#which imo is more important than losing weight

[ruthlesslistener]

Diet culture as it is rn needs to die out. No more focusing on diet regulation as a means of losing weight, more focus on simply balancing it so that you get the most diverse amount of nutrients possible. Fat and carbs and sugars are all good for you and good for your body you just need to make sure you're eating them in balanced amounts

[blueskittlesart]

Hey it's the anon who wants to play BOTW but is egregious bad at video games again. I took your advice and I've shocked myself at how much progress i've made, I got to the goron village, korok forest, and rito village. One current issue is that I am still. SO bad at the combat. Like SO bad. I panic immediately and lose all coordination (which I already had very little of). I managed to get myself killed before I could even get to the point where Sidon GIVES YOU the quest to get to Zora's domain. I completely fumbled through a minor test of strength.

Any tips for improving general combat capabilities. HELP

hi! first of all, i'm gonna go over the basics of combat and how/when you should use them. the game does technically tell you these things, but they come up early game and are pretty easy to miss imo. you might know some of them already tho!

the first thing that's probably going to be really helpful to you if you don't already know about it is enemy targeting. this locks the camera in place on a specific enemy, even within a horde of them, giving you free reign to abandon the right stick and focus on button pressing. to target an enemy, get close and press the left trigger (ZL.) this will also equip your shield if you're using a one-handed weapon, but the targeting is the most important. Once you're locked in on one enemy, so long as you keep the trigger pressed, the camera will auto-lock into a straight line from link's back to the enemy, so there's no need for you to worry about camera controls. if you DO touch the right stick while targeting, the target camera will jump to the next closest enemy to link and auto-lock again. in general, when fighting, your left pointer should be pressing the trigger to target at all times, your left thumb should be on the stick moving link around, and your right thumb should be pressing Y and shouldn't move from that button. that's the basic combat configuration and there aren't a lot of scenarios where you're going to have to do much more than that (except maybe the right trigger for your bow.)

next is weapon classes. there are 3 different melee weapon classes in botw--swords, greatswords, and polearms. each weapon class has a different attack pattern and speed, and each class has its own strengths and weaknesses.

swords are any weapon link swings one-handed. (examples include the master sword, broadswords, tree branches, boomerangs, small boko clubs, etc.) they have a decently fast attack pattern and when they're equipped link can also use a shield in his left hand with ZL. this is my favorite weapon class, as it's pretty middle-of-the road, usually they have mid-range attack points, as previously mentioned their attack speed isn't too slow, and they come with the added bonus of being able to use a shield. if you're fighting something like a guardian where shielding is necessary, you should always aim to be using a sword-class weapon as it's the only weapon class that link can also hold a shield with.

greatswords are heavy two-handed weapons (examples include claymores and bigger boko clubs.) they usually have very large attack stats, often in the 50s or above, which makes them tempting, especially early game. however, they have several noticeable drawbacks that make them my least favorite weapon class. because of their weight, their attack speed is very low, and because they're two-handed link can't shield when he has one equipped. I personally stay away from this weapon class early-game--imo they're only worth it if you have both hearts and stamina to spare. I only ever use them for hard-hitting charged attacks after stunning an enemy, and will almost always switch back to a sword-class weapon for regular combat.

polearms are long, light two-handed weapons that link holds like a spear (examples include spears, halberds, and tridents.) these have the fastest attack speed in the game, but because they're two-handed link still can't shield with one equipped. these weapons also usually have a longer reach than swords and greatswords, so they can be useful if you don't want to get too close to what you're fighting (however you forfeit the more reliable protection of a shield in order to get that benefit.) these are useful in a pinch, and personally i won't actively discard them like i tend to do with greatswords, but they definitely don't have the same versatility and ease of use as a sword-class weapon.

for early-game, i'd try to stick to sword-class weapons as much as possible, and ALWAYS have your shield up with the left trigger/ZL when you're in combat. this alone will make you harder to hit and let you last a lot longer. with the limited weapon slots you have early-game, i'd focus on collecting weapons that are easy for you to use rather than the ones with the highest attack stats, especially since they're going to break anyway. be willing to sacrifice a high-attack greatsword for a lower-attack one-handed sword in a pinch.

as for the actual mechanics of combat, there are plenty of fancy things you CAN do, but very few of them are actually necessary to beat the game. you can get through 90% of all combat in botw by just targeting with ZL and mashing Y, maybe occasionally sprinting with B to avoid enemy attacks. there are shrines and npcs that will teach you fancy things like backflips and perfect-dodges, which are useful if you can reliably perform them, but if you're someone who gets easily confused when you have to perform a lot of button presses in quick succession, it'll probably be more useful for you to just stick to Y attacks.

the one special combo attack you ARE going to need to learn in order to get through the game is a perfect shield parry, which is going to sound scary and difficult when i explain it but i promise it becomes like second nature after a while. this combo is the easiest way to combat anything that has a laser-beam attack, like guardians and certain late-game bosses. you hold your shield up with ZL, (this combo can ONLY be performed if you're holding a one-handed weapon, and make sure you're targeting the enemy attacking you and not just holding your shield up at nothing) wait for the laser to lock onto you, (the target line will blink rapidly and then disappear just before the laser fires) and then, right when the laser hits your shield, hit the A button to redirect the beam back towards the enemy. there is some level of danger here, because if you press A too early the beam may hit you, but most of the time if you fail to perform a perfect parry the beam will still just bounce off your shield and not do any damage to you. there are plenty of stationary guardians on the map you can use to practice this skill until the timing is ingrained into you, and i would highly recommend practicing it as it's super useful late-game.

as a final note, remember that botw is a game designed for versatility. it seems like you're doing everything very by-the-book--fighting whenever the game tells you to fight, regardless of whether you really WANT to fight. and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's also by no means the only way to get through the game. if you find yourself struggling with melee combat, there's nothing stopping you from buying a bunch of bomb arrows and just firing them off at enemies from afar, or even just eating a shit ton of stealth food and sneaking around them. certain combat scenarios are going to be unavoidable, but botw is a game that prioritizes player innovation, meaning that very rarely is there going to only be one way out of a situation. if you're struggling with melee combat, try something else! try your bow, or a rune, or avoiding combat altogether, until you find something that sticks and makes the game fun for you. there's no wrong way to play!

[bestworstcase]

Oh okay, i see your point better now, sorry if the "hating Ozpin" thing looked like a excuse to start a fight btw! One last thing, do you have any opinions on Tyrian?

o7 no worries

tyrian is, imo, so far the least interesting of salem’s inner circle primarily because we don’t yet have any idea of his backstory beyond that he went on a killing spree in mistral and later burst into tears and started worshipping salem on sight, as per his arrest file. whether we ever get more than that remains to be seen—and in and of itself "faunus with dangerous trait growing up in the place notorious for being virulently bigoted" might be enough to make someone crack, if he didn’t have anybody in his life to counterbalance the evil way humans would’ve treated him throughout his life.

but i would ideally like to know a little bit more about his background. not like backstory-episode levels because that’s far out of scope for his degree of importance but like we know a lot more about watts’s history and the background with hazel and gretchen is carrying a lot of narrative weight (and may continue to do so if i’m right about gretchen having been the last spring maiden).

this post is about mercury but it does touch on what currently interests me most about tyrian, which is that he’s a narrative foil to mercury and specifically a twisted ideal form of the (false) nihilistic self mercury projects—a living weapon with no conscience whose purpose in life is to be pointed at the enemy and obey without question. this is what mercury pretends to be and what tyrian gladly chooses to be. also i want to see what happens if jax uses his semblance on tyrian.

his rivalry with qrow could also develop in an interesting direction in vacuo—i’m not 100% convinced it will, because qrow’s big moment of growth in v8 is about letting go of vengeance, but if tyrian crosses his path in vacuo it’s not like he’ll hold back lmao—because what kicked it off back in v4 was that tyrian couldn’t faze him. a lot of tyrian’s power in combat arises from his cackling unhinged behavior, it’s off-putting and strange and unpredictable and that knocks his opponents off their game, except for qrow; when qrow just calmly decks him and kicks him away tyrian stops laughing and cowers because he doesn’t know what to do and his vengeance in v7 involves pushing qrow into an emotional enough state that he loses his focus and tyrian can shock him by stabbing clover in the back. so now (in tyrian’s mind) they’re even. what happens the next time they meet? there’s a lot of narrative curveballs that could be thrown here.

um his allusion to the scorpion is also something i roll around in my head a lot, because he’s long since killed his frog… but there’s an older version of the story where the scorpion asks a turtle for passage across the river, and the turtle of course isn’t harmed by the sting and so drowns the scorpion on purpose out of disgust with its refusal to control itself. and well. the fanatic nature of tyrian’s devotion to salem feels like he’s one shattering disappointment—like say, finding out he’s mistaken about what she wants?—away from snapping and attacking her, or perhaps going for cinder (<- i think this is foreshadowed pretty unsubtly by that scene in 4.11), and then salem. er. flattens him. scorpion, turtle. if he’s killed i expect it’ll either be gillian (whose semblance is the inverse and natural counter to his) or salem (immortal) who does it.

i do sort of expect that he’ll reveal a new layer or two in the vacuo arc simply because he’s one of the very few notable characters who has hitherto not really wavered from being what he says on the tin—watts and hazel both had a bit more depth and with tyrian taking point in vacuo and evidently infiltrating the crown, the narrative opportunity to do the same with him is right there. so…

[twst-hottest-takes]

I have a hot take. I don't think Azul should be insecure about his weight. I do understand that some people are insecure about it (me being one of them), but imo it doesn't bring anything to his character.

Spoilers for book 3, book 4, and the Halloween event:

In book 3, Azul overblots because he was bullied for being overweight, and the only way he feels he can have any control in life is to make deals with others and use his magic. So when Leona destroys his contracts, it's pretty obvious Azul's losing his mind. However, Azul's weight, insecurities, and even the soft side he has doesn't really shine through.

I mean in book 4 after all of that was "resolved" he's the same person he was in book 3. He's a cunning business man, who wants the best deal possible so he can be on top. We even see this through the rest of the books.

If someone skipped book 3, they literally wouldn't have missed anything. Unless they were to play the Halloween event in which this happens:

I'm sorry if some of them are too small. If you go to the end of the first Halloween event, and click on chapter 8 (I think it's called "He'll Be All Right"), you should be able to find it.

In conclusion, though, I think Azul should have overblotted for a different reason. Like maybe he wanted to be a shady business person like his mom, and destroying his contracts means all his time and effort were wasted. Idk literally anything other than he was bullied for being fat, and he's insecure about it.

There is a reason I put Azul at the bottom of the Overblot ranking.

Forgive me though, I am going to have to push back on this one a bit, but trust the process!

Note: If this element of the character (Azul having been chubby/fat as a kid) is simply a narrative note that doesn't hit for you, there's not a problem with that and you can go about your day. You just really got me thinking and now I have to ramble out some details!

Azul wasn't just picked on for his weight. He was otherized for being an octopus as opposed to the more conventional fish-folk, and his issues with his body image reflect that. He was treated as stupid and slow and weird because he couldn't do things like all the other kids because of how his body worked. As a result, he decided to hone his magic to take advantage of others' weaknesses and distance himself from that image of his past to prove he wasn't what they said he was.

Azul Overblotted after losing the contracts because they represented (literally and metaphorically) the power and control he had over others' strengths and weaknesses. Losing that control and being overwhelmed by the fear of returning to the version of himself that was most vulnerable is why he overblotted. The connection is made clearer still when you take into account that he avoids returning to his merman form as much as possible because it is that much closer to the version of himself he can't stand the most. Likewise, he would be trying to avoid weight gain because that was a part of that version as well.

Azul's schtick was erasing the past and I think his body conscious tendencies inform his character very well.

IN CHAPTER 3!

Like a lot of things in Twisted Wonderland, Azul being body conscious is something that gets left to the wayside for pretty much the rest of the game. Unless you are an Azul fan who collects all of his cards and reads all of his vignettes you wouldn't see the other subtle nods to it like this:

Azul's Birthday Card Year 1: Screen transition line 3. (Azul justifies being able to be self-indulgent with food on his birthday.)

So in summary, I DO think that Azul's weight insecurity adds to his character and informs on the person he is in the current story. However, it has to be taken into account that it's just one small bit to a much larger and more important piece to his character. If you take it on its own, it doesn't have the kind of impact an overblot reason should, and they don't call back to it enough to remind you why it's actually important.

(There's me trying to set the record straight for maybe an oversimplified view on Azul, but I maintain his position on the ranking.)

Thank you for your take!

[upsidedownsmore]

Hi!! I was wondering if its okay to ask what brushes u normally use in krita? I love your art!!

Thank you so much!!! I only use the ones available in Krita by default and I tend to jump around based on what I think will work best for each piece, but I can give a little rundown on which ones I use the most and what I use them for :)

Here's an image guide with each of the brushes I've used and that I recommend checking out:

I'll highlight my favorites as well with some examples where they were predominantly used! (though in some cases multiple or even all of these brushes were used)

Marker Details:

Varying opacity and size makes this one my favorites for sketching, especially since it can easily be nearly transparent or fully opaque which helps with value range.

I also like using it for silhouette sketches!

It can also be used for final linework, but it takes more work to get to a full opaque and its lack of texture makes it a little less interesting than Ink-7 Brush Rough imo.

Ink-7 Brush Rough:

Really good for linework, especially for comic styled drawings with it's slight texture, varying weight, and opaqueness.

Also good for just filling in entire areas with a single color as well as non-smoothed shading!

Wet Bristles Rough:

Actually just an amazing brush, its pressure sensitivity is crazy.

Blends strokes like paint and can vary in size and opacity.

Also has a nice subtle texture!

Amazing for smoother coloring and shading, especially if you want a more painterly style.

Watercolor Texture:

(hard to show examples of this, just assume that I've used it in any piece that has smooth shading lol)

Not the best for painting/drawing on its own, however I've found it to be really useful when set to white or black on an overlay layer for adding extra shading and/or highlighting on top of the shading I've already done.

I usually shade individual figures, objects, and parts separately, but using an overlay layer with Watercolor Texture (or even Shapes Square) on top of everything helps make the entire piece feel more cohesive.

Also adds a hint more texture!

Another thing to note is the importance of layer modes!

I know that you asked about brushes specifically, but many of these brushes (particularly those to do with effects and textures) work best when experimenting with different layer modes other than Normal. Overlay is generally a safe bet and most of the best for, well, overlaying multiple layers for interesting effects. But please try out all of them at any given opportunity, sometimes things like Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, etc can have more interesting effects!

In addition, mess with filter masks! You can even edit where they apply by drawing on the mask directly! HSV/HSL Adjustment (also accessible with ctrl+u) in particular is INSANELY useful for fiddling with the colors and balance of a piece, from individual layers to whole groups and drawings. I also really like blur filters, often times I'll duplicate a layer and make the bottom one blurred to add a glow affect to something without losing its definition.

While this latter stuff isn't about brushes specifically, its generally very important to how I use and experiment with all these different brushes!

Anyways I hope this helps!! I kinda went overboard with this post, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you again for the wonderful ask!! :)

[thatbitchsimone]

Do you have any advise on how deal with negative and hateful people? My mother is incredibly hateful and she makes me sad alot, for context, I’m not obese but technically I am above average weight for 5’7, weight wise I look like the Australian model, iskra Lawrence, but I do try to loose weight, she recently, made a gesture of large hands saying my waist is huge and I’m so big now, my maid told me this, they don’t like her either , because of alot of stuff that is just very sad.

When I try to defend myself, she gets so angry that my hands start to shake, at one point in my life, I didn’t get out of my room for 6 whole months.

I just don’t know how to be happy or even not happy just not be so sad anymore, is there any way to not feel effected by someone like her?

first of all, if ur body looks like iskra lawrences, u have a very good body like thats a hot body. also like u said, ur not obese, just a little overweight so its not like ur health is in any real danger + ur kinda tall and i think tall womens bodies tend to be able to carry a little extra weight well (and im talking from a pure health perspective here, like i feel like a tall frame can handle a bit more weight better in general both looks wise and health wise but ur health is the important part imo) so like.. i think ur fine but if u wanna lose a little weight thats up to u, but u should only lose weight FOR URSELF not to please someone else like u shouldnt be bullied into changing ur body in any way.

second of all, ur mom is fucking awful. im sorry i know its ur mother and u probably have a lot of love for her despite everything but the way she treats u and makes u feel is not ok and straight up harmful maybe even actually abusive. i get the impression that ur mom treats the ppl around her awfully in general since ur clearly not the only one who has an issue with her so id like u to stay mindful of the fact that she is the problem here not u. its very hard to not let negativity and hate get to u when u literally live with it and i sincerely hope ur planning on moving away from her as soon as ur able to. u honestly need to avoid her as much as possible in the meantime which ofc is hard when u live together but try to engage with her as little as possible. ur maid seems like she cares for u so at least u have an ally in her so ur not all alone and maybe she is someone u can talk to and find comfort in. idk what else to tell u bc mother daughter dynamics like these are so complicated and hard to navigate especially when ur stuck under the same roof and idk what the situation is with ur dad or if he is in the picture etc so idk if i can give u any more advice than this

[faesystem]

Hi! Sorry for bothering you but I saw your post about Scar's wheelchair in-universe and this has made me reconsider my design a bit more

For context, I have tendonitis (from shoulder to wrists) so when I was first doing my design I kept switching between giving him a wheelchair and a leg brace because of my own brace for my arms... but after doing surface level (imo) research on it, I never really considered if they could work as an effective aid for a debilitating condition?

So um, if it's not too much trouble would you be alright explaining/talking about how it works on that area? Cuz I want to make sure I didn't like mess up bad bad

TLDR: Yes, it can be an effective aid. However, if someone wearing braces is the only representation of their disability in a story, then I would not really consider that a disabled character. I would consider that an able-bodied character wearing braces. (Not saying you are doing that, for the record. Just summarising this big long post.) My biggest suggestion is to just consider what disability he has, how the disability impacts him, how the aids help, and how they don't.

(Previous post about disabled Scar and wheelchairs, but not necessary to read to read this post.)

The thing about disability is that it is not exactly a clear-cut topic, because what symptoms someone has and the way they present really vary person to person. In particular with physical disabilities, people subconsciously categorise things in their mind on a scale from 'easy' to 'hard'.

For example, take walking versus aerial arts in circus. For the majority of people, walking is easy and circus is hard. For me personally? I have far easier time hauling my body weight around in the air and making it look good than I would going for a 10 minute stroll.

Personally, I project most of my disabilities onto him. Primarily, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Which are, essentially, lose joints = ouchy + dislocations disorder and veins loose = brainfog + fainting disorder.

Scar's symptoms are based entirely on my own. They primarily impact him when he has done a lot of standing, if he has to do any running, and if he has neglected to hydrate properly. He is very strong and physically capable of doing things others are not.

For me, the reason walking is horrible and circus is manageable is for two main reasons. The first being that, specifically with POTS, being on my feet for a long time is the biggest trigger for my symptoms. The second being that I am far, far more conscious of my body when I am doing circus versus when I am walking or honestly doing much of anything.

I rarely experience dislocations when it comes to circus. I know my body and I know circus and I know how to avoid injuring myself. A lot of this was trail and error to discover, but I now know the things I cannot do. I generally only injure myself if I am careless, such as rushing warm-up and stretching or doing activities I know end poorly for me. I cannot do any handstands or tumbling, primarily because my wrists will hyper extend and then have pressure put on them and that is excruciatingly painful regardless, not to mention likely to end in a subluxation (partial dislocation).

In my case, braces and honestly just taping the joints can make a world's difference. I do not do it nearly as often as I should, I truly should start doing that more, but it changes a lot. I feel as though it also would for my version of Scar with the disabilities I have assigned to him, because I sort of parallel circus and building in terms of our symptoms and presentation.

Which, is truly the important thing. Braces can aid prevention of some in some debilitating conditions. It is really not a clear cut yes or no. In order to answer the question of if it works for the way you are using it, it is important analyse why it would or would not work.

In order to apply this to my presentation of Scar, the first step really is to consider where braces could be applicable. The first thing that comes to my mind is that, being a builder, his knees would suffer quite a bit. Real-world construction workers face this issue often. I feel as though with his joints weaker, that would make that problem worse, the risk of dislocation aside. I feel as though knee braces would be a good way to stabilise the joint and minimise the symptoms.

When it comes to long distances, I feel as though it could maybe decrease some of Scar's pain, but not nearly enough for him to justify using a brace over some other aid such as a wheelchair. Typically, a wheelchair would be quite inconvenient as it is big and bulky and spaces may not be able to accommodate that, but I feel as though on Hermitcraft spaces are intentionally designed with his accessibility in mind, and also that he is easily able to store it in his inventory (I view inventories as pocket dimensions). In Scar's mind, there is really no reason not to use a chair instead, and also there is not really any point in wearing braces if he is going to be using his chair. I also do not believe he tends to wear braces for anything other than building, even if he will be walking and on his feet, primarily because I think he forgets about it/feels as though it is too much of a hassle.

The thing about aids is they do not completely eliminate the problems. That is honestly the biggest thing when it comes to disability representation for me. I do not care if you come up with some magic-based solution, for example, but it has to be an aid not a cure.

My biggest sort of gripe I suppose with how people represent Scar as being disabled is they do not really consider him disabled beyond surface level appearance. This is most notable in animatics where he is just casually in his wheelchair in completely inaccessible settings, such as one I saw of him in the zombie spawner in Secret Life session 6.

When it comes to an aid such as braces, it is less important to consider the context of what it is being presented in. In a one off fanart, the braces are a visual way to represent the disability or impairment. In a story, if the only representation of him being disabled is that he has braces, then he is essentially an able-bodied person wearing braces.

My biggest concern when it comes to people using braces instead of a mobility aid such as a wheelchair is that they tend to do it because it is the easy option. They truly can just write an able-bodied character who wears braces, and have the ghost of a disabled person in their story.

That is because, unlike most mobility aids, braces are not a hinderance if you do not need them. When it comes to wheelchairs, able-bodied people very quickly are forced to confront that physically disabled people do in fact face challenges and often times have minimal idea as to how to approach them.

I touched on this briefly in my initial post where I said that people will often times write Scar as an ambulatory wheelchair user so he can walk over any hurdles being a wheelchair user creates.

I do not believe it is a problem to make him an ambulatory wheelchair user or even just not a wheelchair user but still disabled. I think that it is good that people are making Scar disabled, and good that there is a wide variety of ways they make him disabled. Genuinely I have never encountered such a plethora of disability representation until I stumbled upon the MCYT fandom.

I have cried in the past over Scar fanworks because it was the first time I had ever seen myself represented as a disabled person. I literally cried earlier today at how many people were reblogging my post and sharing it and taking on my feedback, because this group of wonderful people truly cares to represent people like me.

While it does bother me sometimes that I see people making disability representation that is not quite so accurate, I still think it is so sweet and touching that people are trying. It is a confusing, confusing thing. While for me it is just normal, every day stuff, for many of you you have no frame of reference.

My biggest, biggest suggestion is to just consider what disability he has, how the disability impacts him, how the aids help, and how they don't.

For example:

The disability - Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Impact - Causes chronic pain, especially when he walks too much

Aids help - They stabilise his joints, preventing a lot of pain and allowing him to walk for longer

Aids don't - They do not completely minimise his pain, and he is still is prone to flare ups in symptoms if he walks too much. During those times he is unable to walk much at all, and it is excruciatingly painful for him if he tries.

That is hugely different from only knowing that he wears braces to help with chronic pain. That, to me, is the best way to go from poor disability representation to good, because it shows quite a bit of thought was put into it.

And my secret, bigger suggestion is to just try your best. A lot of people are too afraid to include representation because they are afraid to represent it poorly.

Literally today I saw someone draw the worst wheelchair design I had ever seen from a practically standpoint. Ever. (Here is a fantastic guide to drawing wheelchairs, by the way.) But it had clearly had a lot of time and effort put into stylising it for Scar's character. Sure, the base design of the wheelchair showed they do not understand much about wheelchairs, but they put effort into creating the wheelchair design. They even mentioned wanting to design other wheelchairs in future for Scar in different seasons.

Even if I would not consider it good representation, the energy put into it was good. It was heart warming, it made me smile.

Even if you have done what I referenced before about writing what is essentially an able-bodied character who wears braces, that is still better representation than people who just write able bodied Scar. Especially since you were basing it off your own experiences, I love that and I am so certain it reflected in whatever you created.

I also cannot stress how overjoyed I am that you asked me this.

When I made that first post it was honestly because I was a bit frustrated with seeing so many people who clearly had no idea what they were talking about creating disabled Scar content. The massive, overwhelmingly positive response to it has completely floored me. People truly do care and it is such a refreshing change of pace to literally every other space people have tried to include disabled representation in that I have ever seen.

(Also, I would truly love to check out your Scar design if you are willing to show me.)

[antrunner]

RE: your tags about body type variation in comics:

100%, a lot of comic artists know how to draw mmmmaybe 4 body types and about 5 faces and anything outside that becomes borderline or actual caricature. Most can't even draw kids that look like kids, and drawing children comes up A LOT so that particular oversight doesn't even make sense.

A lot of the reason for it comes down to muscle memory and expedience--you draw faster if you're drawing the same thing you've drawn several thousand times before. (Personally? I try to make sure my characters all have unique faces at a minimum.) That's one of the reasons I was like 'godDAMNIT, GODSPEED!' when he killed off the other speedsters/made them not feel safe to have powers. We had a pretty diverse range of ages and body types going with the Central City Speed Crew there, and I was low key hoping we'd see them show up more.

YEAH EXACTLY! Which, all of that second paragraph leads me into an even bigger issue in comics that i've noticed: quantity over quality. It feels like with a lot of newer ones (rebirth ones......) a lot of things have been disregarded in favor of just. producing things. and it sucks because we lose a lot of good stuff like diversity, personality, pre-set character growth. on top of all of this i feel like it's... alarming. that most of the fat characters we see are villains. not heroes. but from what we DO see from heroes, their body types are quickly retconned to fit in with the norm of skinny muscled people.

two examples of this that really pisses me off is ted kord: who became just another skinny muscle guy (he should be CHUBBY IMO) and kyle rayner. at the start of his run kyle had a sort of soft body with a rounder face. of course he wasnt always drawn like this, but looking at him in rebirth its like looking at a completely different person altogether. (this is also why i personally hate the omega men comics too. that is NOT kyle.)

Here's him in GL: 3D (1998) and Ion: Guardian of the Universe (2006).

He has rounder features. Muscled but not INSANELY so. He has a soft body type and... while not FAT. I think its important to recognize changes like this. He's actually seen a lot in early comics trying to work out with people like Donna or the titans and genuinely struggling to keep up because he isn't in shape. which MAKES SENSE FOR HIM!!!!!!!

SERIOUSLY WHO IS THIS LOL. (dont come at me with "hes AGED" i do NOT care... theres a way to age up characters while still keeping their body types and features the same. come on his eyes are BROWN. not terrifying blue.)

im going a bit off topic here. but i agree that it can also be seen with speedsters. they should, at the very least, be lean rather than heavily muscled. too often people hear "superhero" and assume massive, defined muscles like wwe wrestlers. no...... no. i think that heroes' bodies should be reflective of their lifestyles and powers. speedsters run. lanterns fly. superman is naturally large and should look like an ACTUAL body builder. wonder woman should be huge and muscled too rather than rib-less and thin.

there just needs to be more fat heroes. im not a skinny person, and actually lean more towards the fat side of the bmi scale (which isnt real btw. its bullshit lies used to fuel the diet industry and the public school system xoxo) but i hate this weird idea in comics that every hero is SKINNY. because more often than not... origin stories are like "this is just some random dude who got powers". that shouldnt mean he was already fit as fuck with an 8 pack and shoulders the size of manhattan...

i think its a conversation that isnt had enough is all. and im happy to talk about this more. as someone who struggles with weight issues and always have, it's harmful to a lot of people to see this sort of thing go unnoticed. and i hope with the semi-recent surge of diversity recognition we can also get some recognition for different body types :)

[lottieurl]

WHYY do we have the same taste like those are my top 5 dynamics that i am soooo normal about (lying) in maybe a different order. like there are other sort of. connections that are up there but it's more about how the characters relate to each other rather than how they interact? but with those five it is both it is so much both how they interact and what they mean to and for each other what they reflect about the other in their interactions. like jackie in relation to nat makes me lose it but i am not caught up in the intricacies of their actual dynamic nearly as much (though it is relevant in the few moments we get. these two might be a bad example they are like my number 6 my honorable mention). meanwhile like.... shauna in relation to tai tai in relation to shauna AND how they interact with each other is so. it's so much. i will never be normal about them.

YES EXACTLY ALL OF THIS. that's why i handpicked those specific 5 ones. any two characters on this show (well at least those that were in the plane crash) are fascinating to think about in how they relate to each other and the ways in which most of them are narrative foils. i very much COULD (and might) at any point in time lose my mind about lottievan ESPECIALLY in relation to taissa. you can pair any of them really and there's something to analyze and something that makes their similarities or differences stand out when you put them together. but those 5 i listed are that AND the relationship they have which is hugely important to them as people and in many ways shapes them. the intricacies to how they interact alone makes me lose it. and i'm choosing right now to speak some more about lottielee cause it's a much less popular dynamic to explore but i think there's so much there. because i do Not think it's a healthy dynamic! not at all. in fact just yesterday i said those characters - in the context of the wilderness - are the two people who should Not be anywhere near each other. i don't think even if laura lee lived they'd have a GOOD influence on each other because while in that moment in time what laura lee said to lottie was something lottie found comfort in ultimately that would just be so much additional weight on lottie’s shoulders PLUS i don't think i have to explain to anyone that thinking of your friend as a prophet, chosen one, saint, you name it, is Not good for them! like being idealized is very much not a good experience at all and can be very damaging and DEFINITELY would be for lottie imo. but they also did care about each other so much! they had good intentions regarding each other! they loved each other! they did their best!! and laura lee's death haunts lottie for DECADES to come. it's something that's been on my mind CONSTANTLY since s2 started with adult lottie's vision of her

[meditating-dog-lover]

Skin/health update

I feel so much better. My skin cleared up from my steroids and anti-inflammatory diet.

I did, however, go to the pet store today so my dogs can get their nails trimmed. I got pretty itchy in there. I am allergic to dogs, but it wasn't that bad. It was itchiness, but not eczema itchiness. Which makes me believe that my eczema is not linked to environmental allergies and is a separate itchy condition. But I feel fine now and I took an anti-histamine afterwards.

My infected spots did get a bit itchy too. So I took the pill, applied some anti-fungal and steroid on it. Fungal infections take a while to go away with topical medication. I wish it was quicker of course, but they do take a while.

My hands are much clearer now and they're not too itchy. They did get itchy today with the dogs, but they're okay now.

The next step is to ultimately kill the infection (takes longer than I want it to) and to work on stress management and hormone balancing (in the context of stress/cortisol). I do have normal high cortisol, estrogen dominance, and insulin resistance. But none of it is that bad nor severe. I know following an anti-inflammatory diet and reducing stress and getting enough sleep helps with this. So does liver support, but that's something I'll look into in the future. I'm taking baby steps.

Regarding exercise, I used to do a lot of weight lifting, boxing, and HIIT during COVID. It did help me sweat and lose weight, but it wasn't something I saw myself able to do longterm. So I stopped and switched to intermittent fasting and walking for a gentle and effective way to lose weight. Diet is more important than exercise imo (for both fat loss and general health and wellness). I think it's better to have a very good diet and a gentle workout routine than an intense workout routine and suboptimal diet. I might consider something gentle and calming like yoga for strength and flexibility, and I already walk for cardio (not at the moment because it's too hot and humid outside). Again I do want to reduce my stress, cortisol, and inflammation. So I want to stick to something gentle and not too intense/harsh.

I might consider drinking green tea instead of coffee.

[mariyekos]

Future FFVII Rebirth Essays

Okay now that I've finally finished FFVII Rebirth, here's a list of some essays about the game I've either partially written, or want to write in the future!

Titles are absolutely subject to change, they're just what come to mind right now. Each bullet point has the title of an essay and a little bit of elaboration into what they'd be about. Most essays will cover far more than what is in the bullet blurb, but for now I wanted to jot down some of my ideas before I forgot them, so details are relatively sparse and lean towards the nonspecific. This also doesn't even cover all of the essay ideas I've had while playing through the game! But it's long as it is, so I figured I'd cut it off at what I have here and include the rest in a reblog or separate post.

Warning, this includes spoilers for both the OG FFVII and events/changes in the FFVII Remake Continuity (Remake/Rebirth)!

A (Not Really) Dying World: The impact of the removal of the Midgar Black Pit and the introduction of other greenery in FFVII Remake and Rebirth (basically, Remake/Rebirth Gaia does not appear to be in such dire straights until sky stuff happens, which changes how the planetary threat appears, being moved from a dying planet which is on the edge of destruction even without Sephiroth's involvement to a planet that's mostly at risk because of Sephiroth, with the slow death of the Planet being a far lesser/evident threat.)

Shinra: A threat to the Planet, or a threat to humanity? (Heavily connected to the essay above and the Dyne essay below. Revolves around how much of the weight of Shinra's threat is shifted to them causing human strife and suffering, rather than the way they are killing the Planet and the impact of Mako Reactors)

Changes to Corel Prison (potentially combined with a larger essay on tone in FFVII, see below. I still can't believe Corel Prison isn't a prison anymore. Also the town of Corel is now separate from what became the prison which is. A choice! Changes the narrative.)

On Dyne and Marlene in the OG vs Rebirth (why the change in Dyne's motivations matters on a larger scale, potential reasons for the removal of the threats to Marlene, and how this impacts Barret's character)

It's Okay for the Protagonists to Sometimes be Bad People: how imperfections and weaknesses can strengthen a character arc, and the Remake continuity's avoidance of painting party members as 'the bad guy'. (Basically the Remake/Rebirth introduce several new scenes solely there to remind you the protagonists are good people, change some scenes to remove a character being acknowledged as having made a mistake/potentially being a bad person, and remove ambiguity present in the OG in order to make Shinra explicitly (and sometimes more) to blame.)

Apathy and Action in FFVII: The tonal shift between the OG and Remake Continuity (the characters in the OG FFVII are WAY more apathetic, complacent, or depressed. Remake and especially Rebirth make far more of them angry and active against Shinra, which dramatically changes the tone for better or for (imo often) worse.)

Bombastic is Not Always Better: The importance of quiet moments in the narrative, and how low points can serve to drive highs even higher. (FFVII Rebirth removes several moments in the OG where the characters stop to discuss what's going on, where to go next, or how they're doing, and while it means the ending is high energy for a very long time which can be exciting, it loses out on some of the intimacy of the OG. Different people like different things, but I've always been someone who relishes the quiet moments and find they make me like the big ones more, because we have a chane to process what's at stake.)

For the Love of God Minerva Someone Please Talk to Cloud: Cloud's mental state in the Remake Continuity vs the OG (Cloud has SO MANY MORE breakdown moments in the Remake Continuity, and most of them are far more obvious/severe than the OG. This both changes the mystery of the breakdowns (which is fair to do bc most players know about Sephiroth), and also makes the fact that Rebirth removed many of the 'Cloud are you okay' scenes WAY WORSE. Cloud is not okay and it makes way more sense for them to ignore it in the OG where it's small and infrequent than it does in Rebirth where he's having major problems very frequently which hurt the main cast (except where it matters in the OG!))

Preserving Mystery in a Remake: Is there any point when the players know what's coming next? (Yes. Yes there is. You don't need to get rid of all the mysteries present in the OG just because some players might already know the story (this is not about stuff they're changing, but things they're keeping the same but exposing early). Also the other option for this title is "A Game for Newcomers and Veterans Alike: No it's not, if it was you would've bothered to keep some things mysterious and clearly you were too giggly to do that to the detriment of several story events and even plot points.")

FFVII Rebirth and Gameplay at the Cost of Atmosphere (part one of this is already written, but this is about how sometimes minigames or new mechanics introduced to spice up gameplay can disrupt or even completely upend the atmosphere of a scene, much to its detriment.)

FFVII Rebirth and Story Padding at the Cost of Atmosphere (this would be part two to this series, covering some new scenes which were added to Rebirth that did not match the tone of the rest of the scene and sometimes completely pulled me out of the emotional impact that existed in the original. At times I think the writers wanted to have a different emotional impact/tone than the original, while other times it seemed like completely tone deaf padding where the writers wanted something to happen so they shoved it into a place where it sort of fit in theory but did not fit in practice.)

Trope-Heavy Characters in the PS1 Era vs PS5 Era: How adding in new character scenes without adding new character traits can make a character seem bland (tl;dr I feel like Rebirth did a disservice to Yuffie's character, and Cait Sith is on thin ice. When a character only has 15 lines and 13 of them are about how they want materia, I think it's fair to assume that while liking materia is their main character trait, they probably care about other things too, but just didn't have the time/space to say it. But when a character has 150 lines and 130 are about materia, they seem bland/like materia is basically their only character trait, because they did have the time to talk about so many things but didn't. If you want to flesh out a character by giving them more lines, you should make sure to give them something substantial. Don't be afraid to go more into their (in this case Yuffie's) life, fears, and desires! The bits we got were good but they were to few in comparison to materia and motion sickness scenes)

[blackberryl0versblog]

how i lost weight so fast!

- don’t be too worried about a binge. (i should probably take my own advice) but make sure not to get in the habit of it and lose motivation

- drink so much water. i drink about 3 liters a day. you’re gonna have to pee a lot though.

- exercise. i run track so my exercise is track practice but on weekdays where i don’t have practice i do a little workout at home.

- walk a lot. i get up and move whenever i can and walk the longer way to get more steps.

- this isn’t best for everyone but i never have more than 600 calories a day. at this point in my ABC diet i have been limited to 200 like every day which isn’t easy.

- since i eat dinner with my family it’s hard to avoid dinner but i am vegetarian so i have pretty healthy dinner. it is usually fish, pasta or rice, and vegetables. i’m not very good at having small portions but i drink water in between every bite.

- for breakfast i have 5-10 blackberries which is at most 8 calories because it’s important to have breakfast. i don’t eat during the day (which is super easy especially because of school) and save the calories for dinner.

- never eat before 7am or after 7pm. your food needs to digest before you sleep.

- don’t eat alone. only eat in front of other people so they don’t get suspicious.

- drink water when you’re hungry. that usually makes the hunger go away.

- i saw someone say curl up in a ball when you’re having hunger pains or pains from drinking a lot of water and that 100% works.

- get sleep. i’ve been sleeping about 8+ hours a night.

- eat high fiber foods. i got super constipated at one point and i had to take tons of laxatives because of my lack of fiber intake. i lost 4 pounds after finally using the bathroom.

- stick to low calorie foods. when i finally do eat i eat fruit and veggies. specifically blackberries, blueberries, broccoli, cucumbers, apples, raw green beans, etc. a good snack is seaweed.

- green tea. it’s not very tasty imo but it’s good for you.

[ladyluscinia]

speaking as someone who reads a lot of ed/stede fic i think you're exactly right re: woobification of ed. if the fic in question touches on e10 his actions are usually given far less weight than stede's, and imo i think it's because a lot of fans don't know how to deal with the gravity of what he did. something i've seen often is that ed will get some grief from the crew and they may be somewhat cautious around him, but mostly it's stede who has to work to win back ed's trust and affection. which, yes, obviously he should have to do that, he fucked up, but ed not having to do the same with the crew & izzy if the author even bothers to write him in has always seemed idk unfair to me? obviously, people can write what they want, but i do feel like this attitude is prevalent in fandom meta as well. it goes on a wavelength of something like: all of ed's actions towards izzy, the crew, and stede are largely excused, stede's behavior towards izzy receives the same treatment, and izzy is simply not around for any variety of reasons and no one cares that he got his toe cut off. the reason i have accidentally read so much fic like this is because every time i open something that piques my interest thinking maybe it will be different and almost always it is not. i wouldn't be so bothered by this if it didn't contribute to the pipeline of me seeing with my own eyes posts made by people on this very website attempting to justify bodily mutilation as some fucked up form of punitive justice.

Hi, yes, all of this.

Like, I will confess that I'm already very lukewarm on BlackBonnet as a ship (just not my preferred dynamic), but I have been avoiding the tag on tumblr and AO3 like it's radioactive because I know I will risk losing all positive feelings for it in a matter of hours (which... probably not a great idea seeing as it's endgame 🤣). I'm sticking to SteddyHands where nitpicks about characterization are easier to spot in advance and often actual nitpicks, not slam the back button levels of drastic.

Anyway, the part of this ask that really grabbed my attention was...

...it's because a lot of fans don't know how to deal with the gravity of what he did.

...because that is a major part of the problem and also kinda interesting to talk about. And I have thoughts on it, both on how the show is potentially equipped to handle it and why so many fans struggle.

So preface: here's a link to my followup woobification thoughts post, which links the original woobification thoughts response right at the top.

Now... Why is reckoning with and forgiving Edward's actions (that are obviously going to be forgiven) proving so difficult that it makes sidestepping the problem entirely such a common fandom response instead?

---

There's two main factors that I think are the most important at the moment. (Well, three, but the third is anti culture declaring that faves must not be "problematic" or "bad people" or you aren't allowed to like them, and that's way bigger than this specific OFMD problem. Those antis just need to be ignored. So two actually interesting to discuss main factors.)

The genre of the show is hitting a very nice spot in handwaviness around violence that is crucial to getting past this in canon.

Edward's character arc spent pretty much all of S1 in the setup phase, while Stede actually progressed through his.

Genre, I'm almost positive, is going to be the show's saving grace in this matter, because they have played some really clever games with it. I talked a lot in this post about how handwaving narrative consequences at a certain point can be a really good thing, but it's also deceptively hard to set up because if you fail to be consistent then it only highlights your issues.

Edward's actions in a more serious show would be pretty hard to come back from, and even in this show, they aren't currently being treated as funny or no big deal. That's why just handwaving them from here doesn't work. Stede fixing the Kraken with a swashbuckler entrance and a kiss is a funny joke and a great fanart, but not a satisfying story for Edward. At the same time, OFMD's humor is actually really dark for a show that is best described as a romcom. Meaning even as Edward does awful things you can keep a running thread of humor to kind of lighten the gravity - like Jim's "What did you do to your face?" comment.

I still maintain that the big three four events of the Kraken turn - Izzy lashing out at Edward, Edward "killing" Lucius, Edward maiming Izzy, and Stede's abandonment overshadowing it all - have to be dealt with roughly equivalently and at the same time. Leave a hurt out (like Izzy's toe) and you mess up the whole balance, so there's one problem for people who don't like Izzy very much. But so long as all the characters get to acknowledge how they fucked up and how they won't do it again (requiring some character growth and communication from them all), then the genre tone will let them collectively move on without unpleasant hurdles (like Lucius feeling unsafe on a ship with Edward for the rest of his life).

This helps the show, but it doesn't necessarily help fans and fanfic, because a lot of fanfic writers are not working in this genre.

Angst people are writing angst, fluff writers are in slice of life romance, plot heavy fics might be adventures... all very fun, but possibly lacking the required tools to satisfactorily resolve these problems the way the show is likely going to. They have to adapt it or discard the need for a solution entirely, and adapting it might be trickier both because it's more work and there's a lot more open questions around Edward than around Stede.

We're back to character arcs.

It's so easy for fans to focus on how Stede needs to fix what he's done because, yeah, it wasn't that terrible in comparison, but also the show has already built and explored the whole framework for him to do so. We know exactly what was going through his head, we know what he wants now, we know the direction his character is going in... He's most of the way there already. For Izzy enjoyers, too, a lot of his character arc was covered this season. We have lots of evidence for his motivations and wants and plausible ways he could grow as a character, even if it's a bit more open to interpretation than Stede.

Edward, meanwhile, has just started. We can try and interpret his behavior this season for hints as to what's driving him, but there have been no recent backstory flashbacks or goals he was openly chasing beyond the general idea of Stede, and clearly the Kraken is not about getting Stede back. His flaws haven't been starkly established, much less the intended solutions. Like, I think that greed for both lives he's been sampling is a major part of it, and the resolution will involve compromising to a life he's satisfied with, but that's just informed speculation at this point.

Edward is so hard to figure out in a fic because first you have to decide what you think the problem and solution is, and then how to adapt it to whatever genre you are working in so that it actually fixes the whole attempted murder of 7 people + maiming and abduction. Not very easy if said genre is, say, the ever popular fluffy romance. Good fucking luck conveying even the idea of a whole arc in a oneshot. It can be done, but not easily. Meta, too, can have a sort of "genre" that causes a similar struggle. I feel like my meta probably isn't overly concerned with how characters are mentally affected by violence committed against them, for example, simply because it rarely interests me long term and I watch so many shows where violence is omnipresent, which probably helps me here.

Anyway, for a lot of fans it's much easier to just focus on what has been clearly established - that Edward has childhood trauma and was hurting - and a solution that conveniently can play out in almost every genre - make Edward feel better. Even if, as I will continue to complain, that's not really an arc and therefore boring. Also pretty woobifying to suggest a guy who committed 7 attempted murders had no underlying issues that are on him to address. Just really hurt feelings and the need to believe in love again.

So yeah. Interesting factors. I think considering both makes impressive strides to explain where the problem is coming from, even if it doesn't really prevent it. Just back to waiting for season 2, I guess.

...also I just realized that this is finally my version of the "only BlackHands shippers get Edward as a character" post 🤣🤣🤣 Because they are actually pretty good at navigating the Edward/Izzy part of this. Sometimes. I have way more faith in them out of the gate, at least.

(EDIT: Follow up response where I make a Helen of Troy joke)

[skania]

The Final Stroke: Thoughts on Haru's conflict (+Rin)

Okay so reading all the summaries of The Final Stroke Part 1 has left me with A LOT of thoughts. About Haru, about Rin, about Rin & Haru and how all the different character conflicts will be tied together in Part 2.

BUT since I have been waiting YEARS for Free! to feed me some juicy Haru conflict, of course I'm sinking my teeth into that first because peeling off Haru's layers has always been my favorite Free! sport.

It's been a long while since I've tried to get into Haru's head AND I haven't even watched the movie yet so I'm probably wrong, but here goes nothing. As per usual, it will be long and image-heavy because I can't keep things short and sweet to save my life.

Also, it's heavy on spoilers about The Final Stroke so please do not read without reading Fencer's summary first!

AND since it's basically impossible to discuss Haru without discussing Rin and vice-versa, please do also expect a healthy dose of RinHaru.

Utsumi: Indeed; it’s a path Haruka never would have chosen himself. But despite claims that he doesn’t care about winning or losing or scoring certain times, he’s always been attentive to Rin’s presence. [x]

Please assume there's a huge "IMO" attached to this whole post.

In Season 1, we saw Haru struggle to understand that the reason for his emotional turmoil was quite simply that he wanted to swim with Rin again.

In Season 2, we saw Haru struggle because he wanted to follow Rin into the Pro world, but he felt like he didn't deserve to do so because he didn't have a dream and thus, no strong feelings about competitive swimming itself.

Needless to say, there's a pattern.

In Season 3, the series kind of took a detour. Still, it did plant some seeds, the most important IMO being the following:

"After I hit 20, I will be..."

"If you ask me what lies ahead of me, I..."

"You can't survive without throwing something away. I didn't want to throw anything away. But I lost."

"Maybe I don't deserve to compete at the global level."

Road to the World adds some extra layers to all that by showing us just what else is connected to that fear of Haru's.

Because, what do we see after Rin tells Haru that no matter what wall [Rin] faces, the one thing that doesn't change is his desire to keep swimming with [Haru]?

We see the moment Rin tells Haru "aim for the world with me, Haru!". Then, the moment Rin asks Haru what his dream is—right when Haru finally felt free after achieving the dream he had that season, that of swimming with Rin again. Lastly, we see the moment Rin asks Haru "what will you do?" when it comes to choosing between swimming in a recreational pool, or the one used by the National Team.

Every single one of these moments brought Haru closer to his dream—and Rin is the common factor in them all. So when Rin tells Haru,

It's obvious by those flashbacks alone what Haru's answer is. He, too, wants to keep swimming with Rin in that world.

But before the thought can fully form in Haru's mind, Albert flashes through it. We immediately see Haru's disposition change, and the result is the most telling of all.

Just like always, the imagery is on point. Rin and his desire to swim with him give Haru strength and purpose and Haru clenches his fist—but this time, Albert seeps that strength from him until his fist goes limp. And suddenly, Haru doesn't know what to say to Rin anymore.

Because, what Albert makes Haru wonder, is this:

From my limited perspective (like I said before, I haven't watched TFS yet), I think that might just be where the heart of Haru's issue in The Final Stroke lies.

I think a big part of why Haru wants to win against Albert so badly is probably because he wants to prove to himself that he does deserve to be in that world—like Rin. That all his friends are right to believe in him.

And he feels even more pressured because he thinks he's running out of time.

All this pressure to win—not to feel the water better or to be the best in the water he loves so much, but simply to win before he's "ordinary"—does not let Haru swim freely. He doesn’t swim like himself.

He is probably terrified of his own limits and of how close he might be to hitting them, and this fear and pressure are binding him.

Moreover, while Haru decided that he wanted to swim in that world, the truth is that he doesn’t know what the future holds for him.

He has no long-term, tangible plans. Unlike Rin, who wants to win a gold medal, Haru just wants to swim "in the whole world". This, added to the fact that he thinks he’ll be ordinary by 20 and that he has not managed to beat Albert, makes it so Haru is basically blinded to what the future can bring for him. He can’t see that sight.

Part of the reason for this, I feel, is that the series has never addressed the big elephant in the room.

What exactly does Haru get out of competitive swimming, besides swimming with Rin? Because "swimming in that world" is nice and sweet and idealistic, but it doesn't cover the fact of racing itself.

I used to talk a lot about why Haru needed to find a reason to enjoy competing even when it isn't against Rin. That he needed to find a reason to want that for himself. I even thought S3 may finally go for it, but it ended without Haru finding meaning in that "world of wins and losses", as he used to call it.

Usually, he’d look at Rin to point the way forward. And it is knowing that Rin (and to a lesser extent, Ikuya) is there fighting with him and aiming for the world as well that gives Haru some reassurance.

However, from what we know from the summaries, Haru isn’t thinking of them when he swims. He is entirely caught up on needing to beat Albert because of what it has come to represent to him.

There’s also the issue of Haru’s competitiveness. Haru spent a long time suppressing it and only indulging in it with Rin. But he has always wanted to be the best in the water—the one who "feels" it best.

It wasn’t that he wanted to win, or that he hated losing; it was just that he couldn’t simply accept that there was someone who could feel the water more than he could. (x)

So when you combine all of this, I feel like Haru has lost sight of the most important thing—that instead of swimming just to win, like it’s a job, he should swim to feel the water he loves so much and, most importantly, for the team (with his friend’s feelings in his heart).

That way, he could swim like himself and the water won’t be sad nor lonely.

This all sounds like a lot and it is. Haru is all but suffocating under this weight.

So, when Rin comes and tells him that [Haru] will be facing Albert alone—that they aren’t fighting him together, like Haru hoped for—Haru snaps.

It’s not only that what Haru perceives as the biggest obstacle to his dream (Albert) is standing before Haru (alone) and Rin won’t be there to share his struggles, but also that Rin is the reason he’s there in the first place because Rin is the one that made Haru stop wanting to be ordinary.

He’s the reason why he’s gotten to this point and the reason he came into the global stage and ran into Albert. He’s also the biggest thing Haru will lose if he can’t win against Albert—because if Haru’s dream ends, he won’t get to swim with Rin in that world anymore.

And now Rin’s walking away from swimming free and leaving him alone with this beast of a swimming machine and with [Haru’s] own limitations. And Haru feels trapped. He feels bitter. He feels betrayed. Terrified.

And, of course, lost. Because just like Rin once said, "Without you, I have nothing to aim for, you know?"

So, he snaps.

And by burning bridges with Rin, the very embodiment of "For the Team", the one person that he has always wanted to swim with most of all, the one whose feelings he was still connected to above all—by virtue of swimming together in that world, by sharing a dream—Haru now feels like he's truly alone in the water.

Haru is essentially turning his back on the very reason he swims for—in more ways than one. So, he’s becoming a second Albert. Only there to win, not to have fun.

Because that’s the thing. Haru says he’s doing it for his dream, but since he can’t see that dream clearly, he lacks direction. All he can see is the immediate future and all that stares back at him are his own limitations—embodied by Albert himself.

Albert represents, then, the road Haru must not take. Haru can’t be all about becoming stronger simply for the sake of winning—and he must definitely not do so alone. Like Ikuya said in S3, if Haru isn't gaining that strength for someone else (the team), there's no point.

So, since this is Free!, Haru needs to go back to his roots and truly swim for the team once again. But I feel like he also needs to re-contextualize his dream and truly define what it entails, for once and for all. Which, if we go by everything we've seen so far—should involve swimming with Rin.

Only then will he be able to swim freely again.

There's A LOT of foreshadowing and things from S3 that will most likely play a role in that and I haven't even touched Rin's choice to not swim free anymore, but this has gotten really long and I've run out of image slots lmao so I'll just have to ramble about those some other time 🙇‍♀️

[lady-griffin]

Potential ‘Hints’ of Raven Appearing in Young Justice

This started out as a joke about how I’m just desperate for my beautiful daughter to appear, but I spent way too much time on this for it to be an actual joke.

I don’t think any of this really amounts or I guess, necessarily equals Raven existing in YJ, I’m just a desperate ho for my girl. 

So here we go

The character of S'yraa S'mitt

A Martian Priestess, who lost her temper and due to neglecting her magical studies, ended up killing someone (King S’turnn J’axx).

Raven is all about that emotional control and does her best to try and not let her anger get the best of her, because it easily can.

S’yraa is also our first introduction (in YJ) to the idea off magic being dangerous BECAUSE someone loses control over their emotions. Until S’yraa, magic has always been an intentional act. 

If Zatanna got upset, magic didn’t start leaking out of her and destroying shit. 

Now arguably, because S’yraa is a Martian, emotions and thoughts are much closer to becoming action than for Zatanna.

Still, we’ve now seen the consequences of someone letting their emotions get the best of them, and while that does relate to Raven; the opposite is also very much present in Raven’s story (at least it should be imo).

What happens when someone is always in control of themselves and their emotions? What happens when you have a girl who never neglects her studies? Who cuts herself off from all relationships or has been force to? Who has been taught to not have emotions?

What are the consequences for that, especially for said individual?  

S’yraa S’mitt just gave me a lot of Raven vibes, particularly when she was confronted with the murder of King S’turnn and started to lose control over her magic, because she was so emotionally distraught.

Villainous Parents

(image by Thelorefactory)

There was a whole ass debate about children and their villainous parents in S4E05 “A Tale of Two Sisters.”

Do the children stay loyal to their parents and their ways? Even if they don’t stay loyal, how likely are they to become just like their parents? Can they eventually break away and take a different path?

How far does the apple fall from the tree?

Just introducing Raven not only invites those questions to be asked once more, but puts an entirely different weight and importance on them.

In a lot of media where she’s appeared - we don’t really see Raven being rejected by the heroes. But in her introduction in The New Teen Titans, she was rejected by the Justice League because of the dark/evil energy coming off of her, which was pretty major, considering that that led to her reforming the Teen Titans.

So, while that’s not going to be happening in Young Justice. 

It seems very possible that the adults might not be willing to trust Raven, but YOUNG Justice might be more open minded. Raven’s existence might also reveal how far some of our heroes are willing to reach out to someone in need or trust someone. 

And look, it might be hard to be open minded about Raven, knowing exactly whose daughter she is. Being wrong about Cassandra Savage’s intentions is one thing, but you absolutely cannot afford to be wrong about the daughter of Trigon.

Plus, we’ve seen time and time again, our heroes trusting the wrong people (who present themselves as trustworthy) and getting betrayed -- the characters themselves are even aware of this pattern.

Raven could be an interesting opposite of that, the heroes don’t trust her and turn her away, despite the fact that Raven genuinely wants to help.

Again, it might not be so clear cut with Raven. While her intentions are usually good, her methods can be muddled at times, to say the least. I don’t think it’s insane for people to not trust her, especially before she becomes the Raven we know, through being on Earth and joining the Teen Titans/heroes. 

Magic

During the Martian Arc of Season 4, we’ve surprisingly learned a lot more about magic. Which is pretty interesting, seeing as that arc could have easily not included any magic at all, but yet it was a very relevant plot point to the arc. 

Forget Raven for a second, seeds are definitely being laid down for Zatanna’s future arc. 

Magic leaves a physical trace  

This is a new idea that’s quite interesting to think about. 

Superboy basically explains, that magic leaves a microscopic residue after it’s been used, and each magic user’s residue is unique. Arguably, if you know what they look like, you can tell who casted a spell - Doctor Fate or Zatanna.

Not only does each individual have a unique magical signature, but magic differs between different species. Superboy didn’t realize what he saw was magic residue in the Grand Hall (where the king was murdered), because Martian magic is different on a microscopic level from human magic.  

And with the additional idea of someone’s mind touch being a unique signature, we might see a very unique magical/mind signature with Raven.

Or, possible Raven’s magic could be something that’s never been seen before or something that was seen before, a very long time ago.

Born with an affinity for magic 

This idea was introduced all the way back in season 1, so it’s not new by any means, but when Miss Martian brought it up in S4E01, it definitely felt like a clear refresher for the audience.

And that refresher wasn’t necessarily needed for the Martian arc; it’s certainly wasn’t unrelated to the plot, but this factoid could have easily been taken out, without changing the S’yraa plot.

It just feels like there is a build up to Zatanna’s arc happening– possibly because something big might be on the rise. 

Also, the reminder that magic is something one has an affinity for or not – kind of feels like a scale of magic users is being set up.  

From Wally, who had zero affinity for magic

To the likes of Kaldur, who is capable of some magic

To, S’yraa and Thirteen who seem more like your average magic users (maybe?)

To Zatanna, a definite powerful magic user 

And finally, to Doctor Fate and Klarion - magical/extradimensional beings.

Where would Raven land on this scale? Somewhere around Zatanna? Or closer to Doctor Fate?

Or maybe Raven is completely off the scales, given what or who she is exactly.

Limits of Magic 

Magic has been part of YJ since the very first episode, but it wasn’t until, S1E07 “Denial” that it was properly introduced, along with a very specific limitation -  

Communicating with the dead or access to the afterlife in general, has been made out to be an impossible task, and yet the existence of souls is irrefutable (for the audience at least).

     - Nabu is a spirit.

     - We met Kent Nelson’s spirit and Greta Hayes’ ghost

     - Katana’s Soultaker traps the souls of those it has slain 

     - Halo exists, because the soul of a Motherbox reanimated the body of Gabrielle Daou

               Nabu directly referred to the existence of Halo’s soul -- “an old soul in a young body” (S3E04 “Private Security”)

               Sensei also referred to her soul, when he told Raj Al Ghul that he felt it leave Halo’s body when he killed her (S3E06 “Rescue Op”)

Souls definitely exist in the YJ universe.

The afterlife, though, that’s a bit more debatable. We know nothing about it in this specific universe nor have yet to see any concrete evidence that it even exists, and that feels very deliberate and very odd, especially for DC.

The closest we’ve gotten to the afterlife, is honestly meeting Greta Hayes’ ghost.

In S3E25, “Overwhelmed”

Red flags were raised for me, when Zatanna said she couldn’t bring Artemis to Wally.

Then alarms were on fire, when Zatanna confessed that what Artemis experienced was an illusion created by Zatanna and M’gann to help Artemis move on.  

To be clear, it’s not like Zatanna had the power and refused for some moral reason.

Zatanna couldn’t do it.

Which, I can’t begin to explain how weird that is, as something like that, is usually well within Zatanna’s abilities.  

And it’s not like, Zatanna is just not at her true potential and one day she will be able to do this (I mean maybe), but it was also impossible for Kent Nelson – who was the host for Doctor Fate.

And we know he also couldn’t, because in the beginning of “Denial,” Kent visited Madame Xanadu, in the slim hope that maybe she could make contact with Inza, his dead wife. 

This limitation, this lack of ability to reach the afterlife, is very unusual for DC and makes the magic in YJ, quite unique. Since again, powerful magical beings like Zatanna or Kent Nelson can usually make contact with the afterlife. 

Meaning that access to the afterlife in YJ

Is simply not possible

Requires a specific type of magic or power

Takes an insane amount of magical power

There is a clear and distinct barrier between the living and the dead, but there is also one for the physical (mortal) plane and other dimensions.

The two interdimensional or extradimensional beings we know of, Klarion and Nabu – both need a tether to the physical plane: a host wearing the helmet of fate for Nabu and Klarion’s familiar Teekl. 

And there is even some question about how inter or extra one of them actually is.  

In S3E07 “Evolution,” we learn that Nabu was a son of Vandal Savage and died.

So, he wasn’t always this extradimensional being, which we know he definitely is now, given how in S2E18 “Intervention”, Zatanna explains that Doctor Fate couldn’t do the spell that made scarab go off-mode, because the spell is human in origin. 

Yet, even with Nabu’s mortal origin – there are still these strict limitations on his existence in the mortal or physical plane.

Basically, this just seems like such a great way to introduce Raven and set her apart from other characters who are somewhat similar to her in terms of powersets (Zatanna, Miss Martian, Halo, Shade).

Not only is Raven from Azarath – an interdimensional realm that exists between other planes of reality; but on Azarath, there is the Great Door, a giant portal to the nether-realms.

Oh, and Raven is a portal herself. Not just, she can create and open portals – but she is specifically Trigon’s portal. 

Look, it just seems really, really odd to me that in YJ the afterlife is beyond certain characters’ abilities when usually it’s not. It just stands out to me and considering how I’m obsessed with Raven – I see a connection.

Zatanna vs Doctor Fate

Zatanna and Doctor Fate’s story seems unresolved, especially considering that Fate is possessing Zatanna’s father; and Giovanni looking like he aged a lot more than 8 years when we saw him in S3E04, “Private Security.”

Zatanna might be able to work with Fate and learn under him, but it seems like she will always be at odds with Nabu (or should be, considering the situation).

Raven could be another spot of contention for these two.

Perhaps a change from the comics, maybe Fate is the one who can’t see pass Raven’s father, but Zatanna can. Or maybe something else entirely. I don’t know.

Maybe Zatanna reaches out to Raven in order to try and save her father. Or maybe Raven’s offers a deal, I’ll help you with your father if you help me with mine.

Hell Freezing Over

The comment about hell freezing over with Cassandra in S4E05… I don’t know, demons, I guess. Big things changing and all. 

This is nothing. I just immediately thought of Raven, when I heard Cassandra confirming, that hell had indeed frozen over. 

Beast Boy

Chosen by Monkey God

Since, it was introduced in S3E012 “Nightmare Monkeys,” the idea of Beast Boy being chosen by a monkey god struck me as odd. Just because Beast Boy’s origin is largely “science” based and not magical.

There is technically The Red, think speed force but with animal powers, but that always felt tacked on and kind of forced (imo).

In YJ, though the idea of magic being part of Beast Boy’s story felt super strange; just because his origin is one of the most explored and explained in the show –

Season 1 – Blood transfusion from Miss Martian, potentially activating his meta-gene or creating it.

Season 2 – The trauma of witnessing his mom’s death likely triggered his meta-gene or just led him to be adopted by superheroes.

Then Season 3 came along, and said BB was apparently picked to be Beast Boy from the very start, by a magical being.

The show had already changed his origin from the comics; so, adding a whole new element in Season 3, felt weird and a bit confusing to me.

What’s the point? Why waste screen time on something as random as BB being chosen by a Monkey God, if it’s not true to some degree?

So, it seems safe to say it’s true. Because again, very bad writing if it’s not and we don’t have another reason for why the Goode Goggles malfunctioned in the first place.

Now what does any of this have to do with Raven?

Well, when I think of Beast Boy and magic, my mind goes to Beast Boy and Raven: the most prominent magic user in his life – a longtime friend, teammate, and prominent love interest. Beast Boy’s relationship or connection with magic, is largely through Raven. 

And honestly, if Starfire, Dick, or Cyborg’s origin was also suddenly revealed to be magical in origin - my mind would go to Raven as well.

Especially, if in the very same episode, there was a reference to Teen Titans Go; and in said reference, Negative Man a character whose power is somewhat similar to Raven’s was turned into Negative Woman and voiced by Tara Strong, who famously voiced Raven. 

Just the combination of all of that, makes me think of Raven. I don’t have any idea how she could possibly be involved, but “Nightmare Monkeys” made me very aware of Raven not existing in YJ, especially since we just met Cyborg in the previous episode “Another Freak” (S3E11). 

Relationship Troubles

Given Perdita’s voicemail in S4E02 “Needful,” it seems like things are not going great for Gardita. Largely because Beast Boy and Perdita are very busy individuals who are having difficulty making time for one another to their individual responsibilities, with being a superhero/actor and a queen.

And, maybe it was just BB feeling the effects of the psychic blast he recently experienced, but he didn’t seem all that concern or emotionally involved listening to Perdita’s message. He was just scrolling through his phone, not even reacting to her reaching out to him.

Which is not a great sign.

I also don’t recall him looking at any pictures of him and Perdita, while he was on Mars, just the Outsiders; indicating to me, that he’s missing his team and friends, more than his girlfriend. 

It makes sense to me, that their priorities aren’t exactly matching nowadays. While Perdita corrected herself saying the Outsiders were important period, not just important to BB, it’s not crazy that the Outsiders aren’t as important to her as they are to Beast Boy. That’s reasonable. Especially if she feels emotionally neglected, and considering BB’s overall moodiness and emotional trauma before Mars, I 100% see him distancing himself from Perdita and becoming solely focus on the Outsiders. 

Which her voicemail indicated was the case. 

None of this guarantees Raven at all.

But I had a theory, that if Raven did become a character in YJ a relationship between her and BB could grow, because Beast Boy and Perdita would start to become emotionally distant due to their busy lives and maybe even break up. And it was just interesting to see that I was kind of right; Gar and Perdita have grown distant over the past year, based on Perdita’s message, at least. 

Forgetting Raven for a second, it might be nice seeing BB choose to end his relationship, not because he dislikes Perdita or anything, but because he needs to work on himself. 

And since he just lost Superboy, I can see BB struggling with maintaining his relationship with Perdita. Or maybe Superboy’s death will help them get back together, seeing as Wally’s death led to them getting involved in the first place. 

I can see both happening. 

In general, there’s been a lot of emphasis on Beast Boy’s emotional trauma and considering how Raven, one of his major love interests is an empath, that feels like something to me. 

And, when it comes to BBRAE, there tends to be a lot of focus on Beast Boy being Raven’s light, but less so on how Raven would thus be Beast Boy’s darkness.

Let me explain. 

I think for any relationship with Raven, a person should be the light to Raven’s darkness, but in reverse, Raven should be the darkness to their light. So, while, many characters can be the light for Raven, they don’t really need her darkness, except Beast Boy (imo).

Beast Boy’s unique, in the sense that while he’s dealt with so much darkness and pain in his past (like many other characters), he doesn’t dwell on it at all, let alone think about his trauma. He’s even said that if he stops joking around and thinks about his sadness, he’ll just fall into an abyss.

So, because Beast Boy has spent so long, ignoring and repressing his sadness and trauma and forcing (toxic) positivity onto himself, Raven’s darkness provides Beast Boy the ability to fall safely into the abyss and deal with his trauma and negative emotions. 

Raven basically lets Beast Boy slow down and be sad. It would just be nice and interesting to see that part of their relationship explored.

We often see what Beast Boy does for Raven, but not what Raven does for Beast Boy, and again, with all the emphasis on his emotional trauma in Young Justice, Beast Boy might need to meet Raven someday. 

Nevermore

Young Justice had an episode titled Nevermore and Raven didn’t even make a cameo, and I’m still bitter about it. 

--

Yeah, this definitely isn’t a joke anymore. 

Is all of this beyond thin and probably nothing at all? 

Absolutely.

Am I combining plot points that might be completely unrelated in the hopes of seeing my beautiful Raven once more? 

Absolutely.

[ratzmatazz]

Polyfill stuffing tips I learned so far from trial and error on toys:

Stuffing is responsible for 70% of how good the final toy looks, make sure you’re using it to accentuate the shapes in the doll you want. 

When you’re stuffing the face, start on the perimeter and move in. Starting from the center tends to make the face bulge out unnaturally against the rest of the face

Make sure the ratios on the toy are correct, for lack of better words? Adding stuffing is a 3D game- while you’re adding to fill out the toy vertically, if you don’t position it correctly it also adds width to the toy, which might not be something you want- especially in thin fins/wings. It’s rather akin to sculpting. 

THIS IS A BIG ONE. IF YOU’RE USING POLYFILL, FLUFF UP AND TEAR OFF CHUNKS OF THE FILL AND LAYER THAT IN. YOU WILL THANK ME I PROMISE IT MAKES THE TOY SO MUCH SOFTER FEELING WITHOUT SACRIFICING THE WEIGHT + IT MEANS THE STUFFING COALESCES LESS TOO AS A BONUS AND IS EASIER TO SHAPE OVERALL.

Keep the amount of stuffing relatively even, or at least consistent in broad shapes, ESPECIALLY in extremeties like noses/fingers and paws/tails. If it isn’t even, the stuffing tends to clump together and leave strange pockets of air + hard feeling balls in the toy. 

Again, you really want to layer the stuffing and be gentle with it, it takes very little pressure when pushing  Another reason not to be rough with stuffing: it can stretch the fabric and force stuffing through the holes, which is really tedious to clean up

Less can be more with stuffing: overstuffing your toys can give them a totally different feel, sometimes to the detriment of the toy. Imo you want toys to be squishable but not limp/floppy, it can help to put a little more overall in as stuffing tends to lose volume over time, but never so much that the toy becomes stiff or hard. 

dear god tight seams are so important, nothing can help sink a project than having stuffing poking out of the seams. Be really careful of this with sewing as well as you can accidentally trap polyfill in your stitches so it permanently pokes out

Black stuffing is really good for darker toys, my local Michaels sells it so I assume it’s at least purchasable at Michaels?? It’s so good though you don’t realize how weird white polyfill being barely visible under the stitches makes the toy look until after it’s gone

These are mostly from the perspective of knitted toys, but if you’re a toymaker of another craft and these help you I’d love to hear so !! ^^