#i like the idea that she always wears her helmet bc of her scars | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

starsmuserainbow · 3 years

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Here’s the second round of ‘Star picks potential RL-FCs for her muses’.

In short: I have picked (and got suggested some) a few possible faces that I might pick as (real life-) Faceclaims for my muses. Not that I intend to use them much or at all, but I thought it’d be nice to at least for once try and see which faces I would be picking if I were interested in doing so. I have removed some of the faces that I previously picked from the list, because I grew more liking of others or don’t like them anymore, or also simply because I tried to limit myself to a maximum of 5 options per muse.

I would appreciate hearing other’s thoughts on the matter, though if you don’t want to, that’s okay too of course. Like, please, if you do look at it, tell me what you think!

Once more - this post is long, and has a batch of images.

I’m not gonna name the faces I picked, because I don’t need it to show up in any search and I also don’t see a need for it. If you want to say something to a specific one, you can always go by the order that they’re appearing in this post or, like, describe something of the pose or the picture or whatever. (Example of the first option here, like, ‘I like Starfire #1′ or the likes.)

These edits are not done that well, some at parts a little better or worse than others. I just did them because I was hoping to be able to decide better when the colors actually fit. After each pic, I will list some of my thoughts, probably some pros and cons of the face, that I see, too.

Okay, with that said, on we go!

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Starting, of course, again with

Starfire!

(The edit on the right of this picture is not mine, I found it through a search and thought I could save myself the editing work)

I included her the last time already, in ‘Blackfire and Starfire’, but I don’t plan on doing that category again, so she’s here this time. And probably will be listed on Blackfire’s options too.

I’m not sure if I really wanna do the positive and negative thing again that I did last time, but, I guess I’ll try to do it. Is a good way to say something about each.

+ eyes nicely big-enough + expressive face + the hair is long enough to work

- She is, or was, a pretty common pick for stuff in general I think? - I don’t think I found a specific appearance of hers that could work well for my purposes

Also taken from last time, and mostly included again because I had at least one voice saying they liked her for Star. I’m still not quite sure how I feel about her, but, yeah.

+ princess-y attire + good hair-length

- I think where these pics are from is an older thing so the quality probably is bad - I don’t really know if I like her smile all that much if I’m honest

+ hair has a decent length + I can see the face working

- The appearance that I found as most interesting/fitting for if I ever do want to take icons, was I think a horror-ish movie of sorts? Which I don’t really wanna watch much, so idk how using her would go for me

+ from the pics I saw, I feel like she’s nicely strongly expressive, like I could use for Star + I do like her face/looks

- She’s like, a really really often used face for characters I think? At least I’m pretty sure I came across her as possible choice for a bunch of muses before - I know her from at least one thing already and it might be difficult to connect her to being Star?

And with that, we’re done with Starfire!

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Obviously, next:

Blackfire!

You might recognize her, both from above on Star’s #1, and from the previous post of this. I still consider her a potential fit for them both though, so of course I included her again.

+ eyes nicely big-enough + expressive face + the hair is long enough to work + the pic I did here for Blackfire totally - yes, simply because of it being done in/surroundedby nature - reminds me of the Poison Ivy I once did stuff with both on Starfire and Blackfire, I miss those interactions (or the mun/muse) a lot and just absolutely love that the pic feels like a little like a hinted remembrance for those

- She is, or was, a pretty common pick for stuff in general I think? - I don’t think I found a specific appearance of hers that could work well for my purposes

+ I can see her face working for Blackfire + that pic on the right exudes exactly her smugness + ridiculous point, but if I do take her and ever feel the need/urge to actually do iconing of the FCs, and I pick someone specific from Moonshot’s options, I could get both done from the same show I think

- another time from a rather common thing I think? Which, shouldn’t really be a criteria, but I’m always thinking that people might simply not be able to connect her to something else then

Again taking her from the previous post of doing it, because I had recieved one opinion on her being a good choice.

+ Face and eyes work, at least in these two pics + Clothes work for Blackfire + Her hair is more ‘sleek’ than some of the others in the pics I found, meaning not as many sticking-out hairs to recolor

- In some pics of her I could absolutely not see Blackfire, so I guess it depends a lot on the pose or expression which might mean she’s not that good a fit after all - Comes from a rather well-known thing so even if I myself don’t connect her to it, many others might and I know that when I feel like that I can’t enjoy the FC as much

+ I like her face, I think it fits well + In at least some of her appearances/pics, she has bangs like here, which I kinda in general tend to prefer over all hair done back + her clothes work good for Blackfire

- Again, not all of her pics when searching for them look fitting for Blackfire. But I’m not sure if that’s something I should even list as point, since it seems to be default state. - I think she too is from a rather known thing

+ in the right pics, I feel like her face works really well for Blackfire + I think she’s not from that known medias

- in most of her things, I think she’s having hair about as long as in these pics here, which is kinda too short for a proper Blackfire look - she looks kinda... a bit very thin to me? Idk, I can’t explain what I mean by that

Since I did only 4 on Star, I feel like I’m ‘allowed’ to do one more here. More or less just to actually have my edits shown at least once though, I think I feel the above 5 more than this one. Still, though, here’s number 6.

I don’t really have any + or - here, I mostly just kept her in because I wanted to not just waste the edits I did. I kinda sorta already sorted her out for myself.

That makes it all of Blackfire’s options.

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You might be able to guess - next up:

Wildfire!

I don’t really have much new here, but I did sort out a few. I’m not all too fond of the younger-looking ones, so I mostly kept them out of this, outside of one who had gotten a ‘vote’ from the last post.

The only new one of his options right away.

+ I kinda really like the face for Wildfire + one of his appearances has a kind of ‘evil’ look/attire so if I would ever need an evil!look for him I could totally take from there + the hair was surprisingly nice to recolor into Wildfire’s red

- I’d have to work on removing the freckles throughout most of his face, because while I have before considered to have Wildfire with some, I don’t actually think he has such anymore - A rather known face I think thanks to a few recent-ish movies - I’ve heard a voice before saying he’s problematic? Idk why, and I think I don’t really care since all I do is ‘steal’ the face for my own use, but yeah

Like the other option for him still coming below, he’s taken from the last thing.

+ hair is okay-ish + medieval-ish attire probably could work well for mimicking Wildfire’s usual clothing

- He’s only in an episode or so playing this role, I think the role has like 3 different actors or so over the time whenever he appears as young - This is one of like two or so pics in total I found of his appearing and idk, on both he doesn’t quite feel right, a little too ‘stiff’ or ‘serious’ idk (though I guess Wildfire is that too at times, idk it’s just hard to explain)

This had before been his #5, but since I only have 3 options here this time, he’s now #3 instead I guess.

+ face is ‘long-ish’, which I kinda feel helps + I like his face better than #1

- the first pic looks like he’s a good fit, but on the one on the right it doesn’t quite feel that much like a fit - I’m not sure if he’s from too known stuff as well

Okay, Wildfire done!

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Now we’re having someone who I had absolutely zero idea for last time, and I didn’t even expect to ever have potential faces. But thanks to wonderful suggestions, I do now! So here comes

Galfore!

+ good-enough hair+beard + a warrior-esque role at least once + I think he looks at least kinda like that without being in-role too, which would mean more possibilities for editing/iconing/whatever

- I could say that his hair is good but not long enough or some other details of Galfore’s look like the braids and such, but honestly, this is probably as close as I can get with actual people so yeah - From a popular series that I never watched, and didn’t exactly plan to ever do, if I do pick him though and want to make icons or something, I might have to

+ hair+beard working pretty well, again + warrior-like role too + I think the hair here is a little longer than with #1, so maybe a little better a fit?

- idk how big his appearance was, gotta re-check the movie for that

+ I could use the eyepatch as excuse of not having to edit Galfore’s scar and broken eye, though I’d have to mirror the pics first since it’s the wrong eye here + hair+beard work well again + A viking, so definitely filling the slot of warrior too

- In most of his appearance, he’s wearing the helmet that you can see on the right? I actually haven’t yet checked if the actor had other roles with similar attire/hair/etc - I don’t really think Galfore would be wearing an eyepatch?

(Only one edit here bc I grew tired of editing)

+ his face kinda works I think?

- he barely has any appearances anywhere I think

That’s Galfore done, too.

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So we continue onwards, though for the next two there haven’t really been any changes. Still, though, in order to maybe get some opinions for them too, they’re included, so next up:

Starlight!

Okay, uh, let’s be honest, I don’t really consider anyone else anymore. I have gotten one pretty excited feedback from the last time, and, I just think her face works really well for Starlight.

+ I like her face + I’m pretty sure she wears some really nice colorful things throughout the show, and even changes style eventually which means a nice variation

- From a well-known thing - I think by now she is a singer of sorts so maybe too many can’t quite connect her to something else

This is the only other one I’d really consider for her, mostly as a form of older looks. And when I say older, here, I mean like somewhere in her 20s or late teen or so.

(Also I just need to say that this is probably the best likeness to how I actually imagine Starlight’s hair that I managed to create)

+ hair was nice to recolor + I like her face

- (feeling) too old for how Starlight is at the moment - I think she too comes from a well-known thing

And with that, Starlight’s already done, too.

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On to the last but not least,

Moonshot!

Those are all taken from last time, so my pro and con also gets copied from there, as I did with the other repated ones above already too.

+ ‘square-y’ face in the way I feel I’d need it + ‘small’ eyes, as in narrowed a bit

- the hair isn’t quite perfect since Moonshot has a bit longer of a hair and more… more messy - I don’t like his face in some of the pics a picture-search gives me

+ face and eyes again fit to what I’d be looking for + a good amount of the pics of a picture-search actually are ones I can see working

- I think he’s from something well-known again - and again the hair with the same reasoning as above, but tbh I don’t think I even can find anyone completely fitting anyway

+ face works I think + many pics of the result are ones I can see work

- comes from a rather popular thing as far as I can tell - in some angles, or maybe simply at another time of the actor’s life idk, the face doesn’t look that fitting anymore

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Aaaaand... finish!

I kinda doubt anyone actually looks as far as here, though if you do, thank you!

I’d really appreciate hearing opinions, if you can see any of them work or not and maybe why. You could even name me other options if you want to, too, though I don’t think I’m gonna make another post of FC-options since I’m kinda fed up with doing the work and not being able to decide.

Of course I do have my own favourites, slightly, but I’d really like to hear feedback! Like, you could even tell me for those of my muses you don’t know, just look at my pics of them on my pages or something, if you really want to give me feedback! Thank you a lot in advance if you do!

#✫ Out of Clurblopf ✫ | OOC #my edits #I'm so glad I got this done and over with

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thewingedwolf · 4 years

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Not Telling: A Study in How Much We are Actually Told About The Characters, Part One of Two

AKA that meta I started writing/promised to post fully a year ago and then never finished or posted bc I’m a mess. It’s being posted in two parts because it got a bit long.

So we all have our own idea of what the characters look like although many people believe the characters look roughly the same, with some minor differences from headcanon to headcanon. But what does the text itself tell us? The answer is...both more than I expected but also in keeping with Not Telling, not a whole lot at all.

I want to start this with a caveat that I kept very good notes on TT, ACoK, and TaT, mediocre notes on KoA and passable ones for QoA lol. however, it does give us a decent picture of what everyone looks likes. This is like 70% quotes and 30% extrapolation, but I try to explain my thought process on some of my conclusions.

Eugenides:

There’s a few instances that I remember reading (mostly in The Thief) that I forgot to mark but I know all of those dealt with his height and hair - that his hair is long, that it’s dark, and that he’s smaller than Pol and the Magus. So here we go:

“..the man wearing it was tall. Taller than I was, of course, but taller than the magus as well.” - Note that he’s talking about the one of the gods here, which indicates that

eugenides is very short at this point

the magus when compared to other people is probably pretty tall

“Scabs that were black against my prison-fair skin.” - Indicates that his skin has lightened noticeably since he was in prison although that’s the only indicator we get about what he looks like until literally the very ending with...

“He mentioned an Eddisian mother to explain his dark coloring.” - Which is exactly what I mean in Not Telling - we are told enough to have a clear blue print of him, but we are left to fill in the details of how he looks.

About his wound: “it’s taken a divot out of your face...it might heal clean.” and “I was quite certain I’d have a feather-shaped white scar.” - Note that Eugenides thinks this is a sign of approval from the Eugenides the god.

We get just as little in The Queen of Attolia, although note that this is the first time we are getting Gen from someone else’s point of view, instead of him describing himself:

“...his dark hair covering his face...He’d grown...he was not quite her height, but with his hair cropped short under his helmet, she hadn’t looked twice at him when she had seen him.” - that’s the only real description we get of him in the beginning of QoA before It Happens, and it’s from Irene’s point of view. There’s also several references to him looking “young” “naive” and “guilless” - young pops up about half a dozen times, and she remarks often on him being “a boy” and “half-grown.” Obviously part of that is guilt, but I did want to note that when we’re in Gen’s mind, he doesn’t focus on how short or young he looks, but when we’re in someone else’s mind, they immediately zero in on how young and small Gen is.

There’s a lot of descriptions of him after The Thing but it’s all involved in how sick he looks ie bruises showing against his yellowed skin, being so pale that his scar looked dark against his skin, that he’s lost a lot weight, stuff like that. It gives us the sense that he is very sick but no real indication of how he looks when he’s not suffering from fever and blood loss.

“His dark hair blended into the darkness behind him…” - first physical description in KoA

“The Queen was several inches taller than Eugenides…” in KoA during the dance scene

“His usually dark skin was so pale the scar on his cheek showed against the lighter skin around it.” - during the assassination attempt

“Costis was sufficiently taller than the king…” - I think this is our first reference to Costis being very tall, but of course nowhere near our first reference to Gen being short.

“His face was pale, his normally dark skin yellowed.” - My note has nothing to do with his look, but the fact that his skin is usually dark but is now both pale AND visibly yellow makes me think his liver was damaged by the assassin and that’s why it took so long to heal.

“He chose Mede coats with the long bell sleeves because no fighting man who’d seen the muscles in the king’s wrist would have underestimated him the way the Attolians had. His other wrist with no hand at the end of it appeared oddly narrow and delicate. Costis tried not to stare and found himself looking instead at the king’s scars. The long line across his belly was an angry red, but there were other marks: ragged tears around his knees and elbows, and lighter shining bands around his ankles that could only be the mark of fetters, as well as the various lines left by edged blows on his chest and arms, and one long one on his thigh. There were also a number of bruises, some newly purple and black and some fading almost to nothing. Costis wondered where they could have come from.” - WHEW long description for the first time and its all about Gen’s scars.

“...skinny and prison pale, incongruous with the clean clothes the Magus had picked out for him.” - Sophos’ PoV from AcoK. This seems to imply that Gen is usually darker than he is in the Thief - which we’ve been told before, that he’s darker skinned but stints in prison and a number of serious injuries seem to frequently make him look sickly and pale - but also that he’s usually heavier - whether that means, like Sophos believes, that Gen is normally not as skinny or that he’s gained weight since becoming Attolis is anyone’s guess.

“I kept going until I could see his face, see every detail—the quirk of his eyebrow, the twist at the corner of his mouth, the mark on his cheek, where he’d said the Attolian guards had once shot him when he was running away…” - Kamet’s description of him.

“I remembered him as a boy, small for his age. I found him taller, broader in the shoulder, much older than the intervening years would explain, with a hook where his hand had been—wholly changed, in fact, but for the scar on his face and that smile.” - Gen is finally like a normal height lmao, but also he’s gotten bigger in general, which seems to imply IMO that re: Sophos’ assessment earlier, most of the weight (and likely muscle as Costis points outback in KoA) is the result of his time in Attolia and not weight he lost in jail. But whether THAT is due to him like, eating more potentially or having a different fighting style/routine that is bulking him up, or just a natural consequence of getting older or a combination of the two is again, your guess.

Helen:

“By far the least attractive of the women stood up.”

“She had black hair, like Attolia, and her gown was red velvet...tended to stand like a soldier. The ruffles on her shoulders made her arms seem long enough to reach to her knees. Her nose had been broken and reknitted crooked, her hair was cut short like a man’s and curled so much over her simple silver crown that crown itself was nearly invisible.” - all Gen’s point of view.

“She was short and too broad to be called petite. Her father had been broad shouldered, Attolia remembered, and not over-tall. Eddis had a serious expression.” - From QoA, in Irene’s pov. It seems the shortness of Gen is something that runs in the family.

“She’s ugly...she’s short, she’s broad-shouldered, and hawk-faced with a broken nose. I would say no, she is not ideal...I’ve seen men fall on their knees and get to walk across hot coals for her after one of those smiles.” - Gen talking about her with the Magus. I feel like it’s relevant that Gen calls her “the least attractive” when he’s with her, but only “ugly” when talking about her with other people.

“You look a little vulpine yourself.” - probably more a personality quirk than anything, but I still wanted to include it.

“Eddis reached to touch her own crooked nose. ‘If I laughed,’ she said, ‘it is only at the idea that we make a matched pair now, you and I.’” - for both her and Sophos here. Love flirting in the form of pointing out your irregularities, girl’s got game.

“The queen of Eddis is as beautiful as the day and as brilliant as the sun in the sky..he chuckled and quoted Praximeles about beauty being in the heart and not the eye..” - obviously Sophos’ opinion is colored by his love for her, but STILL, he does offer a description that she’s beautiful, is immediately contradicted by Akretenesh, and then basically thinks “it’s not my fault you’re stupid as fuck.”

Irene:

“Her hair was black and held away from her face by an imitation of the woven gold band of Hephestia. Her robe was draped like a peplos, made from embroidered red velvet. She was as tall as the magus, and she was more beautiful than any woman I had ever seen.” - Gen’s PoV in the Thief. We have a hint of his feelings for her in the way he describes her, and also there’s her Hephestia cosplay as well.

“Her hair was held away from her face by the ruby and gold headband that crossed her forehead just above her dark brows. Her skin was flawless and so fair as to be translucent. She dressed as always in an imitation of Hephestia.” - Gen calling out her Hephestia cosplay lmao. I also notice that she’s specifically not just “fair skinned” like Sophos or other Attolians, she’s described as almost weirdly pale.

Sophos:

I KNOW I forgot to mark a scene where Eugenides describes Sophos in TT as like...fair or pink-cheeked or something like that but I’ll be damned if I can find it.

“They were both obviously well bred...I wondered if they were brothers...the older one had darker hair and was better looking.” - obviously the older is Ambiades.

“One member of the crowd, a young man with a broken nose, a lip twisted by scar tissue, and dirty clothes that combined to suggest a person of violent and criminal habits…” - good description that also tells us that Useless the Younger looks significantly different since we saw him four books (and several years) ago. It’s not just that he’s older, or scarred, it’s that he *looks* dangerous now.

“I was taller than Malatesta by inches.” and “I wasn’t heavier than [Hyacinth] but I was taller and bore him to the ground.” - both give us an approximation of his height, weight, and strength.

“I felt my upper lip and rubbed my thumb against the scar tissue. I could feel it distorting my mouth. My nose had a new bump in the middle of it as well.” - scar healing badly

“Measuring myself against [The Magus], I realized we now saw eye to eye.” - considering several references to how tall The Magus is (which we’ll get to), this means Sophos is incredibly tall.

“...my hair all cut away and ragged.” and then they mention they dyed it. Once they get to Attolia however, “A barber came in to trim and shave us, taking off the last of my darker hair and leaving it tidy, if short.” So it’s gone back to his natural color, but this implies he usually wears his hair long.

There’s also a mention of him eating a lot, which isn’t a physical description, but does, IMO, imply something to his size - like how many sheer calories a lot of Olympic athletes have to eat a day.

“I smiled until I felt the scar tissue tighten...I had never let him see what I looked like when I smiled: my uncle.” - ICONIC.

ALSO - Sophos is frequently compared to animals. These animals include a lamb, lion, rabbit, bunny, puppy, and then back to lion.

Costis Ormentiedes:

I couldn’t find any description of him beyond a few references to him being tall in KoA which either means that I just missed it bc I got to emotional over KoA (which is likely) OR we don’t get a real description of Costis until TaT which is an interesting choice. ONWARDS:

“He was a very large Attolian…” - Kamet’s first impression of Costis, yet again reminding us how big Costis is

“He was a typical Attolian: sandy-brown hair, a broad face, light-colored eyes. Altogether he had a simple, straightforward look to him, and he seemed perfectly serious.” - gives us a general idea of what Attolians as a people look like.

“He was large, as I already knew, and a soldier. He had the scars on his hands and forearms and the unmistakable muscles from swinging a sword day in and day out. I had no doubt he was good at what he did - he rather reminded me of an ox, very strong, not terribly quick - but I thought killing was his work, not his pleasure….he moved easily, so he was no veteran crippled’s in his country’s service, but he was too young to have done his twenty years - my own age, or perhaps younger.” - Lots of information here from Kamet. The ones that stick out to me are: moves easily, which means Costis has likely not even been minorly injured before, but he has scars, which of course means he’s had a lot of flesh wounds. The other thing is that Kamet instinctively knows that Costis doesn’t like killing - I don’t know if that means Kamet is a good judge of character or if there’s something about Costis, whether it be the way he carries himself, or something physically like his expressions, his youth, his eyes, that tells Kamet this, but it *could* be something physical.

Kamet makes several references to Costis being hot lmao. He uses the word “attractive” several times in several different chapters and others agree with this assessment.

“She sent him to the potter to see if he could use a young man with a strong back.” - more comments about how ripped Costis is.

Kamet

Couldn’t find any description of Kamet in QoA, and he doesn’t really describe himself in TaT. I’m worried I missed something, but this is what I found:

“Normally as warm-toned as myself…” - Kamet comparing his own skin tone (undertone?) to Laela’s.

He also describes himself as small and skinny compared to Costis several times - once saying his face is roughly at level with Costis’ chest - and mentions flogging scars on his back.

EDIT: THANK YOU FOR COMMENTS, we get this like in QoA about Kamet: “The slave’s almond shaped eyes and red-brown complexion set him apart from the Attolians.”

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Not sure how to end this but anyway that’s what we’re given for the main PoVs. Surprisingly, we get more description for Helen than we do for Irene, and barely any for Kamet. There were some things that I had misremembered - I thought Gen was described as “brown skinned” but instead it’s “dark skinned” or “dark coloring” and I thought he described Helen as ugly more than once, but it’s just to the Magus, when they’re discussing Sounis’ potential marriage, which is....interesting to me, and sounds a lot more like Gen trying to downplay his cousin so the Magus will fuck off, especially when he offers Agape as an alternative that is, notably, prettier and also holds significantly less power. I also thought Costis was described as “blonde” or “fair haired” like Sophos but instead he’s “sandy brown” and I think the idea of him being Blonde was a fandom thing that I just misremembered.

#the queen's thief #megan whalen turner #the queens thief #rani attempts meta

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