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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 8 days

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you know i've been thinking about the consequences of malleus's actions in book 7 and i realized how much he's fucked everyone over including his grandma. bc like other than the fact that he ob'd (which literally has NEGATIVE connotations one of which being is idk ""UNSTABLE"" which isnt necessarily a good look for a crown prince is all im saying) he's literally causing terrorism (??? can you call it that idk how else to call it) which is going to setback his grandma's efforts (and lilia's and baul's, and every supporter of his and his family) in keeping peace in their kingdom and the favor of the humans towards the fae. Like. i feel so bad for grandmother draconia rn i can only imagine the stress and pressure she's under.

Then theres also aside from PHYSCIALLY compromising everyone's healths in sage island (BECAUSE THE MAJORITY ARE HUMANS OR AT LEAST THEY DONT LIVE AS LONG AS THE FAE). He's also fucked everyone mentally twice over!!!! By booting them straight into a world where none of their problems exist. Now that wouldnt sound bad if it weren't for the fact that dreams have to end, and life isnt kind. It rarely ever is, and i can only imagine how distraught i would be if i were to say, hypothetically lost someone a year before and the wound is so fresh and raw and, in my dreams, they never died and everything is okay, then i wake up and realize that it was just that. A dream, they are still gone and i wish i never woke up which would be a LITERAL DEATH SENTENCE. This isnt just an event that takes place in NRC either BUT THE WHOLE ISLAND and that domain is GROWING, GROWING. I can't imagine just how many would be so emotionally ruined after this. Like.....

If Malleus does not suffer the consequences of his actions istg i will be so pissed, at least REMOVE HIM FROM THE PREMISE OR SOMETHING GODDDDDDD this cannot be remedied with a slap on the hand!!!!!

(Note: Sorry for the long rant. I felt the need to get this out of my chest bc i dont mind malleus's archetype actually nor do i actually hate him, bc i enjoy him interacting w other characters a lot (my fave ever vigenette is him giving deuce the equivalent of minecraft diamon for fixing a retrobit gaming toy) BUT GOD DOES HE MAKE MY BLOOD BOIL)

Yeah, I do feel like the scale of Malleus's actions cannot be understated. I know it's kind of a fandom joke that the OB boys are left off with a slap on the wrist + maybe some social ramifications at school, but this is the ONE time in the main story where things are getting super big and the effects could be cripplingly long-lasting.

I don't know if TWST will seriously address the consequences after book 7, but I sure hope they do!! There is a lot of interesting ground to cover (many points which this anon has already brought up) in a follow-up main story arc or the next book.

For example:

Malleus obviously has to regain the trust of his peers and staff. He didn’t really have it before but now has to work twice as hard to make connections since he just took a drastic action that confirmed the rumors some were already spreading about how he’s a monster.

He’s the sole heir to the throne and has just betrayed the trust of the people of Briar Valley. How are they feeling about him now? Do they still trust him to lead them?

How does this impact their relations with other countries (since Malleus himself stresses how he represents Briar Valley)? This is a problem visible on a global scale, and surely this would damage their rep with other nations, particularly the predominantly human ones. It’s setting back what is hundreds of years of trying to fix the broken trust between their races.

Malleus’s UM potentially puts his victims in physical harm; in book 7, Ortho suggests that since everyone is sleeping, their bodies are not getting the food or water they need. As a result, they may physically waste away and then perish. (We have seen that there are sleep blessings that keep people sleeping for hundreds of years without detriment to the blessed though, such as the one cast on Silver—so we cannot be entirely sure if Ortho’s theory is correct or not.)

There is the possibility that Malleus’s dreams may traumatize or retraumatize his victims, particularly those with deep rooted troubles. An example of this is Idia, who had suffered the loss of his brother when he was like… 8 years old??? But then in his dream, Idia is living a happy false reality that Ortho never died. When he finally comes to this realization, he has to relive the trauma of the discovery all over again and breaks down sobbing. We also see in the most recent book 7 update that Vil had to face the evilest aspects of himself and a dark reality; Rook became very emotional upon waking himself. Admittedly, Idia and co. coped with it well enough—this is proof of their character development and the strength of the new friendships they’ve formed. However, all the people on Sage’s Island/Twisted Wonderland may not react so positively or be so accepting of their cruel realities.

Again, just the overall moral dilemma of one person robbing all of Sage’s Island (and soon all of Twisted Wonderland) of their autonomy.

Potential extra work for STYX and whichever countries Malleus’s magic manages to spread to (repairing any physical damage caused by the thorns + mental damage done to those that fell asleep). That’s money, time, and resources that aren’t going toward other everyday endeavors.

How will Malleus himself mentally and emotionally cope with what he has done? Is he going to show remorse and shame? How does he plan on rectifying his actions, if at all?

Will this change how his dorm members + family view him? For example, will Sebek become disillusioned with his liege/realize Malleus is not as perfect as he seems? Will Maleficia blame herself for not being there for Malleus? Will Lilia feel guilty for not teaching Malleus right from wrong? Etc, etc, etc.

I’d honestly love to read all of these! 🤔 It would add a lot to the lore and history of Twisted Wonderland, as well as serve as motivators for Malleus to change, “be better”, and actually earn the respect he’s so used to being handed by default. This would be huge for him, especially seeing as he has not really faced significant backlash or consequences for any other missteps he was responsible for or involved in. (I know I bring this one up a lot, but Endless Halloween Night is one such major example.)

#twst #twisted wonderland #Malleus Draconia #book 7 spoilers #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #notes from the writing raven #Idia Shroud #Ortho Shroud #Ignihyde #Maleficia Draconia #Sebek Zigvolt #book 6 spoilers #Silver #Lilia Vanrouge #Diasomnia #Vil Schoenheit #Rook Hunt #book 7 part 8 spoilers

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roxannepolice · 30 days

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Masters, coyotes and reset buttons

Ok, so this has been going after me for a few months now and probably won't end up as coherent as I'd like it to, but this is also a warm up for finally fixing that stupid article that everyone tells me is good but has been halted by journal paperwork since 2020, so... As always, because there be salt, putting everything under a cut.

There's been this debate on whether the Master should be given a break from appearing for a while and, as always, it's usually taken somewhat hostile as an attack on the character or a particular actor (which. look if this was about acting skills BBC should have never moved from sir Derek Jacobi, period). And I would say the problem lies entirely elsewhere. Namely, circularity vs. linearity.

There has always been a mythical or commedia dell'arte element to the whole concept of regeneration, an archetypal thing in characters going by titles as names and having a certain set of characterisics and narrative functions that go along with those. Hell, commedia dell'arte even has a literal "Il Dottore" whose whole thing is embodying science and education - more often than not mockingly. When you employ Zeus rather than Poseidon in your story that's probably because there be weird sex rather than disproportionate fury. When you choose a paladin class in your rpg that's because you're going to have different skills and make different choices than if you were a rogue. Galahad and Lancelot will go on completely different journeys of nunnery/brothel and rescuing a prince from forced marriage even while they both seek the Holy Grail. When you want your children to have different properties you'll use your mantra to invoke four different gods.

The thing about archetypes, though, is that they are, literally, timeless. Or better yet, outside of time. But stories, narratives are, by nature, linear and timed. There's the beggining, the middle and the end. And of course, the whole fun is toying with the archetype, tweaking and reinterpreting them in specific contexts and stories. And DW has been doing a phenomenal job of it throughout its history, even if occasional nitpicks can be made. Classic Who was perhaps more circular and repeating in its storytelling and - sorry, posession by Marshall McLuhan - this makes sense in a medium where a story airs just a couple of times. There were arcs for each Doctor, though significantly more so for companions. NuWho became much more clear in this, but still mostly managed to keep a neat balance between the timelessness and timeliness.

Take the Saxon's story, which is what kickstarted me spilling here. Not to come off as a canon snob, but I think if he was an introduction to the character it may not be clear just how shocking him dying on the Valiant was. This is the character that was a skeleton, a gooey body snatching snake and a cat to go on living, and has been the Doctor's prisoner, in fact begging them to save them. Ten is 100% justified in his assumption that he'd never kill himself. His death introduced a major shift to their dynamic, especially when framed as fuelled by hatred. The finale in EoT is largely a return from this shift. No, the Doctor didn't only care for the Master because he wanted another Time Lord. No, the Master doesn't wholeheartedly hate the Doctor. They can and will always cooperate when there's a common enemy. As has been the case throughout all of Classic Who.

Enter Moffat era. Now, it's a bit of a cliche to say Moffat is a better episode writer than showrunner, but it being cliche does not make it incorrect. His poetic definitely works better when there's an ending, a specific goal in sight. In singular episodes this works like a charm. It worked terrifically in season 5. But later on there definitely came this element of "keep watching, because this is all heading somewhere, trust me". And all too often the answer was proving less interesting than the question. This was particularly clear in seasons 7-9, with return to Gallifrey being hyped up repeatedly, only to fianlly fall flat. And I guess Moffat realised that and decided to go for a soft reboot in season 10.

Which brings me to Missy and redemption arcs. Now, in our completely not puritan era there's way too much talk of whether characters deserve redemption, and what would account for a redemption, and how that differs between different legal systems, and too little appreciation that redemption narrative is as linear as they get. You get the starting point of sin and have a clear goal of that sin being repaid or undone. Sure, you can dig into that, and question that, and reinterpret that, and cynically cut that, but it always relies on that clear line. And it's obvious that Moffat was aware of how linear he wanted Missy, and indeed the Master in general, to be. The fucking text says that: "where we've always been going". The disagreement is only what that where is. Now, if the story was meant to be lieanr, then it really does make infinitelly more sense to view the events of EoT as a turning point in the thoschei relationship, but the story explicitly shuts that down. Nah, it was more infitely more important to have the initial sin embodied to be killed in the ultimate act of redemption. #symbolism

A slight tangent here. I know that the original plan for Delgado!Master was to have a redemption arc where he sarcifices himself for the Doctor, so I guess it can be argued this was indeed where the story was going all along. But things turned out how they did and people generally don't introduce Moriarty into their sherlockiana to have no actual screentime (literal or metaphorical), as was the original plan.

Aaaand then there's Spymaster. I've seen dozens of explanations of why he is the way he is, and whether that follows logically from Missy's story or not, and whether he might be before her, and whether he undoes her redemption, and blah blah, but the bitter truth is: Chibs hit the reset button. He hit it hard. No, we are not meant to keep in mind the events of s10 when we analyze the spydoc relationship. Again, a comparison to Moffat explicitly bringing up the events of EoT with Saxon, if only to brush them aside as meaningless for both parties. More importantly, if those were meant to affect Thirteen's hostile attitude towards the Master, then she shouldn't have been so shocked with his appearance. She might be surprised he regenerated, but like the whole reason for bitterness over being abandoned would go along with the expectation the Master did survive, that's why they left Twelve in the first place ffs. So, it would look like Chibnall tried to go back to a circular status quo after a linear redemption, and that's certainly what the writing thinks it's doing. Except now that the whole TTC can of worms has been opened, the relationship is deeply imbalanced. Imbalanced in a way that cannot be easily undone. Like, I know the fandom is trying to frame the Master's sense of inferiority as somehow mistaken and fanon!Thirteen certainly thinks so, but that's not what the text is saying. There is a misundertanding going on here, but a misunderstanding that goes on unresolved gets tiresome and frankly masochistic pretty fast. Either the Master should get to the point of understanding that the Doctor is not inherently superior to them because of past or magic of friendship and that they're Kenough, or accept the Doctor as their lord and saviour and martyred god who died so they may live and spend the rest of their days as a lapdog. Which, I understand the fandom may enjoy, but doesn't make for a very exciting story. So yes, there's definitely a linear narrative going on here. One that does need some time in a fridge and exposition of how the Doctor themself feels about their relationship before the character is brought back. Right now we are not in the The clown always gets up again, no matter how often he has been knocked down paradigm only No clowns were funny. That was the whole purpose of a clown. People laughed at clowns, but only out of nervousness. The point of clowns was that, after watching them, anything else that happened seemed enjoyable. It was nice to know there was someone worse off than you. Someone had to be the butt of the world.

Butbutbut, of course, what about Ainley!Master being brought back again and again seemlessly? That's just the thing - Ainley!Master existed in a completely different poetic. He was purely circular. He was the most circular of the Masters. He was as circular as you can get without actually being a cartoon coyote who only falls down when he realises he's midair. I'm not entirely ironic here - there is an inherent trickster element to the Master as a character! Perhaps more Goethe's Mephistopheles that Native Americans' Coyote, but between constanct scheming, shapeshifting and falling into the pits they've dug the elements are all there. And a trickster either endlessly travels between Olympus, Earth and Hades or gets killed by Heimdall.

And before a gotcha of me insanely hoping for a Saxon cameo either in the 60th anniversary or, that being off the table, somehow meeting Fourteen - yeah, in an anti-linear bubble. I've seen speculations that RTD wants to do another soft reboot, hence there's no knowing what Master will pop out of that tooth. As far as I wouldn't like it to be one of pre-Delgado Masters and for the record I wouldn't mind if it is Spymaster!, there's definitely something to the idea there's a soft reboot in The Giggle, with the Doctor "going home". Because you don't necessarily want to know what Odysseus' tax policies were once he reached Ithaka, but you do want to know that he's been a year on Circe's island.

#ok down to the article #doctor who #doctor who meta #dw meta #the master #the doctor #thoschei #philosophy in doctor who #have i come across as praising rtd in comparison to moffat and chibnall?#yeah maybe i generally think he did have the best grasp on what he was saying #tw: negativity #minor? yeah i'm critical

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henghost · 10 days

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Twig Liveblog for Arc 18

what a banger arc let's fucking gooo. so many good infante sections, which is the most important part of any arc. just waltzing around in the plague. he's so cool. it's hard for me to really see him as the "antagonist" because i am always 100% behind him and whatever he wants to do. when he shoved a parasite down lillian's throat i was like, i wish that were me so bad. moans loudly.

good to get some yuri in there too. ugh i love mary/lillian together. i think, through biopunk technology, they need to figure out how to get each other pregnant. the same applies for sy and jessie. this would symbolize the completion of their respective character arcs.

i think my favorite part, though, was the fairy tale experiments. man it really puts so much in perspective. it recalled the sequence in gravity's rainbow wherein captain blicero holds katje and gottfried captive and forces them to act out an obscene sadomasochistic version of hansel and gretel. or the correspondence between the powerful financial executive jes staley and one jeffrey epstein:

there are the omelas ethics of it, of course. the little speech from ferres defending it on the basis of receiving funding in exchange, for instance, was chillingly familiar. but there is also some insight about the function of a ruling class. you will be violently mutilated into the shape of some simplistic archetype so as to become a point of data to research, so as to become a toy for despots. one of the most heartrending moments is when bo peep refuses to undergo surgery to fix the mutilations made by the academy, as though to live with the identity assigned to you by your overlords is simpler, easier, than to deal with the chaos of non-identity. the big bad wolf script--in this case pheromone-scented keywords with the purpose of total control--is some of the best prose wildbow has written imo.

i think betty is (yet another) lillian surrogate. there is something so banal in her cruelty. one of the things i've really admired about twig is how the "coming-of-age" is also a kind of political journey. the revelation that it is not the nobility who is really in power but instead the academy mirrors the movement of the young political person discovering that, despite appearances, it is really the morbidly boring death-cult of liberal technocracy behind all the solipsism and agony. ferres deserved worse lol.

i also enjoyed sy's patrick bateman-style switch to third-person. again, i'm really impressed by the effectiveness of this "fracture." there are some truly haunting scenes, scary nameless children running underfoot--it really got to me in a way that some of wildbow's other "horror imagery" simply doesn't. there's so much to say about the splitting of his SYche... perhaps i'll reserve my thoughts for a longer dedicated post about it...

twig is so good!! it continues to be mature, affecting, ambiguous, insightful. even... experimental. hahahaha. wildbow can write well sometimes wtf??? i don't believe it, frankly.

#twigblr #twig liveblog #henghost's twig arc #sylvester lambsbridge #yes my lord infante

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wormbloggign · 4 months

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Glenn Chambers wore plaid pants with red and green, and a pink dress shirt, His belt bore a buckle with the PRT logo on it. His hair had changed too, parted neatly into what I assumed was ‘geek chic’, and the glasses had changed as well, with thick, round frames. An ID card hung around his neck. He didn’t fit any of those particular archetypes.

i love how shit his fits are. this man CANNOT dress. let him micromanage every aspect of your persona.

“Go, and hurry,” Glenn said. “Tell them to fix it and cast another prototype before the run starts. These are toys, they’ll be in the hands of children and collectors both. The people who are buying these are fans. What’s it going to say if their most immediate association with Esoteric is the broken toy sitting on a shelf? It’s going to convey that he’s flimsy.”

ok thats just poor organisation, you'd have the base construction and elements of the doll figured out WELL before you start working on its visage. glenn has dropped in my opinion of him

“I asked to speak to you because I wanted you to know about the damage that’s being done.” “Ah, this is about the butterflies.” “It’s about a lot more than butterflies. It’s the whole mindset. The attitude of the heroes. I’d talk to Chevalier, but he’s too busy. I’d talk to Rime, but she’s recovering from being shot three times. You’re the only other person I’ve met so far who really seems to be in a position to know what I’m talking about. Besides, as far as I can figure, image and PR seem to be at the heart of the problem.”

she's back to her favourite pastime. (i genuinely love everytime she does this)

“The focus isn’t on lethal or nonlethal,” Glenn said. ��It’s on whether we can trust you to keep on the path you’re walking. If you start taking shortcuts now, what happens a year down the line? If we decide you can go all-out in one specific situation, does that open the door for another?”

genuinely good point, good to see glenn is trying hard to properly vett new capes

taylor goes so hard as a monster i really do love it

“Until I turn eighteen,” I said, feeling a little hollow.

that's less than a year, you can handle that.

Chevalier approached. “You murdered two people. Three, going by your admission while in custody. Two PRT directors, one major hero. When Dragon and Defiant suggested we bring you on board, we were divided. It was Glenn who offered the compromise that we ultimately agreed to. This compromise.” I glanced at Glenn, who shrugged. Glenn?

glenn wanted an excuse to integrate hexagon tiling into NEW PRT advertising didnt he

“That’s why you’re waiting two years? You think that it’ll take that long to vet me, before you can give me actual responsibility?”

two years? didnt she turn 17 around the time coil did his big bombing run? did she just forget?

LETS FUCKGIN GOOOOOO

that's genuinely horrifying, thanks

Mail from all around the United states. From strangers, from fans. Words of support. Criticism. Death threats.

this is functionally the first time the general public has had the chance to communicate directly to her. yeah i expected as much

hes bumbling 🥺🥺🥺

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! what the fuck???

aishas doing great actually

lisa is lisa-ing

Atlas died. I wanted to let you know. Tattletale had him, but he wouldn’t eat or move. We asked for him, and we found a place for him. The guys say they think they know a good way to make a mold. They’re covering him in brass. A way of saying you’re still with us. Take care of yourself. -Char

MY BOY ;-;

silly goofy, rachels going through it.

overall, taylors polycule miss her and the others have their own thing

Withdrawing a notepad, I started sketching out the designs I was thinking of. Alterations to the costume, weapon ideas, tools and concepts.

!!!! !!!!

The costume Defiant and Dragon had given me was theirs, not mine. The fighting style that had been dictated was Glenn’s and Chevalier’s. This, this would be me.

im gonna have to draw her new costume too when it get out arent i.

(we are pretending like im not incredibly excited about this development)

#liveblogging worm #Drone 23.3

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ash-imagines · 2 years

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Do you think the protag in DDLC (as in the kid that the player is playing as, but not the player themself) is a character on his own, the way Yuri, Sayori and Natsuki are? Like, semi-lucid but not self-aware the way that Monika is? Because there's that moment after Sayori's death where he's spiraling into anguish at the sight of his childhood friend's corpse and it's like, if he's an entity that's almost entirely separate from the player, being piloted by us? Holy shit is that another layer of fucked up on the psychological horror cake.

It's even worse because like, we can see that he's got character traits and shit, he's a very typical teenage boy. At his core he's just some high school kid who's kinda nerdy and awkward and pretty average, the way that a lot of visual novel protagonists are, but he's been forced into a situation where his schoolmates are being toyed with and then killed one by one. And he can't make any decisions for himself. He's not even really the person Monika is interested in, it's this person that exists outside of the world he lives in who's been using him like a puppet this whole time.

Idk how to describe it but it's like. The "unremarkable everyman protagonist" archetype he's embodying here lends itself really well to the horror, because the purpose of those characters in visual novels is to allow the player to insert themself into that role. They're bland by design. But stepping away and viewing this particular protagonist as his own entity makes it all so much more horrifying. He has no name and no autonomy, but he does have a personality. He's not an empty husk, we know things about him. We know he likes manga, but he's not a big reader or writer. He's known Sayori a good portion of his life, they have a history together. When she dies, regardless of whether the player has gotten them hooked up, he's misguided and believes that he could have prevented her death somehow. So the fact that we're using him, and the fact that Monika is using him as well, combined with all the other shit that happens throughout the events of the game. Just. Holy shit, right?

And I know that OFF and Undertale/Deltarune have similar approaches with their player characters, but I feel like the way they utilize the idea is different. In OFF it's like, you just blindly trust that Batter's view of purity must be correct and good by virtue of him being the protagonist, but after being faced with the carnage you've allowed him to create, you realize that Batter was not the hero and neither were you. That's horrifying in its own way, but Undertale/Deltarune and DDLC have a like "you're possessing and controlling a cognizant individual who is explicitly distinct from you" and! We're so used to the protagonist being a literal vessel for us to project onto that even when the game tells us "this person is not you" it's still really easy to forget.

And that's something Monika herself touches on a little bit, isn't it? She says she didn't think we'd care what happened to the other characters because they aren't real. We certainly don't have a lot of regard for the protagonist, given how we're using him and what we're forcing him to witness. But Monika doesn't realize that she's not any different from her club members, and it's only because of her position as club president that she has the awareness she does. I feel like there's a parallel to be drawn there between us and Monika. We don't realize how our position is causing us to hurt these characters, either.

Anyway, whatever the typing equivalent of "thinking out loud" is, that's what I'm doing. Stream of consciousness. Hopefully that all made sense.

#doki doki literature club #ddlc #kind of an imagine

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alicentsgf · 1 year

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What do you think of Alys? You know among all those people saying she will be evil I just feel like whatever she is gonna be, I'd love her as much as I love Alicent. It's all about the vibe, Alicent comes from Greek tragedy and Alys from gothic romance and I can't wait to see 2 season

I love Alys. i think I just hope they do her justice and make her more than just The Witch or The Victim you know. I don't really know what that should look like and I don't know exactly what the story is going to need her to be because I'm not sure what direction they're going to go with everyone else, especially Aemond, as in, what way he's going to react to Luke's death/how everyone else is going to react to him being the cause of Lukes death? idk. idk what person he's going to be when he gets to harrenhal basically.

one thing i do know though is its just a pure fact imo that Alys in f&b was one of the most interesting characters in the dance era, hands down. like when I say the f&b characters were one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs I'm almost exclusively talking about the dance era tbh. The story of the dance was exciting, the people not so much so imo. and I feel like grrm fumbled the bag with Alys because when she's introduced she's this mysterious woman who manages to convince this boy prince to spare her and forms a questionable romantic/sexual bond with him that may or may not be rooted in magic. and that's so interesting! but what is actually done with it?? not much really. we don't even know where their kid ended up? and yeah people can say that their relationship was just included to make aemond a hypocrite or something and that regardless its all just so gross anyway (because yeah whatever its obviously fucked up. all these relationships are.) but one thing that is overlooked I feel is that this could very possibly have been about survival for Alys. at least to begin with. The impression we get is that this is how she's lived her life, like she has constantly used her body to make herself useful and needed - if the choice was between horrible violent death and seducing a 19-year-old... i kind of understand seducing the 19-year-old, you know?

i would love to see her be manipulative with aemond, at least to begin with, and then see him slowly wise up to what she's doing and for them to find some kind of accord? this love affair is not going to be 'cute', it's not going to be aspirational, it's literally a love story between an older woman who may or may not be a witch and her boy toy war-criminal, like... common sense says it's not going to be a healthy relationship. However, i do think there's the potential there for a really deep, slightly unexpected understanding of each other. Aemond may be a lot younger, but he holds power over Alys because of his position in society/the way the world of asoiaf operates. he was literally holding her life in his hands when they met. I don't think the power imbalance is as pronounced as it would be in a modern setting, so they do have the potential to sort of level the playing field for each other and become partners in their own special fucked up way. after all, there's some definite moments in f&b where we hear that they have a very real and obvious bond with one another.

i think saying alys is gothic romance vibes is so accurate like overall the story isn't very gothic romance, but in herself with the elements of the grotesque, mystery, and the supernatural surrounding her I feel that's incredibly true. and its perfect because aemond has that element too; he is the marred, brooding, outcast gothic romantic hero. so yeah they should totally capitalise on these archetypes and make their side of the story lean into that.

one thing i do have slight reservations about is the supernatural aspect aka alys' magic. like I love a witch, don't get me wrong, and the aesthetics of alys using magic I just want so so badly. however... i hate when men are right. and i hate when men point at a woman who's managed to manoeuvre her way against all odds into a position of influence and say 'you cheated'/'thats a witch'. like. idk i do think maybe it would be interesting to see alys just be insanely smart and manipulative, using magic to cover up the moves she's making that are very much not magic just to keep people afraid of her so they'll let her be? but also i DO want her to be a witch? its a hard one.

im just so excited to meet her tbh. there's some really great options for what to do with her character so I just have my fingers crossed they do her justice.

#ask #anon #alys rivers #alysmond #aemond targaryen #hotd #hotd meta #f&b #f&b spoilers #fire and blood

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hedgewitchgarden · 3 months

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Pamela Colman Smith. Image in the public domain.

She’s the world’s most famous occult artist but her name is almost unknown.

Such is the enigma of Pamela Colman Smith (1878–1951), an early 20th-century artist, writer, and mystic. Smith created dreamy, Symbolist-inspired watercolors that won her acclaim in her youth, including three successful exhibitions at Alfred Stieglitz’s famed New York gallery, 291, where she was the first non-photographic artist to have a show.

She was also an intimate friend of Dracula writer Bram Stoker, poet William Butler Yeats, and the actress and artistic muse Ellen Terry, for whom Smith designed illustrations and stage sets.

However, Smith’s most lasting artistic contribution was undoubtedly her designs for the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Made in collaboration with mystic and scholar A.E. Waite, Smith created the Art-Nouveau-inspired imagery of mythical archetypes set against luminous monochromatic backgrounds. Released in 1909, the deck is now regarded as the standard set, with more than 100 million copies in circulation. Smith’s imagery has become synonymous with tarot itself.

And yet, for more than a century, Smith went wholly uncredited for her contribution. Her claim to the deck was only cemented by her iconic serpentine signature, a monogram she created while studying Japanese design, and which she embedded into the decoration for every Tarot card.

“Tarot is a visual device—and yet the visual artist who composed them was eclipsed by Waite, the scholar, and Rider, the manufacturer,” said Micki Pellerano, a New York-based artist, astrologer, and scholar of occult history, “Academics, with all their inertia and corporatism, are somehow more palatable to the public and valuable to the market than artistry and vision… little has changed.”

But Smith has slowly been gaining recognition. The exhibition “At the Dawn of a New Age: Early Twentieth-Century American Modernism,” currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, features an entire vintage set of the Rider-Waite tarot deck with attribution to Smith alongside The Wave, a luminous 1903 watercolor and ink drawing in the museum’s collection. The artist’s place in art history is still forming, however, and her contributions are more complex than a simple story of rediscovery.

Pamela Becomes Pixie

Born in London to upper-class American parents, Smith moved through a sophisticated and cultured circle, spending her childhood in New York and then Jamaica, where she would be profoundly shaped by that nation’s folkloric history. Smith returned to New York in 1893, enrolling in Pratt Institute, though she would leave after two years to pursue her own interests, then returning to London following the death of her mother.

She was deeply involved in the literary world and her early accomplishments include the illustrations for a volume of verses by William Butler Yeats (1898), as well as the publication of her own writing, Annancy Stories, a collection of Jamaican folktales, and Widdicombe Fair, an illustrated version of a popular English folk melody.

By 1901, she had established a weekly salon at her London studio and apartment, and she started her own journal, The Green Sheaf, which she edited as well as contributing her own poems and illustrations. She devoted herself to miniature theater as well, constructing dazzling and diminutive stage sets for toy performances.

The Annancy Stories particularly won Smith admirers and a bit of notoriety. Smith toyed with gender conventions, granting the women characters in these stories more agency, and sometimes making the gender of the characters ambiguous. She’d also written these stories in Jamaican patois, with which she was familiar from her childhood—an unconventional decision at the time.

Smith was familiarly known as Pixie, a nickname bestowed on her by Ellen Terry and which captured something of her undefinable, impish spirit. Smith was often known to wear flowing robes, and occasionally pants, and her self-styling welcomed all sorts of speculation. “She adopted native costumes and wore feathers in her hair and colorful ribbons. It was almost like a self-constructed persona that she adopted,” explained Barbara Haskell, curator of the Whitney exhibition, in a phone interview.

Her sexual orientation and her ethnic makeup also sparked curiosity. She lived for many years with Nora Lake, her companion and business partner, with whom she may have shared a romantic relationship. Others have speculated that Smith was of biracial descent, with an English American father and a mother of either Jamaican or East Asian ancestry—although not much evidence exists to lead to any decisive conclusions on the matter. What was certain is that Smith was regarded as “other” by those around her and which in turn inspired her approach to art-making.

Early Fame and Acclaim

In 1907, Smith had her first exhibition at 291, featuring 72 watercolor paintings. These works were partially inspired by Smith’s own synesthesia, in which she experienced visual sensations set off by auditory impulses (her first synesthetic experience occurred while listening to Bach). She organized her works for the show with overtly musical references, such as overtures, sonatas, and concertos.

“In the 19th century, there was an idea that art was an expression of the unconscious and that it would elicit unconscious non-rational ways of thinking about the world,” Haskell said. “Smith would paint while listening to music as a way to unleash her unconscious, which would have fit Stieglitz’s mission at that point.”

This first exhibition was a commercial hit and Smith would have two more shows at the gallery in the following few years. Eleven of her unsold paintings and drawings remained in the collection of Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. Eventually, however, Stieglitz would turn to a more masculine vision of Modernism, leaving Smith somewhat disheartened.

The Embrace of the Occult

From early in her life, Smith’s spiritual beliefs were oriented toward the esoteric and arcane. She had been raised a Swedenborgian, a mystical denomination of Christianity, and, as early as 1901, began to engage with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society that explored occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities, which certainly influenced her artistic output.

For Haskell, these influences were symptomatic of the time. “Smith represents a strain of artists in early American Modernism who were disaffected with materialism and rationalism, but who were also unsatisfied with organized religion and so turned toward more occult pursuits,” she explained. “Theosophy was so influential at the turn of the century and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was similar—a secret society that looked at ancient texts, the kabbalah, and tarot cards. This was predominant among women and I think of Agnes Pelton as a parallel.”

Smith was eventually approached by A.E. Waite, a scholar of the Hermetic Order, who had ambitions to create a new version of the 78-card tarot deck, and who commissioned Smith to create the illustrations.

Waite, a Grand Master of the Hermetic Order, offered direction for his vision for the order of the Major Arcana, which is characterized by allegorical characters such as the Fool and the Sun. The Minor Arcana, cards in four suits of wands, swords, cups, and pentacles, were left entirely to Smith’s discretion, and she transformed these cards, which had traditionally been simply symbols, into lush, image-laden scenes.

The deck is mythical in scope, ranging from moments of exalted regality to mischievous pleasure, and Smith’s compositional signature predominates the cards: a lone, mysterious, medieval hero appears against a nearly Byzantine monochromatic background.

For Pellarano, Smith’s familiarity with the significance of the tarot is evidenced by her detail. “She possessed a rare command over iconography, and a deep understanding of it,” he said. “Her designs are constantly revealing new layers of information. They encode so much meaning and evoke so much contemplation, but are gentle in their elegance and appeal.” Haskell notes commonalities to the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. “She was in England, and through the theater, she was exposed to a lot of Pre-Raphaelite art” Haskell noted.

Some of the tarot archetypes are believed to have been modeled by Smith’s friends—Ellen Terry’s daughter, Edith Craig, appears as the Queen of Wands and actor William Terriss as the Fool. Smith, who struggled financially throughout her life, would receive no copyright or credit for her contribution, and was paid only a nominal commission.

A Retreat to Obscurity

Following the publication of the deck, Smith grew increasingly interested in Irish mythology, and in 1911, she made illustrations for Bram Stoker’s final book, Lair of the White Worm. But soon enough, Smith withdrew from the art world. That same year, she converted to Catholicism and with a small inheritance purchased a home in Bude, England.

There she would devote herself more fully to causes like women’s suffrage and the Red Cross. She would die at age 73 in Bude, all but penniless. “It was her decision. She just exited the art world,” Haskell said.

Still, Haskell believes it is time for Smith to rejoin the story of Modernism. “Art, more than words, presents the mood of the time, and Pamela Colman Smith’s work does get to the essence of a feeling of that era,” she said. “On one hand, people were excited about industrialization and that was the dominant mode, but there were also those who were very concerned that it was stripping individuals of a sense of spirituality and connection to their inner core. That certainly hasn’t gone away and we’ve come fully back into such a moment.”

“Smith’s works feel even more resonant,” Haskell added, “showing art as a way to find a personalized, spiritual connection to divinity in isolating times.”

#pamela colman smith #tarot

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gunstreetgrl · 1 year

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For the anniversary of SOPHIE’s death, I am sharing my essay “Waveforms”, which unpacks her career and artistry through the lens of her song “Is It Cold in the Water?”

Here’s an excerpt:

“SOPHIE’s music – and, by extension, much of PC Music’s output – deals with a very particular form of femininity and womanhood. Vocals pitched upward within an inch of their lives, lyrics whipping between platform shoes, ponytails, and whipped cream, SOPHIE’s music is like the Dr. Luke era of pop on steroids and estrogen. It doesn’t take much to see that this embrace of consumption and performance (our dominant way of life these days) is satirical and playful, taking the logics of our social lives (gender, love, fashion) to their furthest extremes. If FKA twigs shows the way the demands of female archetypes haunt us through her amplified vulnerability, then SOPHIE, through her hyper-pliable techno-dream dolls, toys with those same archetypes, in one moment mocking them and in the next embracing them anew.”

Read the rest here!

#Sophie Xeon #Sophie #hyperpop

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grailfinders · 1 year

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Fate & Phantasms Viewers' Choice poll

Type: Earth is basically your good friend Arcueid from Tsukihime, which everyone has certainly played by this point. this is your weekly reminder to play Tsukihime.

Riesbyfe Stridberg, from Melty Blood. She’s a holy knight who cheated death thanks to her shield, Gamaliel, and as such she could be considered Mash’s senpai in shielding. it also keeps her from aging, so that’s a fun addition to add for no reason, and makes her much easier to build. thanks, nasu!

Richard the Lionheart is from Fate/Strange Fake, so who knows, maybe he'll show up in that collab? he bolsters allies, frightens enemies, and is all around just clever fighter. Historically, he was part of the third crusade, which wasn't the first crusade so it didn't go so hot.

The Deviljho is a brute wyvern from the Monster Hunter series, infamous for its strength making it the apex predator of whatever land it wanders into, and also for its massive appetite which quickly annihilates the entire food chain beneath it. it is so ravenous it will even eat its own severed tail with little prompting. it also looks like a giant pickle.

Wei Wuxian from the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is the titular grandmaster, creating a brand new school of magic in the process that allows one to summon and control the dead, along with your standard "smart guy who's good at everything" toolkit- swordplay, charioteering, math, archery, music, etc. He also invented a whole laundry list of fun toys to play around with, including the ability to attach your soul to a piece of paper, and a compass that points out evil creatures.

Koyanskaya of Light is a weird one, in no small part due to the fact that her big story chapter hasn’t shown up in NA yet. still, she’s an arms dealer, and this one’s focused more on hurting humans than her other side, so we should be able to manage fine. bullets and rifles and tanks, oh my!

Finally, we have the prototype robot V1 from Ultrakill. They were just your average war machine that runs on blood, up until every living thing on earth died, and they had to invade hell to borrow some of their blood in a bid to continue to exist. A lot of their blood, actually. As the title implies, ultrakill involves a lot of killing. Their main strengths include their ridiculous mobility, as well as the ability to parry a much wider range of attacks than you'd expect, sending enemy projectiles, fists larger than their entire body, and even their own bullets at enemies for massive damage.

#not a build #fgo #monster hunter #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #ultrakill

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cardarchive · 2 years

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FRIGHTFUR MARCH

When an opponent's Spell/Trap Card, or monster effect, is activated that targets a "Frightfur" monster(s) you control: Negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card, then you can send 1 of the targeted "Frightfur" monsters to the Graveyard, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Level 8 or higher "Frightfur" Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) During your next End Phase, banish the monster Special Summoned by this effect.

#archetype – frightfur #archetype – death-toy #trap card #counter

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sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee · 11 months

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What are some background hcs you have for Harley Quinn?

Harley Quinn Background

ooo alright here we go! Pay attention to trigger warning especially this time, my loves, her story gets very dark at one point.

TW: physically abusive relationships, child death, violence

Harleen Quinzel was born to a very respectable upper middle class family in Brooklyn. For the most part it was a fairly normal upbringing. Dad always worked a bit too late, parents had very high expectations for her- ADHD that wouldn't be diagnosed until she was well into adulthood.

The problems came as she got older and her parents made it clear they wanted certain... oddities from their daughter to be curbed in. She'd always been a little wild, with some unique ideas on what it meant to be a lady. Tutus on dumpster truck toys she traded from the neighbors older brother for a candy bar. They would enroll her in gymnastic classes to get out that extra energy and verbally correct the rest of it.

Pick and pull and pluck at someone's personality enough and they'll bury it so far down it would take cadaver dogs to bring it back up.

By the time she was eighteen, her parents had successfully reined her in to be respectable and more than slightly neurotic. Masking galore despite not even knowing the term yet, full ride for a psychology degree paid by family savings, and a desperate need to please.

The last would only amplify as she went through her bachelor's then her doctorate... Failed romantic relationships because the moment people saw a fraction of the real her, it was too much. Or her parents disapproved.

In truth, she never should have been allowed to be Joker's psychologist. But it was earlier in grand scheme of things. Before Arkham required pre-interviews for anyone working with Joker. And the weekly check-ins.

The way he slithered into her heart with fake sob-stories of his childhood itself should have been criminal. Encouraged her to just be herself around him when no one else did. Soft touches on her hand when they pass by each other in the room or the halls.

Over the course of several months, Joker changed her. Convinced her he was the only one who truly understood her. That if she could just do one tiny little thing for him, she could be his forever... She was fired shortly after someone caught her kissing him on the cheek.

The gymnastic classes ended up coming in handy with her new criminal career as she broke him out of Arkham. A flip and a jump and some flexibility as she avoided the many cameras of the building. By the time anyone knew she was in the building with her costume on, it was far too late. Joker was free with his new partner Harley Quinn, named after the comedy character archetype.

She would be an essential part of her lover growing even bigger than ever before. Harley even came up with the concepts for Joker Venom :) both lethal and nonlethal versions.

The physical and psychological abuse started shortly after. It got to a point she started thinking of the Bobo Doll Experiment. It's fine! Hit her, stab her, kick her, she'll always bounce right back! Wobbling until she comes back upright to start all over again.

Somewhere between years of breaking up and getting back together again, covered in bruises, Harley meets Poison Ivy. From the first heist together, they get on like a house fire except for one thing: Pamela despises Joker and how he treats Harley.

She helps Harley pack her stuff every time they break up. Tries to convince her every time not to go back. Offers her to stay permanently and help build the crib when Harley finds out she's pregnant. She goes back.

Pamela is there to pick Harley up out of the god awful club he left her in. She "fell down the stairs" of the place and, from what Poison Ivy could see, hit every step and hand-railing on the way down. In hospital they found out Harley lost the baby.

The only thing that stopped Poison Ivy from killing the Joker herself was the idea that Harley might not ever fully forgive her. However, that didn't stop her from beating him within an inch of his life and dipping his feet into the acid of her giant pitcher plants. Her words, "If you ever hurt her again, I will watch my babies eat you alive."

The next time Pamela sees Harleen, Harley has already made the decision that this time was the last time. And that Poison Ivy is her soulmate. Romantic or not, that will depend upon HCs.

Harley has to learn how to love herself all over again. The real her. Not the version her parents wanted her to be. Or the version that man manipulated her to be. With new friends at her side and her opening up, she figures out how to hold her head high and be her delightfully weird self.

In this time she ends up evolving into more of an antihero that dances the lines. Dyed hair, charms attached to her belt buckles, stickers on her mallet and a wide toothy grin. She's diagnosed with ADHD and PTSD during one of her stints in Arkham post-Joker.

Many years into the future she and Batman will have something of a friendly alliance. And he'll tell her how proud he is at how far she's come. Yes, she cries and hugs him, to his awkward Dad-patting.

#harley quinn #Harleen Quinzel #foxwriting

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ultravioart · 1 year

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????

So I'm trying to write out some ideas for Dominion au scenes and I guess I'm questioning what kind of humor fits Dominator? She's definitely comically evil + mean spirited so there is dark humor galore (Plus with kid cosmic using death as a punchline, lmafo it makes for some dark opportunity),

but if.... sighes, If the writers really were trying to go for the "she doesn't belong in the show" anime-op-badass "sexy bully"(<<<gags I hate this approach i hate sexy bully) archetype, I have to wonder if she's conscious of herself in situations or not. In Q&A they say she loves riot grrl but she's also fine with using a guy persona to "mess with people"?? Mess with them how? Make them double take and awkwardly scramble to treat her differently? Or make them not judge her as a (gender) but as a badass foe first and foremost regardless, and being a woman is just the cherry on top? I have to wonder if her love for the riot grrl genre includes the fundamental girl empowerment (proud to be a girl), or the "don't judge me just because I am a girl! I belong here too!" aspect. Is her perspective that she is proud to be a badass woman, or does she feel she's a badass who happens to be woman therefore women must be great? She seems to use whatever tools she has at her disposal, but also has a comedic self care routine of fluffy towels and pink guest bathrooms. So she's all out evil villain, but also has sensitivities and seemingly personal boundaries with "me-time" which doesn't read entirely as the all out off the wall destroyer, but a quirky lethal evil conqueror. It matters because like, would she be a "sexy" bully that has personal boundaries over her body, or is it all in, make the others squirm and yelp? Is she vulgar and unhinged? or does she have some kind of pride that would prevent her from "degrading" her self in her view by flirting with people she sees as losers? We have characters that have a sense of pride or a sense of boundary, which can make for good kind spirited humor too, but if Dominator really doesn't belong, it's hard to discern just how far her actions would go. basically it's one of the two: A) she embodies the "intensely evil little girl" all grown up into a fearsome villainess, playing godzilla with living toys. This is within the same vein to Hater's "spoiled brat emo prince" all grown up into a manchild rockstar tyrant personality. This means she would have some personal boundaries and sense of pride, meaning she would toy with others (flirting, teasing) but not be intensely vulgar. Fits the setting of WoY pretty well, though? Is... being pretty and mean enough to be a sexy bully archetype? Ugh Man, I hate this trope lmao. It feels gross. B) She embodies the "evil no matter what" and just happens to be a woman. she relishes in bullying others and making them squirm, wanting to destroy everything in her path. She's super unhinged and even self-destructive if not careful. No sense of sympathy for others, she just. wants. to. destroy. those puny little faces. (Cute aggression over 9,000!) And it's bleak! Yeah! ...and, lonely. Woops. This means she would be very vulgar, and not care what people think about her or her body because of course she's already perfect, she's HER. This to me reads as more so the sexy bully archetype, but ignores some semblance of her softer sides like her "...friend?" moments with Sylvia or her funny reactions to things like "what? Ew--no." which imply personal boundaries. I'm writing a whole damn essay about this because I don't want to make her too vulgar if it's ooc. But... it's seriously hard to understand what the hell the writers even meant by "sexy bully" because is that just a hot mean girl? Or a get under your skin and twist the knife just "to break your heart and watch you cry" kinda thing??? HOW FAR DOES IT GO, idk idk. Frankly I wish canon Dominator was not fanservice sultry and only sporadically "maniac pixie nightmare girl" like the VA's videos implied, because that stuff was hysterically fitting for WoY. Unhinged and unfitting of the WoY universe, but in a light goofy turning instantly heavy and dark humored way.

#dominion au #woy #this is not pg due to the weird archetype mentioned #at the same time it's funny to play with expectations so like? is dominator dedicated to the bit???#would she do completely unhinged things just for a laugh or is there a limit to the meaness?#i can definitely see dom rubbing it in hater's face that peepers is her minion now #but how far would she go to mess with hater?#she's on a vengeance streak so would she dig the knife deep as possible or would she think it beneath her to stick to a bit just to torture #lord hater? Idk this is hard to figure out lmao #i don't want to make a woy character too vulgar if its too ooc #bc even wander making those jokes in the big day did not sit right with me #felt awkward and more like writters placing the joke than wander being in on it #bc wander is pretty smart so his awkward phrasing is on purpose and good humor #but when it gets MUCH too suggestive its just. odd. doesn't feel like it fits his character.#it feels ooc and out of place for woy #but dominator is supposed to be “out of place” for woy so???? augh lmao #help........... sobs

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astrolocherry · 1 year

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The Annual Ancient Archetypal Ritual of the Winter Solstice~ 21/12

written by astrolocherry

“But the wind blew cold. The Sun Queen looked tired and old. We thought The Sun Queen was dead,” the Faeries answered her. “How can this little baby be the Sun Queen?”..... “That is the great secret of the Winter Solstice.” The Old Wise One touched the baby’s cheek with her wrinkled hand. “Every year the Sun Queen must come to the sacred grove during the darkest days of winter where She dies. I take Her spirit to the Mother who gives Her new life again. This is the way for all creatures, not just the Sun Queen.”

The annual ancient Solstice and Saturnalia festivals live on, exhibited by the celebratory symbols all surrounding and from within us at this time of year. The historic Saturnalia Festival was held in the Winter Solstice and marked the Sun's entrance into Capricorn. To the ancients, this time represented the death of a Sun, and the rebirth of an ‘Unconquerable Sun', as they witnessed the Sun's return from descent and paralysis into zenith and the warmth and life that followed. Darkness and night reconciles with the light of day. We take the good with the bad. Life and death become one. The wisdom of darkness and Saturnian melancholia is respected, revered, and harvested by the light. Our Tibetan mantra for the month of Capricorn goes, “Lost am I in Light Supernal, yet on that Light, I turn my back.” The elder finds the child. The young are given gifts from the old. The gift is the ultimate gift of life - the 'son', the 'sun' of God. You are the newborn Sun/Son.And this is why the Sun is the centrepiece of your horoscope. During this solstice period, one archetype that we embody is Pan as we recite and emulate this dual deity of spiritual light and spiritual darkness, and transition from mortal to immortal.

“The cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris is built upon the ancient site of a Temple of Isis, and that the early Church very frequently availed itself of a so-called heathen opportunity to determine a Christian rite or a day of sacred remembrance. Even the establishing of Christmas Day on December 25th was so determined. Annie Besant tells us that: "He is always born at the winter solstice, after the shortest day in the year, at the midnight of the 24th December when the sign Virgo is rising above the horizon; born as this Sign is rising, he is born always of a Virgin, and she remains a Virgin after she has given birth to her Sun-child as the celestial Virgo remains unchanged and unsullied when the Sun comes forth from her in the Heavens. Weak, feeble as an infant is he, born when the days are shortest and the nights are longest...."

Another element of this ritual is part of this begins on Christmas Eve when we celebrate the second re-birth of Dionysus. This is a 12 day event where we make offerings, sing hymn's, and rejoice with intoxication, fruit, consume wine instead of water, and relish in a banquet. Dionysus is known as the spirit of the Christmas present who was recipient of 7 toys known as the toys of Dionysus. He is often depicted riding a chariot pulled by exotic beasts that transform into the sleigh and the reindeer. The ‘3 wise men’ followed a ‘star’ or ‘horoscope’ to find the child saviour. This is the ‘way’ in which your astrological chart can direct you through to your ultimate potential, so it may be a reaffirming gift to read and reflect on your own. Happy solstice, Love Cherry

art by Kurtis Rykovich

#winter solstice #solstice #capricorn season #mythology #christmas #ritual #ancient ritual #magic #dionysus #pan

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sepyana · 10 months

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Jjba Stardust Crusaders Ep. 45 - FINALE Thoughts

God. Fuck.

Under the cut.

Ep. 45

This is the least insane episode of the four we have.

So, the episode starts with Polnareff and Dio. The whole sequence is just Dio toying with him. He could have killed him 100 times over. Dio's ego is actively making things harder for himself.

I love the crew bring absolutely horrified and jumping out of the window. The sun is setting so they don't have much time.

Joseph's plan of hiding till dawn makes sense to me. Polnareff and Kakyoin object though, I get why. They both have been used by Dio, Polnareff saw Advol and Iggy get murdered in front of him.

The group splits in two, though we end up mostly focusing on Kakyoin and Joseph. The chase sequence is nice. All the info they get is about the physical stand, unfortunately.

Ep. 46

Kakyoin has a plan to find out Dio's ability.

The episode starts with with a childhood flashback and yeah... I pretty much accepted he was gonna die at this point. You know how it is with jjba.

Really interesting flashback. It confirms me saying he was a lonely kid as true. He feels alone because no one can see Hierophant Green. "How can they understand me if they cant even see the real me." He thinks of his stand as a part of him from a young age. A stand is a part of one's soul. In a way, his stand is the reason why he feels so alone but also his companion. I was under the impression having a stand was something that runs in the family. I thought at least his family could understand but we never learn if that was the case (most likely not). Also, how rare is a stand anyway? 2%, 0.01%? Makes you think.

Our crew were people with stands, I imagine this was the first time he could connect with people.

Kakyoin's plan is to make Hierophant invisible, surround the area with tendrils to hopefully detect Dio's stand. It goes so horribly wrong.

This entire section is me talking about Kakyoin's death and it's so long. just skip it if you don't wanna hear all that. I had fun puking my thoughts straight into paper (keyboard?? Screen?) tho.

There is heroic and everything and then in a split second Kakyoin crashes to a water dam nearby with half of his stomach gone. Not showing the World at first was a great choice imo. Just shows how horrifying this stand is to our characters.

This scene is fucking heartbreaking. He has pretty much accepted he was gonna die, thinking about his family. He uses his last breath to help the Joestars. Despite being a crybaby, I don't cry watching tv shows all that much. This one got me tho, I'm getting really sad just writing.

When you kill of a character you destroy any potential plots and writing you can have with them in the future for one single gut punch (sorry). When you are writing it's measuring a characters potential vs the impact of their death.

I can't say if he would fit well into later parts because I haven't watched them yet. What I can say is, Kakyoin got what he wanted, friends. He is still not mature yet, he is 17 for fucks sake, but him finding friends for once and not feeling lonely anymore was his main storyline.

I can understand why he was killed. I do this was a good choice for his character, compared to making him an minor side character for the later parts. His death is done really well. Only thing I would change is the music. It's a bit corny imo.

And you can't deny his death wasn't in vain. There was no way in hell's chance Jotaro would have beaten Dio otherwise. He plays a huge part in Dio's demise. They could have gone for a a vain death, Kakyoin is the closest we have to an heroic archetype. They could have gone for a tragic death instead because of this. I'm glad they didn't. It's not like unfair deaths couldn't be done well (They could be even better than the standard sacrifice when done well), it's just that I'm tired of seeing heroic characters die unfairly all the time nowadays.

I personally am a big fan characters who had their character arc already be a part of later parts as a supporting character. Either having a different storyline or being a source of stability. I was hoping Kak would have that instead but Jotaro fills that quota better than he does. You could have both as a duo if you felt like it though.

All of this is also why I didn't like Advol's death all that much. At least that's why I think I don't like it. I like Advol almost as much as Kakyoin but his death left me frustrated more than anything. His character was underutilized here, so killing him off seems bizarre to me. He still has a lot of potential.

His death is done so much worse too. No time to grieve, no one outside of Polnareff mentions him. He dies really early into the episode too. We don't even get to hear his thoughts like we do with Kak. He just sacrifices himself for Polnareff, again. That's not a great send off for a character. Polnareff being saved by others was established multiple times. Literary every Crusader has saved him at some point. Iggy sacrifices himself for him later too. So, I have to ask, what's the point of killing Advol then 💀?? I don't understand and I would love to read people's opinions on this when I get the chance.

Okay death talk over.

Oh yeah, there was the rest of the episode.

Joseph also fucking dies but not really. Before he dies he reminds us hamon exists for a second. Makes sure to tell Jotaro Kakyoin's find.

I would like to point out how Dio kills the cat for shits and giggles. This is such a huge contrast to Kars that it's cracking me up.

Love that Jotaro gets more and more pissed off every time Dio spurts out someone's name.

The episode ends with the meme. I thought the meme would hamper my enjoyment but the Jotaro vs Dio is just kinda silly like that. I found it pretty funny personally. Not sure if that was the intended vibe.

Ep. 47

Dio opening?? Di o opneing? das so cooll

I've been replaying the za warudo sound effect for an hour now someone help me

Here comes the big plot twist, Dio and Jotaro have the SAME STAND. I love this reveal, I'll be honest. My one complaint would be that it could have been better if it was lightly hinted before. Otherwise though, I love it when characters realize their actual power. I also love characters with time powers and I already like Jotaro a lot, I fully support this.

It was so satisfying seeing Jotaro trick Dio and punch thru his stomach. Get karma'd shithead.

Oh, Polnareff. I forgot he was here.

I love the shot of Dio just zapping to Jotaro when he sees him move. Some looney toon ass bit.

Using Star Platinum to stop his own heartbeat was definitely one of the boldest things he has done.

Zero context gif

And then. And then just as he was about to die he sucks away Joseph's blood to revive himself. And that gives him a just awful hairdo.

I have no idea what they were going for with this. He is so ugly holy shit. Kill him with fire.

Ep. 48

It's mostly the same stuff as episode 47. The steamroller was pretty funny.

"You've done one mistake, Dio. You pissed me off." Who thought of this line it's awful.

Joseph gets revived wit Dio's blood. I live how Jotaro was basically saying how painful this journey was and that he could at least get one thing positive.

I'll be honest if my grampa did this to me I would have straight up killed him again.

Holly is fine and well. The Joestars and Polnareff part ways. Poor Polnareff tho, he was the closest to both Advol and Kakyoin.

The part 3 ends.

------------

We still not done!! There is still the OVA. It differs a lot from both the manga and the anime in a lot of ways so I thought it deserved it's own section.

OVA 11

They merged the coffin scene and Advol's death together. So instead of some goon Dio kills Advol. I like this better compared to the anime/manga but not by much.

Aaaah poor Iggy.

They don't bother with Vanilla Ice being a vampire, which I like.

Instead of having the whole group chat on the roof they get naturally separated instead. Jotaro and Joseph come across Dio. When Joseph tells Jotaro to run away he answers "You want me to run away now?" echoing Polnareff and Kakyoin's statements in the anime.

And then Dio throws Jotaro off the building with The World. As much as I like the sound design of the anime, I actually love how they didn't add any sound to his stand here.

Joseph gets saved from death by Kakyoin. He uses one of the tendrils to save Joseph and then uses emerald splash to make the dome of the building crash on Dio. It's actually a pretty cool sequence just watch it.

So that's how the gang gets separated. I like it more than the anime if I'm being honest.

OVA 12

This is the episode most faithful to the manga of the three.

The comments tell me Satoshi Kon was one of the directors in this. I am too lazy to confirm but it does have a similar style to his works. I'm really glad for that honestly. I've always loved Satoshi Kon.

I like the detail of Kakyoin saying maybe his power was teleporting, and Joseph telling him not to draw conclusions.

Emerald splash is a lot more intimidating in the OVA. I'm not sure which one I prefer. I do like the sound design of it in the anime.

In the OVA, Dio doesn't attack him right away. Dio says he shouldn't hasten his death, and that he is talented and just join him instead. Anime Dio doesn't bother with all that. He is just like "You wanna see The World do bad?? There you fucking go fool." and then kills him. While I do like what Kak says to Dio, I like the anime version of this wayy more.

OVA 13

I could go on about all the differences and what I like but just watch it tbh. They throw around cars and towers it's amazing.

I love the art style of the OVA just as much as the manga/anime. It's voice acting and soundtrack are not the best. The animation has some issues but it's fun. Also free to watch on Youtube.

ANNND We are done. This was a wild ride. I'm glad I watched it though. I can't wait to watch part 4.

I probably won't write as much for part 4 because it takes a long time. Maybe go 8 episode per post. I haven't figured it out yet. I might not even journal anything for it depending on how things go.

#way more swearing than usual today sorry #sepya watches jjba #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #sdc #↪ posts

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sparrowsabre7 · 2 years

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Power Rangers was my first true fandom. I adored it, it was my life as a 5 year old and my love for it, though frequently dormant, endured well into adulthood.

While I haven't watched the series regularly since I was 10, nostalgia keeps me coming back to anniversary episodes heavily featuring the original Mighty Morphin' crew, as well as the relatively recent Boom! comics, which are written more with those who grew up with the series in mind than the children who remain the target audience of the show proper.

The main thing that keeps me interested, keeps me coming back after decades is one of the key aspects that turned my like of the series into love:

Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger.

Putting it simply, Tommy was cool. He had a cooler, he had a better zord, in pretty much all ways he was designed to be better than the other rangers and was the codifier of the "Sixth Ranger" archetype.

I am not naive, of course, I understand now that much of this is down to the marketing and cynical business types who wished to drive toy sales and push the new character to their eager audience.

Nevertheless, aside from the superficial aspects, one thing that made Tommy Oliver stand out from the other rangers was due in no small part to Jason David Frank. He imbued the character with an initial darkness and latterly haunted nature which his villainous origins begat. His character proved so popular that when he was written out of the show (due to Saban running out of Green Ranger footage from the original Japanese show upon which it was based), the company was deluged with letters from angry fans and parents of distraught children, begging for his return. Thus he became the even newer, even shinier White Ranger, and over thebfollowing decade would go on to become the Red Zeo and Turbo rangers, as well as the Black Dino Thunder ranger, acting as a mentor to a new generation of Rangers.

This unprecedented career (both in and out of universe) has yet to be matched by any other ranger to grace the show, a tenure spanning over 200 episodes and 7 generations of Power Rangers. This is no doubt down to Jason David Frank's unwavering commitment to both show and character, long after his compatriots had moved on or grown jaded with the series (admittedly many for legitimate reasons). Most fans who encountered him said he was a class act and always took time to entertain them and make them feel valued.

In the waybthat any child can truly have a hero and understand what that means at five year's old, Tommy Oliver, and by extension Frank, was mine. He's the reason Green is my favourite colour, he's the spark of my interest in super heroes, he was a paragon of good in a classic battle of light and dark.

Earlier today news broke that Jason David Frank, had died aged 49. Further details would emerge that he had taken his own life. I am no stranger to celebrity death, nor even celebrities I have loved and admired; Satoshi Kon, Carrie Fisher, Kenny Baker, Chadwick Boseman, most recently Kevin Conroy. But none of those hit me with quite as hard of a gut punch as Jason David Frank. Whether it was the suddenness, the circumstances, the love I had for him as a child, I have no idea, but I am not ashamed to say I wept. My legs turned to jelly and I wept for a few moments in my wife's arms, trying to adequately explain what this man meant to me and why it was affecting me so much. A man whose actual career I had not regularly or actively consumed in over twenty years, and yet still had this hold over me, this enduring ember of admiration.

I do not wish to speculate over the reasons that may have contributed to his decision to end his life, but I can be secure at least in the knowledge that this was a man who gave everything for his fans and truly understood how much he was appreciated, and appreciated in return.

Rest in Peace, Jason David Frank, and may the Power protect you.

#power rangers #jason david frank #obituary #tommy oliver #personal #green ranger #white ranger #zeo ranger v red #red lightning turbo ranger #dino thunder black ranger #lord drakkon

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