#the pattern didn't include some of the features i wanted
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Shoutout to Past Yubsie for doing something useful for a change! Last time I needed trim it was X for $Y and Past Yubsie decided "At some point I will need white bias tape."
Well guess what I need!
Past Yubsie is NOT forgiven for writing "They come up with a clever plan" on an outline, but she did me a solid on this one.
#the pattern didn't include some of the features i wanted#and then i realized I needed a way to enclose an edge#and bias tape was the obvious solution#and i actually had the right colour in the tote this is great#a convention is a stressful enough deadline#this is a freaking CHRISTENING GOWN
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"Defying the Default"- Skin Tones and the Presence of Black Characters
Okay, this one is going to be half lesson and half a thought experiment- it may get a bit frustrating, as conversations like this often do- but remember, discomfort is not always a bad thing! So I ask that you walk with me for this one.
It’s also interesting, because I’m going to direct this towards everyone (readers included!), but specifically towards my fanfic writers of media with no visual medium, as I’ve noticed this pattern there, and it makes up a good amount of creators on this site. Okay? Okay.
Behold! Many shades of brown!
I had to wade through a lot of colorism for this, and even this link is subtly racist in its introduction- the idea that brown is ‘unexciting’ 🙄.
Anyway, you know where I’m going with this:
"Chocolate and Coffee"
Even the link above pulled this! Writers who use this... they’re not ‘wrong’ per se but… often uninspired. It feels... Lazy. When you can tell an author has put no thought into the brown of choice, it makes Black readers feel like you believe these are the only shades of brown- that that’s all we look like. Even chocolate is more diverse (white, milk, dark, marbled, cookies and cream?) Coffee can come in numerous shades as well (light, medium, dark roast? Type of bean?)
My first direction to help with this: make it a point to know what shade that character is (whether canonically, or if you're the original creator, look at a reference and write it down) and find a name! Be consistent! Find similar browns to one another. If the canon Black character's skin color is done poorly, find something similar and use that! (I'll get more into this in the next lesson!)
Our skin colors may modify as we age, it changes over the seasons/presence in the sun, and some people even have vitiligo! But we're not gonna be “dark roast coffee” one morning and “light milk chocolate” suddenly. We're not chameleons lmao.
And you know what? That shade you choose might very well be 'coffee'! But it's not going to be because you didn't look and assumed we're all some random brown! That’s the intent showing! If we can find endless ways to describe the beauty of white/pale skin, we absolutely can for brown! Be willing to unpack why you may not believe brown to be capable of beauty, and work through unlearning that- it will show in your writing! One way is by pausing with yourself, and recognizing when you had a biased thought. Even by this, you’re learning!
Here’s where I want us to get into the thought experiment:
I want you to think about the description of characters in stories (as a whole). Challenge yourself- in the fics and stories you read, how often is anyone blatantly labeled 'White'? Read a story or fic; how long can you imagine them as not-White before it's ever clarified? Because not even 'pale' automatically implies a White person!
You know how I’ve mentioned before that 'Black people are not a monolith'? I can find you at least some examples of Black people fitting some of the common descriptions of white characters.
"Brunette with brown eyes"
(Fun fact: I actually learned back in my Masters program that genetically no one has ‘black’ hair- our eyes are processing it as black, but it’s really just dark brown due to eumelanin. Regardless, if you stand us in the direct sunlight, you will see that our hair is usually just dark brown!)
"Red hair with pale skin"
“‘tanned’ skin with hazel/green eyes”
“blond hair" (period!)
Now, I’m not saying that blond haired Black people or Black folk with albinism are overly representative of my people. What I AM saying is that it needs to not be taken for granted that a reader is automatically assuming a character is White in your piece of fiction- I can assume your character looks like anything if it's not stated! Especially if the OG source is a book or a podcast! We’re just used to assigning these features- and characters- as white until ‘proven not’! The default!
I am guilty of this too! Even still, I reread many of my works and go ‘ah, I didn’t clarify.’ And I have to work on doing better at it. This is having intent for your Black characters, but really, it’s having intent for all of them!
(This doesn't mean going “the Black man said,” the way sometimes people say “the Chinese said” (which…. Tbh we should all stop doing that anyway, it's weird and racist))
My Next Challenge:
Some people may disagree, but- Ahem:
Say BLACK!
Breathe lmao! Take the time to recognize that it's OKAY to introduce a character as Black, to say Black, it's fine! Obviously be sensitive about it, don't shove it in there to “win your diversity points”, but like… People are Black. It's not a bad word. What matters is the context in which you used it!
You don't even have to say it every single time. Really just the first, introductory sentence will do. For example:
“[Character A], a bright, young, Black girl with knotless braids to her mid back, glittering hair clips matching her bright green t-shirt, and a brilliant smile that shined against her bistre skin.”
I recognize that some might argue that by saying “bistre”, you don't need to say Black. But 1) you don't have to be Black to be brown or dark skinned, and 2) There's a social stigma behind even saying Black- of discussing race in general, because it leads to discomfort. Race (as a sociological construct) exists. When we say nothing about it, allowing Whiteness to be the default, we're still emphasizing race, however silently! If you're already doing it... Why not mention it? 🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️
(here's a good clip of Ijeoma Oluo discussing the difficulty of discussing race; while I highly recommend the whole thing, the relevant clip is 4:25-5:39)
Maybe they're in the Black student organization in a lead position, maybe they're in a Black main cast of a play- it's okay to have those things in the story to help develop the idea that your Black character is actively Black! Just do your research to make sure you’re not leaning into stereotypes!
“There’s no races in my fantasy/future world!”
That’s fair! But I want to give you an example of how people will still project these identities onto your characters anyway:
No one has an explicitly stated 'race' in Avatar: The Last Airbender (afaik); they’re all divided by element culture. YET, many people were offended that a mixed-Korean actress was cast in her role in the live action- they ‘just didn’t see it’, because subconsciously they'd imagined her ‘face claims’ as WHITE, despite it never once being mentioned in the canon! (there’s also a firm sexualization and east Asian fetishization argument to be made about it, but that’s not within the scope of this particular conversation.)
Point is, if you are including humanoid characters in your fantasy stories, fine. You don't need to say ‘Black’ outright. But, that just means that you’re going to have to be even more detailed in your description. Because if I were watching a TV show and a Black actor shows up as an elf… I know what features I’m seeing! Entire protests have occurred over the casting of Black actors in a role ‘meant for a white person’; so... everyone sees it!
Conclusion
This is another reason why intention in character design and writing is important! Context clues and socialization help me understand who your character is. If it works like this for white characters, it can work like that for everyone else! You just have to know enough about me to write it in (and that's where the social and societal bias lie, because how much do you really know about me?)
A way to better understand this is reading books by Black authors (for fantasy, I would highly recommend Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi) as well as Black literary classics! Finding and reading Black fic authors in fandoms with Black characters! By learning how we describe ourselves and our skin colors, you’ll learn and practice how to appropriately describe us!
Now I can't make you do any of this! But I do want you all- writers especially- to start noticing our bias, how we may default to the experience of whiteness- and how that affects the way we write. When we have Black characters, and really any character of color, we need to start paying attention to how often their features, culture, and activities are emphasized, even for what we may consider to be 'background' details. That’s how we normalize creation and understanding, and become better at writing!
It’s just something to practice; remember, it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!
In addition, if you are interested in a simple read into why approaching race is so uncomfortable as a whole, I've attached Robin DiAngelo's book here! Thank you to the PDF guru @toiletpotato for the link!
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Hi kids, let's talk.
What are we talking about, Auntie Noe? You might be thinking. I'm glad you asked! We are talking about tacky behavior in fandom.
When I did my silly post last night about preferring to write characters who switch, I didn't think it would become a thing. This was naïveté on my part. Mea fucking culpa. Because it has come to my attention that a certain segment of the fandom is Very Unhappy about it. And I know that because it's all public.
I'm not going to do screenshots because this isn't about individuals, but rather a pattern of behavior that I find extremely distasteful. Tweets about how upsetting this is, how they don't "deserve" this, how horrible it is that I'm ruining my fic by (checks notes) including sex that doesn't feature their preferred top/bottom dynamic. And this isn't isolated—it happens fairly frequently in the Tomarrymort fandom.
Here's the thing. I'm not a content creator and this isn't a product. I am a woman on the internet writing a piece of fanfiction in her off hours. I'm choosing to share it and I take pleasure in the fact that people are enjoying it with me, but that doesn't change the fundamental truth that it is my story that I'm writing for me.
No one has to read anything they don't want to. That's not where this is going. I frequently choose not to read things, or abandon stories partway through because something happened that I don't like. That's very normal and healthy and I think everyone should approach fandom that way.
But you know what I don't do? Complain publicly about how a fic I thought I'd like turned out to not be my thing.
You know why I don't do that? Because it's entitled and rude. Fanfiction writers are part of the community, not public figures. If you don't want to keep reading my story, that's okay! Do what will bring you joy. But complaining about me in public is painfully gauche and the secondhand embarrassment is threatening to kill me. Please, for the love of god, find some decorum and stop being weird about fictional sex.
Also, while I'm here, the switching post should not have been a revelation to anyone currently reading because Voldemort and Harry actually talked about it briefly back in chapter 21. The "we have plenty of time to do anything your heart desires" exchange? What did you think they were talking about? Honestly, now.
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It's taken me two weeks but I finally finished all of my qsmp egg human designs!!!
I have a lot to say about the design choices I made, so I'll put those under the read more if you want to hear my headcanons!!
• Click for better quality (17/07/2023)
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Some general headcanons:
• In order of shortest to tallest it goes: Bobby, Richalyson, Gegg, Tallulah, Tilín, Trump, JuanaFlippa, Pomme, Chayanne, Leonarda, Ramón, and Dapper.
• All of the eggs when found were wearing the same white vest/t-shirt and black shorts combination; along with their unique accessories. Any clothes that they're currently wearing, were gifted to them by the player characters.
• All of the eggs are the same age, and are all related (pretty sure that's canon tho).
• The eggs take on physical features from their parents, as an survival instinct. This includes basics such as hair and eye colour. But also includes things such as height and hair type.
• Eggs who's parents are avian/have bird-like features (such as wings), will adapt to have the same wing type as them. This also applies to other eggs, who are taken care of by avian players (see: Tallulah has dragon wings, but is growing black and golden feathers on them).
• The lower half of the eggs are dragon-esque; with scaley legs and clawed feet. The colour of their scales and number of toes that they posses are fixed and cannot be changed. Their ears and horn are a unique shape and colour, depending on the egg. The horns will continue to grow into adulthood.
They also have more naturally sharpened nails (like claws (but not sharp enough to hurt)).
_____
Tallulah
• Wears one of Wilbur's yellow sweaters, the sleeves often hanging over her hands. The red dress she wears is actually meant to be a pinafor, which is a staple part of a primary school uniform, here in the UK. They're most commonly grey, which I originally coloured it but it didn't look right, so I changed it.
• Has a freckle under her right eye (to her) that matches Wilbur, but also has a reverse freckle pattern of Quackity (I'm a tntduo-er (sue me)).
• Due to being cared for by Phil, she has begun growing small, black feathers on her wings. She also has a few golden ones, which started appering whilst trying to get Quackity to confess to Wilbur.
___
Chayanne
• Takes after Phil the most, due to Missa's absence. This includes his wings becoming feathered crow ones, growing feathers on his face and tail, and has a hair and an eye colour to match Phil's. He also has a matching mole.
• Sometimes wears a helmet made from a large eggshell, painted to look like a skull (a nod to Missa and the fact that the eggs are... well, eggs). The skull on his t-shirt is also a nod to Missa (but he defo got it from Phil).
• His duck floaty has been replaced by a yellow hoodie, tied around his waist.
___
Tilín
• Remember how I said that the clothes they wear were given to them by their parents? I like the idea (and think it's very in-character for him) that Quackity basically said, "I don't have any clothes for you, so just wear this until I find some", giving Tilín one of his jackets, and then they Tilín passed away before he could get him something else.
• He and Tallulah are the same height (again, I'm a tntduo-er (yes I am aware that Tilín's other parent has been confirmed to be Luzu, but this is my post so SHUSH). Also, similar to Tallulah, they have the same freckle pattern as Quackity, and an opposite placed freckle (under their left eye) to Wilbur.
• Has golden wings and feathers on face. Doesn't has a tail, due to low placement of their wings.
___
JunaFlippa
• Wears one of Slime's white t-shirts with the three red hearts. Also owns a pair of Mariana's red gloves (not included in the drawing).
• Her wings have small holes in them, due to going to hell and coming back again.
• Gun.
• Her hair colour is closest to Slimecicle's, but it's unknown why her eyes are green (not brown like Mariana or blue like Slime).
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Bobby
• The smallest of all the eggs.
• From Jaiden he has her wings, bang and hair sprout pattern and colour. From Roier he has his multiple eyes (bc spider), eye colour, and wears one of his bandanas like him.
(I forgot to include the paint stains on his clothes, but he has those too).
___
Leonarda
• Has small, rainbow mushrooms growing from their horns.
• From Foolish she has wings of gold (yes, you heard me. Leo's wings aren't like Tilín's with golden feathers, but are literally made from gold (yes she can still fly with them)). From Vegetta they have his hair and eye colour.
___
Trump
• Was given one of Dan's turtlenecks and jackets, which were never replaced because, 1) Dan went "missing", 2) he [Trump] died before getting anything else.
(On another note, it was so wild for me to draw that jacket. I used to be a HUGE DanTDM fan, and the last time I drew fanart relating to him was in 2016/17)).
• Took after Maxo in hair and eye colour.
___
Dapper
• The tallest egg (bc qBBH is one tall motherfucker).
• Obviously, all of his features come from BBH, including the shape of his horns and the shape of his tail.
(if you were to put Dapper and BBH next to each other, Dapper would literally just look like a tiny BBH).
___
Pomme
• Her beret isn't all black like her egg model, but looks like a red apple.
• Has split-coloured scales (one side blue, the other red) to match the placement of the markings on her egg model.
• Has golden duck wings to match Baghera. I went back and forth on whether to give her those or the butterfly wings she wears in-game. But I like the idea that those are more simialr to those fancy-dress type ones you can buy.
• The bottom of her dress has an apple stiched onto it.
___
Ramón
• Second tallest egg.
• Yes he has hair under the hat (I haven't made him bald, don't worry). The hat itself is a nod to Spreen, who is his other parent but hasn't logged on in a while. His general outfit is also mean to have belonged to Spreen, as his Minecraft skin is just a bear in Steve's clothes.
I changed the pants, and added a white shirt and monocle because I like the idea that he's a bit of a fancy boy.
• The moustache on his egg model is represented in his hair, which you can see sticking out from under the hat (bc, like Chayanne, I had no idea how to get it to work in a logical sense).
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Richarlyson
• The second shortest egg.
• I'll be completely honest, I have no idea where the prosthetic leg headcanon came from for him, but I liked it so I included it. The leg I gave him is a running blade, as he is a fairly active kid.
• His hair covers his eyes, but underneath they are brown.
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Gegg
(Yes I'm including Gegg, shush)
• His whole body is green goop. This is how qSlime would also look, but it's easier for him to have his skin appear human, when at his "correct" size. When he [Slime] becomes over emotional/damged, his skin becomes more slime like.
Gegg is qSlime's way of coping with both his own daughter's loss and also his own self image. Because of this, he is always in a state of hurt, and this is refelected in Gegg's physical appearance.
• Has sticks sticking out of him, as well as visible bones, rocks, and other debris within his body. They get stuck in his him, in moments where he has a hard time controling the stickiness/consistency of his body.
• Doesn't have horns, wings, or a tail like the other eggs. Instead, he wears a pair of green, fancy-dress, dragon wings. It's obvious to other players/eggs- because they're on the outside of his clothes- but no points it out.
• Jorts.
• His t-shirt says "gegg" upside down, because he wrote it on himself, whilst wearing the shirt.
• No nose. His eyes also hover inconsistently over where his hair should cover them. His glasses are also just qSlime's.
• Gegg for president.
Here's the full lineup, for anyone who read alllll of that :D
#It's painfully obvious which eggs are my favourites#based upon how much I wrote abt them#qsmp#qsmp fanart#qsmp eggs#qsmp headcanon#qsmp bobby#qsmp tallulah#qsmp tilin#qsmp trump#qsmp juanaflippa#qsmp chayanne#qsmp leonarda#qsmp ramon#qsmp dapper#qsmp pomme#qsmp richarlyson#qsmp gegg#gegg fanart#art#digital art
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Very belated Binderary books, uh...I've lost track actually. I think they are #6 and #7. And it's another two-volume split! This is (Slow) Burn, Baby, Burn by orchidlocked, an extremely long Good Omens fic set in the 1970s. It's about our favorite angel/demon pair navigating the disco scene, and it's not an AU, which is sort of usual in a fic this long and with such a specific premise. There are a fair few real people featured here, some as major characters, and a lot of music history and an excellent playlist alongside all the fun and angsty relationship stuff that so many of us are here for. I learned a lot about disco reading this fic and it was fascinating and also way more queer than I ever realized.
For the cover up there we have a white Allure book cloth on the spine, and white HTV over homemade book cloth for the main cover. The cloth pieces both come from the same sheet but I oriented the stripes this way so they'd be coordinated-but-not-matched and I really love the effect. They're also cotton and really nice to hold. It's funny, I was thinking of binding this fic when I found the fabric while digging through the Joann's remnant bin, and as soon as I saw it this fic not only came to mind but moved up to the top of the to-bind list. It was fate, clearly.
More photos under the cut!
Both spines and a top view. That's orange HTV for the titles. This it the first time I've worked with matte HTV (I usually use metallic or foil) and I was surprised at how much thinner it is, and how easy it was to stick. And I like the color inverse here in counterpoint to the front cover. The top view shows off the handmade endbands and bookmark, and also the rounding job. I'm still working on rounded spines, and the turn-in over the spine didn't come out as smooth as I'd have liked, but I think it's a good result. The ribbon bookmark was supposed to be blue to match the endbands, but every blue ribbon I could find clashed horribly with the cover so it's this nice leafy sage green. Which actually works really well with...
The endpapers! I got these as Joann's too. All four are cut from the same print, but I shifted and rotated them when I trimmed them so the patterns wouldn't all be in the same place. I had desperately wanted this other paper I found on Etsy with little vinyl records all over it, but the pieces weren't the right shape and I'd have had to ship them from overseas ($$), but I like the mood these ones set. And they're thick and nicely textured and look awesome with the cover, so really I think things worked out very well.
Couple of pics of the interior. I kept it fairly simple but I feel like it fits the story.
The scene break line is orange, to match the covers. I usually use gray but wanted something more fun. I recently bought some off-white paper that I used for most of my binderary projects this year because I've heard it's easier on the eyes, and it is, but I used the older bright white for this so the color contrast would be sharper. No complaints; I think it looks amazing. The second image above is the appendix I put together for the volume. Being so centered in the music industry, this fic has a really long playlist that the author put together with their preferred recordings. It's linked in the story and I did include the link text in the book, but I had my mind on preservation and the challenges of digital archiving while I was making this one, so I also took all the title/artist/album info and just listed it here. It was too much to do all by hand, so I learned how to export a Spotify playlist into an Excel doc, then moved that into the Word doc to print. A lot of steps, but not nearly as hard as I'd thought, and way less tedious.
I have to say this book is aesthetically really different than all my previous ones. I ran into so many design hurdles but I honestly couldn't be more pleased with the end result. I'll have to push my comfort zone like this more often, I guess.
#bookbinding#fanbinding#snek makes books#good omens#it's disco so it needed to be appropriately funky#and i think i nailed it actually#look at them they're awesome
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I believe a woman is a human being who belongs to the sex class that produces large gametes. It’s irrelevant whether or not her gametes have ever been fertilised, whether or not she’s carried a baby to term, irrelevant if she was born with a rare difference of sexual development that makes neither of the above possible, or if she’s aged beyond being able to produce viable eggs. She is a woman and just as much a woman as the others.
I don’t believe a woman is more or less of a woman for having sex with men, women, both or not wanting sex at all. I don’t think a woman is more or less of a woman for having a buzz cut and liking suits and ties, or wearing stilettos and mini dresses, for being black, white or brown, for being six feet tall or a little person, for being kind or cruel, angry or sad, loud or retiring. She isn't more of a woman for featuring in Playboy or being a surrendered wife, nor less of a woman for designing space rockets or taking up boxing. What makes her a woman is the fact of being born in a body that, assuming nothing has gone wrong in her physical development (which, as stated above, still doesn't stop her being a woman), is geared towards producing eggs as opposed to sperm, towards bearing as opposed to begetting children, and irrespective of whether she's done either of those things, or ever wants to.
Womanhood isn't a mystical state of being, nor is it measured by how well one apes sex stereotypes. We are not the creatures either porn or the Bible tell you we are. Femaleness is not, as trans woman Andrea Chu Long wrote, ‘an open mouth, an expectant asshole, blank, blank eyes,’ nor are we God’s afterthought, sprung from Adam’s rib.
Women are provably subject to certain experiences because of our female bodies, including different forms of oppression, depending on the cultures in which we live. When trans activists say 'I thought you didn't want to be defined by your biology,' it’s a feeble and transparent attempt at linguistic sleight of hand. Women don't want to be limited, exploited, punished, or subject to other unjust treatment because of their biology, but our being female is indeed defined by our biology. It's one material fact about us, like having freckles or disliking beetroot, neither of which are representative of our entire beings, either. Women have billions of different personalities and life stories, which have nothing to do with our bodies, although we are likely to have had experiences men don't and can't, because we belong to our sex class.
Some people feel strongly that they should have been, or wish to be seen as, the sex class into which they weren't born. Gender dysphoria is a real and very painful condition and I feel nothing but sympathy for anyone who suffers from it. I want them to be free to dress and present themselves however they like and I want them to have exactly the same rights as every other citizen regarding housing, employment and personal safety. I do not, however, believe that surgeries and cross-sex hormones literally turn a person into the opposite sex, nor do I believe in the idea that each of us has a nebulous ‘gender identity’ that may or might not match our sexed bodies. I believe the ideology that preaches those tenets has caused, and continues to cause, very real harm to vulnerable people.
I am strongly against women's and girls' rights and protections being dismantled to accommodate trans-identified men, for the very simple reason that no study has ever demonstrated that trans-identified men don't have exactly the same pattern of criminality as other men, and because, however they identify, men retain their advantages of speed and strength. In other words, I think the safety and rights of girls and women are more important than those men's desire for validation.
J.K. Rowling
#jk rowling#j.k. rowling#pro jkr#jkr#they basically made her write her essay from 2020 again and still will not read this
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Sorry this is unfinished but I need to post these now just bc idfk when i'm gonna actually finish the rest realistically. Idk it will happen eventually. For now heres the great p5u ramblings post detailing my thoughts designs
This is my own personal interpretations but is also somewhat speculative in nature. I'm mostly trying to deal in already established characterizations and epilogue set ups but there might be stuff I've missed or forgotten (i also haven't played dancing yet sorry if there's something in there I hadn't accounted for). This is kind of like if I took the creative reigns on the story where I'd continue for it. Only the investigation team for now (and 2 boss characters I have an idea for) but maybe I'll do the shadow ops at some point. Only 4 characters for now but I'll reblog with additions when I finish the rest or if I edit any of these
Yu Narukami
He's currently attending school as a journalism student in the city or just starting out as one. Enthusiastic about his field but still tries to find the time to keep up with his friends and visit Inaba on his holidays. I felt journalism made alot of sense for him with the themes of persona 4.
I liked the sport jacket and turtleneck but wanted soemthing different so the scarf was chosen to keep the same kind of silhouette. I made the collar on the winter coat large and I feel like Narukami's large uniform collar is a key part of his design. and I wanted to call back to that in his casual outfit.
The summer outfit I mostly kept close to his summer outfit from p4. I'm kind of unsure on it though I might come back to it. I mostly wanted to keep his outfits smart and simple.
For his meta verse outfit I really wanted to go all out with the bancho (kingpin) stuff and other delinquent tropes. I lengthened the uniform coat a little because I wanted it to look like a tokko-fuku. Alot of smaller detail inspiration was taken from Izanagi. The lenses in the mask are supposed to mimic glasses. I'd imagine he'd take off the mask the same way he throws off his glasses in myriad truths.
Teddie
I can't imagine him leaving Inaba and the TV world behind. Still staying in town and working largely the same job. He's got his own place now albeit small (still a step up from the closet though). At some point the IT asked Mitsuru to pull some strings so he actually has a legal personhood now.
The animal hoodie is something that came to me spontaneously but I knew I needed to include it. I really that his normal outfit in 4 keeps the white and red of the bear costume in the outfit so I tried to keep the colour scheme here too. Most of his later outfits are less flashy and more casual so I tried to continue that trend.
I didn't want to lose the rose from the corsage completely so I included a rose pattern in the second shirt. Alot of his outfits feature light blue so I wanted that in at least one outfit. I considered making the hoodie light blue initially.
I don't think he'd have a metaverse outfit he'd just use the bear costume.
Naoto Shirogane
I'm under the assumption Naoto is still presenting masculinely to the general public as of p5 but I may be mistaken in this. If I'm wrong I'd still probably largely keep the outfits similar to this.
Naoto's still working as a detective and I don't think that's ever really going to change. One thing that a hypothetical p5u would have to address is what Naoto and the shadow ops would have been doing during the events of persona 5 and I unfortunately do not have any ideas for what that would be at the moment.
I feel alot of the appeal of Naoto's design is the kind of boy detective fashion. I went at this design with the intention of kind of refining that into something a little more adult while still keeping in a similar vein. I did have to ditch the pageboy hat unfortunately as I felt it made them look too young. These outfits were kind of design as pseudo work clothes which is why I tried to make them a bit more formal then the other characters.
Something I consider notable about Naoto's design but deliberately avoided here was the rolled up pant legs. It's very obvious in 4 it's done because Naoto is short but I feel like Naoto would start getting that either custom made or tailored to fit. I was initially going to forgo the blazer on the summer outfit but the design felt empty without it.
Naoto having a noir detective themed metaverse outfit is an idea I'd had for years but I tried to incorporate design elements that were princely. I alot of the inspiration was from Sam Spade specifically. Deliberately made similarities to Akechi's white crow design. The band around the hat is supposed to invoke the similar one on the old page boy hat.
Yukiko Amagi
Still working at her families in but is taking online courses during the off seasons. She's mostly happy where she is but is keeping her options open. Occasionally makes visits to other ryokans out of town for ideas for her families own inn, as well as an opportunity to for her to sight see.
The headband was included in her design in p4 as a like retro design thing but I find it too important of a marker of her design to remove it. I understand the why they went with the hairstyle they did for her golden epilogue but I feel it just ends up making her look way older then she is. I thought her having her hair up would be a nice change since she does it so rarely and settled on a ponytail. Tried changing the bangs but the ones she already had just felt right.
I wanted her clothes to carry this kind of air of sophistication so I tried to keep them relatively simple and sleek. She's wearing pants in the winter outfit but I chose the longer coat to keep a similar skirt silhouette. The choker was largely inspired by the scarf she has in her winter outfit. Despite being a different colour the cardigan was also chosen to tie back somewhat to the sweater she wears with her school uniform.
In some side material it's mentioned that Yukiko has an interest in western fashion and aesthetics (part of what made the castle manifest the way it did) and I wanted to lean on that in some way for her metaverse design. I ended up going with a masquerade ball theme. I tried to keep the dress to something simple and easy to move in. The gloves and boots take inspiration from her persona in terms of design and size. I wanted to incorporate elements from her work kimono as well hence the ribbon around the torso and flower patterning.
Probably the most unsure of this one of the metaverse designs so far. Especially the colours (considered making the reds pinks initially). Might revisit this one.
Ok that's all I have for now I'll probably do Rise's next 👍👍👍
#sorry these are of wildly varying quality i did them at completely disconnected times#i guess feel free to critique my ideas if you want but be nice pleaseeeeee#persona 4#fine this can go in the main tags#also this took like 3 days to type up. i just proofread it but if theres something that makes no sense then oops my bad#ul
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Apparently Tumblr deleted this post so here I am posting it again.
Nifty Redesign!
Is it Niffty or Nifty??? I need answers
So far- My fav redesign I've done!
Details under the cut!
Here's what I learned researching her:
From what I was able to find, Nifty died in the 1950s at the age of 22. She's Japanese, boy crazy, and hyperactive.
She's meant to be based off of a ladybug. She's obsessed with chores but is secretly very dirty: even crushing bugs with her bare hands.
.. yet she doesn't look anything like a ladybug. Which boggles my mind concerning the fact that many ladybugs are red or brown, and have patterns, yet Viv doesn't take advantage if that at all??
Overly complicated patterns mixed with the color red are Vivziepop's favorite thing of all time. Why doesn't Nifty look anything like a ladybug?
So, I decided to give her more bug features, I took a little bit of inspiration from things like The Jetsons and 1950s wallpaper patterns. I wanted to mix ladybug, hotel staff, and 1950s housewife together (since she's so boy crazy, I figured she'd want to look like her time periods standard of the quote on quote: "ideal woman" if that makes sense.)
I decided just to use my skin tone markers for her face, because I didn't want to make her the same white color that all the other characters are, and I did not want to make a Japanese character yellow. (Yes I know that they made her Japanese *after* making her yellow, but still.) I also made her hair black, but I kind of kept the Jetsons style hair. I'm aware that show technically came out in the '60s, but a lot of the fashion in that show was very 50s inspired
I did however, use yellow for some of the accents to the outfit like her gloves. Since yellow did seem to be like a popular color in the 1950s from what I could tell. Though it was a very colorful time period in general lol
I've seen some people give her a feather duster tail, and I honestly thought that was super cute so I did the same. I gave her four legs to match the bug thing and to make sense of how fast she is. And I gave her antenna, she's a bug, she should have them.
I gave her a ladybug themed apron.
I mostly used color palettes that were really popular on dresses from back in the day. And I gave her lipstick, since I noticed it seemed to be kind of popular back then, but maybe that's just me over thinking it.
So yeah, what do y'all think?
Next up I'm either going to do Cherri Bomb or Velvette. Velvette has been incredibly difficult, I want to cry aaaa
Edit: here are some of the early concept / reject designs I did. Lmao
Like I said, usually I have to draw a character a few times before I'm happy. And I don't want to make it seem like I think I'm so brilliant when I'm doing this. I'm showing you guys part of my process, including my mistakes
At some point I was going to make her a praying mantis. Because they're really cool bugs, but then I realized cleaning was going to be much harder with scythe hands
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Can you talk a little more about how Goemon is intended to be mixed race? I read the manga but never picked up on this; was it lost to translation, or is it extremely subtle (or just a headcanon)? Also, do you have any idea why his race was changed in the Pilot film (if it was at all)?
Though it is never outright stated, there are clear details in Goemon's design that I believe are included to suggest he is mixed race, being part Asian since he is still the descendant of the original, Japanese, Ishikawa Goemon, and part something else, which I'm thinking is part White. The themes presented in the Lupin manga and in MP's other manga of racial freedom coincide with this too.
It's important to also understand the context of the themes that surround Goemon's character, being raised under strict Eastern culture, but despite being naïve towards Western culture, he does not reject it in the way his masters do and is even curious about it.
Before I begin, I'd like to make it clear that MP is not the most consistent when it comes to his designs, especially in the earlier manga where he is still working out what he wants of the characters. It doesn't help either that he had to rush to meet deadlines for the manga. With that being said though, I will be focusing on Goemon's consistent character traits that become more concrete in Shin Lupin.
An obvious detail to Manga Goemon's design is his cleft chin. This is usually drawn in more western-like characters (for instance, he draws Yankee from Bakumatsu Yankee with a cleft chin but not Okita), so it's really interesting how MP chooses to show it in Goemon. MP drew it more obvious as time went on, but it did exist since his first appearance.
Also, notice how Goemon's hair is not fully inked black as MP does with other characters. Generally, aside from artwork for promotion of the anime, anime ost album covers, and artwork made after the manga's completion, MP would color Goemon's hair as blonde-ish brown. I've seen people refer to it as possibly being ash blonde, or dirty blonde, but I'm not sure.
I'll post examples below. If you've seen them before, please read the rest of the post! I have a lot more to show.
It's a shame though that in some instances, publishers tried to hide this by recoloring MP's artwork, even if it wasn't meant tor the anime at all. Likely this was done to appeal to the larger amount of fans for the anime, and much of MP's later artwork after the manga's completion would alter other parts of Goemon's design to resemble it too, such as by changing his facial features and removing the pattern on his kimono. If you look closely below, you can see how the publishers weren't perfect at covering it up.
You may have seen how in my other post, with the artwork of the English Conversation book, or in a small amount of MP's other drawings, that Goemon's hair is instead colored as grey, silver, or not colored at all. I think MP tends to do this to save on color, and you can even see this in how his clothing is colored only white and grey.
That's also why though Fujiko appears blonde in the covers of that same book, she is also colored with grey hair in its pages inside of the book. Notice how the color of her dress changed too to save on color.
There's a similar case of Fujiko's hair originally being portrayed as blonde in the manga, but MP coloring it as brown or red in some artwork to match the anime. It didn't seem to be as much of an issue though considering how inconsistent Fujiko's design already was in the anime and early manga, and with how the changing hair color does not suggest as much about Fujiko as it does for Goemon and his race.
Goemon's manga design already does not resemble his anime design, so to make it even more different by having a different hair color would certainly bring more confusion from the anime audience. Goemon in the anime is strongly associated with being Japanese in comparison to the others, so it makes sense why his hair color is not a blonde-brown when MP draws for the anime.
Unlike fully blonde characters like Fujiko though, MP tends to draw Goemon's hair with many lines. I notice that when MP isn't rushing to draw Goemon, he draws certain areas of his hair having more lines condensed together and other areas having empty space.
(This is kind of hard to explain so I hope the drawing below makes it clear)
My own interpretation for why he draws his hair this way is to show areas with more denser lines being a darker brown, while the less dense areas show the lighter blonde parts of his hair.
It's worth noting Jigen's hair gets drawn with lines too, but there are more lines to show how much darker it is, and it also lacks any lighter areas. Perhaps Jigen's hair is still meant to be black, with the lines added to show detail in the strands of his straight hair, but what if it was meant to show color in his hair too?
Part 3, the Lupin anime with character designs that resemble Shin Lupin's the most, makes the decision to color Jigen's hair dark brown to show this, despite it always having been depicted as black in the anime.
But back to Goemon, I've seen a few people believe that maybe his hair is dyed/bleached. I can understand this notion, given that when he is first introduced he is dating Fujiko who seems more knowledgeable in this, and we do know that Goemon is an open-minded person when it comes to new things despite his old-fashioned upbringing. I disagree though, in part because some of the more detailed color drawings of him give me the impression it is natural. His sideburns also appear to have color in some close-ups of them.
There is something that he cannot change, however, and that is his eye color. It also happens to share the same color as his hair, more proof that his hair color is natural.
If you look at this magazine cover, you can see everyone's eyes colored in as black, but MP specifically did not do that for Goemon. Perhaps he wanted this detail about Goemon to stand out to readers.
There are many smaller details too, like his fluffy hair that curls at the ends, and his body hair.
And I can't forget the sideburns either. Though having sideburns obviously isn't a genetic trait, it's more western-like design that MP uses. The point of Goemon having sideburns may be to help you picture a more western person from him.
Compare all this to Anime Goemon, who has straight black hair and smaller eyes with black pupils, no sideburns, no body hair, and a regular chin. There is a very different intention between what the 2 characters are attempting to portray, and it's obvious when you look at them side to side. These different intentions are the reason why the anime is so stubborn when it comes to incorporating parts of Manga Goemon's design.
You may be wondering, is it unusual that Monkey Punch would make a character like this?
Not at all!
We know for sure Lupin is mixed too.
"I don't need a passport because the whole Earth is my country!!"
"Everywhere on this Earth is my home, even the middle of the ocean."
The character Inspector John Starmow, who admits to Fujiko that his childhood memories are filled with him being bullied by both other children and adults because he has Indian blood in him.
MP's other work, "Western Samurai"
And of course, MP's "Bakumatsu Yankee"
Looking at the designs of the two friends, it almost seems like Goemon is a hybrid of the two that each represent the East and the West. Okita's fully inked in hair and Yankee's hair with hardly any lines, while Goemon has hair drawn with many lines. Also, Goemon's face resembles Okita's, but he has a chin like Yankee. A little off-topic but I've always thought that Goemon's personality was a mesh between the two: Okita's cheerful attitude and Yankee's calm demeanor.
Now onto the rest of your question, why was this not carried into the Pilot?
If you haven't read my old post, please do read it as it explains my theory on why Manga Goemon was not adapted to the anime, and how Anime Goemon was created: https://www.tumblr.com/waddlehekk/711176903837483008/a-theory-on-the-creation-of-anime-goemon-and-why?source=share
Essentially though, the Pilot and Part 1 very clearly wanted a fully Japanese character out of Goemon to clash with the rest of the cast who are very American.
In the Pilot, Goemon is portrayed with a much darker skin tone rather than being very pale like he is in the Part 1 and nearly every portrayal onwards. Additionally, Mystery of Mamo pushes against Part 1's famously established design, bringing back Goemon's original skin tone and also changing the color of his hair to a dark brown.
At first I thought this dark color was chosen so that the artists could show lighting in Goemon's hair and give it detail, and that therefore it was still meant to be black, but even looking closer his eyebrows were colored too. Fujiko, the only other member of the gang that doesn't have black hair in this movie, is also the only other one to have colored eyebrows.
I read a post recently saying that he's mixed because of this, but to be honest, I disagree. There are many people in Japan with the standards that being very fair-skinned and having black hair is what makes you beautiful, but that doesn't mean all Japanese people are just born like this, and some even try to hide it. If anything, I think the reason why Goemon is depicted like this to go against these beauty standards and show that Goemon is still just as much a good representation of a Japanese samurai. The teams still wanted to depict a message about racial freedom in Goemon, and I think this is in part why the Pilot and Mamo understand the tone of the manga much better than other adaptations.
On a final note, I'd like to add that if Manga Goemon is supposedly mixed, and these themes do exist throughout MP's manga, why not then see characters like Jigen, Fujiko, and Zenigata as being just as racially ambiguous? For all we know, Lupin and Goemon could be a combination of more than what I've said here. I'd love to hear any headcanons.
#lupin iii#goemon ishikawa xiii#monkey punch#manga#lupin the third#原ゴエ#shin lupin#lupin iii manga#sorry for the long wait#life is getting kinda busy for me rn#you can tell i was really fighting with the image limit lol#manga goe is so cool i love him
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Hi Mirra!
Have you written any headcanon, metas, discussions, or fics about your concept of the "Faithful Haradrim"? If so, could you please tell me where to find them? If you haven't yet, would you mind sharing some info of your headcanons (anything at all) about their history and culture?
I'm a big fan of your Harad artwork and concepts (including the Blue Wizards), and it's all clearly founded on a rich, complex world you've created for them in your head. I would definitely love to learn more! :) I do also plan on including more about the Haradrim culture and history in my upcoming fanfics, so I would love to hear an expert's ideas on them.
Thank you for sharing your work with us!
@sotwk
Was very happy to discover your message in my ask box!
Thank you for your interest and willingness to include more Haradrim content into your writing, but I'm afraid you might find my views rather... boring 😆
I also must apologise in advance if any of my phrases may not seem polite enough or turn out to be grammatically incorrect - English is not my first language.
Disclaimer! What is written below represents my personal view! It is in no way intended to hurt or discredit anyone’s head canons, views and ideas!
My Chinese calligraphy teacher once told me: "Do you want to assume or to learn? Decide on the approach before you make theories about anything."
And I follow the strategy of "to learn" before I "assume". So, first and foremost, I'm still in search of bits of information about the peoples who inhabited Harad and Rhun (South and East) of Middle-earth.
My goal is not so much to create head cannons as to draw the audience's attention to the canon and the Professor's own vision. Accordingly, in working through his letters, essays, and volumes of the History of Middle-earth, I am trying to draw parallels that someone as educated as Professor Tolkien might have drawn.
I also categorically disagree with the images created in the movies, where the conventional evil is more caricatured than frightening, and the motives and history of the conflict are not shown at all (Faramir’s saying about Haradrim’s fate is at least included, which is great, even if it wasn’t his in books). When my best friend dragged me into the Silmarillion story couple of years ago, I was amazed at how distorted the perception of these regions was in adaptations.
So, thinking about the existence and struggles of Faithful Haradrim, I rely on the history of the region and possible historical patterns. Such a vast region simply cannot have a common culture. It is the idea that can unite them. But, as in our reality, cultural features, symbolism and colours may differ. For example, we know that those who came with Sauron's army, performed under red flags with snakes. Does that mean that the entire vast region walked exclusively in the same colours? It seems unlikely to me.
As for the Blue Wizards, blue in general is a colour very 'inherent' to many cultures in the Global South. I suppose that's why the Professor dressed Alatar and Pallando in those colours. And accordingly, in my opinion, Faithful Haradrim could use these colours in their robes and on their banners, but not necessarily. It is not the colour that reflects the inner essence of a person.
Of course, when thinking about this or that image, I think about where exactly these people live, what the level of metallurgy development is present in different Ages, whether there is a sea or mountains nearby - all this affects how their armour\architecture\symbolism could have developed. In general, I draw parallels with real anthropology and the history of the development of civilisations. Books about the regional patterns, military and weapon history etc are of big help here too.
Sometimes, of course, I make things up. For example, when I first read the lines about the Blue Wizards not returning to Valinor, I didn't take it in a negative light. After all, they could have stayed in Middle-earth willingly, having become attached and imbued with the problems of the region, of the people. After all, Alatar and Curumo were the only ones who were not afraid to volunteer to fight Sauron.
I also like the later version, in which the Blue Wizards arrive in the Second Age. It makes more "sense" given the nightmare that the Númenorians had wrought in the region. But even among them, I'm sure there were some people who sympathised and helped the local population. I don't believe in black and white in principle. But I do believe in post-truth.
So, in essence, I'm a boring canonist who treats the author's writings and views with great respect. And the myth of the Haradrim and Easterlings being bad guys by all accounts is almost as well-established as the supposed lack of religion, holy Dunedain and cute glowing elves. Which is, in my opinion, in no way consistent with Tolkien's own philosophy and stance.
Perhaps what I came up with from scratch was a sign, a Faithful Haradrim symbol, that those could use to identify each other. People need symbols, faith and ideas. Especially in such trying times. That's the way we are.
Oh, I'm afraid if I go on, it'll be a whole essay. So I think I'll stop here. Thanks again for your question and your interest! I'm sorry if I disappointed you, haha.
Good luck with your writing - I'm so happy there're people out there, who're genuinely interested in the region! ❤
P.S. If everything goes well, I plan to release a zine about Harad at the end of the year. With quotes and the obligatory notes of personal theories not to confuse the reader.
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I Am the Greatest Date-Planner in This Apartment
Summary: Eliot wins date night after he gets a recommendation of a sci-fi movie his “geeky friend” might enjoy and gets carried away with a movie evening complete with a themed meal. Fortunately, despite all Eliot's fears to the contrary, both of his partners are just the type of people to appreciate those elaborate efforts.
AO3 link here.
...
The first time Eliot Spencer really knocked “date night” out of the park, it wasn't even his idea.
The old army buddy he'd helped out a few weekends before had managed to draw out some (carefully vague) information about Eliot's current colleagues, including his geeky “friend” who was always into a new video game or superhero that Eliot knew nothing about, and he'd left Eliot with a suggestion. It took a few weeks to implement, not because the film was hard to obtain, but mostly because Eliot kept second-guessing his choice.
What if Eliot hated it as much as Hardison's comic-book movies? What if Hardison hated it? What if Parker was bored? What if they thought the themed dinner was stupid?
Eliot restlessly double-checked the array of toppings laid out on the counter against his mental list. Baked potatoes were almost done—they'd be ready by the time Parker and Hardison were scheduled to arrive.
Dessert would feature little pouches of freeze-dried ice cream, because Parker would expect it, alongside the main feature: a tiramisu dusted with red cocoa powder and garnished with carefully spaced upright sprigs of mint. A variety of homemade chocolate truffles, formed in silicone molds that were the one thing Eliot had to order for this project, completed the dessert assortment.
He'd been wrestling with himself about the truffles all week. They were important, because he wasn't sure how much his sugar-loving partners would love the tiramisu, but also terrifying, because they were, by far, the most overt theming of the entire meal.
The loaded baked potatoes could be justified as just a good, hearty, simple meal; the tiramisu was classic; the ice cream was a low-effort token to Parker's quirks. But there was no hand-waving the truffles.
He glanced at the clock again. No more than 90 seconds had passed.
At this rate, he might not survive the wait to die of embarrassment.
…
Parker and Hardison arrived at the appointed time, on the dot.
Eliot didn't mention that he'd seen them park Lucille 17 minutes ago, or that he'd watched them emerge 5 minutes ago for the less than 90-second walk up to his apartment.
In the absence of any information except for “dinner and movie night,” Hardison had hedged his bets on formality: Nice jeans, a dark gray sports coat, and a blue button down featuring a subtle pattern of tiny TARDISes. Parker, on the other hand, had simply topped a typical head-to-toe black ensemble with an unbuttoned royal-blue shirt. A very familiar one.
“…Is that my shirt?”
“Yup!” said Parker, cheerfully.
“Parker, I was looking for that!” (Technically, turning his closet inside-out wondering how the evening was already going wrong.)
“Oh.” She considered, tugging absently at the bottom hem. “Do you want to trade?”
“No, I don't want to—! Why do you have my clothes?!”
“We're having a date. I wanted to look nice.”
“Which you both do,” interjected Hardison firmly, pausing to rake his eyes conspicuously over Eliot's own dark-red button down and jeans and lingering on the larger-than-usual collection of bracelets on his left wrist. “So, uh, can we come in, or are we banned on grounds of clothes-stealing? Which, for the record, I have not participated in. I am wearing all my own clothes, which you can probably tell by the fact that they fit my long-ass body and have TARDISes on them.”
Eliot belatedly stepped back to allow them into the apartment.
“These are for you,” said Parker, shoving a bouquet of a half-dozen red roses and as many stalks of orange and yellow snapdragons into his hands.
Eliot's brain stopped functioning for the second time since he'd opened the door.
“Uh…”
Parker frowned at his lack of response and elbowed Hardison sharply in the ribs, eliciting an “ow!”: “You said adding the snapdragons would be fine. Maybe we should have stuck with traditional.”
“I don't think it's the snapdragons, babe. Give him a minute.”
Eliot figured out how to form words again, blinking rapidly. “Thanks, Parker. These are nice.” He stared at the flowers, aware that there had to be a next step he was blanking on.
“You got a vase or something we can put those in for you?” said Hardison, with the very deliberate sincerity characteristic of him either grifting or trying not to laugh. “Don't want to interrupt…” He gestured vaguely at the apartment. “…whatever it is you're preparing for the evening.”
“Right! I, uh…” Eliot moved towards the kitchen on autopilot, trailed by the others. He didn't think he had an actual vase—that wasn't something that generally came up for him—but a quick rummage in the cupboard produced a weizen glass as a passable substitute.
Parker and Hardison eyed the baked potato fixings as Eliot's brain scraped together the remnants of his thoroughly derailed explanation, acutely aware of the heat crawling up his face. This wasn't how the evening was supposed to go.
“So, we've got, uh, baked potatoes for dinner that you can fix however you like.”
Why had he thought this was a good idea?
“I thought we could eat while we watch the movie. It's all set up in the living room. There's dessert, too, that I was going to put out in the living room when we're ready so you can help yourselves without having to stop the movie…”
Maybe he could cut his losses and just not pull out the ice cream and the truffles? But then he had nothing as backup if Parker or Hardison didn't like the tiramisu, and just baked potatoes and tiramisu was kind of a skimpy as a date-night dinner—
“Sounds great!” said Hardison, as Parker made concurring noises. “What's the movie?”
“Well… we have options. We can watch whatever you guys want! I got one that sounded like you might like it from what I'd heard, but if you don't like it or have already seen it, that's—”
The others exchanged glances.
“OK,” Parker broke in, “but what is the movie you picked?”
“…It's called The Martian.”
Parker's head tilted quizzically without recognition, but Hardison's eyes widened.
“You got us The Martian to watch?! That's—Wait, is that why we're having potatoes? Did you theme dinner? Oh my god.” Hardison's voice caught. “Oh my god, I can't wait to see dessert. I don't even know what that would be for The Martian.”
“Oh, I, uh…” None of Eliot's planning had accounted for an actual enthusiastic reaction. “I'll get it out, then. Why don't y'all fix your potatoes?”
He'd just finished placing the plate of truffles and the packets of “astronaut ice cream” on either side of the tiramisu when Hardison and Parker emerged with their plates. Parker leaned over to study the spread avidly, nimble fingers scooping up an ice cream packet. “Hmm, not a little-green-man Martian, then?”
“That's—” Hardison eyes were fixed on the red-cocoa-covered tiramisu. “That's the Martian potato field.”
Eliot gave a hesitant nod.
“And—” He took a closer look at the truffles. “Are those Mars rover chocolates?”
Eliot shrugged sheepishly.
“And freeze-dried ice cream. Freeze-dried space ice cream! I would not have dared to bring such an item into your kitchen.”
“If we're gonna watch an astronaut movie, then Parker was gonna want—”
Eliot's explanation was cut off by a tight hug.
“This is amazing, man. I can't believe you did all this.”
Eliot slowly sagged into the embrace, still reeling from the fact that this had actually worked.
After a moment, they were interrupted by a gentle poke to each of their ribcages.
“Hey,” said Parker, “Eliot, go get your food. I want to actually watch the movie so I know what all of this food is about.”
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We took our Carol trip!
December 10, 2023, my good friend Sarah and I piled in my small Kia and made the 1 hr 40 min trip from Indianapolis, IN to see Cincinnati and Chevoit, Ohio shooting locations from 2015's "Carol." It's the only winter movie that matters to me. Here are some of the key locations we visited.
Tagging: @belivet, @pacinos, @lesbin
Shillito Center and art deco exteriors in Cincinnati.
Shillito Center was a department store with art deco features including the beautiful clock pictured above. This was the exterior of Frankenberg's in the film. The Shillito's department store has closed but the beautiful building has been turned into luxury loft apartments!
The other buildings of note were the Bell Telephone Company's "Cincinnati Bell" building--my friend noticed that the decorative border on the building is comprised of a stone pattern of old rotary telephones! The exterior of the now-Hilton Cincinnati is another Carol shooting site, which doubled as New York City's Drake hotel.
This is the exquisite Hilton Cincinnati at Netherland Plaza. As you can see, the art deco influence is strong and the rooms are gorgeous and grand. We were hungry and wanted to have lunch but the only available menu was the Dickens breakfast buffet, priced at a formidable $89! So we enjoyed a drink and a bowl of peanuts at the bar. A quartet of professional singers in Victorian costumes sang Christmas Carols beautifully in the background. The bartender was dressed like they used to dress, in a beautiful tailored slacks, shirt, and vest uniform. He did not work at the Hilton in 2014-2015 but was delighted by our quest. The entryway to the hotel is known as the "Hall of Mirrors," inspired by Versailles.
This is the stone bathroom structure at Eden Park, which was the setting for the Christmas tree farm impromptu photography session. My friend watched Carol to prepare (she called it "fun homework") and I prepared by finding a tam o shanter hat at a thrift store. My parents had the scarf, blonde fur coat, faux fur hat, as part of their repository of items from doing over 25 years of community theater together. The rest of my clothing items are a regular part of my wardrobe. I vacillate between eras but I love 40s, 50s, and 60s best of all. I also think it's likely they filmed the scene of Therese and Richard on bicycle going through a park at Eden Park as well, but can't be totally sure.
Finally, Maury's Tiny Cove Restaurant in Chevoit, Cincinnati is the setting of the first lunch between Carol and Therese. The booth they used for shooting has been preserved and I reserved it ahead of time, although surrounding booths also have pictures from filming hanging over them. It's been long enough that the server didn't know much about the film but told us that a group of excited college students ate there once and requested the same meal Carol and Therese ordered in the movie. I had lasagna as we had not eaten much all day, and a Santa Cosmopolitan from their holiday menu. The food was wonderful and it was obvious a lot of people are regulars. We noted that there are glass windows over the booths now, unlike in the movie, probably added during the height of Covid.
Bonus, but a disappointment:
Carol & Rindy's beautiful house at Grandin Rd has been completely re-done and now looks nothing like in the movie:
And, "that's that"! A truly special and memorable experience.
Here is a link to a Google Drive with all of the unedited photos and videos we took if you want to see anything in original quality/detail. We shot video of the photography scene but it was mostly goofy and unusable haha.
We talked about the movie some and Sarah asked me which character was the best fit for my personality. Hands down, Abby. I was wide-eyed Therese once, never glam enough for Carol, but Abby will tell you the truth and not blush from it. My hero!
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New doll diorama is up! This one took a while because there are lots of props, plus I had to decide on the perfect design. :D
Have you ever been to a themed cafe? They're very common in Japan, ranging from anime to video games to role play. Some are permanent, others are pop up (temporary). The interiors are always completely decorated in the theme, and the food is also designed in accordance with the theme. Most of these places also have gift shops where you can purchase exclusive items ranging from stationary to clothes to figures to plushies, all revolving around the cafe's theme. So fun!
I tend to always do things in themes, so this was right up my alley. I just knew I wanted to make my own Japanese themed cafe diorama. There is no shortage of options, but I decided on a Gudetama cafe. Gudetama is a Sanrio character, and his name literally means "lazy egg." This adorable little egg can be seen in a variety of scenarios, usually being prodded to not be lazy. It's quite amusing! I looked up actual Gudetama cafes so I could make my design as authentic as possible. Almost all of them featured bright yellow walls in a variety of patterns with huge wall decals of the star character on them. Smaller wall art was also common, and the wood floors even had a yellowish hue to them to finish off the look. Statues and figures were also prominent, so I placed a white cube shelf in the scene to hold some of my mini Gudetama items I've had for a long time (didn't even have to buy new stuff for this scene!), as well as the menus and place mats that I made. I also painted all the chairs yellow (they were originally purple) and painted the table base white (they were pink). The booth is borrowed from the Licca-chan revolving sushi set.
So here we have a group of dolls enjoying the themed goodies! All the food items are from Re-Ment, and the sets included a lot more - I just couldn't fit any more dolls in there LOL. And of course, this being Japanese themed, I had to use my Azone dolls. They're a better fit for these chairs and tables anyway since they're not as tall as Barbie, so they fit her size furniture better than she does LOL. Plus - interchangeable hands! YES!
Overview of the diorama showing all the wall art and designs:
Left plate: Curry. Right plate: Ramen.
Curry:
Ramen:
Of course ani-ME is on the dessert :D
Left plate: Cake & ice cream. Right plate: Parfait.
Cake & ice cream:
Parfait:
Left plate: Hot cakes (aka pancakes). Right plate: Kanitama (crab omelet).
Hot cakes (aka pancakes):
Kanitama (crab omelet):
Left plate: Ramen, fried egg, & salad. Right plate: Butatamadon (pork rice bowl).
Butatamadon (pork rice bowl):
Ramen, fried egg, & salad:
Cube with various Gudetama figures/merchandise, plus the menus and place mats I made:
Menu (two-sided) Fun fact: Every single item on the menu is a genuine Re-Ment Gudetama product. I don't have every set, but I included them on the menu anyway:
#my plastic life#tenderwolf#doll photography#one sixth scale#azone international#azone pure neemo#kiku ningyo#anime doll#azonejp#gudetama#gudetama cafe#themed cafe#japanese cafe#japanese themed cafe#japanese doll#rement#myfroggystufffanpics#azone aika#azone fuka#azone alisa#azone lycee#azone himeno#azone miu#azone koron#doll diorama
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on mental health, autism and my life lately
Contentedly, Patience settled to her knitting, glad to have the hardest part of the day over. Now all she had to fight was complicated patterns, and cables that didn’t really want to work exactly how they were supposed to. Much easier than people.
*points* autism
Anyway this is. I originally put the rest of this in the tags and then I typed it up here again because no, it has to be part of the post, actually.
So two weeks ago I was completely convinced that I would die in a matter of days. By my own hand. I was severely suicidal, at an eight on the Emmengard scale, except for the frequent times it tipped up to nine. It was hell. I had a friend overseas who the entire year so far, I didn't think I'd see again because I would have killed myself before she got home. It was that bad.
And she's got home, and barring accident, I will see her again. I've been on the brink of suicide for more than two months, and now, that's changed. Truly I didn't realise how bad it was, really, until I was delivered from it.
This might seem completely separated from the original excerpt, but bear with me. I was realising just now that if I'd written Patience, Changing a year ago, it wouldn't be half so good. So far I'm up to 18k, and it's good. It has a lot of stuff to work on, of course, and I'm still distilling the true centre of it. It'll take a few drafts, but it's good. Patience is autistic, and I knew that a year ago. But I didn't know I was autistic, not then. Now, I understand myself a great deal more, and I understand her because of that. She's me, to some extent, including aspects of me that I didn't even realise were a thing until recently. Because I know me more, I now lean into the aspects in which we are similar, and relish the ones in which we're different. She has one good, close friend in a way I just don't have, not precisely like that. (Look, I love and cherish my friends, truly, but Patience and Nathan's friendship is just Different. And I certainly didn't have anyone like that at her age. Maybe if I had things would have been different for me.)
My heart is full of love today; I can't stop thinking, Patience, we made it. We both made it. We had patience (ha!) and we MADE it. We got here, and for now that's enough. I did an artwork once that was featured in my university's mental health exhibition, about how today is enough, sometimes.
Anyway, the reason I've been so much better (and written about 20k in the last week alone, unheard of for months because of severe depression) is anxiety medication. My doctor put me on medication for anxiety, as a last-ditch attempt before hospitalisation for suicide concern as well as self harm. They're highly addictive, and thus he doesn't want me on them for much longer, so I might be singing a different tune in a few days when he tells me to stop taking them or something, but even so. For now, this is enough. Sure, I'm still depressed. But barely. I've been on the line of severe/extremely severe for both depression and anxiety for ages, and whether it's the anxiety med alone or that it gives the antidepressant I've been on a while space to actually work, the difference is drastic.
So I'm drafting Patience, Changing. And having enormous fun. I'm planning all sorts of things. (Check my tumblr blog, @l-e-morgan-author for more fun and exciting things I get up to.) I'm even planning to hit 25k tomorrow on Patience, Changing, and I'm on 56k total draft for all the Patience things, including fluff prompts that will turn into a novella, and the existing novella The Patience of Hope.
So this might be a short-term thing, but guys. We made it. We made it. And I talked to my grandmother today about being autistic, and told her I think she's autistic, and she was fascinated by that, and was very autistic about it, and she asked all sorts of lovely questions.
And I debated something with someone who doesn't share my faith, and I failed in the debate because I didn't know enough to answer their arguments, but hey. That's okay.
That's okay. I'm okay. I'm planning for uni already. Gonna be a difficult semester, but even so. I'm excited for it. Excited! Something I haven't been, not really, for months and maybe years.
I leave you, then, with this excerpt from later on in the chapter:
You are whole, said the anonymous letter. You are whole, Patience, you are not broken.
this post was published on my blog, with minor edits.
Patience taglist:
@pilgrimsofworship
@stealingmyplaceinthesun
@noisette-tornade
@graycedelfin
@choasuqeen
#patience changing#patience shepherd#actually autistic#we made it guys. we had patience and we MADE IT
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Heyyy, I loved you Annie hcs and I am so glad to find someone who writes for her! I saw someone in the comments say that they love how you didn't immediately associate her with Finnick and I agree.
So my request includes Annie bc she's just so underrated and it's basically some mild smut. It can be whatever you want and I saw you don't write anything explicit, I totally get it, it can be a short blurb or some headcanons, maybe NSFW alphabet, whatever you'd like but Annie smut, to the level you're comfortable ofc, would make my day! 🫶🏻
anon thank you so much for your request and your kind words, they mean a lot!!! i love annie with my whole entire heart so feel free to send in as many requests as you'd like
im trying to write more smut as im lowkey getting more comfortable with it but this my first time doing a nsfw alphabet so please just be cautious that it might not be the best <33
pairing: switch!annie cresta x switch!fem!reader
warnings: nsfw. lesbian sex. not edited.
A — aftercare (what they're like after sex):
annie is super romantic after sex. she'll run you both a bath and light candles, wrapping her arms around your waist. she's really clingy and super big on praise, so she'll make sure to tell you how well you done and how much she loves you.
B — body part (their favourite body part of theirs and their partners)
annie likes her mouth. your eyes are always constantly falling to her lips and she giggles while reminding you where her eyes are. annie likes being able to make you feel good with her tongue too, so that naturally makes her mouth one of her favourite features.
on you, she likes your thighs. in public, she can trace patterns over your skin and in the bedroom, she can grip your thigs as her face is buried in your cunt.
C — cum (anything to do with cum)
i think annie likes to make you cum before even thinking about it herself. she prefers to give rather than receive so your pleasure is really a priority of hers. i think she's a squirter though tbh
D — dirty secret
she dreamed about having you in a bathroom stall once and its been all she can think about since.
E — experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)
annie has practically no experience. i think you would be her first and while she might need a bit of guidance on what you like, she knows what shes doing and she can do it better than any man can.
F — favourite position
i think annie finds thigh riding really hot. she loves when you guide her and leave little finger prints in the skin of her hipbones. it's quite a vulnerable position for her too. she likes being able to watch your face contort in pleasure as you buck your hips into the air, desperately trying to get some friction
G — goofy (are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous etc)
for annie, sex is something shared between someone that you love with all your soul, and if you can't laugh with them, then what's the point? if she's giggling during sex, it means you're doing something right!!
H — hair (how well groomed are they? do the curtains match the drapes, etc...)
i quite honestly dont think annie shaves and she has absolutley no shame about it!!
I — intimacy (how are they during the moment, romantic aspects...)
annie is a romantic at heart. shes pressing kisses into your skin and devoting herself to you fully. shes huge on consent, so she praises you when you use your safe word or let her know how youre doing.
J — jack off (masturbation headcanons)
annie touches herself if you haven't seen each other in a while but she prefers to wait until you see each other in person
K — kink (one or more of their kinks)
annies a switch but she does prefer to be on top. she occassionaly likes to tie you up and dont even get me started on her praise kink.
L — location (favourite places to have sex)
as i said, sex is pretty romantic for annie so a lot of it is kept to the bedroom or at the very least your house.
M — motivation (what turns them on, what gets them going)
you. like you could quite literally do anything and this woman is on her knees.
N — no (something they won’t do, turn offs)
annie won’t do anything that hurts you. it’s just a huge turn-off for her. if youre into choking, she will do it, but that’s about as far as she’ll go.
O — oral (preference in giving or receiving)
physical touch is her love language, so regardless of whether its sexual or not, she prefers giving and she knows all the right places to touch you.
P — pace (are they fast and rough or slow and sensual?)
for annie, it’s all about love so she takes her time with you, regardless of circumstances. she has moments of passion where she rips your clothes right off your body, but it still ends up being slow and calculated movements. she doesn’t have sex, she makes love <3
Q — quickies (their opinions on quickies, how often etc)
she rarely has quickies but she’s not against them. if you’ve only got a certain amount of time, then she is all for them.
R — risk (are they willing to experiment, do they take risks etc)
she’s willing to try almost anything with you but i don’t think she’s big on public spaces. she prefers being in private with you but again, she’s a try everything at least once kind of girl
S — stanima (how many rounds do they go for, how long do they last)
annie can go for hours. this woman does not get tired and she only stops once you’re a trembling, writhing mess
T — toy (do they own toys, do they use them, on a partner or themselves)
annie owns loads of strapons and wands. she loves using the strapons on you and edging you with the wands.
U — unfair (how much they like to tease)
surprisingly, i think annie’s a really big tease. she likes hearing you beg for it but in the end, she will always give you what you want bc shes just a huge softie at heart!!
V — volume (how loud are they, what sounds they make)
believe it or not, i think she’s quite loud. she makes soft little moans and whines mostly.
W — wild card (random headcanon)
annie could eat you out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. my girl is a munch.
X — x-ray (let’s see what’s going on in those pants)
shes got a bit of a bush but shes got such a pretty pussy.
Y — yearning (how high is their sex drive)
annie’s got a pretty even sex drive but i feel like it always peaks during her menstrual cycle
Z — ZZZ (how quickly they fall asleep)
annie gets pretty sleepy after sex. she stays awake for as long as possible but does typically end up falling asleep before you do.
#the hunger games#grace talks🐚🌷#thg#wlw#annie cresta x reader#annie cresta#headcanons#wlw hcs#the hunger games x reader
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the moment weve all been waiting for EXALTED SECRET 2023 BIOS YAAAAAY
Heres my bios for the secret santa ! this years theme is Girls Who Rot, Have Rotted Previously, or Are Rotting Right Now
I like to provide some little details, tidbits, tone and setting ideas in my bios in case you want to draw them in like a little scene; don't feel obligated to get that fancy, though!
without further ado.
Pleione (Plin for short, she/they, roughly equivalent to early 20s) is a Marrow Aspect forged from the remnants of a young royal from a long-forgotten kingdom, resuscitated from the depths of the mausoleum in which her body was interred by (accidental) necromantic means. She's spent the past two decades quietly living on her Anchor's manse-estate, indulging in her passions for art and botany.
Plin is a big chicken who is deathly terrified of conflict and does a lot of screaming and cowering when things come to blows for someone who
Her personality is particular, peculiar, and holier-than-thou. She's got dynastic sensibilities, snobbish and disinclined to associate with 'the proles'. Get her on the subject of one of her special interests, though, and you might find each other fast friends.
Motifs- Plin has an orchid motif on account of the fact that she needs a dose of a special tea made from a (formerly) extinct orchid several times a day in order to NOT DIE. She hasn't died yet. She doesnt know she can come back give her a break. Some other motifs include glass, terrariums, spiders & fireflies; marble & porcelain, old-timey anatomical drawings, delicate floral and baroque patterns; antique-white, minty green, deep purple, and black.
Ideas- If you want to draw her doing something she is equally likely to be found reclining on a huge pile of pillows with a book or with her knees planted in the dirt rooting around in a thorny shrub. She loves to dissect and draw plants and is liable to be found at a desk or behind an easel doing one of those activities
Anima- Currently I am thinking... a grove filled with ghostly-white plants twining over enormous bones (hopefully of the animal variety, but hard to say, really) and probably features giant flowering orchids that are shaped suspiciously like skulls... Also its hard to say but the ground does look an awful lot like meat, and those stringy bits look an awful lot like connective tissue... hmm
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Desert Fang Grim Devil Lioness (Grim for short, she/her, 36 yrs old) is a renegade Midnight caste former-warlord-turned-backwoods vampire-MILF. upgrades!
Grim was fazed a lot as a child (being pawned off by your family as a slave will do that to you) and vowed to grow up into a woman who Wouldn't Be Fazed By Anything. Having achieved this (with a few notable exceptions), she mostly gets her way by via being larger, stronger, and scarier than as many of her problems as possible. Sometimes problems don't and can't have physical largeness, though, which is annoying.
One of these problems included being counter-merc'd by one of her targets and dying of exposure under the desert sun. She didn't... quite... let this stop her, though. There are people in need of her skillsets, and dying isn't really a disqualifier for their service. She was raised as a deathknight and for several years served as one of the First and Forsaken Lion's most fearsome officers.
Another problem is... More recent. Having run off with her lunar mate and tried to start a family far, far from FAFL's stomping grounds, it turns out toughing it out in the wilds of the North can kind of suck.
Motifs- Pretty normal deathknight stuff. Black iron of the wrought variety, and soulsteel; tattered and blood-drenched fabric, rough-hewn basalt and dark masonry. Honestly got stronger canid than felid vibes, to spite the name. Black-and-red is an obvious throughline but grimy grays and natural tones complete her overall color scheme. Things that are totally inert and lifeless, and will always remain as such.
Ideas- Riding her terrifying steed (basically just a half rotting perma-permafrosted elk corpse with a broken antler), slicing something in half with her awesome reaver daiklaive, hovering over a pot of survival-stew boiling over a crude hearth, walking thru the woods in the dark covered in blood. Or maybe hanging out with her awesome baby (pictured) if youre inclined to draw something... Nicer :)
Anima- A bit stereotypical, I think like. a blasted land with bloodsoaked earth so barren and expansive that it blends with the crimson sky, as well as off in the distance banners that tower like skyscrapers which only flutter by virtue of their enormity. Not even Mela's breath will touch this forsaken place.
Grim is the current wielder of Gorgon.
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(WHOOPS forgot the tattoos in the second thing but like hell im fixing that at this point)
Last but not least, the Gunstar Autochthonia Girl Hirudana Siithavari (Siithi for short, she/her, 32 y.o.) a No Moon ostensibly still answering to the Deliberative; at heart, a roustabout and a scallywag. She crawled deep into Authochthon's world-body on a suicide mission and then beat all odds by sheer cockroach-style stubbornness, earning her Luna's favor. Also, terrible death-sorcery (necromancy is sort of an unknown factor in our rendition of the Gunstar shard but she somehow managed to make contact with the neverborn and stumble into its practice)
she likes drinking, and gambling, and yelling, and generally being a nuisance. Sometimes a little bit of heart-of-gold shines through, and quite frankly everyone is probably better off with the secrets of necromancy in her hands rather than someone slightly less grounded in reality.
theres more pics of her in her tag if you want to poke around.
Motifs- Bronze, brass, grimy earth tones mixed with bright accent colors. Black leather, studs, needles, teeth. Tubes, pipes, gears, grates and various industrial junk. Worms, bugs, and other vermin. Dankness, darkness, the sickly shadows of Black Non. Smoke-haze and drug paraphernalia.
Ideas- Generally she spends most of her time at the bar, the gym, in her lab, or asleep. you could draw her pumping iron, or taking a toke on a decrepit sofa in her dingy weed-cave (not a literal cave though that would be kind of fun), or sitting at an industrial workbench pouring over a half-disassembled chainsaw. or corpse. or both at the same time.
Anima- Her lower-level anima is kind of gloopy like a lava lamp. Iconic is a swamp with oil for water, populated by mangroves assembled from pipes and black plastic tube-vines, with the moon reflecting brightly on its surface. Her spirit shape is a Buffalo Leech, one of the largest species of leeches (on earth at least). i'll attach a pic of her hybrid form if you wanna draw that instead!
(necessary disclaimer for these sorts of things) youre welcome to take this as an opportunity to do some experimenting but if you don't think you can passably represent a certain characters body shape i would recommend picking one of the other options. thank you!
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