#but only in certain framed

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

#orv #orv analysis #orv meta #orv spoilers #mine #ask #there's also the meta that he is described with these (stereotypically) pretty features as they are about to try and 'sell' him to a crowd #which feels to me like a very pointed way to convey how 'beauty' is commodified. how audiences like 'attractive' characters more #note: made some edits to add in a couple of sentences my brain forgot in the moment so make sure u reblogged those if u do #tag edits for further commentary that isnt strictly relevant to the point i was making: #do i think that this face censorship was executed as well as it could have been? nah. #not that it was like. done Badly. it's followed through to a certain point. its established enough for me to make this post at least. #but i do think it is the one thing in the web novel that SS didn't capitalize on. #like. they still stuck the landing but it was not as picture perfect of an execution as the rest of the metaphorical stuff in orv #also. this (not the face censorship specifically but the 'hes just some guy' point of it all) is one of the big reasons i think that- #-visual adaptions of orv can never quite work. they can do the best that they can with that medium but a lot of nuance is lost- #-simply by virtue of it being a visual medium #i personally think the only way a visual medium could work would be one where they commit to the power move of not showing kdj's face #(until a certain point (of view) that is) #his face is always facing away or out of frame or hidden by someone or something else in the way #commit to the fucking allegory or simply perish

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

Oh yeah, here’s Host in his “starved” form, like he was in HSH vol 2-

#Mandela catalogue #tmc #tmc home sweet home au #host (hsh) #shmorps art #body horror #blood tw #gore tw #eye contact tw #he’s. to long for he got damn frame so. separate post- #also I’ll specify he doesn’t ALWAYS look like this. only on certain occasions

[tothepointofinsanity]

[I always forget that Sayaka has her magic mark (the moon) on the nail of her finger...]

#i always only notice it at certain frames... #like the rain scene #the rain scene... ueueuueue... #when she. she outstretched her hand in anger in that brief frame is so...pmmm being the most show ever #Sayaka Archives

[novaisabookworm]

were getting there.......very very slowly but it is coming along (´；ω；`)

#ascendance of a bookworm #honzuki no gekokujou #♢novas : fanwork #♢fanart #wip #//there is nothing like trying to draw 100 frames of certain characters to really hammer in some practice #//I will never forget how to draw these two after this is done oh my lord #//sorry for the wip spam its the only thing keeping me going since Im not doing any other art at the moment and wont be posting much else #//sort of just saying im not dead while i vanish to work on this now and then aha

[capybaraonabicycle]

You know something I am really sad about is how the TARDIS interior changed for tenteen. It would have been a whole different story if the clothes had been normal but like this? Everthing the Doctor was just vanished and got replaced. The screwdriver coming out of nothing? The outfit? A new fancy TARDIS?

10 kept the TARDIS from 9 and 12 from 11. 13 had to fight to get her TARDIS back and built herself a new screwdriver in the meantime. 11 had to let her recalibrate until she was usable again and gave him a new screwdriver (? I think ? Don't quite remember where he got the sonic) All of them CHOSE their new outfit and had a whole thing where they searched for it.

And tenteen just gets all those things like this, appearing in his lap. Which is convenient, sure, but I feel like he really lost the identification process on the way. Maybe not as important for him as he knows the body and mind and companion already (in theory) but like, I am not surprised he is going through it like this. He just wanted to hang on to Yaz, wasn't allowed that, lost her, decided she was gonna be excited for change, didn't really get change either and then everything they could hold onto as part of their last identity, everything that was theirs to let go off, just got ripped out of his hands replaced with a weird mixture of 'look how new and nice and shiny' and 'isn't that lovely reminiscent of 4 bodies ago'. No wonder they are running on their gingiva*, I would be so lost and disoriented in his place.

And then obviously from a meta pov I dislike that 15 is apparently copying tenteen's TARDIS now. We got a scene of tenteen exploring the new TARDIS and being excited but for 15 he has already had 1.5 adventures with her. And while we couldn't put tenteen into the old clothes it was okay to put 15 in underwear? Wouldn't it have made much more sense to have the weird clothes' thing happen with the mitosis regeneration? (like, I wouldn't have liked that either but it is a little weird how tenteen got a full suit and 15 got the bare minimum)

And I hate how it feels like every part that made the Doctor 13 got erased as quickly as possible. Luckily, there were a few references at least - if no one got me I know the psychic paper got me <3 - and I GET why the fam didn't show up in the puppet show but like, couldn't you have left tenteen the TARDIS interior at least? I am sure Donna would have liked the crystal columns <3

It feels very rtd to have tenteen showered with gifts he can't even want and that are way too much while others are erased or overshadowed by him and get the leftovers.

On a similar note, I was also direly missing post-regeneration haze for both of them. Who knows (well people who have watched the Christmas special, I guess), maybe that's yet to come for 15? But like how are they supposed to function without running about without a clue and passing out every 5s for a day or two?

*German expression, means to be on one's last legs

#anti rtd #<- it isn't only anti rtd because there is a certain tragic to treating the Doctor this way that I can get on board with #and like there wasn't that much time for his arc anyway as he only lived for 2.5 eps #but I still wish the Doctor could have kept something and then moved on on his own accord #like an earring you know? pluck it out of his ear and put it in a pocket for safekeeping #you remember how 13 lost the wedding ring regenerating and that was framed as something to mourn? I bet they never even realised #at least not until much later when they had no clue where it had disappeared to it just got taken from them when they weren't looking #tenteen's whole self is like that ring just that it isn't getting framed that way and hence we don't get to grief and experience the tragic #as what it is #again no time in 3 eps for this sure #but idk it's very tragic to take away from 13 and 15 to give to tenteen in a way that takes aways from tenteen in the end #(maybe rtd was forced to change TARDIS and sonic who knows not gonna yell at him for it but it remains sad and unfortunate) #from the meta pov I am at least glad the TARDIS (and potentially sonic) will come to be 15's that tenteen borrowed since we will see them #together for longer #dw spoilers

[forcedhesitation]

unique greetings?? hello??

the romance-specific greeting only seemed to trigger once I entered act 3, despite jantar having gone through the dance cutscene fairly early into act 2.

the regular high friendship one is a greeting I've gotten before in corydalis' save, as well as "always good to talk, my friend," but both lines of dialogue randomly disappeared at some point, and wyll only greeted corydalis with "well met." well, up until today, I guess.

I have to wonder if these will once again randomly disappear because they are clearly bugged and larian just won't fix them once and for all...

...please...stop doing this to the gate's most beautiful little prince...

#bg3 #thoughts about media #wyll ravengard #has wyll always had a romance specific greeting and no one knew because it's been bugged this whole time??? #I wonder if he has more than one actually... #because on corydalis' save- the only greeting I was able to trigger was the “let's talk” greeting. #and I know for a fact that max friendship wyll can greet you with “always good to talk my friend.” #so I wonder if there is another greeting besides “I'm here for you. always.” #star has many different ones depending on how much he likes your tav/where you are in his romance. #he and SH have a ridiculous amount of material compared to everyone else though...so not really a useful frame of reference. #halsin has...two? maybe three? if I'm remembering correctly? #but I'm not certain of how many unique voicelines other companions have for romance specific greetings. #I've only ever romanced star halsin and wyll. and this wyll line never played for me b4 today. #I'm working on gale next so I can complete my collection of boyfriends but it'll take ~30 hrs to get to the kissing. #maybe even faster since this will be the millionth time I through act 1. but still a sizeable amount of time. unfortunately for my patience

[hassianlovebot]

i know the rare and epic bugs are supposed to be yknow,, rare and epic so it wouldn't make sense if they spawned all the time. that being said, it's bad enough that the game has time limits on certain bugs, adding super low spawn rates just makes it worse. imo players should never feel like they have to spend hours playing to catch one bug

#fishing is easier imo just because you can do the little bait and pull trick #so you dont waste as much time catching every single fish #but the bugs spawns are just Bad #i understand devs wanting to encourage players to play More like i get it #but players should never feel forced to do so because of annoying game mechanics #again its one of those quality of life things #plenty of games have low spawn rates for certain things #but when palia is mixing low spawn rates with time gates and location locks its just... dude..... #*game criticism #and listen im not saying that these bugs should be popping up everywhere #i like that there are different spawn rates #but rn the balance is bad imo #i feel like if players are rage quitting and going online to desperately ask for help catching a Rare bug.. maybe you should reconsider #like not even epic ones.. i see people complain about the duskwing butterfly too and that one is just uncommon!! #low spawn rates is fine but when you also have specific areas and time spawns.. those spawn rates should be a little higher imo #its bad if only one specific rare bug spawns in its allotted time frame and it doesnt respawn if it goes away #that means literally only one person on a server can catch certain bugs #thats bad game design devs i feel like im going crazy #okay im done ranting now back to simping for tish

[sysig]

Size difference.png (Patreon)

#Doodles #SCII #Helix #ZEX #Crackship #Teisel #Meme #I am on a roll with these lol #I knew adding Teisel to my list was only a matter of time #I am a weakwilled individual with one fatal flaw #Anyway (lol) #ZEX really has his work cut out for him with Teisel haha - it's very fortunate he's so determined and enjoys a challenge 'cause otherwise! #Teisel is hard to pin down - I mean Other Than That lol - he's an interesting guy :0 #Rough around the edges and a family man ♪ And if I get to draw long hair and big muscles then all the better hehe #And he has a cute nose! He has the bridge of the nose thing that I like so much!! Yes!! #As for the rest of him - hm! I've only had passing thoughts up to this point and getting into his head is...Something lol #It's well done to be certain it definitely Makes Me Feel it's just hard to ascribe a name to that Feeling just yet #Needs a bit more time to tumble smooth I suppose lol #One thing I know I like because it makes me sad - lol - is ZEX projecting some of his feelings about DAX onto Teisel - unexpected! #It's extremely interesting how despite his deep abiding love and fascination with Otherness he's gotten increasingly homesick #Finding things charming about humans that remind him of VUX! You can tell he's a bit desperate for the familiar :'0 #So isolated from even himself ah 💔 Hang in there ZEX! #At least he has some fun distractions hehe ♪ New things to learn and consider! Teisel keeps throwing him curveballs! #Both of them circling each other like ''? Isn't it your turn?'' lol #They both come off as aggressive in their own way and then swing-and-a-miss lol #And then there's how Teisel frames him as far as age goes - or really how everyone does pffft #It is So funny to me every time anyone refer to ZEX as ''old'' now that his age has been more or less established - at least pointed at #The fact that he might not even be in his human-equivalent 50s what is this who this lol he's not old! And Max /definitely/ isn't haha #He is the slightest itty-bittiest willowiest little twink y'ever did see pfft #I have been waiting to use that meme template for someone for ages I am so glad that I finally got the chance ♪

[solvicrafts]

What gets me about certain people being so fucking pissy about Bob not writing much about Eilistraee (until the last fucking trilogy where EIlistraeans featured heavily) is that

a) Bob basically built drow culture up from almost nothing, and Eilistraee came after he started writing Drizzt

b) no you guys really don't understand. I own the first 4 modules drow appeared in. There's... not much there. And it hasn't aged well.

c) and the Big One: he has a specific vision for his specific characters when it comes to the narrative he wants to explore, from sexual abuse to religious trauma, both of which are fucking complicated and for most people just switching deities isn't enough to fix that.

I have religious trauma that I still struggle with to this day and probably will for the rest of my life to some extent, and it's fundamentally different in nature from what most people would probably expect, and the thing is even though I am happily polytheistic and very enthusiastically into it, I still struggle a lot with certain things because every time I get into my religious practice I have to actively force myself into (or out of) certain things because my whole relationship to religion and spirituality is complicated and messy.

It would be easy and frankly incredibly superficial for Bob to decide to just have them all convert to half-assed Neowiccan ~woo~ drow Jesus Eilistraee to *~*save their souls*~* and call it a day

BUT HE DIDN'T DO THAT

Partly because she wasn't his creation and other authors were writing her at the time so he really couldn't, and partly because it's a shitty message to send.

Sometimes people benefit from converting to a new religion or following a new deity. Sometimes people don't.

I benefited from gradually converting to my religion, but it's come with a whole different set of complications and hasn't been a smooth journey for me.

Just going from extensive religious trauma to switching deities does not fix your problems, and for a lot of people it realistically can make them much worse.

but also

you don't have to be saved by a deity in order to have value as a person

#I fucking WAS saved by a deity and while I'm grateful it wasn't an easy ride #and in fact the way certain people in my family treated me was very emotionally abusive #to this fucking day on a journey that's taken me 19 years I STILL have issues with this whole thing #there are some people I may never speak to again because of how they treated me over this #for a Lolthite drow I could easily see them struggling with switching to a new deity especially one like Eilistraee or Vhaeraun #who are NOT seen very positively at all in the society they were raised in #and for a lot of people the fear of being found out and punished is more than enough to prevent them from seeking out a new deity #to say nothing of the already existing religious trauma that would also just as likely make someone hesitate to embrace a new religion #and speaking AS a religious person I do not at all agree with sending the message that traumatize people need to be saved by a god #or by a religious fanatic #my case is extremely unique and while it more or less worked out in the end it was frankly hellish at its worst points #and it cost me a great deal in terms of my relationships with my family and my ability to trust other people #because the way society frames belief in the Greek gods as some distant thing in time like #'haha these people were so STUPID. they believed in gods that turn into swans and stuff' #has absolutely led to a situation where paganism is only cool and okay if it's the woo crystals and sage Neowiccan aesthetic #but actually being a historically based polytheist is conflated with mental illness #and it's damn near impossible to challenge when most modern people have NO understanding of polytheism and take everything literally #as someone who has had to FIGHT just to continue EXISTING as a polytheist I am still FIRMLY against the idea that people NEED religion #in order to have value as people or to heal #yes for SOME people it works. for others it doesn't. AND THAT'S OKAY

[allisonreader]

#I don’t trust it #I have trouble believing that it’s accurate when testing rocks because how can you double check the age of a random rock #how can you know that you’re getting an accurate date on anything? #I think that it works in conjunction with other tests but I’d never trust it on it’s own #and it only is proclaimed to be accurate to a certain ti #time frame anyway #so I just can’t trust the dating of things from it #I will admit that I currently lean to a young earth creationist view currently #but I’m not against thinking that the Earth is older than 6000 but I don’t think that it’s necessarily as old as it’s claimed either #the world can change faster than most people give it credit for

[froqgy]

just thought of a new kind of public torture. imagine one of those art youtubers who do i take ur art and improve it did a livestream and u were forced to watch your art go thru the shredder

#ill be honest i only saw that happen once but some of the changes i was like umm not necessarily. i think the framing of a lot of #art improvement stuff being like objective improvement or whatnot is the main issue w art youtube. #anatomy and stuff is once thing but like its not always necessary yknow. the context of the art goals r important #huge advocator for doing fuck all while recognizing that if u do want to imprve in certain ways then u should absolutely be using refs

[im-the-queen-of-stardust]

Sick and twisted that some Christmas specials are regeneration episodes. Because I watch the specials to get into the Christmas spirit but I have to hype myself up emotionally to watch the ones where the Doctor regenerates. I guess I could just not watch them but I still like them! They just break my hearts.

#but i wont watch end of time again i think #already watched that last month for my doctor who rewatch #and like theres only so much david tennant regenerating i can take in a certain time frame #today will be hard enough #have i mentioned im not ready? #at least jodies is not a christmas special #not gonna lie missed those during her run but at least that means i dont have to go through that in the christmas time #doctor who

[stairset]

The Disney+ version of Idiot's Array edited out the gag where Lando talks in a high pitched voice after Hera punches him in the happy sack and whoever is responsible for this travesty should be fired immediately. How dare they deprive future generations of Star Wars fans of such an iconic moment in Star Wars history.

#the scene is still there his voice is just pitched down to be normal #ftr before now i only ever watched rebels on tv or on the dvd/blu-ray releases and this is my first time watching it on disney+ #so i'm taking note of every change they made from the other versions available #i also noticed in path of the jedi when kanan and the inquisitor fight in ezra's vision #when the inquisitor starts spinning his blade and kanan gets overwhelmed the frame rate randomly slows down #and it's actually kinda cool cause it makes it look similar to the dagobah cave scene in empire #but it's still weird cause it wasn't like that in the original broadcast or the home releases #also there's that whole thing in clone wars where the lightsabers look weird in certain shots #like they'll randomly look like black lights but then suddenly look normal again when it changes to the next shot #and it ONLY does that on disney+ and ONLY with a few specific shots in a handful of episodes #as far as i can recall clone wars and rebels are the only shows i've watched on disney+ #where certain scenes are just randomly different from other versions of the episode for no reason #it's weird #shut up tristan

[yardsards]

god, the theoretical appeal of bringing someone to their knees in a sword fight and then lifting their chin with the flat of of my blade to force them to look up at me. incredibly *hot* but somehow not even in a sexual way, if that makes any sense

#eliot posts #except the only sword i know how to use is like. a rapier. and i'm not even that good at it. #which can be a certain type of Sexy for sure #but i like to imagine myself as the kind of handsome that a strong knight is #with golden armour. even tho armour is almost always silver and i look better in silver anyway i just prefer the Vibes of gold #also i am like 0% strong i have a small lean frame that is good for running and not much else #but oh well we are playing pretend here!

[avibero]

TikTok feels like a prime outlet to recruit people into conspiracy theories and weird cult like mentalities. Like I just go there to find some funny memes or recipes and gardening ideas, but there is such overlap between gardeners and preppers that the algorithm starts feeding me the most unhinged vids of government conspiracies followed by new agey prophets foretelling, idk, the rapture? But all framed as, like, advice for small homesteaders. And it KEEPS GIVING THOSE KINDS OF VIDEOS TO ME. I remember catching myself almost believing some of these things last year because I just kept seeing them and the ideas wormed their way into my brain until I started thinking that way (and this is one of the many reasons I only occasionally go on tiktok). And what I'm seeing are probably the more tame ones! This feels bad? Especially with so many younger people on the platform

#i was reminded of this because theres a conspiracy being spread by new chicken owners #who started raising chickens last spring #and theyre like #'my chickens stopped laying in the fall!' #'i started giving them goat food this month and theyre laying again! #'the companies are doing something to the food!!!!!' #but like #chickens generally stop laying in the winter #they need a certain number of hours of sunlight #and my hens have only recently started laying again now the days are getting longer #but the number of people ive seen who GENUINELY believe the chicken feed is the culprit is ASTONISHING #some of my hens started molting early #so they stopped laying #and then winter hit so they didnt pick up until this month #that was like three four months of no eggs from them? #and thats NORMAL its how chickens work #anyway this is one of the milder conspiracies ive seen #theres also this like prophet guy i keep seeing #who frames his videos as permaculture vids but hes like #prophesying the end of the world #its weird

[bisexualgerardway]

yes i did go on a rant to my partner in the backcountry about how the way ppl treat the affection btwn members of ls dunes as exclusively gay is destructive and indicative of the ways queer people are subconsciously made to sexualize all of our affection

#i dont think it’s on purpose but i also think we should talk about it. like yes its cute and polyam jokes are funny but only to a certain ex #tent . and then past that we are left witha bunch of grown adults calling men gay for hugging and cuddling and being affectionate to each ot #her . and not to be all mens rights but god queer people already are made to feel predatory. man on man affection that includes kissing and #close touch is already kind of an uphill battle can we not ONLY sexualize it or frame it as queer in more than a platonic way . as a queer #who is perceived as a man and would love to be more non sexually affectionate with the men in my life can we just think critically about th #messaging we are putting out to queer people and men . #d.riv.el #there is nuance here im not saying we cant have fun !!! but lets acknowlexge that its fun. and not real. that these men are probably just #bonded deeply as touring bandmates (inherently INTIMATE! of COURSE they see each other naked!) and close friends #does this make sense. can anyone hear me. its getting dark in here