I’m all for headcanons but it’s so funny everyone decided Link is a jackass idiot who runs around naked and sets stuff on fire when in reality he isn’t that way at all.
Yes, as a player you can talk to people naked and set stuff on fire (it’s hilarious to see the NPC’s reactions) and it’s so great the game lets you play like a gremlin if you want!
BUT—within the story and canon—Zelda describes him as noble. That is heart is good and true. In the games, the people of Hyrule come to him with their problems and he solves them. He’s figured out a zillion shrine problems (he’s far from stupid!). He’s good with animals. He takes his role of protector seriously. He’s a sturdy pillar and truly a wonderful person.
yeah no i’m still not here, i just scheduled this to post after a good chunk of people watch episode seven. i haven’t seen it yet. i have no idea what happened and that means this doesn’t count as a spoiler.
but i am assuming something off the walls happened or that it ended on a cliffhanger again (or maybe both at the same time) and that’s why i drew this. yeah this was done four days ago. i’m smart cookie
i’m assuming it came out already. kinda just guessing at this point
This one goes out to all the slow burn enjoyers, the dense Y/Ns, and the soft robo jesters that suffer in silence!
Inspired by @bamsara's “Solar Lunacy” fic.
If you feel like reading my ramblings and want to experience more heartbreak for fictional jester blorbos, check under the cut where I detail all the planning behind the frames!
so i heard this song for the first time in a while and the opening lyrics immediately made me think of moon, so i was daydreaming some scenes and then i decided to thumbnail some ideas:
and it all went downhill from there as everything became a metaphor and a parallel to each other, which i will now go into detail on!
you thought the animatic itself was sad?
*writing muse laughs maniacally* IT'S ALL A METAPHOR
Frame 1. "turn down the lights"
We start with a back view on Moon. The lights are out, the Moon is out, but we do not see his face. The music and the greyscale atmosphere are enough to establish the weight of the moment and the weight on Moon’s mind.
Frame 2. "turn down the bed"
We cut to a shot of Moon's body, kneeling on the ground of the daycare, like a padded cell. Moon’s hands are twitching with the effects of the glitch, with purple sparks coming from his hands. We still do not see his face.
Frame 3. "turn down these voices inside my head"
Cut to an extreme close up on the dark half of Moon’s face. Now we see his face, but only a portion of it. His left eye is wide open, red and glitching out. The voices in his head can refer to the glitch but also his repressed feelings. Or maybe it could be Sun's voice in their shared headspace.
Frame 4. "lay down with me"
Y/N's hand enters the frame from the upper right corner, lowering down to meet Moon where he kneels on the ground. Only a corner of Moon's face appears on the bottom left corner of the frame, his starry nightcap beginning to cover his glitched left eye.
Frame 5. "tell me no lies"
An full shot of Moon on the floor and Y/N standing in front of him with their hand stretched towards him. A light spills out from behind Y/N, creating a boundary between them.
Now we see more of Moon. It is only when Y/N enters the frame—enters his world—that Moon’s body is shown in its entirely. When Y/N is here, he is no longer fragmented. He is whole.
Frame 6. "just hold me close"
pspspspsps
Playfully, Moon extends his own hand, beckoning Y/N to come closer, to join him. His right hand crossed over his body as he uses the playful gesture to hide his true feelings—to put distance between him and Y/N. His hat continues to cover his glitching left eye. He doesn’t want to worry Y/N.
Frame 7. "don't patronize"
In response, Y/N’s hand pats Moon on the head, returning his playfulness. Moon looks surprised by the action. Moon, notably, does not lower his hand—perhaps he has forgotten it or perhaps his invitation is still open.
Frames 8-9. "don't patronize me"
Moon rotates his faceplate so Y/N’s hand is touching the side of his faceplate, a more intimate gesture than a head pat. However, his hat is in the way. At this angle, his starry nightcap fully covers his glitchy eye and the dark side of his face, hiding his defect and acting as a veil between him and Y/N. A self-imposed boundary. So close, yet thinly separated. It's better this way. It's safer this way.
The lyrics are broken up by Y/N's arm, both to illustrate how the song is sung ("patronize" is drawn out and "me" is briefly added in before the chorus starts) but also to show how Y/N interrupts Moon's resolve, highlighting the irony between the visuals and the lyrics. Demanding not to be patronized, yet Moon happily accepts this play at intimacy. Don't patronize me, I am weak for it.
This is also the only instance where the red light of Moon's eyes glow and tint the surfaces around it. Visually, it makes it look like Moon is blushing (heavily inspired by @restinsodaroni's art). But also, in this moment of honesty, Moon's intrinsic light spills out, colouring the greyscale world. In this brief moment of honesty, Moon touches the world with his own colours, his own light.
(and this is also where i forgot to clean up the shading on Y/N's arm, but it's okay it doesn't need to be perfect it simply needs to be. And Moon will still love Y/N even if they are a continuity error.)
Frame 10. "'cause I can't make you love me if you don't"
A parallel to a frame 4, Y/N retrieves their hand away and immediately Moon is reduced to the corner of his faceplate in the frame. Only now his glitched eye is fully covered by his hat.
The lyrics here (and in the next frame) in particular grow lighter to emphasize Moon's diminishing resolve and agency.
From here on out, the lyrics here are broken up, carrying on this theme of fragmentation. Y/N is pulling away, Moon is breaking up, the words are breaking up. Everything is coming apart.
Frame 11. "you can't make your heart feel something it won't"
Y/N turns to leave. The lyrics, broken up as before, highlight the irony of the situation. Y/N, a human, can’t feel something they simply don’t feel. Whereas, Moon, the machine, feels something his code never intended him to feel.
Frame 12. "here in the dark in these final hours"
Another full shot that parallels frame 5, as Y/N steps towards the light and Moon leans forward into the space Y/N once occupied. Y/N is leaving—that which makes him whole is leaving. And he is only capable of making it to the boundary where the light cuts into the darkness. The "final hours" suggest it might be the end of Y/N’s shift, or perhaps this scene takes place right before the glitch takes over—the final hours that Y/N has with the true Moon. Either way, time is running out—and only Moon knows it.
There is a contrasting display of body language here. Moon is on the floor leaning towards Y/N with his hand still left out. Whereas Y/N is turned away, walking away, and has already slipped their hand away and into their pocket. Y/N is closed off while Moon is limply open. Y/N is actively moving while Moon is on the floor, waiting, hoping, for that which he lacks the agency to reach for himself.
Frame 13. "I will lay down my heart"
A close up on Moon’s hand, rising up again, perhaps to beckon Y/N back once more. This is a slight parallel to Y/N's hand reaching out to Moon. While Y/N can freely reach out and touch Moon, Moon cannot. He can't enter the light and more importantly he can't risk potentially harming his relationship with Y/N—be it through the glitch or by his feelings. He can only lay down his heart—put aside his feelings or hope that someone will pick up his pieces and make him whole.
Frame 14. "and I'll feel the power"
Still on a close up on Moon’s hand, now clenched in slightly. This initially was going to have the glitch effects. However, I felt it more meaningful for it to be left without. Leave it up for interpretation why Moon pauses his hand. What is the power that he alone feels and stays his hand?
Frame 15. "but you won't, no, you won't"
A parallel to frame 1, a view of on Moon's back with his hand stretched out towards the light, and Y/N walking into the light spilling through the open daycare door.
The placement of the lyrics suggest two different “you won’t”—Y/N who won’t realize Moon’s feelings, and Moon who won’t dare speak them into reality.
Another note on the parallel to frame 1, this time we also see Y/N's back, but it is notably different from our view of Moon's back. With Moon, we literally see inside him through the hole for his loop. However, Y/N is shrouded in shadow, just a solid, obscure silhouette against the bright light of a world Moon—and Sun for that matter—are closed off from. We don’t see into Y/N, just as the Daycare Attendant doesn't have any vantage point of Y/N's life beyond their time at the PizzaPlex. (The unfortunate reality of a being a character made for the purpose of being a vessel for the reader.)
Frame 16. "'cause I can't make you love me"
We finally cut to face Moon head-on, frozen in place with his hand stretched out, unable to cross the boundary into the light. His eyes have gone dark. Where we began by seeing bits and parts of Moon, and never seeing his full face—now we, the viewer, see the full Moon, open and vulnerable—unbeknownst to Y/N.
Frame 17. "if you don't"
But in the dark, behind closed doors, there is no one to perceive him—no one to receive him. The light dwindles as the daycare doors are closed. Moon stays frozen where he kneels. It is no longer the glitch that plagues him, but a far deeper dread.
But a lone streak of light peaks through the gap in the daycare doors. Perhaps that is just enough. A silver lining. A frail hope. A single, ethereal thread out of darkness and into light.
Thanks for reading and watching!
We'll be back to our regularly scheduled fun and games shortly!
the way this man looks so different in every scene he’s in baffles me. sometimes he looks like a puppy and other times he’s on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Wonder how all those "Izzy's not an important character, he was only ever meant to be an antagonist and a villain, hope he's barely there in S2 after his scheme to get rid of Stede failed" haters are doing right now.
i met half of the band that changed my life on the side of the street while walking to a taking back sunday concert yesterday and i will Never be over it btw 🥹
I really, really wish people who don't have the capacity to properly take care of animals would simply accept and acknowledge that about themselves. This isn't even a post of me trying to be mean or judge anyone, I'm sure most people go into getting an animal with good intentions, but intentions and actions are different. If you don't have the time and the space and the care an animal needs, the animal will suffer. The fleeting joy of having a kitten or puppy or anything else doesn't last forever and they aren't toys to be put down and forgotten once you've moved past the inital excitement. If you don't have the ability to properly care for an animal, just accept that and simply admire them from a distance.
thank you scalding sands event for reminding me of just how crazy rich kalim is... orz i often forget how spoiled he is and how willing his parents (especially his father) are to do all that they can to ensure he's happy. like remodeling the entire scarabia dorm to fit kalim's vision so he wouldn't be too homesick. or owning giraffes and elephants. or even having an entire private park attached to their already massive property. he is so rich. it's driving me insane. T_T
i wrote about the tweels using their family's influence to essentially "buy" you, but the real buying of you quite literally happens with kalim. you, the servant he's grown so fond of, will suddenly find yourself swimming in wealth. all of these things are gifts, courtesy of kalim. your family is spoiled rotten, and it's such a whiplash. you try to be humble because that's how you were raised, but kalim insists. take these jewels! take this aureate statue! take this car so that you can get yourself a license and drive him around in it! kalim isn't even trying to curry favor with you by drowning you in excessive opulence, even though he very well could. he just wants to give you these things because he likes you and wants you to be happy! but it's so suffocating; you have to thank him because he's your master. your family will forever be grateful to the asims. but it's so awkward. you don't want any of these things. you just want to work in peace.
of course you can't possibly imagine yourself in a relationship with kalim. he's very sweet, but you just don't see him in that way. the gap in wealth is too great, as is your social status. so it's shocking when his father personally visits your parents with kalim, where he gives his blessing for kalim to marry you. and in addition to that, he delivers a very expensive care package, a means of goodwill. "our families will be one now," he says with a radiant smile, "so please think nothing of this little gift!" and you try to say no, but your parents won't hear it. how could you say no to kalim al-asim?! are you foolish? do you not see how lucky you ought to be?
but you can't quite call it luck or a blessing. it feels more like a curse. kalim loves you, yes, but you don't want to love him for his money or his willingness to mindlessly spoil you. but you don't have much say in this matter. kalim's made up his mind and so has his father. the two of you will be wed. it's a nightmare. jamil would pity you, but he's known kalim long enough that any sympathy he might extend to you has long since shriveled.
Ceci Balagot as Frankie Stein in Monster High: The Movie (2022)
“I’m Frankie, pronouns they/them. I’m only 15 days old. My full name is Frankie Stein. I was just created by my parents but not in the way that others are created by their parents, like werewolves. I was actually made in a lab using some of the world’s most impressive historical figures as parts.”
i asked if he could write something comforting and he wrote “you’re not alone in this. none of us are, darling” and he said it in astarion’s voice and my name as well and i just