#a lot of my research is usually actually visual based

[stellamancer]

Do you enjoy research?  Which fic of yours required the most research? :3

HELLO LIMAAA

so i DO NOT enjoy research. i really admire writers who really sit down and take the time to really research some of the things that are included in their works... i do research though, when it is needed... which is more than i would like.

as for the fic that required the most research... uh. it's one of my wips. it's not like it's a secret, but i want to pretend it is LMAO so i won't go into detail about the research but it was a lot in a way hahahha.

[fanfiction writing asks]

#limasquared #hellow! #i think this is the first time you have sent an ask in to me maybe? or the second... #memoree bad #i really do hate research though hahahaa #a lot of my research is usually actually visual based #so i can attempt to describe how things look #but then first i have to find something that looks how i want something to look

[rileyclaw]

Hii! First off i just want to I'm such a big fan of your art and animatics! Your art is just so expressive and unique its addicting to look at 💞💞

I was wondering if you could go over how your process or tutorial in making an animatic? Whenever I try to start to make one, I get jumbled up and end up ditching it lol

I'm sorry if you get this question a lot 😭

So sorry it took me so long to answer this- I was in a Busy time (diseaseridden with covid and being punched by finals) when I got the ask and wanted to answer it with some stuff Im using for my next TOH animatic!!

I'll say one thing first: I get jumbled up and ditch so many animatics. For every one animatic I release, there are three to five more I have that have NEVER seen the light of day (yet). And that's okay!! It's fun just to make them for me, and I hope it is for you too!! Animatics are scary because if you're working on it alone, it can be really hard to be your own cheerleader to keep up the mojo to keep going. So that makes it really special when there is that project that makes it to the finish line- cuz you can look at it and go "holy crap I made this. holy crap i MADE that look how SICK that is dude!! all that work and look at the turnout!!"

The following stuffh is just my personal process and is by no means representative of a professional animation pipeline, but this works for me as a Lonely Artist! It all begins with the idea - whether it's a song, or just a story you wanna tell. In the case of the one I'm gonna demo here with , I wanted to animate Hunter's first day as Del's apprentice!

The first thing I did was write a script. Not fancy or AO3-quality, but enough that I understand the pacing and the visuals of each shot. I usually just put this in a doc or put it in a script format, if I feel fancy.

Then, I take that script and find music that I think would fit for it- and remix it (if needed) to fit the pacing/mood/etc! This is what this new animatic looked like before I began ANY artwork- this is a me thing because I'm super inspired by audio as opposed to visuals first. But you might be different- this is just how I like working personally!

Then begins the research! I find references for characters, background layouts, and create a style guide for the animatic that tells me how thick lines will be for characters, backgrounds, if there'll be tons of value or no. I make a turnaround for each character so I can refer to them because Im gonna be drawing them over and over a LOT and want to be consistent! Luckily TOH has no shortage of references, so I based my work off them.

THEN, I can begin drawing. I'm a little,,, (a lot) ADHD and may not always do this process, but if you're new to animatics or daunted by the task at hand, make beat boards of the entire project.

This is just a page of rough thumbnails that get your visual idea down - look how rough and quick these are!! I try not to spend over a minute on each beat board if I dont have to, unless it's a particularly complex shot.

When it gets to the stage where you're ready to begin the actual scenes, I personally tend to do backgrounds first because I like to set characters into backgrounds - and for every animatic, I have the Awkward Blue Sketch Stage which is basically my beat boards timed out as an animatic.

I used Storyboard Pro for this (Toonboom, not free ): icky), but the process can be replicated across most art platforms in whichever way you feel most comfy with! This is so I can time the drawings before I devote time cleaning them up-- which can make for some Pretty Funny looking little guys but theyre important!! trust!!

Once a big sequence of shots is cleaned up (I usually do 40-60 second chunks at a time), I export the .mov and send it to my editing program (which in this case is still Premiere Pro) - and then repeat this process again and again until.. it's done??

Here's like a TL;DR list of basically everything I said summed up:

• Make a loose script or bulletin of the idea! Do your research!

• Depending on what kind of animatic you're making, time it to music!

• Make a beat board of very loose gestures for your shots, and time them - then move on to refinement & cleanup!

• Combine all shots, refine music cues and timings, add any last needed VFX, and export!

There's no secret recipe or anything, it's just learning a pipeline that best suits you, whether it is for something professional or something you want to make for fun because you just love to make!!

#riley talks #long post #SORRY ITS LONG but i couldnt just put a bulletin list like “this is the ONLY method that works” bc thats not true!!! #everyone works diferently especially artists #and this is just my specific method of working #im very fortunate to have programs that make animatic-making a little easier #so i hope whoever wishes to make one in the future finds something that works well for them!! i have a blast making storyboards/animatics!! #text post #ask #tutorial #idk how to tag this lol

[dresshistorynerd]

kinda random question but how do you go about researching? I’ve wanted to get deeper into fashion history than just watching youtube videos, but I don’t really know where to start.

ps. thanks for making such detailed posts. they’re really interesting to read.

Thank you! I'm really glad you've found my posts interesting!

This is great since I've kinda answered this in replies couple of times, but not properly. I very much understand the struggle. Dress history is a relatively new academic field and there's not that much reliable sources available and so so much unreliable sources everywhere. Internet of course has this problem but so does a lot of books too.

I thought this would be a short one and yet, here we are again.

Disclaimer: I'm writing this from a western fashion history perspective, since that's what I know best, but especially reading up on academic research and doing primary source research applies to non-western cultures too, though often it's harder to find sources for non-western fashion.

Getting started

Imo the best place to getting started is to read a book that gives a general timeline of fashion through history. I'm not sure if that's just how my brain works, but it helped me a lot of when going deeper into one period or another to understand the broader context and what roughly came before and what after. However these books are inherently difficult to make well, because there's so much nuance and variation in every period of dress history and if you're writing about the whole timeline through thousands of years and keeping it book length, there will need to be a lot of simplification to the point of inaccuracy. There's many popular fashion history timeline books with illustrations made for the book, but I would avoid those since non-contemporary illustrations often give a distorted image of the fashion, especially when it's about earlier periods in history. I've seen some really inaccurate illustrations depicting Middle Ages and Renaissance especially.

Costume and fashion: a concise history by James Laver - I'd recommend this as the starting point. James Laver was a art historian, an important pioneer of fashion history and curator of Victoria and Albert Museum, which has one of the most extensive costume collections now. The book is therefore based on serious academic study, but being a pioneer means you'll be outdated, when the field is more established, which is partly the case with this book. There's some outdated parts, but the images are primary sources and it does give good historical background. It should be taken as a starting point, not as the end point.

A History of Fashion by J. Anderson Black and Madge Garland - This is another similar book. It's more recent, but it also suffers from some outdated parts. The writers are not academics, but it has more primary source pictures which does help (at least me) understand visually what's being said.

Books

In a given subject I'm researching I usually start with seeing if I can find a reliable book on it or related to it, if I haven't already read much on it. Often what I want to research goes deeper into details than what a book usually does, so it will work as a starting point. As said it can be hard to find these books that are actually reliable, but here's couple of reading lists to help with it.

Here's a reading list by a retired professor of dress history from Helsinki University. It's very extensive and has a wide variety of books and papers listed. There's a bit of leaning towards Finnish sources, but most are in English and about more international western fashion.

Here's a reading list by @clove-pinks, who is excellent and writes a lot about the Romantic period, especially men's fashion here on Tumblr. These are all books that can be read free on Internet Archive, which makes the list even better.

Internet sources

There's a lot of bad sources floating around in the internet, but also some excellent gems. As dress history is such a new field, there's a lot of unexplored spots and lacking research still, but some troopers in the internet have done some great legwork in going through primary sources and gathering them together. These can be excellent especially when trying to research a specific garment, since often these blog posts are by historical costumers, who are detailing their background research in reconstructing a specific garment. It's not always easy to find them, since they might not come up in the first page of the google search, but I often find them through pinterest, where the blogs are linked into the primary source images and images of the reconstructed garments. Though be sure to look with blogs like that with critical eye. The best sign that it's reliable is when each image is given a source.

There's some more general sources too that need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Fashion History Timeline - This is a page with entries to the whole timeline of fashion as well as entries of specific garments. It's very well sourced and has usually pretty good image sources too. I will say though that it often gives a pretty limited description of the period focusing on some specifics, without giving a good overall picture, especially in the Medieval sections. The medieval sections are honestly pretty useless. It's at it's best in 19th century imo (I haven't checked out the entries to 20th century since I rarely research vintage styles, but I'd assume they are pretty good too). But since it has great sourcing it is usually informative. It just shouldn't be relied upon to give full picture of a period.

Wikipedia, History of Western fashion - In some ways this is the opposite of Fashion History Timeline. Wikipedia has articles on each period. The sourcing on these articles is often quite lacking and the information shouldn't be taken at face value. Especially the terms for the garments are often used in these articles in very questionable ways. However what these articles have is pretty good primary source image collections, and what is nice is that in Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern periods they are often divided into regions, and they often have images of working class clothing, which are for some periods really hard to find. These articles often don't either give a full picture of the period, but in someways the basic picture of the period is easier to grasp from these than from Fashion History Timeline. I use these mostly for the primary source images, and the texts of them should be taken with a bucket of salt.

Academic papers

Going deeper into something will inevitably require reading up on some academic papers. I'm lucky since I get access to a lot of academic publications through my uni, but JSTOR (my beloved) gives free access to 100 papers per month (you'll just have to make an account). Through google scholar you can search for papers on a given subject, or if you don't have access to other publications, you can just use JSTOR's search engine.

Primary sources

If some MVP hasn't already combed through primary sources to gather them on a give subject, you can do that too. It's not necessarily an easy task though. There's thankfully a perfect guide for that.

A Handbook of Costume by Janet Arnold - Janet Arnold was a legendary dress historian, who really defined the modern field. This book details the process of researching dress history and how to analyze primary sources. And it's free on Internet Archives.

I'll give some basics here though.

Extant garment

Most of us who are not academic historians don't have physical access to extant garment, but many museums have nowadays excellent digital archives of their costume collections. Here's a list of the most well known ones. MET and V&A has sometimes great descriptions of the clothing and their history, but not for every item.

MET Costume Institute

Kyoto Costume Institute

LACMA

V&A Costume Collection

Palais Galliera

Extant garments are of course the ideal sources to study, since they are the actual garments and not just representations or descriptions of them. Sometimes the collections even have pictures of the insides of the garments, giving invaluable information about their construction. However, extant garments have limitations for research, since there's a strong survivorship bias. Firstly, they heavily lean on later periods as textiles deteriorate relatively quickly. You won't find extant garments from Middle Ages, at most fragments of them. Secondly, they are mostly clothing of the upper classes. Lower classes used their clothing till they broke down, and even then often salvaged any fabric that could be salvaged for new clothing and other textiles. Upper classes didn't necessarily have to do that, so what survives is usually very expensive formal clothing that people would wear rarely and rather preserve than salvage the fabric from it.

Photography

Since camera was popularized in early Victorian era, you don't get photos before that. Photography is a great source from the times it was available, since yes it's still only representation of the clothing, but there's less artistic interpretation than in paintings and illustrations, though importantly, there still is artistic interpretation. As long as there has been photography, there has been photoediting. They of course used it for creepypasta purposes by editing them holding their own heads and editing ghosts into backgrounds, but also editing their waists smaller. Basically the exact same way photos are still edited. So no, this is not really how small the waist got in Edwardian era, since this is edited.

Another obvious limitation for early photography is that it didn't have colors, so popular colors of a given time period and given styles have to be found through other means. A great thing about photography though was that compared to painting, it was relatively cheap, and therefore a lot of lower class people were able to photograph themselves. We even get people outside in everyday situations not posing.

Photography can be found with search engines like google and pinterest, though they should be always sourced then. You sometimes come across very Victorian looking photos that are actually just modern photos that are well edited. And also it's important to date the photos, which might not be easily with photos just randomly floating in the internet. Libraries and museums sometimes have good digital collections of old photos. For example:

Digital collections of New York Public Library (NYPL) - It has a wide variety of collections including photography, fashion plates and other illustrations. I haven't found a great way to search through the collections, but the best way I've come up with is to search images within the Clothing & Dress topic, put some limiting filters, then click some right looking image and then go to the collection it was from. I bet there's an easier way but I haven't figured it out.

Paintings

A great thing about paintings and statues is that they date basically through whole history of organized civilizations. Paintings are more delicate so even with murals in antiquity, you'll get more surviving status from that time period. But because of the strong artistic interpretation inherent to these art forms, there's some tricky parts to them as sources for historical fashions.

You'll find a lot of paintings by just searching for fashion or paintings of a given period in google and pinterest, but it's sometimes tricky to source them to figure out where and when they were painted. Therefore I often check from Wikipedia a list of artists from a given time and place, and search their paintings from digital archives of museums. It also helps when you choose artists who were specialised in specific type of paintings. What kind of paintings depends on what you're researching and the time period.

Portraits are of course great sources. They depict the actual clothing an actual person wore and if the person was historically important enough you can find out who they were and gain a lot of context for the clothing. However, they are usually all rich people, though not always. Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes portraits portray the subject in a costume. This became a pretty big trend among nobles in 18th century. They had costume parties and would have their portrait painted with their costume, but also there were trends of costume that were not even worn for parties, but only for having a portrait. Sometimes the painting would be painted like a scene and not like traditional portrait. Van Dyke costume (first picture below) in first half of 18th century paintings is one such example. It referred to mid 17th century fashion that was seen as timeless at the time. Peasant costume (second picture below) is another example of a popular costume for nobles to wear in portraits. Costume balls continued to 19th century, but after the popularization of camera they were mainly photographed. People would continue to dress up in costumes for portraits, but it wasn't as big of a trend as in 18th century.

Genre paintings were a genre of paintings that became popular first in 16th century Low Countries and then In Netherlands/Belgium area during the Dutch Golden Age (from late 16th century and thorough Baroque) and during Baroque's popularity all over Europe. Genre paintings depict normal everyday life of peasants, working class people and the bourgeois. During Baroque they often had elements of idealization, symbolism and even sexualization of the subjects, so they should be taken with a grain of salt, but they do usually depict accurately the clothes the people wore. Rococo era had a lot of these types of everyday scenes about the upper class. During the Romantic era peasants were heavily romanticized in genre paintings, but there was also a lot of genre paintings of bourgeois thorough 19th century that was wasn't as strongly romanticized. These scenes were sometimes also depicted in portrait form. Realism brought another interest into the genre and Realistic genre paintings often focused on the working class. They did the opposite of romanticism though and often exaggerated their subjects to look more wretched.

History paintings depict events and scenes that were for the time historical too. They became very popular in 19th century, when Historism was the dominant in arts, but they have existed long before. There's even some from late Medieval period, and in those earlier history paintings, the historical figures are usually depicted in contemporary clothing and there's no attempt at recreating historical styles. In later periods, especially during 19th century Historism they very much tried to recreate historical styles. This is why it's important to always source paintings. I've too often seen Victorian paintings used as images for Medieval fashions.

Religious paintings have sometimes a bit of the same issue. They were very popular during Medieval and Renaissance eras, and usually the biblical figures would be depicted in contemporary fashions, though not always, sometimes in vaguely "biblical garbs". Religious paintings also have the issue of often being highly symbolic, so sometimes the characters in them are not dressed for the situation, or a character that in the biblical canon very poor is depicted in upper class contemporary fashions.

Illuminated manuscripts

Medieval manuscripts with illustrations are invaluable sources for Medieval fashions. They are usually commissioned by royalty and detail historical narratives, so they mostly depict royalty and nobility, but some illustrated scenes depict commoners too. You often find images of the illustrations floating around in pinterest but they can be hard to source when the source is not linked (which is quite often). The illustrations can be spotted by the quite consistent style (though sometimes they are not from illuminated manuscripts but some other rarer illustrations like playing cards).

A lot of illuminated manuscripts have been digitized and British and French libraries have quite extensive online collections of them which are linked below. The manuscrips in those are mostly English and French of course but there's manuscrips from other places in Europe too, I've seen quite a lot of the German speaking area especially.

The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) The British Library

Fashion plates

Fashion plates became a thing in 1780s, so they are not useful for periods before that. They are basically illustrations that show the latest trends and they were published in fashion magazines. They don't reflect the way everyone dressed, since as they did show the latest high fashion and the people who would be wearing that were mostly young rich fashionable people. However, fashion at the time had a little different meaning than today as it was linked to dress code, and to be respectable you needed to follow fashion. So everyone, even working class people, would follow the new trends to an extent. This is especially true when we get to Victorian era, when mass industrial mass production and the emerging middle class made clothing cheaper and more available to more people. They wouldn't maybe follow every new trend or with every detail and with as much extravaganza or with the most expensive fashionable materials.

While the fashion plates didn't necessarily depict specific existing clothing, they were based on existing clothing and they were often used as guides for dressmakers. Kinda like you might go to a hairdresser with a picture of a famous person's hair or hairdressers sometimes use pictures of famous person's hair to show what they might do. And the people who might not afford something as extravagant as shown in a fashion plate, might still show it as a guide and get a simpler version of it made for them. People of the middle and lower classes especially would also use them as guides to sew themselves fashionable clothing.

Fashion plates are quite easily found on the internet, but as with other things, if you don't go straight to some organized archive, it might be really hard to date them accurately. Many bigger museums and libraries have fashion plates in their online archives, for example NYPL which I mentioned earlier.

MET Fashion Plate Collection - This is a pretty extensive collection.

Regional costume illustrations

When genre paintings became popular, artists didn't necessarily have the change to go and see what peasants wore in the places they were setting their genre paintings in, but because the whole point of them was to depict authentic real life, there was a need for illustrations of regional dress around Europe. And some artists would travel and create costume collections for resource to other artists. These are really invaluable to us today, though they should always be taken with a grain of salt, because sometimes the artists who created these drew dresses for places they never had even been in. For example some of these collections include non-European dress and they should all be probably disregarded as fantasy costumes basically. You can usually assume that the closer the region which dress they depict is to their own place of origin, the more accurate and based on reality it is. It's also good to try and google the artist and see if you can find information of where they actually traveled, because sometimes we know that pretty well.

These collections can also be found in the digitized archives of big museums and libraries, again there's some in NYPL collections.

British Museum's collections by Hippolyte Lacomte from 19th century

A collection from late 16th century on BnF archives

Honorable mentions

There's many other primary sources in different periods that can be helpful, but the ones I've mentioned are the major ones and easiest to access, when you're not doing academic research with institutional resources. I thought I might mention couple of other sources that have become handy to me as examples.

Magazine and news paper ads became wide spread in the Victorian era and from that onward is a great source. They advertise specifically ready-made clothing, so clothing that was much more available to a regular person and therefore can be really helpful to understand what a regular person might wear. I don't know a great source for them though. Many libraries have digitized old papers and magazines so going through fashion magazines is perhaps the best bet, but it's definitely a lot of combing though. Some people have though gathered ads in blogs.

Satiric comics can be surprisingly helpful for researching sort of alternative styles and seeing what trends garnered backlash. For example I've long been obsessed with Aestheticism and the other counter-cultural movements related to it, and there's quite a lot of women's Aesthetic extant garments, photos and paintings available, but very little of men's Aesthetic fashion. But then I found that Punch Magazine (conservative satire magazine) loved mocking the Aesthetes and therefore drew a lot of comics with men in Aesthetic fashion. Caution should be taken though since satiric illustrations do often exaggerate for comedic effect. For example the idea that 1770s ladies made ships out of their massive hair comes from a satiric illustration mocking the large and elaborate hair of the time.

Runaway ads of slaves and indentured servants are bleak, but can be helpful source for the clothing of poor people during 18th century. This is specific to US, but because of the colonialism poor people there would often wear at least similar clothing as those in Europe, especially Britain and France, which had the most colonial presence in that region. The clothes were described in great detail in these ads for identification purposes. These runaway ads can be also found in news papers of the era, many of which are digitized in archives of bigger US libraries, but it's definitely even more combing through. Though again some people have done some of that work already and documented it in blogs.

#answers #history #fashion history #dress history #sources #research #historical research

[lyrashifts]

LUCID DREAMING TIPS! ─── part 2.

INTRO.

in my first post of tips they were on pretty general, so this one is more specific and based on my own experiences. these are things that i haven't seen around the internet as much BUT have definitely helped me! everyone's experience is different, though, so keep that in mind.

TIPS.

change the time you attempt to ld. what do i mean? lots of people use a wbtb (wake back to bed) method as it disrupts the rem cycle allowing you to (hopefully) directly enter a dream, though this doesn't work for everyone! this may also be annoying if you have trouble falling back asleep or hate losing sleep. what i personally do is, if i wake up in the morning and have time to sleep in, go right back to sleep. this has actually allowed me to have a few lucid dreams in a day (though sometimes quite short)! another thing you can try is to use naps to ld. try not to get as much sleep as you usually do and take a nap in the afternoon. this (should) send you right into your rem cycle and allow you to lucid dream.

think about lucid dreaming thoughout the day. this probably goes without saying, but part of the reason reality checks and dream journalling are recommended it to essentially tell your subconscious, "look at this! this is important!". just keeping lucid dreaming on the forefront of your mind will dramatically help you do so.

have a good reason to ld. this kind of ties with the last tip. if you're trying to lucid dream, a good idea is to have a reason to or a goal to do within a dream that seems important to you. it can be as silly as flying within the dream, but that goal will both give you motivation and give your subconscious a reason to ld.

try lucid dreaming subliminals. these may not work for you necessarily, but they may help you set an intention to lucid dream which can greatly increase your chances. i don't tend to use subliminals as much anymore but i remember that one of my first (relatively) long lds was had when i looped a subliminal at night (note that looping isn't at all required). again, you just want to keep your mind thinking about lucid dreaming.

meditate. i haven't exactly done much research on this, but supposedly meditating can help you lucid dream. i find that a lot of breathwork exercises help me as well, like self-hypnosis and the wim hof breathing method. this is also just great for your own wellness and alleviating stress!!

trust in your ability to lucid dream. this may be more difficult if you haven't lucid dreamt before, but bear with me. the days where i've had back to back lucid dreams, i hardly did any methods at all just because i anticipated having a lucid dream anyway. contrasting this, there were times where i didn't have a lucid dream for a few weeks and seriously doubted myself, which probably only prolonged that time. you can lucid dream. trust in that to your best ability because it will most certainly help you.

ADDITIONAL TIPS + NOTES.

it can take time to gain good dream control. i personally struggled with this a lot because i doubted myself, and doubt in the land of the subconscious (aka dreams) leads to limitations. it took me a while to get a pretty decent dream control and i'm still working on it. if it comes easily to you, that's awesome! if not, just trust that the more you lucid dream the better you can get, and do your best to believe in your ability to control your dreams.

make a game plan. this can be written down, in your head, or however else you'd like to have it, but have a plan for what you'd like to do in the dream once you're in it. keep it on the forefront of your mind when falling asleep. want to make a portal? visualize (if you can) how it looks. if you want to change the dreamscape imagine where you want to go. the possibilities are pretty much endless.

#my lucid dreaming tips #lucid dream #lucid dreaming #shifting #reality shifting #reality shift #shiftblr #shifting ideas #shifting realities #shifting community #shifting motivation #marauders shifting #hogwarts dr #shifted #shifters #mcu shifting #ld #shifting antis dni #shifting consciousness #shiftinconsciousness #desired reality #lds #shifting reality #shifting blog

[the9mm]

I can't seem to find anything about this, but I have convinced myself that Vash's new design in Trigun: Stampede is complete with 2 under-the-knee prosthetics. Here's why I think this (spoilers from the original anime and potential spoilers ahead, you have been warned):

Now, Vash having prosthetic anything really isn't a surprise at all (clearly he has his prosthetic arm) so when I first saw his new design, and the trailer, I went, oh he's got two prosthetic legs! That's neat!

But now, as I'm researching his actual design and trying to figure out what things look like at different angles to draw him, I'm wondering... Are they prosthetics? If you've watched this far in Trigun: Stampede you know they haven't mentioned it at all (ep 7) or shown anything regarding that, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. We don't see how bad of shape Vash's body is in the original anime until pretty far in, when it is literally shocking to Meryl (and everyone) how many scars, marks, fabricated parts, etc he has. However, in the original anime, as far as we know he's mostly original except for the arm and some spots. We do see him naked after all.

If in Trigun: Stampede they are trying to shock factor us old fans into amping up this "hey yeah, Vash has taken quite the beating from humanity and is still positive, here's how you can tell" by revealing that x amount of him is actually prosthetic at this point later on in the show, giving him additional (hidden) prosthesis makes sense. We know what we know because of the original anime, and they're giving us parts of the original, things we didn't see that were in the manga, and a fraction of unique ideas.

In terms of fitting with the storyline, having additional prosthesis makes sense and fits.

The only thing I can find against this idea is that he can very clearly bend his foot in a way a prosthesis in our world could not. Obviously this is not very convincing because in his world, his prosthesis mechanisms are very complex, have fully articulated wrists and fingers, and even convert into a firearm when necessary.

Now onto the visual, design reasons why I think he has below-the-ankle prosthesis:

Look at his legs where the pants stop and the grey part starts. They look skinny, don't they? Whereas his arm prosthetic is big and bulky up at the shoulder and goes down to what looks more akin to bone size by the wrist, this same sort of shape would make sense -- but he doesn't need as much because they don't convert into guns or anything like that. The thinnest part of the leg is usually just above the ankle, and since his ankles are in his (high top) boots, you would think his legs would be a bit thicker there if you were to believe they are organic.

When seeing him from this angle, you can see that there's a lot of play between his leg (the grey) and his boot. If they're tied tight (and up to the top like we see in the first photo) shouldn't they press a bit more against his leg?

Let's compare him against one of our other characters. Wolfwood clearly has organic legs (as noted by the color and ankle etc, as far as we know there aren't all organic looking prosthetics in this world, it's not GitS after all), but our twink boy Vash still has skinnier legs than him -- and even Meryl.

But, when compared against Livio who is ???? prosthetic, I mean Livio has tiny ankles. We assume that his legs aren't prosthetic, though, so we'll put a point down for "stylistic choice."

Note also the play between his pants and the grey part on his leg. There does seem to be a gap there. Additionally, based on the shaped beneath the pants, it doesn't feel like "extra gathering of cloth" but instead cloth set over something slightly bulkier than his leg.

Now again, this is all just conjecture on my part -- it is entirely possible that it's just "skinny anime guy drawn skinny" and the grey is actually like, knee high socks or something. But I am totally convinced that new Vash has two amazing prosthetic legs too, and maybe I can convince some people along the way.

#vash the stampede #trigun stampede #spoilers #thoughts #thoughts on trigun #trigun

[qwesty-030]

hello ASP fandom

I’ve been lingering on the ASP tag for a while bc I wanted to find ppl that like the book as much as i do. I’ve seen all the beautiful fanart and whatnot. and I wanna thank yall bc I’ve been inspired to make my own post ✨! I too shall contribute to the ASP fandom too bc tumblr is the only place i can find an active asp fandom🧍

thank you and have a nice day

—

so uhm these are my designs for Finny and Gene. I drew these back when I started reading A Separate Peace in my high-school sophomore year. They’re pretty old drawings. At the time, I only drew these just to have some faces to put a name on (to help me visualize easier idk)

Well fast forward, my class finished reading ASP and I have been an ASP addict ever since.

okay im going to word vomit now

okay erm thought process of these designs:

Finny-

i tried to make him as book accurate at possible but ngl i actually i thought he was a red head before i looked up what he actually looked like. I genuinely wouldve believed he was a red head if i didnt looked it up (yes im referring to the ppl propagating redhead finny)

i gave him very sharp features and a somewhat messy hairstyle to symbolize his wild nature but also neat enough to get him by in school.

His shirt usually untucked or hastily put on. Most times he has his coat off or unbuttoned

he has some freckles and moles too YAY

Gene-

made him the most basic looking guy with the most basic features: black hair and brown eyes (okay ik his hair looks blue and u can barely see his brown eyed but i was limiting myself on colors GSSSYSHDHHSHA )

ofc i HAD to make him the complete opposite of Finny. His features are more squarish and rounder. because he always does random 90° angles out of nowhere

his hair is more neat and put together compared to Finny’s. It’s very structured to be square shaped. i like to think he uses a little bit of gel but it’s not a tight slickback. he lets his hair go loose bc he wants to follow Finny’s footsteps and be wild and free too 🤩🤩 yet he can’t help but follow the standard of having a neat slick hair and ofc follow school dresscode 🤷‍♀️

his fit is also more put together. he always makes sure his tie is neat and his coat is buttoned up most times

i gave him a mole :)

this was a fun one to make cuz he literally never describes himself in the book💀💀 i find that really interesting tho. perhaps it was on purpose so readers can relate to Gene more by emotion and not feel distanced by physical features

(yea i obviously put in a lot more thought into Gene’s design than Finny’s)

(i still love them both tho)

FUN FACTS YES THERE’S MORE:

honestly thought Finny was a latino and/or hispanic cuz of his tan skin. (im well aware white ppl can look tan and not be a hispanic but also hispanics and latinx could also look pale white i was lowkey a little ignorant back then 💀.) idk maybe he could have some hispanic blood 🤷‍♀️

do not mind the messiness and low quality, i did this in the dead of night on a note-taking app called Notability

that last note may sound absolutely unrelated BUT WAIT! I actually have a whole stock of ASP Notability doodles! More to come!! maybe…

if i feel like it…….

we’ll see

their hairstyles and clothing are based on actual 1940s styles :D it’s my favorite thing about their design especially their hair. it was fun researching and incorporating historical trends

the chair Gene is sitting on is supposed to be the Early American chair from Finny’s house! I did not put any effort into the chair whatsoever 😀

although i gave Finny short hair, I’ve come to see how good long hair Finny is

Yup that’s all for now. Thank you all who stopped by. It’s so nice meeting u guys!!

#a separate peace #gene forrester #finny asp #hm yes good book must read #is this how tumblr works #asp #i just need to channel out my feelings for this book like ong #are u supposed to put spaces in tumblr tags? #dont kill me this is my first time posting on tumblr 💀 #OH MY GOODNESS THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I DIDNT SAVE MY DRAFTS #dreedraws

[rejuvenatingbeginnings]

Alain! Where did you get Tazer? Also why is he purple?

Alain: "The little shit stole my fucking lunch years ago"

"I chased him down and we've been allied ever since"

Alain: "Also, he's purple because of a phenomenon Usually referred to as Partner Pokemon"

"At least, in Kanto that's what the couple of specimens are called"

"Though like a lot of alternative forms and such for Pokemon in regions like Aevium, it's a little different here."

"It's basically where a Pokemon gains a higher base stat total than normal or a difference in stats through a close bond with their trainer."

"In a way like mega evolution, but more permanent I suppose. If the Pokemon can usually evolve from its form, it also loses that ability to evolve in favor of its current status due to this bond."

"The actual process is complicated. The highest level of friendship and affection is a necessary factor, but there's no conclusive research as to Exactly what causes it. Many trainers, especially of high rank, acquire that level all the time, yet the occurrence within these samples seems almost random."

"It's not like Perfection in Ayrith either. It just kind of happens over time, and doesn't necessarily require battling, though it is absolutely more common in those who face harsher struggles."

"Most people know only of Pikachu and Eevee as the most common Partner Pokemon, but any Pokemon can obtain this form. Going back to my point on Aevium being a fucking weird place, ones in here, Reborn, or Ayrith are very likely to change their visual appearance as well; usually colors; though they retain their usual shape."

"Who knows? Maybe we'll eventually see more of these in this place. I sure as fuck am not going out searching, though."

"Too long of an explanation.... tldr, fate said fuck it your electric rat is on crack now. Goodbye."

#pokemon rejuvenation #asks #alain (rejuv) #anonymous #tazer (rejuv)

[fredfilmsblog]

We got such a good reaction to last week’s “The Summoning” postcard teasing a graphic novel series that I thought it was a good bet you hadn’t read the interview with creator Elyse Castro that was done in 2017 by the Frederator development group.

frederator-studios:

Frederator Studios’ Cooper Nelson checked in with Elyse Castro, creator of “The Summoning,” the newly released GO! Cartoons short on Cartoon Hangover, to ask a few burning questions. Let’s see if her answers are equally on fire.

Elyse Castro created “The Summoning,” about Claire, a witch, and her cat Edgar, on a quest for a missing spell ingredient. When I asked her our usual opening question—“Where did you study animation?”—Elyse just chuckled.

“Can’t answer that one,” she explained, “I didn’t!”

Rebellious against the ‘usual,’ Castro, of Brisbane, Australia, is a prolific creative, with experience ranging from playwriting to comics to taxidermy—she recently gave blacksmithing a go. Below, she doles out the deets on “The Summoning,” and leads us down her windy path to cartoon-creating.

So what did you study in school?

I went to uni for theater and visual art, but halfway through got really into the culture of tattooing, and became a tattoo apprentice. My Catholic parents were horrified. I was a tattoo artist for several years, then cooled off it—partly because of a hurt wrist, partly because I was tired of people’s shit tattoo ideas.

I can imagine. So then what’d you get up to?

I was doing freelance comics, some fine art, but also studied to become a drama teacher. I was frustrated about the neglect of arts and theater education in Australia, and decided to quit harping about the problems and lend a hand to the solutions.

Do you enjoy teaching?

I love connecting with the kids. And it’s creative—I teach at an all boys school, so I often write us alternative plays to fit them better, like our own version of “Robin Hood”. It’s a lot of laughs—I love making people laugh.

Is that why you wanna make cartoons?

Oh yeah – it’s always been a big motivation for me. My biggest goal in life all through growing up, and even now, is to make my sister laugh. It isn’t too hard, she’s thinks I’m a riot. She ended up becoming a research scientist, while I’m an adult entertained by Yo Gabba Gabba.

I respect that. So then what inspired “The Summoning”?

Certainly my maniac cats [see Winston below]. And actually, a lot of experiences with my sister. Voices we’d use, stupid things we’d do. And some gross stuff. Like, the whole bit with the dandruff in “The Summoning” was based on a time that I picked a big flake of the stuff off her head. I remember it now, a nice, sunny day…

Aha, gross! Gotcha. What mattered to you while developing your own short?

I thought about what I wanted to see in a cartoon—I’m drawn to the macabre, odd stuff, like my taxidermy. I’m very crafty, always making things, which lends itself to a witch character. And tone-wise, I wanted to keep it real, even have nuggets of education. Like in “The Summoning,” I tucked in a great factoid about poo consumption in the animal kingdom.

Sounds about as educational as a Frederator show gets!

I still can’t believe I have a project with Frederator. It was my childhood dream to make a cartoon, and I’m a huge fan of Pendleton Ward and Natasha Allegri. I even got to work with Natasha, who directed “The Summoning”! I was fangirling, it was so hard to act cool.

What’re your favorite cartoons?

Definitely Daria, Ren and Stimpy, South Park, and Adventure Time.

So about the witchcraft stuff – dabble in witchcraft yourself?

Not really, but I’m very interested in paganism and witchcraft. I study it, love the history behind it. My friends and I mess around with tarot cards sometimes, but I haven’t gone farther than that… yet.

– Cooper

Watch Elyse’s “The Summoning” on Cartoon Hangover!

For the 1 year anniversary of “The Summoning” and Go! Cartoons, bumping @elysecastro‘s interview non-US fans link here!

(this was also my first interview! We’re at ~50 a year later, with video and probs audio ones too on the way. Anthology post forthcoming! ?)

– stillcooper

#The Summoning #Elyse Castro #cartoon #GO! Cartoons #interview

[iamthemaestro]

hi!! sorry to bother i just have a question regarding neapolitan mandolins aueueu.. for my birthday my dads gonna get me a mandolin and since we're neapolitan i was like "how about a neapolitan mandolin :3c ?" and he was like "ahsdj uhh hard to get hands on do you want an a shaped one or an f shaped one." im doing research by myself on which one is more similar but i also would like to consult an expert (or certified music nerd, whichever title you prefer). thank you for your time :3

hey! I am by no means an expert, just a guy who fiddles around a lot, but I can totally tell you about what my experience has been.

while I love my neapolitan, especially as a History Person, I honestly don’t think there’s a specific benefit to using one unless you’re specifically intending to do more classical repertoire. in my experience the tone is somewhat different but the most significant distinction is that either an F or an A style flatback is way louder, which, given that I do mostly folk rep in groups, has been a huge advantage. these days I use my A style instrument more than the neapolitan, which I admit is partially because I think it’s just a better quality instrument with nicer tone/tuning/clarity of sound, but it’s also just a lot more versatile and easier for my fellow musicians to hear. I do think there is an advantage to starting on a flatback if this is your first time playing if only in the sense that they’re easier to hold and the neck is wider, and they’re just a lot more versatile (also neapoltian CASES are almost harder to find than the actual instruments are… I literally use a soft bari uke case for it because I don’t have a proper one). obviously I’m biased based on the quality of my individual instruments, since I think my A style is just objectively a better constructed instrument, but I prefer to use the A style when I’m playing, and especially performing, in groups, and usually save the neapolitan for historical reenactments and places where I prioritize period accuracy over a really clear/loud sound.

as for A vs F style I honestly can’t speak way too much about them… I will say I am fortunate enough to have had access to multiple instruments, and when I was choosing based purely on sound I picked the A style instrument that I currently use over a similar quality F style, but that very well could have just been a result of the quality of the individual instruments—I haven’t had a ton of general experience actually playing on either style in specific. it seems like a lot of bluegrass people seem to prefer the F style, and certainly it visually looks more bluegrassy, but I honestly don’t think there’s going to be a huge difference in sound. an A style instrument might be a little more affordable and sound nearly identical, but again people always seem to associate F style with bluegrass so maybe there is a tone difference or something that I don’t know about.

it’s hard to say which would be more similar to a neapolitan just because they’re both pretty similar to each other, but I’ve been personally very happy playing on an A style as someone who started on a neapolitan. however I do play 90% folk repertoire and not classical or bluegrass, as mentioned, and on top of that I do mostly rhythm. I’m not a professional by any means but any solo stuff I play still has a very clear and pleasing sound and I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be a very fine solo instrument. I’m not sure what kind of repertoire you’re interested in but I think either style would still be usable in any context that isn’t, like, a professional classical setting. I dunno, sorry that this doesn’t really give you an answer per se, but I hope that gives you some insight as like… a neapolitan to A style convert lol.

#asks #mandolin #music

[verdemoth]

Fallen London (and etc) worldbuilding headcanon: Neath Sign Language

I’ve rambled about this idea on discord before but i’m thinking about it again so i’ll rehash the deal here. l’m thinking abt disability in the setting of Fallen London and how cool sign languages are so i liked the idea of culture in the Neath having developed a distinct manual language.

my perspective comes from ASL classes (not fluent, it’s been years since then) and some independent background research on sign languages in general when i fixated on this topic so i can’t go in depth about the actual mechanics of the language because it is not even based on ASL and i am not up to the task of writing a manual conlang as cool as that would be. Also it’s hard to research what it might have in common with extant sign languages in our world because detailed records earlier than the 19th century are really rare, but also this is MY fantastical alternate history fixation and I get to chose the accessibility!!! so this is a preface that some headcanons i have may not have a whole lot of basis in the real world. it’s not *implausible* because deaf people have existed since forever and there have been Some forms of gestural communication since 5th century BC. in my version of history Deaf communities get to have more influence than they have irl

anyway I called it Neath (Neathian?) Tactile Sign Langage, or NTSL. The tactile bit is relevant because it was for the most part developed underground where there are few natural light sources. It’s versatile, the tactile and visual elements complement each other but aren’t both required to be understood. Like ASL and i assume most other sign languages it does have a reliance on facial cues to convey tone as vocal speech does on its own, but there’s probably an equivalent for solely tactile sign? I don’t have an immediate idea but I’m sure there would be some way of doing so.

NTSL predates Fallen London and actually any records of modern sign we know of. The main bulk of the language was derived from Fourth City citizens, though in the time it’s had to develop since the 13th century it’s very much become its own distinct language and does not resemble modern Mongolian Sign Language at all. NTSL cannot be understood by knowing another sign language as it’s not closely related to any and may have entirely distinct roots to the most common ones? Even the ones that have any relation it would be like assuming that because you know English you can understand something like Greenlandic Norse. Different ball game all together. Anyway since London’s fall there’s been a little bit of influence from British Sign Language but mostly just slang and a few other loanwords.

And speaking of BSL! London. If I remember right, Fallen London the city canonically is not a fan of languages that are not English (i’m certain i recall that being stated outright but i don’t remember which game or where). I think that extends even to BSL but it is used when ‘necessary’ and seen as preferable to other forms of sign. In the modern Neath, NTSL in London is associated with commoners and ‘foreigners’, the later usually being people from communities out in the Unterzee. Because NTSL sees a lot of use out there! In the Khanate and Tomb Colonies especially it is common as a second (or first!) language, and it’s useful enough for zailors that most pick it up and spread awareness and practice of the language. There are different regional dialects of the language. Multiple islands and continents, they’re bound to develop their own variations. Some are more cross compatible than others but the language barrier isn’t Too large, not enough to be separate languages

In the Sunless Skies timeline, NTSL also crosses the Avid Horizon! It has perhaps become even more common among independent skyfarers. On any crew you’re basically guaranteed to get several people with a conversational level of fluency, regardless of whether they’re deaf or hearing. The Reach leans more into visual NTSL as the light of the sun allows communication at a greater distance. Eleutheria *extensively* relies upon the tactile variant. Most of Albion still uses BSL

#fallen london #sunless sea #sunless skies #fallen london headcanon #chatter #disclaimer im not deaf/hoh or part of the Deaf community i’m just very interested in the topic #anyone is welcome to use this/take insp/pick apart ideas from this and do your own thing #frowns. it deleted a paragraph #tumblr hates formatting paragraphs #i’ve replaced it in this version but it’s not in my additional reblog

[scritch-scratches]

9, 10, 11 please if you're still doing the ask game 🥺 would LOVE to see Dominoes in a manga format, imagine how cool that would be!

That would be so freakin' cool!!!!!

Here ya go!

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

I think I've mentioned this before, but Dominoes would benefit from a visual adaptation, because the Pandora Effect could get some cool signifier like, people under its influence get red pupils or something. I think that would be pretty hype.

And also, for comprehensibility. Most of the cast would be spending Part 1 with some subtle but permanent indicator that they aren't quite themselves, something I can only hint at in written form when constricted to the POV of the mostly oblivious characters. Besides Hakuba and Yuusaku, none of them recognize when they're under the influence, so it's tricky to try and convey it through writing alone without being too obvious.

Also, fight scenes. The fight scenes would be cool.

10. at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you?

Titles are easy for me, in that I put zero effort into them, and they usually happen at last minute. Up until right before I hit publish, I usually just have placeholder titles. The original draft of Dominoes is still named "Reporters" in my drive.

I usually either go with a pun or a reference to some scientific concept, ie Schrodinger's Detective, Fata Morgana, and Uncertainty Principle. When I really can't think of anything, I just resort to basing the title on the place I wrote the first chapter, usually a fast food chain. Hence, Dominoes.

(Spy x Enemy was almost named after KFC or Raising Cane's, but the discord crew intervened.)

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

I was about to say I don't do that much research until I remembered how thoroughly I answered the question "how to become a rocket scientist" for a fic I haven't even published. Did you know you can take an virtual tour of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab now? Technology is amazing.

I researched NGO and government structures for constructing ISHA and how it functions as an organization, as well as looked into research labs in Tokyo and yada yada yada.

A lot of other stuff is based on experience, like the university lab the RSC rob is based on the one I used to work in, as well as Sherry's research that was stolen from there. The titles of her papers on based on real shit, with some sci-fi/fantasy liberties taken. Shinichi's spiels about his reporter work are based on what I learned from working with freelance reporters during my activism days.

I also consider watching/reading Detective Conan as research for my fics as well, because I like to use actual people, companies, and etc from the canon world for Dominoes.

But its fan fiction, so I don't hold myself to reality too much. Rule of Cool trumps all else in my mind, so I'm not afraid to disregard accuracy in favor of "shit that would be awesome".

#scratchie writes

[tezerenotameiki]

Hi, uh. I saw your post about the denpa-style C-ta horror game and. 1. your mind?? yes please, and 2. do you have any denpa classics recommendations because I've only played a few and love the aesthetic..

ANONNNN YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I SMILED WHEN I SAW THIS ASK ,, 1) IM MAKING THIS A THING AND 2) ALWAYS. RAMBLINGS BELOW

ok. im working off the assumption ur like me and primarily play english vns but have relative familiarity with the, uh, quirks of the genre. just in case: denpa games are pretty difficult to recommend in general because of how intense, graphic, gorey, etc. they tend to be. i cant really get into content warnings with each one bc they would be literal paragraphs LOL but i'm going to try and provide a range of options (both classics + things that i personally believe fit the aesthetic). if you need more details on any game, just hmu!!

subahibi: i'll start off with easily the most horrifying game i've ever played (extremely affectionate). it's difficult to even talk about the plot of this game, other than that it's a fascinating spiral down a literal/metaphorical rabbit hole as you unravel the psyches of the most fucked up cast in the world. a read so brutal i have to take breaks from it to recover from it. i adore it so.

sayonara o oshiete: if you want a classic, this is one of the Defining games in the genre. it definitely shows its age, but holy shit is the atmosphere incredible. it's also... another really graphic game. there's an english patch that isn't particularly good, apparently, and got hated on so much it was deleted... but it's not hard to find (lol) and i've definitely read worse translations

shizuku: so this was a fun surprise! in researching this list i discovered someone who machine translated the OG visual novel and denpa game, shizuku, and uploaded it to youtube. it's janky, but a cool find, so i'lll be watching it later. shizuku's just got a neat aesthetic in general and it's good if you want to know about the classics - there's a lot written up about it.

totono: unfortunately, by its inclusion on its list, i'm spoiling that its not a normal dating sim… but it's a nitroplus game, that's a given! a protagonist convinced that he'll never amount to anything begins to connect with the two love interests in the game. from there… the game truly bends the narrative and uses its medium in stunning ways. it's as thought-provoking as it is horrifying. a must-read imo

higurashi: i'm assuming if you're at all familiar with vns you've played or at least heard of higurashi. if not. go play it. shakes your shoulders.

soundless -a modern salem in remote area-: this was actually my introduction to denpa games, so i have a huge soft spot for it! it's insane how much they tailored it to my tastes. a young girl caught in a religious cult is viciously tormented by the other members for her visions — until another member arrives saying that she can see the same things too.

chaos;child: more sci-fi than most denpa games usually are, but with all the focus on delusion, gore, the spiral of mental illness, etc etc i just have to put it on this list. watch this cocky newspaper club president try to investigate senselessly brutal murders across the city and become embroiled in a case beyond human understanding! fun!

^^ (as a sidenote, its prequel, chaos;head NOAH, is supposed to have a improved translation patch by committee of zero coming out soon! just based on the aesthetic, i think c;h is a little bit of a better fit, but i haven't played it yet)

milk inside / outside a bag of milk: two separate games, but mostly listing for the second one, which has a stunning art style that completely replicates that feeling of being disconnected from reality. short but stays with you.

hopefully there are a few on this list that seem of interest to you! i can always dive into my itch.io for more niche games i may have forgotten about lol

#the real issue here is finding games that are actually translated ........ there are a bunch of video essays and articles online #on some other influential ones #asks

[adobe-outdesign]

Trubbish for your review

(I'm just now noticing this only asks for Trubbish and not the entire line. I already researched Garbodor for this though so you're getting both)

For some reason people tend to hold the Trubbish line up as proof that "Gamefreak is running out of good ideas" or something to that effect. Aside from the fact that that's just not true in general, it also overlooks the fact that Trubbish legitimately has a really good design and concept.

Conceptually, we have a few Pokemon based around types of pollution, but one that's just straight-up made of garbage is both original and memorable. I also like how the 'dex for these guys mentions some interesting behaviors with other Pokemon, like G. Weezing liking their fumes and Muk considering them prey.

And visually, Trubbish is really well designed. The face and general expression is delightful, and the way the garbage spills out to form little "arms" is a great touch. I also like that it has bunny ears, adding a subtle animalistic touch.

Really, I only have one complaint about the design (well two technically, but I'll save the second one for Garbodor), which is that the little ears look like the knots on a tied trash bag. Which is perfect, don't get me wrong, but they could've used a little knot at the base to make it clearer that's what they were going for. Otherwise, this is a great looking bag of trash.

I really like how they handled the evolution--making the trash bag Pokemon overflow and burst is absolutely perfect, and it feels like a very natural continuation from Trubbish. The great expression is kept as well, which is good because I love it. I also like how the torn bag forms two "tailcoats" at the back; not sure if that was intentional, but it's fun that it has kind of a fancy touch to it.

Visually, I know some people don't like the "ears", but personally I don't mind them--they continue with Trubbish's little knots and help add a little extra variety to what's mostly just a pile of garbage. As a whole, in fact, I once again have very few critiques here.

My only major thing is the colors. When you picture a cartoon dump, it's usually green or brown; IRL trash has lots of colors, but when simplifying down the objects, it just makes sense to make it all one color. What i'm getting at is that Garbodor having these very saturated pink and teal bits in it feels out of place and makes it less "garbagey". They also don't go particularly well with the dull browns and greens already present in the design.

While I get why they might want to try to add more color, personally I wish they'd have gone the Gen 1 route of more realistic and muted colors and just made the globs a lighter brown so they look more like sludge; maybe even include some green spots where the bag tore and left a little section stuck on it. Like this, perhaps:

Because the colors seem more like sludge, it also makes the lack of definition on the individual pieces of trash less noticeable as well. And if you really wanted to keep some brighter colors, maybe at least go instead with a yellow and blue so the colors compliment each other more. Like I said however, that's my only real criticism of an otherwise good 'mon.

G-max Garbodor is one of the few g-max designs I actually like quite a bit. Garbodor was an absolutely ideal pick for this, given that it naturally amesses more trash over time, and the design keeps all of the good elements Garbodor already had going for it. The glowing eyes pop nicely, and the colors are more rainbow-like, making the assorted flecks seem less out of place than on the original. There's some neat Easter eggs in there as well, such as a train tail, Magikarp skeleton, and an entire masterball:

So what doesn't work? Well first, it's weird that so much of the garbage in the front is toys. In fact, the dex claims the toys are just something the sludge forms into, which makes very little sense:

In other words, I would've liked to see a wider variety of trash, with the implication it's just the trash already embedded into Garbodor made much bigger by the g-max. The toys also feel a little overly detailed to me, so picking simpler objects might help with this as well.

And secondly, it doesn't really change much about Garbodor's design. Which is good in the sense that it doesn't ruin it either, but all it really does is add some specific objects and change the colors a bit. While you wouldn't want to go to extremes, I feel like one or two other things could've been altered.

In particular, I feel like there was a missed opportunity to get rid of the green bag remains. Think about it: Trubbish is still mostly bag and Garbodor splits open but still has part of the bag; when it g-maxes, it effectively becomes an entire landfill. Landfills don't have giant trash bags over them, so it's a perfect time to continue with the bag reduction pattern and just drop it completely. This would add a bit of personalized flair to the g-max without altering the design too radically.

As a side note that has nothing to do with anything: g-max Garbodor has a special place in my heart because I happened to get my first (and currently only) g-max card in a random lucky draw from a booster, the first one I had bought in years. Said g-max happened to be a Garbodor card, this one specifically, and I love it:

Anyway, the point is that the Trubbish line is great as a whole, with a solid evolution and a nice g-max form to boot. These are some unique, memorable, and well-designed 'mons, and it's just a shame that they get so much undeserved hate.

#trubbish #garbodor #pokemon #pokemon reviews #outdesign attempts to edit

[n7punk]

All Fics Extra #6: Races

This is going to be a weird mix of reboot canon, original canon, fanon, and personal headcannon. I used to cover this partially in my AU Constants fic extra, but I wanted to make things clearer.

This is specific to my fics and not fact/correct, just worldbuilding I’ve done based on what the show provides us and general fanon. That said, some of these terms (or similar ones) are widely used across the fandom.

Note: I will use race and species somewhat interchangeably in this post. Race is a social construct that I think would form differently in a world with multiple sentient species, and also I feel weird using species a lot because it's such a scientific-feeling term to me.

Intro

Though we can get more information from show materials/Crew-ra, inside the show itself, species aren’t often named. Angella is immortal, Adora is a First One, there are humans, and everyone else on Etheria is indistinct. It isn’t even clear if First Ones and immortals are actually separate races from humans. It can be inferred that First Ones are in some way distinct as the Sword of Protection only responded to a First One, and thus likely relied on something similar to a DNA marker to identify them, but this is conjecture and it could have used some kind of magical signature.

ND stated (I don’t remember where for sure, but my instinct is to say the BLM livestream) that a history for Etheria that the crew came up with was that Etheria was a melting pot planet of various immigrant races. This can be seen in the show when Mara (via hologram in S3:EP3) says that “we [the First Ones] were the first ones to settle Etheria - to really study this planet’s magic.” Thus, the great diversity of sentient life on Etheria is likely due to many alien species arriving as explorers and settling there before the planet was put in Despondos by Mara. This means that a term like “Etherian” would be closer to a nationality than anything else.

There are species from other iterations of the franchise that have canonical names which can be extended to the reboot. Please check out this amazing chart that clarenecessities/birdindale put together to reference those. While the names here are researched and have canon sources, that’s not research most of the SPOP fandom has done, especially early on, so there are common fanon names for several species that developed. Many of us built on each others’ ideas to flesh out the world in writing. It’s easy to not mention a character’s race in a visual medium when you can see that they are a satyr, but in writing we usually need names. 

Species/Races

Humans: (EX: Bow, most of the princesses, etc). Humans seem to be found in large congregations in Bright Moon, Plumeria, and the Kingdom of Snows. There are many characters that are “questionably” human as well, such as Glimmer (one of her parents is “immortal”, and thus she could be human or demi-mortal). I consider the princesses (and Adora/Mara) to be human in most AUs.

First Ones: (EX: Adora, Mara, etc). As discussed above, this could be distinct from the humans of the show, an ancestor race humans descended from, or merely the nationality for the humans that come from the First Ones’ homeworld. This homeworld is Eternia, and thus the term Eternian might be used instead of First One depending on the story.

Elves: (EX: Shadow Weaver, Entrapta’s busgirl, etc). Elves are seen mostly in the background. I state Hordak’s race as dark elf for fics where he isn’t a clone, though he looks the same. Dark elves are different from other elves due to having skintones in either monochromatic or blue/purple colors, which range in saturation from white to dark blue/black. They also generally have varying degrees photosensitivity, which is why Shadow Weaver wears a veil or mask to protect herself from burns even in modern AUs.

Hybrids: (EX: Catra, Scorpia, Rogelio, etc). Hybrid is a term that I believe originated with the fandom/fic writers. It describes the races in the show that don’t fall neatly into human or some other common fantasy species. These are the alien species that show both human and animal characteristics. Hybrids are commonly found in the Crimson Waste and the Fright Zone.

Magicats: (EX: Catra). Magicats are a named species from previous iterations of the franchise. In the original they resembled furry, anthro cats that walked both on hind legs and all fours, but in the reboot they are mostly-human in appearance but with the addition of fur, fangs, cat ears, and cat tails. They have various coat patterns/colors and some cat characteristics in personality and traits (examples from Catra in canon include: grooming her arm with her tongue, her tail reacting to her emotions, hissing, growling, purring, etc). In the BLM charity stream, ND stated their headcannon is that magicats were an explorer race who came to visit Etheria, but that the magicats seen on Horde Prime’s screens are intended to be from the magicat homeworld. They are found in very limited numbers on Etheria (in fact, only two are seen on Etheria throughout the entire show that I could find - Catra and an unnamed background character in S5EP7 - with an additional two from the homeworld seen on the screens). There are other feline background characters that are visually distinct from Catra, however. These characters have cat-like head shapes and more closely resemble the magicats from the 80s original. Whether they are intended to be magicats as well (or related to them) is unclear. Note: Catra was human in the original 80s show.

Scorpioni: (EX: Scorpia). Another highly-rare species as of the time of canon, though this is explained by the Horde’s base having been built on top of their conquered kingdom.

Lizardfolk: (EX: Rogelio, Tung Lashor, etc). I believe this is a term that originated with the fandom to describe the lizard hybrids in particular (I've also seen variants of it, such as lizardkin). Some lizardfolk seem incapable of human speech (Rogelio), or perhaps just don’t speak it as a first language, while others use the human tongue (Tung Lashor).

Finfolk: (EX: Octavia, Salineas background characters, etc). This is a term used to describe supernatural/magical creatures related to the sea IRL, and is an umbrella term I use to refer to any ocean-related hybrids such as Octavia or the many sea-based people of Salineas. I think they are canonically called Merfolk, but I leave that term to describe more strictly mermaid-based/sea-bound characters. Therefore Merfolk might be used to describe Mermista (I mean, she can literally turn into a mermaid) but it wouldn’t be used for Octavia since she primarily lives above ground and far from water.

Other Species/Terms

Krytian: (EX: Melog). We don't really have a name for Melog's race, so I just call them krytians, or perhaps more generically shapeshifters, but they are very distinct from say, whatever shapeshifting race DT is, so krytian works best.

Fae: We see what appear to be fairies, elves, satyrs, mermaids, etc in the background or in recurring cast characters. I don’t use this a lot, but it’s included here because some of the races we see could fall under it as an umbrella.

Orc: Apparently Huntara's race has a name (from Clare's chart), but I've always just called them orcs in my fics since it fits with their general look.

Satyrs: (EX: background characters, such as in Thaymor). Satyrs are definitely present in the world of Etheria, though I don’t know if any actually speak in the show. They are, of course, human-goat hybrids.

Moth hybrids: This is what I believe the leader of Elberon is supposed to be.

Bull hybrids: Seen in the Crimson Waste. See Clare’s chart for possible names. I believe taurus-based terms are used by furries for this kind of character? But that's coming from like, one tweet, I don't know shit about furries, so take that with a grain of salt.

Fairies: Again, this is what I think Flutterina is supposed to be (or maybe she’s some kind of butterfly hybrid, but clearly her race exists out in the world or the Alliance would have been more suspicious of her).

Canidae (Lycans/Vulpes): A term I’ve used before but decided not to really again because it caused confusion in the two fics where I did. These are the canid-based hybrids seen in the Crimson Waste (Lycans: dogs/wolves. Vulpes: foxes). Based off terms I think furries use once again, but I only asked one person.

Squamagica: (EX: Double Trouble). This term probably hasn't appeared (yet?) and I think is the main reason I drafted this fic extra a year ago and forgot about it, but I like what I came up with, so I'll leave it in. As said above, there are multiple shapeshifting races, so referring to DT’s race as simply that (even if it is what's used in canon) and nothing else isn't a perfect solution, especially for AUs where magic doesn't exist. In those AUs, they don't have full-on shapeshifting powers (some ability to manipulate their forms, maybe, but not total reformation), so I’ve settled on the name squamagica for them, based off squamate (the largest order of reptiles, which DT’s design seems inspired by) and the precedent from magicats. I think it sounds like something that could be from the franchise, but I just pulled it out of my ass and worry it would cause confusion once again, which is the main reason I haven't actually used it yet.

#fic extra #ficmeta #all fics #drafted SEPTEMBER 28 2021 #yeah ive been sitting on this a long time #i actually had to copy it to a new post so i could turn off reblogs XD #the DT thing is the main reason i havent posted this #but also that i stopped naming/differentiating the races so much #so it felt kind of unnecessary to post anymore? #but a comment on an old fic reminded me the OLD stuff is still out there #so hopefully this helps clear it up and i do still stand by most of it #not all because clare's chart gave us more canon-based stuff for some things #but i'll keep using a lot of this and just supplement when needed

[the-queerview]

Churails (2020)

by Asim Abbasi

Churails is a pakistani drama web series directed by Asim Abbasi for the indian entertainment channel Zindagi.

The series deals with four maincharacters, Zubaida, who is a college student and a secret boxer, who lives with her muslim, conservative family.Sara, who is a rich housewife of a politcian and an ex lawyer, Jugnu, an elite wedding planner and Batool, who just currently was released out of prison for killing her husband with an iron. Those four women connect trough different circumstances after Sara finds out her husband Jamil was cheating on her. She starts a burka store called halal designs, which runs undercover a cheating husband exposing bizniz. They find a time of other women for their bizniz and together they deal with their intense cases, one including a cannibal housewife. Together they are Churails, which means witches in urdu. چڑیل

The pace of the series is very fast. Many unexpected and expected stories happen under the churails. I haven't seen a show in a while with such intense story telling. Within short time as an audience you develop a good base of the character development. There is trans representation within the show and even LESBIANS.

Besides the complex society and class rules within their life and the personal dramas intertwined, the series is also dealing with colonial past, lgbtqia* issues, misogyny and racism within pakistani society ( I assume? I never been to Pakistan, so I can't tell actually, but within this show all those struggles are addressed) Abbasi said about including baby doll : "The fact that she’s transgender is not addressed on the show and that is deliberate. It’s not that I was overlooking her identity or ashamed of it. It was to show the women coming to the agency were all equal.” The title of the show literally translates to mean witches, but is more commonly used as an insult for rebellious women. “The associations of women who don’t conform with witchcraft is a global phenomenon, but in Pakistan specifically, any woman who is sexually and emotionally liberated, who has the ability to be aggressive when threatened is called a churail. We are taking it as a badge of honour.”

I love this show a lot, since besides those awful and heartbreaking stories, the main reason to watch this show are the amazing female characters, the friendship between those women and their will to fight injustice. They are kind of superheros I would say. Also I was very surprised by a positive depicition of men, who are part of the churails and help them to solve their cases, to do something right. I think it's important to show solidarity between gender depictions within a tv show for a possible utopia? Like call me out if I'm wrong but usually its women* playing supportive roles in a all men cast, we saw it many many times. But here the guys are the enemies, but as well there are supportive characters? So show a different path to follow.

Unfortunately the show was banned in Pakistan and many celebrities voices their anger about the canceling of the show.

Considering writing about this show, since it's not made by a queer of female director I had my issues. After researching deeper into the revolutionary cloud of this show, i find out its the first lesbian on screen show ever in Pakistan. in an interview with the guardian Abbasi said: “While we aren’t where we should be in terms of diversity, we have to start somewhere and adaptations are culturally rich,” said Abbasi. “You could say that Churails should have been made by a woman, but those opportunities aren’t there for women in Pakistan yet so I want to be an ally so their stories can be told.”

So I hope you guys forgive me, but I feel like it's worth to see all those actresses and this amazing story and yeah we are all in this together. <3 Cuz at the end of the day, i love the power of image making. I learn trough visual language about language ( literally speaking three languages daily I need to see a picture in my head if you talk to me).

Also I promise for my next review to write about a kazakhstani film, since i feel like many things in the show I couldn't understand out of lack of cultural knowledge, so it's time to write about something that I might be able to understand. And still I think it's very important to show my chapeau for this show. What a ride. Literally i was crying like many times. The actresses and actors were out of league. Like I was actually waiting daily from my moneyjobs to come home to see what the churails are fighting next.

ok by

cheery,

the queeeerview heheheh

#churails

[the-slasher-madame]

Bro not u saying u have ADHD and autism 💀 doctors say you don't have it, u don't have it. Stop trying to be "special" there's nothing cool with having ADHD or autism believe me, I know. So stop pretending and bullshiting, u make the rest of us look like we're pretending and I'm tried of this shit, go get a actually hobbie instead of faking illnesses

Bro not you sending this anonymously 💀

In all seriousness, a lot of neurodivergent people accept self-diagnosis as a valid thing. The diagnostic criteria for autism and ADHD were developed based off of people who were raised male. Being raised male or female usually means there's different traits that present, and most of the ones that present in someone raised female aren't recognized. Not to mention, both ADHD and autism are a spectrum, meaning a person can pass of easier as neurotypical and still be neurodivergent. And masking is absolutely a thing, as I'm sure you know. Personally, there's a lot of things that I just do that I've never had a name for before (apparently picking my lips is a stim?). And on stims: I was "mature for my age" and thus constantly told myself "you don't need to do that" cause I didn't know stimming was a thing. I'm pretty happy to say that I stim more, and I'm realizing that as a kid, feeling an emotion so hard that you feel like you need to move to properly get through it isn't something everyone does.

Also, you have absolutely no idea what goes through my head on a daily basis. You have absolutely no idea what kind of research I've done, or opinions I've gotten from other nerodivergent people who have told and shown me what these things I feel are, and that they're ok to feel. You don't know the amount of self-loathing I've gone through because I can't make myself get up and draw like I want to, or work on a school project that's due soon and I should really start. You haven't seen how I visualize my mind, how I see it as a cross between a conspiracy board and a mad scientist's lair and a hurricane disaster area. You haven't seen the look of "oh my god there's a name for that?" when I learned that hyperactivity can be mental. I also live in the American South, with a mother who very much cares about how other people perceive both her and her family and about conformity, so I haven't had access to other people's experiences until I hit high school. I also had a lot of influences of "you need to look like other people" and a habit of being too logical with myself. Maybe I don't need something like I need air or water, but I need it in the sense that it greatly improves my experience of life. I've done a lot of this stuff and never even realized there was an explanation, I genuinely thought that I was a bad person and that there was something wrong with me. And I still question that validity of my experiences, but I do my best to learn to trust myself, my experiences, and my friends.

So that's my piece, I promised my bestie that I would be nice. I'm also gonna tag @immortal-velociraptor because I consider them my Tumblr Parent and figure they might have something they want to add (Fang it's ok if you don't wanna deal with this, I get it <3)

#self diagnosis is valid