#no but like even tho mostly the quality was incredible the fact they basically were like HAHA ASSPULL and then dipped soon after is so.. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

papirouge · 1 year

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Hi!! sorry for the late response, you answered my ask about jpop idols, thannk you so much for such a thoughtful answer!!!

Honestly when i was younger i was really into mostly hello!proyect, so i know that they had literally child groups with berryz and cute, whose younger member was 8 years old! It was pretty creepy how they would make those photobooks with them posing on bikinis as soon as they turned 13 or 14.

I also really loved perfume, it used to be my favorite group, but like you said nakata got lazy and started prioritizing other acts around the level 3 era, and it really got cemented with cosmic explorer, which is when i started to lose interest in them. Their costumes also used to be so good, creative, and designed thoughtfully for each girl, but now its always the same costume except achan gets the longer skirt, kashiyuka the shorter skirt, and nocchi gets the shorts. Even the fabric is visibly cheaper. I feel like the only one who still cares is mikiko as her choreographies are still good.

But i dont know who that artist you mentioned is, but i'm interested in hearing the story 🍵

Japan is EXTREMELY problematic when it comes to child sexualization and the fact that rightoids who are constantly blaming the left for entertaining sexuality degeneracy....have no problem sporting anime pfp/watch anime is everything you need to know about how much of clowns those people are 🥴 They don't care about child abuse, they just pretend they do to dunk of their political opponents.

They try to cope saying it's "cultural" but Japan is currently recording an increase of sexual crimes, so...why would they defend a culture suspected of increasing sexual assault coming from a country struggling to contain their own sexual predator? 🤔 Also why the "it's cultural" argument shouldn't be used for honor killing and child marriage then ? Oh my bad, it's Muslims so this time we can finally admit it's a problem 🤡

To be fair with Perfume, they've been around since ~20 years now, so it makes sense their concepts are starting to become more rehashed. Nakata is a VERY derivative artist (even when he tried something new after he discovered future bass, he shoved this sound in everything he made around that time, whether it was on his own album 'Digital Native' or Perfume song "If you Wanna" lol.

The concept of them having distinctive outfits (as you said, longer dress/skirt for A-chan it's said that's bc she has wider hips which aren't considering a good feature in Japan, shorter dress/skirt for Kashiyuka, and shorts for Nocchi) goes back to their debut, and I think it's incredible they sticked to it for so long (especially since they also have respective hairstyle code - Nocchi has never been able to have hair longer than her chin for most of her life.... 🥲), but yeah, after so many years.... it's starting to get old. But they're basically idols I don't think doing an イメチェン (= drastic change of style) would be well received...

In the era of streaming, the lowering of budget for music videos is global. Perfume last outstanding MV (great costume + set design + extras on set) was "Cling Cling"... which was released almost 10 years ago🥴 but other Japanese artists had a drastic drop in MV quality, included Ayu Hamasaki (the artist I talked about in my first reply).

She is Japan best selling artist of all times and her "Jewel" MV has been for a while listed in the most expensive music video of all times🥶💎

Ayu story is quite endearing because her dad abandoned her when she was a child and was edging on delinquency. She's from an era when random girls were being scouted in karaoke and producers propelled them into stardom, tho very few of them made it beyond one single (which was the case of Ayu who started... making rap LOL) but by an odd turn of events, she got another chance where this time she did pop and things eventually took off. What's interesting with Ayu is that despite being marketed as an idol at first, she from the start had control over her music/image: she wrote all her lyrics, choose to display her own (very distinctive) personal style, etc. By her sophomore album, LOVEppears, she endorsed a more daring image and in the following one, Duty, she dropped the cutesy idol thing to become more diva like and confident ...

That's also the time she started pulling out very disturbing music videos. There are A LOT of them, but I'd say "Ladies Night" is the one who stuck the most with me (which is weird bc the song is pretty positive : celebrating girlhood support)...but the MV is just unecessary creepy and dark. It starts off cute & goofy...only to become more and more scary & nightmarish 😰 WHY?

youtube

Her '(miss) understood' album era is pretty dark tbh ALL the MV of this album have this sad, dull, gloomy energy... Excellent album, but very dark energy

Thankfully there is "Fairyland" (which was also one of the most expensive MV of that time) to brighten up that energy

- Her 'Duty' and 'Party Queen' album booklet + SURREAL MV features full on sex kitten programming (it's interesting that "SURREAL" has subliminals about her -then- hidden relationship with Tomoya Nagase (another popular male entertainer of that time) and has a frenetic vibe which is very reminiscent of hypnosis/trance. I hate that it's one of my favorite MV of her 😓(the scenery is just soooo pretty).

youtube

- dissociation in "RAINBOW" and "Don't look back" MV

- mind control in "Alterna" and "Marionette"

- "Free & Easy" MV is a gigantic nod to Joan of Arc and apostolic martydom

youtube

- transhumanism in "Real Me" MV

Now that music videos don't have the same budget as they did 15-20 years ago, Ayu's MV aren't nowhere as elaborated as they were before (also her music has gone down to the toilets - she should've retire after her 10 years best of). But it's obvious she sold out to achieve this level of fame and success, therefore she had to shove all these twisted messages in her MV.

#answered #papi conspiracy #ayumi Hamasaki

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rsmrymnt-tea · 2 years

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💚, 🖤, 💕, 💖, ❌, 🍀, 🥰, 🎀, 🎉

Hopefully that's not too much!! And I hope you had a good time at the beach!!

- 🐝

omfg nonnie ngl i cracked up when i saw these gkjd but thank you so much!! it’s not too much at all :> And gosh I had quite the experience at the beach involving having to explain to fellow adult woman (tho 4 years younger than me) that people do not, in fact, pee from the clitoris, watching over some kids while we went out in the dead of night to look for food, and finding this bar on the beach that had the nicest mixed drinks ever. There were also some cute dogs that were very happy to get pets and that more than made up for how I actually didn’t get to actually swim in the ocean >.>;; Over all very fun! One of my cousins and I pretended to be in a horror game while going around those trees.

💚 What’s their type?

Misunderstood and kinda solitary intellectual with a playful side to them. Helps if they’re into what she’s into and are fond of animals. Helps even more if she can sense there’s something to them that they’re guarding from others.

(Basically… you know. >.<)

🖤 Do they enjoy loving or being loved?

Dola enjoys both, to her surprise, especially once she got used to the rhythm and groove of being in a relationship. She’s never been in one prior to Satan so it was all new to her, but she didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as she did because hearing all her peers stress out about their relationships/search for one about it made it sound so cumbersome to both find and maintain a relationship with anyone; honestly she knows she’s incredibly lucky with Satan and Solomon. Despite her tendency to come off as a little aloof, she does have a lot of love to give and being loved back with the same enthusiasm just makes her want to give more.

💕 Their future goals in a relationship? How far do they want to take it?

She’ll take it as far as the other wants, honestly, and will certainly stay for as long as she’s wanted. Her only limit is children—she doesn’t want any, has never wanted any, and is so averse and bothered by the mere idea of getting pregnant that she had a tubal ligation as soon as she was able to. There’s no convincing her to adopt either, she’s not about to risk passing down that generational trauma.

💖 Do they like PDA or are they a private person?

She likes a bit of PDA but not too much. It’s mostly limited to holding hands/staying connected in some way, a bit of hugging, and innocent kisses that usually aren’ on the lips. Her personal favorites are hand kisses (both giving and receiving) and for some reason really likes either gently pulling her partner’s face down for a kiss on the forehead, or tiptoeing to kiss their jawline before she has to part ways with them.

(I like to think Solomon’s in the habit of teasing her but kissing the corner of her lips while Satan sneaks kisses on the neck when they hug. They both get a “hey!”+a pout out of her but she’s not mad.)

❌ Are they scared of being in love?

Dola isn’t scared of being in love. She’s got enough faith in herself to believe that if she landed a shit relationship, she’d have no problem breaking up with the person and that with communication, she can try her best to be a good partner. At most she was probably a bit worried because of her inexperience and because she doesn’t actually know what she’s like when she’s in love. All prior to Satan, of course. With him, she was scared but more so of him reciprocating and the possibility of having to turn him down because she didn’t want to date someone who was inevitably going to forget about her once she’s dead.

🍀 What’s their love language?

Copied from a prev ask since for some reason I can’t link?

For giving, it’s quality time and also acts of service. Spending time with loved ones is very important to her (and also she just likes being around them, even if they’re not really doing the same thing or talking) and she likes making their lives a little easier, with the latter not even needing to be something that her loved one knows she did.

For receiving, it’s physical affection and words of affirmation. She’s intensely touched starved and finds a lot of comfort in being hugged and cuddled or just having someone lean on her. She also really needs the comfort and reassurance from words of affirmation; couple both that and physical affection and depending on who you are and her mood, she may cry.

🥰 How often do they stare lovingly at their s/o?

shjadfs Way more than she’ll ever admit. She usually ends up doing with when they’re distracted and deep in concentration doing something, like cooking, reading, or trying out some new spells. Also does it when they’re just at peace playing with an animal or enjoying something they’re watching… Or when they’re sleeping, but that’s usually when she’s just woken up and they’ve yet to or she’s about to fall asleep. >.>

🎀 Are they likely to fall for someone first or is it the other way around?

I feel inclined to say that just because most of what takes her to fall in love kind of… come with the other person having fallen already, she’s the one to fall in love last? With Solomon, she for sure fell in love after he did, and Satan realized his feelings before she did.

🎉 Are they a fan of nicknames? Do they prefer cutesy, traditional or silly ones?

She enjoys nicknames and largely prefers more traditional ones over silly or cutesy ones. Silly ones feel ridiculous to her and cutesy ones make her feel a little talked down to. But using terms of endearment such as love, dear, dove, darling are more than okay with her and can get her heart fluttering. She prefers using nicknames like that as well, though for the most part she uses her partners’ names especially when out in public… Unless she’s trying to make a point towards someone overstepping their boundaries.

When it comes to her actual name though, ‘Dola’ is as much of a nickname she’ll accept and other derivatives get a raised eyebrow. She also doesn’t like alliterative nicknames and has a special disdain for the word ‘doleful.’

#chat & colloquy #🐝 nonnie!!#i hope these make sense because im suddenly so sleepy again sdfbhjdgbjhsdg #but these were fun!!!#dolasach

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xcrystalzero · 3 years

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Hello! I’d love to request a romantic matchup, as I’m an absolute sucker for those. Pls take your with this, and drink some water!

So first of, I’m 18 and het female. Appearance wise I’m a tiny (on a good day) 5’1 with, as of rn, pastel purple hair—I change my hair colour frequently. I have quite the defined hourglass shape, which I lowkey hate because finding clothes is a nightmare... the only feature I really like apart from that are my freckles. Besides that, I love fashion, and i spend quite some time on trying out new hairstyles and clothing combinations. So yeah that’s it appearance-wise.

Personality:

To be succinct, I’m an ENTP-T (HI KIN). I’m usually quite determined, stubborn, blunt, rational, and quick witted, but I try to be softer and more careful with my words around the people I love. My main quality is really just my galaxy brain (yay me, intelligence saves me from being a complete arsehole), although I always try my best to help the people around me (which can sometimes become overbearing, I’m sure). I have random periods where I just... succumb to being a crackhead. I’m not the biggest fan of always being serious, so I want to let loose sometimes. Tho one big issue I have, is that social cues and emotions are just really not my area of expertise. I have absolutely no idea how to act in most situations, and while it’s gotten better (i was unbearable to be around when I was younger) I’m vvv awkward and can easily be rude (accidentally... sometimes at least) djdjdjieks. Also, I’m such an annoying smartass, I’m sorry to everyone.

Hobbies and Interests/Dislikes:

For hobbies, I have too many in true ENTP fashion. Although, I mainly focus on dancing, writing, and... is hanging out with friends a hobby??? Idk, but I love spending time with my loved ones. I also quite like baking and I’m a huge simp for Shakespeare—well, his works that is, and for general English literature. I also love gaming, history, and debate. Another important thing for me is topics like feminism, gender equality and all that good stuff. I’m not really an activist (too much stuff on my hands I guess?) but I’m very passionate about these topics—and easily get into arguments about it. Dislikes—well, the usual ones like unnecessary hate and stuff like that, but specifically, I absolutely abhor when someone judges and condemns someone else—who hasn’t done anything against them—without even knowing their story. Also, ignorance is annoying af.

Some other stuff uwu:

For preferred traits in a partner: First of, my love language is Quality Time (we don’t need a big adventure or anything) and Acts of Service. I’m vvv averse to physical touch in a romantic sense and I need my s/o to respect the fact that it’d take me a long long time to get used to him initiating smth. Trauma tingz... I know it unfair tho, as some people just need that, so I try to compromise as much as possible. Communication is super important to me. Keeping your secrets are alright, and if you’re shy or anything that’s also cool, but if I seriously ask you about smth, I’d rather you wouldn’t lie just to spare my feelings. Also, I need someone who isn’t afraid to voice their opinion if it differs my own. I’m quite into debating—over any topic, really. Thus, I might come off as rudely argumentative (which I guess I am), but it’s mostly just a matter of enjoying the mental thrill and wanting someone to consider my perspective/explain their perspective to me. Patience is another trait I really need in someone. I have ADHD, so even if I try my best to listen, I might have to ask if you could repeat whatever you just said. Also the bouts of random forgetting, my occasional impatience... yeah, adhd things. Beyond that, I believe that if you truly love someone, you can grow with them and work around any negativity.

Can’t really think of anything else rn. Thank you for doing this 💜💜💜 take care and drink some water

Hiiii! Omg I'm ENTP/INTP -T too! We chaotic as fuck. Anywayyy, here we go!

I match you with ... Zhongli!

- Ah yes, Geo Daddy himself.

- I think that Zhongli is one of those people who highly value intelligence. He's been around for a while now and seen a lot of things. Obviously, he knows that most people can't begin to approach the amount of knowledge he has accumulated over time. That's why meeting you is a pleasant surprise.

- He's an incredibly patient and supportive person so he'll have no problem entertaining your crazy ENTP ideas or any of the things that come out of crackhead hours.

- He'd like the interest you have in fashion. There's something charming about the way humans like to accessorize and change up their appearance and you do a good job of it.

- It's a good thing you like history because this guy will 100% go on long tangents about the history of the land. If you try to correct him on something, he might try to fight you. The best part is that he doesn't even realize he's doing it, he just doesn't see how he could be wrong about something like that when he's been around to see it all. Have fun with those debates... Thankfully, he doesn't mind your argumentative nature and tends to deal with it pretty calmly which just calms your down too.

- Imagine though, dates where you guys burst into old libraries or bookstores. You had just disagreed on a certain technicality of Liyue's history at sea and you are determined to be right this time. The two of you spend hours scanning over books and asking the various historians always conversing around the restaurants and at the wharf. You guys actually end up kind of attracting a bit of attention, since people find it cute that you're trying to outsmart THE Zhongli. Plot twist...

"See! I told you it was 254 years ago! You were thinking of something else!" You raise the parchment you have been pouring over for the past few minutes triumphantly over your head before presenting it to Zhongli.

The man in question takes the paper, scanning it quickly before looking back to you. "Hm, I suppose you are correct."

"I win!" Your smug little smile is full of pride as you place your hands on your hips. Perhaps to others, losing such an argument would be disagreeable but Zhongli finds it adorable more than anything else.

"Yes you do my love. Yes you do..."

- His love language is quality time too! You guys spend a lot of time just wandering around Liyue Harbor together, literally just chilling or sipping tea on the veranda, enjoying each other's company.

- Basically you have one of those relationships where you can be both very active and very chill together.

Alright there we go! I swapped out my coffee for water just for you :). Hope you enjoyed!

#genshin impact #genshin imagines #genshin matchups #matchups #zhongli #zhongli x reader

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iwaqchan-archive · 4 years

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-author's note: oh man this is actually the first thing i've written that wasn't requested, since like i posted the kirishima dating headcanons, but i thought i would post something that isn't a request for a change to get myself out of that weird funk i've been in for a while, so i hope you enjoy them guys! (also i rlly can't believe i've never gotten around to do headcanons for todoroki)

@amaamajiki thank you for listening to my annoying rambling about my writing (and also for telling me to be a bit self indulgent, it truly helped!!!) (also you are wonderful, just wanted to get that out there)

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ ｡ﾟ･ ───

☆.｡.:* getting together .｡.:*☆

• oh boy

• we all are very well aware of the fact that shouto is one dense baby boy. like super dense. so dense in fact, that it took him literal m o n t h s to figure out that you had been flirting with him this whole time.

• you see, he liked you, a lot. even if he wasn't exactly sure what he was feeling. and i mean who could blame him, he didn't exactly have a good (or healthy) example of how relationships or the whole courting process works. so he was kinda a bit baffled?¿ like why was his heart beating so rapidly whenever you were near him??

• super confused. it literally took, ochaco, tenya and izuku to tell him that what he was feeling, was in fact, love. or a crush at the least. this confused him even more, because what was he supposed to do now? he wasn't really good with words, so telling you at this point in time wasn't an option. so he opted to wait and see how this whole "having feelings" thing would develope.

• what he didn't know tho, was that ochaco actually went and told you about how todoroki feels about you. which made you absolutely ecstatic. but honestly you didn't want to full on confront him about it either, because you knew about his hardships and didn't want to like overburden him. instead you decided to go about this lowkey and letting him make to first move, as to not make him uncomfortable

• aka, you started subtly flirting with him, making him lunch, inviting him to study with you, etc. all with the hope of him picking up on your hints, and ask you out.

• which didn't happen....at least not for a while. you would try everything in the realm of possibility, while still wanting to make sure not to make him uncomfortable. but honestly it was getting a bit...frustrating. he wasn't picking up any of your hints, like at all.

• it even went so far that your classmates would make very obvious comments, while the two of you were conversing, and every single time they would fly straight over his head. which in turn would make you even more frustrated.

• all of this reached a tipping point, when the two of you were walking back from grabbing lunch, which you even paid for, and were talking about a training exercise you did earlier that day. you were complimenting his quirk, and his battle finess, and also making very obvious statements about how good he looked while fighting bakugou.

• and yet, he still didn't get it. and at that, you kind of started crying? your frustration getting the better of you. and poor shouto was bamboozled as hell, looking like a puppy caught in the rain. he didn't know what the hell was going on.

• until you basically told him how much you liked him, and that you thought he liked you too, because uraraka said so and that everything you did the past few months were dropping hints in hopes of him picking up on them.

• literal lightbulbs lit up in his head, as he gently took a hold of your hands, and apologized in that sweet, monotone voice of his. this time you were dumbfounded, not at all expecting such a bold move from him.

• but you ended up talking it out that day, and well the rest is history

☆.｡.:* finally dating .｡.:*☆

• a sweet, sweet boy, trying his absolute best.

• like i said earlier, he didn't have a good example of how a functional relationship is supposed to look like. so in the beginning he will be quite hesitant to initiate physical contact, or well, anything really.

• he really doesn't want to make you uncomfortable and to be honest, he also wasn't really sure what was appropriate and what not. so it will be up to you to show him.

• i don't think he will ever be the biggest fan of pda, at least not the 'making out in front of a bunch of people' kind of pda. he prefers a more subtle form of public affection. like hand holding, cheek kisses, and the like.

• shouto is also a very perceptive person, and while he can be quite dense at times, he somehow always finds the right words for any situation. if you were feeling insecure, he will tell you in the most sincere way possible that there is absolutely no need to doubt yourself, because you have your own unique strenghts and qualities. feeling sad? he will offer you his shoulder to cry on, and his ears to listen to your worries and concerns.

• also loves buying you expensive things (of course, with his father's money). you see a nice dress in shop window? he will drag you into the store and make you try it on, and then get it for you. also shares all of his accounts with you, like netflix and what other services endeavor pays for.

• he also pays for most of your dates, even if you tell him he rlly does not have to. and he mostly just does it to piss off his father. so, it really isn't a rarety that you two would dine at luxurious restaurants every once in a while.

• speaking of dates; mostly you two wouldn't go out a lot. you prefered to stay indoors and just bask in each other's company. often you would sit on the couch and just read a book, either together or each of you reading your own. it actually became one of your favourite activities.

• his siblings, absolutely adore you. fuyumi and natsuo are overjoyed every time shouto announces that you will be staying for dinner, or generally coming over to their house. they are incredibly grateful that their baby brother found a lovely partner that accepts him just as he is, and shows him the love and support he was devoided of as a child.

☆.｡.:* kisses .｡.:*☆

• he is such a gentle lover, and the same can be said about his kisses aswell. there rarely is a time when he uses force, except when he is jealous or extremely emotional.

• shouto is also a touchy kisser, he wasn't at first, too scared of overstepping boundaries, but after a while he starting getting bolder. usually one hand would hold your waist, or situate itself on yor lower back, and the other would either wind itself in your hair (if he is feeling particularly needy) or tenderly hold your jaw.

• needless to say, every kiss you share with this boy is incredibly special and meaningful. since he isn't the best with words, he is extra careful to show his feelings through his actions, and what better way is there than to make you absolutely breathless every time you kissed?

• your first kiss; was unexpected? in all honesty it was actually an accident, it was that cliché move of you wanting to kiss his cheek, and him turning his head a bit too early and in turn, pressing his lips to yours. you both were quite embarrassed at first, until you got your bearings back and eventually leaned in for a proper kiss this time

• (natsuo loves teasing him whenever he catches you two being all lovely dovey and sharing sweet kisses on his living room couch, much to shouto's embarrassment)

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ ｡ﾟ･ ───

requests: open

#todoroki shouto x reader #shouto todoroki imagine #bnha fanfiction #bnha one shot #bnha imagine #bnha writings #mha x reader #my hero academia x reader #boku no hero x reader #boku no hero headcanons #bnha headcanons #todoroki imagine #todoroki x reader #shouto todoroki x reader #todoroki shouto imagine

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maverick-werewolf · 4 years

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Werewolf Fact #51 - Magic Skins

Well, I broke 50 werewolf facts! But there’s still so much to cover! So here’s another one.

You’ve probably heard a lot - in media or otherwise - about werewolves in relation to magic skins, and vice versa. What’s up with that? Just how do animal skins relate to werewolves? Let’s find out...

Dat jaw workout tho.

Anyway, magic skins are actually pretty commonplace in werewolf folklore and mythology. The biggest source about them that you’ll hear of, no doubt, is Norse myth. Norse myth is pretty loaded with all kinds of stories related to animal skins - not least of which are the berserkers, of course, and the ulfhednar/ulfhedinn (depending on plural/singular). But I have a separate post on those. I recently expanded it a little! Be sure to check it out, because “berserker” doesn’t refer to a “bear warrior” like you probably think it does.

But I won’t go into that here; check the other post for that. For things bear-related (and more on magic skins, but not in relation to werewolves), also be sure to check my post on bear shapeshifters/”werebears.”

All that aside, though, one of the biggest actual stories we have that talk about magic skins is a story involving legendary figures Sigmund and Sinfjotli, who donned wolf skins one night that turned them into wolves - and then they couldn’t take them back off and reassume their human forms. They went on what’s now occasionally referred to as the “wolfs-ride,” (originally gandreið, which has nothing at all to do with wolves because it means more like “wand ride,” and means basically “staff ride,” more in association with the Wild Hunt - and again we see the negative bias inherent in modern scholars and translators against wolves), basically giving in to their bestial instincts and challenging each other to kill a certain number of people within an allotted time.

That, of course, didn’t always happen to everyone who turned into wolves using wolf-skins. Nor did everyone who donned a wolf skin directly turn into a wolf/werewolf, like Kveldulf, a warrior who was never actually described as changing shape (though he was said to do so!). He didn’t have to change shape, either, to have the strength of many men and beat up tons of people who made him mad. He’d get grouchier as the day went on, until, in the evening, his temper was terrible. But he was considered noble and good. I totally love Kveldulf, he’s awesome.

Generally speaking, a lot of werewolves and werewolf-like figures in Norse myth were associated with magic skins. You can find many lineages of various folks with Ulf (Norse for “wolf”) names, all of whom could turn into wolves. Or, as they say, “don the wolf shape.”

Now, not all werewolves and wolf shapechanging of any type in Norse myth involved skins! Sometimes it involved transporting one’s mind and/or soul into an animal’s body, entering a shamanic trance, and sometimes it was totally different than either example. But all of that is details for another time.

Generally, these skins - which could come in many forms, but generally were cloaks, cowls, and girdles - were somehow magically enchanted, cursed, or both, depending on whom you asked and whom was in control of them. Others, like Kveldulf, clearly didn’t necessarily need these skins to gain the might of the wolf and had it even in their human form. In fact, it’s implied most berserkers did.

Turning into a wolf with the skins and/or any other variety of werewolfish things, rituals, and shapechanging acts - including becoming a berserker - wasn’t always considered necessarily “bad” or “evil,” nor was it directly always considered “good.” Wolves themselves in Norse myth are perceived very mixed. Often, they are considered good and people and warriors all look up to them for their cunning, ferocity, strength, wisdom, and all their other amazing majestic incredible strong and brave qualities (can you tell I’m biased? But really, they loved them, too, for - in a word - their sheer badassery).

This can be seen in the case of Odin having dominion over wolves, as well as having his own two wolves, Geri and Freki, who were meant to be the progenitors of wolves everywhere. But then, conversely, you have not so good wolves - you have evil wolves like Fenrir, destined to swallow Odin and slay him during Ragnarok (basically he was the scariest thing about Ragnarok, don’t let any movies tell you otherwise...), and there were plenty of other bad wolves, too.

To a warrior, though, having the strength and ferocity of a wolf was pretty desirable, and plenty of positive figures in Norse writings had wolf associations. So, no, they weren’t all always evil by any means, and they were also frequently associated with wisdom and sages.

Much later in history, other werewolf legends began to re-adopt this concept of wolf skins. Specifically, in the Renaissance/Early Modern period, the concept of wolf skins arose again in several werewolf trials - most notably Jean Grenier, who claimed he received a wolf skin given to him by the “man of the forest,” a big creepy dude who was quite possibly Satan or, at the very least, some kind of demon or guy with lots of very close demonic dealings. He didn’t exclusively use this wolf skin, though, as there was a salve and some other ritual involved to assuming his wolf form.

This was also, as I’ve mentioned, the time period when concepts of werewolves (and wolves themselves - real ones, actual living animals) began to be warped forever - and they’re still that way today. In that time period, they became associated with crazy people, cannibals, serial killers, etc., and all other variety of undesirable people. Werewolves, essentially, became associated solely with madmen and often with Satan. This was not an exclusively Christian doing, either, as there are plenty of positive Christian portrayals of werewolves (not all of which are covered in this post, either). While Christianity certainly warped many legends, werewolves were not actually one of them, despite what some people might tell you. There are many, many positive Christian depictions of werewolves, and you can find several covered in other werewolf facts (I did one just recently on the werewolves of Ossory). And then there are werewolf knights, whether they were all directly Christian or not.

But I covered all that in other posts, too - most of them, in fact. But most specifically in these two posts here (Part I and Part II), on the descent of the werewolf into what we think of them as today (unfortunately). I think the honestly rather crappy modern perception of werewolves was shaped entirely too much by this shoddy time period and that helped people forget all the original legends and assume they know them without really knowing them at all.

Oops. How’d that soapbox get there? Let me move that.

Anyway, getting back to the skins, that mostly covers it! There’s so much to be said, of course, but that’s the basic overview.

(If you like my werewolf blog, be sure to check out my other stuff! And please consider supporting me on Patreon - you get goodies, get to help me decide what the next werewolf fact will be, and every little bit helps me so much!

Patreon --- Werewolf Fact Masterlist --- Twitter)

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maggotmouth · 4 years

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hello, its nora again ( she/her, gmt ) n this is the ethereal but spoiled alma olive putnam (she goes by all 3 names cos she’s pretentious as fuck). ive never used anya taylor joy as her fc before but anya has a smile that looks like she knows something u dont and thats completely alma’s vibe so we’re gonna try it out. she was raised in a farmhouse in vermont, big horse girl energy. very hungry for everything life has to offer. wakes up and smells the success in her blood. luvs the smell of libraries and listening to french music from a tinny record player in knee socks. here is pinterest. bio is below the cut, like this post to be bombarded with plotting messages but i might forget or get shy tho so pls message me x

application template.

ANYA TAYLOR - JOY , CIS-FEMALE , SHE/HER → according to the school records , ALMA OLIVE PUTNAM has been attending sacred heart for the past three years . i last saw them hanging around the sacred heart cathedral ; i think they were studying the stations of the cross with a smile like a well - kept secret. at twenty - one years old , alma has been studying classics and get this , i heard that she has made a fortune on the black market by forging renaissance art to sell to collectors — figure it’s true ? everyone around here always associates them with neck scarves tied around your throat the way they do in french new wave films , running barefoot through the woods drunk on red wine and untapped power , a smile like a locked door that speaks only in riddles . in the time since these strange happenings , they have have encountered any unexplained occurrences . ( written by nora , 24 , she/her , gmt )

aesthetics.

a red beret nestled on top of bright platimum locks, neck scarves tied around your throat the way they do it in french new wave films, running barefoot through the woods in feckless hedonism, china dolls with porcelain faces lined against the walls of your room, the mona lisa smile, knee-socks tugged over the hockey grazes on your knees, a forged botticelli drying on your easel, ophelia floating in the middle of a lake.

proceed w caution, tw for death, drugs, alcohol, violence

the short form. (still long af tbh)

— studying classics cos she thinks it makes her sound smart, but actually hates fuckin latin and just loves learning about feckless hedonism and the festivals of bacchus and writing about how all women in myth are literally forgotten. was expelled from princeton in her first year so her parents basically paid her way into sacred heart and the board really liked her in her interview. i think the governors kind of expect to see her in the supreme court one day or st

— born in vermont in a big old farmhouse. her great-great-grandfather moved to america as an immigrant and worked on a plantation, made his way up cos he could speak a lot of languages and therefore win more people over. for the last two generations, putnam men have owned the farm and do little of the dirty work. big in the meat industry.

— both her parents had large personalities, so alma’s never really been shy around adults, even as a kid she’d speak to them in a forthright, confident manner, and because she was always surrounded by adults, she’s always seemed a bit wise beyond her years.

— very much a consolidation of every character in the secret history. has a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs. obsessed with w.h. auden and the beat poets. — ”aestheticism is the only thing worth pursuing and even that is pointless” — is majoring in classical civilisation. can read ancient greek and latin. also speaks french.

— studies hard and plays hard. she gets top marks but it’s because academia is literally her life, she loves the smell of libraries, the ancient smoke of learning, of feeling like old wine in a new bottle reincarnated from the bones of some old, dead witchy woman who invented a cure for cowpox or somethin.

— isn’t a foward-planner, however. alma prefers to leave her options open, play the field, live in a spontaneous manner so her study style is mostly cramming a few days before a test, or staying up all night writing an essay on a massive adrenaline boost powered by red bull or probably adderall, scribbling (or typing) furiously into the night.

— pretentious motherfucker. loves poetry, especially the romantics, loves morbid ones too, edgar allen poe, sylvia plath, allen ginsberg, she just loves them all. can’t get enough. her favourite films are like…. wanky artfilm independent european cinema. especially french new wave. “what do you think of goddard’s work??” while snorting a line off someone’s sink at 5am on a school night, but you can bet she’ll make it to that 9am class. — very intelligent and beautiful and knows both of those facts. plays devil’s advocate. humanitarian, vegan. — judgemental but takes great care not to appear so. petty and vindictive

— obsessively devours mystery and thriller novels. she herself is a gillian flynn book waiting to happen. — tries to be an enigma. wants to be mysterious and unreadable because that’s what books have taught her makes women desirable and interesting and cool. very amy dunne in the way she expertly reinvents herself to suit her audience, when she wants to impress

— an incredibly talented dancer. she was accepted to juliard to study ballet, but after an injury to her foot she had to refuse her place, something that she’s incredibly bitter about. she went to princeton instead to study classics for a semester, before being expelled.

— alma comes from a family of high-end art dealers. while her parents paid her way into the school, that was mostly due to previous expulsions, not low intelligence. she’s incredibly intelligent but will only put in effort when she deems the cause worthy. she’s frustrating to teach, because she requires evidence, truth, in order to accept something as worthwhile. she plays devil’s advocate, but academically she’s brilliant.

— she can recognise any renaissance artist just by their brush strokes. her aunt and uncle deal antiques and art, and from an internship with them after her expulsion from princeton, she learned how to market and sell art, how to recognise originals in contrast to fakes. from this, alma began to produce counterfeit art and sell it off as the original work to the contacts she had made in her internship. it’s disloyal, but it’s powerful.

— act like the flower but be the serpent under it. is a user. manipulative. leads people on. will throw another student under the bus to demonstrate her own intelligence and integrity — heavily involved in the theatre society. loves attention. — has an addictive personality. seems unable to do anything in a small dose, she has to let it utterly consume her. with sports, she’s fiercely competitive, runs track, played lacrosse at school, now is a cheerleader probably. with alcohol, it’s never a shot, it’s a whole bottle – wine or whiskey – she’ll be table dancing before the night’s up and making out with someone she’ll regret in the morning.

— her clothing style is like…. vintage thrift store but make it preppy. berets and cute hats, neck scarves, large fluffy cardigans or like those leathery jackets with big suede fringes on them, mini skirts (very 70s), and knee-high socks or boots. quite often she’ll be in sports kit, maybe a cute tennis skirt, n when she’s feeling casual she’ll wear like, a talking heads tshirt with a pair of mom jeans and converse, but otherwise, the library is her catwalk. — relates to ophelia from hamlet and sibyl vane in dorian gray. weirdly obsessed with women who commit suicide. loves jackson pollock paintings and abstract art. – likes old things. old books, old music, old houses, it reminds her of happier times like when she wasn’t alive. buys all her music on vinyl and has a gramophone because “the sound quality is better” kfdsjj.

plots.

here are some generic wanted plots but by all means message me so we can flesh them out more if any strike ur interest:

study buddies !! someone who is equally unprepared and so spends all night in the library with alma before a big deadline, maybe they even met in the library

if they’re from new england or vermont, then cousins . second cousins / extended family / family friends – probably spat volavons on your character once as children, omg childhood friends !

honestly someone who is fully in love with her or crushing on her that she can just break would be sweet :/ or on the other hand someone she unexpectedly gets feelings for and actually wants to guage her own eyeballs out bc of it

frinds !! unlikely friends !! toxic friends !! former best friends separated by sporting or academic rivalries !

hockey / cheer friends who are on other teams but who she absolutely loves playin against!!!

fellow academics who like meeting up to discuss latin and greek ! gimme a secret society bonding by their love of ancient learning

i reckon she’s in a lot of societies, definitely the film club, maybe works as a projectionist at the uni cinema if they have one so give me ppl affiliated with that, give me fellow wanky pretentious art-lovers and poets and historians who will go to museums and galleries with her and listen to the velvet underground on vinyl

people she gets mortally fucked off her tits with at parties

people who think she is throwing her academic potential away by caving to hedonistic impulse

a secret society !!! honestly i would die for a slug club esque thing in which the children of notable families are invited to dinners or alma’s also an art forger, so maybe like a club of students set up to basically forge paintings and documents from the university special collections

people she has drunkenly made out with, hooked up with, or regularly sleeps with casually, maybe even a friend w benefits she is repressing feelings for, i love angst,

people she used to date or unrequitedly likes, but to them it’s just a physical thing, give me all the thirsty angst plots, and maybe some softness too, i need some religion in this girls life, she is a roman catholic after all

full biography.

alma olive putnam.

intro.

the girl is a knife. razor-sharp, double-edged, the bright shine of a two-faced, lovely thing. silver like the secrets you magpie thief from other heads. you’re a scavenger of knowledge, of tidbits, of gossip to lock away for later use and late-night re-inspection. a mind is like a clock if you get to learn the pieces. bit by bit, you dismantle the inner workings of the brains that tick around you – how easy it is to change it’s path, how words and their meanings can make a person laugh or cry in an instant. to have the power to control that is to be a god. it’s the power trip you crave wielding pom-poms in your hands; a possessive need for control that a younger you, small and weak, never had as a child. small lips, smaller smile, a doll clutched in your too-hungry fingers, hard enough to shatter the bones of a real infant. you cut your hair with your mother’s kitchen scissors before the autumn falls, rendering you out of season, unfit for the cold weather that beats against the nape of your neck, where a stick-and-poke marks the star you were born under ; the bull. “mama, when will i be a queen?” as soon as they find a crown small enough not to slip from your head.

biography.

if you get hungry enough, they say, you start eating your own heart. hands red, stained by pomegranate seeds, the empty pulp of its shell splattered on your thighs you find yourself wondering – what would it be like to want? in the beginning, you never knew hunger. twins, born under the same star, you first, him second – a nuclear family. never a sister to compete with, you were always the cherry pie of your parents’ hearts. white-haired, blue-eyed, beautiful baby of mine. the townhouse in vermont and the summer house in lyon, you wanted for nought, showered with attention, saddled with gifts - hardly a wonder you came to rely on such affection as a confirmation of your own worth.

at eight years old you first met death, blood on a gingham-print dress, a smear of it over your cheekbone and the pulp of a mangled animal at your feet murdered by the hands of a stable boy. “alma, my precious baby, you get away from that filth,” your mama would cry from the upstairs balcony – cigar in one hand and a bloody mary in the other – though whether the filth she referred to was the dead pig or the boy with a kernel of corn in his mouth, you never did find out.

your family earned their keeps in farming, great-grandfather wolfgang hildegarde a german immigrant, great-grandmother maura lisbon a prairie girl. they fell hopelessly in love between troughs and pig-shit, working for three dollars a day at a farm their descendants would later own, trade deals with the indians, vacations to calcutta, your father todd putnam in the kind of sheepskin coat his father’s father could only dream of owning. he worked hard so that you’d never have to. your mama once asked – you heard it through the window, rounding cartwheels across the picket-fenced lawn – could he not find a respectable career rather than selling shrink-wrapped pork for a dime a dozen? that blood money had no business raising a child. you look far back enough, edie, your father had said in his low, strong voice that could bring a civil war to silence, and i think you’ll find that all money is blood money.

language was never fickle on your tongue, french dinner time talk by the time you were out of your hush puppy shoes, your mama fixing the au pair a smile as she fixed herself another martini. you learned the clarinet at four and how to dance with the grace of a swansong at six, ethereal under a spotlight, an audience captive in the palm of your hand. by eight you knew that you’d always been destined to be loved. loved so hard they would want to taste you, bite into the soft plump of your cheek and eat you alive. that was how magnetic you wanted to feel. but mother hamsters eat their own young when penned in together too long, and soon you became too wild, too restless, another package on your father’s delivery invoice, box-shipped out to english boarding school.

fitting in had never been something you had to concern yourself with. you were always the shiny new toy the other girls wanted to play with, bright like a dropped coin from a magpie’s beak. wherever you went, you seemed to leave a trail of awe, pig-tailed harriet’s adoring you, imitating you, teachers forgiving your class-time chatter for the sake of your wild heart and the restless spirit you possessed. tell us what it’s like in the states, alma. they’d coo, enamoured by your hollywood drawl. does your father own a gun? you hardly knew. barely even knew the colour of his hair, for the scarce amount of times he’d stoop to kiss your cheek, though you’d tell silver-tongued tales if it’d guaranteed you an audience. when you learned how to smile at the right times, and that flattery would get you everywhere, it soon became apparent that charm would pave the yellow brick road to success even when your lack of drive couldn’t.

the road you followed – gum-snapping, roller-blading, friendship bands all up your arm – eventually led you to sacred heart. bright-eyed and gingham skirted, you’d always known you were more. there was a hunger in you to be something extraordinary, a want so adamant to be imagined and desired that it was almost savage. in leather-bound volumes and a circle of stones, you were helen of troy, the girl for whom they’d launch a thousand ships. but there’s so much rage within you, collecting like sawdust in cavernous parts. hockey helped. there was something grounding about the feeling of a stick clasped in your hands. sweat. stiff knuckles. feet pounding the earth. the smash of wood against flesh in the scram of a game, passed off as mere enthusiasm. “slipped, sorry.” hockey is the one thing you had that was yours alone – a feral instinct that motivates you to play; something primitive within you that sparks an energy like no other. on the pitch, you feel alive. you feel like a god.

#heretics:intro #heretics:ooc #my two most pretentious characters ive ever written n i bring em both here . we love to see it.

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spongeguyandlelouchvibridankia · 4 years

Text

SpongeGuy Reviews Every Disney Cartoon Ever!: Bonkers (1.1): “Going Bonkers”

I’m going bonkers myself from how much I hate this.

Bonkers is a Roger Rabbit clone, without any of the charm, wit, heart or soul that made Roger Rabbit a clear cult classic. The show focuses on Bonkers D. Bobcat, a “1930′s” cartoon star (we’ll get to that soon enough) whose show has been cancelled and replaced with an action cartoon, and misunderstandings lead to him having two partners in an airing order so bonkers, for lack of a better phrase, that wikipedia basically shrugged when i asked “So what is the actual order here?”

From what I understand, it’s the Lucky Piquel Episodes first (we’re doing those now) followed by the Miranda Wright episodes, but do I look like I care?

...Ok, I do, but still.

Look, I hate this show, let’s just get over with this and how this is kind of insulting to the cartoons it’s “honoring”.

SUMMERY: W.W. Wacky cancels Bonkers and his friends' show production. Bonkers joins the Hollywood Police with a partner, Lucky Piquel on a case for missing Toons, snatched by a criminal called 'The Collector'.

COMEDY: 1 Out of 5

In one of the first (if not the first) Animaniacs episodes, Slappy Squirrel burns Bonkers by basically saying that that stuff makes you hyper but isn’t actually funny or wacky. And she was right.

The biggest problem with Bonkers (outside of it’s main character) is that it wants to be a Disney version of what WB was doing during the time with their comedic cartoons. Tiny Toons and ESPECIALLY Animaniacs were roaring successes, and Disney probably wanted a cartoon that could challenge them.

But here’s the thing: Disney already had good cartoons that were challenging them in different ways. The original Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Talespin, Gargoyles, Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop. They weren’t like Animaniacs or Tiny Toons, but that was ok! They did their own thing, and it WORKED.

But not Bonkers: Bonkers (a spinoff of a show named “Raw Toonage”, that was bad enough to be cancelled quite quickly) wanted to be Animaniacs. Not just that, Bonkers wanted to be Roger Rabbit.

Why am I giving you all this background, you may ask? I haven’t even discussed comedy once! Well, it’s because Bonkers is a show defined by what it’s trying and failing to be.

Bonkers is an old cartoon star, one who predominantly uses slapstick and is overly affectionate. He is a Roger Rabbit expy, and by that definition, he is a 1930′s cartoon star. But, and this is the kicker: THEY DON’T USE HUMOR FROM THAT TIME PERIOD IN THIS SHOW!

You wanted a 1930′s cartoon star, and not one that was already created? Fine! But at least put the effort! Where are the visual gags/puns? Where are the elbow nudging 4th wall breaks? Where are the song and dance routines that are charming? Where is the witty banter, the actually weird facial expressions, the toon out of time aesthetic this show could have had?

NOWHERE. Every joke can be summed up as a sitcom misunderstanding, Bonkers being annoying, and Lucky (his partner) getting unearned punishment. It’s just joke after joke about how dumb Bonkers is, and how SILLY this all is, when mostly, it’s really not!

When the main joke of your episode is “The main character is a dumbass!”, how the heck are you expecting me to laugh?

CHARACTERS: 1 Out of 5

Of course, comedy isn’t the only problem. Bonkers barely had any characters for me to discuss: His “supporting cast” have maybe 4 lines all around them. And the rest of the cast that DOES appear barely hold any importance.

The few that do? A police chief who might be racist against toons, a mother and a daughter who could be called Mother and Daughter and you wouldn’t even notice and a bad guy who barely appears.

There is one character I sort of like, Lucky Piquel, the Oliver Hardy of the show. But whatever charm he brings is immediately dispelled by Bonkers D. FUCKING Bobcat.

Bonkers is one of the worst kind of characters: Ones with no merit, no real positive qualities, but we’re supposed to like them because... Reasons.

Bonkers starts the show getting fired for not being action oriented basically. You’d think that seeing someone lose their home and their life would be upsetting, but Bonkers is incredible: He makes sure you feel nothing. Like, not even contempt. He just has zero personality until he’s fired. THEN he goes all weepy and annoying. And that’s it: When Bonkers isn’t being a moron, he’s crying. That’s ALL. HE. DOES.

...I hate this show.

STORY AND HEART: 1 Out of 5

Some of you are probably wondering about the 1 ratings, and how they correlate. Simple: Lucky is the only decent character, here and there there is a joke I am not enraged at, and the story is still more engaging than Wuzzles or Brandy and Mr. Whiskers.

But this... Well... How do I put it?

What if you took the plot of Roger Rabbit (specifically the “disappearance” of toons) and made it intoo a misunderstanding plot.

Instead of there being a good reason for Bonkers to be a policeman, he becomes one BY MISTAKE. I get that that’s the joke, but it’s NOT FUNNY. This whole show exists because no one made a fucking background check. Add to that the lame story beats, the manufactored “friendship” between Bonkers and Lucky, and the fact that not for a moment did I feel bad for an unemployeed homeless cat, and...

This is bad, folks. Real bad. This is half assing it in a way I can’t stand. Bonkers sucks total balls, I regret seeing it.

FINAL SCORE: 3 Out of 15

I would rather watch this than Wuzzles or Brandy and Mr. Whiskers tho, ngl. My Friends TIgger and Poo is next. CLEANSE MY SOUL WINNIE

https://docs.google.com/document/d/194d3gsPrhlOsFPYsXU-lJirY4sWncrBl/edit#

#disney #disney channel #disney cartoons #bonkers #90's cartoons #spongeguy #every Disney Animated Show Reviewed

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f-nodragonart · 5 years

Note

have you guys ever watched the docufiction film The Last Dragon | A Fantasy Made Real? Its a fictional documentary set in an alternate universe where dragons were real

I wrote a few reviews abt it quite a while ago, but the longer one is p old and kinda cringey/incorrect in certain places, so I’ll run down my basic thoughts here

also if anybody wants to watch this film, here’s a link to it. I first watched this when I was a wee lil dragon-fanatic, and I’m obviously a sucker for faux-documentary/field journal fantasy media, so this movie holds a special place in my heart. HOWEVER, as I will explain here, it unfortunately gets a LOT of things wrong. it’s def got some positive qualities (which I will also describe), and it’s a fun watch, but DO NOT take this movie as an accurate assessment of what dragons could have been under different circumstances

WHAT THIS DOCUFICTION GETS WRONG*:

*I’m ESPECIALLY harsh on this movie b/c it’s a DOCUfiction. I tend to be a bit more lenient when a story isn’t necessarily aiming for a realistic setting (stylistic consistency is relevant here), but when a piece of media sets out to describe a scientifically feasible setting?? I bring the hammer DOWN

1) dear god, the anatomy is janky

the wings in particular can get RLY bad.

these wings clearly need more musculature and lower arm/’hand’ length, and a full membrane connection to the torso. they don’t even have ANY hint of integration/connection to the ribcage– no keel, no shoulder/chest musculature, not even any scapula!!

disgraceful…

while I can accept elbow spines in certain cases, I still don’t rly think they’re necessary in most cases– ESPECIALLY in this case where they don’t even provide extra area to the membrane around the elbow! what’s even the point!!

also I just noticed the designers forgot to put the elbow spines in the skeletal, so I can’t even check if they were integrated correctly….. hell, looking closer, I don’t think the front legs have scapula either….. DISGRACEFUL…

the wing shoulders also need to be shifted back behind the front leg shoulders, obviously, but they ALSO ought to be shifted down more towards the sides of the ribcage. wings based high up near the spine are typical of birds b/c they’ve got specialized wing musculature that basically pulls all the wing muscles (including the “back” muscles) down under the ribcage. bat wings aren’t built for that kinda setup, thus the shoulders are based more towards the sides on actual bats. this would likely be the same for bat-winged dragons

and those aren’t even the worst wings

I legit lose my mind a little lookin at these wings like…. why no membrane…. WHY NO MEMBRANE…

also there was clearly some attempt here to give these wings chest/shoulder musculature, but the designers didn’t know how much musculature a wing actually needs (or even how those muscles need to be shaped to properly hold a body..). thus, we just get pillowy, bara-boy boobs that would be useless for flight, even if the wings themselves were actually designed right

obviously a keel is necessary for a creature this big, but even if the designers nyxed the keel, the LEAST they could do is stretch the pecs down the full length of the ribcage to properly support the torso…

beyond the wings, some of the torsos are JUST a mess

the wyvern’s torso is mostly a problem b/c of weird wing integration, but the hexapod up top just has a plain weird torso, wings or not

it feels like the designers attempted to slap canine-like front legs on an ungulate/equine chest, and just utterly failed to integrate them properly. thus, the legs are floating to the sides of the chest rather than connected to and holding it up in any substantial way

I actually see this lack of shoulder integration in a lot in dragon designs, but it’s usually a result of trying to preserve the shape of chest/throat scales, so it’s kinda weird to see on a leathery-skin design

another thing abt this particular hexapod dragon is a bit hard to explain, but the neck is like… weird. idk if it’s super apparent to others, but the neck attaches more under the skull, a bit like a dog (ignore the skeletal, it’s clearly not accurate to the dragon actually presented). however, the flow of the neck from the chest is more of a horse neck? the strong up-and-over curve of a horse neck can’t rly attach to the skull in any way except the direct back of the cranium, yet this neck attaches somewhat to the underside of the skull, giving it a VERY awkward curvature. I happened to recently answer an ask abt necks that may explain this better, but suffice to say, the neck is weird

also, as u can see above, the base of the neck at the chest is super stiff b/c the animators didn’t bother to shift the mass of the chest/neck w/ the movement of the neck, which in turn makes the neck look ABSURDLY thin at angles like these

oh, and while this is certainly not the worst of the anatomical sins, the shrink-wrapping is p bad. yeah yeah, flighted creatures gotta be light, but flying animals still have SOME fatty deposits, like…. c’mon, u can SEE the cartilage rings in the throat of that poor wyvern, gimme a break… + it gets cold in the sky, where are some protective feathers/’fur’ for these guys?? especially side-eyeing the one living in the mountains. yeah I know they’ve apparently got that heat-retaining blood protein or whatever, but much like the flight bladder (which I will get to later), that’s asking me to excuse a bit much in terms of anatomy

(tho to be fair, the actual dinos featured in the film are naked and thin too so… at least this inaccuracy is consistent..)

I feel like this is especially bad w/ the heads. it looks like there’s barely any muscular support at the connection to the neck, and no jaw musculature to speak of. of course, a croc-like jaw design could layer the muscles under bone so that they’re not necessarily visible from the outside

but note the mass distribution of the bones of the jaw– they still stick out a fair bit to leave room for the muscles underneath (including on the upper jaw), and more importantly, the area for basing the muscles on the lower jaw is WIDE. now dragons may not necessarily need a strong bite-force like crocs if they’re using their talons and fire for attack, but most ANY toothed-animal skull is gonna NEED a lower jaw with a wider back end to provide stable, strong support to the jaw muscles. what I’m seeing from the ‘croc-’like dragon heads in this movie (not the wyvern head so much, that actually isn’t too bad in this respect) are flimsy, cardboard structures that will warp at the slightest hint of pressure

also, the teeth on all the dragons are weirdly straight and thin? like fishing teeth? but the main dragons are all land predators– they SHOULD have thick/curved teeth. even crocs have thick, slightly curved teeth, get w/ the program!!

and let’s not forgot this fucker

sir… SIR, that is a muscle-less TUBE with LEGS…..

………..funny how suddenly the wiener-dragon ain’t shrink-wrapped, eh?

also this dragon absolutely CANNOT glide, no matter what kinda “flight bladders” they got, the membrane surface area is FAR too small even for gliding, I’m sorry!!

2) “evolutionary theory? what’s that??”

basically the film goes, “WHOA this dragon has 6 limbs! no other vertebrate on the planet has 6 limbs! they must have a wild genetic mutation for that to happen– oh, yep, they sure do!” and just… leaves it there

the evolution of 6 limbs in any evolutionary tree similar to Earth’s is literally so complicated, I have an entire post dedicated to breaking down JUST that concept. the way this movie so briefly presents this “wild mutation” doesn’t even BEGIN to cover how incredibly difficult it would be to shift something as hard-wired as vertebrate limb number from four to six

what’s even MORE frustrating tho is that this movie’s timeline for evolution doesn’t even make SENSE! supposedly their oldest dragon is the wyvern– the tetrapod. then that TETRApod somehow led to the HEXApod marine dragon. what in the world?? WHERE did that other limb set come from? WHY is there another limb set suddenly???

as I explain in that post linked above, it’s practically impossible for another functional, full limb set to evolve in a complex vertebrate– that’s why it’s most reasonable for hexapods to evolve long before tetrapods set the standard, and the two evolutionary lines would go their separate ways. there’s a small chance a limb set could evolve properly into a small, early tetrapod (tho even that is a long-shot), but in a LARGE vertebrate whose entire physiology revolves around their current tetrapodal, bipedal setup, as this movie suggests w/ their wyvern? hell nah, not a chance

and there are def other evolutionary problems throughout– generally just the fact that dragons seem to change VERY little, ‘aesthetically’ speaking, despite so many years of evolution and adaptation to wildly different environments (looking at the marine dragon..). yet when the dragons ARE markedly different from one another (wyvern vs. hexapod), it only brings up more problems, as covered above. like it’s all just so vague and ungrounded in any real evolutionary reality

also this post pointed out further problems w/ the evolution I didn’t even think abt (like the forest dragon being a contemporary to the mountain dragon, despite being used as an intermediary b/t marine and mountain) so I’m rly just 🤔 abt all this

3) BAD lab procedure!!

why aren’t the researchers wearing masks? they need masks to protect the corpses from human germs, and protect themselves from breathing in anything weird that was on the corpse! and they keep touching the corpse w/o gloves, getting their human oils all over the body! have they never heard of contamination?? AUGH

there’s definitely more wrong here that I rly don’t have the experience to speak on (and some of it I’m willing to excuse for the sake of a short, dramatic film– like the team having a whole lab setup right on the mountain), but the cross-contamination is what rly bothered me.

WHAT THIS DOCUFICTION GETS RIGHT and/or FUN:

1) realistic, cool behavior

the dragon behaviors featured are actually realistic, and downright cool at times!

screaming to both call for help and hurt an opponent’s ears; flashing wings to warn off opponents; mimicry to trick prey; that KICK-ASS courting ritual (if not displayed a bit awkwardly in terms of body positioning); the fiery brooding method (if we at least assume egg physiology that could handle and require that kinda direct heat, which I don’t think is…. necessarily outside reality… perhaps… maybe…)– these are all awesome examples of neat behavior

2) flight bladders? kind of??

this one is in the “got it right” list based more on potential than actual application in the movie

see, the idea of a flight bladder is p cool! the source of gas from digestion is completely reasonable, and it makes sense as a way to help a huge creature relieve some of the stress of flight

plus, the connection w/ fire-breathing is super interesting! it’s a very reasonable give-and-take system, and I like it a LOT. so this post pointed out the problems w/ having a flight system that relies on a product also used up by a different system, so now I can’t even give it that much credit lmao

however, the flight bladders in the movie are used to excuse some of the worst wing anatomy I’ve seen passed off as “realistic designs”. flight bladders may make up for *some* shortened wing length, or flight endurance, but they CANNOT make up for the problems I described in the “got it wrong” list

3) fire-breathing mechanics

if we now ignore the problems w/ this gas system being directly connected to the flight system, the fire-breathing is decently grounded in reality! the designers not only took into account the fuel source (gas from digestion), but also ignition source (platinum deposits). both of these sources are super interesting to me cus’ they technically utilize outside resources, which is not usually the case w/ a lot of fire-breathing mechanics I’ve seen

also love the specialized mouth anatomy– a scaled inner mouth and protective palate-valve make perfect sense to protect the dragon’s innards from fire, esp since the fire is igniting towards the back of the mouth. though the source of ignition being so far back in the delicate throat is itself suspect, and makes me wonder why it wasn’t simply ignited up towards the front of the mouth to prevent injury….. man I can’t give this film an inch w/o taking a mile back, huh!!

-Mod Spiral

#reviews #dragons: a fantasy made real #mod spiral #ask #anonymous

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dollsorwhatever · 5 years

Text

Cloe+ Collection Overview

I decided to give Cloe’s hair a shot before completely writing her off for that ugly rooting, so I straightened and gave the hair some wave/body and then tucked the front of her parting back in an attempt to even out the thin-ness and give it some balance.

She’s definitely not terrible, but her facial flaws bother me too much to consider sending this one out for a reroot or keeping her in my permanent collection. This is the one that Amazon CS told me to keep (or dispose of...lol) and I returned the last replacement for yet another replacement Cloe (So....Cloe #4) and after I get a perfect one, this girl’s head will find herself in a gift package for someone that might be able to use her. (will keep her arms and clothes tho) Thoughts on the line below the cut.

My overall thoughts on this line are still forming, since I haven’t been able to enjoy them in their best state bc of the constant exchanging I’ve been going through, but my overarching thoughts so far are: -I hate the body, I’ve hated the 2001 torso since I was a teenager and it’s frankly the worst choice for this line or any line, period. Nothing looks good on it. I would have preferred the Pixiez torso hybrid with 2010 legs and Movie arms (which Hayden/MGA did know about during the conception of this line...so idk why they chose 2001) but since that torso has a smaller chest and would therefore limit compatibility with older dolls, I’d pick the Kiani body as THE choice to be the standard Bratz body going forward, since it has a nice shape and rotational hips rather than hinges, with Movie arms added on, while fitting 2001-body clothing perfectly (better than 2001 does even lol) and the legs are gorgeous. -They fucked up the skintones. The heads are all standard Bratz skintones, but the bodies are all wrong. Cloe and Jade’s torsos are like bright reddish pink and the hands match their heads, Yasmin’s entire body is bright fucking orange, Sasha’s body is slightly more olive-toned than her OG body so I won’t be able to use her arms (though I’m willing to accept this because she has the most subtle and pretty skintone of the line and she looks good as-is). Yasmin’s skintone is the most annoying because there is no subtlety to it, it’s just blatantly orange, and her shoes won’t match any other dolls.

-The shoe sculpts. Now I personally PREFER for them to utilize one sculpt more than once and I don’t want there to be a unique shoe sculpt for every doll in every line, I think that’s a waste of sculpts especially because so many Bratz shoes are pretty versatile and can be altered with pant and designs very easily, as well as the issue of skintone matching since the feet pop off. I don’t think they utilized enough of the sculpts Bratz has done over the years and executed most of the shoes poorly. Yasmin’s ‘boots’, for example, could have easily been a pair of these boots or these boots in a dark magenta and flocked, with lace socks and it would have been a prettier/better translation of the sketch while also staying consistent with the collection. Yasmin’s second shoes should have been the Feelin Pretty heels (even matches the sketch closer than the Classic heel), Jade’s first boots should have been the PnP boots rather than the RA boots (which we’ve also seen, with that exact paint design, several times already), and switch out either Cloe or Sasha’s Classic heels for something else entirely, like more boots. Maybe those cute timberland fakes in a different color. Also they fucking destroyed the Feelin’ Pretty sculpt with Jade’s second shoes. The printed fishnet and the flame motif with the straps is just too much and really overpowers the sculpt (which btw was only used in ONE collection bitd so two pairs in this line would have been swell- especially if they used them for Cloe’s 2nd outfit instead of Jade and got rid of those fugly fishnets and flames) The fact that they used one shoe four times and remade an exact version of a pair of shoes we already have seen a billion times makes the entire shoe wardrobe of this collection feel very unfinished and poorly thought. I can only use, like, four pairs of shoes in this collection and the others are unoriginal or don’t match any dolls (Yasmin’s orange ass)

-The designs are (mostly) lame as fuck. I feel like, especially since Bratz haven’t been OG Bratz for a very long time, that they should have referenced the previous lines to make sure we were getting something new and consistent with the quality we’ve come to expect. We’ve seen several pleather bralettes already and there’s THREE in this line (we’ve seen a lot of pleather too, even), Jade’s first top is a bland PnP Meygan top and we definitely didn’t need TWO identical mesh bodysuits in this line. The clothes don’t seem to be well-rounded, just like the shoes. The quality is really lacking in some places too; Yasmin’s jacket has no inner lining (would have been a stunning piece otherwise), Sasha’s jacket is really weird and not at all what it should be (tho it is pretty well made), Cloe’s second outfit is poorly tailored especially the pants (tho her first outfit is incredibly well made, the best of the line actually), Sasha’s second dress is massive and those panels on the sides are ugly (shame bc it could have been a nice piece otherwise), Jade’s skirt doesn’t fit that well (mostly bc of the body they made it for), etc etc. And let’s not forget the fact that every studded piece, has studs falling apart in seconds. Jade’s pants and Sasha’s pants are sub par in comparison to the exquisite denim pieces we’ve gotten for Bratz in other eras, with realistic stitching and ‘thick’ denim with real belt loops and pockets and just going the extra mile to really push that ‘’Real clothing but mini’’ vibe. The chokers are very nice, Cloe’s first outfit is INCREDIBLE, the hats are very nice, Yasmin’s second outfit is the second best outfit of the entire line, the bodysuits (while there should only be one) are well made, Yasmin’s 1st top (while a poor translation of the art) is cute and versatile and Jade’s white T-shirt will be a big staple piece for collectors and is very well made. The Faces- I like all of the facial screenings on these dolls, not much to say there. I think Yasmin’s lip color should have been more subtle and Jade’s shine dots are wonky by default, Sasha’s lips are smaller than the rest but otherwise I like all of these screenings. The Hair- The rooting patterns are bad. This isn’t a QC thing, this is a design flaw; all of the dolls have thin rooting patterns, Sasha and Jade’s partings are very short and none of the dolls have dense rows under the partings or dense rows in the back, Jade’s thatched bangs are terrible and her space buns look like antennae because they’re smushed underneath her hat. Will have to send all of my keepers for reroots and that pisses me off because MGA knows how to correctly root hair, and these 50$ dolls are basically bald. -The Price. This price is really fucking high considering how little we got and how little they seem to have thought about this collection’s design and quality. If they fixed all of the things I mentioned above, this line would be worth 50$ to me. Higher quality denim, more diversity in clothing pieces and shoes, thicker hair and fixing the skintones would have made this a solid collection and I would have paid 35-50$ happily. But with the collection as it is, I feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth. Cloe and Sasha basically share two pieces (mesh bodysuits and pleather bralettes), Yasmin’s ‘boots’ are hideous and her second ones don’t match any other dolls (And she won’t match any other shoes), both pairs of Jade’s shoes are a travesty and Cloe’s heels are very been-there-have-70-of-that. The QC- a joke, garbage, terrible. I shouldn’t have to return a doll four times to get a good one, and the studs on these pieces shouldn’t be falling off. MGA had over 2 years to get this collection going and they started production in August when they should have started in April, instead they rushed at the last minute and sacrificed the QC to get stock on time.

#bratz #bratz 2018 #bratz collector

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riskeith · 3 years

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aside from that, ur graphics must look incredible! i’ve seen some comparison pics and pc graphics are God Tier. help the second lowest being “high”... good riddance. 😶

summer 2016! it seems so long ago like a whole different universe. everything was so beautiful back then.. everybody was out and about hunting pokémon’s... that zine is so cute! i wouldn’t say main i actually only got into them a little while ago and i’m still mostly tddk and kiribaku but bkdk is interesting.. to say the least. i haven’t seen what happens in the manga (only a bit of spoilers especially that cover...) and s4 didn’t give us That many scenes with them but i’m keeping my eyes open... wbu?

IDK like their descriptions make it seem like they might help you find some specific treasures??? like the gold seelie giving you fortune aka mora? not sure tho hehe... YEAH THAT FANART!!! so cute i wanna eat them all.. forbidden snack. 🥺 omg funny you mention that... i met xiao just earlier for the first time and when i saw his entire outfit i was like.. hm i wonder what he would look like in darker clothing HAHA. but yeah skins would be awesome!!!! like a clothing shop or smth somewhere????? anyway when i saw him i was like HEY that’s cluna’s boy!

ALBEDO IS A BAD BITCH. his hair is perfect perfect perfect. actually everything about him is so perfect he’s just a delicate little guy... 🥺 dude us talking about albedo and opening up the game and seeing his banner is like... 👀 temptation.

with venti??? i’m not sure which quest you mean i did the archon one with him though and it was awesome. does he have more? I DID LOOK IT UP AND MURASE IS MAKING HIS VOICE EVEN HIGHER AND IT’S SO CUTE I WISH I KNEW IT BEFOREHAND SO I COULD’VE HEARD HIS VOICE WHILE DOING THE MISSION. 😭 oh well 😭

hopefully there are some good 4 stars too. who are you wishing for? anyone special? imagine having xingqiu and chongyun.... that’s like the dream. and bennett and razor and you have the boy scout party haha!! do you have mostly claymore users?

i remember you mentioning you don’t like book users but i’ve actually really grown to love them hehe. their long range attacks are so nice and handy! KAZE DA! 😭 bro stop i literally have a crush on venti it’s ridiculous.. imagine closing ur eyes and talking and it’s his voice.... (OR HINATA!!!) murase is so lucky... he seems like such a great guy too ajsksjdk..

ok friends to lovers goodness! 🥺 i’m considering getting twitter just to see fanart... maybe.. o.o

ooooo that’s so thorough! in all caps caught my attention, why do you do that? personally, if it’s something longer i write bulletpoints of the concept but never like... actual plot yk? i’ve tried before but i doesn’t work for me very well. so.. i wing it! and like you i just get inspired randomly, it could be from song lyrics or thinking about tropes i enjoy. 😜

loona is cool! they have this whole story about their group. i highly recommend checking them out! i wonder if they kept it up though lmao. oh yeah everyone loves hozier he just speaks to the soul.. LOVELY IS MY FAVORITE SONG!!!!! LIKE EASILY TOP SONGS OF MY LIFE!!! it makes me so happy that you like it even if you skip it lmaojsjdjsjsjdk and i like billie a lot!! ariana too she has great music.., idk if you’ve heard of the group the neighborhood but i like them too. lana del rey as well! haha guess it’s super basic stuff tbh. all of them with mostly slow songs.. sorry 😭

OK GOOD. all nighters are honestly horrible. i don’t get how people can pull them off and get things done... (hopefully you never have to either!) YEAH haha 8 am is my favorite hour i think... that and 9 pm. they’re just special. what’s your favorite time of day? listen if you stay up to read fics that’s valid. midnight up is like the perfect time to read fics it makes them appear more magical sjdkdhdk.

i hope i caught you today but if not, hope you’re sleeping well babe! ♥️

sorry i was playing genshin! JFKSNXKSNKSJ i started before 12am and before i knew it it was already 1am… my goodness

and yeah i watched this vid comparing the graphic quality settings (i play on the default one) and i was like??? people really be playing like this? LOL can’t relate

edit: missed this paragraph oops but yeah what a time 2016 was! (lmao voltron started that year iirc) i remember we had an athletics event and legit everyone was on their phones jfksnfksnd. oooo! nice tddk and krbk are very good very nice. and also yeah that cover lol i love that you didn’t even have to specify which one i just Know. hmm i think rn bkdk would be one of the top ships i’m interested in aside from todobaku? they just have so much history ya know? and they have a lot of moments in the second movie! oh wait did you know that there are movies? two of them in fact!! the kiribaku is pretty strong in the first one (but there are some todobaku moments too lol). and there are a few OVAs too. WAIT are you all caught up with the anime? can’t rmemeber if you’ve told me or not 😫

oooo if that were the case tho what would the others give? i did like the “sea blue” description or something of the blue one tho 😩 YOU WANNA EAT THEM FJDJCJSKNCSKJCKSNXJS NO!!! but i can understand.. they look very squishy. THAT’S MY BOY!!!!!! honoured you thought of me <33 yo i was also wondering what chongyun would look like in darker clothes too HDKSKDN see this is why i need to learn how to draw.… gotta put them in the clothes i want since we can’t do that in game!! but a shop would be so cute omg

JFKSKSKAKS i’ve legit been staying away from opening the wish menu as much as i can.… it’s too tempting i can’t!!

yeah the archon one is what i meant sorry! forgot the name for it lol. and yes there is! once you reach AR 35 or something you can unlock story quests and venti is one of them 👀👀 RIPPPP BUT AT LEAST YOU KNOW NOW 😭😭

i think just xingqiu rn!! i’ve been holding off ascending barbara in hopes of getting him, bc i grinded some oceanid (literally the worst fucking boss ever) before i ascended so i’m just hoarding those materials rn fjskdnd. yesss the boy scouts 😭🥺 but i heard chongyun and razor’s elemental skills cancel each other out so rip.. hmm i did a count and i think i have 3 each of claymore and catalyst users! hbu?

omg nooooo betrayal 😭 tho ngl i’m considering using ningguang bc i see people play her so well.. so i’m just carrying her around in my team hoping to passively level her up HAHAHA. i def appreciate their long range attacks too, lisa’s burst especially is quite nice. CHJDKSKD that’s so cute but also very relatable 😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺🥺 also did you know murase is like tall af it’s kinda crazy lol

there’s /so/ much good fanart!!! it’s where i’m getting a taste of all the ships too lol but yeah there’s angst and fluff and just charas looking s*xy they’ve got it all 😩 but that also reminds me, like most other big fandoms genshin fandom is kinda fkn shit 😔 once again i’m thankful to myself for keeping such a small circle lmaooooo

honestly i don’t know either?? i think it helps me distinguish between what i’m actually writing vs what i’m planning like if i do something like “JUMPS OFF PLATFORM, LANDS IN FRONT. so, are you going to introduce me or do i have to do it myself ETC THEN THEY TALK SUDDENLY there’s the sound of a windchime, and VILLAINS HERE GOTTA FIGHT” it’ll look something like that jdjsndkskd where the lowercase is exact dialogue I wanna write in but the caps is just planning

but winging it ey that’s hot of you 🤪 god do you ever just like thinking about potential ideas before falling asleep but then your phone is far away/you don’t wanna hurt your eyes looking at a screen but then you’re also afraid you’ll forget the idea DJKSXKSK

:o! i think i stayed away bc of the whole “stan loona” thing DHSKKS but i might give them another shot! therefore i am is one of my go to songs rn hehe i really like the beats she uses they’re so funky. i don’t really like ariana sorry FJDJKSKS but she does have a lot of bangers!! side to side… 😘👌 and i do know the neighbourhood! sweater weather is so iconic but lately i’ve been skipping that too aahah. but have you heard daddy issues slowed? oh my god. that singlehandedly started my obsession with slowed songs (ironic isn’t it when you consider i don’t listen to normal slow songs fjsjdj) i like summertime sadness from lana! and young and beautiful too (the radio songs AHAH) but yeah.. they’re slow fjdkksks. how do you feel about halsey + melanie martinez + bastille? (i’m always paranoid about listing artists bc so many get cancelled or what other and i feel like randos are gonna come for me too JDKSKSKA.) oh and troye sivan!! and pentatonix if you’ve heard of them? i was obsessed with those two back in 2015 ahaha

omg crazy.. how!! hm my favourite hour is maybe 12pm? or 2pm? just some time in the afternoon i like when it’s still light outside but it’s also like “after school” time kinda .. and yesss reading fic at late hours… gets me crying more easily 🤪

i don’t think i’ll catch your next reply so goodnight in advance!! hope your day is great <3

#marriage anon #wowclunaanswers #long post #can’t tell if it should have a ‘read more’ or not bc i’m on mobile LOL #can’t insert one even if i wanted smh tmblr make your app better

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loveisaviolence2 · 6 years

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rose- 2, 3, 4, 10, 20, 25, 37, 41, 44, 45

meme.

what is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?

it’s … complicated, for a lot of reasons.

one being rose and janine are a lot alike in the sense that neither of them are good at starting heavy conversations or working towards closeness regardless of how much they both may want it. in fact, they’re painfully similar in a lot of their beliefs and while that does lend itself to an understanding between them that rose is grateful for and endlessly appreciative of, it can also strain their relationship.

rose spent her entire life feeling abandoned by her mother. her mother existed to criticize her and as yet another reminder of what she could not have and was not allowed to want for herself: someone to take care of her. nothing was ever good enough for her, rose was never good enough for her, and nothing rose did was going to make her love her or be proud of her. despite all of this, she wanted to be her mother; she really did admire her skill and reputation and aspire to be like her. she did everything she could to follow in her mother’s footsteps for two reasons: 1) even though she resented her, she really really wanted her mom to be proud of her and thought that if she was good enough she might bother to pretend to care, and 2) her mom’s loyalty to the guardians and stellar reputation made her safe - earned her stability that rose believed no one could take away. she’s a valuable asset and everyone knows it. she doesn’t need to prove it anymore (and rose always always feels like she has to prove herself, which is exhausting in the long run.)

rose wants a close relationship with janine but doesn’t know how to be close with her. she wants to wake up and suddenly have this magical bond with her but doesn’t know how to achieve it. and tbh, as brash and impulsive as rose can be, as quick as she can be to say the things other people won’t…. this doesn’t typically extend to her loved ones. rose hates conflict with them and would rather bury her feelings than voice them. she’s never going to willingly start a conversation about being neglected or abandoned by janine even though those feelings still affect her on a daily basis and manifest themselves in her relationships.

it doesn’t help that janine has frequently – intentionally or not – equated rose’s resentment with a childish desire to be ~coddled and thus invalidated her feelings. like, telling your kid who is terrified of being vulnerable and letting other people take care of her that her anger at your negligence is silly and a display of weakness and selfishness? especially a kid who believes you are a pillar of strength? rose has spent her entire life thinking that she has to come second to other people, physically and emotionally, and that confirmed it. unfortunately, janine of course holds all of the same harmful beliefs and has been conditioned in the same way, so she doesn’t have the perspective to see this let alone address it.

she loves her mom. she really does. so much that it doesn’t really bother her if her mom can’t articulate her affection to the same extent that rose can. she’s just glad to have her in her life, you know? she doesn’t want to rock the boat. she’d die for her and is dying to have a relationship with her, even at the cost of denying herself the space to process her own feelings and acknowledge them, which is especially difficult because rose is at a point in her life where she’s finally beginning to understand that she needs and deserves to take care of herself and untangle the mess of beliefs that were ingrained in her since birth, decide for herself what she does and does not believe, process the extent to which that conditioning has shaped the person she is and decide who she wants to be.

this is something she needs to deal with to move forward, to start feeling safe in her relationships and safe leaning on someone else emotionally, and she’s… not. she’s growing, really moving forward and edging closer to a healthier, better version of herself, but on this road she finds herself at a painful standstill. it’ll take janine or someone else helping her deal with this to really get past all of her messy abandonment issues and harmful beliefs about love and worth, especially self worth.

what is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

also complicated, but in a different way.

because of rose’s low expectations for well off moroi men, she’s less inclined to hold him accountable for much. it’s not really fair that she holds janine to a standard that’s so much higher, but… so does the society she grew up in lmao. she doesn’t resent him for not being a presence in her life growing up and is willing to cut him a lot more slack. like, he’s a moroi guy and that’s what they do, ya know? they use dhampir women for sex and leave and that’s how the song goes. the fact that he’s in her life at all is a surprise and one she’s not going to question. she’ll accept whatever he’s willing to offer her and isn’t likely to ever consider whether or not she deserves more.

the fact that she grew up thinking her dad never cared about her or her mother and only used her for sex did play a hand in her perception of men, though. thinking that her mom had been used made her afraid of being used herself and thus, v guarded where moroi men are concerned. she def… bought into the whole ~~~boys will be boys mentality growing up. bad behavior is to be expected and it was on her to protect herself and her reputation from it. and if she or any other woman failed in that task, well… it was on them. they should’ve known better. etc. boys excersizing self control and giving a damn about her and her consent is New to her. this is something she gets a lot better about as she ages, though, thankfully.

she grows to love him and want some kind of a relationship with him, but she doesn’t really trust him. a lot of his privilege and the way he wields it makes her uncomfortable, so most of the time she tries not to think about who he is or what he does beyond the scope of him being her dad. rose wants to have that – wants a father – and is far too moral and committed to justice to really allow herself to have that in good conscience if she thinks about his shadier dealings so she .. doesn’t if she can help it.

people like to compare her ~badassness to her father and she laughs it off, eager to encourage all conversations that play up her strengths, but she really doesn’t have any desire to be like him. the thought of being like him makes her uncomfortable and she isn’t necessarily fond of recognizing traits of his in herself. rose is also incredibly smart and can be impressively cunning, but that’s not something she’s really proud of, you know? she wants to be good – really, truly good. she spent her entire life wanting to be a guardian for a lot of reasons, but mostly because she truly does believe in protecting people and defeating evil. she talks a lot about wanting to be a legend and be in history books, but that all stems from an innate need to feel she’s been useful and accomplished whatever good she could (and also because she lives in a society that has expressed a dangerous lack of care for her or her well-being and a willingness to sacrifice her and once upon a time, achieving ‘legend’ status felt like procuring herself some degree of safety.) victories mean nothing if she’s had to compromise her character to attain them. she doesn’t want to think of herself as a person who cuts corners or steps over other people to get what she wants– or as someone who inspires the kind of fear that abe inspires, as much as she might pretend to feel differently.

she and abe differ A Lot ideologically and clash over that if it comes up, but again, rose tries to stay away from those conversations. deep down tho, she’ll always feel…. kind of wary of him? knowing what he’s capable of and willing to do and how, if pushed, people like her would likely be expendable and the only reason she’s ~safe from that mentality is because she’s his daughter, which doesn’t really feel like safety at all. she may grow closer with him as time goes on, but that’ll always be in the back of her mind and she’ll never truly feel safe with him unless she’s blocked it out entirely (and rose can never feel safe in fantasies for very long.) this extends to other moroi men as well, especially royal/privileged ones.

adrian, for example. part of why it was so hard for her to accept that he genuinely had feelings for her and trust him enough to contemplate the idea of being interested in him romantically was because she saw his interest in her and elevation of her feelings as something really… fickle?? she equated his respect for her with his romantic interest. rose grew up attending parties she knew she was only allowed into because of lissa and because she was ~the Fun Dhampir people liked to party with and she assumed adrian’s crush on her was kind of the same thing. like, yeah adrian cares about her and maybe respects her but only because he thinks she’s hot and funny and those things can’t be trusted to last. she thought that all it would take is for him to change his mind about her to turn on her and be like every other piece of shit moroi dude she’s had to defend herself against. she’s used to elite moroi deciding she has one or two qualities that make her worthy of respect and is Special Enough to Not Assault or Dehumanize or Slutshame Etc. – and used to the game changing as soon as she steps too far out of line (it’s not even just moroi men tho like lissa was all that stood between her and being thrown away like a piece of trash when they were dragged back to st. vlads and rose forgives but she doesn’t forget. one more reminder that she’s expendable and has to work even harder to prove that she’s worthy– of being a guardian, of basic respect, of being a privileged moroi girl’s friend, of taking up space). it’s a testament of her growth that she does date him even after the queen herself fucking called her in to slutshame her and remind her of her place.

another example is andre. i headcanon that rose had a crush on him for a brief period of time growing up, one that he probably knew about and encouraged because–ya know, his sister’s Young Fun Hot Dhampir friend that was always around. rose wasn’t at all surprised to hear about how he treated mia, and i think the fact that rose was very aware of who he was/could be to non-royals/dhampir women probably contributed to some anxiety when she’d stay with them. she was very quick to shut down any kind of attraction between them and never would have even humored the idea of dating him or participating in anything more than a few drunken kisses because 1) she knows her place as a dhampir girl and the threat moroi boys pose to her and 2) she knows her place as a dhampir girl that’s been taken in by a royal moroi family and would have never dared threaten that arrangement by implying a moroi boy could be interested in her for anything other than sex. it says a lot that she still thought he was a good person and mourned him just because he was a good brother to lissa and loved her and his family even though he treated other less privileged people like trash. that rose’s basic understanding of men is that they are capable of that behavior whilst simultaneously being decent people who deserve a quality of life that she herself is taught to never expect to have and accused of being selfish or naive for wanting.

christian only escapes this inherent distrust because bc he was taught to respect ALL women unlike most of the men she’s come into contact with and does consistently (rather than being someone who respects only women he calls family or for whatever reason deems worthy of respect), because she understands that that really does make all of the difference in the world) and has no interest in her sexually, but it still takes her awhile to feel comfortable truly relying on him emotionally (as opposed to as a partner in the battlefield.) not that that doesn’t take awhile too though, because a man respecting lissa– a princess–doesn’t in any way mean that respect will extend to her and she’s learned that lesson the hard way quite a few times in quite a few different areas of her life.

to an extent, this is why she falls so quickly and deeply for dimitri– why even his smallest shows of decency feel so Big to her. the fact that he’s a dhampir like her is big, especially one that’s older. it’s easier for her to relate to an older man because she carries more responsibility than most of the boys her age, of course, but a lot of it is that he’s the first man in a position of power (and first person in authority in… forever that’s ever made her feel like she could trust them, all of her experiences w/ adults are pretty trash in book 1) that’s demonstrated kindness and respect where she’s concerned. that saw her as important, that believed she wasn’t disposable. he was willing to take responsibility for her so that she wouldn’t be sen away and saw potential in her when no one else did and that meant so much to her. to her that was this huge act of compassion that she needed to earn and repay.

all moroi males are in a position of power over her to an extent, even the ones that her peers, and one of her first big interactions w/ dimitri is him telling her that she can’t fool around with moroi boys because they’ll take advantage of her and damage her reputation– and the way he says it is rly brutal and hurtful, but it also… makes her feel somewhat In Control? however misleading that feeling is. like she’s spent her whole life finding her way into their good graces, understanding how quickly the rug could be torn out from under her, and this man she’s coming to respect is telling her that by growing up and acting more responsibly she can be Safe like him. she can have the reputation he has and the sense of stability she’s so sure at that point comes along with it. she too can be respected, worthy. i mean, he’s referred to as a fucking god. he’s untouchable in her eyes (wouldn’t it be so nice to be untouchable? to be universally respected as a hum– vampire being?)

and he’s all hers!!!! like, this relationship, however isolating, is the first thing rose has ever had that’s entirely hers (until it’s not), and that’s so important to her as a person who is not supposed to want things. as a person who is not even supposed to feel bitter about the fact that she can’t want or have things for herself, who had only lissa and lissa’s parents and lissa’s brother and everything lissa was willing to give her.

anyway i’ve gone off on about a million tangents but so many of rose’s issues are tied into her relationships or non-relationships with men and i do think that the fact that she essentially raised herself is one of the biggest reasons that she was so drawn to dimitri– a man in a position of authority that she’s supposed to be able to trust who is meant to care for her and guide her in a way that is similar to that of a parent.

has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? if so, does anyone else know?

spokane would be the most obvious answer to this question. it really forced her to grow up in a lot of ways and gave her a darker view of the world. i could go on and on about this but i think it would be just as effective to say it…. fucked her up. it aged her and still weighs on her to this day and always will. on the flip side, it also created a distance between her and a lot of the beliefs she grew up with– like moroi fighting with dhampirs/using magic offensively, for example. she liked both ideas in theory, but it wasn’t until spokane that she truly began to believe in them and believe that they could actually work. people know about spokane, but only those who were there really understand what they all went through. it’s something that bonds all of them. rose will always feel especially protective of and connected to eddie, christian, and mia because of this; they’re her responsibility, hers to protect.

everything w/ strigoi!dimitri honestly really stuck with rose, too, and barring lissa (and dimitri obviously), no one really knows the specifics of what went down in russia. abe knows the extent of her physical injuries, but not her emotional ones or where the physical ones came from. all of it just… really scarred her. she’s still trying to cope with all of the trauma she went through, which is really difficult for her considering she’s in a relationship with the biggest trigger of all (dimitri) and consistently prioritizes his recovery over her own. on a less horribly depressing note, fighting with denis (was his name denis? whatever his name was) and that group of dhampirs made her reevaluate some things. she still believes that fighting with guardians and being a part of a group is the better thing to do, but it made her more open to different forms of protection and helped her realize that there may be better ways to do things. that there are other walks of life and she’s not necessarily bound to this one.

being falsely accused of murder lmao!!!!!! everyone knows about it, but not necessarily about how much it affected her emotionally. it really just… confirmed to her how expendable she is to her people and that really fucking hurt. she really had to come to terms with the fact that the guardians she grew up wanting to be apart of and the moroi she grew up training to protect and die for would throw her away without batting an eye and that was… so difficult for her. in a way it’s helped her grow and really challenge a lot of the beliefs she grew up with, though, so that was good? it’s just… hard to live with especially considering she chooses to stay despite it. also just… the trauma of being locked up and kept in solitary for weeks lololol. rose was claustrophobic before but it’s worse now.

killing victor is pretty self explanatory but yeah. no one knows except the ppl that were there and now bellamy but eventually other people will maybe hopefully possibly!

there are definitely other ones but i’m gonna stop there bc this is already so long.

does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

it really depends on the situation. rose is confident and likes showing off her body, but…. is too used to being punished and shamed for embracing her sexuality to really feel comfortable doing that the way she did at sixteen. it’s just… safer to dress more modestly and after russia she’s much more conservative because for the longest time she associates dressing provocatively with the weeks she spent essentially drugged dressing up for strigoi!dimitri and being fed from by him. she’s been taught over time that to be respected and protect her reputation, she needs to dress responsibility. she feels more vulnerable when she shows more skin, especially in public with moroi. she used to be able to wear whatever she liked confidently without caring what anyone else thought or feeling weird about it, but she’s been slutshamed and oversexualized so many times now that it makes her feel like a piece of meat. there’s definitely a correlation between how comfortable she feels dressing less conservatively and how secure in her position in society she feels. if she’s going to go out with friends to an establishment less frequented by royals where she’s less likely to be objectified, she’ll wear more showy stuff that flatters her figure– which she enjoys flaunting when she feels safe to do so. she doesn’t have any reservations @ christian’s; she wears whatever she wants there n dresses comfortably.

in what ways does your character compare themselves to others? do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

self-criticism, usually, though people who don’t really know her might believe differently because of her ~queen b reputation and bravado. she has a really bad habit of comparing herself to the people she thinks the most highly of – her mom, lissa, dimitri. while rose is plenty confident in her craft and will go and on about being a badass, she’s not as confident in other areas of her life and judges herself pretty harshly. she envies lissa’s level head, her compassion (underestimating her own kindness), how reasonable she and dimitri are (because she doesn’t really understand how much effort lissa has to put into being nice and polite and that she’s been conditioned to behave that way the same way rose has been conditioned to die for moroi without a second thought), how easily lissa excels in more intellectual subjects… i could go on and on. she’s really hard on herself, especially when she sees in others what she feels she lacks in herself.

how quick is your character to suspect someone else? does this change if they are close with that person?

she can be pretty guarded and slow to trust people despite the fact that she really does have a huge heart. she trusts lissa more than anyone else in the world and for a really long time is content to trust only lissa– but when she trusts you, loves you, she really trusts and loves you. she’ll do anything for you and can be blinded by the extent of her devotion.

is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?

honor, absolutely. she’ll blow up the ground she stands on if she feels it’ll right a wrong.

does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

earn all the way. it doesn’t mean anything if she doesn’t earn it– if she doesn’t deserve it. and if she doesn’t earn it, doesn’t deserve it, she can’t trust that she’ll get to keep it. this goes for her relationships, too. she needs to feel like she’s doing her fair share. on the flip side, it’s really hard for her to accept something she feels she’s earned being ripped away from her.

how easy or difficult is it for your character to say “i love you?” can they say it without meaning it?

the words themselves aren’t hard for her to say, but it’s hard for her to feel safe enough with someone to open herself up to being vulnerable with them. it takes awhile for her to realize what is and isn’t accepted in a relationship and what boundaries she needs to be wary of (because she’s grown up being taught that if she’s not careful and steps too far out of line she can have everything taken away from her.) once she does, though, she’s very generous with her affection. she’s very loving, much more loving than she gives herself credit for, and really respects people who she feels are very giving of themselves and their love (like lissa). for the longest time, lissa was the only person she ever heard i love you from– to an extent, she learned how to love from lissa. lissa was always so open with her love, could just beam love at her and it saved her in so many ways.

rose is capable of leading people on to get what she wants, especially when desperate, but she doesn’t like to. she feels guilty about how she treated mason and adrian in that respect and wouldn’t want to repeat that behavior in the future. on that note, i really do believe that she loved adrian and never lied to him or intentionally led him on their deal at the end of shadowkiss aside– she should have been more open with him, yeah, but at that point in time she had a hard enough time articulating what was going on in her own head to herself. and she honestly did believe that if she tried she could return mason’s feelings at the time.

what does your character believe will happen to them after they die? does this belief scare them?

she can talk to dead people, so she sort of has…. some insight. she tries not to think about it, but the idea of being a ghost, unable to move on or make contact with the people she cares about, does scare her. mostly she just hopes that when she dies she’ll be able to find peace– like she believes mason has.

#lingeringscars #me: i'm not gonna be here until i finish my script #me: does this #ok i'm leaving again #char: rose hathaway.#study.#i love my daughter so much #this is so messy and long i hate myself #long post /#i didn't proofread so have my word vomit

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dragongirlafro · 7 years

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Miscellaneous things I liked about Sun and Moon

-Kukui coming to your house and just letting himself in.

-Kukui asking the main character to find the kahuna without actually giving a short fill in on who he is, other than “he looks just like a kahuna”.

-the little wobble effect when you’re crossing the bridge to save Nebby.

-The main character asking Lillie if she’s a kahuna, either jokingly or because they genuinely have no idea what a kahuna is.

-Hau’s theme. I mean, I’m psyched for Hau in general, but I really loved his music.

-the cutscenes. No seriously. I like reading dialogue and interactions between characters. The cutscenes at the beginning of the game really set the right mood and tone for me imo.

-Trainer models behind their Pokémon during battles.

-finding Ledybas on route 1.

-Kukui yelling “Oh yeah, Rockruff! My body is ready!” from inside his lab, giving the impression of a hilarious double entendre.

-The Rotom pokédex’s witty personality.

-And the wide variety of Pokédex entries ranging from “really sweet” to “how did this get past ERSB’s ratings?”

-just the sentiment of going out into the islands with your starter and just one or two low level Pokemon.

-Pokémon Refresh!! I had no idea how much of an improvement Refresh was to Amie! Like you can just give a Pokemon two sparkly rainbow beans and they’ll love you forever!

-the ability to just go into a PC and grab your pokémon or move it around without any of that “withdraw or deposit” bullshit.

-that adorable scene where Rotom takes a picture of you, Hau, and Lillie.

-Rotom thirsting over “that dreamboat Ilima”.

-The Skull grunts at the berry farm. More specifically the one who had self-esteem issues.

-when the Skull grunts think you can’t tell them apart cause they’d switched positions so they swap places and are like “how’s that?”

-Totem Pokémon being three times larger than they normally would and scaring the crap outta you.

-The fuckin anime-ass pose your main character does whenever they get a Z-crystal

-in fact Z-moves in general. A lot of older fans seem to dislike them but honestly they were one of the only things that convinced me to buy the game.

-Ride Pokémon!!!!No HMs!!!!!!!

-Also being able to program any Ride Pokémon on the D-pad. That’s become like second nature to me.

-that cutscene when you’re on the boat from Melemele to Akala island.

-and that little exchange between Lillie, Hau, and Kukui when they reach the shore.

-The shopping music. Holy fuck do I even need to tell you how amazing the shopping music is in this Gen???

-meeting Dexio and Sina again. I didn’t really care for the whole Zygarde thing but just seeing those two again was really sweet.

-Paniola Ranch and its chill af vibes.

-Lana trying to find a “strapping young swimmer” when she’s supposed to be guiding you through her trial.

-and her trying to convince you that her trial site has a Kyogre in it.

-The frickin Water type Z-move dance. Oh my god that wavy hula dance is the cutest thing ever.

-The whole “Professor Kukui wtf are you doing” “Who is this ‘Professor Kukui’ you speak of I am the Masked Royale!!” exchange.

-and then he just blurts out “and now we have our foursome!” and all the characters ignore it and move on as if that’s a normal thing to say in everyday conversation

-Kiawe’s trial. Just… everything about Kiawe’s trial.

-But mostly Hiker David.

-“Press A to pound the ingredients.”

Honestly tho that was the only redeeming quality to Mallow’s trial Totem Lurantis can go fuck itself in USUM.

-Professor Burnet’s groovin’ dimensional research lab theme.

-when Olivia does the Rock type Z-move dance and the camera just zooms in on Lillie gawking over her.

-OH YEAH that Pyukumuku chucking thing where you can get 20 000 pokédollars a day. I hope they bring that back because that was a real good way of making cash.

-And those missions in Pokécentres where if you’ve caught a set amount of Pokémon or if you’ve caught a specific Pokémon they’ll pay you like 10 000 dollars or something.

-Meeting Wicke for the first time and her being incredibly sweet and nice.

-That small bit when Hau can’t believe that Lusamine’s more than 40 years old and she’s really flattered.

-battling Nihilego for the first time.

-That scene on the boat to Ula’Ula Island where Hau talks to you and offers you a Malasada. That really solidified his friendship with the main character for me.

-Speaking of which that part where you’re at Malie Garden and Hau asks “hey, did you know-“ and you can just say “yah i know” and he’s like “dude come on I haven’t even asked the question yet.”

-that little side quest where you have to find a woman’s eight Stuffuls on route 10 that’s like really sweet but also why does she have so many stuffus?

-The Skull grunts who fucking try to steal a bus stop sign.

-Molayne. I liked his relationship with Kukui and Sophocles.

-and I especially liked the part where he gave you Kukui’s mask and when you give it to him Kukui’s just like “oH uhhhhh I’ll um give it back to the Masked Royale when I uh see him”

-Blush Mountain. It has such a nice name. Blush Mountain.

-Acerola’s, um… Little brother and sister? Kids she’s babysitting? I wasn’t too clear on how they were related to her, but they were cute either way.

-the whole bit where rotom’s afraid to go into the haunted store because “spoopy scary ghosts” despite him literally also being a ghost.

-On the subject of those two kids, the event where Team Skull stole the girl’s Yungoos and she gives you a Rare Candy just to get it back fucking broke my heart like oooooohhhh sweetie you didn’t have to give me this I would have gotten your Yungoos back either way!!

-Plumeria!!She was so underrated!

-uncle Grimsley’s cointoss bit where you could pick heads or tails but if you picked neither then he’d just say that Skarmory swooped in and grabbed it in midair, even though that obviously never happened and he was just bullshitting you.

-Also just the mere fact that Grimsley refers to himself as “Uncle Grimsley”

-Nanu. Enough said.

-The fact that all the Team Skull grunts in Po town are gay. Every. Single. One of them. gay

-That scene where Nanu does the Dark type Z-move pose and the main character and Gladion just stare at him and there’s just an awkward pause until he goes “there you cleared your trial or whatever”.

-actually now that I think about it, Sun and Moon had a lot of subtle humour.

-when you were infiltrating Aether Paradise and a good amount of employees were set on stopping you but there was like that ten percent who were like “whoa shit’s gettin wild out here lmao do you want us to heal your ‘mons? We could even take you back if you wanted i ain’t about to lose my job over some space conspiracy fuck that noise”

-That one Skull grunt who was all like, “wanna see me get hit by a Hyper Beam?”

-When you Battle Guzma outside of Lusamine’s mansion.

-LUSAMINE’S BATTLE THEME. HOLY SHIT.

-“Doot doo doo, just a Kahuna, taking a stroll through the laguna.”

-when Hau compliments Lillie over her outfit makeover and Gladion immediately pulls the defensive brother card.

-Seafolk Village’s night music. Oh my lord I’ve never wanted to marry a video game meledy before it.

-Hapu!!! Another underrated character!

-That scene where Lillie and the main character are in the cave on Exeggcutor Island in the rain.that was super cute.

-Vast Poni Canyon! Love me that guitar and flute!

-Mina!!! I can’t wait for her trial in usum I love her so much!!!!!

-when you go to Ultra Space and Rotom is unconscious because you’re disconnected from your world.

-When Lillie gave that whole speech to Lusamine and her sole reaction was basically “¯\_(ツ)_/¯” that absolutely slayed me

-After all that shit in Ultra Space and catching Nebby goes down and then Nanu’s just chilin’ at the Altar and is like “oh, hey, you can challenge the league I guess, if you really felt like it.”

-Kahili!!!!!

-THE MOTHERFUCKING CHAMPION THEME!!!

-that corny-ass scene where Lillie was gonna say something to the main character after the festival and it was all set up like a love scene from the final act of a goddamn comedy romance film and then they get shouldered by the fireworks. My heart can’t handle that kind of sappy cuteness and I need more of it.

-Looker and Anabel. Those two were adorbs.

-oh. And Alolan Raichu. When I first saw that Pokémon revealed in the trailer last July I knew that I had to buy Sun and Moon. Alolan Raichu is what got me into Pokémon.

#Keegster posts #Pokémon thoughts #sorry for the huge ass post i'm just very passionate about pokésmaun okay #no but srsly sorry #this took me two months to write #quite possibly the biggest post I’ve made on Tumblr #Pokémon #Pokemon Sun and Moon #Pokémon UltraSun and UltraMoon

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lilietsblog · 7 years

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Strike Witches episode 1: first impression

so im gonna try strike witches: the unknown anime i chose to not familiarize myself with the premise beyond 'something like fighter pilots i think?' that i picked up by osmosis

oh hey look a discarded doll. def war is hell vibes here

cant say im a fan of the visuals from the first several seconds, the color scheme and everything seems kinda bland? the only reason im making this observation is bc i had to pause to let it load tho

oh look Very Noticable CGI

(i have a headache and am vaguely nauseous and basically am Very Cranky as a result)

man, there aren't even characters yet. it's been almost two minuets and there still aren't people for me to relate too that's a crime by which i dont mean that literally but just 'this might not be the thing i want to watch right now'

oh hey monsters okay this is better than just straight up war is hell between humans omfg in 1939 subtle 'we wanna play with ww2 era toys but without bringing up the fact japan was on the side of nazi germany' i assume sure im onboard if thats the premise

magitech??? magitech!!!

that's. their legs. in those things. are they evoking Baba Yaga and her travels in a stupa bc thats okay panty shots i think imma quit at the end of this episode

oh i. just realized this is the movie that actually makes it a bit better and gives me more hope lets try the actual first episode first

ok the first shot is of the sky and not a discarded doll that's already better

holy shit whatever this video player is it allows to load external captions from pc or url. technology progresses at an incredible pace

i love that the fighter planes are clearly shown attacking the vortex first 9u9

opening has so many girls wearing shoes but no pants. im just. this entire device's entire point is clearly to fanservice that does not mean this is bad character-wise yet ofc. i watched and liked fucking rosario+vampire. this show has a chance yet. lets see what its got

the op song is nice its also very straightforward about aesthetic of this show being 'girls without pants in absolutely non-sexual situaitons' and i can respect that

and oh look it actually does start with characters interacting right after exposition that's what im talking about

okay so now might be a good time to mention that the first context i heard of strike witches was uh. misogynist porn. like the kind that doesnt go for 'look at these relatable characters being kinky' but for 'consider: what if powerful girls got hurt instead'. so thats the context in my brain and i want to fucking overwrite it

military uniforms+panties are definitely an aesthetic and im incredibly amused by it okay every single girl here doesnt wear pants sure that actually looks like a swimsuit rather than panties and thats nice

also they are characterizing the protagonist! like i know thats not much to ask for but im going into this straight off blogging about madoka and this is just such a relief! she is kind and brave and plucky and talks gently to a scared kitten and I love her also she Does Not Think Things Through shes like the typical shonen protagonist but a girl. im in

Yoshika her name is Yoshika

and her motivation is her dad but eh sure whatever I kind of like the touch of 'it was classified military information' not sure why

theres nothing about Yoshika that qualifies her other than her personality and magic powers huh

yep thats a swimsuit aww shes a healer!

I love that the military observers rush to help as soon as they see something is off theres work and then theres helping emergencies

oh!!!! her mom and grandma are around!!! and teaching her!!! im happy!!!

Yoshika why is all that a 'but' to 'you should learn to control your power' i dont think there was any subtext of 'you shouldnt even try' there? or was it? maybe i should just trust her for now

awww Yoshika actually doesn't want to go to war <3 but this woman thinks she will because she wants to help people and she'll help people the most there I I like this ;~; I'm so happy I like this I love Yoshika's 'fuck war' instinct I love her drive to help everyone and in fact the trope of magical healer almost killing themselves to help a patient (despite it being professionally inadvisable) is actually the thing i made my very first rp character sooo :> you know. stuff something is fishy about that letter. its no coincidence it was sent just now... I love Sakamoto and her A+ social skills HA HA HA HA HA also huh... she's not in on whatever's up with that letter

Yoshika so uh alright she'll take her without enlisting her huh interesting but uh what about school I guess military and witches can override all that and it kind of makes sense to me thematically

'Britannia' gee how familiar that name sounds and i dont mean geographically

so hm could Yoshika be a military doctor without actually enlisting? how do the formalities work there i like that Sakamoto doesnt question her dislike of all things military like its unexpected but mostly bc Sakamoto's got a one track mind that has a hard time expecting anything other than what she wants to happen and beyond that its like 'sure ok a conscientous objector got it' even though its weird how there would be conscientous objectors to fighting MONSTERS its not like theres an alternative to not fight I mean also clearly Yoshika is a kid and theres room left for that in other characters' treatment of her opinions and I love that they dont get Offended that she doesn't understand and Have Proper Respect well Sakamoto doesn't at least not sure about how other people will react

man that raccoon on the road sure was convenient though. like i first thought it was Sakamoto's deliberate tactic to gauge Yoshiko's powers. she was opening her eye to i guess do just that visually and then the raccoon appeared and it just felt very natural that one follows from the other? is this foreshadowing or are the writers of this anime just unfamiliar with the concept of 'subtle' i dont mind if its the latter tbh

(im writing a ton of reflection bc the episode broke after i tried to rewind a little and i decided to download it after all, and its doing that)

so far, this show seeems nicely straightforward and fast paced. like, really straightforward. yoshiko's introduction? saving a kitten. making a ww2 era anime without difficult shit? monsters attacked in 1939. motivations and revelations are handled with all the subtlety of a hammer to the face, from the raccoon to the letter. even fanservice has the same charming quality that makes me actually be okay with the entire point of their outfits being gratuitous panty shots. making sense and having pretense is for the weak. this anime knows what it wants to be and is going straight for that. i respect that approach

also its p clear that what it wants is to be character driven and its been Delivering on that since its only half episode one and i already Love two characters personally and also some supporting cast (Yoshiko's entire family)

and like you know that in some other show GASP MIGHT MY DAD BE STILL ALIVE would be a reveal saved for like. the halfway point. but here its literally the starting point spurring everything into action bc all other motivation was just too slow to get the character where she was supposed to go. good job yo

there's this trope where the main character doesn't want to go into the main conflict (Refusal of the Call)... and very often it's handled by either 1) letting them wallow until everything goes to shit showing how wrong they were or 2) immediately conveniently wrecking everything so they have no choice now I uh. am really glad this show went a different way if just joining the conflict isnt a good enough motivation GET A BETTER ONE and IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE ANGST (and it doesn't have to be romance, either!!! why are those two the only things writers seem to be able to think of jfc)

...okay I was more like two thirds through the episode rather than half but my points stand

okay so I think what just happened was Yoshiko realized the parallel between herself and her dad leaving and got scared and her response was to comfort other people and I love that <3

I love that Sakamoto doesn't have a doubt in her mind that Yoshiko isn't going to be useless and will definitely help and also comes to her to discuss this explicitly <3

man I love Sakamoto and her absolute lack of social graces and sense of when enough is enough

and the fact that Yoshiko is working chores now and seems to enjoy it too <3

and it's when it's established that she's part of the team that Sakamoto starts showing off <3 she clearly has a dedicated well thought out campaign of convincing Yoshiko going on and its borne out not of manipulation but of clear conviction that she is right and she just has to show the girl what she doesnt know yet <3

ahaha of course showing off worked <3

so I paused and imma make a bet with myself on whether Sakamoto is going to tell her 'if you liked that you can join' right now or leave that unsaid subtly my bet is that she is, bc subtlety is an entirely foreign concept to this wonderful human being, and if i lose im going to make my bed right now not even waiting for the end of the episode let's see

oh she starts with education huh, this is not widely known? i had no idea anyway lets see if she says the thing

I love that it's her dad and it's this kind thing of 'this is what he said he was going to do, and he did' <3

huh so that was slightly more subtlety than I expected, she offered her to try them rather than trying to recruit her directly so I lost the bet gotta go make the bed now

BAM DONE YAY GOOD SELF CARE

hey more main characters!!!! I love all of you already!!! you have personality and discuss things that make sense!!! including their outfits!!! I love them!!!! the parasol girl is my favorite but also the tiny girl and the red-haired girl they are all my favorites!!!

omfg a month of travel and half a day early Yoshiko gets impatient I love her

YOU ARE A NONCOMBATANT she said with the steely confidence of a commanding officer <3

I love so much that Sakamoto respects Yoshiko's boundaries re: fighting???

OMG THE ENDING SONG I LOVE IT

I love the upbeat and airy tone this show manages to have despite the premise??? like I had trepidations at the start bc I dislike doom&gloom-heaviness of 'war is hell' narratives and I'm not a WW2 affictionado. but instead of shiny boom boom toys and angst it's all character adorableness and so much sky??? even the lack of pants ends up feeling like freedom this is the anime we all deserve

#strike witches #anime #liliet watches strike witches

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