General thoughts on the trailer?

I wasn't much of a show fan to begin with. But I'm not realy stoked at all. The costumes? Bad. Rhaenyra fighting? Laughable. The voiceover by Rhaenys? Hypocritical.

At least Sunny's existence has been confimed. THE BEST BOI WILL HAVE HIS LAST MEAL, DAMMIT. Rhaenyra should start her nightly moisturizing routine with dijon mustard.

when will people learn that live-action remakes will never be good as their original animated counterparts because the glory of animation is the colour, movement, and fantasy that's just untranslateable to live-action

Looks like you’ve got slim pickins’ ma’am.

Episode 42 Part 3

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Ep 41, Ep 43, Ep 44, Ep 45, Ep 46, Ep 47

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The struggle is real.

In celebration of PureLily being pretty much confirmed(?) with the 3rd Anniversary update I drew PureCacao 💕

Good for everyone that‘s happy over PureLily being heavily implied/canonized, but my heart forever belongs to PureCacao, sorry.

LET’S GROOVE!

based on this official art of the awl girls! i wanted to see a version with my retro kings so i tried to draw ‘em in matsuyama’s old style

1 like = 1 slap to his bald head

it’s something that can be so personal

I've recently been watching these very interesting Star Wars video essays on YouTube (yeah I know, a rare breed) and it brings up these comments Lucas has made about how he views Star Wars as almost like a silent film in terms of how important the visuals are to him in comparison to the dialogue. But this essay also points out how important Lucas finds all of the "rhyming" moments in his trilogies and the way he utilizes them to remind you of something else for emotional or thematic reasons. And there's so many of them, both in visuals and in dialogue, and it's interesting to consider how important this is to him, the repetition for a purpose as well as the storytelling through visuals above everything else and then to look at Star Wars since the Prequels came out and realize how little has really been able to match up to those ideals since then.

The ONLY thing that's come out since the Prequels that I think really hits these two things the same way is, in fact, Andor. One of the things I noticed about the way people discussed Andor as it was airing in a way I haven't really seen for any of the other shows or films was the visual SYMBOLOGY. So many times I saw people noticing the Imperial cog everywhere, from the aerial shot of Narkina 5 as the prisoners escape to the architecture of Mon Mothma's house. There were people picking up on the use of items in Luthen's shop that are familiar from other things to give this idea that Luthen is from another time, he's attempting to preserve this world he lost, that if you're not looking closely enough you won't notice what he's really saying or doing with this shop. The color choices for the different locations and people got analyzed because the people involved spoke about how they intentionally utilized color to SEND A MESSAGE about the characters and the world. We know that the people who made the costumes and sets really worked hard to treat Star Wars almost like a period drama and study the history of the franchise as if it were a real place so that the things they came up with felt like they belonged in this world everyone knows so well even if it's completely new. And of course there were all of the myriad references to things from Rogue One, the constant repetition of "climb", the sunset on the beach, etc.

Nearly EVERY SHOT in this show was created with so much intention behind it in order to say something meaningful about the characters, the world, this specific story they're in, and the overall saga of Star Wars itself. It's insane how much greater impact this show was able to achieve through the incredibly careful usage of visual symbols and thematic repetitions, much like Lucas did before them. It feels like they didn't just study the history of the galaxy far far away, but they studied the history of STAR WARS and what Lucas was trying to do and say with this story. They peeled back his onion a bit more and were able to create something that really has that same visual feel even when it's not created for a child audience. It also is experimenting with its narrative style through its structure and through Cassian's character being allowed to be somewhat more reactive than proactive, and while that didn't work for everyone, it does feel like it's following in Lucas's footsteps of experimentation through Star Wars. Push the boundaries of what Star Wars is and can be and what you can say with it.

But this only works because they peeled the onion back enough to TRULY understand all of the messages Lucas was sending with it. They got the heart of Star Wars and despite its lack of space wizards, despite the lack of most major characters in the Saga, this was a show that honestly got the message more than just about anything else Star Wars has put out since the Prequels. The choices between selflessness and selfishness, the themes about how you always HAVE to make a choice even when it feels like you don't have any (sometimes ESPECIALLY when it feels like you don't have any), and how important it is to make sure to choose the path of compassion above everything else. The themes of connection to others, the symbiotic circle and the impact even the smallest person can have on world around them, it's RIGHT THERE and it's CENTRAL to Andor's storyline.

So yes, it experiments a little with narrative structure, but it's possibly the most Star Wars thing to exist Revenge of the Sith because it honestly truly GETS what Star Wars was about, both in its themes and in its filmmaking. A lot of people said that Andor didn't feel like Star Wars to them, usually because of the lack of space wizards and the fact that it's not a story aimed at children. But to me, Andor is EXACTLY what Star Wars is and has always been. They're stretching the boundaries of what Star Wars can be, but it's saying the exact same things Star Wars has always said, it's just saying it slightly differently. This doesn't feel like fanfiction to me, not really. Unlike things like the Mandoverse or the books, Andor isn't just taking some of the toys out of the sandbox and going to play with them somewhere else. Andor is IN that sandbox. It's building a slightly different sandcastle, but it's still within the sandbox, using the same sand that Lucas did.

Rumors are going around on twitter and weibo that starember might have left the tgcf manhua team omg.. they're unfounded right now but can we get a prayer circle going for hoping that it's true!! 🙏🙏🙏I'm so tired of their consistent racism and orientalism being passed around in the manhua space, people have been raising the alarm on it for literal years now

forgive the brief jesus chris superstar rant but. there is a very important difference between the pharisees being villains and the pharisees being antagonists. they're technically antagonists because they're actively working against the interests of our protagonist, but i don't believe they should ever be played as villains. they're not evil or bad or wrong. they're terrified just like literally everyone else in the show is, and their actions are completely justified. to me that's the entire point of the musical. it's not about christianity; it's about the impact the roman empire's brutal and violent imperialism had on everyone on all levels. including jesus and judas, but also including the pharisees, and even herod and pilate. when a powerful coloniser forces their presence on innocent people they are the only winners. everyone else suffers, even the puppet kings and high priests who look like they're reaping some sort of benefit from it all. that's roman propaganda. the romans kept native rulers like herod and caiaphas in power to maintain the illusion of provincial autonomy, and keep populations appeased and therefore under control. everyone in the show is acting out of fear of the romans. the one roman character we do see (pilate) is acting out of fear of his own emperor. it makes no sense to cast the pharisees as two dimensional Bad Guys, especially when the same productions that do that usually offer a sympathetic portrayal of pilate. it would be so easy to stage and direct a production in a way that makes it obvious that the pharisees are doing what they're doing because they truly have no choice, and not because they're pure evil and want to kill jesus for the sake of it. it's not only an antisemitic trope but also undermines a really important theme of the musical. if you can see the humanity in the violent roman governor installed forcefully on conquered land then you can afford some humanity for the pharisees too. they are victims of pilate and victims of rome just like everyone else

Oooo, got a question. Would meta knight and Kirby wear a penguin onesie like from the one in the anime.

I don't think I've ever heard of them referred to as onesies before and now the idea of them being used as PJs sounds wonderful...

more doodles:

Helaena and Aegon's costumes better be achieving this level of cuntery in season 2 or I am calling my lawyer.

I've mentionned him in passing in the last costume log blog post as some ill-fated first attempt at a fursuit head, so it's only fair I actually showed him off at some point: here's Uncle Uncanny the Nargacuga in the flesh.

I started him in late 2020 as a little technique-learning project during a time where cons were dead and costume motivation was an all-time low. It's a funky little Nargacuga head all made from scratch! He's lined and everything, and I'd be crazy to call him bad because I know objectively he's a very handsome boy for a first attempt, but he always looked a little... funky. Despite all the flaws though, he was so dang fun to make that he paved the way for the Wurmple partial and other future projects, and was an invaluable learning experience! I'd never bring him out though because the actual WEARING experience is a hot mess. Like, the materials are so bad he's periodically falling apart despite never taking him out to an event. He's so hard to breathe in, too... So back to storage you go! Speaking of, good lord please periodically check your costume storage to make sure everything's a-ok. He's been in the same dry closet as everything else for years and for some reason the plastic bag he's been stored in was just casually FLAKING APART in a sticky, blooming mess (while everything else was just fine, including some other ANCIENT pieces in similar bags) . My hands feel so gross and smell like copper but he's survived just fine, thankfully. Seriously, though. Check your storage.

For everyone who wanted bullfighter Nando when I mentioned it the other day, here you go :D

+ this one I don't feel like coloring yet(imagine he's in Ferrari colors!!!)

I just know that no one at my job will understand that I'm dressed up as a Monster High werewolf 😔