a culture festival than in a rock shack. But things turned out differently in the end, and I had to kiss my original ideas goodbye again, so to speak.

M. Hockenbrink: Why?

T. Forge: After the success of our debut album, it became clear to me that more conventional concerts were going to be demanded of us and that I could only really say yes or no. This problem became worse after our shift to a bigger label. It became clear that my vision of telling stories clashed with the live sector and requirements for success more and more. At a certain point anonymity doesn’t work anymore and I had to make peace with that in the end.  I originally didn’t even want to do interviews but that’s obviously tricky when you want to sell records. The question that I constantly ask myself since is how I can do those things best in the Ghost way without denying the original Vaudeville spirit.

M. Hockenbrink: In his autobiography Golf Monster, Alice Cooper talks about himself in third person a lot when he is talking about his character. Are you feeling similarly at this point?

T. Forge: At least I can definitely see where he’s coming from. There is a difference between the person Vincent Furnier and the character Alice Cooper. I believe that he was on the verge of completely transforming into Alice Cooper at one point – to the point where one has to decide where they want to live or die. In the end he decided to remain Vincent Furnier and only become Alice Cooper for work, on stage. So far I’ve been fortunate to combine the two pretty well, but had I started Ghost ten years earlier in my life, it would have probably affected me similarly to how Alice Cooper did with Vincent Furnier in his time. But with my humble experience as an actor I have to say: every character you play becomes a part of you to a certain extent. You have to find certain qualities – good or bad – within yourself to bring such a character to life. I think that most actors only play one or two roles throughout their life that they then end up being known for. The different characters that I’ve portrayed on stage are not only very similar but actually also a part of me. Fortunately a part of me that I don’t want to deal with all day long.

M. Hockenbrink: Too cynical and antisocial?

T. Forge: Cardinal Copia or Cardi, as I like to call him, is not an all-around cool person, but that makes him so fun to play for me. He is half Freddie Mercury and half Jacques Clouseau. Kind of clumsy, kind of silly, kind of stupid. The kind of guy who trips over his own feet but catches himself elegantly. That’s also me in a way, but not just. And I think that’s easier to embody than a daredevil hero character who can rival anyone and gets all the ladies. When somebody plays only those characters their whole life, it will probably really go to their head. Especially when there are drugs involved on top of that.

M. Hockenbrink: With all that fondness of doom that can be found with Ghost, that universe also has something humorous about it, benign even. It that an intentionally included contradiction?

T. Forge: Yes, and it is also very important to me that it comes across like that. For me that also has something to do with the evolution of metal. Originally it was mostly a phenomenon connected to the youth, nowadays the musicians and their fans are close to retiring. That brings a certain maturity. Even the Norwegian black metal musicians who were super pissed and extreme 30 years ago and were only made of hate and aggression are well-adjusted people now. Bearded fathers and grandfathers with a pleasant view on life that make others laugh. I see a certain duality there. Everything that has something to do with goth, with metal, with horror, appears dark, dismal and hostile at first. But in reality, that can all be extremely life-affirming and a source of great joy for many people. So pretty much the opposite.

M. Hockenbrink: Speaking of horror: could you imagine making a real feature film some day?

T. Forge: Yes, I would love that. I’m well aware that it’s not going to be easy to make what I’m picturing a reality, just because I’ve done directing once with [RHRN] now. The creative liberty I got to enjoy there also was due to the fact that I funded the movie myself. So nobody was meddling with it. That is likely completely different when you work on behalf of a big studio, because we are talking about different sums here. If I only go off my dreams, I would name two points of reference. One is Shining, the other Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola. I would like to make a movie that’s only shot in a studio, with elaborate sets, matte painting and all that. No outside shots, no special effects, no green screen. And no actors who only gets to see what they were actually doing after the fact. Proper old-school. The way movies are actually meant to look.

[felixdragonheartofficial]

TFA TEAM PRIME HUMAN REDESIGNS FINALLY

FUCK

+headcannons

Optimus: gotta stay focused

looks too old compared to his bot form.

I find it impossible for Optimus to be more than a million years old in this canon. In the least, he's older than 1000 years and since we have mfs that are canonically over 70 million years old(fagatron iykyk) compared to that, he feels like a dude in his early-to-mid-30's being the group parent.

---

-I made him more youthful, gave him curly hair, and tailored his clothing to actually look like his bot form.

-workaholic

-on the cusp of barley being able to hold his liquor

-doesn't own a pair of pajamas until Sari gets some for him

-usually forgets to put them on, but appreciates the gesture

-stays active for like, 3 days until he can't fight off sleep with work brain anymore, and unceremoniously passes out on the couch to sleep for a full 24 hours

-ratchet sighs and puts a blanket over him as per routine

-frequently checks security feed

-elf on the shelf despiser

-early morning talks with jazz and ratchet over coffee (they all wake up at 6 am)

-half thrives on caffeine and a vigorous training protocol

-is a dog person, loves German shepherds to death

David sama, pls forgive me ily very much

Ratchet: to old for this nonsense

doesn't match his body type in the slightest.

Ratchet is really old, he's got a sallow face and a gramp gut, how dare they square him. He's wayyy too angular and peachy looking.

-I gave him his luscious curves back, adding all the equipment id expect a field medic to have because he is a field medic, not a regular doctor. I changed his facial proportions, and also made his face gaunt, for that dead inside PTSD look.

---

-drinks his coffee black with brown sugar, literally drinks it piping hot

-is one of those old people who complains about noise

-confiscates bumblebee and Sari's toy cars, and puts them in a high up cabinet

-neither of them know how to bypass the child safety lock lmao

-casual clothes includes a lot- a l o t of plaid shirts, and 10 pairs of the same blue jeans

-tunes out bulkhead and prowls convos about birdwatching

-big fan of political satire dramas

-Sentinel doesn't approve

-Ratchet doesn't give a rats ass about what he thinks of course

Bumblebee: professional smart-ass

doesn't match his body type/age.

Bumblebees holoform is presented as a 10-12 year old child specifically for the fact that he's short, and the comedic relief. Total ass

I set his human age as 19-20 years old, making him more of a big brother to sari because that og model is disappointingly lackluster

---

-Bumblebee is a scrappy wisecracking punk, like an adhd kid who just got roller skates for Christmas.

-since he doesn't have wheels, I feel like he'd wear skates instead to emulate the feeling

-terrible at watching where he's going cuz he's too busy trying to show off, so ratchet makes him wear all that padding + training wheels

-legit despises the padding and training wheels

-Jealous of Blurr for mastering roller blades lmao.

-his favorite games are choose your fighter and fps

-saw ONE ancient ass assassins creed playthrough and begged ratchet to install hidden tasers in his arm bands (was denied)

-Sari used her key to do it instead

-self appointed "rizzler"

-Optimus has zero idea of what that means and thinks it's code for something dubious

-Ratchet knows what it means and thinks it's silly

-"I' was something of a rizzler myself back in my day, kid"

-bumblebee cringes

-loves summer and swimming

-wants to be the fastest thing in the sea because y'know, it's bumblebee

-is spooked from the beach for awhile cuz he saw sharks in Prowls nature documentary

-there are infact, no sharks in lake Erie

Bulkhead: big guy, bigger heart

doesn't match his body type/aspirations.

Jesus fuck he's so wide?? And his belly migrated to his shoulders?? I'm gonna be honest, I really hate this design. I feel like it contributed to the "brute strength = stupid" take that most in the fandom associates with him.

---

-Bulkhead is a SWEET. CARING. NERD YOU FOOLS. He's like the male version of a tall goth gf-

-a tall-nerdy-farm hand-physics bf, You got me fucked up.

-Its already shown that bulkhead really likes art in Addition to creating it. He hates being only seen as the "muscle" so it wouldn't make sense for him to lean into that.

-bunny slippers that him and sari made together(she provided the buttons)

-the slippers go missing sometimes (basically considered community property unless he's wearing them)

(ratchet and prowl are the main offenders)

-frequent art museum goer

-really likes watching cooking shows, but is too shy to make food himself

-Owns a ton of star maps

-Really wants a treehouse that he, bumblebee and sari can hang out in

-pillowfort enjoyer

-casually reads quantum physics at the beach

Prowl: draft dodger

Doesn't look like him at all.

Prowls holoform being a mustachioed,white, police officer was an actual jumpscare for 7 y/o me, I kid you not

---

- I know this bitch would not wear a helmet (you can't force him to) que windswept hair

-Not as much as starscreams, for obvious reasons but yk

-prowl is like one of those "shoes are a prison for your feet"

-emo hipster

-has a pet cactus named "planty"

-bumblebee heckles him for it

-can and has brought his cactus with him on early evening motorcycle rides

-the helmet is reserved for his cactus, bring your own >:(

-salad consumer

-him and jazz share custody of the cactus

-repeat victim of the cat distribution system

-ratchet has probably spent hours telling him they can't keep any animals at base

-frequent midnight picnics with jazz

-and beachcombing

-and roaming around antique stores cuz jazz wants to know what vinyl records are

-got a mug with an attempted pink chibi cat with big round shiny eyes painted onto it, courtesy of bulkhead trying to find an artsyle

-cherishes this mug to death

-has a shrine dedicated to it

[headspace-hotel]

Thinking of your post on the problems of veganism as a movement vs veganism as a lifestyle choice/one technique amongst many, that also applys super well to my issues with degrowth (And anticonsumerism as well) as a movement vs degrowth as one technique amongst many for dealing with the hydra-crisis of overproduction/resource overuse/destroying people and places for resources.

Like, in particular as an autistic person the continual recurring insistence that we need to just "change our desires" creeps me out. As someone who's difficulties were dismissed as just "having a bad attitude" and who's interests were so often dismissed as a waste of time instead of preparing for a job in the "real world" IDK if they truly understand the full horrifying implications of that line of thought.

So here's the thing with the concept of "overconsumption"

I had to do this whole project on overconsumption in my Anthropology class where I compared my consumption habits to those of someone 2 generations older, the prof clearly had in mind that we would discover a particular result that I did not end up finding.

I had to watch this documentary called "Affluenza" which was all about how Americans consume too much and they shop and buy things for fun and it's killing the planet, and it kept making these statements like "The average american does X..." and "X" would be something insane that I've never dreamed of doing.

Now I technically grew up below the poverty line, we were always financially insecure and struggling to pay bills and there was never any extra money lying around.

But my upbringing felt average, even privileged. We had a house instead of a trailer on cinder blocks, we had food and clothes. Compared to the upbringing of my mom and virtually everyone she knew growing up, we lived in fabulous luxury.

And the "overconsumption" lesson was bizarre to me because it brought up things like "going shopping for fun once a week" and "owning 20+ pairs of shoes" as if they were normal. I wear my clothes until they're unwearable and shop for clothes like once a year, and my mom has half as many clothes as I do. She feels guilty buying anything for herself and HATES shopping.

It feels like the dominant resources on living an eco friendly lifestyle presume that we have far more agency in what we buy and use than we actually do, instead of being stuck with the cheapest or closest available thing, and that our lives are full of extraneous, non-essential "consumption."

That class brought up the idea of "conspicuous consumption" a lot, or buying things to obtain social status instead of for their concrete utility. The way "conspicuous consumption" was addressed in the class was not very immediately relatable to me—I never had the option of buying clothes just to appear "with it" socially. My parents couldn't buy an extra car to fit the aesthetic of the American dream—we had enough trouble keeping the one we had running. The "conspicuous consumption" that class addressed was just not available to me.

However, I don't think conspicuous consumption is endemic to stable members of a certain socioeconomic status, because consumption is partially driven by the trauma of poverty. People who grew up poor will buy you more Christmas gifts than you can store or use, because they want to spare you the shame they experienced. Their brains are molded around the trauma of not having enough, and giving you enough is their way of keeping you safe.

Conspicuous consumption as a habit is pushed on you if your ancestors were shaped by this trauma. It is a misrepresentation to think of it as driven by pride, because your ability to perform the behaviors and mimic the appearances of a higher socioeconomic status has a concrete effect on how people treat you.

I know J.D. Vance is a nutjob now and Hillbilly Elegy was...not great (I'm more appalachian than you bitch, and I'm not even appalachian!) but the one thing that book got incredibly right was the idea of "social capital" and the way access to financial security and wealth gives you social capital. This is the main thing the current understanding of "conspicuous consumption" gets wrong—the need to escape the appearance and behaviors of poverty is seen as vain and self-indulgent, when it's a survival mechanism and it's something you're expected to engage in to gain opportunities and respect.

Poverty is humiliating. People with money never think about the fact that they have money. They think of themselves as average, if they think of themselves in terms of socioeconomic status at all. Being poor ends up embedded in the grooves and folds of your brain.

I remember when I was about 12, I gave my friend an informal tour of our house the first time she came over, showing her every room. I realized later that this wasn't exactly a normal behavior—I had done it because my mom did the same thing when she brought her friend over, and my mom had done it because it was a way of saying look, I survived. Look, I have a place to live to call my own, isn't this nice?

At its worst, anti-consumerism just reinforces the myth that your consumption is purely a matter of personal choice. And unfortunately when the conversation is ruled by the privileged, this idea will appear substantiated—because rich people can choose the aesthetics of poverty without concretely affecting the way the world treats them. A rich person can choose to live in a "tiny house" but they will never be "trailer trash."

Anti-consumerism revolves around ideas that are almost irreparably tainted by the mythology of an unequal society. Rich people possess and control the aesthetic of restraint and frugality, allowing them to playact living a Simple Life where they live in a tiny minimalist cottage and eat Healthy Vegan Oat Gruel, while McDonalds is the emblem of American excess. It is poor people's behaviors and habits that exemplify excess and greed.

Anti-consumerism isn't going to change anything until it openly confronts the fact that poverty is traumatic and consumption patterns often arise from poverty survival mechanisms.

[etraytin]

I started working this past year for a home health company that contracts with the VA for a lot of its clients. It’s interesting because it means I have a mix of relatively affluent seniors who want to age in their homes and veterans of all ages and economic status who need help with their activities of daily living. My job is pretty similar with all of them, personal care, mobility assistance, light cooking and housekeeping, and companionship. I do okay at all of it and I’m learning a lot, but my favorite part is the companionship. A lot of these folks have amazing stories and hardly anybody to tell them to.

My newest VA client is a little old centenarian, a WWII vet, whose memories of his past are so startlingly clear I sometimes feel like he remembers his past better than I remember mine. I do respite care for him, coming in so his regular caregivers get breaks, and we will often just sit in his living room and he will tell me endless stories, one just segueing into the next.

Last night we watched a documentary together on the B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber from WWII. I’ve seen many similar documentaries, but I’ve never watched one before with a vet who was counting the bombs that dropped from each plane and pointing out the positions of the fighter escorts and what they were doing. It was incredibly interesting to see what he was paying attention to in each scene and what was important because it was part of his lived experience. He likes to tell war stories, but he’s just as happy to tell me about how he used to stop by his friends’ houses at dinner time when he was a child because they were mostly Italian and would offer him little dishes of strange noodles and sauces, or how he and his friends got in trouble for popping snow fences because their parents got charged twenty-five cents for every stick they ruined.

I am happy to have had the opportunity to experience that, but at the same time sad, because the time for anyone to have that experience is coming to an end. He is one of the last ones to have lived through all the things we know from history books, and he is one of the last to remember the experiences he had with the generation that came before him. History spins out like a long piece of yarn, with each generation splicing into the next and the next, old threads tapering out as new ones are twisted in. We can see the trail of yarn behind us, but the part we can actually touch is so limited and so finite. It’s difficult but possible to imagine the time when it is my generation in the same position, when I am an old woman taking to a middle-aged Gen Alpha about my life before home computers and how my grandparents fought in the Second World War, and how that thread will connect two generations that otherwise would never touch.

[mantequillamcwhoremick]

Hi! I ended up reading through Choas Plan in pretty much two days (your writing is actually phenomenal) but I was actually curious on your inspirations to write it? Did it come from any other particular works or maybe episodes from sp?

WHAT NO WAY😭😭😭😭😭😭WHAT THE HELL THAT'S SO NICE HOLY SHIT THANK YOU SO MUCH <33333

You can't just ask me shit like that dude I will respond with a huge fucking essay I LOVE questions like that!!!!

I honestly have several inspirations, many come from the show itself and some I've drawn from cyber crime documentaries and books I like (namely the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo, you might recognize the scene with Mysterion and Harris in chapter 3 is very VERY similar to the one between Kaz and Jan Van Eck at the beginning of the book), but if you've read the notes in the fic you might have seen that the story idea was initially born when I was playing TFBW.

The Idea

The U-Stor-It scene where Butters/Chaos locks the C**n and Friends in the facility and talks to them through a screen was just so fascinating to me, it reminded me a lot of Jinx from Arcane and the Joker in The Dark Knight (especially because of the flashy decorations and graffiti). Mainly the story evolved from the question I posed to myself in that moment, which was: "What needs to happen for Butters to become someone like Jinx?" and that's how I started brainstorming the backstory.

The Backstory

Obviously that was inspired mainly by Linda's behavior in Butters' Very Own Episode, but it features elements from stuff all over the series and the games that prove just how fucked up Butters' parents are and treat him.

(Remember when in TFBW he mentioned that they bought an electronic lock system to keep him in his room because he left the bathroom once while grounded? yeah, that convinced me Butters' home life probably would only get worse with the years, especially with him entering his teens & puberty, and Post Covid honestly just confirmed that.)

The Villain/Hero Concept

I hadn't yet watched much more of South Park than up until seasons 15/16 so I didn't know about Post Covid's Vic Chaos yet, I mostly just wanted to do something with Mysterion and Chaos that had a darker and serious tone without either of them having any Marvel-esque powers or tech-organizations aiding them, something closer to the South Park lore at hand and realistic enough to feel like it could happen in our world.

Chaos' Methods

With Butters having a knack for Internet-related shit and him being able to hack into a baseball stadium screen to broadcast his evil plans in the Professor Chaos episode, and ofc his whole thing in TFBW and the episode of him becoming a pimp, I figured he has the stuff to be a hacker and entrepreneur.

I started getting spoilered a lot on the whole Vic Chaos and NFT scammer thing so even though I hadn't watched Post Covid I drew a lot of inspiration from that as well. I've been watching a lot of documentaries on Cryptocurrency scams and other cyber crime related stuff, so yeah all that shit also gets my brain generating a bunch of ideas as well.

Mysterion

As for Kenny/Mysterion's side of the story- I'm a huge fan of the "criminal who gets paid by a shitty pig/capitalist who would normally never hire them to take on a job" concept in Six of Crows, so that's how I got Harris involved, later further fueled by his Thin White Line arc in TFBW.

The way Kenny used his death powers in the C**n & Friends episodes I found very intriguing, and I absolutely LOVE playing around with them, so I included my own interpretation & spin of it as an active "superpower" he uses in order to be successful enough as a vigilante to be taken seriously. His canon powers separate him from your average humanbeing. It's a way to show the audience "hey look, Kenny really is just some guy, but also no one else could take on this role, ever. He may not have super strength or speed or money for equipment backing him, but he can get into places and out like no other person ever."

Coming up with a kryptonite-type weakness was also super fun, because I didn't want things to just be too easy. Mainly it's his need to remain anonymous, but the biggest reason for that need is because he needs to keep up his ability to financially support Karen. That, I obviously got from the show-, namely episodes like Mysterion Rises, The Poor Kid and City Part of Town, but his dynamic with Karen got increasingly more interesting and influenced in the fic after I played the TFBW DLC From Dusk Til Casa Bonita. The fact that he's so obsessed with keeping her safe the best way he knows how but completely overlooks to consider letting her have a say in it, is absolutely delicious. Like fuck yes, let's go complicate these character relationships (rubs hands evilly)

TL;DR

Inspirations come from all over, but of course the main ones do come from the show and games. Kenny and Butters have always been increasingly fascinating characters to me the more I watched the show, so the fact that Kenny canonically is the only kid Butters respects (source: s16, Ep "Going Native"), to an extent that in the future Butters funded his entire career, I thought had a shit ton of potential. Hence their friendship in the fic before "the incident", and the way Butters goes about Kenny now that he's taking over the town >:)))

Thank you SO SO MUCH for the ask!!!! I hope I didn't ramble too much for what you actually wanted to know, but I just absolutely love sharing my inspirations for this fic. Really gets my brain go brrrrr heheheh I'm so so grateful that this interests you <33333

[mirai-e-jump]

Duet December 2023 Issue ft. Ikeda Masashi Mini Interview (translation below)

Publication: November 7, 2023

Where Passion Resides -Passion for life as an actor-

"The theme this time is "Passion." What made Masashi Ikeda-kun, a multitalented athlete and musician, decide to pursue a career in acting? We asked him to share the passionate feelings he holds inside."

Ikeda: My family loved movies and dramas, so we would rent various genres from the video rental store, such as war documentaries, period dramas, and foreign films, and lived a life where they were always playing in the background. As I was surrounded by movies and dramas, I naturally began to admire the actors who lived in the film world.

However, I couldn't find the courage to pursue my dream….At first, I was just going to find employment. When I was in my third year of college, I was scouted by A-PLUS, the agency I work for now.

I thought again, "How do I want to live my life?" and asked my parents about it. At that time, they told me, "Do whatever you like," so I decided to become an actor, saying, "I only have one life, so I want to take on the challenge!"

I'm grateful to my agency for giving me a chance when I was ready to start job hunting, and to my family for kindly watching over me as I pursued the path I wanted to take. I want to go all the way so that the choice I made that day won't be a mistake.

My first role was as a medical student in episode 10 of Sunday Theater's "TOKYO MER: Mobile Emergency Room"

The tight schedule from morning to late at night made me realize how difficult the profession of being an actor is.

Even in the fast paced and tense environment, the actors, such as Suzuki Ryohei-san and Kaku Kento-san, who played the main roles, performed confidently. Furthermore, I was amazed at how cool and dazzling they looked during the long filming hours, never showing any signs of fatigue and always smiling.

Since I only know about completed productions, I've seen the hard work that goes on behind the scenes, and my fighting spirit is burning to work even harder in my acting career. My main goal now is to play the lead in a drama or movie.

However, since I'm still inexperienced, I'd like to explore new sides of actor Ikeda Masashi by working in various genres, such as comedy and suspense, which I've never tried before.

I live by the motto, "If I'm going to do something, I'll go all the way!" I'll enjoy even the difficult parts, and will continue to do my best from now on!

-Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger- Insider Info

While there were many serious scenes, episode 36 was a silly episode, so there was lots of adlibbing and was fun to film. There's a scene where Jeramie, who I play, manipulates Yanma to dance, and Watanabe Aoto-kun who plays him said to me, "The Director said, I don't care what kind of dancing you do. So, do you have any ideas?" I requested for him to perform the "Awa Odori" dance from my hometown of Tokushima (laughs). I'd like you to see his brave performance in response to my absurd request. I feel bad about making only Aoto-kun dance, so if there's an opportunity, I'll also perform the Awa Odori dance somewhere! (laughs).

[star-detective]

ARAN RYAN HEADCANONS‼️‼️🇮🇪🔥���🗣️

(I made this at 2 a.m. and I saved it as a draft)

-He had once accidentally swallowed a toothpick and then was rushed to the hospital

-He actually enjoys and tries to make food but always ruins it in the end

-He used to wear a baseball cap everyday when he was a kid because he thought it was ‘cool’ he also collected bottle caps

-He lost a bet and had to shave off all of his hair in Highschool

-This mf ate dog food once and would do it again

-His family had a pet pit-bull named ‘Rocket’ and Aran adored him

-Actually has a sister named ‘Fiona’

-His sister has a science degree and is currently studying in college (She’s about 2 years older than Mac)

-Aran and his sister had to share a room together when they were kids and Aran constantly read through her diary (He always got caught in the end)

-Used to get sick A LOT when he was younger now he has a strong ass immune system

-Aran really loves spray paint art and attempted it once but he gave up

-He has ear piercings

-Watches those YouTube documentaries at 5 a.m.

-He’s barely contacted his parents for 3 years

-Has a soft spot for children but he loves scaring them

There’s BARELY any Aran Ryan content on here so I had to feed my self 😭😭

[dullgecko]

What I think the Bad kid’s favorite shows/movies were as kids (obviously the fantasy variations of these shows, also some of these may just be American shows)

Fig: Power puff girls and My little pony. Fig still loves these shows, during freshman year when she was still a trying to be edgy she would have denied it.

Adaine: Wasn’t allowed to watch tv, but she did read the Frog and Toad books front to cover over and over again. She had to hide them at a certain point because she was “too old” for them.

Riz: Scooby-doo, he’d have it whenever it on, He knew the exact hours it aired. He’d solve the mystery himself before the show was over but he still loved them. Sklonda got him a dvd compilation as a gift one day and then he’d just watch it over and over.

Kristen: Also wasn’t allowed to watch movies (unless they were religious), but once she got to watch Winnie the Pooh and she fell in love with the character. (I 100% picked this because of Ally’s Pooh push).

Gorgug: Wonderpets, he was just fascinated with the way it was animated. His parents made him little metal figures of all of the character that he keeps on his shelf.

Fabian: Peter Pan, he loved the book, though he didn’t like how they portrayed the pirates. “His papa wasn’t evil.” When he watched movie came out he wanted to watch it over and over again. There was times where Cathilda might as well dragged him to bed.

Fig: 100% All her school books were covered in stickers and drawings from her favorite kids cartoons. She had shirts and purses and hairclips and all kinds of pink and frilly accesories with the characters on them that she was STILL wearing right up until her horns started coming in. Now that she's mellowed out a bit you might catch her with an occasional hair-clip or tshirt that doesnt really match her aesthetic anymore but somehow doesnt look out of place with her other clothes.

Adaine: Still loves her books and the bad kids bought her a new set after her house burned down, plus some more they thought she'd like along the same vein. Girls nights are usually spent introducing Adaine to all the sugary sweet childrens television she missed as a kid and she gets really into it. Kristen also gets to broaden her cartoon knowledge this way so its killing two birds with one stone.

Kristen: Tried to introduce her friends to some of her favorite cartoons as a kid but only got a couple episodes in before they were all horrifed about how culty it was and never tried to watch them again (she honestly did not remember them being this bad). Fig has made it her mission to educate the other two bad girls on the joys of childrens media and every two weeks they spend a night not sleeping and binging entire seasons of cartoons.

Riz: Loved Scooby doo but, inexplicably, hates police procedural shows (aka Law and Order) because they're so unrealistic and have dumb twists 90% of the time. He loves crime documentaries with a passion but his mom has to watch them first because if he watched one and they didnt reveal the killer at the end he would not stop trying to investigate it himself to solve the mystery. She had to flat out had to ban him from watching documentaries on cold cases because obviously they dont know who commited the crime in those instances and it hooks into his brain too strongly. He's solved at least two since sophomore year (evidence and tips were sent anonymously to the authorities and arrests were made) but it screwed with his already messed up sleep schedule to the point where he made himself physically sick and Sklonda had to put her foot down.

Gorgug: Didnt really watch all that much television as a kid but used to watch a lot of gnomish cartoons when he did, or shows with talking animals (there tends to be a big overlap in this regard). He preferred playing outside and would take the cartoon figurines his parents made for him on his own made up adventures.

Fabian: Peter pan, Hook and The Princess Bride were basically on repeat in Fabians house when he was growing up. He knows that Peter Pan and Hook were portraying pirates as bad but reasoned they must just be mean pirates unlike his Papa. His Papa defeated all the bad ones and got rid of the Pirate King after all. The pirates in all those shows were still undeniably cool though to his child mind.

[onpointedfeetandbrokendreams]

Day 3 - Painland Week

Day 3 of Painland Week 2024: August 5th - August 11th by @painlandweek

Prompt: First Kiss

Tags:  Alternative Universe, High-School AU, Summer Days, Everyone is alive

TW: None

--

The car left Edwin in front of his uncle’s cottage by the sea just as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. He sighed self-deprecatingly, like every year, his parents loved to ship him out there on his own and forget about him for three months.

“About time you showed up!” A voice called out from the garden.

“Good evening, Crystal, what are you doing here?” He replied courtly.

“I was waiting for you, obviously, and you’re late.”

Crystal smirked, putting the book she had been reading in her bag and moving closer. She offered her hand to shake if not a bit mockingly, having finally given up on trying to hug him after many arguments on the matter. There was a group of people he met there every year, and she was probably the only one of them he respected enough to consider his friend, not that he would ever say it to her face.

“I assume you already have something planned for tonight?” Edwin asked.

“You know I do.” 

Being the only one of his friends that sometimes stopped by the house, Edwin’s uncle had always assumed Crystal was his girlfriend, no matter how absurd the idea was to both of them. The truth was, they had bonded over a shared interest in mystery novels and making fun of other people, but more often than not, they bickered because they liked the same boys. It was all in good fun, never serious, they had actually made a game out of it the second time it happened. The relationships born at the seaside were never meant to last, after all.

After dinner, Crystal dragged him to the first bonfire of the season where the rest of the group and some new faces were already gathered. Edwin didn’t hate bonfires, there were worse ways to spend an evening, but he hated being surrounded by too many people, so he took the drink they offered him and moved to the sidelines to sit down, leaving Crystal to dance on her own for a while.

“Not a party person?” Someone said, sitting next to him.

Edwin looked around, trying to understand if the person was talking to him. Since there was no one else, he replied:

“I am accompanying a friend.”

“Same, I don’t know anyone here. Name’s Charles,” the person offered his hand and Edwin introduced himself, shaking it.

He was about to give Crystal the signal to start another one of their challenges, but his eyes locked with Charles’, and he stopped. He found himself captivated by the way the fire danced over his skin and his smile softened his entire face, making his eyes sparkle. He had the distinct feeling that something was different this time.

“So, what do you like then?” Charles asked, oblivious to Edwin’s internal turmoil.

“I am not a very interesting person, I am afraid.”

“Oi, let me decide that.” Charles’ smile, if possible, grew even wider, and Edwin felt on the verge of a precipice about to swallow him whole.

Edwin tried to force an answering smile then, even if he knew it could not compare to Charles’. “Well, I read a lot, watch true crime documentaries, and I wish to write my own novel some day. What about you?”

They talked for the rest of the evening, about their favourite books, and their plans for University, and about anything, really. When Edwin said goodbye to go back to Crystal, he felt like he was floating on air.

–

“Oh my god, that guy was so cute, why didn’t you introduce us? You’re not trying to cheat by getting a head start, are you?” Crystal complained the following day while they were walking towards the beach.

He didn’t know how to explain it. This had never happened before, to either of them, and they didn’t have rules he could apply to know how to proceed.

“Nothing happened,” he settled for. “You were dancing and I didn’t want to bother you.” It was a lie, he knew she could probably tell too.

She raised a brow. “Edwin? Spill.”

“It’s nothing. If I see him again, I’ll introduce you, okay?”

If she had any suspicions about Edwin’s real motives, she never mentioned it, but he should have known introducing them was a mistake. The three of them spent a blissful week together, laughing, playing cards, and exploring the city, but he could see Charles and Crystal growing closer as the days passed. And how could he not be infatuated with her, she was so full of life and happiness, while Edwin was a lonely bookworm who couldn’t stay for too long in the sun because he burned too easily.

After a while, he stopped going out. He wasn’t mad at Crystal, at either of them really, but he couldn’t stand the thought of seeing them together.

“Edwin, please, just talk to me, what happened?” Crystal asked for the umpteenth time. She had called him, tried to talk to his uncle, and even sent him a letter, of all things, but he didn’t know what to do. How could he explain that twist in his stomach he had felt watching her and Charles playing in the sea.

“Please, Crystal, leave me alone,” he replied, in the same way he had replied for three days now.

“I miss you,” she admitted. They had never been explicitly affectionate with one another, it had always been a silent agreement, like many others, so the phrase was like a punch to his gut, because, if he allowed himself to be honest, he missed his friend too.

“I’m sorry,” he said instead, his voice breaking a little.

He heard some shuffling noises, so he imagined she had sat on the floor in front of his door. “You were there every time I cried because my parents ignored me, and when David turned out to be super toxic, let me be here for you now, tell me what I did, please, I really don’t understand.”

Great, now we’re both crying like idiots from the opposite sides of a door, he thought, hating himself a bit more.

“I will get over it, Crystal, I just need some time,” he whispered, hoping she could hear the honesty in it.

“Is this about Charles?” she said it like it had just occurred to her, like it had not been written on Edwin’s face since the first time he met him. “Because, sure he is cute, and he would make a fun addition to my body count, but that’s it.”

Edwin’s world suddenly began to spiral, the wallowing turned into anger, and he slammed the door open. “What? How can you call him a fun addition to your body count?”

Crystal looked torn between shock and relief. “What do you mean? We have been playing this game with new guys for years!”

“I know, but I-” he stopped himself, he didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

“It’s true then, you like him for real,” Crystal brought her hands up to her mouth. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He sat down next to her, their arms almost touching. “I didn’t know how. I was afraid to ruin our friendship by breaking the game,” he admitted. It was too honest, too raw, but Crystal had been the first to admit she missed him, so he felt like he owed her one.

“I don’t like you just because of that, you know?”

Edwin’s lips curled in a tentative smile. Still, he had to know. “So… Did something happen?”

He knew the answer from the way Crystal didn’t meet his eyes. “It was just a kiss.”

Edwin buried his head in his arms, so that his next words were muffled:

“I could never compete with you…”

Crystal bumped their shoulders together, her tone turning more aggressive:

“I don’t want to hear any of that, what happened to my friend? The one who never refuses a challenge and who thinks he is better than anyone else? Wash your face, wear your prettiest shirt and come back out there with me. He’ll never choose you if you run away to hide in your room. We make fun of people who do that, remember?”

“But,” he tried to complain, and was immediately interrupted again:

“It was one kiss, and it was messy, we were both upset. You know it meant nothing, I would tell you if it did.”

He couldn’t admit she was right on the same day he had apologised to her, but he did go back to his room to do exactly what she said, which was an admission in itself.

–

Edwin fixed his hair again, looking at his reflection on the door, earning an elbow on the ribs from Crystal. He had never felt that nervous before, usually his annoyance came from boredom or disinterest. He bit the inside of his cheek.

“Welcome, welcome!” greeted Monty letting them in. He was another new acquisition in their usual summer group, and he had been accepted instantly because he had a big house and he was allowed to throw parties in it.

They mingled with the crowd, pretending not to be searching for a very specific pair of brown eyes, but Charles still found them almost immediately, like a magnet.

“Hey Edwin, haven’t seen you for a couple of days, we missed you!”

“He wasn’t feeling well,” supplied Crystal before he could say something stupid like ‘I doubt that’. 

“Glad you are feeling better now.”

“Thank you,” Edwin replied, then, taking a deep breath, he added:

“Would you like to dance? With me?”

Charles’ eyes widened before moving for a moment to Crystal, who shrugged, and back to him. He grinned. “Yeah, mate, sure.”

“You know, I had almost given up,” Charles said with a chuckle when they were left alone. “I thought I had read this all wrong and you were not interested in me.”

Edwin had to force himself not to flinch. “Quite the opposite, actually,” he took a moment to put his thoughts in order, “I was confused because I have never felt this way about someone before, and it scared me.”

He tentatively raised his eyes to search Charles’ expression, but the other was still grinning brightly. Emboldened, he took one step closer, and then another.

“We’ll figure it out together, yeah?” whispered Charles.

Edwin nodded, bashful, before closing the remaining space and brushing their lips together. Suddenly, the prospect of spending another summer at the seaside didn’t sound so bad.

[wilbursprincess]

About Me!

Hi everyone! I’m a 19 year old writer who loves Wilbur Soot, Taylor Swift, Hermitcraft, iced coffee, chocolate, and her boyfriend <3

DNI List

If you support Sh*lby, get the fuck off my blog. Anyone who can’t see her for who she is isn’t someone I want here.

If you’re a minor, I can’t technically stop you from lurking, but any interactions (follows, likes, comments, reblogs) will result in a block. This isn’t the best way to learn about the birds and the bees.

My Other Accounts

@bellelikesmcyt is my main where I just reblog anything I like. Not much content there but it’s still your favourite writer (/hj)

@whatmcytsaid is my incorrect quote account! Possibly my favorite of my accounts besides this one. I also take quote requests there!

@bellewritessometimes is where i post my writing that doesn’t fit here, like poetry and personal stories.

FAQs

How long have you been writing? Since 2023!

How long have you been watching Wilbur? Since 2022!

Have you seen Lovejoy live? Yes! December 6, 2023 on the Road To 100 tour!

Who’s your favorite Bursona to write? Superstarbur or Simpbur ;)

Why’d you start writing? Wanted to write self-indulgent fluffy Wilbur fics, since I didn’t see to many! And look where that got me lol

Do you listen to anything while you write? Depends! I’ll either shuffle my liked songs, listen to an episode of the Imp & Skizz podcast, or put on some weather documentaries on Youtube.

I sent my ask in a week ago, but you haven’t gotten to it yet! Why? Don’t trust my AuDHD ass to be efficient. Sometimes I write all the headcannons in my inbox because I’m not in the mood to write a fic, or vice versa. I’m also prone to having my chronic pain flare up, or I forget this app exists. I eventually get to everything, I swear!

Why do you support Wilbur? His ex’s stories have far too many holes and no proof whatsoever. She’s also said some horrendous things about people with depression, not to mention contradicting herself every time she speaks about this ‘abuse’. My entire reasoning is far too long to fit here, but this document sums up a lot.

What I Will Write

~NSFW/SFW Bursona headcannons

~NSFW/SFW Bursona oneshots/short fics

~Smut, fluff, and a bit of angst and hurt/comfort!

~Any and all Bursonas are fair game for requests! You can see which I’ve written for before below the cut, but I’m always willing to write for a new Bursona :)

~Anything NSFW will be written with an AFAB body and she/her pronouns, and most SFW posts will be gender neutral, they/them pronouns and no specific body/anatomy mentioned.

What I Won’t Write

~Noncon/rape

~Piss/scat/anything with bodily fluids

~Step parent/sibling/incest stuff (just no. eww.)

~Age play/anything to do with minors

~Anything from a porn/TikTok link (I don’t have TikTok and I find porn disgusting)

~Anything I’m just not comfy with, so if you’re not sure, ask!

My Ask Box

Temporarily off so I can catch up 😅

My Tags

~All my writing is under #princesswrites

~All my headcannons are under #princesshcs

~All my fics are under #princessfics

~All my other bullshit is under #princessother

Anonymous List

Shoot me an ask, let me know you’d like to be an anon and which emoji(s) you’d like me to use for you, and you’ll be right here!

~🧭 anon

~🐧✨ anon

~🐝 anon

~🌺 anon

~🧃 anon

~🫀 anon

~🥧 anon

~🐈 anon

~👓 anon

~🐦⬛️/🐦‍⬛ anon

~💤🐈‍⬛ anon

~🐻💗 anon

~🪼 anon

~👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 anon

~📼 anon

~🧟‍♀️ anon

~🌹 anon

~🪼🌊 anon

Masterlists (sorted by Bursona) below cut! Happy reading!

Wilbur Soot Masterlist

Superstarbur Masterlist (Who is Superstarbur?)

Simpbur Masterlist

Princebur Masterlist

Godbur Masterlist

Beardbur Masterlist

Emobur Masterlist

Sirenbur Masterlist

Streamerbur Masterlist

Revivebur Masterlist

Sorrybur Masterlist

Soothousebur Masterlist

Vampirebur Masterlist

Incelbur Masterlist

Soberbur Masterlist

Miscellaneous Masterlist

[kitorin]

11:56 pm - 11th of November : s.akito

contents. shinonome akito x gn!reader, 2.485k words, fluff, no warnings really, rushed, mizuena mention

happy birthday to my love <3 wish i had time for a full fic but it is what it is

It's the dead of night when Shinonome Akito's night is interrupted.

The sky's pale blue was washed away long ago, by the brooding navy of the night, the sun bid the world farewell and traded places with the moon. Both inside and outside was desolate, with the winter wind's whispers and moths pursuing the weak light of the street lights being exceptions. Not even Ena was awake, for once sleep, due to lassitude's victory.

Typically, Akito refuses to sleep so recklessly, always brushing his teeth before a certain time and avoiding screens half an hour before bed. It was too late for his liking, fatigue rubs at his eyes, urging him to close them and fall into restful slumber.

But today's sort of special.

In twenty minutes (now nineteen) he'll turn seventeen— a mere year away from eighteen. He knows it's a big number, inching closer to graduation and eventually adulthood. He doesn't exactly feel thrilled, nor fearful. There's a sliver of yearning to be a carefree primary schooler again, other than that he felt quite stoic towards the matter.

Yet he still decided on waiting 'til midnight. Just for the sake of it, no rational or particular reason.

Borderline foolish, really. He'll feel a sense of achievement when the clock strikes twelve, then retreat to the blankets of his bed right afterwards.

Two taps sever the silence of the room, abrupt but loud.

Akito immediately looks up from his book to the door, instinctively. But his mother always notifies him with the gentle call of his name (while Ena yells at him instead), and his father simply doesn't bother with knocking. Ena passed out almost instantly when she came home (an hour or two ago), and his parents maintain a healthy sleep schedule.

"Yes?" He says, pushing his chair out of the desk, the wheels quietly rolling against the carpet. When he opens the door, he's met with nobody. A quick scan of the corridor produces no results. There were no footsteps, and no one in his family was immature enough to do knock and run in the dead of night (maybe Ena, but she wouldn't be bothered to sprint away).

Fear approaches him, its cold grip tightening around his chest. Suddenly he regrets watching Youtube videos about gruesome murders and true crime documentaries on Netflix.

With a shaky inhale, Akito prepares himself. He hasn't got the faintest clue from what, but he's ready to throw a front kick if needed.

The knocking happens again, this time a lot louder. Now it's obvious that it's not against wood, and cautiously, he turns to his window.

It's you.

The whole situation makes his heart skip a beat, both because you're perched on the window sill outside, and that he's not alone in his room (well technically, you were still outside).

Concern makes him act quick (especially with the shoulder bag you were wearing whilst precariously hanging onto the window), he opens the window and you're greeted immediately with a scolding when you enter.

"What the hell? Why are you here, this is the second fucking floor— Are you crazy?"

"Happy birthday!"

The ebullience reinforcing your voice catches him off guard, silencing reprimands. You were just saved from a highly likely (and fatal) injury, yet you're smiling as if you're on top of the world.

"Don't ignore me. How are you up here?"

You shrug, unfazed by his worry. "There's a tree."

"I can see that idiot. What you didn't was the things that could've happened. What if you fell down? I could've been asleep and no one would've been able to help you and—" Akito senses himself edging towards a mental breakdown, from the simple thought of something happening to you. Terror strangles him, and his words can't be uttered smoothly.

You seemed to take notice of this panic. "But I didn't fall. I'm okay. I wouldn't've done this if I wasn't confident in my own capabilities."

Unstable, though deep, he breathes in, focusing on how the air enters and exist. There was no need to think about what could've went wrong when the right thing already occurred.

He clears his throat, embarrassed at how emotional he got earlier. "Was a text not enough? Why'd you come here?" You didn't make an attempt to break in at An's house, nor Touya's or Kohane's. Why his specifically?

"Because today's special. It's your birthday." You unzip your bag, but instruct him before taking anything out. "Close your eyes, it's your gift."

He does as he's told, and he listens to your shuffling around the room and your possessions.

Electric guitar floods the room, accompanied by piano in the background. The tune rings a bell in Akito.

An entire stadium of ego, the wintry rationality.

Akito knows this song. Uninterrupted Indigo. Both the lyrics and music were created by Shishishishi (formerly known as Chosauce), there's two original versions of the song, one where the composer himself performed while the other featured Hatsune Miku.

But these vocals weren't the composer's. Nor Miku's

They were Akito's.

Heat permeates his cheeks rapidly, his eyes open without waiting for you to ask him to. He finally grasps input on what you're doing.

His record player is open and placed on his desk. The transparency of the case permitted the moonlight through, its pale complexion revealing the vinyl record slowly rotating in the dark.

Only now he just noticed that it was sort of the record player's birthday too. Precisely a year ago his mother gifted it to him, as his love for music was nurtured the more he spent time performing. Akito had told himself that he'd buy vinyls, but it completely slipped his mind (they were expensive, too). Streaming services were much more tempting anyways, their convenience were unmatched and he could listen to music whenever, wherever.

He only indulges in his own covers to review where he can improve, never for his own enjoyment. What is there to enjoy when it's the very reason why he struggles so much一why he's so unworthy of his dream that no one seems to have faith in.

Akito's about to say something, ready to criticise his vocals.

"I love this song, but I love the way you sing even more. It's my favourite. Anything you create, as well."

Suddenly the harsh things he wanted to say were gone.

He's heard you compliment him before, but each time feels just as magic as the previous.

"Did you know I fall asleep to this? I don't know if that's weird, but it's so comforting, the vocals and lyrics."

His voice, comforting? Being labelled as your favourite was surprising enough, but for his singing it be a source of comfort and joy almost made his jaw drop in disbelief.

Akito's scepticism of your words doesn't go unnoticed by you.

"I know you don't like your singing. And that's fine. But there are plenty of things I didn't like about myself too. Yet I love them now, thanks to you."

He knows what you're referring to, how when you mentioned suffering from self esteem, so he wrote something he found admired about you on a page per day in a notebook, 'til it was full.

"I wanted to do something similar for you too. Though I don't think I'm very good at it, I want you to view yourself the same way I do. Beautiful and perfect, just fine the way you are. Even if people try to accuse you of being any less."

Akito's heart throbs, both with appreciation and desire. Yearning blossoms within him, pining thorns strangle his heart as it frantically races. Teeth dig into his lips, and red pervades his cheeks for a reason other than hearing himself sing.

"If you like it, then it's more than enough for me. It makes me happy beyond words that you enjoy my music." He notices the record's case, a photo of him from when you went camping together, when you spent the night sleeplessly; roasting marshmallows and laughing until you struggled for air.

It's always you. You're the one who does reckless shit for his sake, you climbed up a tree to the second floor just to say happy birthday. You do the things you hate with a passion if it meant the slightest more comfort for him. It's always you who notices when his throat is overworked, or when tears threaten to spill.

It's only you.

The initial grin on your face dissipates, concern growing. "Do you have a fever? You're really red." A hand comes up to his forehead, and he's quite certain it reddened him even more. "You're heating up." Even when you're frowning he can't help but stare.

"And this is why I like you." Akito breathes out. He didn't want to confess, not yet, at least. Yet the words still found their way out, he might as well ensure they're told in the right way. "I can't help but want you more and more with each second. I can't think properly when I think of you, let alone when you're around."

The timing was horrid really, but though he'd much rather look at you in proper lighting, something about the shadowed room and sliver of moonlight highlighting your face is charming. "So then, may I be yours?"

This is what he means when he says he can't think. Look at him, confessing at midnight, on the day of his birthday, too.

"Of course." With a blink of an eye Akito finds himself wrapped in the warmth of your arms. "I like you too, Akito."

The weight on his shoulders which he didn't even noticed was lifted, finally free from his fear of awkward rejection. There's no more fighting his emotions to maintain composure in front of you, no more worrying about you accepting another as yours.

Now, turning seventeen didn't seem so bland.

"Thank you for tonight." He murmurs into your ear. Something inside of him pleads him to kiss you, whether it may be. But the mere thought of planting one on your cheek seemed impossible, let alone meeting his lips with yours. "Thank you for staying safe out there."

"Sorry if I scared you. Sleep now, you must be tired. We have a big day for you planned." And there it is, the cheery grin he'd never get sick of. "There's more to your gift too."

Akito doesn't want to sleep, not when his crush of over a year reciprocates his feelings. Lethargy was nowhere to be seen, right now all he wants is you.

"Mind if I pick up my bag later today? It's a lot easier to climb without it. The rest is just water and snacks I brought just in case, feel free to have 'em." You're already half out the window.

"You can't just like me back then leave."

"What do you suggest then?"

"Stay the night." He'll deal with his father's scolding. He'll answer all his mother's questions and he'll even tolerate Ena's teasing. If it meant you'll stay, that's fine (he doesn't feel alright knowing you're travelling late too). "Your parents are away, I'll deal with mine."

"If you say so then." Akito goes to his closet, where his futon is stored. You pull him away, almost making him fall over.

"We're sharing a bed, please? We did it at An's, why not now?"

But that was as friends, and he barely confessed a few minutes ago. "I'm fine with that." Adores and entertains the idea of it, though he doesn't know what to do. What if he's too cold? Kicks in his sleep? Snores?

You already indulge in his blankets, lifting them up to let him in, he accepts the invitation, and ends up regretting because his face is hot enough already.

You find your arms snaking around his waist. "Is this okay?"

The unfamiliarity of the contact flusters him, but he doesn't hate it. "Yeah, really good." His voice is a breathless whisper, a bit shaky from being so nervous.

"Can I do more?"

He nods.

Your chin is nestled on his shoulder, the sensation of your hair against his neck slightly ticklish. He can smell your breath, the saccharine scent of haichus and the other sweets you adore.

"Good night."

You mumble it back, and for the first time in a while, Akito feels at genuine peace.

"What are you studying in school?"

You list off your subjects with confidence, subtly hinting at success and awards in them, all while wearing a sweet smile.

"Mum, there's no need to interrogate them." Akito finally swallowed the large bite of pancake he was on, the rest of the dish shining in the dining room's light, soaked in maple syrup.

Mrs Shinonome didn't seem to care. "I need to know the kind of people you're hanging out with, you never bring anyone home. I've been worried that you didn't have any friends." Socially, he was doing fine, Weekend Garage was a much more appealing place to hang out, with the live bar and cafe. "They seem like a great influence. Studying difficult subjects and still doing well, they're well educated. I hope you start rubbing off of them."

"Akito, it's fine, really. She's fun to talk to." It was entertaining to watch her talk about Akito as a child, while Ena poked fun at them. She was sweet, complimenting your skin and marveling at your jewelry, while thanking you for being Akito's friend for so long.

He murmurs in response. "That's only because you saw baby photos of me." There was that too.

"To be honest my impression of you wasn't very nice. It scared me to see someone else in Aki's room." A sip of her tea, Akito's mother rests her chin on her palm. "How did you get inside? You didn't find the spare key or anything, did you?"

"Actually, I cl一"

"I let them in. I asked them sort of last minute. Y'know, waiting until midnight together." Ena watches Akito keenly, eating her pancakes as her gaze remains on him as he speaks.

"Awww, that's so cute." Ena comments with a grin. "So, how long have you been dating?"

Akito scoffs. "We're not dating dumbass."

"Then I guess y/n's holding your hand under the table because it's cold?"

"Ena, shut the fuck up, you haven't told Mum about being in love with Akiyama either."

The sudden change in atmosphere makes you purse your lips, the sight of what seems to be a war exclusively between siblings.

"Language!" Their mother scolds them, but too preoccupied to do it as she flips part of the table cloth up to see better. "You really are holding hands- And Ena who is Akiyama?"

You weren't the only one being interrogated that morning, the siblings exchanged heated words throughout their mother's quest to learn more. But amidst this chaos was you, chuckling in your seat at the ordeal.

taglist (send ask to be added) : @yuzurins, @pokkomi, @chigirizzz

© kitorin : do not repost, plagiarize, change, or translate

[simgaroop]

I think I am neurodivergent.

There is no official diganosis and at this stage in my life I probably won't look for one. But in recent years I've started to think I probably am one. I even thought about asking my therapist about this, just before she released me a couple years ago. But it just felt like I was making things up at the moment. Besides, it is pretty stupid for a mental health specialist to self-diagnose, so that's why I am not saying this with complete certainty.

Huh, this is one of those posts I should be writing in Spanish.

Anyway, why am I randomly posting this in my Sim blog? Well, because I am exhausted. I've spent the last two months carrying a huge figurative boulder on my shoulders and just pretending (or masking) non stop. If you met me in person, the most likely impression you would have of me is that I am a very calm, warm and sweet person, who has her shit together, is the voice of reason, a great listener, someone who is eager to come up with solutions to any problem. Someone who has control over her emotions, who likes "normal" everyday stuff. People look up to me and I am constantly been asked for support, both in my professional and personal life. I am so nice and adaptable, that I was able to practically live in a hospital for over 5 weeks, just leaving it to go to work.

However, deep inside I am a very anxious woman, who is triggered by thoughts of death, disease (of loved ones), doctors and hospitals. I need to have my time to be alone. I prefer (almost need) to sleep in a very dark room and listening to movie or videogame podcasts. I've always been into videogames and animated shows, and I tend to obsess about those topics. I used to write a lot of fanfiction and loved it, but have never told a soul because I am so embarrased by it. I prefer to be alone, I hate to make and answer phone calls and when I get a notification on Whatsapp I really need to take a moment to even read the message (and it is even worse if it's a voice message). I am socially awkward in situations that are not related to work. I used to stimm a lot when I was a child, and I still do it when I am stressed. I was a picky eater. I used to be the lonely child who preferred to be by herself and only made friends because my parents were worried. I do not watch series on Netflix, but I can browse Youtube for hours and watch Lets Plays and documentaries about shows. I've always wanted to share my nerd tendencies, but I can't, because I am a woman in her forties, and my family and social circle look down on that stuff. So I constantly pretend and only when I am alone at night I can browse and look at the stuff I like, which is honestly very innocent, but I feel like I have to hide it.

And these last weeks I have had to constantly hide myself in my "social" and "professional" self. And I am exhausted. I feel like my heart is heavy. And it is even affecting my work performance.

So I come to my nerdy spot on the Internet to vent. To the one place in which I can sort of be myself and hope like someone might read this and understand.

*Reads Post* Wow, this is why I mostly lurk. I sound like a 15 year old and my urge to pretend that everything is fine with me is screaming that I do not post this. 😥

[frisbys-artwork]

Meet Koobori & Shin

The oldest of five brothers, Koobori was an animal lover from the start, and had his parents take him to zoos almost weekly. Koobori knew he wanted to become a zoologist and conservationist the moment he watched a documentary on an animal network. He also became fascinated by bodybuilding at a young age, and committed to working out to be able to compete in shows, winning 2nd place in a show held in Bushsray at just 17 years old, and became an IFBB Pro by the age of 22, to where he continues to compete to this day when he gets the chance.

Never the type to sit still, if he wasn’t playing sports or actively with his brothers, he was always out traveling the outbacks of Kiwattle, surfing, and diving in reefs; sometimes even volunteering at schools to give wildlife shows to kids.

Shin was born with strong psychic abilities, able to sense the presence of spirits from a young age. For many years he trained as a Kannushi, and was able to banish yurei and yokai from abandoned homes with much ease. At the age of 17 he had decided to join nursing school, since he always enjoyed helping others.

Both met by pure chance. Shin was heading to school when he stopped to check out a large crowd near a convention building, when he spotted Koobori posing for fans and the cameras in all his half naked glory. When he was too shy to get any closer, Koobori practically shoved his way through the crowd to approach Shin and ask him out to the best ramen shop in the city (he described that any trophies and medals he won didn’t matter as much as wanting a date with the Ustonese guy). Shin’s Common was too broken at the time to understand what the Kiwi was saying, but he could tell by the expression alone on the muscular man that he was being asked out. Realizing he was running late, Shin agreed and handed Koobori every form of contact he had, and rushed to school.

Both now have three sons, Giallo (16), Calder (12) and Oshan (9), and expect their triplets (which Kobori promises will be their last kids).

—

Hey guys! Back at it again, and this time with my oldest couple relative to age closeness lol. Yeah, I finally drew an older couple expecting kids, but there’s a reason for that, and that’s because their oldest kid was part of a series of characters I did many, many years ago as the lead of said series. So you can say they aren’t the main characters but that doesn’t matter as I’m not really sure where I’ll head with these two at the moment. I like them a lot, but for further related context Koobori here is actually a modernized drawing of him, now with an improved style and anatomy, design, etc.

Long ago before I came out and before I did much actually characters development, most of my characters were just colorful and there for the sake of being there, so Koobori was married to a woman originally, and so I’ve pretty much decided on redoing the entire characters a new way. Koobori is now married to this guy, who’s an entirely new character, and still has the same amount of kids, only now they’re going to be designed to better suit their designs and origins, etc.

I’ll stop there for now as I want to surprise you guys later on when I get these designs more fleshed out, but I’m happy with this design on Koobori, and I like his hubby. It’s the first time I’ve drawn a fully South Asian characters and damn are they HARD to do.

Here’s the tattoo design on Shin’s shoulder and his badge ID if anyone wanted to get a closer look at them.

Lastly, here’s a comparison of the old and new Koobori. Like wow.

[amateurvoltaire]

In one of your last posts you mentioned you were studying the civil war in Vandée. Have you ever seen the rather new movie "Vaincre ou Mourir" on the topic? If yes, what do you think of it? I was very curious to give it a try, hoping it's not the usual demonisation of the revolutionary government. Not that I expect it to be portrayed positively in a movie focused on the Vendéean insurgents pov, of course...

Thanks a lot for your question! It’s the first one I've ever received, and I’m really excited to dive into it. (I might have gone a bit overboard, so grab a coffee or a drink before you tackle this beast… TLDR at the bottom…)

I watched "Vaincre ou Mourir" a couple of months ago. Before I dive into my thoughts, the man himself would like a word:

All jokes aside, have you ever been to one of those medieval theme parks where they offer a "realistic" medieval show with dinner? As a kid, every summer, my parents took me to a jousting show at an Italian theme park. We'd watch two knights fight each other for an hour while being “medieval” and munching on chicken legs without any cutlery.

That's pretty much how I felt watching this movie: it’s flashy and fun but doesn’t have much going on underneath. It makes more sense when you discover that the film was funded by Puy du Feu, a large historical theme park in Vendée.

The context

And this is the thing: despite the Canal+ distribution, most of the production is local. The Vendée itself is often defined as a memory space (1), which can lead to a community feeling a special connection to their past. This is often reflected in local traditions, commemorations, and even political leanings. I remember watching an interview from the bicentenary where some locals said they don’t celebrate the 14th of July as a matter of principle—200 years later!

It’s also worth noting that the Vendée has a history of conservative and right-leaning political preferences, and Canal+ is also a right-leaning media outlet.

The Experts

Is it a documentary? Is it a fictional film? It's hard to say in the first few minutes.

The movie attempts to project historical accuracy by introducing four experts right at the start. If a film opens with such a direct appeal to authority, I tend to scrutinise who these experts are. So, who are they?

Reynald Secher: a historian who has been a massive proponent of the Vandean genocide theory. He is very anti-Republican, and his research methodologies are rather sketchy…

Nicolas Delahaye: I don’t know much about him, but I see he publishes primarily regionally in a Vendean publishing house. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s particularly biased, but it does mean his audience is very limited to people with specific views.

Anne Rolland-Boulestreau: a historian at the Université Catholique de l’Ouest specialising in the Vendée counter-revolution. Her articles in the Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française seem unbiased and well-researched. I own one of her books but haven't read it yet, so I can't speak to her longer-form content.

Armand Bernand: if you google de la Rochejaquelein, you will find this guy everywhere. He owns a publishing house, loves the Château de la Durbelière (2), and wrote a series of books set there. He clearly has a historical crush on M. Henri. I think he cosplayed him during some re-enactments and wrote a book about Henri’s brother Auguste.

It’s worth mentioning they either hail from Vendée or work exclusively within the region. This is my bias speaking because I’ve pretty much read all his work, but if you make a movie about the Vendee and can’t get Jean-Clément Martin to say something on camera about it, you should probably not feature any experts…

The Story

After an awkward three minutes of experts telling us how important the revolution was and introducing Charette, we get to the actual movie, which opens with a pile of bodies, burnings, a hanged person, and an awkward first-person voiceover of Charette saying that they made the Vendee into an inferno. This will be a theme for the next hour or so.

If I were to describe this film in two words, "tragedy porn" would fit. What occurred in Vendée was horrific, and its rightly violent portrayal should help viewers understand and appreciate the human and historical impact. However, the film often prioritises shock value over explaining the underlying reasons.

Charette is, by all accounts, a very compelling subject. The guy was a libertine with bucket-loads of courage and style who had a woman as an aide de camp in 1793! Despite spending 1.5 hours with him, narrated from his perspective, I would be hard-pressed to tell you what he’s actually fighting for. Is it honour? Is it revenge? Is it stubbornness? Your guess is as good as mine!

There is absolutely no character growth whatsoever. The film presents as a sequence of battles and shocking scenes narrated by a somewhat detached Charette. Remember what I said about the medieval show? This shock-value approach might work for a short performance during dinner but falls flat when stretched across an entire film.

Despite the weak script, the actors are quite good. Nothing Oscar-worthy, but they can act. The guy that plays Charette does a very good job and is quite charismatic.

The Historical Accuracy

On the whole, I can’t see glaring historical errors. It is fairly historically accurate with some minor issues. This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but there are things I noticed and jotted down:

The main one is the bizarre theory that Charette agreed to the peace of 1795 because he was promised that Louis XVII would be handed to him. This has absolutely no credible historical basis whatsoever. It’s a myth that has been propagated for over 200 years.

I’m pretty sure Charette didn’t sign the treaty of La Jaunaye. In fact, as far as I remember, no one from the insurgent side signed it.

While not a historical inaccuracy per se, it's a missed opportunity that the film often portrays Charette as the sole leader of the Vendean army. Though he mentions being one chief among many, this aspect is quickly glossed over. His historical relationship with the Catholic and Royal Army and its leaders was complex and would have been interesting to explore further. It's a shame the film likely didn't have the budget to delve into this, as it could have also demonstrated that Vendée wasn't a monolith.

The depiction of the republican army as well-equipped is somewhat exaggerated. If they were as well-appointed as shown, Carnot and Prieur (Cote D’or) would be out of a job, and Saint-Just wouldn't have needed to requisition shoes for the army.

Lastly, the film underexplains the context of why the counter-revolution started. In my opinion, it manipulatively emphasises the king's execution more than warranted, suggesting it triggered the popular uprising when it really did not. The conflict in Vendée began as a peasant revolt, where the local population was far more concerned with religious issues than royal politics. Most Vendean peasants likely couldn't name the king—they probably knew he was a Louis since there had been a Louis on the throne for 200 years, but that's about it. Their concerns were local: when parish priests who had taken the civic oath replaced their traditional priests, and the Levée en masse was decreed, forcing them to fight random Germans 600 km away for a regime threatening their way of life, they rebelled.

Is the movie anti-Republican propaganda?

To wrap up, is the film anti-Republican? Frankly, I don’t believe it is overtly so. It adopts a somewhat clichéd stance: the revolution's ideals were noble, but things eventually went too far. While I have plenty of thoughts on this—which I'll keep to myself for now—I wouldn’t say this perspective is inherently anti-Republican.

Charette is depicted as initially supportive of the revolution, which is accurate for many aristocrats, especially the minor nobility. The portrayal of Republican soldiers is balanced, with General Jean-Pierre Travot sometimes appearing more honourable than Charette. As the main character, Charette is shown as lazy, indecisive, and sometimes brutal, so the film does not attempt to heroise him. The princes, especially Artois, are also depicted negatively. So, the film isn’t overtly royalist.

Is there a specific stance against the Government (aka the CSP)? I don’t recall them being mentioned, which, again, is accurate since most Vendeeans, including the nobility, were not deeply involved in Parisian politics.

That being said, Carrier and Turreau are portrayed very negatively, and rightfully so. Republican generals are also shown as less likely to spare the "brigands" when captured, which aligns with historical accounts. The movie leans heavily on shock value, featuring hard-to-watch scenes of executions, guillotines, and drownings. Unfortunately, even the staunchest republican historians would be hard-pressed to find the evidence to call those scenes revisionists.

Beyond that, the only thing that stood out to me about the Republicans is that they made Kleber look about 60 years old.

In conclusion, is this the most accurate film ever? Certainly not. Is it counter-revolutionary propaganda? I genuinely don’t think so, and if someone claims otherwise, they’re likely being disingenuous.

TLDR:

Watched the movie "Vaincre ou Mourir," which felt like a medieval theme park show—entertaining but lacking depth, probably due to its funding by an actual historical theme park. Despite its attempt to appear historically accurate with expert interviews, the film fails to deeply explore its characters or the complexities of the Vendée region's history. While it doesn't contain major historical inaccuracies, it oversimplifies the causes and events of the Vendée uprising, focusing more on visual shock than factual explanation. Not outright anti-Republican or counter-revolutionary, but doesn't offer new insights into anything. Overall, flashy but not as informative as it could be.

Notes

A memory space is defined as a location (physical or otherwise) where memories, histories, and narratives are preserved, shared, and understood within a society or culture. Things like museums, monuments, rituals, stories and in this case a region can be memory spaces

Château de la Durbelière was the home of La Rochejaquelein

PS: Thank you again for your question! I had a lot of fun answering it.