#woman who everyone thinks is selfish and shallow but is actually way more complex than that

[sketching-shark]

Why The Alien Queen Is The Best Space Villain Ever

While James Cameron’s Aliens is a classic of the sci-fi/horror genre, I do feel a small plot summary is warranted in order to make my case of why the Alien Queen far outshines any sci-fi villain before or since. 

So we begin the story with the discovery of Ellen Ripley, former flight officer of the Nostromo, a space ship that she blew up in her first movie to prevent a dangerous extraterrestrial carnivore/parasite called a xenomorph from getting anywhere close to Earth. Discovered 57 years after the fact (she put herself in stasis on an escape pod), Ripley is almost immediately thrust into corporate and emotional hell by double-whammy of both discovering her daughter had died while she was in stasis and having her flight officer license revoked by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, who she used to work for. This is, of course, in addition to the trauma that she sustained at the maw of the xenomorph from the first film, and now besides being thrust into a situation where she has to scramble for a job she’s massively overqualified for and that pays dust, she has constant nightmares. So basically, Ripley has had her entire life ripped apart and ruined by the actions of the Weyland-Utani corporation and the xenomorphs, and all this in addition to her learning that the planet where her deceased crew first discovered the xenomorph is now home to a terraforming colony of 158 people. Yet soon after Ripley’s rough reintroduction to the living world, the colony goes completely quiet, with xenomorph-related activity being indicated as a possible cause. And guess who’s called in to help with that mess? But even with her xenomorph-related trauma and absolute distrust of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, Ripley agrees to go with a bunch of space marines to investigate with the understanding that they’re going to destroy the beasties and not even attempt to study them. 

Anyway, Ripley and a gaggle of space marines head down to the terraforming colony, and discover sure signs that there has been a xenomorph attack. Besides that, all the colonists have disappeared. They also discover a single survivor, a traumatized little girl nicknamed Newt. And THEN they discover that all the colonists were brought into a nuclear-powered atmosphere processing station by the xenomorphs, where they were subsequently forced to play tonsil-hokey with the first step of a xenomorph’s life process, a  facehugger, which infects its host with a parasite called a chestburster (the name is quite literal), which then turns into an all-grown-up xenomorph. Terrifying process, and just as painful as it sounds! and And just when you’ve discovered THAT bit of info, the xenomorphs go on full attack, making quick work of quite a few of the marines. And THEN it’s discovered that this all came about because one of Weyland-Yutani’s sleazy money-makers, a prick named Carter Burke, directed a couple of colonists to the spot Ripley said the xenomorph eggs encountered in the first movie were, and all because he wanted to profit from the xenomorphs’ potential use as biological weapons. Why did he do this? Because the desire for obscene amounts of possible cash makes you both evil and stupid.  

So the space marines and Ripley and Newt fight and struggle on, losing more and more members. The xenomorphs are RELENTLESS, neither taking nor giving quarter, completely determined, like a pack of overgrown ants, to end their foes/prey no matter what. Eventually, Newt herself gets snatched by one of the xenomorphs, and after arming herself with a flame thrower/machine gun combo literally held together with duct tape, Ripley goes to the rescue! And then, once Ripley has FINALLY found Newt, managing to save her just in time from a facehugger, you have The Reveal of our main nemesis:

And there she is. The source of all the horror (well, her and the Weyland-Yutani corporation), the one whose monstrous progeny have been hunting our heroes and threatening them with an extremely painful demise, and who, at this point in the film, have successfully merked almost everyone.

And how could you not love her/be terrified of her? I mean, just look at her! It’s rare to see a lady monster in fiction that actually looks like a monster (instead of a human woman with a tail and blue skin or smthn), but it’s even rarer, even now, to find one that is this vicious on every level. The movie has spent its runtime building up to this, and boy does it deliver. So here she finally is, living her best life, laying all those eggs, getting all those humans (the men, the women, the children...) infected with her chestbursters--and the movie does NOT censor how painful a death that is--and best of all, besides looking cool as all get-out, she’s not making a SINGLE excuse for all the death and destruction that she’s caused. As the android Ash said in Alien (the film before the one that features our queen), the xenomorph species of which our queen is a member are “unclouded....by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.” But having none herself, the Alien Queen expects none from her foes. The Alien Queen is presented as nothing but what she is, i.e. a voracious monster who wiped out an entire colony of human beings and condemned them all to a horrifying death. Not only does she not feel sorry for this in the least, not only does she make a grand effort to catch and destroy a human child in the climax, not only does she rip one of the characters in half in an incredibly graphic scene, not only does she try her damndest to kill Ripley in what can only be considered one of the most iconic sci-fi fights out there, but she does this all without a shred of remorse or a smidgen of painfully hollow pleading for her foes to understand where she’s coming from. 

None of this “wah we wah I feel slightly conflicted about being incredibly evil so now you should feel sorry for me even though I’m literally complicit in multi-planetary genocide”! 

None of that “A bloo bloo bloo Lisa I’m being torn apart by the fact that I destroyed half of all life in the universe (plants and animals included!) because I refuse to acknowledge that the reasons for environmental destruction might be more complicated than “population too big!’”   

Time after time after time, we see villains like the two twerps above act like somehow they’re soooooo complex and tragic for committing all the atrocities that they do, and in between murdering way more people than the Alien Queen ever did, they spend way too much of their time blaming everyone and everything around them for the pain and suffering that is a direct result of their own actions. So these dweebs do have higher body counts than our Queen. But does that make them better villains? NO. I’m fully aware that I can’t speak for everyone, but personally I’d have a LOT more respect for them if they could just pull their heads out of their asses, acknowledge all the harm they’ve done, and either stop doing it and make reparations (don’t think that’s very possible after that level of destruction, tho!) or continue with their villainous ways in full understanding and acknowledgement of what they’re doing, no excuses, no attempts to justify the unjustifiable, just like the Alien Queen. Some might say that this is only because the Alien Queen, being a space parasite, doesn’t have the cognitive capacity to argue that she’s some sort of twagic figure for all of her murdering. 

But you know what? GOOD. I’d rather have a space parasite that knows what it’s about then some jerk flipping through mental hoops like a pro gymnast in an attempt to find some shallow reason for why he’s not completely reprehensible. 

And THAT, in my opinion, is why the Alien Queen is the best sci-fi villain ever. So to wrap it all up, the moral of this shitpost is: If you’re going to be a violently destructive space monster driven by nothing but your sense of superiority and selfish desires, at least have the decency to not pretend otherwise.  

[saphraen]

RWBY Vol 5 Review

And so ends volume 5! I'm not going to go too in depth for this specific episode since I think others have substantially covered it, but I'd like to share my overall thoughts on this volume. ​I posted this on the RT forums, but I figured I might as well post here too so it doesn’t get lost in a sea of comments. 

What this volume did well:

1) Character development

Bravo! I was really, really impressed by how well you guys developed your characters this volume. It was something that the show has been lacking in favor of plot and action and you really made up for it this time. As much as I love the story and the world that you have created, what consistently draws me back in are the characters. The four main girls mean a lot to me for many different reasons, and it's been so rewarding seeing them grow and address their flaws. Others have said that many characters took a backseat this volume, but I think that's okay. It's impossible to develop every character at once, and that's why different volumes have focused on different characters. If we look back:

Volume 1 - Jaune and Blake

Volume 2 - A bit of everyone (i.e. Mountain Glen)

Volume 3 - Yang?

Volume 4 - Weiss, Blake, Ren/Nora

Volume 5 - Yang, Blake, Ilia, Raven

The biggest problem within the topic of character development, of course, is Ruby. As the main protagonist she desperately needs some development of her own, but little things like the "I'm angry" line and her working on hand-to-hand combat show that she hasn't entirely been forgotten, so I suspect you're saving the focus on her for later when we finally delve into the Silver Eyed Warriors and Summer's backstory. I'm desperately holding out for a moment when she reaches her limit and needs her team to pull her back together.

I'll just quickly go over a couple of the characters that we focused on in Volume 5. First off, Yang! Finally we get some development for this girl! I'll be honest here: for the first 2.5 volumes I didn't care about Yang at all. She was badass, her semblance was cool, and her puns were great, but she was also very shallow. It wasn't until the end of volume 3 that I actually became invested. Cutting off her arm was perhaps the single best decision ever made for her character, because it finally made her real. It forced her to sit down and examine a) what her flaws are and b) what she's fighting for. I loved that this volume she decided that her priority was protecting Ruby, that she decided fuck you mom I'm better than you. Her speech to Raven in the finale was very powerful, because it shows the true nature of her character. She's not simply the party girl here for a good time, she's the rock that holds team RWBY together. I liked that in this volume she was clearly very broken and still working through the physical and emotional consequences of what happened at Beacon. She very obviously isn't okay, and I hope that comes back in Vol 6. I also think that her decision to accept Blake's return is extremely significant, and shows how she's grown. Raven just ran away, again, at the exact same time that Blake came back, and I think that in that moment Yang realized that they're not the same person. That being said, I really really hope that in Vol 6 they have to work to repair their friendship, or at least have a conversation about it.  

And now on the topic of Blake! Oh man you guys really killed it this time. Blake is perhaps the character that receives the greatest spotlight in this show, and although this frustrates some I think that it's ultimately paid off. She's come such a long way from the quiet, closed-off girl of Vol 1 and 2. I almost cried when we found out that she asked Sun to come with her when she talked to Ilia. Finally, finally, she's learned that she doesn't have to do everything alone. Many have criticized the Menagerie subplot for being unnecessary and boring, but for the most part I disagree. Was it perhaps a bit drawn-out and repetitive at times? Absolutely. But it was also so unbelievably important to Blake's arc, and provided an opportunity in the form of Ilia for Blake to put in practice what she's learned about accepting the help of others and not running away. It ultimately allowed her to return and be able to face both Adam and her team. Seriously, she called out to both Adam and Yang! Pre-Menagerie Blake would never have been able to do that out of fear and guilt. Furthermore (and I truly honestly never thought I would say this), this volume made me love and appreciate Sun. He is perhaps the single best friend in this entire show, and he has been so essential to teaching Blake that she needs to let her friends in. He has consistently been the force that drives Blake back to her team (asking her in Vol 1 why she hasn't told her friends about being a faunus, telling her in Vol 4 that Yang would sacrifice her arm again to protect her, the tail grab to spin her to face her friends this episode!! YOU GUYS!!!), and it was so cool to see Blake recognize this and thank him for it. You did so well with these two, CRWBY, so thank you.

2) Technical animation I was really blown away by how visually stunning RWBY was this volume! It seems the crew has really gotten into their stride using Maya, and it certainly paid off. The detail in every shot was absolutely incredible - the backgrounds are beautiful, hair is looking better than ever, and the expressions!!!! Holy shit you guys all of the facial expressions were so well done. You were able to convey so much simply with eye animation. They really gave us a sense of exactly what each character was feeling without saying a single word. A great example of this that stood out to me was Weiss during the RWY reunion. She didn't say anything, but just from the animation of her face I could tell what was going through her mind: happiness at seeing her friends reunite with their family, then sadness upon realizing that she's not part of it and no longer has a home, and then finally utter relief and joy at being welcomed into that family. And Blake's cat ears!! Thank god the bow is finally gone because I absolutely loved seeing her emote with them. Excellent job with this.

3) Emotion I suppose this one is sort of a combination of my previous points, but I think it warrants its own discussion. There were so many times this volume where I was moved to tears, where I yelled out loud, where I rewatched over and over because those scenes were just so impactful. I lost it completely when Weiss finally sees Yang and just tosses aside her sword and jumps onto Yang, declaring how much she missed her. This is why I love RWBY. Not because of the world, not because of the fights, but because of the depth of the characters and their relationships with each other. Weiss Schnee, the perfectly composed and aloof heiress, just threw her most prized possession that she'd finally gotten back on the ground so that she could embrace the only friend she'd seen in months. That moment, and many others like it, were so unbelievably powerful. Even small moments, like Ruby saying "soon you'll be combat ready!", Raven saying "I'm sorry", Ilia saying "I don't know what else to do" really tugged at my heart. Another example I'd like to point out was Emerald's reaction to Cinder losing in this episode. It was so cool to see Emerald, whose entire world is Cinder, completely break down, and I can't wait to see what's in store for her character next.    

Finally, there are two other things I'd like to point out that don't exactly fit under those categories. The first is the plot twist that revealed Raven to be the spring maiden. Although a few guessed it, I myself did not see it coming at all and was completely blown away. The red herring with Vernal completely fooled me, and the reveal was perfect. Raven throwing off her mask and saying "Vernal's not the spring maiden. I am" sent chills down my spine. And it added a level of complexity to Raven's character that was desperately needed. Suddenly her motivations make more sense. She's a fascinating character because, on the one hand, she portrays herself as someone who prioritizes survival over emotional attachments, but on the other hand she literally has a semblance that is grounded in those attachments. There's clearly a lot more to her character that we haven't seen yet, and being a maiden could go a long way in explaining her actions. Many have criticized her for sort of being all over the place, which if we take everything at face value is true. The thing is, I'm not entirely convinced that what she says is the truth. Did she really kill the previous spring maiden? If so, the explanation that she left her family to prevent them from being a target due to her maiden powers falls apart and she becomes much less interesting. And did she really want the relic to protect her tribe against Salem? Because there's no way she didn't realize that Salem would then hunt her more until Yang pointed that out. So the jury's out on her, because a cowardly character who left her family simply because she's selfish is much less compelling than a character who puts on a front of being strong and distances herself from those she loves to protect them. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, but nevertheless good job in crafting an extremely complex character!  

The second is Ilia. There has been a lot of discourse regarding this character, and I'd just like to share my own perspective. Personally, I think CRWBY did an absolutely fantastic job with this character. I've been waiting for LGBT representation in RWBY for so long, and although it's perhaps a bit overdue, I can honestly say that I am so grateful for the character that they gave us. I'm a sucker for redemption arcs, so I liked her even before we found out about her feelings for Blake, but that just cemented my love for her. I'm saying this as a gay woman, and I think that you handled the reveal perfectly. Her declaration felt very natural in the moment, and it went a long way in adding a level of complexity that explained her actions. Ilia wasn't working against Blake's family out of revenge for Blake not returning her feelings; rather, those feelings were what made carrying out those order so hard. The outrage that RWBY's first openly queer character was a villain was unjustified because she was never shown to be irredeemable. She was never an evil, heartless villain. In fact, she was set up to be a foil to Adam, who is the evil irredeemable villain. People have said that her redemption was too abrupt and unbelievable, but I completely disagree. From the moment she first appeared on screen, she was consistently shown to be conflicted about working for the White Fang and hurting Blake. And she got that redemption! And she didn't die! I love this character so much, and I know that CRWBY does too, and I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for her. Thank you. Truly.      

Okay now that I'm done gushing, onto what didn't work this volume! Much of what I'm going to say has been said by others, but I feel it bears worth repeating.

1) Show vs. tell: As I mentioned before, a strength of this volume was the character development. I appreciate that you took the time to address that, and I feel that there were many conversations in this volume that added a lot of necessary dimension. A good example was the scene between Weiss and Yang, where we finally got a look into Yang's feelings towards Blake leaving, and a seed was planted for whether or not Yang will forgive her when she returns. That being said, there were many conversations that didn't add anything. Dialogue is great when it furthers a character, but using it to further plot is... iffy. You guys have built an incredibly complex world, and I get that this volume was an attempt to a) get all of the characters up to speed and b) explain gaps in your story and world. And that's okay to do occasionally (for example, explaining more about aura since that's been a confusing and inconsistent topic), but when every episode has a long exposition scene... I swear, there were at least three scenes that took place with everyone sitting on those same couches in the same bland setting. The biggest problem with these exposition scenes was that, for the most part, they covered things that the audience already knew or could figure out, with maybe one or two new pieces of information. The scene with Yang and Weiss in Raven's tent was infuriating, because it had been built up for four seasons with very little payoff. And then everything we learned was basically restated a couple episodes later in the living room. In a show with a mere 14 episodes averaging 15 minutes each, you absolutely cannot do this. Every second is crucial and must be treated as such. If specific characters need to be filled in, that should generally happen off-screen with a line acknowledging that it happened. This volume started off quite well, with the fast pacing allowing RWY to be reunited by chapter 6. After that, though, the show slowed to a halt because of episode after episode of dialogue. Early RWBY volumes relied too much on action, but this volume relied too much on exposition.  Ironically, despite its criticism for not advancing the plot and spreading itself too thin, I think that Vol 4 had the best balance of action and exposition. I believe that one day you guys are going to get it right, and I hope that this feedback can help that!      

2) Action And nooooow onto the most heavily critiqued aspect of this volume. I'm not going to lament for the days of Monty's fight choreography, because I think that's completely unfair. Monty was an incredibly skilled animator, and his fights were absolutely unique. They were what drew many people to the show in the first place. And the thing is, it's okay that the fights aren't yet up to par with what he could do. It's okay that RWBY has evolved past being a show that is entirely driven by its fight scenes! I'd rather have a well-balanced show with good plot and character development than something that is only entertaining because of its flashy action shots. THAT BEING SAID: I don't expect you to be on Monty's level, but I do expect you do actually include fight scenes. I'm sorry, but you just can't get around that. This is a show about a group of teenagers who are training to become fighters in order to save the world. At its core, that is RWBY. Unless you want to change the whole premise of the show, you simply cannot avoid animating fight scenes. I suppose this comment is more directed at the fans who rail against people for being upset about the lack of action in RWBY, rather than its creators, since I'm sure they're already aware of that. I'm not an animator, so I'm not going to comment on the quality of the fight scenes since I honestly have very little idea what goes into creating a good fight scene. But I will comment on the fact that over the course of this volume it became obvious to me that CRWBY was avoiding animating fights whenever they could. The exposition itself wouldn't have been so frustrating if it had culminated in action. The problem was, any time dialogue naturally built up to a fight, either it was diffused before getting to that point OR the camera cut away and came back after the fight had been finished. And the most frustrating thing about this volume was that there were plenty of moments that naturally led into fight scenes that we didn't get to see! To name a few: Blake and Sun vs the bat and spider faunus, Weiss and Yang vs the tribe, Emerald vs the bandits, Yang vs Merc (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY DID WE NOT SEE THIS REMATCH), Ruby vs Emerald, Ruby Weiss and Blake vs Emerald Merc and Hazel (SERIOUSLY??? THIS ONE WAS THE MOST INFURIATING!!!! WE FINALLY HAVE A CHANCE FOR A TEAM FIGHT AND THE CAMERA JUST CUT AWAY? Please you guys I'm begging). And the thing that gets me is knowing that CRWBY canstill animate compelling fights. They did it in Vol 4, they did it with Yang vs the bandits, and they did it with the Maiden fight! I know you guys can do it, which makes it so frustrating that you don't. The pacing of this volume would have vastly improved if you'd let those scenes fully play out, instead of cutting to another dialogue scene and destroying all of the tension you had carefully built up. If the animators are afraid of animating fights, then its time to hire someone who isn't because, as I said before, this is an action show. It's like if BNHA (another story about teenagers going to school to learn how to fight) suddenly stopped showing all their fights. It wouldn't be nearly as good of a show if you didn't get to see all of the training the characters have done finally pay off. Thus, going into Volume 6, you really need to evaluate where your resources go. Many others have suggested this, but I really think that having fewer, longer episodes would go a long way in allowing you the time to create a more polished and balanced show. I'm okay with waiting an extra week if it means that the pacing isn't constantly disrupted by cliffhangers and cuts away from action.  

3) Mistral???? The last comment I want to make is one that I haven't seen many others bring up yet, but I think it's important to address. An issue with this volume was that there was this big battle built up for Haven, but neither we nor the characters were given any reason to actually care about Haven beyond "it would be bad if Salem gets the relic." If you craft this huge world, giving us four very distinct kingdoms and allowing the characters to explore them, then you need to actually let the characters explore them. I liked Vol 4 because we moved through the different towns in Anima and got to see how they were different from Vale. And Mistral was set up to be this fascinatingly complex kingdom, with a vibrant landscape and a complex social hierarchy. I loved learning about it in WoR, and was excited to explore it more this volume. Except then we barely got to see it at all... We had a beautiful montage at the beginning of the volume, and got to see Qrow wander around looking for huntsmen, but that was it. I seriously can't believe you guys wasted such a great opportunity to explore the kingdom. I get that it's hard to fit in everything, but if you had taken one of those exposition heavy scenes and placed it while the characters were walking through the city you would have killed two birds with one stone. Instead of having everyone catch up around the dining table have them do so while exploring the market! Have Weiss and Yang talk on a fountain outside of the house. There's no point in giving us information about Remnant if you don't actually use it in the show, ya feel? I'm saying this now because we still have two kingdoms left to explore, and it seems as though Atlas is next. So here is my advice to you for Volume 6: show us what Atlas is like. Show us why it's different from Vale and Mistral. Give us a reason to care about saving it.

And there you go! This is most of my feedback for RWBY Volume 5. Props to you if you read this whole thing, and thanks for taking the time to listen to my thoughts! I would like to finish this by saying that the criticism I give is not out of malice. There's this absurd notion that to enjoy something means that you can't criticize it, and I think that that's a very unproductive mentality. RWBY is a show that is very important to me, and I just want to see it be the best that it can be! If my feedback is at all read and considered, then it was worth spending a couple hours typing up. Despite the problems I had with this volume, I certainly enjoyed watching it - this was my first time watching the show serially and engaging with the community has been a lot of fun! RWBY is only getting better, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what the future has in store. All of your hard work certainly doesn't go unappreciated, so thank you again for a great volume :)

[oceanwitch]

you said that the dark zodiac is based off of real people you know and characters. is it okay for me to ask the story behind them?

Aries is based on the deviant trope. An uncontrollable individual who lives a hedonistic lifestyle. They indulge themselves on toxic things, such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc. They are manipulative, and don’t care about other people’s feelings, especially if it gets in the way of things they desire. So Aries After Dark, I pictured as like that guy or girl at an edgy night club, who is dtf. Down to fuck and/or fight. This is based off of the negative traits of an Aries; dominate, stubborn, short tempered, unpredictable, selfish. I don’t know many aries in person, so it was hard to find inspiration for this based on real people, so I went with character tropes.

Taurus was a little more difficult, so it is loosely based off someone I know who is a Taurus that I don’t like. They’re lazy, and materialistic, and blame other people for their own faults and bad luck. So I combined that person with my character I made in Zodiac as Antagonists series, as a rich, self indulgent, greedy business man trope. I ended up with a character that has a princess/prince complex, that doesn’t really like to do anything, takes what they have for granted, and values materialistic and shallow things in life. Such as jewellery, expensive alcohol, money, etc. Taurus after dark is passive aggressive, sarcastic, and unambitious, and is too stubborn to change who they are, which is the crowning fault of this person I based this on.

Gemini is a complex one. Every bad ex I’ve dated has been a gemini. So in this I rolled them all in one. These people were two-faced, untrustworthy, inconsistent, high strung, fickle minded. As a lot of Gemini’s would testify, they do not like the stereotype that Gemini’s are crazy, or psycho/sociopaths, because their dual personalities and high anxious behavioural issues makes them hard to understand. Which is why I chose that quote “You’re a Psychopath” “I prefer creative”. It just illustrates the opinion of how others see Gemini, vs how they view themselves. So Gemini after dark as a character is a person who is indecisive, and fickle minded. They’re liars and backstabbers because they are incapable of keeping promises, and they know this, so they keep that part of themselves hidden upon first introductions. But they’re also confused by their own self. They don’t know what they want, they dont understand their own emotions. They’re not good with them.

Cancer, as I’ve mentioned, is heavily based off of who I was when I was a teenager and an early adult. So I’ll break down the imagery I’ve used to illustrate this. One thing that cancers are known for is sentimentality. They grow too attached to things. I’ve linked sentimentality with christian imagery, which also symbolizes my struggle with finding myself spiritually through religion. The crown of thorns and the crying Madonna symbolized martyrdom; I kept on sacrificing my own happiness, or rather giving it up. I consensually put myself in pain on purpose. I was drowning in my own pain and emotions, and to deal with that I over indulged myself in unhealthy habits. In the graphic I used smoking as an example, but for me it wasn’t smoking, it was food and drugs and sex. In terms of relationships, I fell in love too fast and too easily, and I would do anything for these people that I fell in love with, even if it meant carving my heart out for them. But as I grew up, and had to live through my share of Gemini’s (read above), I became more and more aromantic. Hence the Love is a lie image.

Leo is another personal one, because this one is talking about a very specific person in my life, who I won’t name, nor share my relation to them. Now I usually get along with leos; the people closest to me are leos. But this particular leo embodies all the negative traits of one. This person believes they are the protagonist of everyone’s story, and everyone else is an antagonist, or a supporting character. They surround themselves with “yes” people, to fuel the illusion that they’re always right and everyone else is wrong. This person does not swallow their pride, and has no intention to. Their pride is the most valuable thing they have, and the only thing that’s important to them. They’re vain, and materialistic. And their claws come out when someone threatens to take away their crown or bruises their pride, or takes something away from them. This person has no problem retaliating and ruining people’s lives. They would set the world on fire if they could. In short, this person is the real life Cersei Lannister.

Virgo I had a little fun with. I had this character idea of a conservative woman that people over look, but is actually a very dangerous person. So I played with the name Virgo, and used Christian symbolism, but I also balanced it with gothic, and witchy aesthetics, and created a story. Virgo’s appearance is very conservative. She’s very critical, and is never in a good mood. But she’s a mason jar that’s been over stuffed with evil that’s about to explode. She’s trying to control these ghosts that stir in her, but every once in a while, when something tries her patience, she acts out. She does not like to be messy, though, so she berates herself afterwards. Virgo after dark is probably one of the very few in this series that has a story behind it. I just visualized a woman in Salem, trying to hide her craft, and being the perfect image of christian puritan woman, but everyone knows there is something dark behind that white lace.

Libra is the reason why I started this series. The most common complaint I’ve seen is that people were growing tired of libra being depicted as light-hearted and soft. So, because of this, I focused on the traits superficial, self-indulgent, and manipulative. Libra’s were also said to be introverts, so I came with the idea of a lone-wolf type. So this aesthetic is inspired by my interpretation of Druella Rosier, Bellatrix Lestrange’s mother. I’ve role played her before, so I was able to draw imagery into this that would relate to her. So Druella, or rather Libra, is a born-rich woman, who is smarter, wiser, and more cunning than people take her for. She doesnt want to live on the name of her father, but make her own name for herself. All her successes are her own. She’s a boss bitch. She gets shit things done alone, and doesn’t need help from others. Libra would destroy your life from the inside out, and it would be right under your nose.

Scorpio’s are my baes. I’ve never met a scorpio that I didn’t like. With that being said, Scorpio’s in a negative light are frightening. They’re very passionate, but because of that they can get obsessive, possessive, jealous, controlling, resentful, suspicious, and dominating. Other people cannot touch what is theirs. What’s worst, is that Scorpio’s are exceptionally mysterious when it comes to emotions and what they’re feeling, so you never really know what they’re thinking or feeling. Scorpio is really based off of every character I’ve ever fallen in love with but would be extremely bad for me. Scorpio after dark is the bad boy that isn’t good for you, and you should not want to be with, and will never change no matter how hard you try. They’ve really sexual, as well, which keys in with the possessive and dominant traits. We’re talking about a Christian Grey type character. But a well written version. Just to make an emphasis of how dangerous this type of person is; most serial killers are born in November, including Charles Manson.

Sagittarius was a bit hard, because the only one that I knew in my life that I didn’t like, did not embody any of the traits of a sagittarius at all, not even the good ones. They were just one blah of a person. But the other ones that I knew, I knew as very adventurous people. They weren’t in the same place for long. So I started to think of any negative traits they had, and that was carelessness and tactlessness. So I constructed a criminal, “dare devil”, type of character that lives outside the law and does what they please. They don’t care about getting hurt, and if something bad happens they just call it part of the journey. The carelessness comes with them not thinking things through, how that this person doesn’t consider how their actions and words could harm other people. They’re knowingly breaking laws and rules, but with their overconfidence, they believe they wont get caught.

Capricorns I’ve always seen as the masculine version of virgo, which already comes with implications. So I based Capricorn after a character who is a capricorn, and that’s Tom Riddle/Voldemort. Capricorn after dark is a malicious figure of power that resides behind the curtains. He is Oz, if Oz was a fascist or the leader of the illuminati. We’re talking about an individual that is dangerous on a global scale. He is both death and the devil, but sees himself as a god. Every chaotic event that’s ever took place in history has been carefully planned and executed by this person, and you have no idea. He is not sentimental, he is not empathetic, he gives zero fucks about anyone. His scale of morality doesn’t exist, he just wants control and power to the highest degree. The kick of it, he doesn’t have to be one person.

Aquarius is the most unique Zodiac. It’s an air sign that’s symbolized by water, for some reason. They’re the dreamers, but I call them airheads. Not because they’re stupid, but because they have thoughts of grander. So for my Aquarius, I brought back from my old series, Zodiac Signs as Protagonists, and put it in the negative. If there was any generation to relate Aquarius to, it would be millennials, because we were born and raised during the rise of the age of Aquarius. So really, this is based off of the negative aspects of my generation. Delusions of grander. Regretting nothing. Unwillingness to conform. Shooting for the stars, and landing in the sun. Aquarius after dark is a person that is a pariah of progressiveness, but they wear that with pride. They believe their views are the correct ones, their way of life is the best way, that everyone else are the insane ones, but at the same time question the vitality of those that begin to sway to their way of thinking. They do not conform, they do not want normalcy of a modern society. Often times they don’t have a job because they don’t want to contribute to capitalism (or rather that’s their excuse), and they are more likely to participate in riots and protests. They believe they are changing the world for the better, one brick at a cop car at a time, but they end up hurting the cause they’re trying to support.

Pisces was pretty simple. This is also another one based off of me. My moon is pisces, so I found this one easy to portray. Pisces and Aquarius are very different. While Aquarius is “woke”, Pisces is living in a willful delusion. They float through life with their eyes closed and disassociate from reality, and make no move to change, even if they live in a constant state of misery. I used drug imagery, because psychological drugs, or downers, allow you to escape from reality and your problems, and bring you into a surrealistic world where real world issues don’t exist. That’s why it’s so easy for someone to become addicted to drugs, because it’s a temporary solution to escape reality, rather than the permanent solution which would be death. Religion has also been used to ignore facts and things you do not want to accept. For example, the idea of heaven was created because people did not want to cope with the fact that one day they will be dead and none of it would have mattered.

[hogwartswelcomesyou]

The Mods Discuss: Severus Snape

Tory: Okay, so first off, I would start with this contention – Snape is a prick, but he’s done some noble things. And more importantly, those traits do not have to be mutually exclusive. 

Star: To me, you can like a character, and still loathe them as a person. Snape in the real world would make me really angry, and he is completely evil, but as a character, he is incredibly well written, super complex and very flawed, but also has a lot of strengths. He’s done some very awful things, but he has also done some good. To me though, the bad outweighs the good.

Tory: Me personally, I wouldn’t say he’s evil – just completely and totally selfish. He has a very narrow and shallow world-view, and that means that he has an underdeveloped sense of empathy for others. I’ve known people like that, and they can definitely be frustrating. I guess it comes down to the question: is a good action done for a bad reason still good?

Star: bullying loads of students and exposing Lupin as a lycanthrope isn’t evil to you? Lupin was never able to find a job after that, and his assigning the paper on werewolves meant Lupin had to read essays from his students describing how to kill him, and he was likely overrun with panic of a student working it out. He also told Voldemort he didn’t care about Harry or James, so long as Lily lived, which is giving Voldy PERMISSION to kill a toddler, who has done nothing to him. As awful as it is, I can kind of understand his willingness to give up James, seeing James was awful to him at least the one time, but LETTING SOMEONE MURDER A BABY? And to answer you Tory, I don’t think so. If there is 0 other option and you absolutely must do something bad to achieve a good end, it’s not as bad, but if you do it out of laziness or inability to think ahead, then no.

Tory: Well, admittedly, the only one who actually finished the werewolf essay was Hermione, but that’s beside the point. I guess for me I personally have difficulty labeling someone as “evil” unless they are beyond redemption or any shred of goodness. Voldemort is evil. Bellatrix is evil. Umbridge is evil. Snape is a piss-poor excuse of a human being, capable of great cruelty and spite, but he also had the ability to love and was capable of great courage and selflessness. I guess for me I just see “evil” as an all-black term, with no potential for moral grayness – and Snape I do see as a gray character. 

Star: okay, so he’s not quite on the level of Umbridge or Voldy, but I still think he’s a gutless person. The fact that Neville is more scared of Snape than Bellatrix (the woman who tortured his parents into insanity!!), says a lot to me. And when it comes to Snape and Lily, i think for him it was more obsession and idolization of a person, I really don’t think it was love. And even if only ONE student completed the essay, he still had to read his best student who could have worked it out and turned him in, explaining how best to kill him, which would scare me silly. 

Tori: I’m also not comfortable labeling someone as evil, but for different reasons. ‘Evil’ is a subjective term that people can manipulate to fit their desires. In everyone’s eyes, the other person is evil. I do understand that there are characters, such as Voldemort, who are written to be the embodiment of evil. However, there were also circumstances that were beyond his control in the first place. (Ex: he had no capability to love.) To me, Snape is not an evil character. He certainly is not good, as we see him time and time again be emotionally abusive to students. I also agree with Star, I don’t think he actually loved Lily, but rather was infatuated with her. Love is an active choice, and Snape actively turned his back on Lily, the people she cared for, and the things that mattered to her. It was only until he realized that his choices were going to lead to her death that he felt remorse. Snape is not a good guy; he’s a jerk with some childish grudges that he needs to learn to let go. He’s also not completely bad either; he’s able to see the error of his ways. I think we as a fandom should stop trying to paint him as absolutely heroic or demonic, and just let him be the multi-faceted complex character that he was. He was man who made very bad decisions, and attempted to atone for them. 

Jinxy: I agree with Tori and Tory. I think that Snape definitely is a morally gray character who truly isn’t evil, but isn’t really good either. He does some awful things, he does some not-so-awful things. He recognizes that he did some bad things, but he was also the person who decided to make those decisions in the first place. He was very cruel to Harry for most of the series, and he’s driven heavily by his feud with James and feelings(?) for Lily. He does some seriously not okay stuff, but we do slowly see him try to correct his wrongdoings. I don’t like Snape as a person, he truly is cruel and mean, no matter what he does to try and fix it. But, as a character, he is one of the most intriguing, complex, characters that I have seen, which is something that I think that the fandom needs to recognize more. Someone can be a terrible person, and still be an interesting, complex character!

MoMo: Snape will always drive me insane. I was never a huge fan of him. He was rude and let his emotions control him and that’s not something I can find myself admiring. However, I’ve seen many arguments supporting his actions due to his past, and not just based upon his desire for Lily; he was abused, and everyone copes with abuse differently. On top of that, he’s sometimes interpreted as a creep, because of how he felt for Lily, but is it really so unreasonable? When she said she didn’t have romantic feelings for him and asked for him to back off, that’s exactly what he did. All he wanted was a friend, and that’s exactly what he never got. I’d be bitter too.

Boudica: Snape…..I definitely have no love for the man. While I support the efforts that where made for the Order where great. Overwhelming it’s a hard no. Everyone who’s ever been abused has a choice to make. How will I move on from my own trauma? Will I break the cycle or continue it? At nearly every point where he could have he didn’t. Color me not impressed.

Tori: I think we’ve come to an agreement that Snape definitely isn’t a good guy. I suppose it boils down to your interpretation of evil. 

Tory: I think that’s fair. To change gears slightly, I actually find the debate about whether or not Snape loved Lily quite compelling. I personally am in the middle – he definitely did not always put Lily’s feelings first, but he did still put a lot on the line solely out of devotion to her and her cause. Coming from someone who has people in my family who love me despite also consistently being self-centered and completely ignorant about my wishes, I could believe that someone can love another person while also not fully understanding everything love entails. And I could also believe that one’s definition of love can change. As an example, Darth Vader tries at first to coax Luke to the Dark Side so they can “rule the galaxy together as father and son” – I would argue in Vader’s self-focused, Dark-Side-corrupted head, he is showing love for his son, because he wants them on the same side, rather than as enemies. Later, however, he learns the true meaning of love when he sacrifices himself to save Luke. Even my own father has tried to pressure me into certain career paths out of misguided love. So I do feel like love can be expressed badly or not always fully understood.

Squish: Hm…Honestly I think everyone has these stages when it comes to Harry Potter (about Snape). The first stage would be hating him because you’ve only read some of the books and you may think he’s evil. The second, would be thinking he’s the hero of the whole thing, which may be true in some way (barely but okay). Finally, realizing that even though he did some good towards the end, he was a total creep who never got over his childhood crush. He even went so far to abuse her son because he reminded Snape of the man she truly loved. I’m sorry if I’m being harsh, but I really don’t like Snape as a character. It’s been brought to my attention of what it might’ve been like if Harry was a female, maybe looking more like Lily. I’m not saying that he would’ve gone as far as what you may be thinking now, but like… imagine. Me personally, think Snape is very messed up as a whole. He even only really helped when he was dying, by the way.

Tori: I think you can definitely care about someone without loving them. Love is not a feeling, it’s a choice, and I think one thing JK Rowling definitely did was challenge the notion of love, and make us analyze whether or not the relationships in Harry Potter were OK. Yes, I think Snape cared about Lily, but he didn’t love her because he never respected her. Respect is the key of any relationship. If you don’t have it, it’s not healthy. 

Jinxy: Maybe it wasn’t love but more of a lust? Desire? Obsession? Long after she dies, he still brings her up. He never really moves on from her, and I think that that’s really unhealthy, both for him and his mental health and for their relationship. I’ll wrap this up by pointing towards that one famous quote: “If you love something, let it go […]” Snape really doesn't do that, does he?

What are your thoughts on Snape? Tell us below! And feel free to let us know if there are other things in the HP universe that you would like to see us discuss!