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deadliestgalaxy · 1 year

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SPOILERS FOR GOTG VOL. 3 - DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED IT YET!

I have a feeling that everyone (who calls themselves fans) that didn't get the meaning of the ending in GOTG Vol. 3 has never read a single comic of them or is only a fan of some characters/relationships. Many complaints I've seen are about the end and Gamora and Peter’s romance, which sounds kind of childish. You don't need to agree with me, but I’d like to elaborate on that.

James Gunn's writing is always about the detail of things and he is not afraid to do something “bad” if it is the best for the STORYTELLING. This is what most of these people don't get: the most important part of these movies is the story they are telling. The characters help the movie tell the story, it's their story after all — but there's no protagonist or greater good that puts them above the narrative.

(This is different from Gamora’s death in IW btw. It was not the only way they had to make the story flow; they just wanted to “humanize” Thanos and by that, they chose to kill her character. It was an action ADDED not CRUCIAL to the story.)

Vol. 3 is about found-family and growing up; finishing cycles. They will always be family, as we will always be part of their story (that’s why we understand Groot now). However, life chapters end just like in real books, and these Guardians as a TEAM “chapter” has ended for them and for us.

This is very common in the comics. Most times they are all separated, doing solo missions, until something goes wrong and they reunite again. They never stop being friends, why would it be different in the movie universe?

But the end suggests they are not family anymore.

Did we see the same film? No, it doesn't. We can see that in James’ subtle writing: the way they all still respect each other, their understanding of one another, and how they all would die for themselves if needed. That won't change just because they are not physically together — just like when you finish school you won't ignore your best friends, even if you create new relationships (which you will).

But Gamora is not part of the family anymore.

Well, if you see it this way, I can't change your mind. What I can say is that the story IMPLIES that she still is, in fact. And the number one clue is that she (in 2 days) understands Groot. Remember, we also understand him because the fans are now part of the Guardians family — so understanding him and being family are correlated.

Anyhow, I know this is not enough for most people, so hear me out: Gamora’s arc is about respect and healing. She starts the movie skeptical about working with the guardians — she just wants the money— when in reality, she acts like this because she is AFRAID and feels PRESSURED to be around her “old” family.

Imagine: you died but then another version of you comes back without knowing anything of your present life. People will expect you to act in a certain way that maybe you started to act after you met them; they will expect you to like certain things you don't know of; people will EXPECT you to attend to their needs. It is a lot to swallow at once. You are afraid because you don't know them, you don't think you deserve all this love and commitment out of nowhere. So you run away. You run away to find things on your own, to grow out of this pressure you feel and discover the whole universe of possibilities you have ahead.

That's what Gamora did. But then, the mission went south and now she is stuck with her “old” team. The film shows us her character exploring the ship, listening to music... trying to understand them. At one point she even says to Rocket “You must be a very loyal pet for them to do all this for you” (or something similar). This is her way of putting into words how she visualizes the current scenario she was put in. Slowly she recognizes that they are a family, and by the way they act she finally gets how and why she also must have loved them in the past.

She goes from “I don't give a fuck”, not open to them, afraid and pressured to “I bet we were fun”, understanding and respecting them, even fighting for their family to survive.

(If she still didn't give a fuck she wouldn't have fought for them and with them when she could have just run away again.)

But she has already created new relations, so she goes back to those for now. It is what she is familiar with in this timeline. Does that mean she will never contact the guardians ever again? NO. Remember: James’s writing is about DETAILS, nuance. She is open to them again, and the final part of the movie shows this to us, especially her last interaction with Groot, Peter, and Nebula being friendly.

Oh, but Peter and Gamora will never be a couple again, their romance ended when she went back to the Ravengers.

… Again, if you see it this way I can’t change your mind. What I can confirm is that she doesn’t close herself to the team — especially to Peter — in the end.

When she says “I bet we were fun” it's the first time she acknowledges their former relationship without distancing herself from it. She could've said “I bet you were fun” or “I bet she was fun”, but instead she prefers to include herself with “we”. She pauses before letting go of Nowhere, stopping before entering her ship — what moves her forward is Nebula, who can see her sister’s changed attitude but still encourages her to take a step forward and go explore the galaxy, because she knows Gamora is not mature and ready yet for those feelings; just like she wasn't ready to be openly sentimental when Gamora joined the Guardians back in 2014.

And Peter is also not ready. Just like Gamora needs to find herself again and discover who she is, Peter needs too. He is lost without her after IW, we can see it during Holiday Special and in the beginning of Vol. 3 when he passes out because of alcohol abuse. Both don't know who they are in this new reality — and they will only find out with time. Time heals and reveals.

In the end, Peter doesn't have the same thought as in the begging: he doesn't want her to be who he once knew, he wants her as she is, this new version whom he still loves so much and wants to know more of. Although he wishes she could stay, he knows that she has her own time and while she learns about herself he will go do the same.

So yes, they’re not explicitly together as a couple in the final scene — neither they kiss nor make out, whatever you believe a relationship is made of — but they’ve changed and are open to one another. The last scene does not appear to me as an “I’ll never see you again”, but as a “Goodbye, see you soon”.

(Aside from all the small bits we had through the movie of a developing relationship between them; my favorite one being when Peter activates the auto-destruction code and Gamora smiles at him.)

Besides, you can't force anyone to fall in love in 48 hours!!

Yes, I also have some minor complaints about the story, but I can recognize that — with all the turbulence the characters and the production faced in the last few years — it was a satisfying end with a limited amount of time to a badass trilogy. The end is definitive but also open to future possibilities for all our favorite characters in their universe — some we might never see and it will only be to our imagination.

Again, you don't need to agree with me, but I had to do this, or else I would implode with thoughts. Thank you if read up here! My ask box is open if you want to talk more <3

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whiskersz · 3 months

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HELLOO you Definitely don't know me ;) ...but I'll still wish you luck for all the matchups <3

My name's Alexander, I go by they/them and at times he/him, I'm gay and on the ace spectrum!

I'm a pretty chill person that oscillates between too much energy and too little. I rely heavily on humor in most circumstances and I've been told I'm great at it (loads of dirty jokes, puns and absurd humor). I'm also good at improvising things as a theater and musical enjoyer. I'm a blend of emo, goth and punk, and enjoy the culture greatly. I'm very passionate about my interests, though not much confident in sharing them. I struggle with emotions a shit ton but I'm working on it!

A little (orange) birdie told me I could have both matchups, soooo. ;) I'd obviously prefer a male romantic matchup but I'm most open to either for platonic!

I love creating, mostly drawing and writing but it includes animating or sculpting and even playing piano/elec. guitar. I love chess and logic games/puzzles, as well as video games of all kinds (fantasy usually!). I also enjoy darker topics, since I'm quite fascinated by the human nature.

I love to hang out with friends, bake, watch shows, talk, etc, quality time is a big love language to me. I also like physical contact, as long as we're close!

I dislike physical activity, conflict of any kind, and loud noises/bright lights for too long. Another no are outright gore or some kind of horror (I have paranoia which can lead to a lot of anxiety.)

I don't exactly have an ideal type but they must be open-minded, ideally make me feel like they're interested in whatever I have to say, be willing to hang out and be honest!

Thank you for doing this, sending lots of love from the coolest bat in your area ;)

Hmm I wonder who this could be... ;3 As I was reading this I kept nodding to myself...like yes, very true, definitely! And it also reminded me of how intriguing of a person you are – not that I don’t think that all the time, of course.

Anyhow, enough of my silliness! Let’s move our focus on somebody else’s silliness, as I romantically match you with...

Lucifer!

Right off the bat I should mention that you and Lucifer share an interest which is creating; both of you spend the majority of your days bringing life to your little creations, so imagine how fun it would be to work together and show each other the fruits of your work at the end of each day! He is definitely enchanted by how many skills you possess, but his favorite thing is when you finish writing a story and you ask him to read it. He does so out loud, imitating the voices of each character and making you laugh by doing so. As he continues reading though, his tone shifts into a more serious one, a sincere smile remaining on his face. He doesn’t want you to think that he doesn’t take your work seriously, plus he’s genuinely fascinated by how easily you can bring to life the characters in your stories.

You love baking and he loves sweets, I couldn’t think of a better combo! Many a times you drag him into the kitchen and he follows diligently, ready to help and possibly make a bit of a mess as he’s not the most well versed in these kinds of activities. But! He definitely tries for you, passing you the ingredients as you carefully try to follow every step of the recipe correctly. He’s also a bit of a chatter box himself, so rest assured you will have a lot to talk about as you break eggs and mix the ingredients! He sometimes brings up how he misses doing these things with Charlie as well, and you kindly remind him that he’s free to invite her over to do this any time as you’ve grown quite fond of her as a friend.

Returning on the topic of Lucifer being quite talkative, he really appreciates how much your interests vary as this allows you two to have conversations about anything and everything. While I feel like some things he wouldn’t be into himself, such as video games, there’s nothing that he loves more than to listen to you excitedly talk about an interest that he’s not really familiar with, because this just means that there’s more things to learn directly from you. You of course have to do your part in listening to him talk about whatever he might be into but you’re not, though!

Lucifer adores the fact that you can play the piano and electric guitar, as he’s able to play some instruments himself! It’s not rare for you two to play together, making up songs between piano keys being pressed and bows being drawn across the strings of his fiddle. The little concerts last for hours, and they always end with you sharing a tired but satisfied kiss with each other.

If there’s something that Lucifer understands about you it’s your struggle with emotions; his own are a mess, especially seeing that he struggled with isolation and depression after he and Lilith separated, but also because his humour is generally a little unpredictable. After meeting you though he’s able to pace himself slightly as you inevitably bring joy into his life, and so he manages to be helpful in your times of need. At first he might push you a little to still spend time together even though you’re claiming you need space, but once he’s got you figured out he’s going to give you all the space that you need and let you come back to him at the end of the day, offering you a warm embrace by wrapping you up protectively with his wings. And then, with a little pun here and a light joke there, he’s going to get a smile out of you again.

Speaking of hugs, he absolutely adores them. Getting to be lazy with you and cuddling is one of his favorite activities, as it also means not having to look after the obnoxious residents of Hell for a while. Rest assured he’s going to ask for five more minutes of cuddling with you every single morning, and if you don’t give them to him he’s definitely going to get pouty.

All things considered, Lucifer is glad he’s not alone anymore, instead he found great company in you and he appreciates all the love that you decide to show him in your unique ways. He’s of course more than willing to shower you in affection, and though he might go a little overboard sometimes, being a bit dramatic and all, you know he means well and you don’t get actually mad at him.

Platonic matchup

Now that you’ve gotten your lover, let’s move on to your platonic matchup!

Alastor!

First of all this came as a surprise to me as well, as Lucifer and Alastor don’t seem to get along very well, but allow me to demonstrate why you would get along with both!

Alastor values good manners, cordiality and intelligence a lot in others, which you all possess, in my opinion. He’s fascinated by your mannerisms just as much as you are by his, and admires the fact that you seem to have many skills. Some of them he might even take part in himself, such as playing chess and delving into darker topics. This would lead you to spending quite some time together, discussing such topics over a chess board.

The friendship between you and Alastor could be seen as unusual by most other people, but in reality it’s based on a very deep trust. You both trust each other to not cross boundaries; you don’t like physical touch from somebody who isn’t close? He’s going to respect that, he’s actually just the same. He’s not the biggest fan of sexual remarks? Sure, you’re going to be relying on other jokes, primarily puns as he seems to be a big enjoyer of those.

You and Alastor enjoy the occasional planned hang out with each other, usually opting for recitals and musicals as you both enjoy those a lot. You respect each other’s wish to quietly follow the play but at the end of it you’re very eager to have an open discussion about it.

Alastor, as the good friend that he is, also tries his best to take care of any kind of conflict that may arise while you’re together for you. Will you have to hold him back from doing anything too crazy? Sure, most of the time a little scare is enough...

He’s also pretty closed off with his own emotions, so a positive thing is that he’s never going to push you to talk about things, even in general. He does worry though, you’re his dear friend, and his way of showing it is by tolerating more than he would usually. May that be a short hug or whatever you might need from him to feel better, he’s willing to make an effort to provide it to you.

Hi! I hope you enjoyed; I made the platonic matchup a little bit shorter, I hope that’s alright, if not I can give you some more headcanons...I don’t mind at all! Tell me what you think, love you <3

#hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin x reader #x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel matchup #hazbin hotel matchups #hazbin matchup #matchup #matchups #lucifer x reader #lucifer magne #lucifer morningstar #alastor x reader #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #lucifer hazbin hotel

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withasideofshakespeare · 4 months

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An AMENDED Rundown on the Absolute Chaos That is First Quarto Hamlet

O, gather round me, my dear Shakespeare friends And let me tell to ye a tale of woe. It was a dark and drizzly winter night, When I discovered my life was a lie... This tale is a tragedy, one of Shakespeare sources turned into gardening websites, "misdated" quartos, and failed internet archives. It is also a story of the quarto itself, an early printing of our beloved Danish Prince's play, including an implied Hamlet/Horatio coffee date, weird and extremely short soliloquies, and Gertrude with a hint of motivation and autonomy.

But let us start from the beginning. Long ago, in the year of our lord 2022, I pulled a Christmas Eve all-nighter to bring you this post: https://www.tumblr.com/withasideofshakespeare/704686395278622720/a-rundown-on-the-absolute-chaos-that-is-first?source=share

It was popularish in Shakespeare circles, which is why I am amending it now! I returned to it tonight, only to discover a few problems with my dates and, more importantly, a mystery in which one of my sources miraculously turned into a link to a gardening website...

Anyhow, let us begin with the quarto! TL;DR: Multiple versions of Hamlet were printed between 1603 and 1637 (yes, post-folio) with major character and plot differences between them. The first quarto (aka Q1) is best known for its particular brand of chaos with brief soliloquies, an extra-sad Hamlet, some mother-son bonding, weird early modern spelling, and deleted/adapted scenes with major influences on the plot of the play!

A long rundown is included below the cut, including new and improved sources, lore, direct quotes, and my own interpretations. Skip what bores you! And continue... if thou darest!

What is the First Quarto? Actually, what is a quarto?

Excellent questions, brave Hamlet fan! A quarto is a pamphlet created by printing something onto a large sheet of paper and then folding it to get a smaller pamphlet with more pages per big sheet (1). First Quarto Hamlet was published in 1603 and then promptly lost for an entire two centuries until it was rediscovered in 1823 in the library of Sir Henry Bunbury. Rather than printed from a manuscript of Shakespeare, Q1 seems like it may be a memorial reconstruction of the play by the actor who played Marcellus (imagine being in a movie, memorizing the script to the best of your ability, writing it down, and then selling "your" script off to the print shop), but scholars are still out on this (2).

Are you saying that Hamlet comes with the stageplay equivalent of a “deleted scenes and extra credits” movie disc?

Yep, pretty much! In fact, there are even more of these! Q2 was printed in 1604 and it seems to have made use of Shakespeare's own drafts, and rather than being pirated like Q1, it was probably printed more or less with permission. Three more subsequent quartos were published between 1611 and 1637, but they share much in common with Q2. The First Folio (F1) was published in 1623 and its copy of Hamlet was either based on another (possibly cleaner but likely farther removed from Shakespeare's own text) playhouse manuscript (2, 3). It was an early "collected works" of sorts--although missing a few plays that we now consider canon--and is the main source used today for many of the plays!

The versions of the play that we read usually include elements from both Q2 and F1.

So... Q1? How is it any different from the version we all know (and love, of course)? What do the differences mean for the plot?

We’ll start with minor differences and build up to the big ones.

Names and spellings

Most of the versions of Shakespeare's plays that we read today have updated spellings in modern English, but a true facsimile (a near-exact reprint of a text) maintains the early modern English spellings found in the original text.

For example, here is the second line of the play transcribed from F1:

Francisco: Nay answer me: stand and vnfold your selfe.

For the most part, however, the names of the characters in these later versions (ex: F1) are spelled more or less how we would spell them today. This is not so in Q1.

Laertes is “Leartes”, Ophelia is “Ofelia”, Gertrude is “Gertred” (or sometimes “Gerterd”), Rosencrantz is “Rossencraft”, Guildenstern is “Gilderstone”, and my favorite, Polonius gets a completely different name: Corambis.

(This goes on for minor characters, too. Sentinel Barnardo is “Bernardo”, Prince Fortinbras of Norway is “Fortenbrasse”, Voltemand and Cornelius--the Danish ambassadors to Norway--are “Voltemar” and “Cornelia” (genderbent Cornelius?), Osric doesn’t even get a name- he is called “the Bragart Gentleman”, the Gravediggers are called clowns, and Reynaldo (Polonius’s spy) gets a whole different name--“Montano”.)

2. Stage directions

Some of Q1's stage directions are more detailed and some are simply non-existent. For instance, when Ophelia enters singing, the direction is:

Enter Ofelia playing on a Lute, and her haire downe singing.

But when Horatio is called to assist Hamlet in spying on Claudius during the play, he has no direction to enter, instead opting to just appear magically on stage. Hamlet also doesn't even say his name, so apparently his Hamlet sense was tingling?

3. Act 3 scene reordering

Claudius and Polonius go through with the plan to have Ophelia break up with Hamlet immediately after they make it (typically, the plan is made in early II.ii and gone through with in III.i, with the players showing up and reciting Hecuba between the two events). In this version, the player scene (and Hamlet’s conversation with Polonius) happen after ‘to be or not to be’ and ‘get thee to a nunnery.’ I’m not sure if this makes more or less sense. Either way, it has a relatively minimal impact on the story.

4. Shortened lines and straightforwardness

Many lines, especially after Act 1, are significantly shortened, including some of the play's most famous speeches.

Laertes’ usually long-winded I.iii lecture on love to Ophelia is shortened to just ten lines (as opposed to the typical 40+). Polonius (er... Corambis) is still annoying and incapable of brevity, but less so than usual. His lecture on love is also cut significantly!

Hamlet’s usual assailing of Danish drinking customs (I.iv) is cut off by the ghost’s arrival. He’s still the most talkative character, but his lines are almost entirely different in some monologues, including ‘to be or not to be’! In other spots, however, (ex: get thee to a nunnery!) the lines are near-identical. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to where things diverge linguistically, except that when Marcellus speaks, his lines are always correct. Hm...

5. The BIG differences: Gertrude’s promise to aid Hamlet in taking revenge

Act 3, scene 4 goes about the same as usual with one major difference: Hamlet finishes off not with his usual declaration that he’s to be sent for England but with an absolutely heart-wrenching callback to act 1, in which he echoes the ghost’s lines and pleads his mother to aid him in revenge. And she agrees. Here is that scene:

Note that "U"s are sometimes "V"s and there are lots of extra "E"s!

Queene Alas, it is the weakenesse of thy braine, Which makes thy tongue to blazon thy hearts griefe: But as I haue a soule, I sweare by heauen, I neuer knew of this most horride murder: But Hamlet, this is onely fantasie, And for my loue forget these idle fits. Ham. Idle, no mother, my pulse doth beate like yours, It is not madnesse that possesseth Hamlet. O mother, if euer you did my deare father loue, Forbeare the adulterous bed to night, And win your selfe by little as you may, In time it may be you wil lothe him quite: And mother, but assist mee in reuenge, And in his death your infamy shall die. Queene Hamlet, I vow by that maiesty, That knowes our thoughts, and lookes into our hearts, I will conceale, consent, and doe my best, What stratagem soe're thou shalt deuise. Ham. It is enough, mother good night: Come sir, I'le prouide for you a graue, Who was in life a foolish prating knaue. Exit Hamlet with [Corambis/Polonius'] dead body. (Internet Shakespeare, Source #4)

Despite having seemingly major consequences for the plot, this is never discussed again. Gertrude tells Claudius in the next scene that it was Hamlet who killed Polonius (Corambis, whatever!), seemingly betraying her promise.

However, Gertrude’s admission of Hamlet’s guilt (and thus, betrayal) could come down to the circumstance she finds herself in as the next scene begins. There is no stage direction denoting her exit, so the entrance of Claudius in scene 5 may be into her room, where he would find her beside a puddle of blood, evidence of the murder. There’s no talking your way out of that one…

6. The BIGGEST difference: The added scene

After Act 4, Scene 6, (but before 4.7) comes this scene, in which Horatio informs Gertrude that Hamlet was to be executed in England but escaped:

Enter Horatio and the Queene. Hor. Madame, your sonne is safe arriv'de in Denmarke, This letter I euen now receiv'd of him, Whereas he writes how he escap't the danger, And subtle treason that the king had plotted, Being crossed by the contention of the windes, He found the Packet sent to the king of England, Wherein he saw himselfe betray'd to death, As at his next conuersion with your grace, He will relate the circumstance at full. Queene Then I perceiue there's treason in his lookes That seem'd to sugar o're his villanie: But I will soothe and please him for a time, For murderous mindes are alwayes jealous, But know not you Horatio where he is? Hor. Yes Madame, and he hath appoynted me To meete him on the east side of the Cittie To morrow morning. Queene O faile not, good Horatio, and withall, commend me A mothers care to him, bid him a while Be wary of his presence, lest that he Faile in that he goes about. Hor. Madam, neuer make doubt of that: I thinke by this the news be come to court: He is arriv'de, obserue the king, and you shall Quickely finde, Hamlet being here, Things fell not to his minde. Queene But what became of Gilderstone and Rossencraft? Hor. He being set ashore, they went for England, And in the Packet there writ down that doome To be perform'd on them poynted for him: And by great chance he had his fathers Seale, So all was done without discouerie. Queene Thankes be to heauen for blessing of the prince, Horatio once againe I take my leaue, With thowsand mothers blessings to my sonne. Horat. Madam adue. (Internet Shakespeare, Source #4)

First of all, the implication of Hamlet and Horatio's little date in the city is adorable ("Yes Madame, and he hath appoynted me / To meete him on the east side of the Cittie / To morrow morning.") It reads like they're going out for coffee!

And perhaps more plot relevant: if Gertrude knows of Claudius’s treachery ("there's treason in his lookes"), her death at the end of the play does not look like much of an accident. She is aware that Claudius killed her husband and is actively trying to kill her son and she still drinks the wine meant for Hamlet!

Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for! My thoughts! Yippee! On Gertrude: WOW! I’m convinced that she is done dirty by F1and Q2! She and Hamlet have a much better relationship (Gertrude genuinely worries about his well-being throughout the play.) She has an actual personality that is tied into her role in the story and as a mother. I love Q1 Gertrude even though in the end, there’s nothing she can do to save Hamlet from being found out in the murder of Polonius and eventually dying in the duel. Her drinking the poisoned wine seems like an act of desperation (or sacrifice? she never asks Hamlet to drink!) rather than an accident.

On the language: I think Q1′s biggest shortcoming is its comparatively simplistic language, especially in 'to be or not to be,' which is written like this in the quarto:

Ham. To be, or not to be, I there's the point, To Die, to sleepe, is that all? I all: No, to sleepe, to dreame, I mary there it goes, For in that dreame of death, when wee awake, And borne before an euerlasting Iudge [judge], From whence no passenger euer retur'nd, The vndiscouered country, at whose sight The happy smile, and the accursed damn'd. But for this, the ioyfull hope of this, Whol'd beare the scornes and flattery of the world, Scorned by the right rich, the rich curssed of the poore? The widow being oppressed, the orphan wrong'd, The taste of hunger, or a tirants raigne, And thousand more calamities besides, To grunt and sweate vnder this weary life, When that he may his full Quietus make, With a bare bodkin, who would this indure, But for a hope of something after death? Which pusles [puzzles] the braine, and doth confound the sence, Which makes vs rather beare those euilles we haue, Than flie to others that we know not of. I that, O this conscience makes cowardes of vs all, Lady in thy orizons, be all my sinnes remembred. (Internet Shakespeare, Source #4)

The verse is actually closer to perfect iambic pentameter (meaning more lines have exactly ten syllables and consist entirely of iambs--"da-DUM") than in the Folio, which includes many 11-syllable lines. The result of this, however, is that Hamlet comes across here as considerably less frantic (those too-long verse lines in F1 make it feel like he is shoving words into too short a time, which is so very on-theme for him) and more... sad. Somehow, Q1 Hamlet manages to deserve a hug even MORE than F1 Hamlet!

Nevertheless, this speech doesn't hit the way it does in later printings and I have to say I prefer the Folio here.

On the ending: The ending suffers from the same effect ‘to be or not to be’ does--it is simpler and (imo) lacks some of the emotion that F1 emphasizes. Hamlet’s final speech is significantly cut down and Horatio’s last lines aren’t quite so potent--although they’re still sweet!

Horatio. Content your selues, Ile shew to all, the ground, The first beginning of this Tragedy: Let there a scaffold be rearde vp in the market place, And let the State of the world be there: Where you shall heare such a sad story tolde, That neuer mortall man could more vnfolde. (Internet Shakespeare, Source #4)

Horatio generally is a more active character in Q1 Hamlet. This ending suits this characterization. He will tell Hamlet’s story, tragic as it may be. It reminds me a bit of We Raise Our Cups from Hadestown. I appreciate that this isn't a request but a command: put up a stage, I will tell this story. Closing notes: After over a year, it was due time this post received an update. My main revisions were in regard to source verification. Somehow, in the last year or so, one of my old sources went from linking to a PDF of Q1 to a garden website (???) and some citations were missing from the get-go as a result of this being an independently researched post that involved pulling an all-nighter on Christmas Eve (but no excuses, we need sources!)

I have also corrected some badly worded commentary implying that the Folio's verse is more iambic pentameter-y (it's not; in fact, Q1 tends to "normalize" its verse to make it fit a typical blank verse scheme better than the Folio's does--the lines actually flow better, typically have exactly ten syllables, and use more iambs than Q1's) as well as that the spelling in the Folio is any more modern than those in Q1 (they're both in early modern English; I was mistakenly reading a modernized Folio and assuming it to be a transcription--nice one, 17-year-old Dianthus!) Additionally, I corrected the line breaks in my verse transcriptions and returned the block quotations to their original early modern English, which feels more authentic to what was actually written. A few other details and notes were added here and there, but the majority of the substance is the same.

Overall, if you still haven't read Q1, you absolutely should! Once you struggle through the spelling for a while, you'll get used to it and it'll be just as easy as modern English! If you'd prefer to just start with the modern English, I have also linked a modern translation below (source 5). And finally, my sources! Not up to citation standards but very user-friendly I hope... 1. Oxford English Dictionary 2. Internet Shakespeare, Hamlet, "The Texts", David Bevington (https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_TextIntro/index.html) 3. The Riverside Shakespeare (pub. Houghton Mifflin Company; G.B. Evans, et al.) 4. Internet Shakespeare, First Quarto (facsimile--in early modern English) (https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_Q1/complete/index.html) 5. Internet Shakespeare, First Quarto (modern English) (https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_Q1M/index.html)

And here conclude we our scholarly tale, Of sources, citation, and Christmastime too, Go read the First Quarto! And here, I leave you.

#shakespeare #hamlet #first quarto #first quarto hamlet #classic literature #revisions #hey look at me #having some scholarly merit #i have so much left to learn #which is a darn good thing #how else would i spend my evenings?#the worst part about this #is that it all started because i thought a got a date wrong #but it turns out i didn't #so HA!#but then i realized i got everything else wrong so....#corrections it is!

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thetruearchmagos · 29 days

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WIP Questionnaire

Thank you kindly for the Tag, @theprissythumbelina !

1. What is the first part of your WIP that you created?

Well, the Setting, probably, which as an answer works for just about any of the WIPs I could name. In theory you could argue Gustav and the Magician, individually and as a 'set' of sorts, technically predate my coming up with the 12 Worlds, but the form they took then has only passing resemblance to their current incarnation.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Ooo, well, I've been thinking I'd probably see about getting something original made, or making something myself as a side thing. I mean, I kinda envision a lot of my WIPs as serial animations in my head anyhow, so I've put more thought into this question than reality is ever likely to require.

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

Well... You know how big this list could be. I love all of them, and at any moment which forces / allows me to dig deeper into any single one of them makes me love them even more. Still, my final choice is an obvious one: Gustav Johann Schmidt, who's been in it since the very start, and who's voice has by now almost become my own whenever he comments on some facet of his world in the same way I would.

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

Hmm, well, I've always thought this would go down two tracks. First of all being the classic 'Techno Thriller' crowd, the sorts who like tanks going boom and spies under deep cover: I'd go with things like The Hunt For Red October and Red Storm Rising, both being stalwarts of the genre which have absolutely been personally inspiring. The second track goes down the wider book / writing community, or at least those looking for 'genre fiction' and all that, who might discover the 12 Worlds more on its fantastical or worldbuilding grounds than for its techno thriller nature: I don't really 'understand' what I'd mean by this cohort myself as much, but I guess it could include series like ASOIAF, possibly.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

Well... If we're speaking in the past tense, as far as things that have already happened go I'd put forwards "making sure the worldbuilding exists and isn't utterly contradictory", since there's too little writing down so far to count for a big struggle. Dates are hard, and measuring things on the order of decades to a century leaves me with a lot of uncomfortable dead space on one hand, and a bunch of events clustered together on the other. Untangling this has to happen before the writing does, to me, and it's gonna be hellish.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Uhh... Technically, Snake In The Sandbox (Gustav's third and least brought up WIP) features two animals! One's a snake which literally scares G's shirt off when he finds it in his tent, and the other's some sort of desert lizard the 18th Corps adopts as its mascot.

7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

Oh, probably their respective combat vehicles more than anything, though long distance stuff gets done by plane / aeroship, and getting between Worlds means ships for everyone. Non military types might get their own car, or plane.

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

Technically brought this up already, but the answer's worldbuilding. It's always worldbuilding. Though within that category, I'm technically supposed to be writing up a piece on the UC' policy towards Goilac / Nouvoulouis pre SSAW, but... I have been having a lazy weekend.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

Big flashy boom booms and cunning military tactics, strategy, and leadership on the one hand for sure, but I'd like to think the depth, history, and life that exists within the 12 Worlds might have some appeal to readers.

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

Published novel, or really a few considering how many there are already for the 12 Worlds. Then... Well, I think I've got a few ideas in me for the Setting yet.

Anyone fancy a boardgame?

And that's that! Tagging @athenswrites @hessdalen-globe @caxycreations @sanguine-arena @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @thatndginger and anyone who'd like to take part!

#writeblr #writeblr stuff #my wips #writing

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sunbloomdew · 7 months

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oc inspired paintings :D

lyrics from "Message In A Bottle" by The Police

lyrics from "Tonight, Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins

see more about these pieces under cut :]

you don't have to, i was drinking melisa and as such was a bit sleepy while writing it. might not be very detailed or sensible lol

so, these are actually my ocs inspired paintings! first one is for haru and second one is for primrose. they are 'mirror characters' as i like to call them.

they were created alongside (more or less, the concept for them was anyway) and share themes and arcs in a way :)

now a little bit about the landscapes i picked and the songs.

"Message In A Bottle" is one of the songs from haru's playlist. There are a couple of reasons for why i chose it. First it's about loneliness which is a central aspect of haru's arc. they are a character who hates being alone and tries their hardest to make sure that doesn't happen. However in their pursuit of social renown and validation of a collective, they abandon the only people who loved them in the first place.

Loneliness is one of the things that prompted them to change in a way that would earn them approval of strangers and aquaintances. But their transformation ultimately didn't lead to them feeling better, instead it made them even more lonely - not able to connect with their newer friends and not able to open up to the old ones anymore.

The lyrics i chose have sort of a double meaning. It's how haru was feeling before their change begun. but it is also the way they are continue to feel, no matter how badly they deny it. the lyrics are also a contrast to their actual situation - they are surrounded by people who don't understand them - wether because they don't know them or don't know them anymore.

Second is the imagery. Haru was created for Our Life Beginnings and Always. While they are a spring themed character, i view them as the period of ending of spring and beginning of summer, so they embody both seasons to a degree. A castaway island in the song is something that i definitely associate with summer. And a summer, beach, california child is what haru tries to emulate, even if it's not truly what they are.

Third, it's a little inside joke with myself i have. i'm developing a pirate au with olba characters and ya know. bottle messages.... pirates......

Almost forgot but the last thing is that haru listens to a lot of 80s & 90s music, and this song came out in 1979 so. they definitely have heard it before. not their vibe but they thought it was okay.

anyhow, that song is fucking good, go give it a listen <3

and now for the second painting.

"Tonight, Tonight" is a song from Primrose's playlist. I think this song describes the uncertain nature of the future, but regardless of that, at this moment, tonight is tonight. There are things to come but not now. later. tomorrow. It ties into Primrose's arc.

At their core, Haru and Prim's stories are about change. Haru who rushes into things, changes themselves almost mechanically - with no regard for themselves or others, just to achieve their short-term goal. Primrose is going to be the opposite. A character who clings to the way things were, who never wants to plan for the future, afraid of what might change.

She is content to pretend that everything is just fine and things will go back to the way they were, losing herself in the comforts of her stories, books and the internet. Primrose is my Our Life Now and Forever character who is also spring themed except it's the winter-spring period. The change of the season is more visible and that makes her even less likely to accept it. The spring connection and imagery is more important here because spring is in a way a season opposite of fall. So part of the reason Primrose is afraid of change is her awareness of the fact that she doesn't really fit in Golden Grove.

Her journey will be about accepting that change in inevitable. And Haru's journey is about letting things be the way they are.

Her aversion to change is especially highlighted in her teenage years - everyone around her seems to be changing yet she is staying the same, not knowing if it's a bad thing or not, but not willing to find out either. I connect this song with her, because i feel like this is her expressing that she is not clueless about change but won't easily accept it either.

The lyrics are a bit of a foreshadowing to Prim's state as a young adult. People around her are figuring out their post high school plans, but she doesn't want to leave her hometown. "You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth." is the way she feels about leaving for university/college right away. It's also a bit more subtle in a way how growing up makes you leave some pieces of yourself behind, wether you want it or not.

I've been listening to other songs by The Smashing Pumpkins and what i like about them is that they aren't very direct with their meaning. It's a little bit how i want this character to be too. Maybe. Primrose isn't nearly as developed as Haru at the moment.

Some smaller things about the second painting. This song reads to me as Qiu/Primrose song specifically, step 2 one probably. I chose a forest with those type of trees because Rosie is Canadian and they have boreal forests there. Also i liked this imagery for her.

this song is good too, although i like "1979" from the same album more. still, give it a listen :3

i wanted to post some oc stuff, cause i get distracted by my other characters easily and start working on them, but i still wanna yell into the void about Haru and Rosie :]

toodles~

#sunbloom draws #mei's kids #olba mc #olnf mc #olba oc #olnf oc #original characters #landscape painting #digital art #digital artwork #digital painting #i made them a little bit ago but i still like them enough to post them #and ya know they are not the best in the technical sense and some of the oc stuff have changed in the meantime......#but i had fun #and it doesn't mean i shouldn't post them #it was what i felt when i was making them #and if i learned something new in the meantime that's great <3

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blackberriebrambles · 2 days

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I want to talk about hands in hazbin hotel. Specifically claws.

Most of the characters in hazbin hotel seem to wear gloves (in- universe reason for this? Environmental hazards, perhaps? Where are the head-canons!) which makes it difficult to picture what the claws (or lack thereof) are really like.

I really think it depends on the demon; also, I think some don’t have claws at all, just regular fingernails. Or if they do, they trim them* and wear artificial ones.

Firstly, let’s talk about Vox.

He seems to have artificial claws worn on the tips of his fingers. Now, there could be several reasons for this:

1. (My personal favorite) fingernails, hair, and claws are all made of keratin. Vox’s design seems to be vaguely shark like along with the tech stuff; sharks’ skeletons are largely comprised of cartilage. Ergo, Vox has no claws/fingernails.

2. Vox has fingernails and created these caps as claw-like weapons;

3. These caps help him channel his electric charges.

So that’s Vox.

In characters like Husk, I’d expect the claws to be real (and in his case, retractable!).

Another character in need of a scratching post: this guy.

Yeah. I couldn’t find the gif of him scratching his radio console like a claustrophobic tiger, but I definitely think those daggers are authentic. They go well with his pointy teeth; physically predator animal traits on a deer, interesting. Fits his whole… thing.

Also though! Even though he’s wearing gloves all the time, I’m willing to bet his claws are red! Like I said before, nails, claws, and hair are all made of keratin, and the coloring would be dependent on the amount of melanin (a pigment) present! This is why darker colored animals often have dark claws! His claws probably match his hair.

And then we have characters like Angel Dust who seem to have regular hands.

Or as normal relative to the others, anyhow. This could be because spiders don’t have nails - they have an exoskeleton - but it could also be a case of Angel keeping them trimmed (probably beneficial in his line of work).

*About the trimming! If you’ve ever had to trim your dog’s (or cat’s for that matter) claws, you may have heard of the quick. These are blood veins in the claws (a difference between nails and claws btw) that can be nicked when clipping the claws and cause bleeding. This may be a possible deterrent for the constant trimming of demonic claws, especially when claws are a useful self defense tool in hell.

Also though, what’s with the four fingers? Is it a quip on the implication that demons are incapable of participating in holy matrimony? A style/artistic choice? Probably the latter lol

Ah well. That’s all folks!

#hazbin hotel #nails #claws #meta #hazbin vox #alastor #hazbin alastor #husk #angel dust

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maxwell-grant · 9 months

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So, having pulpified the World's Finest, will you be moving on to the third member of the DC Trinity? And are you averse to continuing in this vein with the rest of the Big 7?

Anon asked: What reinventing Wonder Woman as a pulp hero? Would she be the ultimate challenge or significantly easy?

Don't think I'd have as much to say about the others and then I'd just be making up new characters which is, what I'm already doing with these anyway. Maybe I will at some point if prompted,but anyhow, I knew I was gonna have to get around to Wonder Woman, so let's do it, and let's make it 3 like the other two:

Wonder Woman is considerably more difficult than the other two because with Batman and Superman you have reasonably charted road maps connecting them to pulp characters they're already created from, where as Wonder Woman's roots are older, far more rooted in myth and fairytale and fantasy, which risks muddling up the concept as to how "pulp" this pulp hero Wonder Woman can be (and I already do that a lot). Picking facets of Wonder Woman's basic traits to compare and reinterpret is gonna be a little harder than it was for the other two. There's not really much to go off by looking for Amazonian characters, since the Amazons tended to be written as very basic villains in fiction before Wonder Woman, and subverting that was part of the point of Wonder Woman in the first place. And if we try to find female protagonists in the pipeline of American pulp fiction as a reference point, we're gonna come up painfully short. As I've argued before when asked about female pulp characters, you really gotta know where to look, so we're gonna have to expand our options considerably to make this

One place we can start is by going for the biggest thing upfront Wonder Woman has in common with several of the more popular pulp heroes: A general involvement with a World War, and let's go with World War 1 since that's the one that actually figured the most in the creation of pulp heroes at the time, not contemporary pastiches. Unsurprisingly, there were many, many folk tales, legends and myths being passed around in the fields and elsewhere during WW1, some of them older legends resurfaced, and others were entirely made up. The Chimera Brigade uses this as a central plot points and in particular this has also helped that series add an odd authenticity to it's pulp characters, and maybe this is something that could work at first for an pulp hero take on Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman as The Proto-Superhero Folk Angel of Wartime, the living myth of dreamland that coalesces into human form to save us from the sins of our fathers and rulers. Easy to dismiss as a faceless hallucination up until the moment she saves a village by wrestling a tank into scrap metal.

(Wonder Woman art by Paul Sizer)

A Wonder Woman who first became active circa the 1910s, during the same time period as dime novel detectives like Nick Carter, emerging master villains, and odd proto-superheroes like The Nyctalope and Sar Dubnotal, which she has more in common with. She's entering a turbulent world for the first time and the problems she needs to address seem beyond the scope of any man or woman, and maybe part of the story could be about her having to figure out exactly that. Maybe she's not ready for the world, or the world isn't ready for her, but here she is, and with the world bombing itself into nothingness she's running out of time.

Sometimes a lot of what differentiates pulp heroes from superheroes comes down merely to perspective, of who gets to tell the story about the extraordinary figure and what setting or context surrounds them, so we're going here with what is sort of a more straightforward take on Wonder Woman, but warped and told from the varied perspectives around her. Soldiers on the battlefield being saved by her, nurses in battalions reporting a mysterious young miracle worker by the name of Diana Prince and patients breathlessly talking about the glittering angel that saved them, detectives trying to crack the case of the latest ghost story or potential master villain, master villains sensing that this apparition can rock the foundation of the world as they know it or even be something they can exploit. This is a Diana who you could place having a complicated rivalry with Irma Vep of Les Vampires, or even at the crosshairs of Fantomas, the evil of man's world personified.

The next alternative is to turn sights on the more sci-fi end of these and align a story centered around Themyscira and Wonder Woman's mission with a pulp sci-fi utopian vein, and the main inspirations that come to mind here would be the more political and social-minded strands of utopian pulp sci-fi, like "The Sultana's Dream" which reads very much like an earlier take on Themyscira, or Bogdanov's The Red Star, which is about the protagonist's journey to a communist utopia on Mars where blood is shared among it's inhabitants, to learn from their example as well as impart his own, modeled after Bogdanov's own beliefs as well as his career as a physician who would go on to establish Russian's first blood-transfusion institute, and I bring this up as a parallel to Marston's own background with the invention of the polygraph and the influence it had on the character.

Wonder Woman as The Sci-Fi Utopian Manifesto Agent, the ambassador of a revolutionary way of living, who's here to show us how to follow it forward through science, diplomacy, and political and social liberation, whether it's Star Trek day-to-day adventures or an in-depth political exploration of Paradise Island as a concept with real, significant political power to it. And yes, I will have to point out how a lot of these sci-fi utopian tales also can read a lot like pro-colonial tracts about how great it is to have primitives drafted into a superior culture the author agrees with, and yes, that is also a thing Wonder Woman courts having in common with, it is inescapable given the character was designed with the fundamental goal of transforming the world according to the creator's viewpoint and perspective.

I bring this up not to pass judgement, but because Wonder Woman was a character built on radical and controversial and yes, even uncomfortable ideas, and so were these stories I'm using as a reference here. These are, by design, political fantasies and manifestos using the pulp medium to get away with unconventional ideas and stories, starting a discussion or even controversy is their point. Wonder Woman was a character designed to trojan horse radicalism into the funny books, so the idea here is to simply ditch the trojan horse and see where it goes. Not to reiterate Marston's viewpoints or politics, if anything this is where you're supposed to fill in with different ones to try something new, but fundamentally this is a Wonder Woman who has to be About Something and who puts Paradise Island front and center, and with it, the suggestion of a world that can be arranged differently, and perhaps in better, ways than ours.

It portrays Ladyland—a utopian (or, perhaps, dystopian for some) state with mirrored gender hierarchies: the country is ruled exclusively by women who fend off men preoccupied with predatory attitudes, repel enemy strikes, and eradicate crime. Ladyland has enacted general education for women, alternative environmental management, and the use of eco transport.

The visionary story published over a hundred years ago in the English-language women’s journal The Indian Ladies’ Magazine, the first of its kind in British India, has long become a classic of feminist literature in South Asia, anticipating not only the women’s liberation movement but also the environmental agenda which is generally considered compulsory today.

(Images counter-clockwise: cutout art representing Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's "The Sultana's Dream" drawn by Chitra Ganesh, "Wonder Woman: Historia" by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Phil Jimenez, and a cover for Alexander Bogdanov's "Red Star")

One notable early example of Indian science fiction is Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s “Sultana’s Dream” (1905). Set in a future, women–dominated utopia called “Ladyland,” Sultana’s Dream is about the conflict between the women of Ladyland, who are the scientists of the country, and the men, who rebel against the women and form an army but are defeated by the science of the women and forced to retreat into purdah. A similar utopian sentiment appears in Tekumalla Raja Gopala Rao’s Vihanga Yanam (1910), in which the Indian woman Padmavati designs and creates a technologically–advanced submarine, not unlike Captain Nemo’s Nautilus, and travels to the bottom of the sea. She gathers an enormous amount of wealth from shipwrecks and uses this money to transform Indian into a techno–utopia - Women in Pre–1947 Chinese and Indian Horror Fiction and Film, by Jess Nevins

Red Star follows the journey of Leonid, a Bolshevik revolutionary who is offered the chance to go to Mars and, once there, encounters a utopian socialist society explicitly posited as the immediate, achievable future of humankind on Earth. (Bogdanov's) description of Martian society is at once located in humanity’s present and future—it is in the present day, but the Martians represent humanity’s immediate developmental end goal. Blood transfusion as a technique was one that Bogdanov not only described, but intended to implement among his own society, specifically with the intention of bringing about the socialist utopia described in his novel - Economic Circulations: Blood-Based Systems of Value in Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star, by Virginia L.Conn

And the final one we're going with is taking a step back from the character's intent and history to laser focus on Diana as a character. Specifically, a public domain Wonder Woman, shut off from the rest of the DCU and the Justice League, and perhaps even shut off from Themyscira. Maybe for this one we can run with an angle more akin to takes where she's exiled, or something akin to the original backstory for America Chavez, who was explicitly designed to be Marvel's modern riff on Wonder Woman, where the utopian homeland was there and it matters but it's something she can't go back to, and can only carry with her as part of her dual heritage. The intent here is to push Diana closer to the knight-errant archetypes you see in pulp fiction, the cowboys and youxia / wuxia folk heroes and sword-and-sorcery wanderers striding their path across the world wherever it will take them (by no means am I suggesting sword-and-sorcery as an influence past this specific aspect, get rid of that stupid fucking sword by all means). Stripped of the superhero signifiers and context, even if still fundamentally one.

(Top images left-to-right: Do Ha-Na and Chu Mae-ok from The Uncanny Counter, America Chavez by Jung-Geun Yoon, Wonder Woman (1987) #75)

(Bottom images left-to-right: Heo Im from Live Up To Your Name, Chu Liuxiang, Wonder Woman by Mike Becker)

Wonder Woman as the Fantasy Knight-Errant Liberator. Like the pacifist take on the swordsman bandit seen in Chu Liuxiang, who only ever fights with a steel fan to block and parry attacks, robs from the rich to help the poor and solves mysteries with a cool head and a large network of friends and allies. Something like Heo Im from Live Up To Your Name, the superhumanly-skilled Joseon acupuncturist who is thrown across space and time into modern times to experience not just personal growth, but the thorough understanding of medicine necessary for him to literally write the book on it, who makes for a deeply compelling and versatile blend of cool, funny, kind and tragic as a protagonist. Or something like the Counters from The Uncanny Counter, who operate as superpowered agents of heaven in stopping and exorcising evil spirits who latch onto wicked and vulnerable humans and patching the wounds left by both, dealing with financial and social crimes and protecting victims of economic exploitation and injustice as much as they have grueling fistfights with possessed telekinetic serial killers, even to save them from themselves. Maybe some design cues from the Counters' striped hoodies or America Chavez, the dimension-hopping, star-spangled gay jock powerhouse who can go anywhere and do anything (and who suffers from the exact same problems as WW does in that they can't stop fiddling with her backstory and piling baggage that's actively detrimental to the character).

You take Diana, the teacher, redeemer and diplomat whose core strength is the concept of truth and her ability to see and expose it, who's out to dismantle all systems of violence and actively pursues social justice and forward-minded activism, who goes out looking for new experiences to better learn and understand the world around her and treats a minimum-wage gig serving tacos with unwavering and unselfconscious dedication and commitment that she uses to tackle a mythological and epic playing field.

Someone who faces forces of allegorical monstrosity and mythological metaphor and embodiments of bigotry. Someone who interfaces with politicians one hour and tends to soup kitchens in the next, who opens shelters and goes palling around with the Holiday Girls, someone who rides around on invisible jets and swims with sharks and turns enemies into friends. Someone who knows for a fact that a better way of living is possible because it's where she comes from. Take these ingredients and play around with them, modernize them, because Wonder Woman must be facing towards the future, and the intent to fashion a kinder, more loving, better one.

And hey, not only does she already have the perfect tool for the job in the lasso, but she's even got a distinct ride and animal companion to go around righting wrongs with and striding into the sunset with.

(Left-to-right: Justice Riders Wonder Woman by JH Williams, Jumpa art by Yasmín Flores Montañes)

#replies tag #superheroes #pulp heroes #dc comics #wonder woman #diana of themyscira #sci fi #diana prince #redesign

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vivivox · 1 year

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I’ve had an urge to write about this lately, so here it comes ..

Out of Sign Conjunctions - (Synastry)

conjunction but with a twist

Out of sign conjunction = conjunction between two planets, albeit in different signs

What orb do I consider? = for personal planets I’d say 0-3 strong / high influence, 4-6 influential - moderate, 7-9 moderate - mild)

The Conjunction is an interesting aspect in natal, transit, Synastry or any other Chart.

Conjunctions in themselves are considered „neutral“ because the way they play out heavily depends on the planets involved - it makes a difference if Moon conjuncts Venus or Pluto conjuncts Venus. Or if Mars conjuncts Moon. So generally speaking, the conjunctions don’t have to stay neutral - because the planets involved change the nature of the conjunction.

Generally the two major factors are (1) personal, generational or both kind of planets involved; and (2) the „nature“ of the planets involved (roughly they are divided into benefics and malefics - even when all planets are beneficial in the long-term IMO)

I’d like to focus this Out of Sign conjunction discussion on out of sign conjunctions between two personal planets due to the reason that the nature of this aspect is more relevant for personal planets - as personal planets are more influenced by the sign they are in than generational planets. Basically, signs give personal planets their „character“ while for generational planets House position and aspects are more important.

Getting to the point ..

The main energy of a conjunction is one of harmony, togetherness, kinship, affinity and understanding.

Personal planets that conjunct each other usually „get“ each other. That’s the nature of the conjunction - they are close in proximity (usually also in the same sign) and thus have a similar stand and view point, including needs, values and traits. They kind of are the same (even if not totally) and thus naturally agree on many things without even having to try.

Of course, there are exceptions. The main one being Mars. Mars is a so-called malefic which basically means he is able to create disharmony - doesn’t mean he HAS to though. It all depends.

He goes great with Venus but if he’s conjuncting Mercury for example this can indicate quarreling and annoyance, though this synastrical aspect can also manifest as mental stimulation, lively discussion and friendly or even flirty banter. The same goes for Mars/Sun - this can manifest more positively / neutral as vibing off each other, getting energy and inspiration from the other, healthy competition and ego-boost or it can show up as more of a competitive, aggressive, agitating and getting in each other’s face vibe. Usually the Mars will feel challenged and annoyed by the Sun person‘s ego while the Sun will feel agitated and violated by Mars‘ perceived reactive and aggressive behavior (the same goes for Mars opposite, square,inconjunct, tao, bilin Sun, by the way, and can be even more extreme here (tao and bilin are minor aspects I like to consider - more in another post )).

Which of the octaves being mentioned show themselves depends on several factors - like the condition of each person's planets (especially aspects), the native‘s personal level of development and the rest of the Synastry (other aspects, mitigating or enhancing influences and the general vibe between the two Charts and people) as well as the rest of the individual Charts (conflict-shy vs. head-on etc).

Anyhow, back to topic.

It was mentioned that the planets within a conjunction aspect are very similar in nature and thus not only close in local proximity (conjunction = within an orb of 10) but also close in „character“, traits, values and needs.

This kind of kinship changes when the two planets occupy different signs.

Since the energy of neighboring signs is usually quite contrasting (think Aries - Pisces, Leo - Cancer, Taurus - Gemini or Cap - Aqua), out of sign conjunctions will usually express a little differently than ‚normal‘ in-sign conjunctions.

The proximity by location is still present (it could even be a very close orb of 0 or 1), however the proximity by resemblance changes.

This creates an interesting mix.

Let’s say, you’re a Taurus Moon and you value stability, closeness and physical touch. And along comes a lively and talkative Gemini Venus that values freedom, excitement and mental stimulation. Usually, being your Taurean self, these Gemini traits would immediately turn you off or at least you wouldn’t consider the person carrying them relationship or even romantic material for you. However, now let’s say their Venus is at 0 deg Gemini and your Taurus Moon is at 27 degrees - so there’s a rather close conjunction, albeit out of sign.

Now, you might be feeling strangely nurtured and understood by the energetic Gemini Venus and the Gemini Venus might feel overly affectionate and loving in your presence. Both of you might be confused because you feel a draw to a certain person/ placement that you wouldn’t usually feel a draw towards or, objectively, wouldn’t prefer trait-wise.

But the connection is undeniable - because aspects are always felt no matter what signs they’re in.

And there is also an opportunity in that.

The Taurean earth Moon might suddenly become more open toward more emotional freedom, spontaneity and excitement because they feel safe und understood by the Venus Gemini at the same time as discovering those new aspects of life. And the usually fickle and non-committal Gemini Venus might suddenly discover a more committal and nurturing side of themselves in the presence of the Taurus Moon.

In a relationship (only considering this aspect) these two would work well together due to the very beneficial nature of the Moon/Venus conjunction. Usually they will both discover sides of themselves they didn’t know they had - and sides they might only be able to discover through each other (or other similar out of sign aspects). They might have to make some adjustments because what the other person naturally likes (Taurus Moon = stay at home and chill on the couch) might not exactly be what the other person likes best (Venus Gemini = go out, be active, gather in groups). However, these two have a real chance or inspiring each other to discover new aspects of life - within their comfort zone (due to the comfortable and supportive energy of the conjunction). They basically support each other to explore new sides of life.

The same goes for other out of sign aspects that are harmonious - trines, sextiles and the minor aspects I like to use (with small orbs 0-2) - quintiles, septiles, noviles and deciles.

It’s a similar story - someone might have qualities that you usually wouldn’t value. Say you’re a Cancer Venus and they’re trining you with their Aries Mars .. usually you might enjoy people who are soft and timid in their approach of wooing you (like Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer) or stable and predictable people (like Taurus, Cap and Virgo) and Aries’ direct and upfront energy turns you off.

But then you meet this one Aries Mars where your Cancer Venus all of the sudden finds their fiery and passionate energy exciting and refreshing to some point. The clash you usually experience with this fire energy doesn’t happen - you feel more comfortable with them albeit them having the traits that usually make you shy away.

And what about disharmonious in-sign aspects you ask?

Well, I‘d say it’s kind of the opposite - although I would say it generally doesn’t have that much of an influence.

For example, you have your Venus at 0 degrees Aquarius and it squares someone’s Mercury at 27 degrees Aries. Sign-wise, your planets are in harmonious signs to each other. However, aspect-wise there is a rather tight square with an orb of 3.

This means usually you would like the Arian brash and upfront way of talking and communicating but with this person, for some reason, you dislike the way they speak and there might be a discord between the two of you in matters of understanding. On the other hand, the Aries Mercury might usually understand how Aqua Venus likes to be wooed and talked to but in your case he just doesn’t seem to get what and how to please you.

There are millions of more examples so I would love to hear your experiences!

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!

I might focus on out of sign conjunctions in the natal in another discussion..

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fruit-of-infidelity · 1 year

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My OCs from different fandoms and their races!

Tagged by: @kindan-no-kanojo ! Tagging: @poohwhin , @sumire-bride , @arleccine !

This was super fun! I didn't include the founders that i have been working on (i mean, forgot about.. bc ive been busy but ahem i WILL finish them, promise), but this made me think about the babies I abandoned along the way (i only love my one son Ryuuto and what of it, huh?) but maybe i could pick up the stories of these old OC's somewhere down the line when i inevitably dive back into these fandoms through cosplay lol. I have plenty of old OCs, for the record, these are simply the ones that I could remember/fit in nicely/liked best to include. TW for old, blurry, cringe art.

#1 Diabolik Lovers - Sakamaki Ryuuto

Race: Vampire Age: 18 (Physically)

I mean, you already know about him if you're reading this lol. My favourite, and I have no shame in saying that. He is the OC of mine that will always, ALWAYS get the spotlight, and get put onto a pedestal, because he is my SON, my LIGHT, my MASTERPIECE. I wuv him so much, I miss him, and cannot wait to return to posting regularly here (which I hope to do as of now-nextweek-ish?)!

#2 Diabolik Lovers - Dietrich

Race: Familiar/Unknown(?) Age: Mid-20's

Dietrich's character was scrapped early on into Ryuuto's development. He was initially going to be a personal servant/familiar and close friend of Ryuuto's, actually! I wasn't sure how I wanted their relationship to develop and, in the end, i felt that Ryuuto was best suited to be more of the loner type anyhow. So, as much as I adored how his character design turned out, I ended up scrapping him :(

#3 Black Butler - Alexander Eden

Race: Demon Age: 20 (Psychically) Height: 185cm (6'1") Occupation: Head Butler of the Peirce Estate | Demon | Contract Holder

Throwback to my delusional blonde men era, lmao. Alexander is (was?) an idea I created for a black butler storyline of my own alongside another self-insert-turned-oc. I still have the original unfinished story up on my Quotev, actually, which describes him as having "many different sections of his personality, each triggered through separate methods or people". Yes, I am quoting myself appropriately. I take social studies at university, deal with it. He's a blend of Sebastian, Claude, and Reiji, being "distant from other demons and disdainful in general ... [holding] onto the idea that perfection is the only thing valuable in this world and it can only be achieved through a pure soul of one completely aware of corruption yet not tainted by its temptations". I actually kind of miss him :')

#4 Free! - Niikura Seiji

Race: Human Age: 17 Height: 177cm (5'10") Weight: 65kg (143lbs)

Just directly quoting from the character profile I set up for him, Seiji is "the freestyle and backstroke swimmer and the vice-captain of the Kobeyashi Academy's swim team and a 3rd year high school student ... He was previously attending Iwatobi High School. He is part of the swimming club which includes: Tokaji Kuse, Yukari Niikura and Katsuyuki Tsukino", which are other OC's for his story. Cue the violins because his whole backstory is basically: "Originally, he was extremely passionate about the the swim team at Iwatobi, however, he was never accepted into it. Seiji stopped swimming after he was suspended from junior high school after attempting to psychically attack Rin who insulted his speed in the water. It wasn’t until his best friend Tokaji forced him back into swimming that he found his spark again". I began his story, but never published it! I might get around to doing that, because I really liked what I wrote for him back in 2018.

#5 Noragami - Shoji

Race: God Age: ??? Height: ???

Unfortunately, I didn't write a character profile for Shoji when I was interested in his story so I cannot remember it for the most part, and I only wrote two unpublished chapters which I archived. However, in the little synopsis, the storyline was that, as the reader, you "had known Shoji - the God of afterlife and exorcisms - for a while now and, oddly enough, a phantom encounter one afternoon after-school had brought you and your best-friend Hiyori closer after finding out she also knew a God. Soon you begun to realise if Shoji and Yato being past enemies wasn't bad enough to start another fight, the fact that both of them were falling rapidly for you definitely was". A typical, cringey (read: hot) love-triangle from an old fandom I was am into. Shoji, like Yato, was a God as was basically the polar opposite of his outgoing, happy-go-lucky nature for the most-part. It was just a sort of ying-yang situation, for the reader, I think. I had to use a picrew to reimagine him because I used a faceclaim but couldn’t find the original character T-T

#6 Yandere Simulator - Yuuto Shinohara

Race: Human Age: 17 Personality Type: Kuudere-Yandere

You're typical yandere!boy story, lol. I really did like making only male OCs, huh. Yuuto "is a 17 year old in second-year high school student at Akademi High. His classroom is 3-2, the same classroom as Taro Yamada. He has a strange obsession with Ayano Aishi and maintains a lovestruck persona towards her, as she does with Taro. He is in the Student Council Club as it offers him large benefits around the school". He was actually inspired here and there by some of the DiaBoys in his actions/manner of speech/etc. with the (again) unpublished chapters I produced for him. As is typical of many OCs, he had a tragic backstory too; Yuuto "had a hard time as a child, unwilling but not incapable of caring for others. Reasons for this stem from many different areas of his life, including the fact his parents died when he was young which left him with his older sister, Chiyu - the normal parent-child relationship unable to be created. Chiyu, although being a loving older sister, often leaves her younger brother alone while she visits different cities around Japan in pursuit of her career as a Tour Guide. This means Yuuto is often left alone for a number of months at a time. Yuuto, prior to transferring to Akademi High School in second year, was often bullied at school for being too quiet and isolating himself". Kind of want to explore him some more, too :'( Curse this tag game, making me want to hug my old OCs.

#ryuuto sakamaki #sakamaki ryuuto #art #admin #(( I swear I HAVE done female ocs in the past too…..#(( Just not many-

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meimi-haneoka · 6 months

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Hiya~ Dimensional-bitch is my side blog, and I guess I cannot send mail from it!

Anyhow, I saw your reblog and wanted to send you a note personally because...damn. I get it. I've been seeing the same...stuff around. And my extraocular muscles have been getting an EXCELLENT work-out from all the eye rolling.

So many temper tantrums. Half of them whining that CLAMP worked on something other than their preferred manga for a few years, half of them mad about...whatever exacting expectation they had for Clear Card that wasn't met.

And honestly? THESE ARE THE SAME TANTRUMS MY 3 YEAR OLD HAS.

If I dare to do something other than take her to the park we went to yesterday? Instant fit! Worst Mommy EVER!

If she gets the milk she wants in a blue cup instead of pink? DAY RUINED. She can't enjoy milk again, EVER.

I am old enough now to realize that every time a CLAMP manga ends we are going to get this same round of preschooler "BUT IT ISN'T WHAT I WANTED!" foot-stomping. And it's...fine. Whatever. But even though I expect it now I am still. so. tired. And salty. I could salt the seven seas.

So THANK YOU for taking the time to look at and put together something that really gets into what Clear Card IS and DOES. (I am looking through your blog now and I am sad I didn't find it sooner - you've got lots of great stuff here! Especially about Kaito - I do NOT understand the fandom hate??? He's obviously a tortured but ultimately good soul????) There are so many good (and fun! - I've been reading this with my 8-year-old son and he is totally into the magic of it all, even if some of the symbolism flies over his head for now) things about it that get buried under the tantrums. And I am so happy to see them discussed like this!

Best wishes! <3

WAAAAAIT WAIT I HAVE TO REPLY TO THIS ONE BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE BECAUSE I feel like I'm about to cry...

You know the feeling when.....you feel *seen*? You feel understood? This is what I felt when I received your ask, Dandelion! (Is it ok if I use this name?) Omg yes. a thousand times yes....you summarized pretty well what I've seen and what I think about this whole situation too. (BTW I'm a mom too and I know what you mean! 😂)

I am old enough now to realize that every time a CLAMP manga ends we are going to get this same round of preschooler "BUT IT ISN'T WHAT I WANTED!" foot-stomping.

Ever since I got on the internet, I was able only to witness the endings in "real time" of Tsubasa, Holic and Kobato, and while I don't remember much for Kobato (probably because it's so underrated and no one was reading it), I DO remember especially the uncomfortable "atmosphere" in the fandom that accompanied the last chapters of Tsubasa's serialization. I remember all the negativity, and all the exact same complaints of today with Clear Card, "it's too complex!" "this has dragged too long please END IT". It was so overwhelming that I got dragged into it too. I COMPLETELY understand what you mean. I didn't expect I'd see it again with Clear Card, but hey people can always surprise you for the worst, isn't it? So I had decided, towards the end of Clear Card, that I wouldn't let ANYONE make me go through what I went through when Tsubasa ended, and I've set limits and lines to not be crossed with everyone, even close friends. I wanted to enjoy this story in peace to be able to write about what I TRULY feel.

I am SO GLAD that you're checking the rest of my blog and that you find my posts interesting. Most of the time, especially when I talk about Kaito and Akiho in the desperate attempt to make people understand those characters a bit better, it's a bit like shouting in the wind.....but I won't stop doing it. I love those characters, and I thank CLAMP everyday for creating them, they brought so much depth and enriched CCS in a special way.

Thank you so much for this ask!! 🙏❤️

#reply #I'm so grateful #you really get it #I'm so glad I found someone else who appreciates and can see Kaito for who he really is?

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nuri148 · 8 months

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LOOK AT THIS POINT

No, really, take a look at it.

For at 17:23 CEST, on September 23rd of the Year of our Lord 2023, I have finished the first draft of the 15th and last installment of Clarity.

Peeps, I am grieving.

When I set out to put this story into words, I had never written anything beyond 10K. The idea of doing a chaptered story, a slow burn at that, was so foreign to me. I was convinced I'd either solve the plot in 3-4 chapters or, as it's happened to me in the past, I'd lose faith in the story and ditch it, and it'd become one of those abandoned fics we all hate to love.

It wasn't easy, not just because I'm writing in a language not my own. Some of the scenes I'd played dozens of times in my mind before sitting to write them, and then they would... jut not come out? Emotionally charged scenes drain me; Blorbo's feels are my feels. I felt insecure about a myriad things that I'm not experienced about, or didn't do the research about, or just plain thought were too silly or self indulgent for others to like.

I got caught in the rabbit whole of worldbuilding, and created props and hid them as easter eggs and no one but one person found them but I had a blast anyhow.

I got also caught in the rabbit hole of tea and drank a ridiculous amount of it to create a menu and make it more than just a character quirk.

I had lots of fum coming up with the fake preview posts before every chapter (did you getthe hidden message in the last one? did you?)

Most of all, I rekindled my love of writing and I've found amazing people in the fandom, fellow delulus from all around the globe who support and inspire each other and (gasp!) even liked my fic.

Thank you all who accompanied me in this amazing journey, be it by reading, commenting, kudosing, or just supporting me with likes and reblogs here. Special shout-outs to @chaosisbeauty23, one of the most talented fic writers out there, for sharing so much of my delulu as well as the outlook on life of us the not-so-young ones; @onigiri-dorkk my first fandom friend here, for being a ray of sunshine and always encourage and support fellow fans; @bryhaven (even if idk when you'll read this) for your amazing feedback; @ash-aot for bringing my fic to life with your lovely voice; @binibchielq for creating a safespace for us rm spawnlings; @lucysarah-c for the "aguante" and the fandom talks with Argentine taste; @lividayis for the beautiful fanart you created for my humble story.

The party isn't over yet though! I still have to edit this, as well as a last look at ch. 14 before I upload it, but this is it for this story for now. While I still have ideas in the Clarity universe, I would also like to chase other things and/or take a break. In the meantime, Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

#clarity tea house #rivamika #levi ackerman #mikasa ackerman #rivamika fic #aot fanfiction #levimika #rivamika fanfiction

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findyourrp · 6 months

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╰ ‘ ◦ ∗ ON THE SEARCH FOR ROLEPLAY PARTNERS.

❝Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, I see my reflection in your eyes.❞ I've been wanting to roleplay a romance between a superhero and a supervillain! I don't mind playing any role, but I'd prefer to try my hand at being a villain! This kind of roleplay would be angsty, intense, sensual, and romantic. Perhaps they would unintentionally have a one-night stand and wake up scared, angry, and confused, not knowing what to expect? That can be worked out in messages for a starter!

I'm in the EST timezone. While it would be ideal if you were nearby, I can make just about anything work! Anyhow. I'm a semi-literate writer, but I can write a novella and much more if I'm interested in our roleplay. With my partners, I like to create intricate plots and characters, and I only like to roleplay on discord normally. <3

I only use realistic faceclaims, so I hope you'll be fine with that! I'm bad with writing ads, so bear with me! Just react if you're interested, and we can talk.

#rp finder #18+ rp #fandomless rp #fandomless roleplay #oc x oc rp

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mephinomaly · 6 months

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[TL] BIOHAZARD/Chapter 3

[ This post uses Ois~su ♪ ]

Time: The next day

Location: At 'AIIE', the fourth experiment facility, known as "CRADLE"

Tomoya: “Welcome! To the AIIE project’s fourth experiment facility, also known as CRADLE!”

Hajime: “Fufu, we are your Guide Robots, and we will be showing you around ♪”[1]

Koga: Huhh? Don’t suddenly start spewin’ nonsense terms, this ain’t a sci-fi movie ya know?

More importantly. What the hell you doin’ here, Ra*bits?

Tomoya: “Ah, we aren’t Ra*bits!”

Hajime: “We have been created for the AIIE project, or more specifically, we are AI idols!”

Koga: ...? ...?

Adonis: Are you really— are you really not Mashiro and Shino? Or are you just playing a part?

Tomoya: “Yep, we aren’t real!”

Hajime: “We have no affiliation with any real person or organisation!”

Koga: No connection, huh… Is that okay? Did you get permission from the real people t’do this?

Rei: Fumu. This isn’t meant to be me playing the old man character, I’m honestly just commenting plainly but - technology has advanced in leaps and bounds. Honestly, I really can’t keep up.

So these Mashiro-kun and Shino-kun lookalikes are rather peculiar. I suppose this beautiful scenery we’re seeing is also an illusion?

Kaoru: I feel like we're being conned. This place is supposed to be indoors, yet opening this ‘door’ reveals a gorgeous view with the sun shining brightly in the sky.

Adonis: This is what is called VR, or virtual reality. Via the contact lenses fitted in our eyes, we can see a reality that doesn’t actually exist.

Since we don’t know exactly where the walls and boundaries are, it's best if we do not move around too much.

Rei: Ah, ouchie!? I hit my head!

Kaoru: You alright, old man~...?

Rei: Mhm… From the outside, this building looked rather spacious but the reality is that it’s probably only the size of a school gymnasium.

As Adonis-kun quite rightly said, we should keep jumping and skipping around to a minimum.

Koga: You guys have bigger bodies than me so watch yourselves, alright?

Kaoru: Fufu. That’s why if you line us all up, Koga-kun’s only a wee little thing. The fans love it, they’re like “ooooh he’s so cute.”

Koga: HaaA? It might make you feel happy, but it don’t me. Feels like I’m bein’ made fun of, it’s uncomfortable.

You enjoy playin’ around with other people’s inferiority complexes for fun, dontcha?

Rei: Kukuku. What’s more important, we weren’t called out here to stand around, but what is it that we’re supposed to be doing?

The fact that we have answered our agency about this AIIE thingamabob is wonderful, but they still haven’t explained anything to us in any great amount of detail.

Hajime: “We will explain!”

Tomoya: “That’s what we’re here for!”

“The AIIE project, as the name suggests, is a project to ‘manufacture’ idols!”

Koga: This smells super fishy.

Rei: This is the kind of thing Tenshouin-kun would enjoy.

Though that is mere speculation. He’s probably taking advantage of this by being a sponsor of some sort.

Kaoru: Well, isn’t that kinda better than being involved in a shady private business’ experiment that you know nothing about?

Rei: I suppose so… Anyhow, I’m struggling to understand. What is an artificial idol? What does it do?

Hajime: “We can answer that!”

Tomoya: “We are your Guide Robots, and that’s our job!”

Rei: Well, as you’re not the real Ra*bits, I can take a guess as to what artificial idols do–

Hajime: “Yes. As we mentioned earlier, we are artificial idols created for the AIIE project.”

Tomoya: “To give a brief explanation, we are idols created in the image of real idols, copies so to speak.”

Hajime: “This involves copying the physical aspects of pre-existing idols and pasting them onto robots, and, using AI, we can replicate accurate speech patterns and behaviour.”

Tomoya: “So at a glance, we are the exact same as the real idols.”

Hajime: “Although with the current technology, it is not possible to create exact copies, therefore the result will be similar but not perfect.”

Tomoya: “With your cooperation, we can continue to experiment and improve our technology until we can even copy your fans.”

“—Soon, we will be able to create perfect replicas of your parents and siblings!”

[ ☆ ]

these 'versions' of tomoya and hajime speak in keigo, which is fancy fancy speak. it's what ibara speaks in, though unrelated to ibara. just an example!

Chapter 2

Chapter 4

#enstars #ensemble stars #translation #rei sakuma #adonis otogari #koga oogami #kaoru hakaze #tomoya mashiro #hajime shino #undead climax

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siena-sevenwits · 5 months

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Jan 2 - Day #3 - A Fortnight of Books

Book that made you laugh?

The Saga of Didrik of Bern (Of unknown authorship - translated by Ian Cumpstey)

This was a read aloud to my brother, and oh my word, how we howled over it! The Thidrekssaga is a Scandinavian heroic cycle composed in the mid-thirteenth century, and we rather expected something along the lines of the chivalric romances we were familiar with. Something like Chretien de Troyes' Arthurian works, perhaps, or like the Nibelungenlied, with which are it shares some characters and loose story arcs toward the end.

BUT

it was only like them in their bizarrest aspects (all the literature of the time is bizarre, but this was JUST the weirdness.) These stories have NO depth to them - just as wackiness. Some favourite moments: Knights managing to swordfight in the dark-of-the-moon by banging their swords against rocks so that sparks fly, allowing them to see by spark light. Hagen finding mermaids swimming in the river and deciding he will hide their clothes while they are in the water. Then asking them to tell his fortune and cutting them in half before they even half a chance to head for the shore. Being told what a kind, mannerly, thoughtful, loyal, courageous man Samson was, followed by the example of the time he kidnapped his liege lord's daughter and took her to a house in the woods where he started a bandit camp and went about the countryside threatening to burn cities down if all the men in them didn't join him in marching tot he next city and threatening to burn it down. Didrik becoming so mad at being called an elf's son that he randomly breathes fire at his opponent and thus kills him. The only remotely moral person in the cycle was Hornboge Jarl, who was apparently the jarl of Vinland, which as a Canadian makes me happy. ;-)

I mean, we had fun, and it's interesting from a historical point of view. Tumblr Arthurians are sure to love it. Those looking for some depth of thought or beautiful writing will not.

Book you most anticipated this year?

The Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud

It's been a few years since these came out, but I got to anticipate them in the sense that I got to take a trip to Indigo to buy the next volume every couple of Tuesdays after school, which became an outing I really looked forward to. These books are good fun. They belong to that genre I enjoyed so much in childhood, of children having to live independently and create their own unusual home in the midst of a strange situation. One can extrapolate some good ideas from the books if one is of a mind to do so, Portland Row becomes quite dear to me, and they're great if you like a spooky atmosphere but nothing all that scary. (I did get the chills over one scene in Book 4 - but it was an insomnia night and I was reading at 2 AM during a huge thunderstorm, and the chill factor was more adventurous than horrifying.) They're not perfect. Can we PLEASE stop with all the comments on George's appearance? It clashes horribly with the subtle arc where Lucy becomes more comfortable with her own body that we're CONSTANTLY being mean-spirited about George's! The books themselves had real ups and downs in terms of quality, and the language got a bit harsher at the end than I like. But they also became something I enjoyed sharing with my dad this year, and connecting with him over books of various sorts has been lovely. Anyhow, good fun.

#fortnight of books 2023 #recovering reader #coreander's old books

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