where do you find the images you use in collages?

I just collect magazines and stuff that gets mailed to my house that my parents don’t want, I get a lot of use out of advertisements for supermarkets bc there’s lots of images of raw meat lol. The images in the angel collage came from these luxury magazines advertising jewlery and watches and such, lots of nice big high quality images of pretty gemstones

All your ninjago art reblogging has hit me hard with a realisation of fucking why do people bother to make Zane black if their gonna just give him the whitest blonde hair and blue eyes. It would be one thing if his hair was dyed but they put no effort into showing that it is, and he still has the brightest blue eyes ever. I get that they like the colour contrast, I get that they wanna show his ice connections, but if you wanna make a character black then at LEAST drop the euro centric beauty standards oh my god.

i do agree that I actually would like to see more of Zane with light hair that resembles actual bleached hair + brown eyes if he's going to be depicted as black.

Though I do think for the blue eyes part it is largely based on him being a robot, so like he's got led eyes that glow blue. maybe I'm not the best person to ask if this is bad or not, but I'm personally ok with this. It's not like ppl are supposed to think that's realistic (they're glowing robot eyes) + if ur depicting the other characters with non-eurocentric eye colors (like please. they're like all asian ....) as it further shows it's simply a robot feature (You can also argue his hair not resembling dyed hair is also bc of robot stuff like. Artificial hair ig??? Idk how I fully feel abt that one though)

but even then he does occasionally don looks where he's supposed to blend in with humans, so blue eyes can be a bit odd for that (in s8 though his human disguise had blue eyes in it... But whatever).

Another thing that would be cool actually for Zane to have light hair + blue eyes is for him to be an albino black guy. I do not see a lot of ppl depict characters in general like this, so it would be, as I said, Cool to see that. Still doesn't mean u can skimp out on making sure his features aren't eurocentric in this one as he's still black here

grain of salt for my takes on this since I'm not black I'm just passionate abt diversity in character design, feel free to wreck my shit or add onto it if ur more qualified to talk about it <:] ,,

The reader looking so pretty at an event in the agency, co worker dazai can't help but stare at her :> make sum scenario :>

"I SEE YOUR PRETTY EYES AT MINE, MISTER~"

Sypnosis: Dazai just cant keep his eyes to himself when a colleuge of his is looking so darn pretty!

Dazai x fem! reader

Genre: suggestive, romance

Warnings: reader is sort of cheeky, suggestive as hell, implied alcoholism, author gave the reader on what attire shes wearing.

A/N FINALLY A REQUEST AFTER SO FUCKIN LONG

The agency had decided to hold another party in celebration of a huge deal which would help the agency .

And of course you were invited, almost everyone was. You decided to look extra pretty today because why not, not because of others but for yourself.

You had picked out a extravagant ebony coated frock which covered all the way up to your legs and ended with glistening white layers of laces.

The party was at 8 o clock, you had time plus what would you do getting there so early?

Gently tapping on the tubes of lipsticks you picked out a vermillion shade and smoothly applied the waxy substance on your lips. The colour suited the rose tied around your neck really well.

Finally adding some final touches you rushed out the door and walked along to the agency.

There were colourful lights and food everywhere, Atsushi teaching Kyouka how to make decorations, doctor Yosano taking a bit too much of wine, ranpo staring at powdered donuts... To think of it you remember him taking 5 of them sneakily one night and you wonder why hes so obsessed with them.

But one thing you could notice was a certain someones eyes on you... Dazai.

You walked up to atsushi and kyouka, talking to them and teaching them some tips and tricks to fit in with the agency.

You could feel at all times though, a certain pair of eyes glancing at you from time to time from the corner of the room.

"Excuse me, i will just fix my hair and come back" you politely end the conversation before walking towards the door and going outside.

Despite your heels clacking against the floor, you could feel another set of shoes following them.

"Dazai-san, may i know why i feel your eyes on my at all times?" you ask putting a perfect spot from the distance between your figure and the mans figure.

He chuckled.

"Bella, i must say your quite the smart one arent ya'?" osamu replies back with much cheekiness in his tone as yiu turned to him, he had a black tuxedo, a polished and refined one, it hugged his body quite tightly too.

You just sighed at his remark, he was a ladies man you knew but you have never seen the glint and love in his eyes on a girl ever before, it amde your stomach turn slightly in a good way, of course.

His teasing grin drops and turns into a more soothing smile as he walks over to you which makes you back towards the wall unsure whether to trsut him or not.

He lowers his head a bit to reach your face taking in all of it's features.

"Are you trying to woo me, dazai-san? It seems like it"

"Haaah, maybe. The thing is bella you just look so.." you expect him to give you some compliment like every boy does when they see a girl sitting pretty and all but instead he gently took a strand of your hair, took it to his lips and uttered every single quality and flaw about you, it was as if hes born to have a poets tongue with you being the muse.

"I just want to admire you all day, my darling. Its not lust nor a small crush, it isnt even close to love but something beyond the world and beyond the universe to attend to, i dont know i could drown in your eyes right now but i would prefer staring at them for an eternity as if its a gorgeous piece of art hung on a museum"

he said softly, oh god did this man made your heart drop down your stomach and melt into your intestines.

With each word he spoke through his charming voice, you could feel his breathe and hands going closer towards your sweating body and at last, he asked for your permission to which you only looked at him with a slight embroidery of embarrassment on your cheeks.

Dazai tenderly kissed your forehead but though it lasted short you wondered whether he tried to go for your lips instead because of the shift in his body.

"Oi, dazai and [Name] if your done with your cheesy af encounter than come back to the party! Presidents calling you two!"

Atlast after moments of intimate interaction which wasnt even intimate because of the silent yearn for something neither the two of you could preach. Both of you decided to go back to the party.

Later in the relationship you realised that your first kiss with this loverman was not the type of kiss those possessive men would do which would take your breathe away but more of a desperate one as if to reach out for something which one already got.

In the end nor dazai or you could just confess normally without making each other look like two pieces of magnificent artwork looking at each other.

A/N: i hate this more than dazai hates him self :(((((((( btw reader is wearing this dress

Divider crds! : @cafekitsune

Tags! : @inojuuy @silverbladexyz @atlasnessie @tsuunara @elizais @saelique @chuuyasboner @atzuhi @riiwrites @ruanais @biscuits-spooky-corner @rusmii

We got the earth and the sky, but has anyone asked about what you think of Abzu?

i love abzu!!! another one i have watched the gdc talk for which you can watch here!!

the two big things in abzu are the fish animations and the overall environment lighting - lets start with fish!! there are a lot of them. and when you want to animate a lot of things, your computer will explode. this is specifically when you animate things with bones, how a lot of computer things are animated

luckily one thing that gpus can be really good at is drawing a tonnnn of the same object really fast, using something called instancing. as long as its the same mesh and material, it can be rendered a ton with just a single draw call (like i am talking hundreds of thousands). so lets make 10 thousand fish. unluckily this doesnt work with skeleton animations. luckily you dont need them! especially with fish

even though all the objects need to be the same mesh and material, doesnt mean they cant have different input. not only that but shaders let you modify individual vertexes, so, what if you just take all 10000 fish and wiggle them along an axis, like this

and give them all slightly different inputs so they arent all doing the exact same animation, maybe by giving them each their own unique number. now you have 10 thousand fish swimming around, wiggling, at almost zero rendering cost

these are all individual 3d models and all their animations are running in the shader !

the other way they animated fish without giving them bones was through something called blendshapes - these are usually used for stuff like facial animations, where you move vertices around to your desired "shape" (so like maybe your default face is :| but you edit the vertices so your character goes :> etc), and keep track of the difference between each vertex's position and its original position so you can move it whenever you want

that doesnt need any bones so they used this for things like fish going CHOMP and fish making sharp turns

for the actual environment, they experimented with a bunch of things like using actual volumetric lighting, but in the end they found that just using fog worked best!! they did tweak it a bit though - they had a "zone" between where the fog started to get thick and when the fog just ended up being a solid color where they dimmed any lighting - this really helped the background geometry stick out and give that underwater feel (left is without dimming the lights, right is with dimming the lights!! fun to think about how firewatch did something similar but changing the fog color based on depth rather than literally dimming the lighting)

they also let different volumes have their own fog value, so if there was say a cave off in the distance, it could have less fog than the surrounding area for clarity & also made the fog look a bit more volumetric

and the other huge thing that helped was "portal cards" - not an official term but its what they called them, basically just quads they could stick in any place where they needed to make something "stick out", like a cave, or a hilltop that blended with the background too much. the card sampled the depth of objects behind it, and used that 0 to 1 value to map a color to it. and then the closer youd get to these cards, the more transparent theyd get, until youre right on top of it and you dont need the objects to stick out of the background anymore!! here you can see a Me, but very dark, and then i slide the card over it. the black and white is the camera depth of all objects behind the card, minus the depth of the card. and mapping that to a color makes me stick out way more than i was initially!! then as you swim closer to me, the card fades away, until you pass the card completely

these portal cards were also used to make the light beams poking out from the surface, theyre just animated a bit!! you can see how the portal cards affect the look of things in this frame breakdown

and one other thing thats pretty prominent that wasnt touched on in the talk is all the caustics on the ground, those little wobbly light things you see underwater. but those were probably? just added to every shader as a "add this caustics texture on top based on the with the texture mapped to the world x and z position and only if the object is facing up"

like this !

anyways thats all from me on abzu..!! really pretty game

Ok so. I needed for a fic im thinking of so I went all out to try to research wtf is Kohane's snake.

Ok so what we know: Kohane has a snake, in one of her birthday cards she gets a silly snake plushie as a gift, which we can assume looks like her own snake.

Knowing that, i went after this silly snake.

First thing: Species. First thing I thought of is a Ball python. First of all bc it's one of the most common snake species in the world, and as far as I can see, Japan does not have any legislation against snakes that arent protected species (at least at importing, which was all I could find, its hard being a writer), so without anything to go with, i chose it, plus its a big species, which I can easily see Kohane liking it better.

So ok, the snake is white, with red eyes, that is usually indicative of albinos, however...

Albinos usually work by taking away the dark pigmentation, which in ball python (and most snakes) does not make them fully white and instead.

Yellow spots.

Kohane's snake has none of those, so I keep searching and come across this morph (variations in colors and patterns/morphology):

The leucistic morph Ball python, its a combination of many morphs and rare to find one that is actually fully white, but...

It has blue eyes.

Back to the search ig.

I come across this one, looks kinda perfect, right? White, red eyes..

One problem, or two. The name i find under it says its a "wedding morph", however...

First of all. The wedding morph is this one

Still very white, but dark eyes.

Second problem of that red eyed one, looks like it has many kinks on its back, which is where the spine goes kinda > and usually does not mean a healthy snake. Is it a genetic thing from the morph or just the specific snake? Not sure actually, but I cant find out without knowing the morph...

Anyways, both the Wedding morph and the Leucistic morph are over 600 dollars, + the cost of the keeping (uv lights, heaters), place it lives (big ass aquariums) and feeding (rats, usually).

So yeah Kohane is richer than I thought...

When I write that, im going to use the leucistic morph, i found it prettier, and here ends my snake ramble.

its been enough time for me to stop gatekeeping and Immediately talk about how, in a human au, i choose to interpret the night in cars 1 where lightning and sally talk.

sally listens to mater and lightning talk, mater slowly driving down the main road and lightning trotting along beside, talking to him through the open window. the conversation goes how it does in the movie, nothing much changes there, but when they split lightning makes his way into the motel office to get his room key.

hes Dirty. hes got mud in his hair and sally just cringes because the rooms have white sheets and she does NOT want to scrub dirt off of them. she tells him that, he cant sleep in the room if hes gonna track dirt everywhere. he just kind of winces and apologizes. its not like he really has anything with him, and, on his crash into town, he cut his arm open pretty badly and has gauze wrapped around it. doc still isnt too fond of him, and he tells sally that he cant really shower because doc will Kill him if he ruins the bandages.

without hesitation and out of nowhere, sally is like well i can help you wash your hair in the sink right here! and she cant even process her offer until its already out of her mouth. he gets a kind of shocked look on his face and is like oh! okay. that’d be nice. and they both stand there awkwardly before one of them makes the first move (its sally; she quickly runs into the “back room aka her little apartment” to grab her shampoo)

lightning wanders around the counter, studies the stuff on her desk, and flinches when she reappears. he doesnt really know what do to so he just stands there and waits for instruction.

they get to talking, conversation Basically the same as it is in the movie, shes helping scrub the dirt out of his curly hair and its dawning on her that maybe hes not an awful person after all. maybe he Is a little misguided.

its a generally quiet scene, a majority of the light in the little office/lobby is from the streetlights outside, and its very comfortable. they get more comfortable as they chat, and its at this moment that she realizes maybe she even likes him.

the end of the conversation is the same, he thanks her for letting him stay and Also helping him feel a little cleaner considering he hasnt showered in what feels like years (its been like 3 days)

the next morning shes talking to flo and she thinks she can casually talk about how lightning is actually kind of nice and flos like ohhh honey ure so in love with him arent u. she immediately gets flustered and tries to deny it and all flo can do is give her the knowing motherly look of “u love him dont bullshit me!!!”

her and sallys conversation, though, kind of opens flos mind up to the idea of hearing lightning out — maybe he ISNT that bad.

anyways silly domestic salqueen Gets me . i think stuff like this becomes a little tradition between the two like just quiet comfortable chats over random little things. do you get me.

pjs posting every single character what they wear to bed lets go

luffy - the exact same thing he wears everyday no changes. everybody wants to kill him for this and they eventually get him out of the sleep jeans post TS but it takes an unreasonable amount of time

zoro - very little or nothing at all. naked completely. (sensory issues) nami buys him a robe so they dont have to see him naked in the middle of the night and its a compromise.

nami - she has a LOT of pjs for every occasion and when she wears her own it radically depends on what the circumstances are. keyword there is when she wears her own. chronic stealer of clothes (in general) but also especially to sleep in because people arent usually wearing their own clothes anyway. the only clothes she hasnt stolen temporarily to sleep in is luffys sleep jeans and sanjis suits and frankys sleep-speedo. everything else is fair game. she will also do this directly from the laundry pile and will never admit that to anybody. (she thinks its gross and like depending on the item of clothing yeah it is. its never TOO gross though she has standards)

usopp - normal about it. he has his own pjs and when its hot he sleeps in only his underwear and uh because of sleeping arrangements yeah its hot a lot of the time.

sanji - objectively not normal about it. sleeps in his SUITS. hes convinced out of them easier than luffy is the sleep jeans but he needs fabric covering every part of his body at all times because he has sensory issues. (nami buys him pjs but they go shopping together he slowly gets more and more extra with his pj preferences over time but they always have to cover every inch of them unless in very specific circumstances.) hes also similar to nami in the sense that he'll wear other peoples shit to bed but he's less indiscriminate and more secretive about it.

chopper - he has a small pair of pjs for when he gets cold which isn't often and it's only pants as opposed to his shorts (which are made out of pj fabric anyways)

robin - VICTORIAN NIGHTGOWN. not all of them are white, some of them are other colours. black. purple. one of them is blue and its quite pretty. post TS she gets nightgown colours matching all her family/expands out of the historical nightgowns but still wears nightgowns. (she morbidly loves the red one she bought matching luffy because it makes her look like even more of a murdered ghost than before) it's also because of sensory issues similar to zoros and the opposite of sanjis but she just opts for loose fitting clothing instead of no clothing at all. the thriller bark outfit was actually pjs. robin loved being in wano similar to zoro because the clothes there fit her sensory issues better than most regions.

franky - the same swimsuit and it didnt last long. complaints were lodged (robin doesnt mind swimsuit material normally under the light of the sun and god but uh in the case of sleeping absolutely not. chopper complained too because he likes to curl up on frankys lap and he doesnt like the swimsuit material either) he took them in and adjusted. he now has normal fabric underwear that looks like a speedo. (hand crafted by himself)

he also made modifications to his front so he'd be a better texture/softness for cuddling at literally everybodys request. he was so very happy about this honestly even though he realized the challenge of remaining indestructible but still cuddle-able he was up for it if it meant his family wanted to hug him more. (he made these changes before ts but really considered them post ts and made even better modifications then. EVERYBODY approved.)

brook - he likes historical pjs like robin does but goes for masc and fem versions hes like similar amount of normal to usopp. BUT he does have to pad his pjs with some kind of fluffy material so they're a little thicker than they would be for a normal person (nobody likes sleeping with an overly boney skeleton. and he sows them in himself) and he doesnt have to worry about getting hot because he has no body heat. (this is also why he manages to layer so many clothing items on eachother despite it being generally pretty hot) he is a robe person but not by force like Zoro is and robin will take it (sometimes they share pjs and it's an agreed upon thing unlike their younger crewmates whom of which two of them are just immature thieves.)

Hi' im here just to ask a request lol 👀 is it possible to do a chishiya x reader where they both liked each other but never said anything about it, even if its really obvious. But they still are always together even during most of the game since reader is good at club and spade games while chishiya is good at diamonds and hearts game, so depending on the game: one only supports while the other does most of the work. So this could be during a club or spades game where physical strenght is important, so Chishiya lets reader and other playes to do the "hard work". However, reader encounters their ex in the same game and chishiya starts to get jealous because "why they are so friendly if they are exes?" lol, however, reader decided to get paired up with their ex instead of chishiya and this made him mad (even though he suggested to reader that they should join someone else who is athletic too so they can game faster and finish early, however he didn't expect to find reader's ex in the game). At the end of the game, reader ask their ex that they should be part of the beach but chishiya ended up saying something like: "they arent good enough" or something similar. This makes reader mad and ask chishiya about what is his problem and he ended up confessing his feelings to reader. I dont know what to write next 😭 have a nice dayyy

pairing: chishiya x gn!reader word count: 1.4k genre: fluff (??)

a/n: tysm for requesting !! thank you for writing it like this like it's an actual outline for a story this was a really cute idea. i cannot write angst i would cry so instead of an actual fight chishiya is just mildly annoyed and reader kinda calls him out on it lmao i hope you like it !!

[if my explanation of the game doesn't make sense the fan wiki link to this game is here]

warnings: slightly ooc chishiya, not canon compliant, canon-typical violence, this doesn't make sense in the storyline bc it was the game kyuma and his band played but i couldn't think of any other games to make it work just go with it, slight mentions of people dying, ex bf's name is keita bc i didn't wanna write (ex's name) the whole time, cussing

i'm obsessed with this gif i'm sorry he looks like a cat and it's so cute snklns he's so gender

the amusement park is eerie as you enter. the gate creeks, worn down with use. vines crawl along their sides as if it’s been abandoned for years. the chime of a new player entering catches your attention. he’s wearing a simple white t-shirt and black jeans, shifting anxiously on his feet. you recognize him immediately- keita. 

chishiya raises an eyebrow as you walk over to the man. his face lights up, a grateful sigh escaping him. “y/n,” you wrap him into a quick hug before pulling away. “do you know what’s going on?” 

you shake your head, stepping back. “no. all i know is there are games we have to win to earn days on our visa.” keita nods, shoving the white phone into the pocket of his jeans. 

“registration closed,” the announcement begins. 

“come on,” you make your way back to chishiya’s side, keita following behind you. 

“difficulty: three of spades. rules: players must reach the exit before the mascots catch them. game clear: players reach the exit without getting caught. game over: the mascots kill all players. there is no time limit.”

keita shifts uncomfortably next to you. “don’t worry,” you whisper. “we’ll be alright.” he gives you a shaky nod before the announcement continues. 

“players have five minutes before the mascots will begin searching.” a screen lights up, illuminated by a timer on a white background. you glance at chishiya for a second. he gives you a curt nod, following a group of people around the left side of the park. 

keita follows you as you slink around the right side, searching for any areas where the potential exit could be. the night is freezing as you hide behind the rides. “game start.” the announcement chimes. you duck underneath the metal beams of a roller coaster as a tagger wearing a bunny head walks out. they’re holding a crossbow as they walk, scanning around the park. keita’s shaky hand grabs your own as you watch them leave, in search of the players. 

it isn’t long before a scream rings out, followed by the whistle of an arrow being shot. the screech is cut short, leaving an eerie silence behind. you flinch a little at the noise, desperate to find the exit. behind you, keita gasps. a woman has her hand pressed against his mouth, motioning for you to stay silent. 

“have you seen anything?” she whispers. you shake your head. she removes her hand from keita’s mouth, backing away. “let’s stick together. i think i saw some other people by the ferris wheel.” 

you let her lead the way back around to the other side of the park. players continue to be killed off. the whistle of the arrows through the air makes you shiver. keita’s hand stays wrapped around your wrist as you guide him through the park. 

pressed against the brick wall of a staff room you can just barely make out chishiya’s silhouette. he motions for you to move closer, gesturing to a back gate over his shoulder. “i think the exit is over there.” keita lets out a shaky sigh, letting go of your wrist. chishiya reaches over to grab yours, pulling you a little closer to him. his warmth feels good against your skin. 

“if that’s the exit why haven’t you gone over there?” keita whispers. 

chishiya doesn’t answer him, still focused on the gate. he keeps a distance between you and keita. “we could be wrong,” you explain. “it’ll get us killed if we run over there and the gate doesn’t actually lead to an exit.” 

“but we’ll die if we stay here!” you bite back an exasperated sigh. 

“just trust me, okay?” keita nods, pressing himself further against the wall. 

you’re not sure how long you stand there, waiting. your heartbeat pounds in your ears as a tagger wearing a bunny mascot passes. they look at the darkness where you’re standing, staring for a few seconds before moving on. chishiya squeezes your shaking hand. you muster up the strength to gently squeeze back, eager to get back to the beach. 

the noise of the gate rattling makes you freeze. a man yells out as an arrow hits his shoulder before he hoists his body over the remainder of the gate. you can just barely hear the noise of his phone chiming. “game clear.” 

“shit,” one of the taggers curses. you’re grateful when the sound of something hitting against metal echoes throughout the park, drawing their attention away from you. chishiya doesn’t waste any time once the tagger is out of sight, pulling you along with him towards the gate. you force yourself up and over the fence, reaching down to help pull him up after you. he jumps down to safety before you grab onto keita’s hand, helping him over before you tumble down into the safety of the grass below. 

in your pocket, you can feel your phone vibrating. it lights up your face when you pull it out. “game clear. congratulations.” you lean back onto the ground, sighing. keita throws his arms around you, startling you a little. 

“thank you,” he whispers. “thank you.” you pat his back before he pulls away. 

chishiya holds out his hand to help you up. it’s a comforting feeling to have his hand in yours when you’ve finally reached safety. “we should get back.” you whisper. he nods, intertwining your fingers. 

“where are you going?” keita asks. 

“there’s a place we’re staying at- the beach. there are other people there. you’ll like it.” you can feel chishiya tensing a little next to you, but you brush it off as nerves from your near-death experience. 

“let’s go.” 

keita silently follows you as you make your way back to the beach. the walk is long and quiet. chishiya never lets go of your hand, keeping you close to his body. you’re grateful for the warmth, content to lean against him to calm your racing heartbeat. 

hatter is more enthusiastic than usual when he greets you, eagerly taking the card before turning to keita. “we haven’t seen this one yet,” he says, flicking the edge of it. he leans down in front of him, staring in front of his eyes. “i’d like to see more of what you can do. y/n, show him a room, please.”

an awkward air remains as you lead keita through the hotel. he opens a random room before flinching back and pulling it closed. “these doors don’t lock?” 

“no,” you chuckle. “just pick one. as long as there’s nothing inside you’re welcome to sleep wherever. i stay in room 320. come find me if you need anything.” keita nods, whispering another quick ‘thank you’ before entering the room. 

chishiya is sitting on the bed when you enter your own room. you make your way over to sit next to him, letting out a small sigh. “do you know him?” 

“who? keita?” chishiya remains silent. “i used to work with him.” 

“he seems really comfortable touching you.” 

you cock your head a little, shifting a little to face him. “we went out a couple times before i moved to tokyo.” chishiya simply hums, looking away from you. the silence feels heavy for a few seconds. “wait, are you… jealous?” chishiya doesn’t respond but you can just barely see a flush on his ears. you bite back a laugh, reaching over to grab his hand into yours. he doesn’t move away, letting you intertwine your fingers together. “chishiya, you don’t have any reason to be jealous.” you hesitantly reach out to rest your hand on his cheek, turning him to face you. he leans his forehead against yours. “i like you.”

you can see the blush spread to his cheeks a little at your confession. your lips quirk up into a small smile as he looks down at your lips before looking back up into your eyes. “i like you too.” there’s a beat of silence between you before he speaks again. “can i kiss you?” your smile grows as you slowly lean closer to gently press your lips against his. chishiya smiles into it a little, bringing a hand up to your cheek. you wrap your arms around his neck, shifting to straddle his hips. his blush has deepened when you pull away. you lean down to press a peck against his forehead, stroking his jawline. 

“nobody compares to you.” chishiya doesn’t answer, instead leaning up to press another kiss against your lips.

Can I get some Blind!Weiss au pretty please?

(I'm hoping this isnt a repeat post, but... tumblr isnt showing that this part of it has been posted, so.... I do apologize if this is a repeat)

“And you’re sure this is the place?” Weiss asked as she pressed her aura out, trying to sense what was around her. “It seems kinda… empty.” 

“Of course I’m sure!” Sun paused for a moment. “You’re messing with me, arent you? Cant you see the lights?” 

“Nope.” Weiss finally sat down and ran her hand across the crate she sat on to make sure there was enough room to set her cane down. “You should tell me about them.” 

Yang rolled her eyes as she tried to track movement with her scroll. “As much as I hate to say it, Weiss is right. I’m not seeing anything move around in there. If anyone’s there, they’re not any place visible.” 

Weiss sighed and created a small glyph in front of her as she tried to relax her nerves. “They better be okay. They’re not allowed to be hurt enough that I cant apologize to them.” 

“Because you feel guilty?” 

Weiss shot Yang a frown. “I get it, alright? I messed up!” The glyph broke as she lost concentration and the frown slowly disappeared. “I messed up and want to try to make things right. Or at least try to make things better. I owe that to Blake.” 

Yang smiled a bit. “I’m sure you’ll have your chance?” 

Sun grinned and started to climb the crates. “In that case, I’ll go ahead and start looking for a way in! Leave it to me to make sure we can get your teammates out!” 

Weiss listened to Sun’s footsteps and waited until he was out of earshot. “We’re not going to follow him, are we?” 

“No, we’re not.” Yang dropped down a bit and started to look over a few pictures of the warehouse she took with her scroll. “He’ll be a distraction while we sneak in through one of the broken windows.” 

“Lead the way.” 

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Weiss quickly put up a glyph between herself and the White Fang grunts with Yang’s directions, glaring behind her. “I thought you said no one would notice us coming in!” 

“They didnt!” Yang yelled back as she reloaded her gauntlets. “Or at least they didnt until Sun came around.” 

“Its not my fault they came after me.” Sun jumped over the glyph and used his gunchucks to start pushing the White Fang back . “Your friends are down the hall and to the left! I’ll hold these guys off so you can get to them!” 

“And you’re sure you can handle that?” Weiss asked. 

“I’ll be fine!” 

Weiss nodded and practically yelped as she felt Yang grab her wrist and pull her down the hall in search of their teammates. Gunshots echoed through the empty  warehouse, staying just as loud as they ran further away through the halls. She finally pulled out of Yang’s grip and stumbled a bit as she recaught her footing and steadied herself with her cane. “Warn me when you’re going to do that!”��

“I will next time.” Yang came to a stop and peeked into one of the windows of the doors and checked for anyone in there. “I’m not seeing anyone. Think you can see them with your aura?” 

“I dont know. I didnt see anyone before, so maybe there’s a limit to what I can see around and through.” 

“Can you try?” 

Weiss sighed and sat down as she tried to concentrate and pushed her aura out from her. Everything seemed like a black void as she tried to push out, empty and not a soul around. She paused as she saw a faint flicker of aura further down the hall and stood up. “This way.” 

Yang nodded and started to follow Weiss. “You’re sure?” 

“I saw somebody with a faint aura.” Weiss tapped her cane in front of her as she quickly walked down the hall so she wouldnt trip. Once she came to the room she saw the aura flicker in, she tapped on the door with her cane. “Here!” 

Yang slammed into the door to open it and paused. “Ruby!” 

“She’s fine,” Blake said as she looked over Ruby, her own body bruised and battered. “Mostly fine.” 

Ruby sighed and tried to push Blake away, swaying a bit and holding her head. “Everything’s still spinning…” 

“The drugs are wearing off. Take it easy.” 

Weiss slowly paused in the doorway as she looked towards Blake and Ruby, not sure what to say. She still couldnt tell what had happened to either of them besides being taken away, and yet, she couldnt find the words she wanted to say. 

Yang helped pick Ruby up and walked her over to Weiss. “Can you make sure Ruby and Blake get out of here?” 

Weiss gave a nervous chuckle. “You’re letting the blind girl help them? What are you going to do then?” 

“Someone has to make sure Sun gets out of here too, right? And out of all of us, I’m the only one that can get to him. Besides, you’re better equipped to help Blake and Ruby with your glyphs.” 

Weiss nodded and took Ruby’s other side to free up Yang. “Dont be too long, alright?” 

“I’ll call you as soon as Sun and I get out.” 

“You better.” Weiss took a few unsteady steps as she tried to keep Ruby supported and use her cane to keep herself from tripping. 

“Take three steps forward and then get ready to turn,” Blake said. “I’ll help you navigate so you dont have to focus on your cane.” 

“Thanks. And I”m sorry about what I said.” 

“Save it for when we’re back at the dorm. But… thanks for coming to get me.” 

Weiss nodded and continued forward with Blake’s instructions, turning with her after three steps. “Then lets get you back to the dorm to rest and get you both looked at.” 

I know you are resting up, so please answer these when you feel better

1. Since we know how the others feel about the Horseman, how does the Horseman feel about the others?

2. Are the flowers able to come in different colors, and what are the textures of the flowers (or just the area in general)? Is it like a golden ash?

3. Can the time change in the Land of Roses? Or is it like in the Afterlife, where it’s perpetually stuck as night or day?

4. How do the people of the Land of Roses look? There’s a chance some of them never got a chance to meet Mr. Sob (the train in the begin in of the game), so they may look not as mutilated.

Feeling better and motivated! so time to awnser these questions >:)

(hope that makes sense)

While no there arent any other color of the gold flower , there ARE different types of the gold flower wich mean something different!

A. - The normal gold flower : the most common flower in the Land of Roses , these are found everywhere and usually are seen as a blessing , they usually have a very faint glow to them and have 3-4 flower buds sticking out , they are sturdy and dont break that easly

B. - The blessed gold flower : a rare type of gold flower that has more light energy in it then usual , these can happen when people care more then usual for the gold flower , they have a bright glow to them and usually have multiple gold buds sticking out , the more gold buds = the more blessed it is

C. The tainted gold flower : DESTROY ONCE SEEING ONE. these gold flowers are tainted. they usually have a purple gradient in the middle of them and their " gold " buds are a shade of purple, they also usually can spread spores. to get rid of them its reccomended to drown them in water. these can happen when other then light energy gets mixed into them , for example : trying to infuse a gold flower with ash will result in a tainted gold flower. these flowers will often have mind controling properties or in low cases make people hallucinate.

D. The rose : a flower that doesnt come from the Land of Roses but rather got carried over from the afterlife! these need light and water to grow. They are a new edition to the land so there arent many yet.

3.

kiiinda? Time doesnt change just like in the afterlife but rather it being night all the time its the afternoon / evening all the time! so its constandly at a state where it looks like theres a sunddown. So its basically a perfect mix of light but also darkness ^^

Like this! they are called light people! usually have the look of a humanoid except that they are a yellow shade wich give off a soft glow! their eyes are a brighter shade of yellow with a white iris. sometimes they have a mouth but most of the time they choose not to show it. they are genderless beings wich are made out of light , the more higher-ups they are the brighter they glow ( thats why the horseman glows so bright becouse hes the one who created this land ) however light people do not pick up the light since they are so use to it! they do know that other creatures do pick up the light however so sometimes they do wear cloaks / just something that covers most of the light if its too blinding. they usually wear whatever they want but its usually the shades of black and white and red and purples. they CAN age but it takes a very long while , they are immortal however and can CHOOSE when they want to stop growing. they can have other forms aswell , it just depends how , where , when they are created / born. however now due to the downfall of the afterlife these are not the only life beings here , beings made out of ash also exist here now!

I know you said they arent technically albino eyes(?iirc), but I like that you still draw them accurately! A lot of people just made them pink when they ARE just really pale blue a majority if the time! N the pink is usually blood vessels :3!

WEIRD thing to compliment you on but the genetics of it are fascinating as well as it’s sad to see people think of it as creepy or unrealistic ect ect so its nice to see! <3

thank you!! i put a lot of thought into how their eyes work, cuz speculative biology is fun, and i don't really draw them the way i actually imagine them. (like how i've said before that most of moonclan would be very thin furred with rat tails but i dont want to draw similar looking cats so they have different markings and fur lengths and stuff) i also imagine all of moonclan to have wide, bulging eyes that don't blink often (like Rock from Canon) but i found that hard to emote with, so for the sake of the comic they have my typical style of eyes, except for in webwhisker and rubblekit's case. their eyes are how i wanted Everyones eyes to look. so my canon reason for web and their son being the only ones who have it is just saying that they are the first to evolve it. rather than albinism, my inspiration for how their eyes look is based on three things; russian topaz eyes, the eyes of some cave tetras i used to have, and the way cats eyes reflect in photos with flash. russian topaz is a really unique eye color that sometimes comes with birth defects and high/unique white spotting and can look "normal" blue or more like this:

(via messybeast)

blue with red shine. but if you know tumblr famous cat pangur a la @pangur-and-grim blog, she has russian topaz eyes where they look more purople/blue with more purpleish/red pupils.

^here's a good post of theirs where you can see what i mean.

russian topaz can also show as black irises with red pupils but that, while cool as fuck, was a bit too "dark forest"-y for me.

(the two above graphics are via messybeast, which is a GREAT source for cat genetic info) so anyway, that was my base, and then i wanted the eyes to be inconsistent in exact color because i want the light to reflect off of it more, and make them glint like holographic colors. i had some cave tetras that technically had red eyes, but when they moved their eyes to look around it felt like you could see into the eyes, like the pupils were just sitting on a layer of clear jelly instead of being surrounded by iris if that makes sense? so i wanted the moonclan cats to evolve that sort of light refraction. and i want their wide stares to be a bit unnerving. in the future, moonclan cats would eventually evolve completely blind eyes and then finally no eyes at all, but i think that would be Really far off. (they have only been in the mines for ~100 years or so.) i have... no idea if this would ACTUALLY be genetically realistic, but it's fun to pretend like i know stuff lol

my last post had me thinking about how autistic people have so much religious trauma or js rejection to religion in some way. and while recounting my experience, i came to a realization: autistic people are demonized by radical religious people. not just cults, but people who follow christianity. these christians arent your usual accepting loving christians- im talking about the bible thumper christians that take everything out of context. they believe "oh well hey look! if god doesnt make imperfection, and people are born with autism, and autism is an imperfection, then god didnt make autistic people and theyre all born evil!" they also use that for other disabilities from birth. autistic behaviors are also different from most people without it so there have been radical christians who believe we're possessed. just because a three year old with a developmental disorder likes to stack their toys instead of playing with them. or because the kid is five and still only says three phrases. (ive heard one of these radical religious ableists talk about "muted spirits" and demon posession or whatever.) our brains are sensitive to loud noises which churches have a lot of and we are sensitive to flourescent overhead lighting which also makes them think we're evil. "they cant stand light! theyre demons!" did we say we need everything dark? no just not too bright. neurotypical people with migraines have the same sensitivity and don't get the same ableism for it all the time if they do. our brains just are wired differently. usually its genetic, and genetic mutations are usually caused by environmental factors. do these people ever consider that autism could be caused by exposure to pollution while the mom is pregnant or while the baby is still in the first year of life? no, they choose to believe we're inherently born evil. and if we arent facing the "you were born this way. thats bad" view, we're faced with the "autism isnt real. its just demons" view as done by a pastor rick morrow of beulah church in richland, missouri. he said "my god doesnt make junk" referring to us as junk. and saying hes done prayers that healed autism. i also read lots of autistic athiests posts, and thats how i realized. autistic non-evangelicals hate god because they think He hates them, causing them to be unsure about the world and/or use athiesm as a coping mechanism. i believe in freedom of religion, this isnt about forcing athiests to be christian or vice versa. this is about how religion is being used as a tool for abuse and ableism. autistic people aren't born evil, and they don't rebel against god until theyve been hurt by religion. radical christians are something wrong with this country- they spread hate, they gaslight minorities including mentally disabled people, theyre ableist, and theyre homophobic and transphobic. they hate anyone that isnt superior, meaning they only like white able bodied able minded people. i could go on and on about how radical christians especially how theyve hurt autistic people and i might add to this with more rants.

Aight y'all, let's discuss the whole Genshin Impact Sumeru problem. This isnt about the leaks, it's about managing expectations and deciding for yourself whether or not sumeru (and natlan by the looks of things) will be a deal breaker for y'all playing the game. Long post ahead.

I'm from one of the countries that Sumeru is supposedly inspired by, so personally I had no faith in the devs. For anyone expecting the region to be accurate in any way, I'm sorry but it simply will not and cannot be. Sumeru was doomed from the word go. That isn't to say it's going to be all bad, of course, the team in charge of geography and landscaping clearly did a great job and put a lot of work into it, but the folks at the music and cultural department didn't get the same memo.

Let's start off with intentions. Sumeru was announced to be inspired by the middle east, India, Pakistan, and the regions thereabouts. From the word go that's a red flag that just means "vaguely brown"

Why? Because brown cultures aren't popular. The reason japan and liyue are as detailed as they are, is because the game devs are chinese, and japanese "culture" is popularised via the spread of anime. Of course, it isnt accurate, but all that matters is most people thinking that its accurate. The music in both regions was amazing, in part because japanese and chinese cultures are closely tied and take inspiration from one another in many musical aspects.

Why do you think inazuma is filled with sakura trees and foxes? Why do you think it has a light novel fad? Because all these things constitute the parts of Japan that have been glamorized to the world. The sakura trees bloom once a year but anime makes people (and let's be honest a lot of them are white people) think it's far more common.

What does this have to do with sumeru? Well? Is any brown culture popular in the mainstream? The extent of it that most people see is just those vaguely brown bazaars and deserts that so many action movie chase scenes happen in. You end up correlating brown with turbans and onion domes, but can you honestly say you know what the significance is behind either of them?

Mihoyo is a chinese gacha studio driven by profits. White sells, vaguely brown sells, and so long as they can make it look good on the surface they dont much care for accuracy. In fact, accuracy has been impossible from the word go, too.

The teaser we recieved of sumeru in the teyvat chapter storyline is Cyno. What is the one thing we all know is attributed to cyno? Anubis. Is Anubis brown? Of course not that's Egyptian, thats African culture. But in the eyes of whitewashers, in the eyes of folks whose beauty standards are dependent on fairness of skin, Egyptians are brown or white. This is where I knew for sure they were just trying to polite about saying that Sumeru would be based off of brown folks.

I'm not saying you should stop playing the game entirely, and I'm not saying you shouldn't argue and fight with mihoyo over it, but you DO need to be prepared for this to happen with Natlan. You need to understand, that if you're the kind of person that cares about accurate representation in Sumeru, you also likely aren't the kind of big spender mihoyo gives a shit about.

On a other note, lots of people have been pissed off with the archon design. I'm afraid to say I entirely expected this as well. If you aren't brown yourself, if you arent from a middle eastern or south east asian country, you may not be familiar with the trope of the "Lily in the Desert". It's a popular thing once you look for it.

In a desert, the most beautiful woman or the most important one is always as pale as can be, especially when the desert region isnt the focus of the story. The Lily of the desert is pretty, delicate, fragile, pale. Often times she is smaller than others, and will appear almost like porcelain. Sound familiar?

Mihoyo might give a singular shit about the architecture, if only because the department in charge of building designs has proven themselves to be passionate. But don't get your hopes up.

The only reason we accept this kind of thing with monstadt despite the Germanic roots being barely referenced, is because they filled monstadt with white folks and German-ish names. Does any monstadt music sound specifically Germanic to you? No? Just Vaguely European again? Yeah that's probably what you'll see in Fontaine too. We dont look too hard because they're supposed to be white and so them being milk-toast in the cultural sense makes sense to the white people playing.

I'm not saying any of this to be rude, and I'm well aware that a lot of what I'm saying could be taken the wrong way.

So in closing, you need to decide now whether sumeru is a dealbreaker for you. When deciding, keep in mind that the gameplay, the character designs and music will still be good (though the characters will be pale and the music is also vaguely brown) and the landscaping will remain immaculate. The story will remain good. However, mihoyo will not listen to complaints from non-spenders, and you need to manage your expectations because at the end of the day, this dev studio has never had to think about cultural awareness before and they arent going to start any time soon.

Chinese companies have an incredibly ethnocentric world view, and despite all the good titles and works you see from them there will always be an underlying shade bias and ignorance to other ethnicities that arent part of the mainstream.

I personally will continue to play because this sort of thing was unavoidable. Of course I'm bummed out about it, of course I had a little hope, but having my culture overlooked is nothing new to me. If I boycotted things based off of it, I'd never experience anything.

Your decision on whether or not to keep playing too, is no way a measure of your morality. People want to enjoy things, I get it, and problematic media can sometimes be enjoyable. What's important is to recognize the issues, and keep pushing for improvement while you go along.

Anyway, that's my perspective on the Sumeru issue. I'm sure others feel differently, but I'm not claiming to speak for everyone. If theres any area here that requires clarification, feel free to ask and I'll get back to you when I can.

As an aside, I am not Muslim nor do I have a deep understanding of Islam so I will defer to the Islamic community on the Dori issue.

New Birdeater design, my spidersona!

It/he/web pronouns, and uses masculine (Mr, man, sir, etc) addressors for convenience.

I forgot to include web production on that power list, woops!

Character rant, close ups, and previous designs under the read-more! It isn't gonna be super coherent lol

REBLOGS PREFERRED OVER LIKES! Thank you <3

The third one has a charm to it, I think.

Birdeater, known as Magpie as a civilian, is Wisconsin's Spiderman in Earth-720. Spiderman was already a comic book character when he got bit.

Bite event: He was at a zoo bug event when a Goliath Birdeater Tarantula bit him on the wrist. He didn't start feeling effects until a few hours later at home, when he got a fever, headache, and light sensitivity with an overwhelming constant sense of overwhelming dread.

Within a few months, it had two spider legs sprout from its back beneath the shoulder blades, the shape of its feet had changed, it had constant light sensitivity and increased vision in the dark, and its ability to sense dangers and ability to react to them had both increased significantly.

Why: Since the 2008 housing crisis, the year Magpie was born, a powerful man whom most of the city called The Vulture had a firm grasp on every aspect of the police, the city government, et cetera. Not only was he a savvy business man, but he had engineers design a flight suit for him, so he was able to fly and maintain his power over citizens directly as well. When Magpie realized how much power web had, web figured web could use it for good. Webs parents had put web in martial arts and self defense classes since web was little, so web could take a fight.

Magpie is a sophomore in highschool who lives 35 minutes from his school by car, like me irl. He lives in a white flight neighborhood where all the houses are small one or two story homes in the midwest. It HATES its area and so do its parents, but it was the only house that fit their requirements when they were looking to move. He goes to school in the city, but most of the buildings there arent tall enough for efficient web swinging anyways, so when he became Spiderman, he made wings/gliders instead.

Web took this inspiration from the original spider woman who had the tiny armpit wings and decided to modify that idea, as web has always been enamored with the idea of human flight. Most of the time when it is webbing up the limbs, it's in a hurry, so the wings normally only allow for gliding, but if it is preparing for a regular patrol, it takes the time to make the wings well and they allow for proper flight. The wings are also highly sticky, so when it downs a waterbottle, it just tosses the empty bottle onto its wings. This also means cleaning itself after patrols or battles is a nightmare.

@exorjack @jamsandwichhfh

tierlist of my favorite color pages and stuff

gushing abt them below ⬇️

i did top 4 and not top 5 bc a lot of the 5th place for these is like a 5 way tie

Double page

ch102: what ive learned from this is i really like full scenes. cmon!! who doesnt!! also man the colors are really good. hatanaka really has a deceptively good character design, once again proving to be senseis blorbo

ch88: sorry principal color page u have been dethroned as my fav i still love u so so so much tho. love the umbrella and plum blossoms, and also obviously principal is really hot. im pretty sure i know the umbrella asset on clip studio and actually have it downloaded. also i just personally love the paper cranes bc my sona is based off paper cranes

ch60: culture fes arc has some of my favorite color pages and b&w pages and my favorite aesthetic in general really. also i owe hijita my life for proposing the chinese dress theme. haru looks so so so good in chinese clothes and the combo with hatanaka's hoodie in the underground culture fes is top tier. also my favorite non-cover color page and volume promo are from this arc too

the color palette is also so good i basically stole all the colors for that halloween art i did (still love it so much). now u might be thinking. if i have so much to say abt this one why is it only 3rd. tbh its bc this one is the oldest of the 4 so ive had more time to savor it. also i just like the principal one better than this one, and i like the hatanaka one better than the principal one. (but i dont actually necessarily like the hatanaka one better than this one?? its a rock paper scissors situation)

ch79: 2 harus. im sold 👍 also makuragaeshi arc just means everything to me also i consider this color spread a package deal with the vol 12 inside color page which makes me like both of them more

at this point the seimeiliker part of me is yelling WHATT THE 2 SEIMEI COLOR PAGES ARENT EVEN HERE??? THE AME ONE ISNT EVEN HERE??? FAKE FANNN theyre tied for 5th!!! maybe even tied for 4th!! i just really like the ones that are full scenes!!!

Single page

ch25: this one isnt getting dethroned anytime soon its just so good. the COLOR PALETTE the LIGHTING AUGH ITS SO GOOD. and of course haruaki looking sexy as always 👍 this might be one of the sexiest harus tbh. i think its also one of my favorite official arts in general i cant think of many that i would confidently say i like more than this one. ITS NOT EVEN ATTACHED TO SOME DRAMATIC CHAPTER ITS THE PTM CHAPTER LMAOOO

ch46: miki pretty privilege.... i think miki arc has my 2nd favorite aesthetic, behind culture fes. tbh i like the 2 b&w cover pages from this arc just as much as the color page (maybe bc theyre more angsty by virtue of being black and white??)

ch33: i am so married to this chapter. one of if not my number 1 fav chapter. tbh this one is tied for 2nd with the miki one, its just bc i like how colorful the miki one is. this is the only time haru gets drawn with just solid black hair and its very pretty 😳 this one is also a package deal with the 2018 october gfantasy cover in my head bc theyre both teacher trio, not really in their usual outfits, from around the same time, and gets made as merch together often

ch75: im not exactly married to this one like i am with the top 3 but its just good art good composition good colors!! its just such a... cozy and normal scene contrasted with it being a color page. (wait fuck thats what the arc was about)

u may be wondering. why are all the single page ones sort of old. this is actually bc recently all the color covers are double pages (from 76 to 102 there's 1 single page and 9 double page covers)

Cover

vol 13: aughhh seimei...... punches walls etc im so normal about it hahahahah god i love the parallel with vol 1. sensei insane for this. i have nothing else to say this cover just fucks so hard i spent days oogling it why is seimei so hot. also aughh the unused draft for it would have been so good too but the vol 1 parallel was probably the right choice....

vol 10: this one stockholm syndromed its way into being my number 2. ok not really its a really good cover everyone is rly pretty and its a very fun composition and u know i love culture fes. but also it was the thumbnail on a lot of manga sites for the longest time so it ended up being the cover i associate with yohaji in general the most, maybe even more than vol 1

vol 14: i am easily swayed by principal 👍 i see principal and i neuron activation. its so funny its like the most blantant spoiler cover

vol 9: i am also easily swayed by ebisu 👍 sensei sure loves her red and blues huh. also sano in the black shirt is really hot. can u tell i also love when theres parallels

vol 8 is tied with vol 9 tbh rintarou and ibara are so pretty

Cover flaps

i didnt do the back covers bc theyre all alright to me tbh theres not standout amazing ones that make me lose my mind. ok maybe the vol 6 and vol 8 one. i am easily swayed by seimei and ebisu

now the cover flaps on the other hand. oh ym god

vol 14: WOOF WOOF BARK BARK BARK WHITE HAIR HARU WOOF WOOF THIS ONE MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME......... normal harus expression is soooo good...... the mini harus...... and Him... my cat..... sobs.... tanaka mai is a cruel god how dare she pull out this design and concept for 1 chapter and we're probably never gonna see it again..... UNLESS??? (<- mentally ill) anyway heres this promo art for no real reason other than i wanted to oogle him more

v7 and v5: lumping these together bc theyre both harusanos. can u tell i love parallels. and vol 5 has the harusano handholding and vol 7 has the sano confession under the moon.... wow......

v13: i love animal trio they mean so much to me. also just look at weasel hatanaka i wanna squeeze him like a squeaky toy

Inside color page

for a while i was like "how come my fav inside color pages all seem to be from recent volumes" it turns out its bc sensei only started doing full scenes for them starting at vol 10

the vol 11 one IS really good but its up against such bangers as "has principal" or "has haru" or "has seimei" sooooo

vol 10: look this one has principal and is culture fes of course its my favorite. easiest decision in my life. i think for all these categories the top 1 spot was super easy and 2-4 could all be shuffled around. it may not make me as mentally ill as the other 3 but its straight up good art i would set this as my phone screen any day

vol 13: hi this one makes me mentally ill. its so cool it has such cool imagery and its also so inscrutable. what does it all mean. why is saturn there. this one (and also all of kyoto arc tbh) makes me want a anime so bad

vol 12: you KNOW im a sucker for makuragaeshi arc aughhhh this one makes me mentally ill in a different direction from the vol 13 one. the fact he wore a blazer uniform when he was actually in high school and him wearing a gakuran in this arc. fucks me up every time

vol 14: aughhhh...... tanaka mai is out to GET me...... i care them so much.... so so much......

5th place probably still isnt the vol 11 one LOL sorry renpapa thats gotta go to vol 6 (the one with haru in the bath)

in conclusion. i am easily swayed by haru/seimei/principal/ebisu and i will never recover from white hair haru

and also culture fes has my no. 1 favorite aesthetic and miki arc is no. 2. time travel arc will probably prove to dethrone miki arc to become number 2 but idk if itll dethrone culture fes

idk man. taking the film on its face makes for a great cinematic experience; as a crime film it’s top notch. and for that i think the highs are taller than the lows are deep.

But the film’s politics epitomize the liberal “bearing witness to tragedy.” the film is about the wastefulness of colonial greed and i haven’t parsed thru if that theme was so well articulated that the film itself seems like a waste. idk if that’s the point.

The film depicts the banality of whiteness as violence, the matter-of-factness of genocide very well. And if you haven’t experienced that mundanity or haven’t seen movies that have already tackled it, i can see this film being an awakening of sorts. And I think there's value in that.

I dont have a problem with the film being from Ernest's perspective. I dont think thats indicative of Scorsese's whiteness lapsing his judgement. There's stuff in here about the white characters that arent simple. Whiteness is self-corroding and most "white people bad" movies from white filmmakers that ive seen are oblivious to this where scorsese isnt; as the most salient example of there being meat on the bones of this movie. There’s a moment when Hale seeing a newsreel about Tulsa and with just a look we understand just how far he will take things. But, at the same time, Ernest's stupidity seems absolvent on some level.

Where I think Scorsese's whiteness interceded is in the depiction of the Osage people. And his late career restraint doesnt help here. What for him might be subtlety reads to me as a re-articulation of the stoic indian. Mollie barely has interiority. There's a moment where the camera is from Mollie's perspective and after whipping around a crowd, it lands on Hale and I thought she's figured it out! and now the movie will begin in earnest. But, no.

There are scenes where the Osage have councils with stirring speeches and voice over moments. But nothing Osage is really dramatized, only the crimes, murders, and plots committed against them. There are scenes of tradition and customs that are filmed beautifully but they're accompanied by some sort of explanation or nod to the importance of a particular ceremony.

I think Christopher Cote sums up a lot of my feelings well.

Ultimately my problem is the narrative emphasis (not necessarily the narrative perspective). But meeting the film where it is, i have little complaints. For what it is, it's good.

My girl Thelma was clocked in, okay? Shes so deft at moving shit along while giving weight to each and every moment. The pacing is brisk but with a hefty gait. This is a rare skill.

Prieto has always been milquetoast to me but even he rises to the occasion here. Certain lighting set ups here go crazy. Theres an interesting texture to faces that feels fresh. The cranes feel like 40s backlot cranes which is so refreshing in the era of movement for movement sake. But, unless there's people in the frame, he shoots nature like the bucolic green hills on windows 95 or whatever. but he does Jack Fisk's interiors justice.

Acting is phenomenal. Lily is a standout, its a shame she had so little to chew on. She sucked the marrow out the bone of this role tho. Louis Cancelmi is wicked and steals his scenes. Tantoo Cardinal ate and her Lizzie was a highlight of mine; there's a gravity to her performance. One performance that idk how to feel about is DeNiro's. I think his performance embodies my feelings of the film actually. He plays evil entertainingly. As a performance its vibrant but i think its the wrong scenario idk idk idk

Scorsese made choices, regardless if i agree with them or not, and in this american climate it seems inconceivable that a director can even make a choice. You can see the contours of the craftsmanship. It's not regular phoned in, assembly line shit. And I think the film should be commended for that. There are moments that I think will stick with me for sure.The ending is one of the boldest ive seen in a minute. Not entirely convinced of its success but it stands out.

For me the movie is an interesting failure and i'd much rather that than it be a better made, safer movie. There's a lot to chew on thematically, artistically, and politically. It just needed a lot of chiropracty for me