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audreydoeskaren · 3 years

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History of Chinese standing collars (part 2: Republican era)

Quick recap: I was debating with myself whether “Mandarin collar” should be a thing because standing collars throughout Chinese history looked different. In part 1 I went through standing collars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, now I’m going to investigate the Republican era (1912-1949). I numbered the styles in part 1 but they’re only guidelines so you don’t have to remember anything.

*I’m not including Manchu womenswear in this post because they weren’t very significant to collars and there’s a lot I need to verify, so hopefully I’ll make separate posts about it one day.

1910s

Summary of 1910s Han women’s fashion here.

Let’s look at Han women’s fashion first. The 1910s continued the use of collar style 7 from the 1890s and 1900s; this style of collar, often called 元宝领 yuanbaoling, ingot collar, or 马鞍领 ma’anling, saddle collar, after the objects it resembles, was so tall that it reached the cheeks of the wearer and could not be closed in the front at all. It could be trimmed with binding, piping, or commonly in this era, fur or ruffles. It could have either rectangular or round edges. It was closed by one 盘扣 pankou, this fabric braided button, at the base, but it could have more pankous for ornamental purposes. Around this time people began experimenting with stiffening and structure in standing collars; this was a result of Western influence, specifically the standing collars on some Western military uniforms. I don’t think Chinese collars were ever boned like Victorian and Edwardian women’s collars, but a layer of stiff interlining was probably enough to give a collar shape and rigidity. Because of the extraordinary height of collar style 7, it had to be stiffened.

Source here

Calendar painting from 1914. This collar has a rectangular edge and is trimmed with fur.

Source here

Calendar painting from 1915-1916. This collar has a rounded edge and wide binding.

However, this ultra tall collar wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea and normal height collars existed as well, especially in the beginning and end of the decade. A new invention of this era was this tall collar with slightly rounded edges closed by two to three pankou----in some extreme cases four. I believe they were stiffened, but even if they were not, the use of wide, heavyweight binding could give it shape and rigidity. This style probably grew out of collar styles 2 and 3 from 19th century Han women’s collars, but it is going to become very iconic and distinct later in the 30s so let’s label it collar style 8. All Han women’s standing collars before the 1970s were extremely fitted, i.e. they completely hug the wearer’s neck and could sometimes be restrictive to neck movement. The loose fitted collars often seen on modern mass produced cheongsam is not historically accurate.

Source here

Calendar painting from 1911 showing collar style 8. It had three pankou, wide double row binding and could be closed at the front.

Source here

Calendar painting from 1919 also showing collar style 8. Throughout the 1890s, 1900s, 1910s and early 20s, innovative/Western trims like lace were commonly used instead of plain binding.

Quickly turning our attention to menswear. I’m not a menswear expert so feel free to add info or references. In the 1910s, menswear collars followed a similar development. After looking at more photos from the period, I figured out that in the late 1900s, men’s collars still had rectangular edges and were pretty low. This was also echoed in the formal dress code issued by the republican government in 1912. You can read more about the formal dress code in this article, it’s a great guideline for understanding ceremonial clothing in the republican era.

Source here (I’m probably gonna pull most of the menswear photos from the photo album in this article cause they are conveniently dated)

1907 photograph of a certain Mr Ye Jinglv, a legend who preserved his photographs from the 1900s to the 1960s, wearing a 短衫 duanshan short robe and pants.

I have no idea where this collar type came from but the three main suspects are European military uniform collars, Japanese uniform collars (also inspired by European military uniform collars) and Qing Dynasty officials’ collars (now attached to the tunic itself).

As the 1910s progressed, men’s collars gained rounded edges and grew taller just like women’s collars, but they were never so tall to the point that they could not be closed in the front. They were still closed by one plain pankou at the base (men’s pankou has always been plain). This is likely the collar style 6 I identified in part 1 but wasn’t sure about. These collars don’t appear to be stiffened, but rather just constructed of heavyweight fabric similar to the robe itself. Oh and sometimes in photographs you can see men wearing two collars, that is because both the 长衫 changshan, long robe, and 马褂 magua, riding vest, had standing collars in the 1910s, so when both are worn at the same time there will be two collars.

Source here

1916 photograph of Mr Ye Jinglv in a changshan and magua, collar style 6.

1920s

Summary of 1920s Han women’s fashion 1, 2, 3

Going into the 20s collar style 7 went out of fashion completely. The 20s was a wild decade and everything went, but overall collars usually ranged from medium height to tall. There is a wide variety of collar designs in the 20s, women’s dresses with no collar or Western collars like sailor collar, shawl collar or no collar at all etc. all existed, I’ll just list the most common standing collar designs of Chinese origin.

Early 20s collars decreased in height slightly but were still tall standing collars, with rectangular edges, binding and two to three pankous. Let’s call this collar style 9 because it has a will of its own. It’s weirdly reminiscent of collar style 4 from part 1 but the difference is that collar style 4 was unstiffened and had rectangular edges. I don’t think designers in the republican era ever really consciously referenced any historical collar shapes prior to the 19th century... Fashion history was a non-existent academic discipline at that time.

Source here

Calendar painting from 1920 showing collar style 9. It is unstiffened and moderately tall. It has slightly rounded edges, two pankous and a thin row of binding/piping.

Source here

Calendar painting from 1920-21, showing similar collar style 9 with thin binding and two pankou.

Toward the mid 20s both wide and thin binding could be used and the number of pankou ranged from one to three. I’ve seen multiple times collars with only one pankou at the bottom but still could close completely at the front, which means stiffening was likely used to keep the shape of the collar; I’ll number this collar style 10. The decorations of the mid 20s pursued a tacky aesthetic and were heavily inspired by the 19th century. Alternatively, collars could be decorated with scalloped edges or geometric Western trim. The overall aesthetic was still very 19th century Chinese though. I feel like internal hooks and bars could’ve been used to close these collars, like Western or Japanese military uniform collars, but this is pure speculation.

Source here

Watercolor ca. 1926 showing a medium height collar style 10. It closes with only one pankou but holds its shape very well.

Source here or see watermark

Mid 20s artwork showing a similar collar, albeit with thin binding.

Starting from 1928-29 there was this huge trend of using tall, side closing collars. This collar was stiff and structured, tall and closed at the side or back with either pankou or hooks and eyes/bars. It covers the wearer’s neck completely and doesn’t have any openings. This kind of collar was frequently applied to the newly developed cheongsam, which was a one piece dress, to emulate a Western flapper look. The art deco aesthetic was en vogue in the years 1929-31, so there were many cheongsam with innovative closures instead of pankou. I personally really love this look it’s very underrated. This would be collar style 11; it was truly one of a kind since it was never seen again in Chinese fashion history. Rest in Power.

Source here

Painting ca. 1929 showing collar style 11. This is probably closed at the back? Anyway the pankou were not emphasized at this time.

Source here

Kong Sang Hong ad from 1929 showing collar style 11 without visible pankou.

Now menswear again. In the 20s, the tall collar style 6 went out of fashion, following trends in womenswear. The new collar was medium height and still closed by one pankou at the base. It could have either rounded or rectangular edges but rectangular or mostly rectangular edges seem to be more common. I’d say this is similar to collar style 10.

Source here

1925 photograph of Ye Jinglv wearing again changshan and magua.

1930s

Summary of 1930s Han women’s fashion 1, 2

Returning to Han women. Collar 11′s popularity continued to around 1931, when it began to be replaced by a revived version of collar style 8. Collar style 8 with three buttons dominated the majority of the 30s, and these buttons didn’t necessarily have to be pankou; any kind of decorative loop button, clasp or frog closure could be used. 30s collars emphasized the roundness of the buttons, so beads or pearls were commonly used as buttons.

Source here

Calendar painting from 1932 showing collar style 8.

Source here

Mid 30s advertisement showing collar style 8 with bead buttons matching those on the cardigan.

Source here

1932 cover of The Young Companion showing collar style 8 with pearl/bead buttons. Oh collars on a transparent cheongsam would usually be opaque because the interlining/stiffening needs to be hidden.

Men’s collars of the 30s decreased in height again, this time becoming really quite short. Round and rectangular edges coexisted but round edges were still more common. Still closed by one pankou. Not many changes otherwise (gosh, menswear always changes at a glacial pace, y’all men need to step up your game). This foreshadows 40s Han women’s collars so let’s label this collar style 12. Men’s changshan and magua collars stayed this way well into the 40s and 50s.

Source here

1935 photograph of Ye Jinglv in changshan with collar style 12.

In the late 30s/early 40s collars dropped in height significantly, regressing to collar styles 9 or 10. It was usually closed with one or two pankou (because there was only enough space for two maximum).

Source here

Late 30s/early 40s artwork depicting the revived collar style 10.

1940s

Summary of 1940s fashion here

As the 40s progressed collars became even shorter, eventually so short that only one pankou could be attached. This developed from collar style 9 but since it was so low and so distinct to the 40s I’d say this is also collar style 12. It may appear similar to collar style 3 from the 19th century but it has rounded edges and is also stiffened and slightly taller.

Source here

Early to mid 40s artwork showing collar style 12.

19th century trims became fashionable again in the early 40s, especially collars with multiple rows of binding/piping. However because of scarcity of materials during the war, that style was only ever seen on actresses and celebrities; cheongsam collars for the average woman were plain.

Source here

40s Indanthren fabric ad, showing low collar style 12.

In summary:

Collar style 7: cursed belle époque (ca. 1890-1918) women’s collars that touched the wearer’s face. Extremely tall, stiffened, both rounded and rectangular edges existed. Closed by one pankou at the bottom but sometimes had more pankou for ornamental purposes. Worn by Han women and the plain version for men.

Collar style 8: first appeared in the 1910s, popular in the late 10s and throughout the 30s. As tall as possible without restricting the wearer’s neck movements, stiffened, rounded edges. Closed by two to three pankou. Decorated with wide binding or Western trims like lace in the 10s, multiple rows of binding in the 30s. Worn by Han women.

Collar style 9: developed from collar style 8, popular in the early 20s and late 30s/early 40s. Slightly shorter (medium height), stiffened, rounded edges. Closed by two pankou. Thin binding. Worn by Han women.

Collar style 10: developed from collar style 9, popular in the mid 20s and late 30s/early 40s. Slightly shorter (medium to low height), stiffened, rounded edges. Closed by one pankou at the base. Both wide and thin binding. Worn by Han women and a similar version by men.

Collar style 11: distinctly Western collar, popular 1929-1931. As tall as possible without restricting the wearer’s neck movements, stiffened, rectangular edges. Closed at the side or back with pankou or hooks and eyes. Often plain or of the same fabric as the dress. Worn by Han women.

Collar style 12: developed from collar style 10, popular throughout the 40s. Very short, stiffened, rounded edges. Closed by one pankou at the base. Commonly had thin binding. Worn by Han women and men.

Phew, I thought this was gonna be a short and simple post but it ended up taking way more of my time than I wanted it to. I’m gonna do one last post on the 50s and 60s and maybe address the state of Chinese standing collars nowadays, hopefully that will be actually simple to make lol.

#vintage fashion #historic fashion #chinese fashion #chinese history #minguo #republican era #cheongsam

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superlinguo · 3 years

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Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a Technical Writer

One thing I love about the Linguistics Jobs interview series is that each interview has relevant information about a specific job, but also lots of wonderful general advice about looking for work. Today, I really appreciate Alex Katz’s insight into the importance of building up a portfolio of work that you can share with potential future employers. Trying your hand at technical writing, or audio production or any other job you think you might be interested in, is a great way to see if it suits, and have something to show potential future employers. You can follow Alex on Twitter (@WizardOfDocs) and they’re also on Mastodon ([email protected]).

What did you study at university?

For my bachelor's I did a double linguistics and Chinese literature major, and an honors thesis about how characters in old Doctor Who stories address each other. Then I did a Master of Arts degree in linguistics, focusing on pragmatics, and my thesis took John Searle's speech act theory and Brown & Levinson's politeness theory and combined them into a new set of speech act categories. The idea for my master's thesis came from reading Searle's original paper in my discourse analysis class and thinking "I can do this better." So I wrote a paper about it for the class, and that turned into the first draft of my thesis. So don't prevent yourself from doing something if the only reason you want to do it is to do it better than someone else. It gets results.

What is your job?

I'm a contract technical writer for a shopping website. My day-to-day work is improving the documentation of how to use/add to the code that keeps the website running: I'm editing the existing documentation one page at a time, but I'm also taking edit requests and proposals for new pages, and even planning a major restructuring of my team's internal website to make sure our customers can learn what to do better.

How does your linguistics training help you in your job?

Studying linguistics, and especially pragmatics, has made me a better writer and a better editor. I can figure out why a particular phrasing or formatting decision is better or worse in context, and explain it to my teammates. That skill isn't just useful for the actual documentation--understanding pragmatics also helps me write emails and Slack messages to make sure members of my team are talking to each other and can give me the information I need.

Do you have any advice you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

If you want to get into technical writing, start building up your portfolio as soon as possible, especially in your chosen subject area. Ask your professors if they have syllabi or lab procedures that need updating. Start a blog. Document open-source projects. I didn't realize I wanted to be a technical writer until a couple of years after I graduated, and now all my best work is proprietary and I can't work on open source projects without jumping through lots of hoops. So I'm feeling kind of stuck. If I'd realized sooner that I could just (for example) send the developer of a Minecraft mod a pull request to improve their in-game tutorial book, my portfolio would look a lot better.

Also, expect to spend at least a few years as a contractor before any company decides you're worth hiring for real. That means a lot of short-term jobs, and probably some bad employers at the staffing agencies. But it's a good way to figure out what kind of company you really want to work for, and a great way to build up your resume--even if I don't get to go full-time at this job, I can now say I've worked at three different big tech companies.

Any other thoughts or comments?

It's not exaggerating to say studying linguistics has made me a better person. I was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder in college, just as I was starting to study linguistics, and those things together gave me a wonderful opportunity to study how people talk to each other and learn how to present myself as someone people want to spend time with.

Related interviews:

Interview with a Standards Engineer

Interview with a Product Manager

Interview with an Editor and Copywriter

Recent interview:

Interview with a Stay-at-home Mom and Twitch Streamer

Interview with a Peer Review Program Manager

Interview with an Associate at the Children’s Center for Communication, Beverly School for the Deaf

Interview with a Metadata Specialist and Genealogist

Interview with a Developer Advocate

Check out the full Linguist Jobs Interview List and the Linguist Jobs tag for even more interviews

#linguistics #linguistics jobs #language #writing #writer #technical writer

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queer-and-dear-books · 2 years

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Title: The Charm Offensive

Author: Alison Cochrun

Content Warnings: Homophobia | Biphobia | Racism | [All from one character]

Overall Rating: 9.9/10

Personal Opinion: The Bachelor but make it gay. No, this doesn’t mean one guy dating multiple men. This means the bachelor falls in love with his male handler and they embark on this thrilling, romantic ride of an adventure while on the show. Every moment made my heart swell in the best way possible and in the end, I had fallen for Dev and Charlie as well. As I’m sure you all would too. Them and their found family of queers.

Couple Classification: Dev Deshpande X Charles Winshaw = Nerd X Prep/Nerd

Do I Own This Book? I want to. One day.

Spoilers Below For My Likes & Dislikes:

Likes:

- Okay, I’ve only recently seen the appeal of reality TV with my brief fall into Big Brother. That being said, I still loathe the Bachelor franchise. I hate the heteronormative, toxic, female VS female storylines that they push and I hate the attention-seeking drama hogs that are cast every season. That is why this book is amazing. It completely subverts all those tropes by having an incredibly diverse cast and crew. I mean, we have the bachelor himself, the prince in this case, Charles Winshaw. He’s a tech mogul with a hot body who has severe anxiety and OCD. He’s also on the ace spectrum (probably) and gay (although he was repressed and didn’t even realize it). His love interest is his openly gay handler, Dev Deshpande who is desi and is suffering from depression. We have Jules Lu, Chinese and bi. We have Parisa Khadim, pan and brown. We have Skylar Jones, black and ace, with a non-binary partner. We have Ryan Parker who is the queer white guy. We have Angie and Daphne, the final two girls in the competition who are both queer! (Lesbian and bisexual respectively) And it was just so amazing watching this journey as Charlie and Dev fell in love and became this found family with everyone else.

- Charlie and Dev are just so adorable. They’re so patient and understanding with one another. When Charlie had his panic attacks, Dev was by his side. He never judged Charlie for his “quirks” and he paid so much attention to Charlie that he learned his coping skills like tapping out “calm” in morse code or breathing three times. He didn’t need Charlie to tell him those things. He just did everything he could to calm Charlie and accommodate his needs to make his experience on the show as pleasant and tolerable as possible.

- Likewise, when Dev had his depressive episode in Munich, Charlie stayed. When others left and were pushed away like Ryan and Jules, Charlie chose to stay. Because Charlie knew what it was like to push people away when all he wanted was for them to stay. And he was there for Dev every time. They knew when the other one was spiraling and instinctively went to look for one another when they were on set and it just made their chemistry so great to witness. It’s no surprise that literally all of their friends knew they were together.

- I love how this book strongly advocates for therapy and talking about how you don’t need to have your sexuality figured out at any specific point in time. For Dev, he was five. And for Charlie, he was twenty-eight. Both are okay and valid. And I love that they made each other feel valid. And for Dev, who was so afraid of being seen as not Fun Dev for going to therapy, I am so happy that Jules, Skylar, Parisa, and Charlie all talked about their own experiences in therapy to make him feel valid too.

- Okay, Dev flying Parisa out to be with her best friend on his birthday and Charlie flying out Leland Barlow, Dev’s favorite pop singer, to do a concert in Cape Town, South Africa, was just so sweet of them both! It made me feel so giddy too, just seeing them have fun at that concert especially after that big fight they had. Like Dev knew he was a dick and Charlie still did this for him all because of the depressive episode. I want a sugar daddy that will do that for me.

- And Charlie reading Dev’s entire script and loving it and telling Dev that it needs to be sold even though it’s about brown men falling in love is just so adorable and validating? I love that so much, especially as a writer. And the fact that Charlie realized his feelings after reading it was just so, so great! And the way he realized that his OCD wasn’t triggered when he was close to Dev and only Dev was just so sweet. Ugh, they’re just so fucking sweet!

- Their respective best friends are so funny and confident and I adore them. Jules and Parisa knew that their best friends were fucking and set them up at almost every turn. Parisa especially is hilarious and just brilliant. She was ready to sue Ever After for discrimination and became their new head of HR. She gave Charlie condoms, lube, and vividly drawn diagrams of anal sex. She is a queen on every level. And then we have Jules with that “practice date” idea and also pretending she couldn’t be his fake girlfriend so she can push the Dev/Charlie agenda.

- I knew that that ending was going to happen. I knew that they were going to slap all of the footage that they could find of Charlie and Dev together to create the first ever gay season. But just seeing the storyline the editors made actually play out was just so amazing. And getting to see Dev’s reaction for all 12 hours of it was just so pure. And the fact that Mark Davenport just rolled with the punches with his hosting and was essentially a huge fan of them finally just coming together was adorable! Because when Dev burst out on stage to apologize and also profess his love to Charlie, it honestly almost made me tear up. I wish it was real so that I could’ve watched it live.

- Dev’s boundless energy (when he’s not depressed) is so adorable. When he was happy and running through first-class on the airplane, when he was talking about falling in love in a boat, when he wanted to take photos of his version of Charlie to keep for himself, when he was arguing with producers for Charlie’s sake, I can absolutely see why Charlie fell in love. And when Charlie was drunk and talking about how Dev is the most beautiful man in the world and deflecting every gay man’s advance because he wanted them to know that Dev deserved to be loved far more than him, it just meant so much to me as someone with self-confidence issues too.

- Angie and Daphne are just so cool honestly. I love the girl power friendships on the show. And Angie is just a delight in general.

Dislikes:

- The only reason why this does not get a perfect score is due to a personal issue. I have beef with Dev. His reaction being to leave the show and ghosting all of his friends was just wrong. He could have just looked at any of their texts and realized he should’ve watched the show earlier. But no, he isolated himself. And for a guy trying to focus on his mental health, I just want to say pushing all of your fucking loved ones to the curb is not the way to do it. I am glad they all confronted him about it because fucking hell, I’d be so mad at him. And I’m glad he apologized to Charlie. But yeah, if Jules and Parisa beat the hell out of him, I would not have blamed them for that. He really ditched them all and his lovesick mentally ill lover too. Fuck. And his parents were watching Ever After and they just didn’t think to encourage him to watch too? I get they (and his therapist, Alex) were all trying to respect his boundaries but FUCK. Three whole months of radio silence and Charlie sent him a whole ass voicemail basically pouring his whole heart out and I just hated him for a solid four pages.

- Fuck Maureen Scott. She was the showrunner and she was just a monster. She really said, “I can’t be queerphobic, I hired all these queer employees.” And in that same breath, demonized Angie, a black bi woman. She said their next princess couldn’t be bisexual and that’s just so wrong. I’m glad she got fired and I’m glad the next princess ended up being lesbian. Let’s fucking go Daphne! I am actually less mad at Maureen than I am at Dev and the rest of the crew for never even trying to stand up to her in the past. Granted, they didn’t have the privilege and power that Charlie did as a cis white man with money but still. Well, at least Skylar admitted that they’d been complicit for too long. Charlie really pulled a power move at the end though when he got them to reedit and overhaul everything.

- I don’t know how I feel about Ryan. I do get why he broke up with Dev but damn, he really did act like a dick in the beginning. He didn’t even own up to it. He just let Dev be depressed and made no real effort to care about him. He claims he cares about Dev and didn’t want Dev to be in the closet for Charlie but he does not know how to be even a little empathetic toward people. He’s insensitive and abrasive and I wish we saw more of his caring side earlier.

- Fuck Megan too. And Delilah as well. And Maureen for sending them into Charlie’s room for that altercation. And also sending in that one boyfriend to just deck Charlie in the face. But I do love that we saw Charlie grow over the course of the show through that. He couldn’t speak up for that girl when her boyfriend was calling her slut but he spoke up against Delilah calling Megan “crazy.” And he later stood up to Maureen when literally no one else did. He had severe anxiety and he did that. He stuck to his morals and stuck to the love he had for Dev and I respect that so fucking much. Especially after all that Ryan said about him. I think that was the point Ryan realized that Charlie really was good for Dev.

- I’m still mad at Dev.

- Also a bit at Charlie and Dev for not getting together sooner. Like, I get why they couldn’t but the fact that they wouldn’t admit it wasn’t just practice sooner is just so mind-numbingly stupid to me. You’re telling me everyone else around them realized they were in love and they were out here just fervently making out and then going, “He doesn’t feel the same.” Then again, both of them somehow grew up thinking that they didn’t deserve love. Charlie I get after everything he’d gone through with his bigoted brothers and close-minded father and smug dudebro co-worker Josh Han. Dev, I get a lot less. So I am once again mildly mad at Dev. I just wish he would’ve reached out to Charlie or watched the damn show! I mean, I get why he refused to watch but his parents could’ve at least told him about the edit he was getting!

- I’m still mad at Dev for icing out Charlie like that. Charlie was just the sweetest person and Dev just… UGH. But they were back together in the end and I am glad they are. I just wish the road to getting there hadn’t been so stupid.

#Booklr #Booksbooksbooks #Book Blog #Book Review #Book Recs #The Charm Offensive #Alison Cochrun #LGBTQ #Queer Books #Queer Lit #Queer Representation

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chalkrevelations · 3 years

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So, Word of Honor, Episode 36 (and “Episode” 37) again, because I want to do a little bit more unpacking of this, particularly with some of the extra material and information that people have been able to point me to.

Spoilers, obvs. For right now, I mainly want to pull out this bit of my initial reaction to 36 & 37, because I think it remains a key point for me:

It would be nice, though, if the connective tissue from 36 to 37 made any sense. Or existed whatsoever. Just, like, throw me a bone, show, some kind of explicit hand-waviness that actually gets mentioned for why Ye Baiyi apparently was not as smart as he thought he was and didn’t really know what he was talking about when he was doomsaying about how one of the pair will surely, oh surely perish. None of this “Sooooo, they managed to figure out the technique and master it?” from some random shidi who never actually gets an answer. I mean, the door was left open for fanwankery on this one, with what looks to be a very last-minute conceit of all this being a story told by grown-up Chengling to his disciples, which begs the question of how much of what he’s telling them is totally accurate, given any number of issues …

I do feel like there’s an interesting meta thing going on here, in that the entire show has been about – let’s be honest, it was never really about the plot – queer-coding this couple in ways that supposedly fly enough under the radar that people can handwave them as Just Good Friends and Brothers (I mean, I guess) with a Bury Your Gays tragic ending (ugh) for good measure. And Chengling is telling a story in-universe that seems to conform to some of this same formula. And yet, we all know well and good that these guys were husbands … So are we supposed to carry the same assurance out of the show, on a meta level, that what appears to be happening in the story at the end of Ep 36 – what we discover we’re learning through Chengling’s story-telling, isn’t really the truth? Just, look: While we’re getting the Good Friends and Brothers push, there’s stuff like obvious voice-over work that doesn’t match the much more queer version of what the actors actually said, which is apparently blazingly clear to any viewers who know Mandarin and can manage to lip-read. The show has literally put de-queered words into these characters’ mouths. You can’t trust what you hear. But apparently the show has also made this obvious enough that, if you’re a good enough speaker of the language the show is being told in, and you have a good enough eye, you can see what is actually going on. Are we being taught to trust our eyes more than our ears, are we being told that what we’re being told – by the end of Ep 36 on a meta level, by Ye Baiyi-through-Chengling’s-story on an in-universe level, and by what we learn about what happened from Chengling’s story, itself, also on an in-universe level – is inherently untrustworthy, but that if we “speak the language” of this show well enough, and have a good enough eye, we can decode it and see what “actually” happened and is later made explicit in Ep 37?

So, that’s a lot, but the reason I wanted to pull it back out is because I feel like this no-homo, surface-level, smoke-and-mirrors effect that gets layered over a queer bedrock of “reality” is precisely what the show did with its ending, and I want to approach that on a couple of different levels. Particularly since I’ve seen several reactions from other people who didn’t seem to have seen/didn’t have access to the extra of “Ep” 37, or who also found it difficult and vaguely unsatisfying to make the leap from Ep 36 to full belief in, and commitment to, “Ep” 37.

When I first posted this, I was really leaning on the idea of a classic Rashomon effect, given that we see – imho – a final Zhou Zishu/Wen Kexing scene in Ep 36 that’s filmed to lead us to believe that Wen Kexing died, with a subsequent cut to Zhang Chengling wrapping up a telling of the “story” of ZZS and WKX to his disciples. The easiest fanwank on this is that all of what we’ve seen so far has been Chengling telling the story of ZZS and WKX to his disciples, making him an unreliable narrator who in fact doesn’t know the truth of what really happened. I was actually reminded of the contrast in The Untamed (god, I don’t need to warn for spoilers for The Untamed, do I, we’ve all seen Chen Qing Ling at this point, right? Anyway, SPOILERS FOR THE UNTAMED) between the cliff scene in Episode 1 when they make it look like Jiang Cheng stabbed Wei Wuxian, leading to his fall off the cliff, and you go back later and realize this is the version that the storyteller was telling to the people in the teahouse vs. Episode, god, what is it, 33? When we see the cliff scene in “real” time, and discover that’s not what actually happened, that what happened is that Jiang Cheng stabbed a rock and Wei Wuxian shook himself free of Lan Wangji’s grip to fall to his death. You can’t trust what you hear. Also … well, we’ll get back to Chengling in a minute.

The second level of uncertainty to unwind is Gao Xiaolian calling bs on Chengling’s story. So, I felt like the kid who’s practicing his forms in the snow and being coached by ZZS in “Ep” 37 might actually be someone, not just a random kid, and that might be important, but I could not for the life of me figure out who he might be. I wasn’t aware until I watched some of AvenueX’s wrap-up of the show (I think that’s the first place I heard this info pointed out) that this kid is supposed to be the son of Gao Xiaolian and Deng Kuan, and the dad who comes to take him home is Deng Kuan (formerly Da-shixiong of Yueyang Sect, who – let’s face it – Gao Xiaolian really wanted to marry). Seriously, I spent so much time making fun of ZZS’s stupid facial hair tricks in this show, and then they actually do just put a dumbass mustache on a guy, and I completely don’t recognize him. I have to admit, the mustache threw me enough that I had no idea that was Deng Kuan (well, and maybe only seeing him for three episodes also helped). But if that’s Deng Kuan, and if the kid is his and Gao Xiaolian’s son, then she would have some reasonable standing to know a story detailing WKX’s death was bs.

Finally, and most crucially – thanks to everyone who directed me to resources (including AvenueX and other fans who were able to do some translation) who were able to talk about the voiceover work in this final ep, because when I talk about how you can’t trust what you hear, but if you speak the language well enough and have a good enough eye, you can catch what’s really going on? When I talk about de-queered words being put into these character’s mouths? Apparently, this is what happens to Chengling in the final scene. That last scene - and the story he tells his disciples - apparently DOES provide the connective tissue from Ep 36 to Ep 37, but you can’t trust what you hear. Apparently, this is one of the places where you can see something different from what you hear if you’re able to lip-read, with Chengling telling the disciples something much closer to the idea that two people who love each other equally can equally support each other through this cultivation technique and both come out alive.

In the AvenueX discussion of this (Livestream #21, starting around 1:22:30), there’s an additional tidbit about the use of the word “cauldron” – I believe by Ye Baiyi - to describe one person in the pair, a word with a specific and widely-understood meaning within the genre that’s not necessarily known outside of the genre with, yes, sexual connotations. (Come on, slash fans, don’t tell me you don’t giggle every time you pass a perfectly innocent Jiffy Lube auto shop, at something that the mundanes don’t think twice about.) Apparently, “cauldron” is in the script, I believe it’s in the English subs, and it apparently was in the original Chinese subs, until too many people started talking about it and how it had been slipped past censorship, because it’s a perfectly common Jiffy Lube auto shop, right? and then it appears Youku went back and changed the character in the Chinese subs to something that doesn’t even make any sense. So again, we get an example of a case where if you’re a good enough speaker of the language this show is being told in – in this case the vernacular of wuxia – with a good enough eye, you can catch what’s really going on. Something that then gets no-homo’d. And has some nonsensical de-queered meaning laid over top of it. How many times do we have to do this until we learn the lesson that you can’t trust what you hear?

ANYWAY, I’m wondering if the visuals are important, too: Something we see in the last scene with ZZS and WKX in Ep 36, when WKX is either unconscious or dead (CLEARLY UNCONSCIOUS), is that ZZS – twice – doesn’t let WKX’s hands fall. He catches him by the wrists and then catches him again by the hands as WKX’s hands start to slip away from ZZS’s hands – aaaannnnd end scene. I have to wonder if that’s not a subtle but important detail, that we see ZZS refusing to let WKX physically slip away, and maybe, by implication, refusing to let WKX slip away from him into death.

Also, again with Ye Baiyi – in the flashback when WKX is yelling at ZZS, Ye Baiyi says “No one dies!” as he comes bursting into WKX’s sickroom. And then even reiterates it – “No one dies before me!” But then the voiceover during the qi transfer, he’s supposedly going on about here’s how WKX is going to have to kill himself to save his husband? I think the script has dropped the ball in a few places, but that would really be a tremendous flub. That also deserves some unpacking, but I’m running out of free time right now.

So, just some additional thoughts. I will probably have more, but next up, I think, will be a re-watch from the beginning.

One last thought, tho’: What’s the likelihood that Nian Xiang is Actual A-Xiang and Goa Xiaolian’s/Deng Kuan’s kid is Cao Weining, reincarnated?

#zhou zishu #wen kexing #zhang chengling #gao xiaolian #deng kuan #ye baiyi #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

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hypmic-translation · 3 years

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Bonds/Kizuna

ALL All the city guys, c’mon, put your hands up We are the best of friends (Best of friends!) All the city guys, c’mon, put your hands up This is our bond!

Put your hands up (All right!) Put your hands up

ICHIRO There are so many wounds of the past that can’t just be unravelled We can’t give up here, we gotta win this battle I wonder to myself, what really is “true” power Maybe it’s the sense of unity we’ve built up over hours

JIRO Quiet complaints won’t bring me to the end Dawn won’t come without accepting everything the world sends Staking it all on my pride, not letting myself stray We’re gonna win no matter what, fight my way

SABURO I want to keep smiling, no matter what happens I’ll devote myself to it, with all of my passion My true feelings are what I want to know With this indispensable bond, now, let’s go

(All right!)

ICHIRO: C’mon, there’s a lot of ground to cover, you two JIRO: We know what’s true SABURO: Without review ALL: We’ve got value ICHIRO: Still, we’ve got a long ways to go JIRO: But don’t you know? SABURO: Look, the sky is dyed red with BB: The Buster Bros!!!

CHORUS There’s definitely nothing that we can’t handle so long as we’re with all our friends There’s no division that’s more important, my love for it here doesn’t end It’s okay to have bad days once in a while, it’s something we can amend We’ll overcome whatever comes our way And then we’re gonna shine

BB ‘Bukuro guys, c’mon, put your hands up This is our bond (Our bond!)

MTC (Mad Trigger Crew!)

SAMATOKI I’ve seen it all before, the ins and outs of every fray Your bonds will always keep you safe, even if you throw yourself away Keep a tight hold on what’s real, in Yokohama’s city Writing “serious” one way, and reading it as “maji” (1)

JYUTO The trash and the scum crawling out of the gutter Are different to us three, interweaved together You think money could afford you a bond such as this? Understand? In simple terms, it’s magic

RIOU Hand in hand we form this triangle Our secret code is zero-four-five Even in the dark, with my comrades I’ll fight My family will survive here in our hood

SAMATOKI: So long as we’re a team, I’d go anywhere with you JYUTO: We’ll show people a life only us three could live through RIOU: Aiming for a future that no one else can view MTC: We are Yokohama, Mad Trigger Crew!

MTC Yokohama guys, c’mon, put your hands up This is our bond (Our bond!)

RAMUDA You’re kinda tired, right? Here, have some candy I want to stay cheerful, but the wind is chilling me Various threads sewn together A repainted vision Even if the fabric ties itself in knots, it’ll keep me warm

GENTARO There’s nothing sadder than a story that goes unheard In this mournful city, words and sound have become blurred There’s value in taking time to think things through No more tripping over my own feet I have friends waiting just nearby

DICE Taking steps one by one towards tomorrow’s dawn I’m sure the heat that’s on my back isn’t just the sunset There’s no way you’ll get lost in the evening twilight I’ll lend you my shoulder - you can lend me money sometime

RAMUDA: Make a wish on Emptiness (2) GENTARO: Surpass the imaginary DICE: Let’s put up a bluff (Oh yeah) FP: This flower wreath will bear fruit (3) We are Fling Posse

FP Shibuya guys, c’mon, put your hands up This is our bond (Our bond!)

MTR Shinjuku, Matenrou…

JAKURAI Roaming the streets, dangerous and uncontrolled Holding a vast amount of information, a light that pierces even through the dark Always on guard is I, Jakurai (That’s right!) We three are the only ones who remain, the last guys

HIFUMI That’s right, yeah? You’ve been waiting for me? (Hi-fu-mi!) We are super first class (Yeah!) Our bond is growing just like a heartbeat Breathing new life into this world

DOPPO The words that I hold within me sound naïve Something is wrong; it’s this impossible system Even with things at their worst, I have Sensei and Hifumi By their side I can be Doppo, unchained and free

JAKURAI: From people, cities, buildings, light seems to glow HIFUMI: With however many kilo left until we get home DOPPO: I believe in my friends! There’s no crisis we can’t get through! JAKURAI: I like it. HIFUMI: It’s simple! DOPPO: Shinjuku-　 MTR: Matenrou!

MTR Shinjuku guys, c’mon, put your hands up This is our bond (Our bond!)

ALL Put your hands up!

CHORUS

ALL All the city guys, c’mon, put your hands up We are the best of friends (Best of friends!) All the city guys, c’mon, put your hands up This is our bond! (x3)

NOTES

Essentially, Samatoki says “serious” here in two different ways - “本気 (honki)” and “マジ (maji)”. The second is considered more like slang, and katakana in general is considered more masculine/aggressive, which could tie into his position as a yakuza as well as reference Chuuoku renaming all the divisions except their own in katakana in order to make them seem less “traditionally” Japanese.

The capitalisation on “Emptiness” here is purposeful, as Ramuda is referencing a specific kind of Chinese constellation by the same name. I guess it’s supposed to be a joke about wishing on stars, and how that’s pointless for him because of what he is?

There’s a specific kind of flower referenced here that I couldn’t fit into the line, called “丁花” or “Daphne”. A specific kind of Daphne, “Daphne odora”, is native to China and was spread to Japan later on. Odora is poisonous to both humans and animals, and rarely produces red berries after flowering. In hanakotoba, the meaning of Odora is “glory/immortality/eternity”.

#Rhyme Anima #Hypmic Translations #i tried my best with the rhyming i promise hghrjgr

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tomsdior · 4 years

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“lets make it official” | t.h

Summary; you and tom have been together for quite some time now, but labels up until this point have remained an unspoken subject...

a/n; HEY! I took very long break but im back now, this fic has been rewritten tons of times since fucking January, yet even now im still not crazy about it. I just really wanted to get back into writing so please leave feedback!

warnings; mentions of sex and like one curse word.

wc; 2k

masterlist | taglist

—

IT WAS A COLD EVENING IN EARLY MARCH, and you had just finished taking your exams, and were more than tired because of all the time you had spent last night cooped up in the campus library trying to retain and memorize any little information that would help you out on the exams.

Which definitely helped you out a ton due to you walking out of the room with a lot more prep in your step. Feeling all the bit more relaxed now that the exams were over and you could go back to your normal schedule that didn’t include such immense amounts of studying as well as a lot more hours of sleep, which you hadn’t been getting a lot of recently.

So the first thing you planned to do once getting back to your apartment was to tend to your tiredness and nap the second you settled in, change into some more comfy clothing and maybe even make yourself a cup of tea and scroll through Instagram a little beforehand. But that plan was sadly cut short by a text from your roommate, Yasmine, who you shared an apartment with off campus with for the last two years.

The text explained how she last minute decided to invite her boyfriend over for the afternoon to help study for her psych class. Which wouldn’t sound like much of a problem to the average person, but for y/n and yasmine it sort worked like a code for “were definitely fucking” ( the code was mostly used by Yasmine) so you now definitely knew you wouldn’t be able to take a nap or relax even under the circumstances of your roommate moaning through the ridiculously thin walls of your apartment.

But that didn’t leave you super upset, because unlike past roommates Yasmine had the decency to tell you about her intimate activities in the apartment beforehand, (even if it was quite late) which you were thankful for. Besides you now have an excuse to go visit the boy who you’ve been giving most, if not all your attention to these last few months.

You knew he’d be back from classes so there was no need to worry about him being home or not.

Many people would even say that you and Tom have been attached by the hip, always having at least some type of contact with each other when you could. Whether it be him just walking you to class, a study date at a nearby cafe, weekly movie nights, dates at your favorite chinese place at three a.m. Or even just having a cozy night in where you're cuddled up talking about nothing and everything.

Which sounds pretty typical for a couple who's been together for a few months, the only difference was that you and Tom weren’t official on being boyfriend and girlfriend. Of course, you didn’t want to rush, but you felt like you should’ve at least had some type of conversation about it now.

Especially while your feelings seemed to be growing at a much faster rate for the charming brit than you originally thought they would. I mean when you first started talking you strictly remember telling yourself to keep your walls up and not let yourself fall so easily for the boy, knowing he had a reputation that didn’t lead you to believe he could stay with a girl for too long.

But as time went on, you learned that there was much more to him than just his good looks, so worries of his reputation seemed to gradually fade. As he showed you sides of himself that others would be shocked to hear that the cocky, and arrogant “Tom Holland” was able to portray.

Sides of his that you would only describe as kind, and thoughtful, significantly much softer in manner. Always knowing how to make you smile with his silly jokes and adoring compliments. That usually left you flustered with heated cheeks, and he of course would always sit there smirking before sweetly showering your face with soft kisses, unknowingly making your heart flutter from the affection. (and it didn’t hurt how gorgeous he was either)

Of course they were all things that clearly opposed his notorious image he upheld around campus. But, they were also the things that made you slowly fall for him everyday. Things that only made you want nothing more than to be an official couple, which is why you had made a mental note to have that talk with him sometime while at his frat today. But for now you were trying to keep your sleepy eyes open as you got there.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★

“y/n…” a clear look of surprise was etched on Tom's face as he opened the door to reveal you on the other end, a much rather tired version might you add.

“Listen I know I should’ve texted rather than coming unannounced like this, but I was just so tired and…”

That was all you managed to say before you were stopped by feeling his lips on yours. At first you froze at the sudden move, but in a matter of seconds you returned the kiss, letting yourself get lost and fall deeper into the feeling of his soft lips against yours.

He knew that if he hadn’t stopped you, you would’ve started to trail off into a little ramble (in this case it would’ve been of unnecessary apologies), something you often did when you were clearly tired.

He soon reluctantly ends the kiss with a delicate peck, leaving you feeling more awake with a newfound blush across your cheeks. “You know you're always welcome here, love.” his hand came up to cradle your cheek as he reminded you, and from what the tone of his voice seems like the fiftieth time. And yes you knew you were always welcome to come whenever, especially when all his frat brothers treated you so nicely. It was just the overthinker in you that caused you to believe that you were overstepping, or getting too comfortable for his liking.

“I know bubs it’s jus’ that I can’t help but feel like I’m being a bother sometimes.” you tell him honestly while lowering your head slightly to hide the subtle redness that rose in your cheeks, partially from the after effects of the kiss but mostly from how his soft tone seemed to always make you melt inside.

“You're never a bother, love. Ever,” he states, making sure that his eyes were locked with Y/N’s as he muttered those words.

“Besides I could always use some of your company.” he says with a smile, and with you still not being fully used to all the affection you received from him yet, you could feel your heart flutter lightly in your chest from his words.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★

“So what brings you here,” Tom asks as he hangs up your coat for you, which you thank him for.

“Well, I was planning on getting some rest back at my apartment. But Yasmine texted me while I was on the way telling me her boyfriend was coming over.” you explain to him, and he nods understandingly. He already had a pretty good understanding of what your roommate had meant by her text so luckily for you there was no need to explain further.

“And there was no way I was going to be able to get any type of rest with them going at it in the room next to me. so I just came here knowing you’d be back already. ” you say, letting out a small huff that was almost inaudible, but Tom still managed to hear it.

“But look on the bright side, love” he starts, wrapping his arms around your waist to give you a comforting hug from behind. The simple gesture makes you feel more at ease as he rests his chin on your shoulder.

“If it weren’t for yasmine I wouldn’t get to spend the rest of the day with my girl.” he smiles, as he starts to pepper small kisses into the crook of your neck.

And although the feeling wasn’t anything less than nice, you couldn’t help but focus on his words, specifically the last two, and although they were words that you loved to be called, you knew they also held a conversation that has yet to be had between the two of you.

But before you could bring it up, Tom had already sensed your change in mood, and eventually removed his lips from your neck to see what the problem was. “What's the matter darling,” his eyebrows were furrowed as he tried to figure out what was on your mind.

‟W-what are we?” You ask him in a voice that’s barely above a whisper(clearly ignoring his question), but Tom could still hear it clear as day because of how close you were.

As you free yourself from his gentle grip around your waist you turn to face him, noticing the confusion written all over it. Which you were very aware was caused by your one little question that you knew probably confused the hell out of him, but you just couldn’t seem to get anything else out but that.

“What do you mean love?” his head is now cocked to the side with a puzzled look stitched on his face, making his curls flop to the side as well, his somewhat pouty lips making you involuntarily grin as you shake your head softly.

“I mean it’s been a few months since we’ve known eachother now” you took a deep breath. “And we are pretty close-,” he takes your face in his hand and caresses your cheek, “and I feel we should talk about us,..like what we are officially.” you explain, almost immediately second guessing yourself before you spoke again.

“Well is having a relationship something you even want with me?” you ask nervously, looking up at him, feeling your heart start to beat faster as you await an answer.

“Of course angel,” he assures, continuing to caress your cheek. “it’s jus’ you know that when it comes to relationships of all things I’m no expert,” he says with an obvious tone. “In fact I am just about as clueless as ever,” he mumbles with a laugh, making the corners of your lips upturn in the slightest.

“But if I’m being completely honest, you’ve made me feel things that no one has ever made me feel in my entire life. Made me feel a true happiness that I didn’t know I needed until I met you. I mean You're so kind and generous, and you always know how to make me smile and laugh. And you're one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met.

“And I know I’ve still got lots to learn when it comes to relationships, but I know I wouldn’t wanna do it with anyone but you” he affirmed.

By the end, your eyes were glossy and filled with tears that threatened to escape, you hated how you had gotten so emotional in such little time. They end up falling regardless and stain your cheeks, But Tom was quick to wipe them away with his thumb.

Once your eyes start to clear you notice the sweet look that clouded his, as he waited for you to say something. However you decided to not respond with words, and with something much more intimate.

Without a second to spare you press your lips upon his. Creating a sweet kiss full of passion from the both of you as your lips moved in sync. You kissed each other almost as if it were your first time doing the act, which was far from true, but this one had a feeling better than anything you could ever hope for.

In time you broke the kiss to catch your breath, you couldn't help but look at each other, smiling like crazy as your lips brushed against each other’s.

“I guess we’re a proper couple now, huh.” he says, giving you another peck before pulling you into his chest. “I guess we are.” You smile happily as you relax into him.

His embrace felt so warm and comforting around you, so much that it made you let out a small yawn as your eyes fluttered shut against his chest.

“Looks like someone still needs their nap.” He teases, making you smile dopily as he gives one last kiss on your temple.

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patchsoy57 · 3 years

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optimusphillip · 3 years

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OptimusPhillip Reviews 27: Studio Series 52 Chromia, Arcee, and Elita-1

Christmas is coming soon, and while I can’t be sure of what I’m getting, I’d like to review a recent acquisition beforehand just in case I end up getting more this year. This is the Studio Series 52 three-pack of Chromia, Arcee, and Elita-1 from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Motorcycle Modes

According to TFWiki, all three of these figures turn into their bike modes from the movie; Chromia is a Suzuki B-King, Arcee is a Ducati 848, and Elita-1 is an EV Agusta F4. However, I can’t say I agree with that statement. There’s no licensing information on the box, and there are some visible discrepancies between the toys and the real bikes. Chromia’s headlight is split up and her side lamps are the wrong shape, Arcee is missing her front fender and most of her side panels, and Elita-1 is missing her rearview mirrors and has two headlights instead of just one. Some of these changes could be sacrifices for the sake of making bikes this small transform, but most of them just feel like working around licensing.

Paint deco is kind off here, too. While the base colors are right, all three bikes in the movie had a lot of black accents along with Cybertronian writing on their bodywork. In addition, all three had rims color-coded to their main body colors. None of these details carry over, likely due to size and budget issues. Instead, all we have is some black on the seats, and some silver for the windshields, headlights, gas caps, rims, and tail pipes. However, I think they still look nice, even if they aren’t 1:1 movie accurate.

Now, I mentioned the size earlier, and I should probably address that more properly now. These girls are tiny, only about 2 3/4″ tip to tail in bike mode. They are the smallest figures in the Studio Series line, which is probably for scaling reasons. While I don’t presently have any of the vehicles these bikes were seen alongside in the movie, putting her next to Dropkick in car mode, the scale looks about right for a motorbike next to a car, which I very much approve of.

Conversions

Being as small as they are, these three figures have very simplistic conversions. This is especially true of Chromia, whose transformation consists of folding out the rear seat to form her arm, bringing out the other arm, flipping the front and rear wheels and bringing up the head. Probably the hardest part is trying to tab the rear wheel into place when going back to bike mode, since it doesn’t really fit into the specified slot.

Arcee and Elita are a little more involved. For Arcee, you need to unhinge the lower and upper halves of the bike. From here, the upper half transforms easily enough (just remember to flip up her shoulder spike). The lower half, however, does a double-twist to put the body stem the proper position, then folds in half to create Arcee’s double wheel-foot.

Elita-1′s transformation is slightly different from Arcee and Chromia, in that her front wheel forms one of her arms instead of the rear seat. Once her arms are out of the way, along with her rear wheel-spike, the side panels of the bike rotate down, exposing a similar body stem to Arcee’s. From here, disconnect the front and rear of the bike by un-tabbing the gas tank, do a similar double-twist to Arcee, and then straighten out the rear wheel to form her wheel-foot. Fold the handlebars up, and you’re done.

All three sisters get detachable bases to keep them standing in robot mode. They don’t mount super-securely, nor do they store anywhere in vehicle mode, but they do their job well enough.

Robot Modes

While limited by their small size, these three figures are very faithful renditions of their CGI models from the movie. Some of the finer details are missing, again likely owing to their small size, but the general body shapes are there, and even subtle details like Elita’s folded up handlebars are included.

Upon close inspection, it appears that these three share a surprising number of parts. Arcee shares Chromia’s left shoulder and right forearm, Elita-1′s right shoulder, chest, and head, and all three share the same waist tooling and... hip piece, I guess.

For articulation, all three sisters have ball-joints in their necks, shoulders, elbows, and waists, plus a mushroom peg swivel leftover from transformation, which allows you to tilt their upper bodies if that’s a thing you want to do. I will warn you, however, that some of their arm joints can be loose. In my case, both Arcee and Elita have loose left elbows, and Arcee’s bike front shoulder is loose as well. Also, I’ve occasionally popped parts off during transformation, though it’s not often enough to feel like anything besides a problem with my end.

Aside from their robot mode stands, this set includes three additional accessories: a large pink gun, a large blue blade, and a small blue piece with silver piping. According to the instructions, the gun goes over Arcee’s right forearm, the blade goes on Chromia’s left forearm, and the small blue piece goes on... Arcee’s left shoulder. Yeah, this feels odd to me. It’s obviously colored to go with Chromia, and seems to only work with Arcee due to them sharing a left shoulder part, but the instructions give it to Arcee. That said, all three of these accessories are interchangeable across the two, since not only do they share right forearms to fit the gun, but Arcee also has pegs for the blade on her left forearm. Unfortunately, Elita kind of gets left out of the accessory swapping, though she does have her character model’s arm-blade sculpted into her left arm. Also, the shoulder piece isn’t super secure, especially on Chromia, who has some clearance issues with her large elbow and blade.

Now, normally, that would be it for the figures themselves... but there’s one more undocumented feature to discuss.

Combined Mode

I’m going to say this right now: as of me writing this review, there are no official instructions for this combined mode. A combined mode is clearly intentional judging by the engineering involved, but there is no confirmed official configuration. As a result, I will be following the method used by SparkSide - YRQRM0 on YouTube, which has made the best use I’ve seen of all the unique engineering.

In essence, this is just Arcee with Elita-1 forming a rear wheel, and Chromia forming a large backpack. The idea of the three combining is based on a deleted scene from Revenge of the Fallen that only exists as concept art, but this configuration has very little in common with that concept art. SparkSide’s original combination idea, while using less of the dedicated engineering, did more closely resemble that concept design. Still, this isn’t really bad in comparison. I like the centaur shape she has going on, and I still enjoy how Chromia’s arm parts fuse onto Arcee’s. While Chromia herself kind of just forms a backpack, it is a nice way of integrating her design. That said, Arcee loses all torso articulation, and her arms are a little clunky in this configuration. Still, it’s a fun little bonus feature that I’m glad they included.

Backdrop

The backdrop included with this set is branded “Shanghai Pursuit”, and is based on the opening sequence from Revenge of the Fallen, where the three pursue Sideways through the streets of Shanghai. Specifically, it shows the building that they burst through after narrowly avoiding killing an old Chinese man eating noodles. While the shot from the movie is very busy, all of the details I saw in the movie are present here, and there’s nothing here that seems out of place. So I’ll say it’s a successful recreation.

But now the million dollar question: do the figures fit on the base? Yes. The figures are so small in robot mode and have such narrow footprints that all three of them can stand side by side without crowding the base. They even fit on it in combined mode... but only sideways. The combined robot is just too long front to back to fit on the stand facing forward, but the base is wide enough and the robot thin enough too fit when looking off to the side. So it’s possible, but it doesn’t look very good. They all still fit in motorcycle mode as well. It’s a little crowded, but you can get them to all fit on the stand side-by-side at an angle, showroom style.

Final Thoughts

Studio Series is not for everyone, and the Revenge of the Fallen designs are definitely not for everyone. That said, I think the motorcycle sisters are some of the better designs to come out of that movie, and I think they are captured very well in this three-pack. While small, they are fun to play around with, going from one mode to another and playing around with the combinations. Some of the connections are kind of loose, but not to the extent of being a dealbreaker. So if you’re into these designs, or are just looking for some fun desk toys, these are hard to go wrong with. Just make sure you play with them in an area where you won’t lose any dropped parts.

#transformers #studio series #arcee #chromia #elita-1 #transformer reviews

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imaginaryelle · 4 years

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Okay, @tonyglowheart , here is that promised response:

@three--rings already brought up some points I was going to mention so I’ll skip over going into detail on those and just say that I agree with the use of caution and thoughtfulness in approaching works produced by other cultures (of whatever language), and I, too, love a mash-up of MDZS and CQL for ideal storytelling. Accepting genre tropes in general is really important as well. I once showed my grandfather a piece of my writing based on pulp adventure stories like Indiana Jones and his main reaction was “All these secret chambers and codes and gadgets, isn’t that all very convenient?” and I just had to shrug and say, that’s the genre, it’s part of what makes it fun to read. Also, based on reading about various medicinal histories I’ve been exploring, I can say that the coughing up blood thing is a trope based in Ancient China’s traditional medicine. Lots of pre-understanding-of-blood-circulation societies thought expelling old or stale blood was important for the body (possibly based on how menses works and reflected in Western medicine’s several-century-long obsession with bloodletting), and I recently read that having it caught in your chest and needing to cough it up was part of China’s take on things. I’m still not sure about all the other face bleeding, but if it’s not actually based in something historical it seems like a reasonable extension for the genre.

Okay, so the thing I want to respond to most is the translation bit, because I… okay. I understand that people are going to find works in translation less accessible than works written in a language they can read, and especially works written in their native language and of their own culture. Because obviously there are a ton of underlying ideas that inform word choice and symbolism and character arcs that most people just don’t really think about until they make a serious study of writing or literature (or they travel and learn more about other languages and literature traditions). On a linguistic studies level, language literally shapes the way humans in different cultures think, and what they pick out as important (an academic article that compares English and Chinese specifically can be found here). Even the distinctions between British English and American English, on a word choice and theme or syntax level, can have an impact. I have seen it turn kids off a book, because there are just too many elements they don’t get (this is, for example, why there are two English versions of Harry Potter). Same thing with different decades even. I’m talking about kidlit and YA here because that’s a lot of what I work with, but in that realm, the way we approach stories today is just incredibly different from how they were approached even 50 years ago, even in the same language and the same country. Think Judy Blume or The Dark is Rising vs Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Percy Jackson. And I’m fascinated by those changes, and by the effects of culture and bias on translations (I am extremely hyped to read Emily Wilson’s Odyssey translation, for example), so I tend to approach them as puzzles, where I’m reading the work, but also looking for clues that will tell me more about both the translator and the author to hang in balance. I enjoy that part, and I enjoy figuring out aspects of the two languages that can contribute to how a translation evolves.

I’m a language and literature nerd, and I know not everyone is going to take the approach I do. I’m not going to fault anyone for saying they don’t enjoy or can’t get into a translation. That’s a perfectly valid opinion. Reducing a work to its translation and judging it only on that impression of it, however, seems pretty shortsighted to me. Here are some things that I think are important to keep in mind when reading a Chinese work in translation, just based on my own extremely limited knowledge:

1. In Chinese storytelling it’s an established practice to reference idioms, poetry, folklore and historic events as a sort of shorthand for evoking the proper tone. Chinese writing tends to be extremely allusive, and much more understated than what we’re used to in English-language storytelling. We can see hints of this in some of the MDZS translator notes, and it’s likely that this difference feeds into a lot of dissatisfaction with the translation. Either the allusions are not translated in a way that adds meaning for an English-speaking reader, or the standards for detail are different. Indirectness and subtly are huge parts of Chinese literature, and so different words or scenes will have very different connotations for Chinese vs. English speaking audiences. And this isn’t even touching on the use of rhyme and rhythm in Chinese writing, which are all but impossible to translate a lot of the time, or the often extremely different approaches to “style” and “genre” between the languages (an interesting article on comparative literature is here at the University of Connecticut website). Given this knowledge, it’s entirely possible that, for example, the smut scenes are more effective in Chinese than in the English translation. In fact, I find it difficult to believe it would be popular enough to get multiple adaptations and a professional publishing run if they weren’t. In translation, smut is a lot like humor: every culture approaches it a little differently. Unless a translator is familiar with both writing traditions and the relevant genres (or they have editors or sensitivity readers who can offer advice), something is going to get lost in the process. And sometimes that something is what at least one of the involved cultures would consider to be the most important part. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.

2. Chinese grammar is slightly different from English grammar (and I’m focusing on Mandarin as the common written language here. For anyone interested, a very basic rundown of major differences is available here). Verb tenses and concepts of time work differently. Emphasis is marked differently – in English we tend to put the most importance on the start of a sentence, while in Chinese it’s often at the end. Sentences are also often shorter in Chinese than in English, and English tends to get more specific in our longer sentences. From what I understand, it’s also a little more acceptable to just drop subjects out of a sentence, and that is more likely to happen if someone is attempting to be succinct. I’ve been told that it’s especially common in contentious situations, as part of an effort to distill objections or arguments down to an essential meaning (if I’m wrong about this or there’s more nuance to it, I’m happy to learn more). As one example of how this affects translation, let’s take that and look at Lan Wangji’s dialogue. I’m willing to bet that most of his words are direct translations, or as direct as the translator could manage. But his words don’t work the same way in English that they do in Chinese. If you continuously drop subjects and articles (Chinese doesn’t have articles) out of a character’s speech in English, they start to sound like they have issues articulating themselves, and I see that idea reflected in fic a lot. The idea that Lan Wangji just isn’t comfortable talking or can’t say the words he means is all over the place, but I don’t think the audience was intended to take away the idea that Lan Wangji speaks quite as stiltedly as he comes off in the English translation. He’s terse, yes. But I at least got the impression that it’s more about choosing when and how to speak for the best effectiveness than anything else, because so many of his actual observations are quite insightful and pointed, or fit just fine syntactically within the conversation he’s part of.

3. Chinese is both more metaphorical and more concrete than English in some ways. In English we use a lot of abstract words to represent complex ideas, and you just have to learn what they mean. In Chinese, the overlap of language and philosophy in the culture results in four-character phrases of what English would generally call idioms. Some examples I found: “perfect harmony” (水乳交融) can be literally translated as “mixing well like milk and water” and “eagerly” (如饥似渴) is read as “like hunger and thirst.” If these set phrases are translated to single word concepts in English, we can lose the entire tone of a sentence and it’ll feel much more flat and... basic, or uninspired. The English reader will be left wondering where the detailed descriptive phrase is that adds emotion and connotation to a sentence, when in the actual Chinese those things were already implied.

As translations go, MDZS in particular is an incredibly frustrating mixed bag for me, partially because of the non-professional fan translation, and partially because my knowledge of Chinese literature and especially Cultivation novels is so minimal as to be nearly non-existent. But I have enough exposure to translations in general and Chinese language and literature in particular that I could tell there were things I was missing. The framework of the plot and scenes was too complete for me to ever be able to say that any particular frustration I had was due to the author, not the translator. There’s a big grey area in there that’s difficult to navigate without knowing both languages and the norms of the genre extremely well. At one point I was actually able to find multiple translation for a few of the chapters and I loved that. It was really cool to see what changed, and what remained essentially the same, and I was actually really surprised to find that rant you mention, because to me, more translations is always better. I think it was probably about wanting to corral an audience, and possibly also about reducing arguments from the audience about whether a translation was “wrong” or “right.” And that is an issue that’s going to crop up more in online spaces than it has traditionally. Professional translators don’t have to potentially argue with every single reader about their word choice. But then, professional translators also tend to have a better grasp of both the cultures they’re working with as well, and be writers of some variety in their own right, and while I can’t know how fluent (linguistically or culturally) the ExR translator was at the time, the translator’s notes lead me to believe that at minimum their understanding of figurative language use was incomplete. So I can’t fault people for not enjoying the translated novel as much as CQL, for example, because it can be quite choppy and much of the English wording feels like a sketch of a scene rather than something fleshed out fully, but I don’t think it’s fair to apply that impression to MXTX herself or the novel as a whole in Chinese.

More about ExR: I also got the sense that they have a strong bl and yaoi bias as you mentioned, mostly from the translator’s notes. And in general, okay, that’s fine, they’re working with a particular market of fans and I’m just not as much a part of that market. I knew going in that I wasn’t the target audience. I’m okay with that. What I was less okay with was getting to the end and reading the actual author’s notes in translation and finding that the author herself expressed a much more nuanced, considerate, and balanced approach to the story and her writing process than I had been led to believe by the translation and the translator’s notes. And so when people want to criticize the author for things that happen in the translation…. I just think it’s very important to remember that the translator is also a factor, as is the influence of the cultivation genre, and the nature of web novels, and the original intended audience. As you said, white western LGBT people were never the intended recipients of this work. It comes from a totally different context. But I think it’s also important to remember that, again as you noted, it wasn’t first written as a professional work. It was literally a daily-updated webnovel, which works a lot more like a fanfic than a book in terms of approach. And on top of that, it was the author’s second novel (if I’m reading things correctly) and one that they experimented with a lot of new elements in. Those elements earn a lot of forgiveness and benefit of a doubt from me.

About MXTX herself: Most of the posts or references to posts that I’ve seen that judge or dismiss her have to do with the stated sexuality of characters who are not Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. And it just kinda baffles me, because this is fandom. Most of us spend our time writing about characters who are stated to be straight all the time. Why is anyone getting up in arms about this? How can anyone in fandom just summarily dismiss an author for producing original work that centers around a gay relationship when that’s… literally what most of us write, to some extent or another? Again, I’m not saying there’s aren’t aspects that can be criticized in her stories, but the hypocrisy is kind of amazing. I think that fandom, as a culture overall, has issues with treating gay men and their relationships as toys rather than people, and individuals can address their own behavior on that as they learn and grow. That doesn’t mean that every work about gay men having sex is fetishistic, and honestly I’d say that the translator demonstrates more of that attitude than the actual story ever does. The smut is such an incredibly tiny part of the world, plots and character arcs in MDZS that it could be taken out without significantly changing the main narrative very easily. That’s… not fetishistic. That’s smut as part of an overarching romance plot.

Which leads me to the tropes discussion. Yes, obviously there are tropes in MDZS. There are tropes in every story. It’s not a failing, it’s part of writing. Are some of those tropes BL or Yaoi tropes? Sure. Wei Wuxian denying his own sexuality for much of the novel and his tendency toward submission and rape fantasy are some of the very first tropes mentioned in relation to the genre. That Wei Wuxian just sort of seamlessly moves from “pff, I’m NOT a cutsleeve, I’m just acting like one” to shouting “Lan Zhan, I really want you to fuck me” in front of friends, enemies and family without much of a process for dealing with the culture of homophobia around him also seems to be characteristic of the genre. But I think that’s about where it ends. You and @three--rings both made some good points about the nature of the actual relationship, which I agree with: There’s not much of a power play element, or an assigned gender roles element. They’re both virgins who only partially know what they’re doing from looking at illustrations of porn, and they do enthusiastically want to have sex with each other. They’re just bad at negotiating their kinks clearly and could use a decent sex ed manual. The trope I actually have the most issue with is the use of alcohol. I personally despise the trope of “I’ll get someone drunk on purpose for reasons that benefit me personally,” due to my own real life experiences. But it’s an exceedingly common trope in Western media (Idk about Chinese media, but my guess would be it exists there too), and it’s not exclusive to mlm smut scenarios. It’s pretty much everywhere. And, thankfully, Wei Wuxian does seem to eventually realize that he’s fucking things up by using it. That said, despite knowing what happens to him when he drinks, La Wangji keeps doing it. So they’re both contributing to that mess, no matter how much I dislike that it exists, and the narrative doesn’t actually condone it. No one says “Oh, Wei Wuxian, that’s such a good idea, that’s definitely something you should keep doing.” He is consistently warring with himself over it but unable to resist. It’s still dubcon and manipulation, and I certainly understand people not wanting to read it. I just also think that reducing the entire relationship down to “bad, terrible, fetishistic BL tropes” requires the reader to ignore large parts of the story and pretty evident intent on the parts of both the characters and the author.

On purity culture: Yeah, that’s obviously been cropping up all over the place the past several years (I have indeed been in marvel for ages :P). It does seem like there are places in fandom (to some degree any fandom), where “I don’t like how this idea was executed in this context” gets conflated with “This entire work is terrible,” which is a disservice to everyone involved. I agree that there are many things that can be legitimately criticized in MDZS, but I also just… really don’t understand where this attitude comes from that because something is not perfect, it’s trash. Wasn’t fandom essentially invented out of the desire to respond to canon? To make it more your own? Isn’t picking out the parts you like and ignoring the bits you don’t (or writing around the bits you hate until you can fit them in a shape you like better) pretty much what all fic is about? Aren’t those holes people are sticking their fingers into and complaining about opportunities for more fan content? But even more than “purity culture” I would term it “entitlement culture,” because a lot of it seems to be about the idea that media should fit into and support a certain set of beliefs at all times. A lot of fandoms are no longer an atmosphere of “I don’t like the way this is presented so I’m going to create my on version that works for me.” Instead there’s a growing element of “I don’t like the way this is presented so that means it’s wrong and bad and the original creator should admit that it’s wrong and bad and fix it to satisfy me.” And honestly? That’s just sad to me. More and more, we’re not having a conversation with canon, or even with each other. We’re not building what we want to see we’re just… tearing other people down. I really don’t understand what anyone finds fun in that, and I’m going to do my best to keep creating the things I actually do want to see instead.

#blah blah alex #this is about mdzs #and translation #and fandom #alcohol mention #dubcon mention

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furederiko · 4 years

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"Shin Sakura Taisen Rekidai Kayoushuu" Review (Part 2)

SEGA boldly (or is it a risky move?) introduces new Kagekidans that represent new cities with this game. Not one or two, but just THREE for now, with a fourth one debuting later in the Spring TV series. Track 4 to 6 of the album are specifically slotted for these new heroines...

Contrary to reports in various sites that had reported them as such, in my opinion, these are definitely NOT character image songs. Kouhei Tanaka-sensei has openly referenced them as "[City Name] GEKITEI". So these sit in line with Paris Kagekidan's "Mihata no Moto ni" and New York Kagekidan's "Chijou no Senshi". Whatever happens to those teams, by the way? Hmmm...

One might argue that unlike "Shin GEKITEI", only one member sings these songs. But they seem to forget one thing: Sakura Shinguuji sang solo on the first vanilla version of that song. I don't know what the future holds, but there's a possibility that in the sequel(s), we might get another take of these songs that incorporate other members of their teams. For two of them, at least. We'll just have to wait and see. For now, let's embark on a globetrotting journey!

Niji no Kanata (Other Side of the Rainbow) by. Huang Yui (Sumire Uesaka)

As soon as I heard the full version, I wasn't completely sure how I felt about it. Surprisingly, I think I enjoyed the short MV version better. When SEGA started releasing one MV after another, starting from Berlin to this one, "Shanghai GEKITEI" totally stole my attention. I proudly declared it as my favorite of the three. Perhaps because the verses felt more concise (with less instrumental parts) that made it sound more... kickass? Even though it had a somewhat odd lyric, which you will understand why. This full-length version somehow exuded a different vibe. The verses were longer, which was the bit that I'm not too fond of. On the other hand, the lyrics flowed better and made more sense. And then there's an issue with Yui's voice. She had a playful and childlike tone in "Aratanaru". Assuming that's her who got the shortest line in the interlude, of course. I prefer the more gallant take that she used here, but the inconsistency threw me off. Suffice to say, I had to hear it a few times to finally get the hang of it. But goodness gracious, the Chinese vibe, which was even stronger (that should be obvious, I know! Ahaha), never failed to win me over. Just like the verses, the instrumental portions were also longer, thus giving it a slower and elegant pace. That serenading sound of Erhu just hit my soft spot every single time, likely resonating with some part of my genes. Combined that with a blast of modern instruments, and it blew me away. I sure want to see a live orchestra perform this with a Chinese theatre dance to accompany it! Its lyrics, courtesy of Ouji Hiroi, carried a similar message of Teito, Paris, and New York themes. Protect the city, its people, and seize the dream. Why does the title use 'Rainbow', though? Especially considering 7, while being a good number for a relationship, is considered as unlucky in Mandarin (ghost month). The key is in the kanji for 'Rainbow', because it is also known as 'Hong' or 'Jiang', the name of a two-headed dragon in Chinese mythology. And what does the symbol of Shanghai Kagekidan look like? Yep, a DRAGON! So while in Japanese it literally translates as "Other Side of the Rainbow", the context also points to it being "Other Side of the Dragon". Even though it might take me a while to get used to this, and it's no longer my number one, it's an amazing piece nonetheless. I'm old, so I'm not familiar with Sumire Uesaka's pop songs. But so far, I haven't heard her sang a song like this. As Kouhei-sensei had stated, these new "GEKITEI" were composed to challenge the VAs vocal prowess. That seems to be the case here, to which Uesaka did a great job! PS: Wikipedia told me that Uesaka is a fan of Russia. I wonder how she would feel if she was cast as a leader of the Moscow Kagekidan instead?

Entaku no Kishi (Knights of the Round Table) by. Lancelot (Manami Numakura)

Just like the previous song, I had a completely opposite reaction to this as well. It honestly took a while for me to like or even understand the London Kagekidan theme when its official MV first came out. This full anthem also sounds different but in a far more positive light! How so? The second Westminster Bells kicked off, my mouth grinned so wide. Then the music slowly developed into that familiar tone, but continued to build up even more with meticulous touches and flares of fanfare, horns, trumpets, and an electrifying mix of the electric guitar. And suddenly I was transported into the medieval era, with images of brave knights flashing on my mind, en route for a battle to protect the land. Daaaang... Kouhei-sensei totally knows how to make something sound so graceful, yet gallant and rich, huh?! A sensation that young'uns nowadays would easily call 'EPIC'. My lingering issue with this song remains as-is: Manami Numakura's voice. Don't get me wrong, she is a wonderful VA with a unique vocal tone (Kohaku in "Dr. STONE", right?). I'm just not a fan of her singing voice, never was since her Idolmaster days. Even when it's my least favorite part of the song, that tomboy-ish charm blends perfectly with the song and gives it a distinct sound. The end result is something that continues to delight me and puts a smile on my face. Oh, what about the title, you ask? I think it's obvious enough. London Kagekidan is clearly based on the tales of King Arthur. Arthur is (likely, the code-name of) its blond-haired, high priest-dressed Captain, while our female lead here is the loyal Lancelot. It intrigued me when the lyrics, by Shouko Fujibayashi, mentioned 12 knights just like its lore. Does the team really have that many members? Assuming it will feature in the sequel, that would be fun to see. Then again, Idolmaster started out with 10(+1) idols, so I'm sure Lancelot would fit along just fine! Hahahaha... PS: Do you think that echoing bell at the intro and interlude sound convincing? Well, Kouhei-sensei said they actually recorded it at the actual location! Another good reason to appreciate this song.

Kurogane no Hoshi (Iron Star) by. Elise (Nana Mizuki)

*standing ovation* This. This IS a SCARY song! And by scary, I mean what a challenge it IS to pull off. Imagine trying to do at least an okay job at this in a karaoke booth? Godspeed. Nuh-uh, I don't think this song will work without Nana Mizuki's powerful vocals. Not just because I'm a fan of her, or have always wanted her to be part of this franchise. But I love Elise because she adds that much-needed heavier tone to the cast. Her brief but scene-stealing lines in "Aratanaru" proved that notion. You could easily recognize her voice amidst the chorus. If you think the short MV version (the actual first 1:20 minutes) that you see above already sounds amazing, just wait till you hear the middle part of this song. It slowed down, with various strings gently swayed you to enter another realm. Then it went FULL OPERA, with a piercing vocal work that would send nothing but genuine shivers to your soul! Goosebumps. All the time. The music had clear influences of Wagner's compositions, and those who are at least aware of classical music (or have seen "ClassicaLoid Season 2" Hahaha) would probably notice that almost immediately. Song of Valkyrie, anyone? Because of that, Kouhei-sensei personally did the arrangement for this number, seeing that it required a full-blown orchestra ensemble. Sensei showed the first part of the music sheets during one of the Teigeki Report, and I had a feeling it must've blown away everyone who saw it. I mean, Seijuurou Kamiyama's VA Youhei Azakami was literally jaw-dropped. He also revealed that Nana went above and beyond on that last high note, hitting it longer than she was supposed to, in time for the grand orchestra finish. Seriously, goosebumps. It is certainly one of the highlights of the album, and you DEFINITELY need to listen to this. Also, this is the only Kagekidan theme that I'm not sure can work as a group song. It IS still a Berlin Kagekidan song, proclaiming the might and power of the team that started it all. But can it be performed by a team of Hoshigumi? Dealing with that complicated lyrics by Shouko Fujibayashi ("...Schwarzer Stern, kurogane no hoshi..."), and fast-paced tempo will undoubtedly leave them breathless. Now I'm patiently counting the days to see Nana perform this in a live concert! Mindblown... PS: By the way, original Hanagumi's "Dream/Yume no 1 Pound" and Kanadegumi's "Enbukyoku, Kimi ni" came to mind when I tried to analyze this song. Presumably due to that middle part, which is true to Kouhei-sensei's style. You'll be hearing that magic touch of him again in some of the next tracks.

Next: the curtain rises for the Shin Hanagumi ladies!

Video is available on SEGA Official Youtube Channel. "Shin Sakura Taisen" is produced by SEGA, and RED Entertainment. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

#music #review #sakura wars #Sakura Taisen #Shin Sakura Wars #shin sakura taisen #project sakura wars #awesome #mind blown

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needsmoresarcasm · 6 years

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A Review of Crazy Rich Asians Before Seeing Crazy Rich Asians

And several years ago, she had been e-mailed a humorous list entitled ‘Twenty Ways You Can Tell You Have Asian Parents.’ Number one on the list: Your parents never, ever call you ‘just to say hello.’ She didn’t get many of the jokes on the list, since her own experience growing up had been entirely different.

That’s the passage that sold me on Crazy Rich Asians. I know, it’s no “Life lilted to the sounds of her soliloquy, skipping across lily pads, seeking to fill her soul with elusive validity” or whatever nonsense collection of pretty sounding words sells people on books these days. That’s all to say, for me, the thrill of Crazy Rich Asians does not rest in sparkling prose but in its revolutionary ordinariness.

You see, in that passage, Rachel, a first generation Chinese American, is reflecting on the differences between herself and other Asian Americans, as a result of considering her differences with Nick, her Chinese Singaporean boyfriend. A character in a story saying “I’m not like all the other [girls/boys/teens/football players/handsome men named Chris in a comic-book based superhero movie]” is hardly new ground. But an Asian American character specifically contemplating her differences from other Asian and Asian American characters? I feel pretty comfortable betting that you can’t even name another instance of it. Because that would require at least two Asian American or Asian characters, and then a recognition that those characters did not encompass the entire experience of all Asian Americans.

I’m confident making that bet because there are so few mainstream stories that include enough Asians to make that opportunity possible. Only 11 percent of network TV shows in 2015 even had more than one Asian actor in its main cast. There have only ever been three network sitcoms featuring an Asian American family. Ever. There have been that many network sitcoms featuring a group of predominantly white friends with the word “Friends” in the title in the last decade. And that’s not even including “Friends”! (Best Friends Forever, Friends with Better Lives, and Friends with Benefits, in case anyone was wondering. Yes, I watched every episode of them all, in case anyone was wondering again.) And TV is the medium where Asian actors are doing the best. Want to know how many major studio films featured an Asian actor in the leading role in 2015? Zero. None. In 2015, only 3.9 percent of characters were Asian, the same as in 2007, despite the fact that Asians are the fastest growing demographic group in the US.

That’s hardly shocking, I hope, because we’ve all been outraged about whitewashing for like a solid two years now. It’s exhausting, and I don’t know that I need to rehash it. But, for the sake of propriety, let’s just see how many movie characters were whitewashed in say… the last ten years: Allison Ng in Aloha (Emma Stone), Mindy Park in The Martian (Mackenzie Davis), The Ancient One in Doctor Strange (Tilda Swinton), Light Yagami (nee Turner???) in Death Note (Nat Wolff), Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell (Scarlett Johansson), Khan in Star Trek: Into Darkness (Benedict Cumberbatch), Hae-Joo Chang in Cloud Atlas (Jim Sturgess), Boardman Mephi in Cloud Atlas (Hugo Weaving), the Archivist in Cloud Atlas (James D’Arcy), Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender (Noah Ringer), Lena in Annihilation (Natalie Portman), Goku in Dragonball Evolution (Justin Chatwin), Keiji Kiriya in Edge of Tomorrow (Tom Cruise), Kyo Kusanagi in The King of Fighters (Sean Faris), everyone in 21, and everyone in Speed Racer. In the last ten years. And that’s not even counting the characters who were not necessarily whitewashed, but were still inexplicably white: The Last Samurai, The Great Wall, the random white person POV in the Bruce Lee biopic Birth of the Dragon, those seven seconds on the Internet when the Mulan script had a white dude. I guess what I’m saying is, thanks Ed Skrein for opting out of Hellboy.

And so, Crazy Rich Asians is revolutionary. Sure, its satirization of class is nothing that Pride and Prejudice hasn’t done. And it’s got a Game of Thrones convoluted web of familial relations. And a Tolkein-esque love of a tangential backstory for a tertiary character (no one ever needs to know anything about Bernard Tai). But it’s not a bunch of white people in Regency era England or Westeros or Middle Earth. It’s a bunch of Asian people in the 21st century. And so when Rachel says she doesn’t identify with a Buzzfeed list, I not only get the reference, I feel it. It’s a mundane aside that feels written for me--not written for an Asian audience generally, but written for me specifically. It’s the kind of representation you only get when identity assumes the role of a character’s foundation, not a character’s personality: when you can no longer win a game of Taboo by giving the hint “the Asian one.”

It’s the type of representation that allows me to feel no pause about decrying how Eddie should just be written out of Fresh Off the Boat (send him off to college, already) because that show still has the rest of the Huang family. The Fresh Off the Boat gag about not knowing the dishwasher was more than a drying rack? That’s the hardest I’ve laughed at a TV show in ages, as a person who hadn’t run a dishwasher until he was 24, despite having grown up with one in the house. The extended bit about having to prepare for Asian glow? Still funny, but I’ll die of alcohol poisoning before there are any signs that I’m visibly drunk. When every joke is from the perspective of an Asian American family, I don’t feel lost when a few aren’t for me.

I love Fresh Off the Boat because it’s a great family sitcom. It’s funny and heartwarming and totally accessible. And as a network sitcom entering its fifth season, that’s all it needs to be. Because if you’re looking for a different flavor of representation on TV? Try Master of None or Kim’s Convenience. Or The Good Place, in case you identify with a sweet, dumb molotov cocktail or a fancy British giraffe. Or Superstore, for either sass or sadness personified. There might not be a buffet of TV sitcom representation, but at least the prix fixe menu has some decent options.

And books are much the same. Crazy Rich Asians (and then China Rich Girlfriend… and then Rich People Problems) is fun, pop spectacle. It’s propulsive, with drama escalating through multiple storylines until they can’t help but burst into each other. It’s a great beach read. It’s a story you could live tweet. But you’d be disappointed if you were looking to read a rumination on identity and place in America or scrolls of lofty prose. The great thing about books, though, is that there are so many of them. So if you want those things? You could probably find it somewhere.

I don’t know that I realized how truly powerful it was to feel like something was crafted just for you until devouring Chemistry by Weike Wang. Chemistry is about an Asian American PhD student who leaves her PhD program in part because she feels like she lacks the motivation to dedicate her life to answering single research questions. She’s frustrated by lab work, by the unpredictability of scientific research. When she leaves her program, she tutors kids in science - and she so clearly loves science, as she peppers scientific trivia throughout the narrative. Her voice is deadpan and her thinking analytical. Switch some pronouns around, and I’m pretty sure I just wrote an autobiography circa 2012.

It’s hard to describe just how much feeling that catered to entirely changes the power of a piece of art. Honestly, it’s not something I’ve had much occasion to think of. Of course, Chemistry is great for so many more reasons. The writing is breathtaking in its economy. As an author, it feels like Wang can take the same five words and rearrange them into the world’s best joke and the world’s saddest tragedy. Every observation feels elemental - like chemistry, a fundamental truth of this world that Wang has just discovered. And as any good scientist, Wang has published those truths for the benefit of the public.

Celeste Ng has a similar knack for observation that’s on full display in Little Fires Everywhere. Now, Little Fires Everywhere is not primarily about Asian American characters. The only prominent Asian character does alight the most dramatic narrative in the book - a custody battle smoked in class and race wars. Still, I can’t say I particularly identify with the character, a Chinese immigrant so impoverished she leaves her child on a doorstep. But that’s not to say I don’t identify with the book. Because Little Fires Everywhere is a book about white identity, written from the outside looking in. Set in a midwest town in the 90s, race smolders in the background. Instead of merely being the default setting, the characters’ whiteness is a clear choice. It’s on full display. Much as it’s impossible to not notice the Asianness of a Mr. Miyagi, it’s impossible not to see the Richardsons’ every move as coded with whiteness.

And that perspective - the one that notices when things are particularly white - is something I can identify with. Little Fires is much more subtle about noticing whiteness than I am though. Where I muttered “this is some white nonsense” when a bar trivia category was “songs with the world ‘sail,’” Ng has the McCulloughs promise to feed a child Chinese food to connect her with her culture. Or has Lexie, whose boyfriend is black, declare that it’s so great that no one sees race in their town. Or has Mrs. Richardson feel entitled to barrel headfirst into affairs she has no business being part of. It’s in the claustrophobia that builds from the deliberate confines of the setting: a utopic, white-picket fenced community decidedly apart from the less desirable fringes of the town. A subtly observed us vs. them, where the central characters are almost certainly the “them.” In its hyper-awareness of whiteness, Little Fires gives its reader a sense of what every person of color lives through.

For me, Little Fires Everywhere and Chemistry and Crazy Rich Asians and Fresh Off the Boat are excellent forms of representation, even as they’re all incredibly different. And I am so grateful that all of these things exist. They’re great as independent works of art. And they’re even better for me, because I get to have the joy of being on the inside of the inside jokes.

But still. Not a single character in any of the works I’ve referenced is Japanese American. Not a single character in any of those works is a fourth generation Asian American. But I don’t blame those works for that. Those works are at least giving me something I recognize - an outsider's perspective on whiteness, a former PhD candidate, an exasperation with Buzzfeed lists, a family that doesn’t use their dishwasher. I would just like more. And when it comes to movies, I would just like any. Crazy Rich Asians is at least something. And all I’m asking for is something. And then, well, and then I’d like more something.

Because I am so glad that a story exists where an Asian person sees-and then rejects-a list of items that attempts to encompass every Asian American. Oh and as a last note? My parents really don’t ever call me “just to say hello.”

#crazy rich asians #little fires everywhere #fresh off the boat #chemistry

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inkedshawnie · 5 years

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Spies and Thieves

Okay so this is literally my first official fan-fiction and I like build up. I promise Ill try not to take forever to post updates. I hope you enjoy. All mistakes are my own.

CHAPTER ONE - PART ONE

A phone was ringing.

I rolled to the left and cracked one eye open to look at my night stand, both of my phone’s screens were black, so that meant it was Joss’s phone. I rolled back over and closed my eye; her phone was not my business. The only thing that concerned me was getting more sleep. I had been up for forty-eight hours before climbing into my bed almost three hours ago. I was beyond exhausted but… the phone rang again.

Joss, my best friend and work partner was probably on her computer, which meant she had headphones on and couldn’t hear her phone. I growled and rolled back over, throwing the covers off as I got out the bed. I walked out of my room, grabbed her sat-phone, and sneered at it, wanting to toss it out of our seventeenth-floor window. They would probably start calling one of my phones if I did that though, so I walked all the to the second floor of our three-story loft, into our shared office and hit her in the head with it.

“Ow, what the fuck.” She pulled her headphones off as she turned to look at me.

I dropped the phone on her keyboard too agitated at having to get up for a phone that wasn’t mine. “The NSA is calling. Keep this shit in here and go get your other one if it ain’t in here already because if I have to get back up before my brain is fully functional, I’m going to throw you and the phones out the window.” I turned and walked back to my room to get into my bed.

My phone was blinking, I rolled my eyes and stared at it, refusing to even pick it up. Everyone who knew that specific number knew that I had just got back in, so they shouldn’t have been calling me for at least seventy-two hours. The universe was probably trying to tell me something important, but I was too tired to listen to it. My bed was calling my name and I had every intention of answering it. I got back into the bed and closed my eyes. Everyone could wait. I couldn’t do anything for anyone if I was passing out from lack of sleep.

When I finally wake up, I still felt like I hadn’t slept enough but my mind was ready to start the day, I looked out my window, well looks like I’m starting my night. I got up and trudged to my bathroom to brush my teeth and take a shower. Once all of that was done, I got dressed in a simple tank top and cotton shorts.

“Joss? Joss? You here?” I walked upstairs to see if she was in the office, but she wasn’t, so I kept going up to the third floor which was her “wing” of the loft. I knocked and when I heard her soft come in, I opened the door. She was speed typing on her three-monitor computer system.

“What are you doing? Don’t tell me the NSA has you on another assignment. You know how you get when you are on one of those. I hate when you get deep into that shit, I should never have to watch you willing jump of a proverbial cliff. We should never have a distress code for situations like that. We should only have them for when one of us has either been locked up, shot or being heavily pursued by said government.” I took a breath and went to continue.

Holding up a hand she raised an eyebrow. “Have you checked your phones since you’ve been up?”

I squinted at her. “Eh… no. They can wait I needed the sleep besides they can go a couple hours without me. If they can’t then I need throw the lot of them away and try again.”

“Nesh… You’ve been sleep for two days. You literally got up to pee and drink water, then got right back into the bed. I think you were sleep during all of that. Like your brain knew how much power it needed to tell your limbs to move but you weren’t conscious. I had a whole conversation with you before I realized you were sleep.”

“Shit. Two days. They probably ran it all into the ground. I’ll be right back.” I ran out of her room and grabbed both phones but the one I was really concerned about was my work phone. I had sixty-seven missed calls and just as many voicemails, two hundred text messages and forty-five emails. I wanted to cry.

I ran back to Joss’s room and collapsed on her bed. “I’m scared to listen or read any of it. Why didn’t you wake me?”

Sitting down next to my head she patted my shoulder. “Because you needed the sleep that last job wasn’t as easy as you made it seem and you were running on fumes. Once they couldn’t get through to you, they started calling me. Remember we are partners. We have each other’s backs no matter what. I learned your trade just like you learned mines. So that we could cover each other if the need ever arises. So, relax and breath.”

“Okay, You’re right.” I was a thief, a good one if I do say myself and Joss was a hacker. When we first decided to form a team, we spent two years learning each others trade, so that we would always have options if something didn’t go according to plan. I took a deep breathe and let it out, then I took another and another until the shaking stopped and I could look at my phone without breaking into a sweat. “Okay, tell me before I start making calls.”

“Okay so the gist of is it Quinn and White were picked up by the CIA when they were on their way back to the club house. I don’t think the house was compromised but just to be safe lets which places for a little while until we know for sure.” She trailed off and I knew whatever she was going to say was going to be all types of bad.

“Come on Joss, just tell me everything.” I buried my face in her comforter. I wasn’t going to stress the CIA bit. I could handle that one.

“About the job Belle and K.K were doing… from what I understand it was a fairly simple job. But there were… complications.”

“Complications? All they were doing was scoping out the next target. They are seasoned vets at this point. What complications?”

“Well apparently you guys aren’t the only ones who thought the target would be a good target. There was another team there, Belle says that they spoke a foreign language but couldn’t figure out if it was Korean, Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese or something else. So, she recorded them, and sent the voice message through email. A long story short K.K tried to get closer to see who they were, but they had people watching their backs, the girls took heavy fire and K.K was shot in the stomach.”

I sat up and blinked at her for a couple of seconds. “You said shot. She was shot. They shot her.” I got up and started heading back to my room. I was so going to find these assholes and teach them a thing or two about manners and guns.”

“Nesha. Listen.” She ran after me. “They said it wasn’t their intention to shot anyone. The person who shot her was new to their team, some rookie on lone to them. He didn’t get the memo that guns were a no-no.”

“I can understand that, to a point but what the fuck.”

“Well yeah makes no sense but anyway.” She kept pace with me down the stairs. “They took her to Mount Sinai and paid for her medical bills. Aside from blood loss she pulled through just fine and is in recovery right now, the docs say she’ll be out of commission as far as jobs go but if she takes it easy and doesn’t do anything to stress the injury, she will be fine. The bullet didn’t hit anything vital and they were able to go in and get it out.”

“Okay, that’s good news. I guess. They still shot her, and I am going to find them but at least she is alright. When did all of this happen?” I sat down on my bed exhausted all over again.

Joss took the clothes I had in my hand from me and pushed me back onto my bed. “Lay down and I’ll tell you the rest. You probably need more sleep. Belle is with KK and they are fine apparently the other group sends someone over to the hospital every couple of hours to check on them.”

I squinted at her for the second time in less than an hour.

“Yeah I don’t know. They seem really remorseful.” She shrugged. “The most pressing issue though is Quinn and White, it seems they were picked up because the CIA wants to talk to you and since you haven’t been willing to answer their phone calls they thought it would be a good idea to take two of your people to get you in the talking mood.”

“Are they stupid? I’m more liable to go in there hostile as fuck. People don’t think logically anymore. From both of those I firmly think that nobody thinks these days. I’m going to kill him. That will solve everything.”

“You can not kill your father. Now, calm down Anne Ann, just go in there tomorrow and get our people back. It doesn’t matter what he wants just go in there and pretend to think about whatever he says, so that you can bring both of them home.”

“Okay, I don’t really have a choice so, it will happen no matter what. What’s up with Eli and Av?”

“They are fine. Keeping an eye on the girls and trying to not storm Langley. I’ve talked them off the ledge twice already so call them and the girls before you pass out again.”

She handed me my personal phone and I called the girls first. Listening to them tell me about all the cute nurses and then about the man who showed up often to bring food and anything else they needed. They were taking great pleasure in using him. I shook my head, they were fine. Once I hung up with them with a promise of stopping at the hospital soon. Once that was done, I called the guys. They were not calm at all; I think I promised them a kidney if they calmed down and let me handle it. Once I got their agreements, I gave Joss the phone and that’s the last thing I remember before sleep pulled me under.

#EXO #FANFIC #SPIES #THIEVES #HACKERS

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henrvkas · 5 years

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alice crouch — whatever it takes,

isn’t that ALICE CROUCH (LONGBOTTOM)? yeah that is HER, sitting there at the HUFFLEPUFF table with those other SEVENTH years and i think i heard sybill saying they look like NATASHA LIU BORDIZZO… whoever that is! when she looks into her crystal ball she sees piling marshmallows into hot chocolate, colour-coded notes with a rainbow of highlighters, pressed flowers in history books, a girl willing to get her hands dirty, the smell of a coming storm, & smudged eyeliner and last nights mascara. anyway i’ve heard they’re pretty EAGER, METICULOUS, and INSECURE. apparently they’re a PUREBLOOD but i’m sure that’s not related. —— [ mhairi : gmt : 19 : she/her ]

→ NAME: henrika alice crouch → NICKNAMES: alice, ally, rika → AGE / D.O.B.: 18 / 21st september 1958 → SPECIES: pureblood witch → GENDER / PRONOUNS: cisfemale / she&her → SEXUALITY: heterosexual closet bisexual

FAMILY → PARENTS: bartemius crouch snr. 46, head of magical law enforcement. henrika jörgensdóttir, 42, writes a weekly opinion column in the daily prophet. → SIBLINGS: bartemius crouch jnr. 18. elsie crouch, 13. → PETS: freyja, barn owl she got for her seventeenth birthday. thór, a toad she got for starting hogwarts.

LIFESTYLE → BORN: glasgow, scotland → RAISED: jordanhill, glasgow, scotland → CURRENT RESIDENCE: hogwarts castle / jordanhill → NATIONALITY: scottish & icelandic → SPOKEN LANGUAGES: english, mandarin and a little icelandic → OCCUPATION: student, prefect, leader of ‘for the light’ → DRINK | SMOKE | DRUGS: occasionally, occasionally, no → RELIGION: raised catholic

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES → FACE CLAIM: natasha liu bordizzo → ETHNICITY: icelandic & chinese → HEIGHT: 5ft. 5in. → WEIGHT: 110bs → BUILD: medium height and well built → HAIR: long black hair falling to her chest → EYE COLOR: brown → DOMINANT HAND: ambidextrous - preference for writing with her right and wand work with her left → SCENT: aqua manda perfume - mandarin, ginger, lavender, patchouly, cinnamon, juniper berry → ACCENT: thinks she speaks without an accent but it’s fairly obvious she’s from glasgow unless she’s trying to hide it but even then she’s obviously scottish - has an unbeatable connery impression → NERVOUS HABITS: talks to herself when stressed to try and calm down

CHARACTER → MORAL ALIGNMENT: neutral good → MBTI: esfj → WESTERN ZODIAC: virgo sun, capricorn moon, leo rising → CHINESE ZODIAC: dog → TAROT CARD: the high priestess → ARCHETYPE: the caregiver → SONG: short change hero - the heavy

MAGIC → WAND: blackthorn, dragon heart string, 14 ¾", feisty → PATRONUS: dove → BOGGART: fear of failure can sometimes be a hard thing to have a physical manifestation of. unluckily for alice, with the specific expectations her parents have of her it has many options. Normally her boggart takes the form of a NEWT grades certificate with all failing grades, a riddikulus charm changes the neat “Crouch, H.” to “Crouch, B.”. → OWLS: alice sat nine OWLs in her fifth year getting three poor’s, one acceptable, two exceeds expectations, and three oustanding’s. Astronomy, P. Care of Magical Creatures, P. Charms, E. Defence Against the Dark Arts, O. Herbology, O. History of Magic, A. Ancient Runes, O. Potions, E. Transfiguration, O. → NEWTS: now in her seventh year, alice is sitting five NEWTs getting four exceeds expectations and one outstanding in her end of year exams. Charms, E. Defence Against the Dark Arts, O. Herbology, E. Potions, E. Transfiguration, E. she had been sitting a NEWT in ancient ruins but was asked to drop the class over the summer.

BIO

Born in the early hours of the morning on monday the 21st of september 1958 and shortly followed by Barty, Alice spent her whole life in the younger boys shadow.

But it wasn’t just Alice and Barty for long as within a few years Henrika and Barty Snr had adopted a new addition to the family, a tiny halfblood baby named Elsie. From the moment Alice laid eyes on the girl she adored her sister in a way she never would quite her brother.

Srn and Henrika were far from the best parents but in many ways they always tried... or at least Snr did. It didn’t take long for Henrika to grow cold, even hateful to Elsie and then Alice when she stood up for her younger sister.

You see Elsie was the daughter of Henrika late best friend, adopted after the women's untimely demise. Elspeth Hare had been a link to the society Aurelia had missed ever since her marriage, a link to the society her husband fought against. But Elspeth Hare had a secret, one Barty Snr kept too, one that Henrika only found out after baby Elsie had been adopted. Elsie was Snr’s biological daughter, a fact no one but Aurelia and Snr currently know.

Life in the Crouch household was life with strict expectations; you should always be on your best behaviour, always do as your told, never be a nuisance, and always strive for academic excellence. But it was only Henrika that strictly held everyone to those standards, Snr. not minding so much if his daughters couldn’t, after all they weren’t his son and heir.

It’s always been that last point Alice has faltered with, never having been the smartest. Trying to counteract this with hard work she always failed to meet her parents expectations, never mind the fact the expectations were too high. But again Snr. never minded to much… after all Alice was only a daughter not the son and heir but he found her efforts endearing if futile.

As soon as Alice was old enough to realise the different treatment she and Elsie got compared to their brother, Alice took it upon herself to look out for the younger girl, acting almost as the mother Aurelia had never been to them.

Alice slotted into her own place in Hogwarts, a bit of an over achiever but with a good heart she was a shoo-in for prefect since her third year and everyone thought she’d be head girl.

She’s never given up the idea of impressing her parents, even when she failed some OWLs, she kept trying. Even when Barty met every unrealistic expectation she failed at, she kept trying. But when little perfect Barty the family Wizengamot seat on the day they both turned 17 something in her broke. It didn’t help Barty had just got 12 Outstandings the month before.

She gave up in a sense. Gave up trying to impress her parents, gave up trying to win their approval, gave up being a pawn in their games.Dedicating herself to a cause, to fight evil. And in giving up she’s almost got what she’s wanted, showing her father she’s more like him than her brother ever could be.

But in doing so she’s also drawn her mother’s ire, something that materialised itself in a betrothal.

Post Hogwarts her dream career is Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, she’s a spectacular dueller, maybe the best hufflepuff house has ever produced, and an excellent teacher already tutoring a few students. And she’s not afraid of a curse. But with the war brewing it doesn’t feel right not doing something so she’s aiming to become an auror. She can teach once the wars won.

#❪ ⋅ ◆ ⋆ — she was not a girl of ice and glass but of sunshine and stardust ┊❛ development ❜ ❫

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xsalems · 5 years

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( cismale/ he/him ) ;; agent [ salem yakov ] better known as [ apollo ] is a [ 23 ] year old [ intelligence agent ] from [ moscow, russia ]. they’ve been with the circle for [ eight years ] and it’s noted on file that they’re often mistaken for [ timothee chalamet ]. the three songs they use to unwind are [ stabbat mater / woodkid, clair de lune / claude debussy & ave maria / alexander markov ]. if asked, people might associate them with [ bitten nails, stark white ballet shoes, catlike eyes in the shadows, and red wine spilled like blood ]. ( *ooc ;; nomi, twenty two, est, she/her )

hey, hi, hello, next up is the second of my two kiddos, salem. down bellow is pretty much about everything you need to know about him and i’m going to try and keep things short and sweet because i have the tendency to be longwinded af sksdkjs i did pretty good with mari though so here’s hoping! here is a pinterest board for salem

THE RUNDOWN

TRAITS ; (+) intelligent, witty, resourceful, loyal (-) cold, vain, self-centered, conceited

Salem was born in Moscow, Russia and raised there for nearly a decade of his life by his mother Asja. During that time, despite being from a less than extraordinary background Salem displayed extraordinary intelligence that caught the attention of the Russian mob.

The mobs interest in Salem was brought about by a desire to remain untracked. They planned to use of Salem’s memory, intelligence, and unassuming appearance to have a human computer of sorts, one that could never be hacked. Salem was both bribed and blackmailed into working for them at the age of seven, where he was given the option to either work for them, earn large sums of money and have his sick mother get treatment for her aids, or refuse them and have his mother killed. Salem chose the former and was quickly transferred over to America with a brand new identity and a brand new ‘father’.

Sasha Zima, a boss of the American branch of the mob was appointed to be Salem’s handler, and disguise himself as Salem’s father. Under Sasha’s watchful eye Salem was made to memorize codes for safes, keep track of the financial aspect of a lot of the mob’s businesses, and occasionally spy for them in places that only a cherubic seven year old child could avoid suspicion. Everything Salem was made to memorize was later burned or disposed of, though this was never a problem for Salem due to his photographic memory. That said, since Salem never got a single digit, letter, or word of anything he was told to memorize wrong, his word was treated as gospel. People were killed or tortured simply based on the things that Salem recalls remembering, and while that in itself was traumatizing, the level of power he held was almost frighteningly intoxicating.

Soon, Salem was ‘homeschooled’ based on the needs of the mob. He was taught robotics engineering by university professors so that he could memorize and communicate blueprints to members of the mob who needed them, and build the mob tools they needed from memory if need be. He was also tutored in languages by international travelers so that he could translate any information he held. After a kidnapping attempt by the Yakuza, Salem was even taught self defense so that the mob could protect their investment. At the time, Salem thought that all this was all simply what was expected of a member of the mob. It was only later that he found out that Sasha had taken a liking to him and had given him some special treatment.

Being the son of Sasha Zima itself had some perks. While Salem’s true identity was secret, his fake one was that of a rich man’s son, so to keep up appearances Salem lived well. Because of Sasha’s fondness for him, he was given lessons in violin, harp, piano, ballet, archery, and fencing, that he was encouraged to show off at the grand luxurious parties his father would hold. Ballet and archery were what Salem really excelled at, although his skills on the violin were quite good too.

For eight years Salem almost got used to life as the mobs pet. Yes, he missed his mother, but he was constantly being assured she was being taken care of and that the work he was doing here for her was ensuring that she never had to sell her body for money again. That she was safe and happy, and proud of him, and Salem knows that he was naive to believe it but at the time he trusted Sasha, and he was even shown pictures of her, videos of her, all of her getting better and making progress. And whenever Salem even dare to step a toe out of line or even think of doing so, his mother’s life was threatened. So to some extent, Salem thought that he was doing the right thing, even if he was doing the wrong thing.

That was until he was approached by The Circle at the age of fifteen, through some... messy circumstances (lets just say, Salem was lucky he was a (very useful) minor at the time). It was through this interaction that he came to know that his mother had been dead for four years, and that the mob had essentially been lying to him to keep him under their control. Again he was given yet another choice that could change his life. This time there was no reluctance. The betrayal that Salem felt burned too furiously for him to even consider second thoughts.

Salem remained deep under cover for two years after that initial meeting with The Circle, working quietly as an informant and mole for them and bidding his time for the chance at revenge. After a year of careful planning an opportunity presented itself, and Salem was able to get several key members of the mob arrested with air tight evidence, including Sasha.

Salem still has mixed feelings about Sasha’s arrest. On one hand, he was the only father Salem had ever had, but on the other, that could just be the Stockholm syndrome talking.

Since then Salem has been working for The Circle. Despite his desperate craving for something different and challenging, he showed the most aptitude for the Intelligence Department, which really doesn’t feel that different from his time in the mob. His goal is to find a way to formally transfer to The Genesis Department, but until then he tends to tinker for his own entertainment.

FUN FACTS

his backstory is based off of a jason statham movie i saw the night i found this rp. coincidence??? i think not

eats??? like trash??? this boy survives on sugar and junk food and he’s the PICKIEST eater you ever did see

speaks english, russian, french, italian, spanish, japanese, and mandrin chinese, he’s currently working on polish in his spare time

is actually really good at building little gadgets, and probably could have gotten into Genesis if he had more experience creating his own designs. To the point that Salem joined The Circle he had pretty much been trained to be a copy cat, just recording and regurgitating information. If he was assessed again now there might be a different result.

A HUGE gossip. After years of having to keep his lips sealed about everything always, Salem relishes the opportunity to just talk shit. As long as it’s not national secrets he’s probably trying to whisper about it to somebody.

Salem’s morals are incredibly grey. He is that friend who says ‘kill them’ whenever you talk about a minor inconvenience (”someone stole my parking space” “kill them”) so yeah, he’s definitely not the most noble boy

loves trash reality TV like the kardashians? and the real housewives

WANTED CONNECTIONS ; i totally forgot to do this for mari but it’s fine

xoxo - gossip girl : if anyone wants to gossip and talk shit with this boy, come one come all okay. This would probably be someone he’s close to unless they’re purely binded by their love of talking shit in which case hell yeah i’m down for that too.

reluctant partners : kind of specifically for a field agent i guess, but for some reason these two are always paired together? salem is always the one in your muses ear guiding them through things, probably because they work really well together, but unfortunately, they Hate each other. When it’s not a life or death situation they spend a lot of time bickering over the comm.

exes : to put it simply, salem gets around and his relationships rarely end well? so having an ex at circle just makes sense for him honestly. also tbh he is very gay, but this could have possibly been before he found that out For Sure so open to all genders

friends with benefits : self explanatory I think!

#circle: intro #this probably has loads of typos bUT #here it is #two for two now i can get on replies skjdjk

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