#idk there were kind of elements of that in him too in other media

[ultfreakme]

So one of my fav fic author, just wrote a non-power AU of GoYuu (gojo/yuji) & SukuFushi (sukuna/ fushiguro) and...... I don't know what to feel. Like, have you know someone who ship them (it's the first for me) ? The fic's not underage, yuji's and megumi's age had been aged up by the author, but still the age gap, the dynamics, right? Can you think the reasons to ship them? Well, creativity really knows no bound.....😂😶

Oooh I have actually come across both of these ships very often on ao3. The ItaJun tag has a bunch of them on top hehe. I actually used to ship Sukuna and Megumi a little back when the anime was first airing(not anymore though).

For Gojo/Yuuji I think the first episode scene where their faces are super duper close probably kickstarted it

(Gojo: tf is personal space??? what's thaaaat???) GoYuu has a very popular ship dynamic I've observed in many fandoms; Student x Teacher. There's always a kind of jaded, aloof and distant teacher-figure who's shipped with the cheery, open-minded and sunny student-figure. I've heard that dynamic is really popular in East Asian fandom spaces(it appears a lot in danmei novels I've read). GoYuu was apparently the most popular ship in Japan (it beat out SatoSugu). Gojo argued to keep Yuuji alive and gave him time, so that's probably a point of appeal too. Gojo usually has no serious reactions to anything, he could have easily killed Yuuji and been done with it but he wanted him to live(Megumi did but eh, technicalities). What made this distant and carefree person take interest in the well-being of this stranger? Why would he risk the world for this one boy? That's probably the start of it. And then in the development, it's probably about how Yuuji can break down Gojo's walls and make him be more honest in his emotions.

2. Sukuna/Megumi: I used to ship it because I thought Sukuna was interested in Megumi as a person, assumed he'd be someone who can give him a good fight or wanted him as an ally.

Also this probably, look at that aesthetic appeal:

(Damn Mappa had a thing for these, ItaJun also had this. Why???? Fuel fujo-bait??? I thank them for the ItaJun version)

Right before this Sukuna's all giggling laughing asking Megumi to give him more(to fight against, but like, SukuFushi enjoyers probably enjoy taking that to mean something different). I think we all assumed he was interested in Megumi's evolution as a sorcerer. He takes joy in fighting and if anyone can catch his interest, it'd be someone who's struggling to get stronger and sees him as a rival.

It seems like he doesn't give a shit about anyone but Megumi. Like that one time he verbatiom said "Aside from him, I truly don't care". Also in Shibuya arc he heals Megumi and fights Mahoraga and everyone though it's because he cares about him(I was a fool).

On Megumi's end, okay idk what the current SukuFushi shippers expect but I personally wanted Megumi to kill Sukuna even when I was shipping them. Enemies to lovers except one of them is permanently in the enemies phase. As far as I've seen, there's always this non-con element to it? Like Megumi is extremely reluctant, Sukuna is unrelenting in pursuing him, and Megumi goes through a bit of a corruption arc and Sukuna.....well he isn't redeemed but he tones down because Megumi asks. A Beauty & The Beast situation.

I was talking about it to my bff and she was (rightfully) roasting me like we were joking around. Me: "Sukuna wants him for his body.....but like literally he wants to be inside him." My friend: "You mean possess him???" Me: "That's the word yes!"

The age-gap thing for SukuFushi feels more okay because I grew up on a bunch of fantasy shojo manga where a high school girl fell for an ancient spirit with a minimum age of 100. This isn't even an animanga thing, it's there in western media too(....Twilight). A lot of people just don't see the point of mulling over age gaps when the differences are centuries, even if the other half is a minor.

As for GoYuu, well I guess it's fiction, they're just lines on a page at the end of the day and it's less about the legalities of the gap and more about the dynamics it brings to the table that people can find interest in. The power difference, the difference in ways they view the world, the younger one is always more innocent, etc.

I personally don't find these to be my interests 99% of the time but I get why others would enjoy it (my few exceptions are Scum Villain and ErHa but if I start trying to explain THOSE messes we'd all lose it).

I guess people would be confused why I'm still hung up on ItaJun too huh? XDXD But as you said, fanon and creativity has no limits and people do as they like and enjoy.

#riki asks #goyuu #sukufushi #jjk

[rhineposting]

hey what are your thoughs about hmm scolippi JJBA that guy from part five. oh and diavolo bento aureo. uh huh wait since you asked for asks about women and wifes wow what if scolippi part 5 and diavolo golden wind were women and they-

GIRL COME ON

I'M TRYING TO MAKE A POINT HERE AND YOU'RE ONLY MAKING IT WORSE!!

Okay no but seriously.

Scolippi. Scolippi. Scoliosis, even.

He's such a beautiful yet tragic character, and he ties into JJBA's themes of fate and fighting against it so wonderfully. Even on his own, he's great.

He's a simple man, living in an unfair world full of power craving lunatics and egoists that were granted unimaginable power, while he is stuck with a curse that forces him into the position of being many people's guide to the afterlife ever since he was a child.

Yet, despite being put at a disadvantage from the start, he still does his best to be kind and to not harm others around him, using his ability solely for helping vulnerable people find peace - and to grant them the opportunity to defy Fate through choosing to go on their own terms.

Even after being beaten up, shot twice and held at gunpoint, he still offered his kindness to the two people that were actively antagonizing him at that moment. Even while he lied on the ground bleeding, he still prayed for their well-being and for their misery to not be pointless.

He's all things considered, a Saint.

I also like how his arc is a direct tie to the main antagonist of part 6 - Pucci.

They both had girls who were important to them, who both took their life due to circumstances they had little to no control over and they both seek peace above all else. Peace with what is to come.

While Pucci forces that peace, coupled with the burden of knowledge upon everyone in the whole universe, Scolippi simply offers a choice over their own life against cruel circumstances.

Pucci is also a priest, while Scolippi has elements alluding to Jesus all over him - which makes me think of the difference between institutionalised religion and the actual fundaments of said faith removed from a power hierarchy and alike of the Church.

Wherever Scolippi was after Part 5, I hope life turned out well for him.

Unless we go with the assumption that he was related to...

A certain other, purple haired and green eyed man with a Stand whose ability just so happens to directly mirror his own.

In that case, Scolippi just took L after L, it seems.

As for the OTHER GUY

I FUCKING HATE HIM!!! I HATE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH HE RUINED MY FUCKING LIFE!!!!

GETTING INVESTED IN HIM AS A CHARACTER COMPLETELY CHANGED ME AS A PERSON AND I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO UNDO THAT NO MATTER HOW MUCH TIME PASSES!!!!!

I HATE THAT THROUGH THIS PINK RACCOON LOOKING THING I MET YOU - THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME, AS WELL AS OUR OTHER FRIENDS WHO I CHERISH JUST AS MUCH TOO!!

I HATE THAT I OWE SO MUCH OF THE CURRENT HAPPINESS IN MY LIFE TO THIS FICTIONAL MAN WHO CAN'T EVEN BE BOTHERED TO PUT ON A REAL SHIRT FOR HIS DEBUT!!!

I HATE THAT MEETING HIM FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED ME AS AN ARTIST AND CREATOR AND THAT I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO RETURN TO BLISSFUL IGNORANCE THAT COMES WITH MEDIA ILLITERACY!!!! I WILL FOREVER BE CRITICAL OF ANYTHING I CONSUME BECAUSE OF HIM!!!

AND IT'S ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT TOO!!!! I WASN'T EVEN THAT INVESTED IN HIM UNTIL YOU CAME ALONG AND PUT A BUNCH OF PINK , GREEN DOTTED WORMS IN MY BRAIN!!!! I HATE YOU TOO!!!!!! GOD!!!!!!!

but omg what if he and scolippi were in fact women.

Hm.

idk I don't think we'd get some huge AU out of it with them as the main cast

where the two of them are in love and silly and married

and where they have a cute bunny baby

yeah no that definitely wouldn't happen. never.

why do you ask.

#girl im gonna so fucking kill you after this. #jjba #jojo's bizzare adventure #vento aureo #jjba diavolo #scolippi #or rather #serena melone #it's a dumb name i know #serdia #babbi #rhine questions #rhineart #jojo au

[flower-boi16]

The Ghost and Molly Mcgee is cute

Recently I just talked about the current era of Disney TVA, and I mentioned that I'm going to make a review of The Ghost and Molly Mcgee in that post. Well...here it is! I don't really know how to make an introduction here, so...let's begin.

1. Art Style and Animation

First, let's talk about this show's visuals. I like how this show looks, it does kind of look like it was made in some kind of tweening software like Flash or Toon Boom, and I think the art style looks quite nice here. The character designs look quite nice too, they look bouncy and expressive. The colors look nice and there are some really good-looking scenes in this show as well.

2. The Songs

The Ghost and Molly Mcgee is a musical series, so it's going to have songs in it. The songs in this show aren't half bad; They're pretty nice and catchy. Some of them are mildly cringe-inducing but most of them are nice to listen to. The songs I liked the most were "You've Been Jinxed", "Enjoy Your Afterlife", "Ghosts Aren't the Enemy", "If You Believe" and "In Your Mind". The songs are pretty short but they are still nice. The show doesn't have the best soundtrack of any cartoon I've heard, but it's pretty solid.

3. Characters

Alright, now we've talked about the superficial elements of this show; let's talk about the characters.

Molly- I like Molly. She's one of those "optimistic and joyful" female characters that we've seen throughout the media. But that is far from a bad thing, and I actually like this character archetype a lot of the time. Molly isn't any different; she's a good protagonist. She's a likable and fun character that I enjoy watching on screen.

Scratch - Scratch is Molly's ghost-best friend who's the usual cynical friend to the overly optimistic protagonist. I also do like Scratch as a character, he's just really funny and his development throughout the series is nice. And also I like the plotline with him discovering his past in season 2, I hope they start exploring more of it (or maybe that mind episode was the end of that plotline but maybe they'll explore Scratch's past more idk). Also, Molly and Scratch's friendship is pretty cute, they have a good dynamic and chemistry with each other.

Libby - Libby is kinda like Willow from The Owl House; the shy girl being best friends with the bright-eyed and optimistic protagonist. She's fine. I like her dynamic with Molly like Scratch, they also have good chemistry with each other and her whole story with her neglectful father in that one episode was pretty sad. Don't have much to say about her other than she's fine.

The Other Mcgees - I decided to lump these guys into one section because I don't have much to say about them individually. First we have Molly's father Pete, Molly's mother Sharon, and her little brother Darryl. Like all the other characters, they're fine. Pete and Sharon are good supportive parent characters and Darryl is a mischievous boy who still cares for his siblings and friends. They, like most other characters in this show, are fine and enjoyable to watch.

Ollie - Alright, I might get some hate for this but...I like Ollie. Sure he's not an amazing character but his relationship with Molly is cute and I like the development he got in the episode The Haunting of Brighton Video, where he feels guilt over hunting ghosts. That's good development for him, so ya, Ollie is a good character.

The Other Chens- Like with Molly's family I decided to lump in the rest of Ollie's family into one section due to me not being able to say much about them. They are one of the main antagonists for season 2, they are a family of ghost hunters who came to Brighton because they detected ghostly activity there. They work pretty well as antagonists throughout season 2, and I'm interested to see where the show goes with them.

Andrea - Andrea initially looks like the generic "Mean girl overly obsessed with smartphones" type of character, and she does admittedly kind of start out as that, but she does actually develop into a nicer character who is a good person but just has a REALLY shitty pair of parents, who neglect her to the point where she has to sell things to herself in order to try and get their attention. Once again, Andrea's a good character with a fun little personality and good dynamic with Molly and the other characters.

So the characters aren't amazing or anything, but they're all fun and likable and have really fun and interesting relationships with each other that keeps me engaged with them.

4. The Comedy

The jokes in this show are pretty good. There were a lot of things I laughed at and the slapstick is pretty entertaining as well. But my biggest issue with the comedy (and the show overall)...is the use of toilet humor. Like, there are WAAAAY too many jokes that revolve around the characters stepping on shit and I remember there being a few fart jokes in this. Don't remember what episode it is, I just remembered that the show did have at least one fart joke in it. So ya, the only major issue with the show is its use of toilet humor in some points, but aside from that, the show's comedy is pretty solid.

5. Conclusion

The Ghost and Molly Mcgee is a pretty good show. It's not a masterpiece or anything, but there's a lot of entertainment value you can get out of this show that makes it a fun watch. It's a cute show with good characters, great-looking animation and a decent soundtrack.

Score: 7/10

#tgamm #the ghost and molly mcgee #disney tva #disney channel #disney cartoons #cartoon review #disney

[clambuoyance]

Bc of you i really wanna get into Ninjago (/pos) but it's so, what's the word, much? Like intimidating there are so many season it seems like and so many character hhdhshah

Can i ask what your fave character is and why and howd you like describe the vibe of the show? Then I can know what to expect w energy of the show and the first question is just bc I'm curious aha

okay so this is gonna be long sorry.

i also thought the amount of seasons was intimidating but i actually find that it was really easy to get through? i think i binged it all in like a week 🧍🏻‍♀️(but uh, i did stay up a lot and usually multitasked) the seasons are very short(usually 10 eps) , and later on the episodes get short too.

there’s also new characters introduced every season, but it’s very centralized around the same cast of characters all through, which is like Lloyd, Nya, Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, Wu, and later on Pixal. so it doesnt feel like a lot to me.

I also think i enjoy the show a little differently than other media? Like it’s just good fun for me to watch. there’s several factors.

1) It holds a lot of nostalgia for me, because i was superrr into this show as a kid, 2) the way i enjoy the show is much like playing with legos as a kid. you have all these legos and crazy ideas, and you spin it all in different ways into what is sometimes a nonsensical plot, but its fun, 3) it is aimed for kids, so it’s easy to find it lacking in areas, but my absolute favorite thing is watching the team dynamic between the main characters bc it feels like they actually like each other😂 it’s the main thing i watch it for tbh

It’s not for everyone obviously, but idk watching the storytelling and animation improve/change throughout the seasons is neat bc in s8 holllyyyy shit it gets a whole new aesthetic, and it’s also really fun to kind of take elements that the show presents and do some Thinking and Creating in my head

my favorites are Zane and Kai—Zane because i grew up connecting to his character a lot and he’ll always be special to me, and Kai bc he just sort of falls into my stereotypical type of favorite character 💀 . His characterization isn’t always the best and the writers sometimes miss opportunities with him but i just really like Thinking about him and the potential types of character development he could have 🤷🏻‍♀️

So yeah theres the pilots which are really hard to find, but there’s a twitch link to them (pitched down)

Pilots 1/2, Pilots 3/4 (40 minutes in total)

Then the rest are on netflix(they’re separated into two titles tho), except the day of the departed special which isnt there fsr :P

S1-2 are fun and nostalgic to me even if they’re a bit uh, obviously at aimed kids. they were also meant to be the only seasons, but the audience liked it so it kept going. I feel like something shifted in the air around s6-ish though, and then again for s8 idk.

if youre really plot oriented or super into intense intricate world building, or not into shows that can be simple and aimed at kids, you might not enjoy it..? but if you just like seeing wacky plots w fun characters then you might like it ^_^

#WOW THIS WAS A RAMBLE #sorry this is probably more than u wanted #clam answers #ninjago #its just Vibes man i like the show #im gonna ramble more in the notes #so sometimes it has bad writing #comparatively when i watch a show like Titans which also suffers(more) bad writing im like. What is this shit #Bc even tho the plots bad its not even fun and i dont like the characters. they dont like each other #it takes itself seriously and fails to deliver #same w voltron too kind of loooolz #obviously I want good writing but w ninjago I guess I’m like…more lenient w it? #it knows what it’s vibes are and what to expect out itself and so I do too if that makes sense #like if it had stellar amazeball writing I’d be thrilled but I like the characters enough to rotate them in my mind #and do my own writing n thinking of their arcs n stuff #I have no idea what I’m saying it’s 2 am ignore me

[vanillapie-80]

Two things for TOA; who's your favorite character and why, and what part of the franchise do you think had the most wasted potential?

Now I'm sure, if you know me, that it's pretty damn obvious that Jim is my favorite character, so I'm just going to be brief about this. One of the main appeal to me is the monster trope that is associated with him, because that's how I got into toa in the first place. I think it's one of the things that really makes him stand out to other protags that are similar to him. It's also really fun to explore cause it's a trope that's really underrated and one that I don't see much in media sooo-

For other characters it's Douxie, his design is solid and I love the the journey he goes through in wizards. I believe Claire too, cause I draw her a lot. Idk I just really like the a good chunk of the main characters in these shows. It's a chaotic friendship and I love that.

The second question- ooooo boy. I think, although it being the most obvious answer, it's rott that has the most wasted potential. For wizards, I would say that I'm fairly satisfied with Wizards (with my only real issues being the twist with Jim and that the didn't really include elements involving 3 Below all that much, I'll touch more on this later) but with rott, it had a lot of potential with the premise it had.

Deities wishing to reset the world because they've grown tired of humanity creating an imbalance and forcing magical creatures out of their land and persecuting them over the years, that's such an interesting premise that can easily be equated to real world issues. But no, it's just a typical adventure story with a black and white heroes vs villains with no nuance whatsoever (And since the story can easily be equated to real world issues, it makes the implications kind of messy ngl). Also we just don't get that much interactions between different characters, most of that time it has to something in relation to Jim which is fucking boring story wise.

Literally I can't think of a single moment where one of the other main characters have a moment that relates to an arc of their own. Which really cause there are some characters that are soo due for a character arc of their own.

Another is just the refusal to use any of the worldbuilding from the different installments. I'm going to start with 3Below. There's been this issue where the writers don't put in enough effort to include and tie in 3Below's characters and worldbuilding to the overarching stories. I see people say how 3Below doesn't fit or belong in the series as a fault of the show itself which I don't agree with. I think it's more of the fault of the writers because they have every opportunity to include 3Below to the story if they really wanted, especially in rott. (I would also like to mention that in an article, Diego Luna said there was going to be an arc for Krel in wizards, but it was cut).

For wizards it was more like rott didn't build upon what it brought to the table, especially when it comes to information regarding to the Arcane Order. Like who are they? What are they? How the fuck did the Genesis Seal came to be? Are they demigods or wizards? Did Nari create the Kronosphere or Heart of Avalon? What the fuck were Bellroc and Skrael doing during the centuries after the Battle of Killahead? There so much but no new information is given to the world.

WHEW, THAT WAS A LOT. I'm going to leave it that that but yeah, there's a lot of wasted potential towards rott SDKJASALK-

#tales of arcadia #3 below #toawizards #vanilla rambles

[leqclerc]

Honestly, I've just completely checked out from the Twitter sphere and the commentary around f1. To a certain extent sports media is always rife with hit takes but there's so little going on this season that it seems like everyone is just picking fights with everyone to muster up engagement. Life's too short, I'll check back in to see if Ferrari gets it's shit together next year.

You're a stronger soldier than me 😭💪🏻 I know a few people who consciously took a step back from following F1 or at least don't follow as closely or intensely anymore, whether that's not keeping up with news and commentary or not watching most of the sessions and just occasionally catching a race if they can or whatever. On one hand I envy that kind of approach, but on the other I don't know if I could do it. 🤔

Idk maybe it's weird but I tend to operate on a basis of having one major hyperfixation/fandom at a time, with maybe some smaller interests more in the background. But once I'm into something I'm like 110% invested and so other stuff kind of starts going under the radar. I think for me to check out of F1 I'd have to have something equally compelling lined up as a replacement hyperfixation to eat at my braincells and so far I haven't found anything like that.

Although some part of me is kind of like, well, maybe if I did check out we'd finally get an interesting season, because I swear the best narratives and memorable seasons happen exactly when I'm in that stage of not watching or having an F1 hiatus 😭😭 I started watching in early 2015, from the very first race of the season, so literally just missed 2014 by a few months...then I checked out of the fandom and started watching more sporadically as the hype around Charles to Ferrari was happening in late 2018. Of course then I end up having a lot of regret and guilt over it, which leads to FOMO and this compulsion to keep watching just in case I miss something big again. 🙃

From a Ferrari/Charles POV it's definitely a rollercoaster from watching him be firmly in the championship fight at the start of 2022 to then Ferrari having another slump in form where they're realistically performing at the level of a midfield team, seemingly have no explanation for their problems, are in a year of messy transition, etc. You can say the same for the downgrade from 2019 to 2020, but the latter was a weird season in general and there were some extenuating circumstances. At least the season still felt fun and we had some surprising moments. That one weekend alone in Turkey was much more memorable for me personally than any of the races we've had so far in 2023, lol. But I do acknowledge that it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing and your enjoyment will largely depend on who you're supporting. If your guy is winning it all then ofc you're going to have a different perception of the season.

I think for me, I could even look past the Red Bull dominance, because it's not the first time we've had a basically guaranteed 1-2 (2015 and 16 especially were often criticised exactly for the predictability and repetitiveness on the podium.) But give us an element of surprise??? Some spice??? (Barcelona 2016 you will always be famous.) Where are all the compelling narratives??? Where are the tasty teammate pairings??? Ferrari's not providing much excitement when it comes to performance and results, but equally the lineup has very meh vibes for me. Plus the drivers that had become a staple of my F1 fan experience just not being there anymore (Daniel and Seb). In conclusion:

#replies #anonymous #it's an interesting point and i can totally see how people manufacture drama in the wake of the relative mediocrity of the season itself #also with the awkward calendar choices (random month-long gap in april for example) the season's felt kind of weird & disjointed so far idk #discussions and predictions

[a-man-named-shang]

About Shang

Archetype — Hero

Birthday — September 12th, 1994

Zodiac Sign — Virgo 

MBTI — ESFJ-A

Enneagram — Type 1

Temperament — Phlegmatic

Hogwarts House — Hufflepuff Primary, Hufflepuff Secondary

Moral Alignment — Lawful Good

Primary Vice — Proud

Primary Virtue — Kind

Element — Earth

Overview:

Mother — Mingtao Li

Father — Yuming Li

Mother’s Occupation — Former Olympian, running Li Industries

Father’s Occupation — Former Olympian, CEO of Li Industries

Family Finances — wealthy

Birth Order — Only child

Brothers —  none

Sisters — none

Other Close Family — none

Best Friend — Bolin

Other Friends — the ones he’s making in Swynlake and his party friends

Enemies — the paparazzi 

Pets — horse back home

Home Life During Childhood — He grew up spoiled and pampered, with his own large room and bathroom and all that. His parents were often busy but they were still loving and cared for him to the best of their abilities.

Town or City Name(s) — From Shanghai, China. Now Swynlake. 

What Did His or Her Bedroom Look Like — very nice boy’s room, with some fencing posters and a few of musicians he’s liked over the years. A walk in closet and all. Honestly a lot more space than a young boy really needed but he made use of it.

Any Sports or Clubs — Fencing

Favorite Toy or Game — game boy/game cube once upon a time. Also he really loved playing with cars

Schooling — He excelled in school, though he did have a tendency to party too

Favorite Subject — English

Popular or Loner — Popular

Important Experiences or Events — the time he was caught partying, his father disappearing, coming to Swynlake

Nationality — Chinese

Culture — Chinese culture

Religion and beliefs — Atheist 

Physical Appearance

Face Claim —  Jackson Wang

Complexion — tan

Hair Colour — brown

Eye Colour — brown

Height — 5’9”

Build — muscular

Tattoos — a few to be revealed

Piercings — ears

Common Hairstyle — slicked sometimes or just idk pretty average men’s haircut

Clothing Style — fashionable, nice button ups and nice pants or nice jeans and a good shirt.

Mannerisms — stands tall and a little stiff, bows politely meeting new people

Usual Expression — a polite smile

Health

Overall (do they get sick easily)? — no his body is his temple

Physical Ailments — none

Neurological Conditions — none 

Allergies —  peanuts

Grooming Habits — very clean, showers regularly and shaves daily.

Sleeping Habits — goes to sleep relatively early for an early morning jog or workout

Eating Habits — eats well. Eats plenty for his metabolism.

Exercise Habits —  works out every morning

Emotional Stability — stable

Body Temperature — normal

Sociability — fairly social

Addictions — none

Drug Use — none

Alcohol Use — social drinker

Your Character’s Character: 

Bad Habits — overexerting himself

Good Habits — keeps in shape, keeps his space neat

Best Characteristic — Confident

Worst Characteristic — somewhat of a stickler for rules sometimes

Worst Memory — Finding out his father had gone missing

Best Memory — When he won his first major fencing competition

Proud of — his family

Embarrassed by — people who loudly declare opinions that are old fashioned or just plain wrong to him

Driving Style — a casual cool driver with one hand on the wheel and the other in his lap unless needed

Strong Points — a confident, charismatic person

Temperament — Phlegmatic

Attitude — Friendly and determined

Weakness — social media to some degree, also he is a bit proud

Fears — not being good enough, losing someone he cares about

Phobias — bugs

Secrets — he nearly eloped with someone once

Regrets — not telling his parents how grateful he is for them more often

Feels Vulnerable When — he has to open up about his feelings

Pet Peeves — people that talk too much about themselves, people who chew with their mouths open

Conflicts — his father being missing

Motivation — his family and his company

Short Term Goals and Hopes — to find his father

Long Term Goals and Hopes — to figure out his role with the company

Sexuality — thinks he’s straight but he’s bi

Exercise Routine  — works out every morning

Day or Night Person — both, more of a day person but likes some party nights

Introvert or Extrovert —  extrovert

Optimist or Pessimist —  realist

Greatest Want — to do right by his family

Greatest Need — to figure out what happened to his dad

#about shang

[dolls-self-ships]

*accidentally develops bugs bunny as a platonic comfort character because I gravitate towards reasonable/grounded/cool & collected people for companionship because I’m constantly riddled with anxiety and uncertainty*

#don’t ever let him go chy 😤 #bees self ships #platonic f/os #I lowkey platonically f/o daffy too but in more of a ‘I hate you but will die for you if needed’ way #JIL IM SORRY SKDJSK HES JUST SO EASY TO WANT TO THROW HANDS WITH #anyway #self shipping #looney toons self insert #looney tunes #obviously I’m referring to the 2011 tv show one but #idk there were kind of elements of that in him too in other media

[earthstellar]

Language in TFP

A couple things I’ve been thinking about lately: 

1) We aren’t sure how the translation process/language learning process is for Cybertronians, even though there are several effective and reasonably plausible ways for them to have learnt English. 

They also might look things up in real time fast enough to learn on the go to supplement base knowledge-- It’s handy when your brain is basically a high end computer! 

But what we do absolutely know is that they’re not organic.

So how do they replicate the sounds of human speech, which are highly dependent on our actual physiology? We know that in some TF media, Cybertronians have a tongue equivalent (glossa), but is that the case in TFP? I can’t recall ever seeing a bot stick out their tongue or ever seeing one when their mouths are open wide, like when yelling. 

So there may be a real physical difficulty for them when speaking English, at least at first. The effectivity or accuracy of work-arounds may vary. 

For example, can a Cybertronian replicate a glottal stop effectively? So many human speech sounds depend on the glottis, something they don’t have, but may have an equivalent for. We don’t know exactly. 

--

2) There are some concepts and words that would just not translate, and some concepts that are familiar but so different with humans that it would be completely bizarre to them. 

We see this a little bit when Ultra Magnus asks Optimus what a kilt is after Agent Fowler mentions it, and Optimus admits he has no clue. 

Clothes, or items like shoes, etc. are all totally foreign as concepts to Cybertronians. 

Food items or similar are somewhat irrelevant to them, so they might struggle with that in terms of building vocabulary; In TFP they have one primary source of fuel, energon, although it does have variations like engex and other refined forms. We never see them eat solids of any kind in TFP that I can recall. 

But I can imagine them initially being surprised at learning about humans and human language, and how extremely different life forms on Earth are and how the language reflects that. 

Arcee: “I did a little drive around to check out the locals. They have this place called a cafe where they source their fuel, like a canteen or bar, but they seem to be able to eat pretty much anything, so I’m not sure what they were doing. Maybe a social ritual. It was weird, they seemed to go in and out pretty quickly...  Maybe they don’t like to eat around others? Do we know if humans are defensive over food? They all looked different, maybe they only eat around their own group or something.” 

Ratchet: “Pff, nonsense. These are organics, if the rest of the organic land animals we’ve seen on this planet so far are anything to go by, they have a primary diet of grasses or plant matter, perhaps mild carnivorous tendencies, something along those lines. The humans aren’t so different from the other organic life here, they just appear to have higher cognitive functions. Biologically--” 

Arcee: “I did some recon and found this.” (Shows a paper take out menu.) 

Ratchet: “These are all ingestible??? They can fuel themselves with ALL OF THIS????? Beings so tiny... I wouldn’t have imagined. Although I suppose it makes sense, they must require more energy than other smaller, simpler organics. Is this desert area so barren because they’ve stripped it of nutrient giving material? How do they process or store it all?” 

Optimus: “We should be careful not to transgress on any contested or sensitive human territories. It is good to learn more about the native life before we attempt to engage with them directly; This is potentially valuable cultural information. Well done, Arcee.” 

Bulkhead: (Looking at the menu) “They have 50 different words for fuel fluids alone! THEY HAVE 50 DIFFERENT FUEL FLUIDS!” 

Ratchet: “Remarkable... What is [coffee]?” (looks it up) “THE HUMANS ENGAGE IN WIDESPREAD CASUAL DRUG USE ???” 

--

3) We don’t know about how age (hardware age, age overall, etc.) affects Cybertronians in regards to mental acuity as it relates to language learning. Would older Cybertronians have somewhat more difficulty adapting to using a new language, or a completely different language like ones spoken by organics due to the possible difficulty in physically replicating some sounds-- Even if their processors don’t actually struggle all that much in regards to learning it, and adapting to using it was the primary struggle?  

My great-Grandma spoke Slovakian and learned English later in life; She did well, but as anyone who knows multiple languages or is from a bilingual family knows, often vocabulary was forgotten momentarily in one language or the other, so it would just be substituted with the right word in whatever language it could be remembered in at the moment. Sometimes it just happens no matter how fluent or how experienced with a language someone gets. 

Where I’m going with this, is that I really like the idea of Ratchet sometimes getting frustrated with English and just using a Cybertronian word instead, but then refusing to mention it or translate it because it’s one of the few ways in which his age shows so he tries to just cover it up. Or if he does acknowledge it, he tries to keep it on the down low, but every now and then you just hear him yell a random word and you know it’s because he just remembered it. 

I recall in S3 when Raf mentions Ratchet has been teaching him Cybertronian, at least the text form of it, to assist with tech work at the base...

But that might also result in cultural etc. language concept problems, too! Just the other direction.

Ratchet: *tries to casually, secretly slide up to Raf despite being the boxiest bot in the base* “Hello Rafael, may I interrupt briefly?” 

Raf: “Yes, Ratchet? I'm working on--”

Ratchet: “What is the word for 01010101010″ 

Raf: “...I have no idea. Can you describe it?” 

Ratchet: “You know when you get some wear and tear around the edges of your armour, perhaps some damage from the elements, and you need to debride, treat, repaint, and replace the sealant?”

Raf: “Uh, no.” 

Ratchet: “FFFFF OPTIMUS WHAT IS 010101010″

Optimus: “Rust.” 

Ratchet: “RUST” 

idk I just think it’s fun to think about space robots having to cope with weird human stuff 

#tfp #transformers prime #transformers #tfp ratchet #tfp Optimus prime #tfp arcee #tfp bulkhead #raf esquivel #tfp headcanons #analysis #maccadam #maccadams

[pumpkinpaix]

Hello! Feel free not to answer this question if it is in any way too much, but I've been wondering about something concerning the "western" mdzs fandom. Lately, i have seen multiple pieces of fanart that use what is clearly Christian symbolism and sometimes downright iconography in depicting the characters. I'm a european fan, but it still makes me vaguely uneasy. I know that these things are rarely easy to judge. I'm definitely not qualified to do so and was wondering if you have an opinion

Hi there! thank you for your patience and for the interesting question! I’ve been thinking about this since i received this ask because it?? idk, it’s difficult to answer, but it also touches on a a few things that I find really interesting.

the short answer: it’s complicated, and I also don’t know what I feel!

the longer answer:

i think that this question is particularly difficult to answer because of how deeply christianity is tied to the western art and literary canon. so much of what is considered great european art is christian art! If you just take a quick glance at wiki’s page on european art, you can see how inextricable christianity is, and how integral christian iconography has been in the history of european art. If you study western art history, you must study christian imagery and christian canon because it’s just impossible to engage with a lot of the work in a meaningful way without it. that’s just the reality of it.

Christianity, of course, also has a strong presence in european colonial and imperialist history and has been used as a tool of oppression against many peoples and nations, including China. I would be lying if I said I had a good relationship with Christianity--I have always faced it with a deep suspicion because I think it did some very, very real damage, not just to chinese people, but to many cultures and peoples around the world, and that’s not a trauma that can be easily brushed aside or reconciled with.

here is what is also true: my maternal grandmother was devoutly christian. my aunt is devoutly christian. my uncle’s family is devoutly christian. my favorite cousin is devoutly christian. when I attended my cousin’s wedding, he had both a traditional chinese ceremony (tea-serving, bride-fetching, ABSURDLY long reception), and also a christian ceremony in a church. christianity is a really important part of his life, just as it’s important to my uncle’s family, and as it was important to my grandmother. I don’t think it’s my right or place to label them as simply victims of a colonialist past--they’re real people with real agency and choice and beliefs. I think it would be disrespectful to act otherwise.

that doesn’t negate the harm that christianity has done--but it does complicate things. is it inherently a bad thing that they’re christian, due to the political history of the religion and their heritage? that’s... not a question I’m really interested in debating. the fact remains that they are christian, that they are chinese, and that they chose their religion.

so! now here we are with mdzs, a chinese piece of media that is clearly Not christian, but is quickly gaining popularity in euroamerican spaces. people are making fanart! people are making A LOT of fanart! and art is, by nature, intertextual. a lot of the most interesting art (imo) makes deliberate use of that! for example (cyan art nerdery time let’s go), Nikolai Ge’s What is Truth?

I love this painting! it’s notable for its unusual depiction of christ: shabby, unkempt, slouched, in shadow. if you look for other paintings of this scene, christ is usually dignified, elegant, beautiful, melancholy -- there’s something very humanizing and humbling about this depiction, specifically because of the way it contrasts the standard. it’s powerful because we as the audience are expected to be familiar with the iconography of this scene, the story behind it, and its place in the christian canon.

you can make similar comments about Gentileschi’s Judith vs Caravaggio’s, or Manet’s Olympia vs Ingres’ Grande Odalisque -- all of these paintings exist in relation to one another and also to the larger canon (i’m simplifying: you can’t just compare one to another directly in isolation etc etc.) Gauguin’s Jacob Wrestling the Angel is also especially interesting because of how its portrayal of its content contrasts to its predecessors!

or! because i’m really In It now, one of my favorite paintings in the world, Joan of Arc by Bastien-Lepage:

I just!!! gosh, idk, what’s most interesting to me in this painting is the way it seems to hover between movements: the hyperrealistic, neoclassical-esque take on the figure, but the impressionistic brushstrokes of the background AAA gosh i love it so much. it’s really beautiful if you ever get a chance to see it in person at the Met. i’m putting this here both because i personally just really like it and also as an example of how intertextuality isn’t just about content, but also about visual elements.

anyways, sorry most of this is 19thc, that was what i studied the most lol.

(a final note: if you want to read about a really interesting painting that sits in the midst of just a Lot of different works, check out the wiki page on Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, specifically under “Interpretation and Legacy”)

this is all a really long-winded way of getting to this point: if you want to make allusory fanart of mdzs with regards to western art canon, you kind of have to go out of your way to avoid christian imagery/iconography, especially when that’s the lens through which a lot of really intensely emotional art was created. many of my favorite paintings are christian: Vrubel’s Demon, Seated, Perov’s Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Ge’s Conscience, Judas, Bastien-Lepage’s Joan of Arc, as shown above. that’s not to say there ISN’T plenty of non-christian art -- but christian art is very prominent and impossible to ignore.

so here are a few pieces of fanwork that I’ve seen that are very clearly making allusions to christian imagery:

1. this beautiful pietà nielan by tinynarwhals on twitter

2. a lovely jiang yanli as our lady of tears by @satuwilhelmiina

3. my second gif in this set here, which I will also show below:

i’m only going to talk about mine in depth because well, i know exactly what i was thinking when I put this gif together while I can’t speak for anyone else.

first: the two lines of the song that I wanted to use for lan xichen were “baby, I’m a fighter//in the robes of a saint” because i felt that they fit him very well. of course, just the word “saint” evokes catholicism, even if it’s become so entwined in the english language that it’s taken on a secular meaning as well.

second: when I saw this scene, my immediate thought was just “PIETÀ!!” because LOOK at that composition! lan xichen’s lap! nie mingjue lying perpendicular to it! the light blue/white/silver of lan xichen in contrast to the darker robes of both nie mingjue and meng yao! not just that, but the very cool triangular structure of the image is intensely striking, and Yes, i Do love that it simultaneously ALSO evokes deposition of christ vibes. (baxia as the cross.... god..... is that not the Tightest Shit) does this make meng yao joseph of arimathea? does it make him john the evangelist? both options are equally interesting, I think when viewed in relation to his roles in the story: as a spy in qishan and as nmj’s deputy. maybe he’s both.

anyways, did I do this intentionally? yes, though a lot of it is happy accident/discovered after the fact since I’m relying on CQL to have provided the image. i wanted to draw attention to all of that by superimposing that line over that image! (to be clear: I didn’t expect it to all come through because like. that’s ridiculous. the layers you’d have to go through to get from “pretty lxc gifset” --> “if we cast nie mingjue as a christ figure, what is the interesting commentary we could do on meng yao by casting him as either joseph of arimathea or john the evangelist” are like. ok ur gonna need to work a little harder than slapping a song lyric over an image to achieve an effect like that.)

the point of this is: yes, it’s intentionally christian, yes I did this, yes I am casting these very much non-christian characters into christian roles for this specific visual work -- is this okay?

I obviously thought it was because I made it. but would I feel the same about a work that was written doing something similar? probably not. I think that would make me quite uncomfortable in most situations. but there’s something about visual art that makes it slightly different that I have trouble articulating -- something about how the visual often seeks to illustrate parallels or ideas, whereas writing characters as a different religion can fundamentally change who those characters are, the world they inhabit, etc. in a more... invasive?? way. that’s still not quite right, but I genuinely am not sure how to explain what i mean! I hope the general idea comes across. ><

something else to think about is like, what are pieces I find acceptable and why?

what makes the pieces above that reference christian imagery different than this stunning nieyao piece by @cyandemise after klimt’s kiss? (warnings for like, dead bodies and vague body horror) like i ADORE this piece (PLEASE click for fullview it’s worth it for the quality). it’s incredibly beautiful and evocative and very obviously references a piece of european art. I have no problem with it. why? because it isn’t explicitly christian? it’s still deeply entrenched in western canon. klimt certainly made other pieces that were explicit christian references.

another piece I’d like to invite you all to consider is this incredible naruto fanart of sakura and ino beheading sasuke after caravaggio’s judith. (warnings for beheading, blood, etc. you know.) i also adore this piece! i think it’s very good both technically and conceptually. the reference that it makes has a real power when viewed in relation to the roles of the characters in their original story -- seeing the women that sasuke fucked over and treated so disrespectfully collaborating in his demise Says Something. this is also!! an explicitly christian reference made with non-christian japanese characters. is this okay? does it evoke the same discomfort as seeing mdzs characters being drawn with christian iconography? why or why not?

the point is, I don’t think there’s a neat answer, but I do think there are a lot of interesting issues surrounding cultural erasure/hegemony that are raised by this question. i don’t think there are easy resolutions to any of them either, but I think that it’s a good opportunity to reexamine our own discomfort and try and see where it comes from. all emotions are valid but not all are justified etc. so I try to ask, is it fair? do i apply my criticisms and standards equally? why or why not? does it do real harm, or do i just not like it? what makes one work okay and another not?

i’ve felt that there’s a real danger with the kind of like, deep moral scrutiny of recent years in quashing interesting work in the name of fear. this morality tends to be expressed in black and white, good and bad dichotomies that i really do think stymies meaningful conversation and progress. you’ll often see angry takes that boil down to things like, “POC good, queer people good, white people bad, christianity bad” etc. without a serious critical examination of the actual issues at hand. I feel that these are extraordinarily harmful simplifications that can lead to an increased insularity that isn’t necessarily good for anyone. there’s a fine line between asking people to stay in their lane and cultural gatekeeping sometimes, and I think that it’s something we should be mindful of when we’re engaging in conversations about cultural erasure, appropriation etc.

PERHAPS IT IS OBVIOUS that I have no idea where that line falls LMAO since after all that rambling I have given you basically nothing. but! I hope that you found it interesting at least, and that it gives you a bit more material to think on while you figure out where you stand ahaha.

was this just an excuse to show off cool (fan)art i like? maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(ko-fi)

#Anonymous #asks and replies #art #fanart #art history #christianity #mdzs #mdzs meta #meta #mine #mymeta #cyan gets too deep in the weeds #lmfao this post is a mess ive been staring at it for like a week and at this point im just gonna post it to the wall and keep moving asldfj #hope you enjoyed

[rsmrymnt-tea]

A Rant About The Art Event

Because okay I’m surprisingly pissed off about it, what a huge missed opportunity it is for some Levi (the grand admiral otaku himself) and Satan (an art and literature connoisseur) characterization lmao

Listen as fucking thankful as I am for the lil moment with Satan and Solomon cooing over a kitten I would just like to state that I’m still really disappointed in the event. Something something it’s a wasted opportunity to see how MC gets the brothers bonding something something blah blah

It reminds me of Paws and Claws 2 where the first half felt like it was going somewhere then in the second half it’s just a while lotta ‘what???’ Because as it turns out, my flow of logic is completely different from whatever the hell the OM event writers’ is. I just wanted a Levi and Satan bonding moment gdi

The rest of the rant is under the cut because I ended up going on and on about it.

When Levi suggested a relay manga, I was fully expecting it to go a bit wild because no way would the boys’ ideas all line up. It was cute that the Purgatory boys had the mind to make something cohesive together, but in general nothing went with each other. With they option to respond like you’re tired of the way most of them were just inserting ideas without concern for overall cohesion, I genuinely thought that there would be a part where MC with the help of Levi and someone else who, idk, has spent the better part of his life reading books and shit would work together to fix up the relay manga? Even Diavolo was like ‘yeah Satan can probably fix it’ and so I thought yeah I guess we’ll be fixing the plot with Satan!! Honestly like that’s what you’d expect right???

So the flow is: we get a premise from Levi who really cares about the project because it’s a manga -> Levi makes MC the editor who then goes to the brothers for their additions to the manga -> The rest of the brothers creating a problem where the manga is going nowhere because they all have such different ideas -> Purgatory boys + Barb acknowledging the problem -> Diavolo implying that Satan can do something about the problem

So cue going to Satan and he goes yeah, this is shit, we gotta do something about it. What does a demon who’s read probably millions of books suggest we do to get everything working together? Does he suggest restructuring it so that everyone’s ideas can be included somehow? Does he suggest rounding everyone up and discussing what the plot should be?

No!! He suggests adding a cat will fix it!! Hot take, but at this point I’m actually so so so sick of the writers reducing Satan to having a single brain cell that’s shaped like a cat!!

With how the story was built up, was it so far fetched for me to believe that Satan and MC would then go to Levi to bring up the fact that the manga’s going nowhere??? Was it to much to wish that we get a passionate Levi, writer Satan, and editor MC working together to make a passable output???????

Levi and Satan could’ve absolutely been in their element!! How many Levi and Satan stans want that??? Because I wanted that and I’m not a Levi stan. Levi obviously really cares about the project so I wanted to see him take charge, put on that admiral hat, and get everyone cooperating. I wanted to see Satan use his brain and knowledge of storytelling to fix up the mess of a plot everyone’s made. Those two have consumed an incredible amount of their respective favorite media and would absolutely understand what it takes to make a decent piece of graphic literature why tf didn’t we get a wonderful bonding moment for them where they work together? It would’ve been nice for them to get the others into working together too for a lovely bonding moment between everyone while Diavolo and Lucifer coo out of pride in the distance. Like??? Do we even have any moments where Levi and Satan get to bond outside of really few chats and Devilgrams?

Instead we get Diavolo once again using his magic to fuck with everyone without their consent, sending them into some kind of new dimension where we get a weird plot out of nowhere? I understand that Satan included a cat with his actual contribution to the manga but where tf did the curse come from? There was literally nothing I can remember that was building up to the appearance of a giant devildom sea cucumber? Nothing at all that would’ve explained why there was a cursed portrait of a boy with a cat??? I don’t understand, that entire section felt like some kind of odd non-sequitur that could’ve been cut out for something else entirely. They were all there in the room, have them sit down and argue out what to do with the project! Or if they really couldn’t agree, have them all agree to do a different thing!!!

Am I an idiot for wanting a simple, but nicely executed event? I’m not asking for anything mind blowing, all I want is for some nice characterization and a glimpse into some character growth and dynamics that we otherwise wouldn’t be privy to because there’s no space for it in main story. These events could easily be snippets of the life MC and the others live that take place in the timeskips in main story where we get to see how much MC helps them all get along and shit but idk I guess that’s just too much for me to expect or want?

Tl;dr I’m pissed that we didn’t get to see Levi and Satan be editor and writer. Also I’m sick of Satan’s cat obsession overriding his brain every time he could’ve used his knowledge to help everyone out.

#obey me #obey me spoilers #self & soliloquy #let it be known that this entire rant is a show of affection from me #because I’m not about to stop wanting better for a piece of media that could easily do better #i want the two big readers bonding is that too much to ask for #my url is incredibly fitting for this post #just needed to gett this out there because i have like no one else i feel like i can turn to about it #neg #sal et suka #also am i the weird one for never really minding that there arent any kisses? #like in events #i personally dont mind #i just want some more character and world building honestly

[mskatesharma]

Hey sorry to bother you but I wanted to ask if you could rec some good sources on learning more about Indian Culture/history/customs. Movies books anything really. I have looked online but well, I always take things on the internet with several grains of salt. And considering I know very little on it, I can't say how reliable the information is. I would like to incorporate elements of Kate being Indian when writing about Kate (and Kate and Anthony) going forward and I want to do it in as respectful and accurate a way as I can. For example, I had a thought of Anthony seeing Kate and her fam celebrate Holi and falling in love with how happy and carefree she is and brushing some paint off her cheek before she dunks some pigment onto him or something 1/2

But considering I've never celebrated Holi or seen it celebrated before I don't think I'd do a good job to write it... I know I get annoyed when people get the basic customs and traditions of my culture wrong. Anyway sorry for rambling TLDR: I would like to learn more about Indian culture and idk where to begin so I would be grateful for any direction you can point me at 2/2

so this has taken me a while to answer because i needed to find time to sit down, think about it and answer it properly. it might seem like a somewhat simple question, but to me, at least, it’s complicated? (i’m probably going to be going over stuff you probably already know, but i’m trying to answer in a complete way.)

i need to start off by saying that my family is from north india (gujarat specifically), and because of that, i have a certain level of privilege, including how north indians and north indian culture is portrayed in the media (obviously including bollywood). i mention this because simone ashley is south indian, specifically tamil, and there is so much prejudice against south indians in general, and this obviously extends to how they are depicted and how their culture is shown in various forms of media; colourism (which simone has spoken out about) is just the start of it. (also, as someone who is north indian, i’m not the best placed person to talk about the prejudice and discrimination faced by south indians.)  

a big part of why desi fans are so excited about simone’s casting as kate is because she a dark-skinned woc, and typically, dark-skinned women aren’t cast as romantic leads, and they’re not cast in shows anyway, especially when compared to light-skinned woc. so the fact that she’s going to be a lead in one of the biggest shows on netflix is a big.fucking.deal. in addition, they changed her character’s surname from ‘sheffield’ to ‘sharma’, which on the surface seems like a great idea, but if you look a little deeper, there are so many problems to be found.

(this got long so continues below)

sharma is not a generic indian surname; it’s specifically a north indian hindu name, which throws up questions. is kate going to be a hindu on the show? does this mean her family is from north india?  are they going to talk about caste on the show because sharma is a brahmin surname? how are they going to explain kate being in england, and being out in society with the upper crust of the british aristocracy? (because of the time that bridgerton is set, and with them specifically setting up kate as indian, i honestly don’t know how they’re going to explain kate’s presence) i honestly think that the show didn’t think too deeply about it and they chose the name sharma because it starts with ‘sh’ and ~sounds indian. however, it’s thrown up so many questions that they can’t ignore, especially because they tried to explain race in the first season. 

i talk about all this because you ask about holi, and incorporating elements of kate being indian when writing. and i’m not trying to be mean, but i would maybe hold off altogether? i need to point out that holi is a hindu festival, and is not specifically tied to being indian. i know i mentioned that sharma is a hindu surname, but we don’t even know if kate is going to be hindu, she may be a christian, or another religion or an atheist. also, because simone is tamil, they may decide to have kate be south indian despite the north indian origins of sharma, if they chose to address it at all. and depending on where in india you are from, and your religion, you will celebrate different festivals. even indians of the same religion celebrate different festivals, and some celebrate occasions at different times (e.g. gujaratis celebrate hindu new year the day after diwali. this isn’t the case for most other hindus. if we take holi, i know that it tends to be celebrated more in north india, and the image you describe isn’t necessarily universal). 

there has been a lot in the tags regarding clothing, and seeing kate and her family wearing indian clothing, and while i get it, it makes me nervous. personally, i cannot wait to see kate in the same style of dresses that everyone else wore in season one. why? because seeing an indian woman in that period of dress is something i have been longing for. i don’t want to see an indian woman wearing a lengha or a sari or sabyasachi in that time period, i want to see her in a bonnet and empire waistline, because that is something we haven’t seen much of. 

also, talking about seeing kate and her family wearing indian clothing has the potential to ‘other’ her, and tbh, can come across sometimes as fetishy, especially when you consider the time the story takes place in, and all the implications of colonialism. (there’s also the fact that unless the show has hired indian costume designers, it would be kinda gross for them to use any kind of indian clothing, and that includes adding elements to the era-typical dress that i’m hoping for.) 

i’m going to be honest, i’ve seen pieces of fanart with kate wearing a sari and other indian clothing, while anthony has been in typical regency dress, and it makes me uncomfortable. it gives off coloniser vibes, and that’s a dynamic i have absolutely no interest in. there’s also the fact that i’ve seen art where simone as kate has been shown as light-skinned, to the point where she appears to be the same colour as anthony, and i mean, hello?!

full disclosure, i’ve made some posts regarding headcanons and music that i should have thought twice about. i’ve reblogged stuff that i should have thought more about before i did so. why? because they had overtones of north indian privilege, and/or orientalism. being indian (wherever in india that is) is part of someone’s identity, it’s not a gimmick to sprinkle onto things, and it’s not something to festishise, and i think, at least from what i’ve seen, that is the concern a lot of desi fans have, even if that’s not the intention of the original posters.   

i realise i’ve gone on a seemingly massive tangent, but what i’m trying to say is, i don’t think there is a need to specifically reference kate being indian, especially when when writing canon-era fic, even more so when you consider we don’t know how the show is going to address it. now, i’m not saying i have faith in the show when it comes to kate and her ~indian surname, just that until we know how the show addresses it, i don’t see why it needs to be referred to? i understand why one might want to, but i just think there are waaay too many potential pitfalls, and the risk of coming across as orientalist/patronising/fetishy too high. some fans have fears when it comes to kate sharma and how she is presented, and for good reason.

sorry for not answering how you expected, and not giving you the resources you asked for (which, tbh, i’m not sure i would know where to start). i get what you were trying to ask, and i thank you for asking in the first place, but the question felt a little unfair tbh. but, i would encourage to read up on orientalism, also about the privilege that north indian hindus have, and honestly, the british colonisation of india.

ETA: i put this in the reblog but im going to add it here as well

also, something i forgot to add, even though i talk about north indians/north india and south indians/south india, it is obviously more complicated than that. there are many different states in india, and even then, different regions within those states will have different customs to each other. and then you have to factor in religion. likewise, there’s no one language that everyone in india speaks. basically, it’s not one universal culture that can be ‘boiled down to the essentials’.

#kate sharma #kate sheffield #kathony #bridgerton #anthony x kate #kate x anthony #simone ashley #kanthony #if i've got something wrong please PLEASE correct me #also if i've forgot to say something that needs to be said #idk anymore #i am once again wishing they hadn’t tried to explain race during season one #look at all the stuff it’s thrown up #ask

[queenlua]

Ace Attorney case tier list

so, in the past year, i finished replaying games 1 through 5 for the first time in forever, and also played game 6 for the first time ever

so here’s where i ruthlessly rank each of the cases based on that most scientific metric of all, My Opinions:

OPENING CASES

S-tier: Turnabout Trump (4-1).  I already knew this case, and I still gasped with surprise when Phoenix showed up, and when Kristoph showed his true colors, and when Apollo realized OH SHIT OH FUCK I REALLY AM ACCUSING MY BOSS OF MURDER HUH... what a wonderful, splashy, shockingly concise case to open up the post-O.G. trilogy world.  Marvelous.

A-tier: Turnabout Memories (3-1).  Seeing Mia Fey (finally!) in action is a long-awaited delight; seeing Phoenix being a total dumbass was an unexpected-yet-perfect and fitting delight.

B-tier: The First Turnabout (1-1).  Solid lil’ case with some conventional-but-well-executed humor.  I’ve got a soft spot for Larry Butz.

C-tier: The Lost Turnabout (2-1), The Foreign Turnabout (6-1).  The former’s fine but a little forgettable; the latter has some fun gags (Payne’s ridiculous new outfit, dude absolutely shredding on the mandolin, etc) but is marred by how uh... kinda silly the game’s core conceit is, lol

E-tier: Turnabout Countdown (5-1).  The context surrounding this introduction is just sloppy (badly handled in media res + let’s lowkey retcon game 4 isn’t a great setup), and also the case itself is just. irksome. ted tonate is just fundamentally irritating to look at

FINALE CASES

S-tier: Bridge to the Turnabout (3-5), Turnabout Goodbyes (1-4).  No explanation needed.  God they fuck so hard

A-tier: The Cosmic Turnabout + Turnabout for Tomorrow (5-4 + 5-5), Turnabout Succession (4-4).

The former two cases are what makes AA5 worth it, and they make for a tremendously fun ride.  It fumbles the execution in some notable ways (Apollo’s sudden j’accuse moment feels a little forced/awkward/inadequately foreshadowed, and damn it sure would’ve been nice to know Clay Terran at all before he died, and also The Phantom’s final meltdown could’ve used a bit more emotional heft)... but okay let’s be real, I’m here for Simon Blackquill, and this case gives me so much of him so who gives a shit.  (And Aura!  Condescending obnoxious engineering queen!  I love her!)  

As for Turnabout Succession... while I earnestly wish the game had explored more of Klavier’s feelings about this whole setup, and some more emotional beats for Apollo, the case still makes for such a satisfyingly twisty and fun investigation overall (the poison stamp! what a ridiculous murder method! I love it!) that it’s a more-than-worthy finale.

B-tier: Turnabout Revolution (6-5), Farewell, My Turnabout (2-4).

The former does some cool stuff—I particularly like the opening half, where Apollo’s being real snippy and coping with Frankly Bizarre Dad Feelings, and giving Apollo a chance to finally throw down against Phoenix is a blast.  The latter half of the case starts feeling a little... ridiculous? cramped? idk? like, they didn’t do nearly enough foreshadowing about Nahyuta’s whole deal for me to care about his drama, this justice system is so obviously silly and the manner in which the revolution is playing out strains my already-suspended-sky-high disbelief... fun, and flashy, but more noise than signal in the last part, I guess.

As for Farewell, My Turnabout: of course I love Edgeworth rolling back into court goin’ through SOME kind of bizarre emotional arc of Hey I’m Totally Healed Now and obnoxiously preaching about Truth TM.  And it’s cool that the game set up a case where you want to lose.  But the net result is a bit strange tonally—it’s trying set up some kind of message about It’s Not Just About Winning, It’s About Pursuing The Truth, but it feels really muddled when that’s combined with Okay But Maya’s Literally Being Held Hostage Like Right Now, Surely A Reasonable Justice System Has A Process For Dealing With This Obviously Complicated Situation, Right?

but also Franziska takes a fucking bullet (how did I forget about that) and then gets to roll in like Ms. Save The Day so, really, lots of good shit here

FILLER CASES

S-tier: Reunion, and Turnabout (2-2), Turnabout Beginnings (3-4).  Look, the first one gives me all the Fey family drama a girl could ask for, and the latter gives me young Edgeworth being a total shit in an obnoxiously shimmery outfit.  The whole enchilada is here

A+ tier: The Magical Turnabout (6-2).  DELIGHTFUL!  MAGICIAN!  SHENANIGANS!  Like you get to guess the trick behind a magic act as part of the case, how fucking fun is that, and also the Apollo & Athena duo’s chemistry is perfect, the villain is a FANTASTIC bastard, and even the bit characters you meet during the investigation are total delights... Probably the best “standalone” case in the series, in that it doesn’t rely on any emotional connections to previous cases (unlike 2-2 and 3-4) to still totally and completely rule.

A tier: Turnabout Samurai (1-3), Turnabout Reclaimed (5-DLC).

For Turnabout Samurai, I remembered before this replay how delightful the TV SHOW STUDIO investigation and actor-fandom stuff was; I had TOTALLY forgotten Vasquez calling in her mob connections to try and wreck you.  What a fantastic villain; what a fun case.

Turnabout Reclaimed is just good solid goofy nonsense.  Probably receives a boost for me in particular because, yeah, Simon Blackquill.  But then again who isn’t giving cases a boost on that account; they are MISSING OUT

B tier: The Stolen Turnabout (3-2).  Ron and Desirée are so great sighs into hands

C tier: Listing roughly in order of preference: Turnabout Academy (5-3), Turnabout Serenade (4-3), Turnabout Sisters (1-2), Recipe for a Turnabout (3-3), Rite of the Turnabout (6-3), Rise from the Ashes (1-5).

Four of these (5-3, 4-3, 1-2, 3-3) are perfectly solid cases; I just don’t love them quite as much as “thievery hijinks” or “Hollywood hijinks” or other such particularly delightful flavors.  Everyone has a favorite flavor of Jolly Rancher and all that.

Rite of the Turnabout is interesting and connected with the larger themes of the game in a cool way, and makes good use of the divination mechanic.  However, the last bit gets twisty enough to actually be kind of confusing, and said larger themes of the game are... kinda hard for me to take seriously... which, yeah, leads to it feeling a little stilted when it really should be singing.

Rise from the Ashes landed awkwardly for me.  I know it was added well after the first game’s release, and it does a good job of continuing some of the cool stuff from that game—it’s neat, in isolation, to see Phoenix and Edgeworth working together (while still sniping at each other!), and some of the DS-specific mechanics are neat.  However, I just didn’t feel like I learned quite enough about Ema and Lana to care about them like I should, and retconning “(almost certainly true) rumors that Edgeworth was involved in Shady Shit TM” into “actually Edgeworth was totally ignorant of Shady Shit TM, like at worst his crime was willful ignorance / incuriosity, he was just been manipulated by the Police Chief”... makes Edgeworth less interesting to me!  Like, it’s cool to see Edgeworth caught off-guard and under pressure, but I wish the circumstances had been different?  Also Gant’s theme song is annoying as shit, which is petty but hey this is my blog post so

D tier: Turnabout Storyteller (6-4), Turnabout Corner (4-2), Turnabout Big Top (2-3), The Monstrous Turnabout (5-2).

Turnabout Storyteller has some fun gags with My Dude Simon and also Taka, but was heavily marred by Everyone Talking Down To Athena The Entire Fucking Case Oh My God Can You All Just Shut Up.

Turnabout Corner has... lots of fun elements but... look the fucking stolen-panties setup just grates ok

I don’t think I hate Turnabout Big Top the way most people seem to, but I did find the final murder setup more annoying that I remembered this playthrough—bro you were really sure the dude was going to conveniently stand right there and the heavy statue was definitely going to strike a killing blow and not just give the guy a concussion?  ok lol

The Monstrous Turnabout suffers mostly from poor puzzle/investigation design, being too hand-hold-y, and also having a core gimmick/setting that just wasn’t really my thing.  Alas!

#ace attorney #obviously these are just opinions. love what u love #but this was entertaining to type up lol

[praphit]

A message from Reverend Candyman

Before I even entered the theater, I was mad. I was mad due to certain people on social media stating that this film is "too woke", "super-woke", "BLM propaganda", etc, etc.

I'm not saying that they're right or wrong, at this point, but how did those people not know what they were getting into? Did they not watch any "Candyman" films before this? Do they not know of Jordan Peele's previous film productions? Have they never seen any of Key & Peele? It's mostly race stuff!

Some of them were probably only hate-watching. There a re a handful of pundits I like to hate-watch. Sometimes, getting heated by their takes fuels my work days. But, I know what I’m doing to myself... *smh* but these people.

I didn't stay mad for long though, because Nia DaCosta, the director of "Candyman", is on point! This whole movie, strictly from a cinematic view, is very cool. How bout that?? "The Rambling Praphit says Candyman is VERY COOL." :) She'll be working on the next Capt Marvel movie. 

Most people did not like that movie (I'm excluded from that crowd). Marvel is so scared of the public's dislike of that movie, that they're not even calling it "Capt Marvel 2". It's just called "The Marvels"; leaving the first movie's "captain" as far away from the title as they could. I bring this up, cuz after watching "Candyman", I have high hopes for "The Marvels".

In the trailer we see some shadow puppet type action going on to tell Candyman's story.

So, if you haven't seen the 1992 film, you can get mostly caught up. A creative way to knock out exposition.

They still didn't get into why Candyman rocks a pimpish coat. Or why he's called "Candyman". I mean... they address the name, kinda... (Razor blades in candy - also seen in the trailer) but there's a bit of a hole in the timeline of that story. Plus, how would Candyman (a vengeful spirit) even have the time or patience required to put razor blades in hard candy? If he were an actual pimp named "Candyman", it would make more sense... but anyway...

The main character (Anthony, played by Yahya Adbul Mateen II) 

needed more of Candyman's story , so he went into the depths to find more horror, and he found it. Now, there's a white woman, who's the main character in the 1992 version, who does the same thing, and... let's just say things end poorly for her, and Anthony is foolishly following in her footsteps.

He's a broke visual artist, but thankfully he's got himself a suga mama (played by Teyonah Parris) , 

a not-so-broke art gallery director named Brianna. Lesson number one, you broke artists - gym membership. 

Follow the path of Yahya. He’s the only hard candy mama needs! Keep that suga mama money coming to fuel your art.

I appreciate this couple though - a lot of times (in movies) we see black couples where the woman is struggling to feed the kids with like 3 or 4 jobs, while the man juggles cheating on her, being involved with drugs, and dreaming of one day being the greatest rapper there ever was. We've been there and done that with black movie couples enough.

But, Candyman can't allow this couple to be too happy, so the killing begins!

Say his name 5 times! He dares you! After the fifth time, he appears to brutally kill you. What kind of game is that? I could see if it was a 50/50 chance - win some money or die, but straight up 100% death? Who would play such a game?? 

"Let's go to the top of a snowy, slippery mountain. Let's slide down it with crazy speed and immovable objects in our way." Who’s game?

(white people)

"Let's take a detour through the woods, at night, right pass the area where those teenagers were murdered, LAST NIGHT... I don't think they ever caught the perp. Oh, well... let's go!" Who’s going?

(white people)

So, who will play the candyman name game? - white people, of course :)

I heard someone say that Candyman is only killing white people. That’s not true #1, but #2 - they’re the ones mostly playing this game.

No, this isn't just some movie about a black, pimpish, man with a hook, killing white people. We've got story as well.

Three parts to this story, actually:

The look -

Which I mentioned is great! The gruesome horror elements and the killings are well done. In fact, the kill scenes are so good that I wanted to see more of it. A lot of the kills effectiveness come from NOT showing you the gore. There's plenty gore as well, but the balance of times when you have to imagine what's happening as people scream is also dope.

The horror part to the film is kinda slowed down though by the social commentary. part to the film: The 1992 film has this as well, but it's more subtle, and flows with the story better. This... well, I can see why some hyper-sensitive conservatives might cry "wokeism!" I disagree with their sentiment, but I get it. If this movie had come out before 2020, perhaps the feeling would be different. There's a scene that's directly addressing gentrification. It's a group of four people (three black people and a white dude) talking. The movie shows how the seemingly enlightened and likable white dude was involved in the convo, but still didn't really get it. Perhaps that's how they see a lot of their audience with this, cuz there's no subtlety going on here at all. It's more of an "F U" at times. It's effective hate-watching though.

Lastly there's the psychological part to the movie. Something has clearly gone wrong inside of Anthony, and no one seems to be taking it all that seriously.

Something is also wrong outside of Anthony as well.... as seen in the trailer, he gets stung by a bee. One of those Candyman Bees! (Not a thing, but it should be) It's... maybe... infected (they never really explain), and gets worse and worse. Why doesn't anyone demand that he go to the doctor?! Not even his suga mama says anything! You know damn well, that no matter how sexy one may be, if you've got some sort of creepy Candyman infection, that's gonna mess up that sexy-suga-money flow, y'all feel me?? And if there is some sort of ghostly infection, shouldn't we be more scared of the bees than even Candyman? He only appears when you say his name! The bees on the other hand...

I guess it's kinda real though - I could certainly see people these days getting "the candyman infection" I speak of, and saying proudly "It's not real! And I will NOT be treated!" while waving a flag, with their clearly infected hand.

These three parts collide, sloppily. It's funny, cuz the film, as I said, is heavy-handed with hot topics, but the story (particular in the third act) will confuse you. I mean, I get it, cuz I saw the original film, but had I not... ??? There's a scene when Candyman is summoned and he proceeds to kill a bunch of cops. THEY didn't even summon him! They said “Defund the Police” not kill’em!  Idk if Candyman had been listening to nothing but Louis Farrakhan and Marvel’s Kilmonger nonstop during 2020, and it's all spilling over or what?? Some people are overachievers. Then he says "Spread my message" What message is that?!

Imagine if you say my name 5 times, and I appear in your kitchen, drink all of your beer, walking into your living room, and pee in the corner... then I say to you, before disappearing "Spread my Message".

You'd be like "What the hell?"

Despite this movies' flaws, I still enjoyed it. The social commentary really is important to the times we're living in, and should still be discussed, and not just discussed, by acted on. Plus, I truly am impressed by director Nia DaCosta. I do recommend that you see it, but you should probably watch the 1992 one first. Or who knows what message you'll leave with :)

Grade: generous B-

I doubt that there'll be a sequel, but if there is one, i really do hope that we can finally get to the bottom of this name thing. With Candyman, I'm still thinking drug dealer. It's not that scary of a name. Maybe CandyHOOK! Hooks wielded by maniacs are always scary.

No? Yeah, it does make me think his hook is made out of candy.

With the bees involved, perhaps "Bee Guy", or "Bee King", but... they're not really his thing. Plus, that's lame, and kinda sounds like he's buddies with Ant-Man. That could hurt his street cred. The 1992 film gets into a honey type of scenario as to the etymology. But, then, it should be "Honey Man", right? - that sounds kinda like a gigolo though. But, perhaps this is a good thing! That gives me an idea that could add some surprise to this whole name game thang! Call his name 5 times and either receive drugs, murder, a confusing sermon, or sweet, sweet lovin. Now, that's a game!

#candyman #john praphit #praphitproductions.com #Horror Movies #Movie Reviews #praphit #the marvels #captain marvel #nia dacosta #gentrification #white people #cops #blm #yahya abdul mateen ii #teyonah parris #gigolo #jordan peele

[sheikzeldatetra]

Emil Västerström’s Optimism: A Midnight Essay

It’ll be years before we know, but every day my curiosity over Emil’s backstory grows more and more rabid. We know his family was rich, we know they lost all their money, we know he “joined the military for all the wrong reasons” (and that line was the exact moment I fell in love with this character.)

But what I find most striking is, why is Emil so optimistic?

Now then, there are several ways we could examine this. One, Emil is just natural a glass half-full sort of person and has a hard time facing the negative. I think there’s an element of this—I say this as a naturally optimistic person—but I would argue that while Emil doesn’t like looking at the negative, he doesn’t outright avoid it. He’s not afraid of the bad.

Emil very much has the vibe of someone who has chosen to be positive and optimistic. If you’ve met someone who’s endured hardship and come out a more positive person, you know what this variety of optimist feels like. There’s a ferocity to it.

And this is interesting, because Emil comes from a privileged background. Almost always in media people of distinct privilege are portrayed as being negative or even toxic as soon as they face hardship (and I think it’s safe to say this reaction isn’t uncommon irl.) But Emil has suffered substantially (perhaps that suffering pales next to losing your entire community as a young child, but that doesn’t invalidate his suffering); his parents were absent and are who knows where now (have they been word of god confirmed dead? It’s hard to keep track of what’s actually canon), from his dreamspacee it seems that *something* substantial burned down in his childhood, and then his family lost all the means to their lifestyle. These are things that have a lifelong impact on a person.

(Add on top of that, joining the military for the wrong reasons can result in other, different sorts of trauma.)

In Emil’s dreamspace we learn that he used to be a small, rude child--he readily admits this himself. However, Emil talks about this as if there was a distinct turning point where he started to change.

Emil learned a lesson.

So how did he learn this lesson? Was it simply that his family lost their wealth and got knocked down a few pegs, coming out a humbler, better human being? It’s possible, but that’s usually not a lesson you learn on your own. It takes either help or a very long time. And considering Emil’s attachment to his appearance and worry how other people perceive him, it’s unlikely that he simply got knocked on his ass and has been rebuilding himself; that kind of self-construction often comes with a lot more self-doubt.

This leaves us with two other possibilities:

One, a mentor taught Emil this mysterious lesson. Someone, whether intentionally or unintentionally, taught Emil the power of positivity in the face of overwhelming darkness. This is an interesting possibility, but unlikely--Emil has never mentioned anyone he looks up to, and the way he latches onto Sigrun indicates that he has never had a proper mentor figure before.

Our other possibility is that some event occurred and Emil simply decided to shift himself towards positivity.

But why?

Emil has a natural disposition towards positivity. But he is also positive by choice. And I, dear reader, would argue, that he is positive for the sake of other people. It’s not the variety of positivity that tries to keep people from worrying (Tuuri is a much better example of this habit.) He enjoys the spotlight too much to make his life revolve around other people in that way. But rather, it’s almost like Emil lost everything he had to give, and then realized that his support was the only thing he could give.

So what was this event? What changed Emil from spoiled brat to kind (but vain) young man? What made him decide to be kind and optimistic? He seems settled into the rhythm of his positivity--how long ago did it occur? Who did he change for?

idk but I wanna know

#wrote this at midnight and did not read it before posting we'll see if it's coherent lol #I have Thoughts #my fic writing has had me rereading the convo with Lalli with the flower and I'm like #how did you get like that baby boy #who taught you how to be happy in the face of tragedy #your honor I love him #if anyone has word of god info or stuff from the comic I missed to contribute please let me know #at this rate I really need to make a side blog #hope says things #sssscomic #stand still stay silent #emil västerström

[likeadevils]

hey! for your post about sun moon and rising but with taylor albums, can you list out the characteristics of each album? i'm having a hard time associating them and it'd make it a lot easier, if you could do that :)

oh totally! Its really all about your personal association, so i’ll give vibes for the era and the album. a good rule of thumb is to read the prologue if you want the tone for the era quickly. honestly, there’s no set system, go wild

taylor swift (2006) “debut”

era: blue and teal and brown. cowboy boots and sundresses, wild curly hair, trucks and mud and wildflowers. very 2006, very high school, very country

album: swings between pining from a distance and wanting to destroy a boys whole ass life and feeling like you have no friends and no one understands you in the whole world. like I said, very high school, but also full of whole ass bangers

fearless (2008)

era: yellow and white. 24/7 prom. she’s got the fairy tale aesthetics set in high school, she’s got calling your ex boyfriend out on national television, she's got so many headbands. god to be 8 years old when the joe jonas/taylor swift drama was going down

album: again, fairy tale set in high school. lots of crushes, lots of realizing men aren’t shit. it’s about the pull between childhood ideals and real life tearing them down, and deciding how much you should cling to your dreams and how much you have to let them go. it’s also a pull between knowing that these little moments are kinda ridiculous but also taking everything so goddamn seriously

speak now (2010)

era: purple purple purple. she’s starting to grow up! her look has evolved out of sundresses and prom dresses and into a more preppy style. she’s moved out of fantasy and into this like. circus aesthetic? 30s movie type thing? watch the mean music video, idk how to explain it. her hair is still curly and but under control, and she’s solidly Famous at this point. the idea that she can’t sing is Big, and the man-eater stereotype is starting to get popular 

album: she’s starting to grow out of country. she’s experimenting with rock, but her pop sound is starting to take off. it’s all about Dramatics: she’s experienced her first heartbreak, broke someone else’s heart, and was in an emotionally abusive relationship all within two years. she’s moved out of her parents house and is both infantilized and forced to grow up to fast by the media.

red (2012)

era: its 2012 hipster style. her hair is Straight and she’s wearing vintage dresses everywhere, and she’s posting sketches of red lips and quotes from fitzgerald about heartbreak and finding yourself on instagram. she is dating and breaking up with harry styles Very Publically, and its the last major relationship she’ll have for two more years. the idea that she dates to much is everywhere, and she’s being slut shamed to an insane degree, while also being dismissed as a goody-two-shoes

album: it’s designed so each song has the opposite emotions of the song before it. it’s dramatic and it’s heart wrenching and it portrays these relationships that were toxic and messy and captivating. has the last vestiges of country, some more rock, and the first pure Pop songs, all nestled against each other to give you the epic highs and lows of being 22

1989 (2014)

era: its the height of her stardom, and she’s more beloved then she’s ever been and (probably) will ever be again. she’s cut her hair and moved to New York, she’s wearing high waisted stuff and taking polaroids, and she’s been single for two years and it’s has given her the freedom to find a “tight” group of friends and herself. shes talking about third wave feminism all the time, she’s papped every day, and she started dating c*lvin h*rris; they date for a year, he was the first boyfriend to be posted on social media, and the one she was with the longest (until her current bf). publically, she’s the happiest and most successful she’s ever been. personally, it’s more complicated, especially by the last few months. “she lost him, but she found herself and somehow that was everything” and “from the girl who said she would never cut her hair or move to new york or find happiness in a world where she wasn't in love”

album: single handedly brings 80s pop into the mainstream. (like seriously, her only contemporary influence is lana del rey, and even that is only on a few tracks. listening to this when it came out was a religious experience). it sounds basic now but only because she influenced all of the pop music that came after her. its also her first sonically cohesive album since fearless. subject matter wise, its very 80s movie. it’s the first album without a break up song that ruins a man's whole career— no cold as you, dear john, or all too well type. the relationship is on and off again, but more muted and mature then the tumultuous ones portrayed on red. its very star crossed; two people who just can’t find the right time. she’s also writing about how fame has affected her— blank space, shake it off, and i know places all directly reference it, but the idea that the whole world is watching is woven all throughout the album

bleachella (2016) 

this isn't an album but its definitely an era

taylor has become so oversaturated that people are starting to turn on her, and her mental health is suffering. her relationship with c*lvin h*rris is falling apart, she's changing her hair every couple of moths (most notably she bleaches it, and goes to coachella. so like bleachella), and then all of a sudden The Phone Call happens. kim and kanye release edited footage of a phone call that makes it seem like taylor swift is a liar who intentionally plays the victim to stay in the public’s good graces, and the world pounces on it. between that and the idea that her friend group is super cliche-y and exclusionary, her reputation is ruined and she goes in hiding for months. before going into hiding though, she breaks it off with c*lvin (he throws a FIT on twitter) and starts a whirlwind romance with tom hiddleston that includes them flying all over the world on vacations and meeting each others parents super quickly. this all happens in one summer.

reputation (2017)

era: black and white and gold. very edgy, very rich, lots of snakes and casual wealth. there’s the aesthetic of her being very hurt and defensive and lashing out, but the reality of her being the happiest she’s ever been. she’s still famous, but she’s learned how to have a private life and healthy relationships. the tough times have shown her who and what’s important to her

album: pretty much that. the first half is brash and bombastic and playing off what people expect her to be like, how they expect her to fall in and out of love quickly and manipulate those around her to see her as a good person (while exploring sounds that no one expected her to explore) and the second half slows it down and shows her falling in love more explicitly and sweetly and under cover. “in the death of her reputation she felt truly alive” and “finding love through all the noise”

lover (2019)

era: bright pink and pastels and bright colors and happiness and butterflies!! she’s in love and beloved by the general public again, but all of her past albums have been stolen from her by a man she thought she could trust. sadly cut off short by covid. “step into the daylight and let it go”

album: her messiest album (sonically) since red. a popular saying when it first came out was that it had the writing of speak now but the sound of 1989, which is... understandable? its the kind of thing you have to form your own opinion on. it’s on the surface all bubblegum pop and being in love, but it has some of the absolute saddest songs of her entire discography. a 18 song long rollercoaster

folklore and evermore

preface: these are definitely two separate albums and there’s a definitely a difference but this girl has so many albums and it’s taken me an hour to answer this ask and it’s 1am right now so i’m gonna smush them together. go listen to them, and we’re in the era right now

eras: it been covid so all we’ve got are a couple performances and the album visuals. cottagecore, a return to the small town setting of her first two albums, very understated and timeless. one noteworthy element is that both albums were surprise releases (especially after lover had almost a year of build up that kinda worked against it). she’s reached a level of artistic respect that she’s never had

albums: folklore is a level of sonic and thematic cohesion comparable to 1989, as well as having a similar feeling of like. oh god we’ve been waiting for you to make an album like this for years and you’ve still exceeded every exception and made it surprising. evermore is mostly a continuation of its sound, though it’s a bit more experimental. both albums are incredibly mature, and move into non-autobiographical storytelling for most of the songs. it’s easy to build your own world based on one or both of the albums. their main themes are also mostly divorced from relationships, and more tied to personal identity and mental state (though there is quite a bit about divorce and heartbreak in both)

#sorry this took so long but damn that’s a big ask for someone who never shuts up #and by someone I mean me but also taylor #anonymous #asks*