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cuddlytogas · 3 months

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So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

#everyone say 'thank you togas' for not including a long tangent about evil rimmer in red dwarf 5x05 #Our Flag Means Death #Togas does meta #and yes these principles DO fall apart slightly in s2 and i DON'T like those costumes as much #don't get me wrong they're fun and gorgeous - but generally a bit less deep and more inaccurate. so. :(#I'm not sure this really says anything new about Our Flag but I just needed to get my thoughts out #i hate hate hate Gritty Period Drama costumes they're so boring and so ugly and so wrong #god bless OFMD for using more than 3 muted colours and actually putting men in heels (and not as a shorthand for rich/foppish villainy) <3 #looking at that Tudors still is insane like they really will go to any lengths to not make men feel like they've got bare legs XD #image descriptions in alt text #and yes i DID just sink about two hours into those so you'd better appreciate them

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sacchiri · 2 months

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Blu-ray box set for OVA 1~5 and 6~10 illustrated by Kouta Hirano.

#hellsing #alucard #integra hellsing #seras victoria #pip bernadotte #walter c. dornez #there aren't any decent quality stitched pics out there so i made these by cobbling together the best product photos i could find #i like these because i feel like they're a fair representation of the show's tone #and bc girlycard is there #and also because you can tell hirano got bored drawing the glove sigil and just wrote random crap like 'evangelion' and 'csi miami'

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dear-doves · 4 months

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Not piss kink as in "I'm going to pee in/on you", but piss kink as in "You're going to sit there and squirm, and beg me to go, and I'm going to say no because I decide when you're allowed to."

Scratches the same itch as edging 😩😩😩😩👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

#Something something HashiTobi but I'm too tired for more exact thoughts #Every time I say I like piss kink people always think I like the former. They are wrong.#It's valid but bores me. I want piss edging and control and squirming #And the character knowing they're gonna fuck up but trying So Hard to behave

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egophiliac · 9 months

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I love your take on Crowley!

I know that the early, non-Diasomnia stories aren't really your thing, but are you reading the novels at all?

I have been following some of the fan translations and the second book seems intense! Would love to hear what you think about them.

thank you! 💚💚💚 I'm not really sure why you think I don't like the earlier arcs though, I love pretty much all the characters and their storis! (I think 5 and 1 are my favorite of the past episodes, though 6 infected me with the Shroud brainrot something fierce.) I just...ESPECIALLY love diasomnia. :') but there is room in my heart for all of these dweebs! like, who among us is not just as ride-or-die for Adeuce as they are for us.

that said, I don't really follow the other adaptations like the manga (aside from a dip-in just to see the new Yuus) or the novels, though I keep meaning to check them out! I do like seeing the differences between the different forms of media, and how certain things get adapted one way or another! but alas, time/a lack of accessibility stands in our way more often than not. :( someday...someday I will have time to consume all of the media...

#art #twisted wonderland #i have been playing this game since the day it came out #and believe me i could not have stuck with it for the past three and a half years if i was not deep into all of these idiots #not to harp on it but i do think it's funny because i actually. really did not like the diasomnias at first.#it was like a month before their cards/personal stories were added and so we knew almost NOTHING about them #the website descriptions basically make everyone sound awful #so i thought they were kind of mean/boring compared to everyone else!#(except maybe lilia but i was mad at him for the two seconds of 'girl? 👀' hope i had when they were revealed)#but once their cards came out i fell just as hard for them as i did the rest of this silly game #well. sebek took a little longer. but his ketchup incident converted me.#anyway i have so much sentimentality for episode 1 especially #the prologue was like 'oh this is actually a very silly game! oh there is a plot!'#episode 1 was like 'oh i LIKE these characters and what they're doing with them'#(i think ace punching riddle was the moment i decided i REALLY liked this game) (sorry riddle) (you were being a huge dick though)#also...ink drips. ink drips everywhere.#look when i say this game is laser-focused at me and my tastes specifically i am not kidding

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measuringbliss · 2 years

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People are acting so weird and possessive of Markiplier for the whole OnlyFans situation. He's an adult. He's an adult who's been a celebrity for years. He knows people thirst on him. That's why he had this idea in the first place. He's not some naive kid you must protect. He's not some innocent soul that the evil sluts of Tumblr and Twitter will corrupt. He knows the Internet, he knows his fans and he knows his job.

He's an adult and he can make his own choices.

#Markiplier #I've seen quite a few comments expressing discomfort and like. You can just. Not subscribe to his OF????#That's a possibility. You can block people too.#I think some of you really need to learn about parasocial relationships and reflect on it #He's not your dad #He's not your friend #He's just a dude #A dude who has a job and it just so happens that his job revolves around appearing personable #Don't forget that you don't truly know him and MORE IMPORTANTLY he doesn't know YOU #He probably has various ideas on xho his fans are as subgroups but he doesn't know you personally #Actually it reminds me of Maisee Williams in GoT s8 #People had seen her (the character and the actress) grow up over the years and when she decided she wanted to do a nude scene #A lot of people said they were uncomfortable #In both cases. They're adults. They can do whatever they want.#I guess that was a rant but sometimes I find the fandom really off-putting #Deactivated reblogs because the RBs were getting boring and a pain

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asleepinawell · 7 months

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Irem, the Pillared City: Futures

#obsessed with these #wanted to see them all together as a rainbow of futures #I love the art style of all the banners they're just so good #fallen london #flmp #fallen london spoilers #irem #mp #in some ways I chose the most boring one #but there's something appealing about the idea of turning into a city meant for everyone #especially in a game about cities #poetic or something idk #in order these are: nearby jewelled silvered abyssal brilliant #ruinous chilly altered dark neon #I'm missing no future but it's just black so

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cringesnail · 8 months

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Small compilation of Etoiles Living Like This

(subtitles: green is Etoiles, black is other people. The ones at the top are just additional translations)

#qsmp #soiree du lundi #etoiles #listen i am bored and they're all in Vegas now so you get etoiles Being Like That instead #and him and baghera being gremlins at the end #snailvid

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voidheartkisses · 17 days

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Show everyone the shittens the shittens need to be seen now

Alright, Narilamb shittens

Judas and Mary. I originally designed them in 2022 but never posted them anywhere, slight redesign. Both have red eyes like the crown

#cult of the lamb #digital art #narilamb #narilamb shitten #shittens #fan child #cotl #I made my brother ask me this so I had an excuse to post them #thanks mart #inbox is open pls guys im so bored #they're named after lady gaga songs

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amphibianwitch · 1 year

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#bowuigi #mario movie #i was so bored at work and this came out #they know what they're doing and you can't convice me otherwise #bowser x luigi

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martisno · 2 months

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I love drawing taranza uahh

#they're not finished but i got tired and bored of them #so only tumblr can have them #teehee #kirby #kirby fanart #taranza #gijinka #my art

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evilkaeya · 9 months

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domestic skk

#'why did u pick vampire chuuya for the icon' idk leave me alone #I'm actually so bored (i have dozens of tasks to do)#didn't even play genshin today #i think childe and zhongli dropped today? but i have them both #I WANT FREMINET THO #i have like. 198 primogems.#I'll do around 10-15 pulls for freminet and then stop because i need to save for navia #does anyone know when they're releasing my girl from the basement #lowkey went on a genshin rant in the tags here oops #anyways #skk #soukoku

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lulu-draws-stuff · 1 month

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This was gonna be a comic, but I wasn't having fun drawing it, so I scrapped it

You get the cover and outfits section

#art #illustration #fanart #psychonauts #razputin aquato #lili zanotto #sasha nein #milla vodello #raz psychonauts #lili psychonauts #sasha psychonauts #milla psychonauts #outfits #the idea was that Sasha and Milla get assigned to investigate reports of strange psychic happenings at a mall #and Raz hears about it and begs to come along. and Lili's says she's coming if Raz is #and it's likely not very serious so they're allowed as long as they stay out of trouble #but Raz keeps wanting to look at everything and go into all the stores #Lili gets bored that they're not finding anything and joins in Raz's wanting to actually do things #and she sorta convinces Milla as well. by guilt tripping her about how Raz hasn't been to a mall before and so he's never seen any of it #so Sasha's left as the only one taking the mission seriously #also they've got different outfits (other than the ones in the outfits section) so you can tell it's a different time than in the games #I think probably a month or so post psychonauts 2

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roukabi · 1 month

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I feel like when it comes to the Dusthide debate, a lot of people seem to misinterpret the main point of Ancients as both a game element and a product.

A big part of Flight Rising is dress-up. While users can argue on what the sole draw of FR is (dragons themselves, breeding, the Dominance system, etc), it's generally agreed that the dress-up aspect is one with a lot of care and resources put into it, and is therefore very important to site gameplay. Dress-up keeps getting updated with new apparel, and if there is to be a new dragon breed, it needs every piece of apparel re-drawn on it. This takes time. A lot of time. Gaps between dragons (now known as Moderns) stretch for years at a time.

Ancients were initially created as a way to fill in these time gaps between Moderns, and the easiest way to do that was to release dragons without apparel. However, this is a game that puts a lot of emphasis on dragon dress-up. Imagine if Obelisks were released without any coded apparel. You'd just have a naked dragon missing a huge element of the game, and for most players, there's no fun in that.

This is where the second point of Ancients comes in: because the appeal of clothing is gone, there has to be some kind of compromise. So... if Ancients can't wear apparel, then they are no longer restrained by the requirements for apparel (1 head/4 legs/2 wings)...

which means that they can break the modern mold freely! You can have a dragon with no legs, or six. Or with two heads, or no head. And now that you don't have to worry about apparel clipping, the tertiary genes can go wild! There is room for customization that apparel can't fulfill - you could give it extra wings, or a jellyfish head, or giant tree horns, or you could give it nothing at all as tertiary genes are optional, and it wouldn't matter because there's no apparel to be drawn around it!

Ancients are supposed to be a trade-off. There's no selling point to a dragon without clothing on the Dragons With Clothing Game, but there is a selling point to a dragon with, say, 13 legs, no wings and no tail. It doesn't wear apparel, because it physically can't, and it makes use of this function in creative ways. The inability to wear apparel is justified by the Ancient's unique proportions.

And this is where the criticisms for Dusthides and other 'basic' Ancients stems from: if your Ancient dragon is just the 1 head/4 legs/2 wings setup, then is it really an Ancient or a Modern you can't dress up? You could have the wildest, gaudiest, 15-limb tertiary gene on a Dusthide and it wouldn't matter, because tertiaries are optional and aren't a permanent part of the dragon that would inhibit the usage of apparel.

If a dragon doesn't have a justifiable reason to not wear apparel, then there's no reason for it being an Ancient.

No amount of linebreaking tertiaries will be able to hide the fact that some dragons seem to be created only for the first, initial purpose: just to tide people over until a better, 'real' dragon is created.

And that's just disappointing.

#lots of discussion going on in the flight rising tag so i'm adding my two cents #well. more like seven cents #i'll admit i don't care for dusthides and i didn't care for auraboas either #i just... don't know where staff is going with this. why all these ancients now? why make them (for lack of a better word) boring?#what's the end goal here? who is this for?#that's my biggest question. Who Is This For?#dusthides aren't for people who like moderns because they're not getting any #they're not really for people who like the mould-breaking of ancients because. well. they aren't #they're not for people who like ancients for lore because they didn't drop with lore #i guess they're for people who like linebreaking genes? but idk what makes those stand out apart from. yknow. apparel.#flight rising #fr #dusthides #fr ancients #rook roars!

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crowleyholmes · 7 months

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The thing that gets me so much about the kiss though, among many other things but this one i just never stop thinking about (and i'm sure it's one Crowley doesn't stop thinking about either), is how despite how shocked Aziraphale was by it and how scared and overwhelmed he was and how dangerous he knew it was (because he knew the Metatron was most likely watching), and despite the fact that he Forgives Crowley for it afterwards and breaks his heart, he didn't pull away. He didn't push Crowley away, either. And he easily could have, I'm 100% sure. Sure, Crowley was holding him in place by his coat lapels but still. Aziraphale could have turned his face away, could have pried Crowley's hands off, could have pushed him by the shoulders, could have verbally protested... but he didn't. In the end it's Crowley who ends the kiss and lets him go. Aziraphale wanted it just as much as Crowley did. But he was scared and confused and completely overwhelmed, and of course he falls back into old patterns. Plausible deniability!! Put on the front of the Good Angel! What do good angels do? Oh yeah, they forgive! It's their favorite thing! The good angel forgives the evil demon, look, Metatron, we're both doing exactly what we're supposed to be doing!!! Aziraphale is - stupidly? pointlessly? maybe!! - throwing up this facade, this ancient front they have always been forced to hide behind, to keep them both safe!!!

But at the same time, he IS angry. There is definitely some sincerity in that "I forgive you" he spits at Crowley. Because if there was one thing he never wanted to say in response to Crowley finally, finally kissing him, it's "i forgive you". It's pushing him away and breaking his heart and breaking them up, to keep them both safe. To give them a chance to do what they have to. But Crowley forced him to. And he doesn't even see it. Of COURSE Aziraphale is fucking devastated.

#by Somebody i could keep rambling but i won't #good omens #good omens thoughts #forgive this incoherent mess this is what happens when the aziraphale POV of my gomens thoughts takes over #oh and before you come at me no i'm not saying crowley was wrong aziraphale was right boo boring black and white takes are boring!#they're both imperfect and they both made choices and those choices led to a fucking tragic end #and i love them both so much #they were both right and they were both wrong #crowley #aziraphale #<33

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