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stopthatfool · 6 months

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You said don't get you started on Ice's helmet or you'll be mean... please be mean. Please be mean to him. What is so disastrous about his helmet design?

my time has come. i will be mean to him. (thank you for getting me started on this. it bothers me every time I watch top gun.) this is also gonna be so long. yippee!

stopthatfool's issues with Tom "Iceman" Kazansky's helmet! aka this bad boy right below. (I'm sorry if anyone loves Ice's helmet, it's just not for me)

The placement of his name. WHY is it on the side? Both him and Slider have their names on the side. That makes me think it's a squadron thing? (the VF-213s) but regardless i don't care cuz i think it's stupid. (again sorry if someone thinks its genius. ok i'll stop apologizing)

My biggest issue with the fact it's on the side is that it creates this uneven weight distribution. The side with his name feels considerably "heavier" than the side without.

And the thing i don't understand is that Ice's name is evenly numbered!! He could fit 3 letters on either side of the line that comes down the helmet! the letters wouldn't be unevenly distributed, so I don't know why he felt the need to put it there!!

Here, I have "annotated" his helmet and provided other viewpoints of his helmet!

The font/typeface! Ice.. is that ARIAL?? and it's not even bolded??? so not only is his name to one side and weirdly small... it's skinny and unbolded. (like you're THE Iceman. Don't you want your name big and bolded? I shouldn't be searching for your name when you're Mr. Iceman!)

Looking at his helmet head-on, part of his name isn't even visible.. like ok ICEM!

And then! There's this weird switch up in the shapes and line types that he used-- the angular and sharp points of the lightning bolts and the half circles surrounding the squadron logo (is it a logo?? idk im gonna call it a logo)

What i think Ice is trying to do here is create a "connection" between the circular part of the logo and the lightning bolts as the bolts go all the way to the back of the helmet... but in my opinion... it's not working. like at all.

The comparison between the harsh lines of the bolts and then the curves is just kind of hard on the eyes (for me anyway). I just don't know where to look. Should i be following the leading lines of the lightning bolts? Or the curves of the half-circle things? Or should I be following the line of the lightning bolt in the logo?

And all throughout that... i barely end up seeing the name on the helmet.

Continuing off the logo... for Top Gun 1986, Ice and Slider are in the VF-213 squadron, but the movie switched the logo to the VFA-25s that looks like this on their flight suits-

(yes that is the best quality image i could find from the movie my bad) So why does the logo on his helmet look like this???

WHY do the fingers look like that. they look like hotdogs im so sorry. (logistically it was probably easier for the decals to be printed and then applied like this. but. we're not talking about technicalities here. right now i'm tearing apart the entire composition of Ice's helmet.)

I like version of the logo on their flight suits soooo much better! It's got more "rhythm" and flow to it that the lightning bolts lack! Plus no hotdog fingers.

Ok ok, now on the colour scheme. The harsh and bright blues I don't mind. Like yeah, you're The Iceman, punch me in the face with blue. I can forgive that. The thing that really bothers me.. is the silver/grey base of the helmet.

It's this really harsh grey that really doesn't help with the already harsh blues. I think he should've continued with the blue he has going. cuz this grey ain't working, king.

Ok, anyway. Since I should be studying, I'm obviously doing anything but studying. So i redesigned ice's helmet. ya idk.

it's kind of wonky.. but whatevs (ignore how the lightning bolt on the side view doesn't line up with the front view) (and ignore the inconsistences in the lettering. i was lazy and did it by hand)

I also didn't want to completely change/get rid of the aspects of Ice's helmet. So the changes aren't huge (except for maybe the name placement/"font")

ok I changed the background colour (finally, it's less all up in your face now) I continued with the blues and lessened the intensity just a little bit. I really wanted his name to be front and center!

Now the colour scheme is also consistent. No random black lettering (again, in arial???) there's now black in both his name, the outline of the lightning bolts and the logo!

Now his name is evenly distributed! See how it fits on either side of the line that comes down the center of the helmets from '86? See how you can actually see his whole name? See how it's heavier and fits the whole "iceman" theme better? (at least in my opinion)

Come on, Ice! You should've used the leading lines provided by the lightning bolts to guide people to your name! There's now a fun little overlapping moment!

(ignore how i forgot to dot one of the i's in distribution whoops)

No more weird half circle things! No more conflicting leading lines! But! I decided to extend the arm of the squadron logo to continue the line of the lightning bolt as it moves backward. I think this makes the circle of the logo fit better, while simultaneously creating that "connection" he was trying to get in his actual design.

The lack of half-circle things also allow for the logo and lightning bolts to just "be." There's no distraction. it's not overly "busy" anymore (like maverick's helmet). It's simple, but he's The Iceman! He doesn't need it to say/have more!

And the use of the "actual" logo seen on Slider and Ice's flight suits creates that sense of movement that was absent before! Plus no hotdog hands!

Is this new proposed design perfect? Absolutely not! The logo and the lightning bolts still create a weird point of almost intersection that still bothers me. But I think fundamentally, there's always going to be issues with these two components: the circle will never quite fit in, and the lightning bolt the hand is holding will always "cut" the whole thing in half, creating a weird separation in the helmet, that will always bother me.

Anyway, this was a lot of fun! (I love being mean to these guys. they need their egos brought down a couple pegs!)

#now if only i put this much effort into my actual assignments regarding composition breakdowns....#looking at it now. i think i just spelt distribution wrong. blegh. whatever.#ICEMAN! big bold letters! like oh yeah! that guy!#long story short! i hate his helmet!#i hate hate HATE your hair and makeup today #like that clip from rupauls drag race u know?#top gun #top gun 1986 #iceman #tom iceman kazansky #stopthatfool goes crazy and explodes #stopthatfool draws

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totally-not-an-awkward-okapi · 1 year

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The Sandman is a lot of things.

They are sand, gravel, shingle, and pebbles.

They are robbing a bank, they are a sandbar, and they are delighting children.

They are mollusc shells, bones, and worn down glass.

They are being studied, they are a scientist, and they are enjoying a nice stroll on the beach.

Somewhere in this tangle of things they are is also who and what they once were. They know that they have to have been one thing, once upon a time.

It’s hard to explain what it feels like. Everyone else seems to experience the world so differently than they do, it’s hard to put it in words that make sense.

They are all fingers on a hand, but the hand is experiencing paresthesia. They are a dust devil, but there is no wind. They are a flock of sea gulls, each gull of their own mind yet flying in perfect formation.

They are the Sandman.

#can you tell my introduction to The Sandman was the episode of USM #where Marko goes ~cRaZy~ and splits himself into composite parts to keep himself company in solitary confinement #Sandy had alters long before she became what he is now #even now their not all ‘separate’ entities #some alters remain dormant or still switch with each other #this one was just the one I was most intresting in drawing #my art #the sandman #spiderman villain redesigns #specter spider au

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brewerssupplies · 9 months

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In relation to the fireworks wizard post and the Lord of the Rings part comp. The party composition for The Hobbit is just as crazy if not more.

It goes

Dwarf fighter

Halfling rogue

And occasionally that same fucking aasimar wizard.

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #d&d #dungeons & dragons #5e #ad speaks #meme #shitpost #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #hobbit #dwarf

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ironmanstan · 1 year

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#have just realized well. i have 3 pieces left to do until i have met the minimum requirements for portfolio and everything else is extra #like aside from the required drawing tests but ive been ignoring them so i could do them like closer to the deadline #bc i dont wanna grow in skill and have to redo them #but one is done already. one is just some obervation studies i can do in free time.#and the last is a still life that will require much from me for the composition but i know what i want to do #and w my 3 pieces. one is a study and one is entirely planned i just have to draw it #third piece is a free for all acrylic study i wanna do before attempting a full acrylic painting as extra #so yeah like. i know what i need to do and some of it is close to being done #thats crazy. i feel hollow and scared . soon it will be too late to do anything more and i will have to live with what ive done #ouuuhghhh boy. woooooo baby.#i havent been this endlessly nonstop stressed and working like ever. i wake up i draw i zone out i eat i go to sleep #on repeat for weeks #i feel like when i did all of my biology in one day just working nonstop and feeling nothing so i work faster. but on loop every day #inshaallah i look back at this and i am like damnnnn something was WRONGGGG WITH MEEEEE LMAOOOO #lord. it is almost scarier being almost done than it is being somewhere in the middle floating along #like i have about 54.. something like that. percent done. if all goes to plan #then by saturday i will beeee. 70 percent done #hhhhhhjjgjjjnnhnhbn #if i can complete my personal work next week on a free day and then knock out my drawing tests ill have a solid 2 weeks to fix anything #and make extra work #phhhhhhoujjjjgjjhnh wow. wowww wow my god huh #the gamer speaks uwu #sometime in between all this ill finish my zine work and my work work lmao

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rendezvouz-fling · 1 year

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Astro Observations #19

• I’ve noticed a pattern with Air and Earth risings and their dads not physically being there in their lives or being away for long periods of time and staying for shorter periods of time.

• People with Gemini rising and mercury at Leo degrees (5, 17, 29) or with their 3rd house in Leo tend to be very animated, expressive storytellers and are great at mimicking others! If they’re into singing then they might be good at imitating the original singer of that song’s voice.

• They’re also good at making impressions of other people.😂 Same goes for Leo rising with mercury in Gemini degrees (3, 15, 27) or people with their 5H in Gemini!✨

• Another thing about people with Leo in their 3H is that they WILL be over the top or dramatic when they see fit!! I have this placement and I literally pretended to faint when I saw my mom about to hit me while holding the pan she was washing with her other hand when I was a kid.🤣

• Capricorn moon kids aren’t the mini adults I see a lot of people stereotyping especially when they have Air/Fire in their charts. 🧐 Yes they might become very responsible as kids but they can also be the loud charming ones with the funniest laughs!😂

• Most 70s music/dance show hosts had prominent Scorpio/Libra placements with a dash of Aquarius energy! E.g. Dick Clark a 70s/80s show host from American Bandstand was a Scorpio moon/venus/rising & his sun was at 7 (Libra) degree while his rising was at 11 (Aquarius) degree!! And Don Cornelius the creator and show host of Soul Train throughout 3 decades was a Libra sun/mercury/venus with an Aquarius moon at 20 (Scorpio) degree!!🤎

• They also had inner planets at 28 degree!✨

• I’ve noticed some people with Fire venuses don’t get along with their dads that much, some of them had more of the ‘tough love’ type fathers.

• The reason most air moons seem to be emotionally aloof especially Aquarius moons, is because at some point in their lives they might’ve been shown that the only way to get by is by intellect and logic. They might’ve also been told as kids that they’re being too emotional and to stop crying/being upset.

• Another is because they’ve adapted to bottling up their emotions all the time that they might not know a way to express them openly and might just internalize it.

• Earth mars artists from the late 70s/early 80s were your go-to, classic R&B artists!! E.g. Patrice Rushen, Bobby DeBarge from Switch & Teena Marie are all Capricorn mars. Tommy DeBarge from Switch, Rick James and Donna Summer were all Virgo mars. Bunny DeBarge from DeBarge & Wayne Cooper from Cameo are both Taurus mars. 🍂

• If you feel like some placements in your composite don’t really add up with your relationship then check your Davison chart because I promise it’ll feel more accurate!

• Gemini suns with Sagittarius moons are very talkative and seem so feisty!😭

• Saturn doms have very attractive/prominent body shapes!

• Aquarius suns with Aquarius mercuries are funny without trying. ✋🏽😂

• Pisces suns with Aquarius mercuries and Aries venuses be literally taking the words out my mouth and say some of the meanest things!🤣

• Aries mercuries will literally say mean things before laughing and then hit you with the “What? It’s true.”😭🤣

• Fire mars men are built different!😭 Their height/weight might often trick people into thinking they’re soft but they are SO strong.

• Venus doms, how does it feel to get more beautiful every day?

• Mercurial risings kill me!😭 Virgo risings have a hilarious sometimes dry or more introverted humor while Gemini risings can be all over the place cracking jokes and exaggerating things lol.

• What’s with 5H suns and having a thing for verbal expressions. They’re literally the types to imitate a sound track when they’re explaining things.😭😭😭

• Some Gemini risings tend to have a signature laugh or people might point out/compliment their laughter often.

• They might also have them crazy laughs too and you’ll notice it specifically when you get close to them.🤣

• That one Aquarius moon family member 🤝 every other family member always going to them when they have problems with their technology or doing something online.

• Aries venus is that one cousin that will be spontaneous and very funny when you’re both good but will mean mug and say hurtful things to you/about you when you’re not on good terms anymore.😭

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 5 months

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more limited cards for book 7??

Ortho has his Cerberus Gear card, Lilia has his Right General card, now Sebek is getting his Eternal Knight card… I’M SENSING A PATTERN HERE 🫣 Dropping every so often with book 7 updates… Plus, these appear to be linked to the player titles you can earn by owning 10 of a particular character’s cards. Ortho’s is Guardian of the Underworld (Cerberus is the guard dog of the Underworld and Lilia’s is Seeker of Cradles (referring to how he found Silver all those years back). The composition of Sebek’s Knight of Lightning invokes imagery of his UM (which we learned last update), and he appears to be wearing the armor of the night fae soldiers and is using a polearm (?), which makes me think he's going to participate in an important battle in the next update. A high definition version of the artwork shows that he seems to be wet from rain, as it’s all over his skin and weapon. You know what else???? We see half of his face... and the other half obscured by a mask... his hair is down (which is only ever down in the mornings when he has just woken up and is still in a more vulnerable kind of state). Is this symbolism for Sebek finally coming to terms with his mixed heritage 😭

Y’all think… Idia, Malleus, and Silver are also going to get limited time cards in relation to future book 7 updates and those player titles??? Ain’t no way they’d only do it for half of the relevant characters in book 7 and leave it unfinished… (Maybe TWST will even get to doing them for the full cast eventually?? Though I don’t know when they’d find the time to squeeze in releases for the rest of the boys 💦) fbdjvwjsnzkww I wonder what they’ll be???

Just to quickly speculate on Malleus, Silver, and/or Idia’s potential cards:

King of the Underworld (Idia) — Idia finally wakes tf up and gets off his ass to contribute to the rescue 😂 Perhaps he reconnects with his family to figure out the situation and goes full mad scientist/hacker mode?? Not sure what the outfit would be but I’m picturing he’s looking deranged and dressed mad cyberpunk-y.

Knight of Dreams (Silver) — This one, I think, is the most easily predicted. Many Silver cards mirror Sebek’s, and since Sebek’s card seems to feature him in the armor of the night fae, Silver’s may feature him in the armor of the Silver Owls. (Maybe Silver will even magically get his blonde hair back for the brief shot of the initial card art www) This may be tied with Silver fully accepting his royal lineage (ie his old family) while also embracing those he has sworn to protect now (his new family). It may or may not also be associated with Silver “waking” Lilia and/or the spell on him finally breaking thanks to Lilia’s true love. I would genuinely be shocked if this guess was wrong or not close—

Ruler of the Abyss (Malleus) — Two thoughts: either this kicks off the series of OB boy cards people have been speculating about for years OR this will kick off the start of the OB boys “fully realized” series, since the other OB boys have similar titles. However, it should be noted that these same titles are also very close to, if not the same as, the book titles (1-7), which may not be as triumphant in context given that they serve as the main antagonists for their respective books. So either we’re getting Malleus Full Crazy Mode or Malleus maturing a bit and finally learning to let his loved ones go. In both cases, I see him dressed up like the prince he is, looking regal and yet lonely.

Do you guys have any ideas??? (They don’t necessarily have to he for Idia, Silver, and/or Malleus! One of my friends suggested merform Jade and Floyd for potential Undersea Advisor and Undersea Marauder cards—) If you do, feel free to share them ^^

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lover-of-mine · 2 months

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Okay, so, this will be a stream-of-consciousness type post, because I am this close to starting to print screenshots and do a full murder board trying to make this make sense to someone who is not in my brain, so I'm gonna type this out, and if you're seeing this that means it worked or I just typed for too long to not post lol.

Buck, Actually. Buck, Bothered, and Bewildered. I am not the only person that desperately wants a callback, and I know I'm not the only one thinking about what this might mean for buddie. Well, I've been saying for a while now that I would try to type out something about how buddie has been planned and the answers are in Buck, Actually, and that's what I'm gonna do now, I guess.

We know Buck gets a lot of his ideas of love from Buck, Actually. Seeing Maddie and Chim in the early stages, his own quest with love while moving on from Abby, notably Mitchell and Thomas and the "you don't find it, son, you make it." Buck's quest with love now is at a point where Buck wants to be seen "I feel like she sees me" but he is still at a point where he doesn't want to actually be seen, he wants someone to see what he wants to show, but that's not what actual love is. But still, we start out Buck, Actually with Buck literally in front of a huge sign that says "See Me" (also just to add into my madness about the blue and green in other elements of the scene, love the clear divide of Eddie against the sky and Buck against the sign, and yes I know they can't change the color of the sky or the sign but shh just go with it) with Eddie right above it. Interesting scene composition I think.

But talking about the actual couple here, we have Lola, who feels like her husband doesn't see her anymore after a situation where she feels like she lost herself, their kid went off to college, she has more time to herself, is struggling, and goes nuclear until Norman proves that he does in fact see her, just not in the way she was looking for, dude just wasn't aware there was a problem that needed to be addressed. I know I make everything about the cemetery scene lately, but come on. The whole thing with being seen, Buck not knowing who he is after dying, the expectation he is putting on himself about being the person he was before but he doesn't know who that is, like, come on, it's there.

Then the robbers and the two employees at the gas station, granted the robbers are a lot about Buck thinking about his own ways when it comes to sex and women considering he just had sex with Taylor in a bathroom, BUT here is when I start to go a little crazy. Because Ruth and Earl have that little moment of a relationship developing (hi blue scrunchie green cap 🫶), which we later see has developed, but Earl with his injured right shoulder is talking about how he's hurt but he was only thinking about her safety.

Does that sound familiar to anyone else? Just a thought. Yes, I know I'm crazy, it's fine, it will get worse.

Because another thing about the episode is the whole "till death do us part" thing, with the newlyweds who crashed their car, Mitchell and Thomas dying together, and maybe even Buck having to hold Lola back so she wouldn't fall. I'll come back to this in a second, but you gotta love a nice little crush injury involving a vehicle and a focus on handholding, huh?

But the thing is, Mitchell and Thomas make an impression on Buck, and Mr Self Destruct for Attention because that was the only way I was shown love as a child definitely takes the way they die together a bit too literally. Taylor being in this episode while being blatantly wrong for Buck makes an interesting point on that and the way bucktaylor evolves, because Buck gets the whole you make it, and decides he needs to kill himself to make it work, and it is what he ultimately does with Taylor, he thinks he loves her, he thinks she loves him, and he thinks that means if he doesn't give up he can move past his very obvious reservations about the relationship as a whole because "love is not supposed to be easy". But the whole thing is that Buck focuses on the wrong thing there because while Michell and Thomas died together, they had a whole life together, the point is not the death, it is the life. Yes, you need to fight to make it work, but the fight is not all you have.

Another thing about the episode is the concept of movement too, like, Lola's call on a freeway, both accidents involving a car crash of some sort, the robbery is a chase, even Buck and Taylor in the news van, Maddie talking about how slow being on the freeway is, and metaphorically too, with Madney starting to move towards something, Athena learning to deal with Michael's boyfriend. And Buck finally allowing himself to move on, and move on not going back to his old habits, sleeping with anyone for connection, but actually talking to his love interest for a change.

And we have relationships in all types of moments there, we have Buck and Taylor doomed to fail, we have Maddie and Chim in that nice early stage where you're falling in love with someone, you have Bobby and Athena and the whole when you know you know and the way Bobby proposes the next episode, we have the newlyweds, we have Ruth and Earl making the change in their relationship, we have Robber Guy and Baby Bear realizing that she's more in it than he is, we have Lola and Norman and the whole relationships take effort no matter how long you've been together, you have Mitchell and Thomas sharing a whole life.

There's also the whole layer of having the couple that shows Buck what he wants out of love be a gay couple, the way when Buck realizes Thomas is unresponsive he calls for Eddie first, because Chim and Hen are at the call, and they're not with Mitchell because Mitchell's body is there too, so like, the choice to make sure Eddie would be right next to Buck to comfort him is something.

Also, something else, the inmate who kidnaps them is also called Mitchell, and I cannot explain how I got here for the life of me. But Mitchell, Mitchell, Charlie, Charlie, Ambulance.

I don't know, something about the repetition of names, the ambulance as a key piece of the scene, the bonding, the comfort, the fear, the way Mitchell and Thomas died together, and Buck and Eddie could have died together in all of those situations. And the way Buck volunteers into the danger in all of those situations, he offers to help Eddie with the grenade, he goes to get Eddie without backup while actively being shot at, he runs toward the gunfire because he thinks Eddie is in danger, so like, it's a pattern of wanting to go together.

But also, the madney of it all, because while they are clearly moving towards something, they are not ready yet, but everything is acknowledged, which honestly is my main hope, because I don't think buddie is ready yet, but I would like some acknowledgment that where they're going, yk? And with the episode title possibly being a play with the song about being in love and not showing it, not knowing what to do with it, and the next episode being called "you don't know me" who could also be referencing a song about being in love with someone who doesn't know, we could be looking at real movement happening between the two of them yk?

I don't know if this makes a lot of sense, but if you read this I love you 🫶

#someone tell me if this makes any sense #i'm still not hitting all the points #but i seriously dont know how #my brain is not braining #but the clown shoes are ON #anyway #911 meta #kinda #911 #911 speculation #911 spoilers #buddie thoughts #i think?

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melonteee · 3 months

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I find Garp’s inclusion in the LA fascinating because so many issues with the series can be traced directly back to him.

Arlong’s presence and the climax of his own arc getting cut short, despite introducing him earlier to be an overarching threat? All the screen time that would’ve been Arlong’s was given to Garp. Sanji getting sidelined? Because the Baratie now had to be about Luffy’s granddaddy issues with Garp. Zoro’s fight with Mihawk feeling rushed and underwhelming and then giving a second pledge to Luffy that kinda goes against the spirit of Zoro’s character? Because the show used a good chunk of that time to have Luffy make Zoro’s loss about his relationship with Garp. Usopp getting sidelined? Time was given to Koby on a side quest given to him by Garp. The stakes in Luffy’s fight with Arlong? Undercut in rewatches (or if you know the source material) because you know Garp is waiting somewhere off-screen so there’s no tension about the fate of Arlong Park if Luffy fails. Flashbacks of the main characters’ pasts being often being rushed, undercooked, or weirdly placed in the story? Garp. Hell, he even has an effect on the immediate future arcs because Smoker’s subplot about unraveling the mystery behind the Baroque Works (and then discovering the main reason Crocodile got so close to succeeding was because his superiors were asleep at the wheel) is contradicted by both Garp and Morgan knowing about the Baroque Works already.

Garp’s a walking talking cock-up cascade of a B-plot.

The funniest thing is Garp literally ruined the shot composition of Roger’s execution. Garp standing there on the execution platform with Roger genuinely ruins the blocking of the actors and pulls away from Roger BEING CENTRED and taking EVERYONE’S attention in the world…by making us look at Garp instead. He stands out like a sore thumb.

If that isn’t a metaphor for how absolutely piss poor Garp’s inclusion was, I don’t know what is. Gee Netflix maybe you should’ve listened to the original creator, you know? The man who WROTE and CREATED THE STORY for 25 ONGOING YEARS? Crazy.

#ask #melonask #oplatalks

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hairmetal666 · 1 year

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Steddie Notes BONUS PART

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7)

Eddie wakes up to an empty bed. He’s a little surprised, honestly, since he had his heart set on first anniversary morning sex. Though, based on the smells wafting through their apartment, Steve’s making breakfast, which is an acceptable alternative (plus, if he has it his way, they aren’t leaving the bed again today).

The digital alarm clock on his bedside table is obscured by a Composition Book he doesn’t remember bringing to bed. He reaches for it before his brain registers the red ink dragon sketched on the cover. His hands tremble as he flips it open, but the first few pages are written in his own scrawl. Steve’s handwriting doesn’t appear until 10 pages in and Eddie’s heart stutters at the sight.

March 28, 1986

God, Eddie, I’m so sorry. So, so fucking sorry. I can’t— I’m sorry. I should have been there, I should’ve protected you, I should’ve kept you safe.

You wouldn’t be part of this if it weren’t for me. Robin and Dustin keep telling me that's not true, that Chrissy was already cursed but. Robin is here because of me. Erica-fucking Sinclair is here because of me. And now you. And you’re dying. And it’s my fault.

I don’t even know what I’m doing right now, but I can’t just sit and wait, I’d lose my mind. Anyway. You left this notebook in my trunk, and I hope you don’t mind that I’m using it.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this terrified in my life, Eds.

Please don’t die on me. I can’t live in this world without you.

March 29, 1986

Hey Eds

You made it through the night. I can’t fucking believe it. I ripped Robin’s shirt when the doctor came in to tell us that you were out of surgery and stable, and then he dropped the bomb that your chance of surviving the night was 40%. Forty-fucking-percent. I guess you beat the odds, babylove.

I’m with Uncle Wayne at your bedside. He threw a fit to make sure I could be here whenever I wanted, and that everyone could visit.

You’ve missed some wild shit, Munson, you’re going to be so mad when you wake up.

Come back to me, sweet boy. I can’t take this.

March 30, 1986

Made it through a second night, babe.

I hope you wake up soon.

Miss you like crazy.

I keep looking at you in this hospital bed, and you look so fucking small. I hate it. You’re the loudest voice in the room. You don’t just take up space, you demand it. It’s killing me that I haven’t heard your voice in days. And my brain, it keeps filling in things you would say, and I wait for you to speak up, but of course you don’t. It’s a kick to the balls every single time.

The thing is.

The thing is that I need you to wake up, Eddie. You can’t leave me. I made up my mind a long time ago, we’re spending our lives together. And it can’t fucking end now. It can’t end because of this.

And I need you to open your goddamn beautiful eyes so I can tell you how much I love you. You don’t get to go before you hear me say it, do you understand?

I love you. You’re it for me. I’ve never wanted a forever as much as I want one with you. So, you have to wake up, yeah? You have to wake up so we can grow up, have a family, have a life together.

Promise you won’t leave me, Eds.

March 31, 1986

You woke up, you motherfucker. The doctors kicked me out to look you over and I cried so hard in the bathroom that Robin made El break down the door with her powers.

Thank you for coming back. I won’t ever let you go again.

April 7, 1987

I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m giving this to you, babylove. It’s been a year. Look how far we’ve come.

✏️✏️✏️✏️

September 18, 2015

It’s way too fucking early for Eddie to even be awake and he has the day off. Steve asked him to take vacation months ago, didn’t say why, and now that fucker has the audacity to not even be in the house. And like, sure, they’ve been together for close to thirty years, and Eddie knows that Steve goes for a run at the ass crack of dawn.

Still pisses him off, though.

Eddie huffs down to the kitchen to get coffee started, doing a double take when he sees a familiar black Composition Book with red dragon on the cover.

He walks towards it slowly because this has been framed on the wall since their first anniversary, way back in ’87, and Steve isn’t home.

Eddie opens it, re-reads the panicked, lovesick notes Steve wrote in the hospital, doesn't bother to fight back the tears. He gets to the last letter and the paper is stiff and wrinkled, like it took water damage. Eddie flips the page, grief already pumping through his veins.

What he sees instead is college-ruled notebook paper, glued in place. It reads:

“I fucking hate this class.”

“Tell me about it.”

“trig. You?”

“Algebra 2 :(”

A sound escapes his mouth, something between a laugh and a sob.

“Hey man, I'm pretty sure I fucked things up with us, and I owe you an apology. I've always known who you were, but you had no idea I was me...”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re kind of beautiful, Munson?”

“Watch. The. Movie. This is the last time we get high first if this is how you behave.”

“What are you gonna win me at the fair, Harrington?”

“If you’re nice to me, probably something cute.”

“Eddie…I think I really like you

You’re my favorite person in the entire world

Some days you’re the only thing I can think about

I want to wake up in bed with you everyday

I can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss you

Do you like me? Yes or No”

“What are you doing about Hellfire?”

“Huh?”

“If the game is Friday. Lucas can’t do both.”

“He made his choice.”

“You ever been in love?”

No, but I think I’m falling”

“I love you, Eddie”

All the sketches of the sailor boy and the rockstar are there, even the one Eddie stuck to the poster in his room, though how Steve managed to get that is anyone’s guess.

There are pictures too, Eddie and Max still recuperating in the hospital; Corroded Coffin performing at the Hideout; them holding the keys to the bar, Steve shirtless and hammering something while Eddie looks on, with the increasingly popular bands Eddie booked to play their must-see Friday night slots; Steve on his first day of college and one of him jumping into Eddie’s arms in his graduation gown, mortar board slipping off his head; In the hospital cradling their twin girls with Max giving a weary thumbs-up between them. Shot after shot of their family, their life, their dreams coming true. A scrapbook of their lives together, big moments and small; good and bad.

Eddie’s crying freely as he flips through the rest of the book, still fucking astounded that Steve is the love of his life, that they’re making a forever together.

Eddie flips to the last page. Stops dead.

In Steve’s looped handwriting, unchanged since high school, it says:

“Eddie,

Will you marry me?”

“What the fuck?” He yelps, standing up fast enough that his chair crashes to the floor.

He turns and Steve— his reason for being, the man that brought him back from the dead—Steve Harrington, is down on one knee, something silver glinting in his outstretched hand.

“Eddie,” he says, his voice a wreck. “Marry me?”

Eddie crashes to his knees, shoving at Steve’s shoulder. “You’re such an idiot.”

Steve laughs. “Is that a yes?”

Eddie laughs too, but it quickly morphs into a sob, “Of course it’s a yes, Steve. Of course.”

Hands trembling, Steve slips the ring onto Eddie’s hand. It’s a thin silver band with skeletal hands contorted into an infinity symbol.

They fall into a kiss that rips the breath from Eddie’s lungs, but then that’s nothing new. When they finally pull apart Eddie asks, “why today?”

Steve blushes and grabs at the back of his neck. “Thirty-one years ago, I walked into Mundy’s class and found a note on the window ledge.”

“What the fuck.” Eddie’s mouth drops, his heart stuttering. This man.

“Once I figured out you leaving that note was going to be one of the most important moments of my life? I made sure to never forget.”

“Baby.” Eddie pulls Steve in for another kiss. “I can’t wait to marry you.”

Steve tugs at Eddie’s hand. “C’mon.”

“Where we going?”

“The girls will be here in a couple hours, and I have some things I want to do to you before they’re home.”

“The GIRLS?” Eddie shrieks. “How the hell long have you been planning this? Did they KNOW?”

“Since the end of June,” Steve answers without missing a beat. “And of course they know. Everyone knows. I asked Wayne for his blessing.”

Eddie can’t speak, his heart crashing in his chest as he, once again, thanks whatever entity made it possible for him to have this.

“I’ve been in love with you for over half my life, Eds. I wanted to do this right. You deserve it. We deserve it.”

He pulls Steve into his arms, kissing him hard enough that their teeth clack, but neither of them care.

✏️✏️✏️✏️

When they come home from dinner, as Steve reaches in his pocket for his keys to let the entire family in the house to celebrate their engagement, he finds a gum wrapper tucked in with the metal. He unfolds it, the words within unfurling in his heart, his soul.

"Thank you for giving me forever, sweetheart."

Edited: check out the full version on ao3!

This is officially the end! I hope you enjoyed this little (long) bonus part. Thanks for reading! 💜💜💜

@gaysonthefloor @little-gae-shit @ineffablecolors @mojowitchcraft @hiscrimsonangel @thegingerrapunzel @adelicioustragedy @mackdaddyofheimlichcountyy @im-sam-fucking-winchester @rainydays35 @gobbledy-gluk-gluk @gay-stranger-things @sherilitchi @gezell-igg @leather-and-freckles @bornonthesavage @ramyayaya @awkwardgravity1 @chaoticvictorianspirit @thosemessyvibes @beeing-stuupid @silentiumdelirium @freyaforestafay @thatbitchgayasf @sapphirecobalt-1 @sahh-dude @adorkfromnewyork @ollie-in-gray @extralegobrick @snapshotmaestro

@fandomgenderz @nuttychaosface @thatcottagewitch @idoquitelikebread @shinekocreator @savveth @mackfrfr0 @yourebuckingkiddingme @steddieassheg0es @gamerdano @thebig-smoke @questionablequeeries @zerokrox-blog @thegingervulcann @charlies-candid-corner@perpetual-trashcan @sleepy-rainedrop @marvelous-musicals @hoffmannwrites @fromapayphone @courtjestermunson@juicinmyjams @daydreaming-mood @aceflavouredyougurt @emly03 @pille1983 @darcyshandflex @anteaterballs @adankrivervalleynearyou @didntwant2come @kittsu-makes-glass @alienace

@somewhereatdawn @5pac3g1r7 @thequeervibes @paperbackribs @bitchysunflowerr @knitsforthetrail @wrenisflying @plasticcrotches @demoniccorvid @em9515 @savory-babby @loverliner @aceacebaby42

@trainchomp @anaibis

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canmom · 1 month

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Ping-Pong The Animation: eps 1-3

So Masaaki Yuasa [AN12, AN28, AN150] can do no wrong, right? OK, well, I'll admit Ride Your Wave was kinda mid, and Devilman Crybaby goes hard as hell at the beginning and end but sorta treads water in the middle, but... generally speaking! No-one does it like Yuasa.

For reasons I don't really remember, I didn't get very far watching Ping-Pong The Animation some years ago. It should be entirely my shit: Yuasa pulling in a gang of wildly creative animators to put their unique spin on something. However, the first episode didn't entirely hook me, and I never got round to trying the second before something else punted 'watching Ping Pong' out of my brain. ADHD, y'know.

This is a shame because even the very next episode seriously goes, as does the one after that. But also this anime isn't entirely what I was expecting (crazy sakugafest full of Yuasa weirdness). Not to say it doesn't do a lot of really unique stuff with its cinematography and animation, but these first episodes at least are more about like... dissociation! ennui!

But more on that in a mo. First I wanna continue the thread of 'how do you animate sports'.

So, ping-pong, or table tennis. Not a sport I know much about, I'll be honest. (To be fair I don't know a lot about sports in general outside of some very specific niches. The sports I've pursued so far are rather eclectic: swimming, fencing, tai chi chuan, and roller derby; I never got particularly far in any and it's been years since I've done them.)

I'll inevitably be drawing a lot of comparisons to The First Slam Dunk, the other sports anime I've watched recently. I do think it's a productive comparison though! Both of them bring something of the visual language of manga into their presentation in unique ways. I have not yet read the Ping Pong manga, but it's by Taiyō Matsumoto, otherwise known for scifi manga like Tekkonkinkreet (god tier movie, still need to read the manga) and Number Five. So that's a pretty impressive track record!

If you go take a look at some scans of Ping Pong, what will immediately jump out is the shaky, rough line style and unusual camera angles and compositions.

The stylisation is also very different from a lot of manga. Noses are fully drawn, eyes are realistically small, and in contrast, lips and mouths tend to get the emphasis - as well as hands.

Knowing this makes a lot of the creative choices in the anime make sense! It also adopts a shaky lineart style, and makes use of heavy line weights and spotting blacks to add definition. It also has a lot of crazy closeups and layouts, and it loves a visual metaphor. But most of all, the most striking element of this anime is how often it loves to split the picture up into little panels...

...which [eli]'s subs do a really good job of typesetting, incidentally, moving the dialogue to fit naturally into the split composition. And while this shot with 7 smaller shots is perhaps on the extreme end, splits of three or more are pretty frequent. It's a really interesting way to evoke the effect of seeing a whole page of manga

So, as you proooobably know, ping-pong is a game of bouncing balls off a little table and directing them into places the opponent will find it hard to hit them back. From watching this anime I picked up that there are a number of styles of holding the racket (e.g. 'penhold grip' and 'shakehand') and approaches to hitting the ball (e.g. 'chopping'). A lot of this pretty much went over my head, but honestly it didn't matter, since the narrative significance was pretty much always evident.

Compared to basketball, though, ping-pong is a pretty tricky sport to make visually interesting! Sure, you have the players running to and fro, and that can lead to some interesting poses, but how do you get the drama and tension into this?

Ping-pong additionally is all 2D, it doesn't have the sort of resources that Toei could throw at making the best looking 3DCG basketball game ever. It is limited to a TV-feasible drawing count. So it has to make use of clever limited-animation tricks to get the most impact out of fewest drawings.

Let's take an example sequence from episode 3. A minor character is about to get his ass kicked by Tsukimoto. Tsukimoto is something of a pingpong prodigy, and yet he is very emotionally closed-off and even standoffish; he doesn't particularly seem to like the game very much, and doesn't particularly feel inclined to flex on other players and get into the status games. But other players, like Wenge, have heard about him and want to see what he's got.

First we have the setup. Other characters are observing and discussing the game. Since ping-pong tends to involve very rapid exchanges, it can follow the classic shōnen model where there's a lot of talking, flashy fight sequence, more talking...

The cut happens in two steps, maintaining the vertical dividing line. This approach to cutting is used a lot in Ping-Pong, and it's quite a creative way to keep visual interest when it's using a lot of largely static shots. The panel on the right is more animated than the panel on the left, a naturalistic depiction of bouncing the ball off the table.

Things start moving faster here. A rapid pan on the image on the left disguises the fact that this anticipation pose is actually not moving at all. This then goes into a rapid, explosive moment as this guy serves.

The final pose is held for a couple of seconds while the voiceover line discussing his intended move finishes. This sort of elasticity of time is a very Osamu Dezaki type of move - it's something that Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata actually really disliked.

A sound effect hits as Tsukimoto appears on the right in silhouette, anticipating his reaction, and setting up the next shot which leaves the split picture and hides the background for just a moment, as if to put us in Tsukimoto's shoes: he only sees the ball.

Tsukimoto follows through and holds this pose - the ball is the only thing moving here. The ball moves mainly on 2s while Tsukimoto moves on 3s and 2s, and he and the ball move on alternating frames. He holds the pose as the ball zips off to the right (bouncing off the corner of the table), with a speed lines-like effect. At the end of the shot, the ball freezes in the air for the moment while the sound echoes.

The actual table-tennis round lasts just seconds, and the drawing count involved is pretty minimal, but it does a lot with those drawings.

We go back to voiceovers and reactions in the next few shots, returning to the split video as Tsukimoto's opponent thinks about how he'd really rather be at the beach...

Often, these comic-like compositions will change one panel at a time, and while one panel is animated another panel will be still, naturally moving your eyes across the screen. It is an approach similar to some experiments I've seen in 'animated comics' viewed in a web browser, where the panels do not appear all at once, but enter with some animation.

So this is the sort of animation technique that Ping Pong uses. It's effective! Elsewhere the cuts are used in a less direct, continuity-editing way and more in a juxtaposition/montage way. For example, Wenge's desire to return to China is symbolised by match cutting/fading to shots of an aeroplane.

And there is a recurring image, which I'm sure will be expanded on, of Tsukimoto hiding in a cupboard and wishing for a tokusatsu hero to come save him from his isolation. As Tsukimoto's feelings about himself change, the toku hero is replaced by a robot. At this points it starts to feel like an outright Ikuhara anime.

There is occasionally a little bit of CG, mainly when Tsukimoto uses a different type of racket surface, and the way the ball and racket make contact is the crucial thing that the shot is trying to convey...

It gets the job done, but I'm glad they stuck with 2D for most of it.

So I went in the first time expecting like, crazy elaborate sakuga - and to be fair, the OP, animated by none other than Shinya Ohira, delivers on that front - but if anything what I've seen so far in Ping-Pong is actually a triumph of storyboarding and limited animation techniques. I think back then I didn't have the eyes to appreciate it in the same way.

OK, that's the film nerd stuff, but what about the story? Ping Pong follows two school friends, Makoto Tsukimoto aka "Smile" (right), and Yutaka Hoshino aka "Peco" (left). Smile is defined by a flat affect and a standoffish persona. He's just going through the motions. He's very good at ping-pong, but to him it's just a way to pass time, and he's scornful about the idea of caring all that much about it. Much like Shinji with his casette player, Tsukimoto is pretty much always staring at a handheld games console rather than make eye contact with anyone.

Peco on the other hand is the more childish one - playful, kinda arrogant, very much an 'emotions on his sleeve' kinda guy. He sulks when he loses and gloats when he wins, and is constantly seen with bubblegum or other kinds of candy. He provides a lot of our commentary when he chats with the other players.

日本語上手 readers probably noticed the tsuki (moon) vs hoshi (star) symbolism thing they've got going on here!

High-school table tennis in this story seems to be a rather 'tough love' kinda world. Most of these players tend to look down on those who can't meet their level. Going easy on someone is seen as weakness, or cultivating bad habits, by almost everyone. Tsukimoto doesn't play at his full potential because he isn't as invested in winning as all these weirdos, but it seems that might be starting to change...

The coach is interesting. He's an old man and fairly disdainful of the club at large, and prone to speaking English randomly with a heavy accent. But he gets excited at the prospect of getting Tsukimoto to unleash his full potential, in terms that are repeatedly metaphorically compared to romance/marriage.

And when Tsukimoto gets sick of it, he challenges him to a game, with the stakes as...

Cue Makima/Beatrice images here I guess.

Tsukimoto de facto wins when the coach collapses, but this episode marks a change of heart. He starts to think of himself as a robot - the affect of a robot replacing the affect of the toku hero in his fantasy. And in this way he does what people seem to want and plays ping pong with mechanical precision, expressed once again in visual metaphor (shot here from a cool transformation sequence)...

What if I just dissociate harder? This is gonna end well.

So it really is one of those kind of like 'ennui of being a teenager' kind of stories - c.f. say FLCL. 'Boy with complicated emotional landscape' is Yuasa bread and butter, but the particular variant here seems a little unusual for him - they tend to be a little more earnest. I'm curious to see how Tsukimoto develops.

I am definitely enjoying the arrogant Chinese player Kong Wenge. Dude's got a lot of screen presence, and while I'm sure he'll get shown up sooner or later, he makes for a very fun antagonist of sorts.

In comparison to Slam Dunk... one thing that's significantly different about table tennis is that it's an individual rather than a team sport, which means it's harder to have an ensemble cast all contributing to the protagonists' eventual victory - instead it's about a lot of individual arcs interweaving with each other, individual duels. Besides that, it does seem like it will be following a similar arc of a character in an emotional hole (grief for Ryota, depression for Tsukimoto) finding new meaning and purpose through sports - though I can't be sure how things are gonna go for Tsukimoto here!

The tone however is quite different. Even when it's silly, I feel like Slam Dunk is a very sincere story. There's little detachment or irony, or false consciousness - with perhaps the major exception of Ryota's mother, who lets her own grief and trauma get in the way of understanding her son. But ultimately 'why would you care this much about basketball' is not a question that anyone would ask in Slam Dunk. Even the judo guy in the manga who's trying to recruit Sakuragi is just as hot-blooded about his own sport of choice.

There's a difference in like, general affect about the players as well, which has something to do with the sport itself. Yeah, Sakuragi's superpower is his 'genius' ability to predict rebounds, and there is plenty of strategising in Slam Dunk - but basketball is still a sport that very much emphasises physical power, and as much as Slam Dunk will work hard to sell you on a clever trick pass, the visuals are also emphasising the speed that players are dashing, the height they're jumping, their physique. Table tennis by contrast seems to be a sport that's more about prediction and mind games.

That said it is equally just like Matsumoto's style being different from Inoue's. Now I know it's by the guy who wrote Tekkonkinkreet, a lot about this series falls into place! There's a sense of tension here, of being fundamentally at odds with the world. The autismfeels. This is reflected also in the drawings - the characters don't entirely seem comfortable in their embodiment.

So if that's what I'm getting from just three eps, I'm very excited to see what the remaining 8 have to offer. This series is probably too long to cram into Animation Night format, but we'll see...

#anime #manga #ping pong the animation #masaaki yuasa #animation

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zuko-always-lies · 6 months

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My Brief thoughts on the Azula in the Spirit Temple comic

It's very short and essentially a character piece with no plot. I didn't like it; it felt like it missed a lot of opportunities (spoilers below):

So I just read it today. It's pretty short, and definitely the most sympathetic presentation Azula since the show. Of course, that's a very low bar to clear. I can also praise the fact that it did not depict Azula as "crazy" or "a nutso," which another low bar this franchise has repeatedly failed to clear.

That being said, it's mostly weird and uninteresting. Despite the comic acknowledging Azula's weird Smoke and Shadow plot to make Zuko a better Firelord and stating that her current actions are part of that, it depicts Azula as entirely obsessed with becoming Firelord and has her declare that she's the rightful Firelord essentially every page. This contradiction isn't dealt with, and of course in the show Azula did not obsess over the position of Firelord.

A lot of emphasis is placed on Azula's relationship with Mai and Ty Lee in this comic, but, given that they almost exclusively appear as "spirits" here, little is said aside than Azula knows she treated them badly but struggles to admit it. There's really nothing about what her past relationship with them meant to her or about how these relationships developed her time, no imagination what their interactions outside the battlefield might have been like or their relationships as little kids. No flashbacks to their time in school together, only standard lines about manipulation and fear. The comic can't be bothered to imagine what various relationships might mean or have meant to Azula. And it's like it's incapable of depicting or imagining any event not already depicted in the show.

Much the same way, the comic has nothing to say on the meaning of Azula's relationship to her brother to her. Iroh is also a nonfactor.

Azula's loyalty to her father is left mostly unexplored, as are Azula's motivations in general. Imperialism was a massive part of Azula's life, but, as always in the comics, it's ignored.

Hicks apparently felt it necessary to canonize or at least reaffirm the fanon idea that Azula was really into burning turtleducks. The idea that Ursa could have just always disliked Azula never occurred to her, apparently.

If the story is pushing an idea, it's mainly that Azula was responsible for almost every problem she had with her relationships with others, aside from with Ozai. She needs to beg for forgiveness. The issues she has with other people are generally depicted as unreasonable on her end.

And of course the comic goes nowhere. It has an open ending that will put zero constraints on future writers; no clear step toward redemption is made. The only thing accomplished is to depict Azula a little more sympathetically for people who paid little attention to her in the show. I suppose, given the general composition of the ATLA fandom, that's something, and of course we have to acknowledge how short 80 pages is to tell a story.

But the reality of the situation is that it took 15 years for this comic to come out, only for it to advance her character not at all and to say nothing that wasn't evident from the show itself. Maybe in another 15 years we'll get something actually interesting about her, if we're still alive.

As for making Azula more sympathetic, hundreds of fanfics have already done a better job than this comic manages.

#Azula #azula in the spirit temple

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sunnfish · 2 months

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[ID: A digital illustration showing Tashiro Gonzaburou from Sasaki to Miyano. The illustration shows an interior apartment kitchen bar, as Tashiro sits on a bar stool and blows on a spoonful of soup. The fridge is decorated with magnets and notes, and a pot of miso soup still sits on the stove. Tashiro is wearing a baggy green t-shirt and black shorts. The illustration is rendered in light saturated yellows, greens, and browns. The artists signature “sunnfish” is written in the corner. One version is rendered in flat lines and colors. A second version pictured has a slight fisheye effect, and is rendered in a thick, sketchy style. /End ID]

“Man, that makes no sense to me! For one thing, we don’t even have miso every day at my house. If I want some, I just grab a packet of the instant stuff and boil up some water—on my own. I guess sometimes my folks as me to make some for them, too, and I grab two packets.”

“Huh! Wait, isn’t it actually expensive to make two people’s worth?”

“Sure is. If that goes on for a couple days, my mom is like, it would be cheaper just to make a bunch at once! She always says laziness is the root of wasting money. And I’m like, I know that! But I keep making that soup.”

(Sasaki and Miyano: Second-Years | Chapter 3)

Hi if you’re getting Deja vu dont worry youre not crazy. I did post this same composition like two days ago. But i was really unsatisfied with it due to this crazy condition called perfectionism. I was mainly dissatisfied with the colors i think i need to use purple less. Or something idk. Redrew it twice also due to the affliction called perfectionism. Huuuge inspiration for both of these from @/catmask and @/wombrion respectively. Really absorbed their styles and colors and i think im better for it… used a new brush for the second one and im really digging it… anyways good talk. Peace and love on planet tashiro

#sasaki to miyano #sasaki and miyano #tashiro gonzaburou #gonzaburou tashiro #my art #sunnfish.pdf #sunnfish.png #also this looks insanely yellow if you ever use night mode screens. sorry

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milkstoner · 1 year

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turns out you cant show my art historian ass a picture of my anime boy without me going absolutely crazy over it. here we go

the boot is not only sexy but is used as a repoussoir, aka as a way to direct the viewer’s eye to the main composition. like almost a fourth of the image is occupied by that boot, and it is BLURRY, accentuating the perspective and establishing a real physical distance between you and malleus. it’s truly like, you wake up after tripping on a banana peel in front of him. in your daze you see the boot, then as your vision clears, you see malleus looking down at you in disapproval. he leans slightly so he can take a good look at you.

there’s a beautiful white light coming from above, from your right, but there is no way to know just how it got here; we are surrounded by stone and the framing focuses only on malleus. there are no windows in sight that could let a natural light into the room. truly, all you see is him, covered in a divine blue light, which undoubtedly has a comforting connotation; the light at the end of the tunnel, the angelic light a saint would see in their visions.

so you think you’re safe. you think he’s spared you, because he doesn’t look too angry, and because the unnatural light above him makes him look like a benevolent higher being. those of us who are observant, however, will notice the spindle of his staff glowing green and getting ready to ultimately throw a spell at you. in short, you will soon meet the same fate as miss aurora.

when you know the danger you’re in, you realize you’re trapped. everything around you is stone; nobody outside will hear your screams. they’ll only echo through the abyss of which he is law. but he warned you—not only does he use his staff as another way to separate you from him, he’s threatening you with it. he’s showing you his magestone as if telling you he won’t hesitate to use magic on you. whether your dazed mind realizes or not is between you and the great seven.

so he’s threatening you, but he does so completely effortlessly. look at how gently he holds his staff; there is no doubt that thing is very heavy, for it is… tall, but his fingers barely support it. it’s as if it floats in his hands. his palms don’t touch that staff. look at each of his fingers, starting with the right hand; only three fingers at most are making contact with what should be the heaviest part of the staff. that hand is directly below the enormous spinning wheel part. let’s look at his left hand… it’s literally caressing the shaft. his fingers are relaxed and the arm is comfortably resting on his throne. you can imagine him stroking the staff very gently… he might not even realize it, but he’s showing off his physical strength. if you were to hold that staff, you would have to use your strength, but he… does not. he doesn’t need to. and it really goes to reinforce the fact that he is a powerful, superior being, and that he needs just a little bit of magic, just a little bit of strength to get you on your knees and beg for mercy.

back to his face. GOD, what a fucking face… whew that sure is a face… hello, handsome… hey, i just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number. my god what a beauty. look at those piercing green eyes, colour of green chartreuse, fully intoxicating and contrasting with his deep raven hair. when you look into those eyes is when you realize you’re fucked. there’s something about how unnatural they look, how bright, how unapologetically magical they are that is fully ensorcelling. they glow the same green as his spindle; they contain the same danger. and yet those threatening eyes are so beautiful, framed by thick, dark lashes; you can’t help but admire them.

those beautifully defined lips, yes… tell me they’re not desirable. tell me they’re not tempting. the top one is thinner and darker, a purple, highlighting the cupid’s bow. that’s all i can say really those are nice kissable lips.

this card really perfectly evokes malleus’ sublimity. here, i mean sublime in its philosophical senses, particularly edmund burke’s definition. doesn’t this card look like a dream—a dream of danger, a dream of delightful horror? the blurriness of the boot evokes a confusion and separates you from the threat. you watch him in adoration, for he is gorgeous, though you have this unexplainable uneasiness, this anxiety. you don’t know what’s going to happen; in fact, the lighting has you thinking you’re not even conscious. you are struck by fear and attraction, a delightful horror. you’re at his feet, worshipping him, and you think it’s enough to make him take pity on you; and it just might.

#malleus draconia #twisted wonderland #twst #malleus twst #twst malleus

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masha-nikita · 1 month

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Better have a good enemy than a crazy friend.

A certain good friend of mine is preaching omegaverse on me again. BTW, her brother is a astrologer. Dunno why she comes to me. She says her brother is too New Age. What does that even mean??

///

Friend- Hey, do you do relationship charts?

Me- I am not a professional astrologer but you know there are composite chart and synastry chart. Composite chart is what this relationship as a whole is going to look like, synastry chart shows how the 2 people influence each other. Why?

Friend- You ever think of doing synastry on Rommel and Montgomery?

Me- But there’s no point doing that; historically they didn’t have a chance to get close and personal, and feel each other how the energy plays out. Not that I know of.

Friend- It doesn’t have to be all historical if you just mess around for some fanfic inspiration?

Me- You’re pushing omegaverse on me again, aren’t you?

OK, whatever, it's a good astrological exercise, so here goes nothing.

Positive aspects-

Rommel’s Venus opposites Monty’s Neptune.

We’ve seen what Neptune does- Manstein has Neptune opposite Sun, Rommel himself has Neptune opposite Mercury, both Neptunes exert a level of self-deception and illusion.

Here in a synastry, Venus person lures the Neptune person into thinking this Venus person is more charming, attractive, beautiful than he really is. It tends to blow Monty’s perception of Rommel’s charm out of proportion. In the bleary eyes of the Neptune person, Venus person appears unusually beautiful for no concrete reasons.

BTW, I still have not managed to find out what poster Montgomery had of Rommel. Anybody has it?? It is probably a very well-done portrait of Rommel and I need to see it!

Rommel’s Venus and Mercury in Monty’s 5th house-

In a heterosexual relationship this means these two wants to have kids and raise them. the Venus-Mercury person is a great source of creativity for the house person; the house person will try to have kids, or in a broader sense “make things happen”. This synastry aspect is good for business partnership. Bosses and managers run a company like raising a child together.

Neutrals-

Rommel’s Mars conjunct Monty’s Uranus-

surprise attacks, high tension, Mars person feels provoked and wants to lightning-strike jump onto Uranus person, but this provocation tends towards feline playfulness. Note that angry/painful provocations tend to happen when Mars feels hindered, threatened, and frustrated. So, Mars does not sit too uncomfortably with Uranus, because the electrifying and high-strung Uranus gives Mars outlet for self-expression, much like lightning tends to induce fires.

In sexual relationships, the pair has very little formality when it comes to doing it. They may go to the supermarket for groceries. Then without any warning, they’re having sex in the Walmart parking lot with zero protection.

Monty’s Mars and Venus in Rommel’s 8th house-

8th house simultaneously signifies death and sex, and anything in your consciousness that you have no control over. So a synastry Venus in another person’s 8th house is about sex, there’s no way around it. Even if two guys are just “totally straight bro-friends”, they’d still have some sexual vibes. 8th house Venus is like an orgasm that won’t stop until it obliterates your brain, your consciousness just melts, and you experience a small death.

On the other hand, you can call a Mars on a 8th cusp a bit problematic. It is possible to have obsessive hate-sex. Monty’s Mars is a methodical and slower moving Virgo Mars (same as Manstein’s; the two generals have similar problems with being too slow and meticulous), so the Mars person (Monty) may “rape” the house person (Rommel) SLOWLY~ until the house person gives up all his juice and inner traumas. It either ends with “I am totally cleansed of my hidden dark side” or “I fucking want to kill this arrogant British jerk”.

Negatives-

Rommel’s Venus and Mercury opposites Monty’s Pluto-

Possessiveness is rampant, this may create tension. Monty’s Pluto gets into mental fist fights with the Fox in order to “claim” him intellectually, and the Fox’s sharp words tends to etch into Monty’s mind long after Rommel forgets what himself had said. Capable of traumatizing each other by throwing arguments.

Venus person often gets forced to accommodate Pluto person’s jealousy. Pluto wants to claim everything for himself. For example, Monty may want to make it obnoxiously clear to everybody that the Desert Fox’s name MUST be linked to his own. These two Get into each other’s head like a psychosis and cannot stop. Should seek mental health professionals (?)

Saturn aspects-

Rommel is more likely the one who tells Montgomery to shut up, wake up and smell coffee. As the Fox’s Saturn is seen to reign in Monty’s Sun (a sextile) and Neptune (a trine), both beneficial aspect; this brings the pair back to earth and face realities.

But Rommel’s Saturn also squares Monty’s Moon. The Moon person has difficulty making his emotions be known to the Saturn person. Sharing genuine emotion is hard for Monty. This results in emotional distance, gaps in communication and coldness. Moon person pines over Saturn person, but Saturn person remains oblivious.

Monty’s Saturn squares the Rommel’s Uranus and falls in the Fox’s 7th house. Compromises around sudden changes within a relationship are hard to reach, these incidents may result in petty breakups. Saturn delays results and enforces limitations, so Rommel is going to see a lot of things not working out with this classic British jerk- even general Patton hates Montgomery’s guts- therefore resisting commitment. But once commitment happens, it does not break. The pair tends to mate for life.

Friend- so it all boils down to Monty going- “Desert fox, beautiful, me wants to fuck him. Oh no, we are enemies, so many angsty stuff.”

Me- what kind of lousy TLDR is that??

#wwii germany #3rd reich #reichblr #desert fox #erwin rommel #bernard montgomery #astrology chart #astrology #astro observations #synastry

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possession1981 · 4 months

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i was tagged by my beloved angelic @xiaojuun @baekhyunnybyun @yeofi @ye-xiu and @byunbaekhyunie to make a giffing recap/review of my 2023 creations which is always such a good time to be honest thank you all for tagging me 💞

tagging @sunghanbin @yunwooz @souladies

rules: link your favorite and/or most popular post from each month this year <3 (it’s totally fine to skip months!) and tag some CCs you love!

JANUARY top post: this xiaojun phantom bts set which... i can't blame anyone for it's so gorgeous. favourites: taeyang on the cross is probably one of my fave creations of ever. however, i made a lot of stuff i'm obsessed with in january apparently so i'm gonna give a list of other faves. my other xiaojun phantom jacket shooting set, this sf9 leo-line set (🥲), my taemin armpit set lmfao, kai kokobop set and jongtae not included are just all so beloved to me.

FEBRUARY top post: fuckboy keeho in the leopard jacket favourites: this jacob simply kpop mc set because the colouring is CRAZY... also this jongin set like I AM GONNA CRY.

MARCH top post: MR ROVER favourites: my doyoung in shades of blue set for roloved's birthday <3 i really love the way it came out like the textures and the colours just so sexy. also this cutie jonginie and tbz relay dance pile 💝

APRIL top post: taemin military freedom set which honestly makes all the sense in the world. favourites: my gorgeous princess sheon and this chorong set from dnd which is one of my faves possibly ever actually.

MAY top post: jiwoo icky mv set. my followers are gay women. it's also my fave from may. favourites: aside from the above set, juyeon in red for vianey's bday, shinee tell me what to do mv and jacob's bday set were all exceptional exercises in colouring.

JUNE top post: taekey reunion really blew up. favourites: i love the composition of my fromis menow mv set. keeho in jump is a fave colouring-wise and then there's this set of chanhee just being the prettiest ever.

JULY top post: junhui psycho mv set A WIN! favourites: this other set from psycho. also this taemin stage set from hard is INSANE, ksoo in electric kiss is so fucking sexy, and my edit of changmin from maps july issue goes so hard.

AUGUST top post: this set from the end of possession favourites: my brave girls' mv, jihoon fancam 😵‍💫, everglow slay mv, and also this jacob that i'm normal about. there were a lot of good creations in august i could have added more sorry.

SEPTEMBER top post: this goth ass coppola dracula set favourites: gemma arterton from byzantium and chanmina b-list mv.

OCTOBER top post: queen of the damned rose petal scene for the horny people favourites: sunmi stranger mv, the handmaiden love set and a tale of two sisters

NOVEMBER top post: seulgi chill kill fancam! favourites: zhang yimou's hero, sunmi stranger dykey outfit fancam and dawon last sequence fancam <3

DECEMBER top post: gong li in raise the red lantern, coincidentally also one of my faves of all time. favourites: other faves were tvxq rebel mv and woodz amnesia mv

#*mine #*mywork #tag game

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