#that wasn't specifically designed by and for men i suppose

[discotenny]

Gift Giving (hypmic)

Hypmic characters and the gifts they give you

Featuring EVERYONE (excluding Rei and Saburo)

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Buster Bros

Ichiro

I feel like he’s the type of guy to gift you experiences rather than physical items. He’d take you to a fancy cafe you’d been eyeing, maybe a movie you wanted to watch, possibly even plan a surprise picnic!!

He dresses up for the occasion too! Even if you don’t expect it, he’s out of his usual jacket and attire- sporting something he seemingly newly bought. Ichiro will absolutely light up in smiles if you compliment his outfit and effort.

Ichiro feels like his time with you is more valuable than any gift he could give. He has so many other responsibilities on his shoulders so he uses his “gifts” to make up for any time lost.

Jiro

Jiro worries himself over trying to come up with a gift to get you. He doesn’t have much money, with most of his salary going towards helping his siblings. When the time comes to give you a gift, he’s embarrassed- bumbling over himself with apologies for the supposed shittiness of his gift.

But oh, oh, oh he’s so sweet :C. He’ll hand make a card for you, educating himself on paper craft so it’s the cutest it can be. There’s paper cuts that litter his hands as he gives it to you.

Jiro immediately leaves the room, not wanting to see your face as you read the letter, in which he pours his heart out for you to fully see. Run after him and kiss his face will you?

Saburo

404 not found!

Mad Trigger Crew

Samatoki

Samatoki gives you a leather wallet... that he made himself!!

One of the old men who he buys meatbuns from told him about a class that would 'fit his vibe.' And when he begrudgingly took the class, the old man was totally right! Samatoki gets really into the task, hiding the new hobby from you because he wants to surprise you with a gift at the end of the class.

When he hands you the wallet, you can tell it wasn't professionally made. There's stray burn marks on the front, mildly messy seams holding it together, and a tag inside that is signed with his initials and yours inside of a heart. Samatoki is so, so proud of showing you his accomplishment though- and hopes you enjoy it as much as he enjoyed making it.

Jyuto

Jyuto gets you a personalized music box.

It's of your favorite song. One you would always play for him whenever you were given aux in the car- that he would always playfully say was becoming annoying to hear. One he only seemed to tolerate instead of actually enjoy listening to it.

But he knows the joy it brings you to listen to. He sees the smile on your face when you turn the volume louder, the shine in your eyes when it surprisingly comes on the radio. It's why, despite his mild dislike of it, he buys you a music box so you could play it whenever you want. Just so he can see your smile whenever he can.

Rio

Rio is a man of practicality. So he gets you a self care box!

He kind of throws everything into it, multiple body washes and bath bombs, a variety of different scents- he has more experience in self preservation instead of self care. But just from the amount of... stuff inside- it's clear he thought a lot about it!

When he gives the box to you he has a little trouble explaining what it's for. It's a rare sight to see, Rio stumbling flustered over his words trying to explain he wanted to make sure you were taking care of yourself in ways outside his understanding. If you offer to show him how to use all the stuff he got you, he'll gladly accept!

Fling Posse

Ramuda

Ramuda gives you an outfit he specifically designed! In his mind, there's nothing more meaningful than something made from hand.

He’s poured over it for weeks, wanting it to be absolutely perfect for his perfect partner. Ramuda knows your tastes to the smallest detail, so he knew just what to do to make sure you'd like it. And its comfortable too!! Made with the softest fabric he could buy, so despite whatever flashiness it has it's super comfy to wear.

When actually giving it to you, he makes you model it right in front of him! He's kicking his feet and squealing as you twirl around in whatever he gives you, excited to see you in something he created.

Gentaro

mfeafeiafjewamawe Gentaro gifts you a notebook.

It's unsuspecting first, with a plain, brown, leather bound cover. He's unusually casual about it too, handing it to you under his sleeve with a meek smile. Usually, Gentaro would make a show about whatever gift he gives you, jokingly saying you should bow to his feet in praise for his effort.

However, once you open up the notebook, you'd find it's filled with words of love. Poems, short stories, letters, all of it written by Gen to you. It's so, sickenly sweet and romantic you'd never expect it from him. When you look back at him after peeking through, he's red in the face, flustered to hear whatever feedback you may have.

Dice

Dice gives you a special lucky charm!!

He spent months hunting it down. Seeking through pawn shops and all the shady back alley sellers he knows. When Dice gets a good idea in his mind, he sticks to it thoroughly, the only thing on his mind being the joyous reaction he expects you to have.

And what does he give you? The matching piece to his earring of course! If you don't wear earrings, he'll have it converted to a keychain so you can carry it on your bag. Dice thinks it's the perfect good luck charm, both for him and for you :3

Matenro

Jakurai

fewafewafewfeaw Jakurai gets you one of those mini books that's like "30 things I love about you."

You know, the ones that have a different prompt for each page that you have to fill in. Despite the small space, he gets really detailed, and it's so sweet and romantic and yuck !!! They're all wildly different responses, ranging from how he thinks you always look wonderful to how he thinks you truly saved his life just by being in it.

When Jakurai hands the book to you he's shy about it, apologizing about the responses because he wasn't able to fit all he wanted to say. Of course, he'll gladly say it in person if you're insistent 😚😚😚

Hifumi

Hifumi comes to your door with a bouquet of flowers. He's all smiles as he stuffs petals and stems in your face.

Ooh, he was insistent on picking out the flowers himself. Hifumi has a company discount with the local flower shop his club works with- so he was all in on getting as many different flowers as he could find (as in, all the flowers he found pretty[as in, all of them]).

He also put together the bouquet himself!! It's a little messy, with some broken stems and falling petals. However, he's just so happy to give it to you that you can't help but find it adorable.

Doppo

Doppo gets matching keychains for you guys!

He likes being subtle about a lot of things, including his affections. The keychains he gets are the type that look regular on their own, but together they can link to form a heart or your initials or something romantic like that.

Doppo will often link your keychains together in public, smiling to himself as he sees the connection. Whenever he gets anxious in public and he's alone, he'll hold onto the keychain tightly, being reminded of you. Yes, while it was a gift to you it also was a gift to himself, to have a reminder of you with him always :CC

Bad Ass Temple

Kuko

Kuko is so shit at giving gifts I'm so sorry. He has to ask his friends what gifts to get you and they're all so sick of it LMAO. Ichiro tells him to take you out somewhere, and that eventually gives him the perfect idea for a gift.

Kuko says his gift to you is a day of him being on his best behavior. He says it with a smug smile, expecting you to tell him how good of a present it is and is shocked to see your confusion.

He gets legitimately upset when you tell him that his best behavior shouldn't be a gift. The day ends with him promising you that he'll get you an even better gift next time, which leads him back to the drawing board as this dude is just so, so shit at giving gifts.

Jyushi

Jyushi writes a song for you!

He's not the lyricist for his band but he has a heavenly voice to back up whatever he writes. But he puts EVERYTHING into writing the song for you. Jyushi throws in references to your relationship, to specific dates or moments in time, to things only the two of you would know. He sees it as his magnum opus, and is very very proud of being able to perform it to you.

If his band doesn't want to perform the song with him he makes Kuko and Hitoya help him. Sure, it may have taken a few tear filled begs, but with their help he's able to perform the song he spent so much time working on, just for you

Hitoya

Hitoya makes you a playlist!

He's a bit of a classic guy, and would've made you a mixtape if anyone still used those on the daily lol. There's a lot of different memories within your relationship related to different songs, and he wanted to compile all of them for you two to listen together. Hitoya makes the picture of the playlist a photo of you two on your first anniversary, one where you're holding hands by the sunset and smiling.

It's sweet, cause he plays it first without telling you what it is. With every song that passes you recognize where it's from, and he's left smiling like a kid when you beam with joy asking him if he really made a playlist for you.

Dotsuitare Hompo

Sasara

Sasara gets you a build-a-bear bear!!

He goes in store alone to buy it, and goes a little overboard in designing it. Sasara gets a bunch of overpriced accessories, stuffs it a little too much with stuffing, and picks one of the most expensive dolls because it was the cutest.

Sasara records his own voice messages so they could play whenever you squeeze the doll's hand. And oh my goodness, he recorded so many. There's multiple shitty jokes, several wild compliments, and a myriad of 'I love yous' said in various different tones. Just don't hug it too much, he might get jealous ehehe.

Rosho

Rosho gets you whatever you want.

He gets really concerned when trying to get you gifts, worrying over what you would like best, if you already have it, or if you'd think it's too much/too little. So, eventually he'll just go ahead and ask you what you want as a present.

As long as it's in reason, of course. If you say some ludicrous thing like a yacht or a new car, Rosho will get sad and say you know he can't afford such luxurious (why would you do that to him LMAO). But he'll take you to the shops and have you pick out anything you want, buying it with no question as he just wants you to know he loves you so so so much :CC

Rei

404 NOT FOUND!!

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A little late to post on Christmas but fwjhshshshshf. I tried to keep it neutral on the occasion since not everyone celebrates holidays and Kuko canonically doesn't know who Jesus is. I lowk couldn’t think of anything for Saburo so that’s why he’s not here bakbdkdbdksns

This isn't my best work as I was a little too tired to put these into anything else other than thought formatting but whtverrrr

I hope you enjoyed !!! I'll see if I can post anything else b4 the new year but eheheehhehe we all know me

#hypmic #hypnosis mic #hypnosis microphone #hypmic x reader #hypnosis mic x reader #hypnosis microphone x reader #ichiro yamada x reader #jiro yamada x reader #samatoki aohitsugi x reader #jyuto iruma x reader #rio busujima x reader #ramuda amemura x reader #dice arisugawa x reader #gentaro yumeno x reader #jakurai jinguji x reader #hifumi izanami x reader #doppo kannonzaka x reader #kuko harai x reader #jyushi aimono x reader #hitoya amaguni x reader #sasara nurude x reader #rosho tsutsujimori x reader

[sunnysam-my]

Hazbin Hotel redesign ideas p. 2

I am a bit of fashion, especially men's, history nerd, and I'm also a bit of radio nerd, so here I go, biblically accurate Alastor.

ALASTOR:

Alastor was a radio host (a radio star?) who lived and died in Louisiana. He was shot during a hunting accident, in the head, somewhere in the 1933, during radio's golden era. He cares greatly about his image and always smiles to show no weaknesses. He hates modern technology and doesn't allow his face to be captured by video recording or non black and white camera. His is mixed-race Creole.

Nothing about Alastor design make sense and it pisses me off. Not only it doesn't fit the time, it also doesn't fit his character! Besides, he is too red. He disappears into the background, especially walls of the Hotel.

Alastor cares about his image greatly, yet his clothes are torn. He is supposed to be like Hannibal, yet he looks like an edgelord wannabe. It's awful. I learned nothing about him from his design, other than "he's and old-time radio deer guy", and that's really bad.

Fashion in 30s was inspired by Hollywood, and sport and movies celebrities.

Back and white fashion in this period wasn't that different, at least for men, as long as you weren't poor, but here are some photos of specifically black fashion in 30s. In general I recommend that website if you want to look more into the fashion of this period.

His hair is completely wrong. And it's also really ugly lol. For richer black men a shiny straightening hairstyle was the go to since 1920s. One such style was "the conk" where one would chemically straighten their hair. It left hair shiny, but the process was painful and expensive. It literally could burn your scalp.

Another popular style was the brush wave. It's creating narrow waves rolling on top of head with the sides cut short and smooth. This hairstyle is still present to this day, but nowadays it's done on the whole head.

Other than that, men just wore their hair naturally, but short.

There is no focus on trousers or vest in Alastor's outfit. (Which is wild considering zipper fly was introduced in the early 30s, but was got popular by the mid ’30s). This was time of experimenting a bit with vests. If you wanted to look fancy and/or formal, you would wear a vest. Pants were wide legged, had a high waist and a single pressed line down the center of the leg. Some trouser waistbands were unique in the 1930s, for example a Hollywood waistband trouser. It had an extra wide band with a double row of buttons. They fit very high, overlapping the ribs. they often had netal ring tabs on the sides to tighten the pant to the correct fit without the need for belts or suspenders.

Also, monocle? Really? …Really? Here you go, read this if you're curious. Lots of pictures of glasses included. Glasses stayed essentially the same in 30s as they were in 20s. They were "round with a center bridge in the early years and an upper bridge in the later years. Frames could be tortoiseshell, black plastic, or thin metal." 

Moving on from fashion, because I could never shut up, microphones!

The most probabale one that everyone who is redesigning Al is drawing is a good old classic Carbon mic. It looks like a ring with a metal star and the microphone inside. It can be hand held or a staff.

But, if you wanna draw something different!

Other than Carbon mic there is also a Ribbon microphone (first row) and Moving Coil mic (second row). Unfortunately, they killed Alastor in the best part of the radio golden age, so the mics are still a bit ugly, not gonna lie.

How would I design him:

First things firsts, either he is mixed or he is white, because right now it just feels like a cheep excuse to have an "evil voodoo" character without getting too much backlash. Let's be honest, nobody thought he was a POC and that white face doesn't help. Again, just like I mentioned with Vel, when you're drawing a character with human like skin tone you have to be careful and think how it ties to their race.

Second - fashion. His outfit and hairstyle is a disaster. He has always tried to 'dress to impress', so obviously I would give him well maintained clothing and that 'high quality', formal style. I would give him the dark brown Hollywood trouser with buttons and dark crimson shirt, like dried blood almost. Under a coat or jacket he would have a brow vest, both the same colour as the pants. Highlights would be golden and green or purple. I for one would love to see him start out with a jacket/coat which he stops wearing inside the hotel after he bonds with the people inside it more, but he would still wear it outside and in the finale would put it on again, after his breakdown in the tower. This would show he began to trust the hotel residents a bit before he 'realises his mistake' after the battle. I would give him short haircut, because not even white people wore hair like that. (What in the Karen-core is it supposed to be?). Say goodbye to that monocle. Why is it even there there? Because he is old-timely? What is he, a children's cartoon villain? His design doesn't need more soulless clutter. Give me something that tells me about him as a character. I've seen people give him old radio as teeth or chest and I love it! When it's not too detailed, it's a great idea to make Alastor less like a living human but also less of… just a deer. He just looks like a deer demon. I would keep his shoes, hands and antlers, and give him ears that would fit the hairstyle I would go with.

[Edit: I forgot to mention, I would give him a time accurate hat or a free wavy lock of hair to cover the mark on his forehead where he was shot]

Thirdly, the microphone! My love. I remember the microphone used to be able to talk, but now it doesn't, unless I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure. Now it's just a weird look staff microphone with an eye and that's about it. But imagine something like a moving coil with the metal sign on top of it were the letters on it change. It could be a way it's communicating, in a simple way. This was it could still have a unique shape. That would have been fun to see. I can certainly imagine it being something of an 'unfiltered voice' of Alastor, where it would change it's writing into "Shut up", "Die" or something like that and he would hit it in a reprimanding way to reverse it to "Smile!". I'm just saying, that's a cool idea.

Well, this took forever to make, I actually forgot about this, so it just sat in my drafts. Anyway, if you want to see brilliant use of costumes and detailed, accurate depiction of fashion (especially black and queer) through history in New Orleans I recommend "Interview With The Vampire" (2022). It's also a great show.

#hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel redesign #hazbin hotel fanart #redesign #hazbin hotel criticism #hh #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel critique #men's fashion #men's style #menswear #mensfashion #fashion #fashion history

[bluetomorrows]

Clone High: It's About the Contrast

Something I've seen a lot of is Clone High S2 redesigns. People taking the new characters of S2 of Clone High and changing the designs, usually cause they don't like what we did get. Some of these are neat. I saw one that tries to combine their new designs with their S1 designs from when these characters were incidentals. A lot of them seem to take the personality out of the design. Most of them look hard to animate, but that isn't the point I'm trying to make.

People seem to really dislike these new designs. There are valid design reasons (some are a bit overdesigned, and they definitely clash with the S1 designs) but it just seems people are mad at them in concept. Especially Harriet Tubman. How could they turn Harriet Tubman into... this?

It's outrageous! And yeah, it is. It's supposed to be. That's the joke. In the 20 years since Season 1, the Clone High Fandom has grown and shipped and gossiped and a lot of people have forgotten that the incongruity of the characters is part of the joke. Joan of Arc was not in fact a goth girl who constantly thirsts over tall men. The same goes for several other characters.

Harriet Tubman isn't Harriet Tubman. She shares her DNA but she is decidedly a different person. That's the point of Clone High, the show is less about historical figures interacting in a high school setting and more about how these people might be if they were raised under different circumstances. Ideologically, Clone High is an argument against great man theory.

Gandhi changed the world. But when he isn't born and raised in British controlled India under very specific circumstances, he's just some guy. The same goes for Cleopatra, JFK, Joan of Arc,, Jesus Christ, and yes, even Confucius, Frida Kahlo, and Harriet Tubman. It's circumstances that create people, not people making the circumstances.

Imagine if you had the chance to have a conversation with the real Harriet Tubman. What do you think she would say? How would she act? I'm sure she'd probably be an interesting and nice person, but she wouldn't be a character fit for a wacky animated sitcom. You don't really expect former slaves to be bubbly like that.

It both literally and metaphorically takes the basic DNA of these figures and subverts and modifies their existence through modern society, or rather the tropes of teen dramas. Not just asking what would happen if these people were in high school but if they were ordinary people. Instead of being a hero whose life is in danger, Harriet Tubman is a girl who gossips and whose biggest worry is becoming a basic bitch.

Look at the S2 finale. The board of shadowy figures have assembled their great men and put them in competition. They'll weed out the best of the best to become the great men of the future. And out of about 100 clones, only one actually makes it to the end. Everyone else fails. The one clone who does make it, Joan, is born again into extreme circumstances. Being left for dead by her friends and suffering a psychic break. There is no such thing as great men, just extraordinary situations.

I think this theme of subverting these legendary figures is something that should be kept in mind when talking about the show. It isn't really a show about historical figures, just historically-themed characters. And that's okay. It's very funny when done well! It's a cartoon and it really acts like it. It was never asking to be taken as a serious drama and definitely wasn't asking to be a commentary on historical figures. It simply parodied its contemporary teen dramas a little too well and we got invested in joke characters and everything changed. The S2 writers were in a very unenviable place, and I applaud them for taking things in bold new directions. If you haven't watched S2 or even just watched a few episodes, I'd recommend giving it another chance. It's not perfect but it gets better as it continues. It has its own distinct feel and style while still understanding what "the point" of the original was.

Also Kahlopatra for life ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜

#clone high #clone high season 2 #clone high reboot

[missedditart]

Along with my Lackadaisy hyperfixation I've also become obsessed with under the devils moon by @libras-interactives. I absolutely love their ocs and can't wait to see more of them in the story. I made some fan designs of them and thought it couldn't hurt to share them. I had a lot of thoughts about their designs so anyone who is interested can read about that below. Also, English isn't my first language so please ignore any spelling mistakes and such.

Malwina

Malwina's design was really fun, also the first one I did. She is described as having black fur and hair and orange eyes. I knew if  I wasn't careful she could end up looking like Ivy, so I made her hair color brighter than her fur color and also made her hair curly/wavy. I also emphasized the eyes as they're often pointed out in the text as big and pumpkin-like. I wanted her to look curious but maybe a little unsettling if she stares at you too long. I also gave her soft shapes and rounded years since she is very friendly albeit a bit pushy.

Máire 

for Máire just mostly followed the description we get of her, calico, auburn hair and green eyes. The thing I had to think about for this drawing is what kind of clothing she would wear. I went between thinking she would prefer something stylish or something comfy. I'm not an expert on 1920s fashion so I mostly looked at old clothing catalogs to get a feel for the clothes she could wear. I settled on something more in between a comfy shirt with a stylish skirt. I based the tarot cards in her hand on Pamela Colman Smith’s designs. Also since she is wearing a shirt I couldn't show off the heart fur pattern on her chest but it's definitely there.

Sylvester

Sylvester doesn't have a very striking design but that's the point. For his facial structure i took some inspiration from Asa Sweet and Bobby Bastion from the comic but I also tried to make him stand out on his own. Other than that I kept close to the text, gray suit and graying fur. I was tempted to give him a colorful gaudy tie, maybe something his wife insisted he should wear. To make him more interesting but again he was supposed to be drab and unassuming. So I decided against it. (I still headcanon that his wife gives him gaudy ties and insists he wear them and he cant say no to her.)

Flynn

Flynn was the one I had the most ideas for but also the one I'm the least happy with the result of but might as well share it. We haven't gotten many physical descriptions of him and what we get is somewhat vague. I also haven't played all the backstories so there might be something there that I've missed. But from what we do get he is often described as odd eyed and two faced, this gives me the impression he has a chimera pattern. We haven't been given any specific color so I chose what I thought fit best. black and bluish gray to make him cold and dark looking, i gave him green as an accent color. I probably went a bit heavy on the devil shape language but it's fun so… I also wanted to color the tip of his shoes white or gray to make them look like goat hooves but they ended up looking too much like bowling shoes so I decided against it. He still has a hoof-like pattern on his shoes which probably isn't very historically accurate for 1920s men's shoes haha. And lastly his cane is only described as black and ivory but nothing specific on the shape. I figured giving it some interesting motif would be fun so I went with a snake. specifically a black mamba witch don't look dangerous until you get too close or they open their mouth. I'm sure a fitting metaphor could be made from that. My design for him will probably change if we get new info about him later in the story but so far this is how i imagine him.

#art #my art #lackadaisy #Under the devils moon #interactive fiction #fanart

[sprintingowl]

Wandering Friendship Simulator 2023

Hey, rpg tumblr, I think you might enjoy The One Ring.

Some stuff that it does:

-Adventurers aren't mercenaries, they're either brave and meddlesome or Really Going Through It

-Your adventuring party specifically has a stat for how off the hook it is, Men Of Bree increase this stat

-As part of character creation, everyone picks a home base

-As part of character creation, everyone picks another PC as a bestie and becomes Shadowed if their bestie gets hurt

-There's a corruption mechanic, getting Shadowed, but you reduce it by taking a break and gardening for a few years

-There's a robust downtime system where everyone goes home after an adventure and then you all meet up like ten years later with full beards and prizes in Regional Avocado Growing and whatnot

-Combat and Walking Too Hard both deal damage, and traveling matters as much as fights

-The dice are genuinely easy to understand, and you have lots of ways to tilt the odds on a roll. You're not held hostage to your own luck

-The art's gorgeous. Really needlessly pretty. This would be a coffee table book if it wasn't also such an unfairly well made game

In conclusion, I just read it and it was supposed to be a gift for a friend, but now I'm apparently buying them a second copy.

(This game feels like a fever dream. I was expecting to snooze through it and instead my brain is alive with Game Design.)

#lotr #ttrpg #ttrpg homebrew #ttrpgs #ttrpg design #indie ttrpgs #rpg #tabletop #dnd #tolkein #middle earth #lord of the rings

[undiscovered-horizon]

"Despicable" - yan!Bruce Wayne x Reader

A/N: currently reviewing my book to send it out AGAIN because apparently, I can't let go

🫀REQUESTS ARE OPEN🫀 || Batman-inspired playlist

SUMMARY: While Seline is Bruce's eyes at 44 Below, he spots someone absolutely showstopping. Unfortunately, you're Joker's girl. Bruce is determined to save you from that despicable criminal.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 1.2k

[TW: yandere themes, explicit language]

Part of Bruce was glad he didn't step foot inside 44 Below. Judging from what Seline was showing him, it was nothing more but a relatively glorified dive bar. It seemed as if corruption could be the sweetest fruit if one simply made it look out of reach or in some way special. It was the pinnacle of human pride and greed to always desire the unattainable.

Despite the supposed prestige of the underground club, he could hardly notice anything out of the ordinary when compared to any other bar one could find in Gotham: young women in skimpy clothing and old, rich men who salivated over them. Drugs. Alcohol. Smuggling. Trafficking. The only visible difference was very superficial - their clothes and jewellery were significantly more expensive. Aside from that one easy-to-overlook detail, 44 Below was exquisite in its lack of exceptionalism.

The swarm of people seemed to be unending. Although the lower level was supposed to be more deluxe, more selective, there was about the same amount of people as on the upper level. Seline was walking through crowds of personalities too important or powerful to want their attention on her. Turning her head in all directions possible, she had nearly given herself whiplash when her stare merely glazed over a figure so brilliant they could hardly be perceived as real; an after-image of a fabulous fantasy:

"Wait, turn around. That woman in a green dress by the bar. Who is she?"

"Fuck no, Bruce," she hissed back at him as she continued marching on. "You know a guy who goes by 'Joker'? The psychopathic mass murderer? That's his girl."

"Look at her," he demanded again. "I need time to scan her face. What do you know about her?" It was a generous half-truth: while he did need time to perform scans, he didn't need yours specifically.

Seline let out a heavy sigh. Reluctantly, she directed her eyes towards you - leaning against a bar, drinking an Old Fashioned, and nibbling on honey-coated roasted cashews. Needless to say, you were completely oblivious to the attention you were getting at the moment. If you could have your way, you wouldn't have been there - 44 Below was an over-glorified workplace for you, waiting for someone who might need a little favour they're willing to repay for.

Bruce's thoughts were running rampant but they lacked coherence. There was a strange feeling in his chest - one he couldn't quite name but it was completely overwhelming and it forced his attention to focus on you. His eyes were eating up your image, his insatiable hunger only grew as he stared at you. The longer he admired your aloof demeanour, the more he was unable to find any flaw in your appearance. It seemed like something taken out of a cliche movie: a diamond found among the filth. How could you have ended up with some lunatic?

You were leaning against the bar counter, bored out of your mind as if you were waiting for someone to show up and get you away from that disgusting place you never quite fit into in the first place. He could be that someone... He wanted to be.

"Ever since Joker got locked up, she's taking care of the business. The whole operation went deep underground and now even the unimportant people wear designer clothes."

"How do you know all that?"

"Penguin's her fan." Seline seemed to not have noticed the lack of emotions in his tone. Bruce wasn't very interested in the criminal part of your life - it will all be left in the past soon enough. "Oh, shit, she noticed me."

Bruce's heart jumped in his chest as if there actually was something that could frighten that man or take him by surprise. Staring at the screen, he met your warm gaze. Words became stuck in his throat, completely awestruck, although you weren't even looking at him per se - you didn't even know about his presence. And he realized he knew no greater frustration.

"Hey, Seline, how are things going on?" you asked. The cheerfulness of your voice seemed genuine. "Haven't seen you working 'round here before."

Dear God, how he began yearning the moment he heard your voice. What darkness and bliss would it bring him to hear you speak his name?

"I'm doing some overtime."

To Bruce's utmost pleasure, you leaned towards Seline. Your face was the only thing on his screen and he truly wished it could stay like that.

"The offer still stands," you whispered. Your eyebrows raised slightly and your eyes had that soft gloss over them. "Give me a call and you'll make a better dollar in better circumstances."

"What offer?" Bruce inquired but Seline ignored him.

"Thank you but I'm still not interested. I'm good."

She promptly turned around and began walking away, her eyes shying away from the bullyboys you brought with you. Rumour had it they didn't need much to happily get involved.

"What offer, Seline?" Bruce repeated. He sounded impatient.

"None of your business," she spat out as she entered the bathroom.

His eyes became bloodshot and dry from staring at the computer for so long. He knew not how many hours had passed and, to be frank, did not care. Nirvana was playing in the background but he barely registered the sounds. None of his attention could be diverted from the picture of your face. Bruce knew perfectly well what he had to do, it was the question of how that kept him up until the early hours of the morning.

The obsessive thoughts inside Bruce's head were too loud to let him hear Alfred come in. "Who's that?"

"Someone important," he answered quietly. For a moment he felt angry that someone else was looking at you but he quickly dismissed that thought as he did with most of his emotions.

It was true but not in the way Alfred understood. Perhaps, Bruce himself did not yet understand the nature of your importance. It was as if he was frantically evacuating and kept asking other people what was going on; smoke was burning his eyes but he did not know the source of the fire.

Seeing as Wayne was even less talkative than normally, Alfred silently left him to continue doing whatever it was that he was doing. Sometimes he got tired of nagging at a grown man.

As it was mentioned before, Bruce knew what he had to do - it was a fact, not a thesis that had to be proved. He was going to save you from that animal you lied to yourself you loved. Bruce had a habit of subduing his feelings, therefore he told himself that it was simply his duty to return your independence to you, completely ignoring the overwhelming yearning that burned throughout his body. He made up his mind that he was going to save you from the filth you'd been stained with, no matter whether you wanted it too. Bruce had seen evil and he was convinced he knew what was best for you.

Oh but Cupid could be a truly despicable beast.

#the batman 2022 #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne x you #yandere bruce wayne #bruce wayne imagine #battinson #the batman #the batman fanfiction #the batman imagine #the batman fanfic #bruce wayne #bruce wayne fanfiction #bruce wayne fanfic #bruce wayne x fem!reader #yan!bruce wayne #yandere bruce wayne x reader #yandere bruce wayne x you #yandere bruce wayne fanfiction #yandere bruce wayne imagine #battinson x reader #battinson imagine #battinson x you #battinson fanfiction

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super Movie 2: Super Hero (5/5)

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA EXISTENCE IS TORMENT RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Okay, so we're now at the last leg of this movie, where everybody teams up to defeat Cell Max. Once Piccolo turned orange and convinced the Gammas that Magenta was evil, the Red Ribbon Army collapsed on the spot. Magenta went to activate Cell Max as a desperate counterattack, but he was killed by Dr. Hedo. However, Magenta still managed to get Cell Max started up before he died, and the first thing Cell Max does is smash up whatever's left of the Red Ribbon base.

It's not clear to me what happened to the rest of the bad guys in this movie. A lot of them probably fled when the battle turned against them, but it's a pretty big facility, and I doubt they all could have evacuated in time. Like, Carmine was knocked unconscious a few minutes ago, and I doubt anyone went to the trouble of getting him to safety before Cell Max showed up. I suppose he could have survived this, but it seems pretty unlikely.

So let's talk about Cell Max. Apparently when Dr. Gero came up with the idea of Cell, he forwarded all of his notes and design specifications to Magenta at Red Pharmaceutical Company. RPC tried to make use of the data after Gero's death, but they couldn't figure it out, probably because the real breakthroughs in Cell's creation were accomplished by Gero's computer in an alternate future. But Magenta knew the Original Cell could get the job done, so he wanted one of his own, and when he learned of Dr. Hedo he thought he finally had the man to make Cell Max a reality.

And Hedo delivered... mostly. Cell Max's body was completed first, but it was going to take a lot longer to develop his brain, and Hedo wasn't particularly eager to work on Cell Max because he liked the superheroic Gammas better. He warned Magenta not to use Cell Max, because he would just run wild and destroy the world Magenta wanted to conquer.

And you know, it's poetic that Magenta's last act was to release this mindless engine of destruction, because that's really all the Red Ribbon Army ever was. Magenta mocked Dr. Hedo's fixation on super heroes, but Magenta's fixation was on the Red Ribbon Army, a failed mercenary group brought down by its idiotic leader.

Red's story ended with his army destroyed, and then Black went on a lunatic rampage on what was left of the Red Ribbon base. Dr. Gero's story ended with his own androids turning on him, and then Cell activates and nearly destroys the world with little concern for Gero's agenda. And now Magenta lies dead in his own stronghold, while Cell Max goes on a rampage.

It always turns out the same way, but with Magenta, we shouldn't be too surprised, because he admired Red and Gero so much. He saw their spectacular failures and convinced himself that they almost won, and if he just gave it one more try, he could get it right this time. But instead, Magenta just wound up sharing their fate, because this is the only way it could ever end. The Red Ribbon Army isn't some noble cause. It's just a bunch of goons who push around innocent people. And the problem with the whole 'might-makes-right' philosophy is that sooner or later you run into someone mightier who pushes back. Commander Red ran into Goku. Dr. Gero ran into Vegeta and his own creations. Cell ran into Gohan.

And I guess Magenta's failure to understand that is what led him to idolize the original Cell so much. I mean, it's kind of ridiculous that he would have asked Dr. Hedo to make a new one. Hedo was a kid when Cell threatened to destroy the Earth, but Magenta ought to have remembered that broadcast. He must have understood that Cell wasn't loyal to the Red Ribbon cause. When he announced the Cell Games, he didn't say anything about sparing the RPC. But I think Magenta never considered any of this. He just knew that Cell was powerful and he wanted one. For men like Magenta, the power is the point. Whether or not you can control the power is a minor detail. It was probably more important to Magenta that he was the one who got to push the button, regardless of the consequences.

Okay, so I kind of got off-track. What is Cell Max, exactly? Well, Hedo's a much better scientist than Gero was, so he managed to take Gero's incomplete "recipe" and make a bigger, even more powerful version of Cell. The downside is that this version is dumb as a bag of hammers. He just stomps around and screams a lot. He seems to have a canny fighting skill behind all that bestial rage, but that's it. You won't find any of the smarmy taunting or mindgames that we used to see from the original Cell. This version might be more powerful, but it's not perfect.

To put it another way, Cell Max absolutely sucks, and I mean that as a compliment. This movie kind of needed a final boss to offset the morally conflicted Hedo and Gammas, and Cell Max makes a good choice for that role. We don't need a cunning, invincible super villain for the last 20 minutes of this movie. There just isn't time for that. What we need is a doomsday weapon unleashed by Magenta in a final act of spite. Magenta probably thought he was getting revenge with this last strike, but this is the good guys' chance to do the classic superhero bit where they have a misunderstanding, fight, and then team up to tackle the real threat.

Also, as a fan of Cell, I just like this novel way of bringing him back in the Dragon Ball Super era. We've already seen Frieza revived and Broly revamped for the canon. Bringing back Cell seemed like a very obvious play, except it's a really dumb idea. Cell was a failure. He took on the whole world and lost, dying alone in a barren waste. Most of the world had no idea who he was or where he came from, and he didn't have flunkies who would wish him back to life the way Sorbet brought back Frieza. It makes much, much more sense that a character like Magenta would rather build a new Cell than bother with the original. And this only emphasizes Cell's inhumanity. He's not a villain, he's a weapon, to be discarded and replaced when he becomes obsolete. Is the new model better? That all depends on how many targets it can hit.

Broadly speaking, Cell Max loos like Semiperfect Cell from DBZ. The same bulky proportions, the same fish lips, etc. The difference is that Cell Max still has wings, which were curiously absent from Semiperfect Cell. Also, Cell Max is unique for his naughty red color, and his tail comes out of his butt like Frieza's, instead of sticking out from between his shoulder blades. Oh, and his feet look like hiking boots.

Also, the end of his tail isn't a stinger. It's like this club-looking thing that can shoot hot pink lasers. I've seen fans draw Cell Max in a "perfect form", which mostly looks like the Original Cell with Cell Max's red and green colorations, and it's interesting to look at, but it kind of misses the point. Cell Max isn't designed to absorb something else and achieve a completed form. This is as good as it gets for Cell Max. I mean, Dr. Hedo seemed to think he would be smarter and easier to control with time, but we really have no way to be sure of that, do we?

All right, let me try to get on with the plot here. The Gammas immediately attack Cell Max, not only because of their heroic natures, but because they know how dangerous Cell Max is. Piccolo leads the Z-Fighters to help out, and the Gammas explain that they need to aim for Max's head, because Dr. Hedo added a weak spot there. If you blast through his cranium, it'll trigger an explosion powerful enough to destroy Max's cells, but even the "weak spot" is still pretty damn strong. Also Cell Max is quite the artful dodger, so it takes a while for anyone to land a blow. Piccolo manages to pull it off, but the attack isn't powerful enough to be effective.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH EVERYTHING HURTS SO MUCH! WHAT AM I? WHY AM I? AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

As Cell Max destroys more of the base, the ground starts to give way under Pan's feet, and she can't make it to the safety of Bulma's airship. Krillin tells her to fly, but we know she can't do that yet. But she tries really hard and finally learns to fly! I guess she just needed the right motivation. Piccolo reminded her of her Saiyan blood at the start of the movie, and he was trying to reassure her, but Saiyan power isn't just a blessing, it's something you earn through turmoil and hardship. Maybe Pan had to be in deadly peril for her to make this next leap forward. It's like how Gohan was when he clobbered Raditz.

Back at the fight, everyone realizes they need to attack with greater intensity to stop Cell Max, so Goten and Trunks do a Fusion. But they fuck it up and turn into Fat Gotenks. He can't even turn Super Saiyan, but Gotenks is no quitter, so he charges in anyway, and manages to headbutt Cell hard enough to crack his exoskeleton. I guess they're doing chip damage to his head? Like Piccolo hit him pretty damn hard earlier, and now this, so they must be making some progress, right? Anyway, Piccolo praises this moment as the first time a failed Fusion actually does something useful.

Speaking of this, remember how Goten and Trunks had two different opportunities to use Fusion in GT, and they just... didn't do it for no good reason, even though it would have been awesome and cool? Remember how GT had no idea what to do with Piccolo, so they just killed him off and made him live in Hell? Remember how GT fucking sucked, and this movie does the opposite of those things and it's hella rad? I don't know, I just thought I should point that out.

At this point, Gamma 2 decides to go for broke, and he asks everyone else to keep Cell busy while he readies a strike onto his noggin, basically what Gotenks did, only with more power behind it. Gamma 1 is upset about this, but 2 tells him he needs to protect Dr. Hedo, who's still alive in the rubble. "Now who's being sloppy?" 2 asks 1. Because he didn't check his sensors to make sure Hedo was okay, you see.

So they all fight, but then 18 almost gets hit, when...

Kienzan, motherfucker! First rule of being a Cell, dipshit, you're gonna have to go through Krillin.

Solar Flare! Oh! Ohhhhhhhh! Krillin is the MVP once again!

So this sets up Cell Max perfectly for Gamma 2's attack, and he comes straight down... into Max's left forearm, because he managed to block it just in time. But to 2's credit, he keeps pushing, and seems to smash through anyway...

But it's no good. Cell Max's left arm falls off, and it looks like much of his body has been turned to ash, but he's still alive. Enraged, he tries to stomp on Gamma 2, but Piccolo won't have it and he ORANGES UP. As he pushes back on Max's foot, Krillin shows up to help, and tells Piccolo to grow his body, just like he did when he fought Goku at the 23rd World Tournament. I love how Krillin doesn't just tell him this, he helps push back on Max's foot while he talks. Krillin's the real superhero here.

Piccolo's like "Oh yeah, I forgot I can do that," which annoyed some fans. I get it, it's kind of silly that he would forget a thing like this, but it was a long time ago, and it didn't work on Goku at all, so I can understand how he might have forgotten about this ability. Also, it's pretty sweet how Piccolo has so many cool powers that even he has trouble keeping them straight. He's forgotten more about being awesome than we'll ever know.

And while this does give him some much-needed leverage against Cell Max, getting big like this doesn't make him stronger, so they're not much better off than they were before. Piccolo still has plan though. he gives Gohan the senzu bean he brought with him and tells Gohan to eat it. He means to keep Cell Max busy and hopefully Gohan will get enough power built up to deliver a killing blow.

So for a while, they have a good old fashion Big Boy Wrassle, but the tide quickly shifts in favor of Cell Max. Gohan still isn't ready, so Krillin leads a desperate charge to distract Max and give Piccolo a chance. But they all get taken out, and it ends up being all in Piccolo's hands again. He refuses to quit, and does everything he can to hold Max down.

And when it looks like Piccolo is finally beaten, something snaps in Gohan, and we get....

Gohan Beast! Well, they don't call it that in this movie, but that's the name for it, apparently. I remember when the movie premiered in Japan, and I kept seeing trending tags on Twitter for "Orange Piccolo", "Cell Max" and "Gohan Blanco", and thinking "What the hell happens in this movie?"

So... Gohan Beast. Basically it's like the moment where he went SSJ2 for the first time, stacked on top of Mystic Gohan. At least, that's how I see it. Remember, Goku's plan at the Cell Games was to get Gohan as powerful as he could possibly get as a Super Saiyan, so that whenever Gohan tapped into his "hidden power", it would push him into some higher form. Back then, it was SSJ2, but now, he's at his current maximum level, then he sees a good friend in dire straights, and it's pushed him into some new level. And it looks a lot like his SSJ2 form from when he was a kid, but with white or silver hair this time, and red lightning, I guess. Anyway, some people hate this form, but I don't mind it one bit. If Gohan's snapping and kicking ass, I don't care what he looks like. If he turned into a rodeo clown in this scene, I'd still be marking out.

Cell Max punches Gohan and he's like "Naw. Naw." Then he kicks the shit out of Max and starts preparing his attack. Max does his own big energy move, but Gohan doesn't give a fuck because he's in his edgy mode now. Blast that Linkin Park music, because we're doin' it.

Of course, Gohan still needs to get a clear shot, but Piccolo's not out of this yet. He just remembered another cool power he has: Stretchy Arms! Get fucked, Cell Max!

And how will Gohan capitalize on this moment? Three words: Special Beam Cannon! Hell yeah! No wonder Gohan transformed. He had to build up a lot of power just to set up this technique, so seeing Piccolo get wrecked during the charge-up must have really put him over the edge.

And that's it. Cell Max explodes, everyone gets clear of the blast, and the good guys win. Piccolo asks Gohan how he learned to do the Special Beam Cannon, and Gohan explains that he trained on it in secret. A ha! You see, Piccolo? You thought Gohan was slacking off in his training, but he was actually working on things you didn't even know about!

And this sums up the Piccolo's character arc in this movie. Piccolo tries so hard to get someone else to take the lead in this film. When he can't raise Goku or Vegeta, he starts scheming to traumatize Gohan and make him fired up enough to become the big hero. And yet, in the end, Piccolo was the big hero of this movie. He was so busy trying to get someone else to handle things that he couldn't see it. But he was the one who infiltrated the enemy base, he was the one who got the cool new power up, he was the one who flipped the Gammas, and he came up with the plan to beat Cell Max. Sure, his plan was to get Gohan to fire the kill shot, but what was that kill shot? Piccolo's signature techique, which Gohan learned on his own, simply because Piccolo was such a great role model and mentor to him over all these years.

Unfortunately, Gamma 2 died in his attack on Cell Max. He used up all his energy in that move, which apparently causes his entire body to disintegrate. Piccolo consoles Hedo by observing that 2's stunt significantly weakened Cell Max's attacks, making it possible for the rest of them to finish what Gamma 2 started. "He was a real superhero", Piccolo says, which is probably as great an honor as Gamma 2 could have hoped for.

Hedo admits that he basically knew what Magenta was all about, but he played along anyway in order to get the money for his research. But with Gamma 2's death, he now realizes the error of his ways. Gamma 2 didn't do anything wrong, but he was the one who paid for Hedo's reckless alliance with the Red Ribbon. He offers to turn himself in to the authorities, but Krillin objects to this, saying the authorities can't handle someone like Hedo. Remember, this movie opened with him getting out of prison, and everyone was relieved to see him go.

Instead, Piccolo suggests they all overlook this incident, and Hedo asks Bulma if he can work for her now. She's impressed with his bulletproof skin treatment, and thinks she can find a place for him in their cosmetics business. And Gamma 1 can be some sort of security guard. Fair enough.

So that about wraps things up, except for one last bit of business. Pan pulls Piccolo aside to show off how she learned to fly during the battle. She swoops around and everything, and Piccolo proudly tells her that she'll begin the next phase of her training tomorrow. Hooray!

Then we get a post-credits scene where it turns out Goku and Vegeta have been fighting this entire time, and they're finally at the end of their evenly-matched bout. They're so exhausted that they can barely move, but Vegeta manages to kind of gently shove Goku with his fist, knocking him over and earning the victory. Then he falls over as he celebrates. Goku's fine with it because he's a class act, naturally.

As for the spectators, Beerus fell asleep during the fight, and Whis almost forgot he was supposed to be officiating. Cheelai sat through the whole thing, but she was bored the whole time. She looks to Broly for solidarity, but he and Lemo were moved to manly tears at this epic combat spectacle. "Men!" Cheelai says. Look, if you and Broly are gonna be a thing, Cheelai, you have to respect his interests. I'm just glad Broly has something like this to get passionate about. In the last movie he was so repressed and timid. It's great that Whis put on this no-transforming no-ki-blast fight specifically for Broly's benefit, and he seems to have gotten a lot out of it. And it's kind of cute how Cheelai couldn't care less, but she's way off the mark. This was great.

And that's it for Super Hero. I was worried I'd run out of image space for this post, but somehow I managed to get it all in under 30 images. Let me see how many I have left...

Yeah, this was a cool shot of Gohan Beast, or Beast Gohan, or whatever you want to call it.

Nice simultaneous punch with Cell Max and Piccolo. The eternal struggle between red and orange.

Yeah, I forgot to talk about 18's yoga pants and shorter haircut. Some people hate this look, but this is peak 18 in my book. Krillin's a lucky man, I tell you what.

D'awwwww...

"RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH SOMEONE PLEASE LET ME DIE RAAAAAAAHHHHHHH--Oh! Oh, that's much better. Thank you. Well, I'd better start exploding then. Raaah."

Wow I had a lot of image space left, didn't I? I thought this was going to be a lot tougher than it was.

Well, anyway, this was a fantastic movie. It was so great that I was kind of stressing out about how to cover it properly, but now that it's over I feel pretty good about the whole thing. I don't know if they'll make another Dragon Ball movie. It makes sense, considering how much money this one made, but you never can tell. All I know is that I'm pretty excited for whatever they do next.

And yeah, that's all I've got for this movie, but we're not done with Super Hero just yet. No, now I need to cover the manga adaptation of this movie, and if my calculations are correct, that should be wrapping up next week, so that's some excellent timing there. I will see you then!

#dragon ball #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #dragon ball super #dragon ball super super hero #piccolo #gohan #pan #son pan #goten #trunks #gotenks #bulma #dr hedo #gamma 2 #gamma 1 #krillin #android 18 #cell max #goku #vegeta #broly #lemo #cheelai #whis #beerus

[ghoulorghost]

This post is just me drawing parallels between events Kell Maresh and Kosika experienced.

First of all, both of them had value placed on their magic, primarily.

Kell Maresh's biological parents have offered him, or rather his magical prowess, in exchange to the Arnesian Crown for the removal of his mother's limiters, absolution for the crimes she committed and a sum of money.

Kosika's mother attempted to trade in her daughter, or more precisely her daughter's potential magical ability, for a sum of money, to three unspecified men.

After her daughter's status as an Antari was uncovered, she attempted to gain money from the Vir for it, but she was refused this.

Next there's the matter of both of them choosing to forgo their life before the one they were given.

A charm meant to erase the memories that preceded Kell's life as a prince and as an Antari was placed on him, the moment he was bought. Later on, he chose to discard those memories, to discard his old life, even when given opportunities to remember.

Kell figured out what the mark meant when he was 12 years old, and yet he never sought to see it undone.

The queen provided Kell with the name he bore before his adoption, and he refused to acknowledge it.

Kosika chose to forget who she was before she was designated as queen and as an Antari.

They both place more value on the label of Antari, and the labels and privileges that succeeded it, rather than the self they had once.

Kell and Kosika also both murdered the people that threatened the life of the one they took on as a sibling.

The members of the rebel group that kidnapped prince Rhy, the one person Kell prized most, the one who he thought of and still thinks of as a brother, were murdered by him.

He killed Astrid Dane for the possession and subsequent killing of his brother.

Kosika murdered the group of men she was sold to, when they injured Lark, a person whom she views as a sibling.

Consequently they both healed the fatal injuries their siblings sustained.

They both despise socialising with other people and make an effort to avoid social gatherings, being seemingly unapproachable.

They were both guided by someone else, at the start. Kell by the Aven Essen of Red London, Tieren Serense, and Kosika initially by the Vir, specifically Vir Serak, and later by the supposed spirit of Holland Vosijik.

They both had no one they regarded as a parental figure in their lives.

They're both regarded with awe and respect for supposedly keeping their respective worlds prosperous, but also with fear.

They both attempted to use a blood command, the same blood command, for something it wasn't meant to do.

Kell attempted to unsuccessfully heal an old dog, the first time he'd encountered the blood command for healing. He tried to reverse aging.

Kosika attempted to heal a multitude of plants, tried to reverse their withering, their aging, falling ill as a consequence.

They both came across a token from Black London, specifically a black stone, by doing things in secret, and they both brought an entity to their respective Londons as a result of it.

They both escape their life in the palace as often as they can, using hidden blood sigils.

Kell looked up to Holland, respected him and identified with him, and now so does Kosika.

And lastly, Kell wore and still wears the magic coat, the one with the unknown number of sides. He exchanges one side for another, every time his view about himself and his purposes change.

Kosika wears a cape during the blood tithes, and during the times she views herself as the queen whose purpose is that of bringing magic to White London. She switches it out for Holland's coat at the end of the book, when her methods alter.

The coats seem to represent separate facets of their identities.

Ultimately, even with this multitude of similarities between them, I think they will end up having different journeys, realisations, will end up making different choices, and will develop their own distinct selves by the end of the trilogy.

#adsom #the fragile threads of power #ve schwab #fragile threads of power #fragile threads of power spoilers #the fragile threads of power spoilers #kell maresh #kosika #rhy maresh #lark #holland vosijk

[tomwambsgans]

i fully believe that (on top of likely a conservative and/or catholic upbringing) tom has managed to totally repress his homosexuality by rationalizing his lack of real for desire for women as simply having really high standards. shiv was a fixation of his for the promise of power that a relationship with her wielded, which he internally attached to her objective physical asthetic and his sexual narcissism that allows him to be aroused by the mere concept of sex that involves himself. plus frankly inside of him, underneath all his bullshit, is a genuine drive for romance and true love and specifically monogamy, the romanticization of which is yet another factor in his attachment to shiv. yes, he loves her, but a lot of circumstances outside of him being innately attracted to women had to come together to make that happen. there's a lot of sense of obligation, both to her as a person and to his duty of being successful. of being the right kind of man.

ntm that when they have their stag night arrangement, part of tom struggling to get someone is def partially that he's using rules outside of himself to decide what woman he wants. as in, trying to decide which women he's supposed to want. ultimately the woman he chooses looks a lot like shiv - objectively striking, with cat-like features. it's really easy to think that you're attracted to women when you simply tell yourself that your type is the ones that "look interesting" (which i say from experience, lol)

and y'know it's funny, for all that tom clearly turns his desire for men into violence and control and other classic toxic masculinity-esque type shit, he still has a genuinely kind of... foppish way about him? like, yeah by definition all these rich guys technically do, but tom is different, and not just because he wasn't born into it. if the roy boys have the zuckerberg vibe, his is dorian gray. he's airy, he's dramatic, he's... dare i say, softer? in a way that there's plausible deniability for - the way that wealth is often correlated with some effeminacy, especially for british old money types. moreso, the way that money is an excuse for effeminacy. when a working-class guy cares about designer brands, is extremely hygenic, loves wine, etc, he's automatically assumed to be gay; when a rich guy cares about all those things? no one bats an eye. and i really do think that if it wasn't a factor in him pursuing it in the first place, then tom at least now essentially uses his exuberantly wealthy lifestyle as a tool to buffer his inclinations. perhaps even to the extent that he can sometimes have this sense of awareness of what he is and that he only chooses not to do anything about it.

which is then wild for its self-fulfilling nature - he's deeply ambitious for the sort of power that can protect him, but as he's moved higher and higher his environment only became more and more hostile to actually being himself.

......and THEN of course along came greg, who is genuinely key to tom accepting himself somewhere down the road (or at least coming the closest that he COULD get) bc he's the man through whom tom is gonna be able to subvert the heterosexual path that he'd set for himsef - push his wife down the stairs and marry him instead - proving that he doesn't need all that in order to Succeed with a capital S. at which point would at the very least be the thematically, narratively perfect moment for him to be fully grounded in what he really wants. he just needs to see with his own two eyes that it's not going to be world-shattering and then he can take it.

#tom wambsgans #gay tom wambsgans #tomgreg #mine #meta #tom #gay tom thoughts have consumed my every waking moment ngl

[ntls-24722]

God please, I want to marry all your DJ designs

That question for all of the DJs

Will you merry me Mr music man ?💍

Not:(LOVE YEAR ART)

#DJ MM LOVER FOR LIFE

THANK YOU BOOK AGARGARGAGH🦀

but as for the proposal...

this is an ambitious ask to answer, because of right now, there are 62.5 DJMMs out of the list of 86 Music Men and counting i have

and i am going to personally go on the mission to draw... each of their responses.

But I should probably eliminate the ones that are taken just to make this easier since it'll just be a hard "no,I'm taken" and Deejay Memento Mori + Meeboop are kids, so they're also eliminated, which leaves us with.... 44.

like... slightly more manageable.

I haven't talked about a lot of these guys, So I'll put a little desc for each!

Without further ado

"Will you marry me?"

1. Clavier! Sorry, it's a little hard for her to imagine marrying anyone after she killed her girlfriend on the day said girlfriend was going to propose to her. That's what being a religious fanatic drove her to do, not out of a devotion to a god, but in order to ensure herself an afterlife. The concept of a soul and a supposed afterlife for everything with a soul for someone without a soul and has seen nothing after her death, is very troubling

2. Lieutenant Armadillum is a requested MM based off of the prompt of just. "rolly polly." So I made her a part of security. With all those armored plates I wasn't sure what else she could be. She can be nice, but she takes everything literally, or as an order, and has a problem with volume control. Congrats to you and your new, loud wife

3. Walbergi/The Entertainer Piece... um. Hmm. I was almost not going to put him here because I would think he's more similar to MM than DJMM but him alongside the next two are actually just pieces of DJMM, all his jobs just assigned to their own Music Men. Walbergi (and the eliminated singer duo Lovebugz, which namely are taken) Are composers/musicians, but Walbergi is specifically a mantis entertainer that has the entire dancefloor as his wings. He is also really arrogant and feels superior to everyone around him... including you. Sorry.

4. The Security piece is, to some degree, also arrogant. At least he's quieter. He's the bouncer, and he has accepted your request, but with his constant desire and and usually ready opprotunity to beat the tar out of things he's around, I'm not entirely sure if that's a good thing.

5. Custodian Piece! He's the janitor and he's very lonely since he spends most of his time in the tunnels and slithering across the floor to clean it, he's kind of a people pleaser and would be over the moon to be proposed to. I'm not sure if he's good for hugs considering his entire underside is a mop. he recplaces it often, he showers yes, but he is also a full time custodian... i'm not sure if the feeling of hugging a damp wet mop would ideal

6. Polybius. um. Not sure what to say? He's haunted, he's enourmous, and he's single, and ready to mingle (htough, take caution, because he might be trying to trick you into playing a game and hypnotising you. or something.) Gamer bf?

Blood and organ exposure (more like an organ diagram, ish) below the cut!

7. The masquerader. Now we're getting into the SOS lore section of the list. This guy was the first success in shapeshifting, and could've been a lot more if he didn't try to escape by killing and taking the identity of a researcher. It almost worked, but he messed up the eyes. Typically, you only have 1 pupil in each, not 3. He was shot dead the moment his back was turned, and totally died. He doesn't like humans... at all. Sorry.

8. The entertainer does, though! He's the one survivor of the brain surgery done to instill robotic motions and an "algorithm" for their behavior. He died not due to surgery, but being left to starve to death, but in his lifetime he was able to figure out that the scientists in the Oort Cloud are not there on their own will, and he convinced the Vanessa of SOS to do something about it. Nonetheless, he doesn't have the same resentment, and he accepts your proposal, mostly due to having no idea what marriage is.

9. In SOS, the mastering of shapeshifting was a detrimental time for the creations of the Oort cloud, as now they could make living concept art. While some were whimsical re-imaginings of what the final product could be, like a more welcoming and humanoid "bee" design, some were made for shits and giggles, which is a horrifying concept when someone has to live through being a living product of "shits and giggles." Nonetheless, this bee is a queen bee, made her own hive, and does not want any other royalty around, especially not human royalty.

10. Dolomedes is another weird concept, less based off an idea but from a pre-designed mask - a fisherman... who has no idea what a fish is. His head is in the clouds, and he accepts the proposal.

11. Lucorum is not just any member of the queen's hive, but the queen's personal guard and is the loud and proud bestie of Dolomedes. That being said, she cares few for any other people. Sorry.

12. This is just one individual from a massive colony of asexually reproducting failures for shapeshifting - instead of exhibiting changes to themselves, they literally have a new person grow out of them that instead exhibits those changes. Most of them don't feel romantic attraction - And due to human trauma like 99% of anything from the Oortcloud, none of them would accept the offer.

13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Volupe's polycule may be a very open relationship, but none of them at least even know you. The council has decided not to accept the proposal.

This will be continued soon. I just need a while to draw + write the rest (ToT)

#ntls-24722 #djmm #dj music man #(almost) daily music man #THE PROPOSAL THREAD #there are so many inconsistencies #and this ask was in no way intended to be answered this way #but i have started this mission #and by god i'm going to finish it

[fervency-if]

What inspired you to create major characters? Do their first drafts differ in any way from what they turned out to be? (Feel free to talk about any characters who have interesting behind the scenes stories.)

That's a really fun question! My reply is quite long, because I always end up going on tangents, so I'll put it under a cut.

The story itself (or rather, Part I,) is actually based on a short story I wrote a long time ago for fun (it was just a quick writing prompt, "write a story about vampires," about 1200 words I wrote in some hour,) so there wasn't really any planning to talk about there, and when it comes to the first part of the game itself I never intended it to grow any larger than perhaps 5000 - 10 000 words or so (since it was just supposed to be an entry for the Halloween Jam 2022 for fun, my plan was just "alright, let's adapt the short story to a short game since the themes align") - it's very improvised, I wrote 65 000 words in perhaps two and a half week, so there were never any early drafts or even things I had written down beforehand.

When I wrote the short story, I think I just thought that I wanted to write something about a plague doctor, because I've always been interested in them (and found their design cool.) I just made her up on the go, and then took the small amount of characterisation she had in the short story and fleshed her out - she's pretty much the same, but a bit more morally ambiguous in the game. I do believe she might have been a tad more callous (in her motives, not demeanor) in the short story, but not to a great extent.

I'm not as sure about Aubrey, even though I did create his character specifically for the game (he was just some young man who started the pandemonium when the main character was busy having fun and a good meal in the cloakroom in the short story, the narrator never even interacted with him.) I think I just wanted a crazy, unhinged, and morbid little guy, because I find such characters fun and fascinating overall, and he grew from there. His name actually comes from when I was picking out names for the player to choose for their main characters if they didn't type it in themselves. I thought of a couple of nice, androgynous names, "Aubrey" came up in my head, and then I thought "no, wait, that name is perfect for the Mayor's son, I'll give that to him."

Bess and Francesco were inspired by the entire "old-timey lesbian/gay salon patron"-idea. Those were characters I could see sitting there looking dapper with a glass of liquor in their hands, charming women and men respectively with their dashing smiles.

Vesa's looks are inspired by the flapper aestethics, as well as the silent movie era. (She's definitely the character who looks most "modern" by real-life standards.)

I created Narciso partly because of my interest in opera, and also because the city of Pearlmoor holds art in high regard - I wanted to show the love of the arts in a more sinister manner by having a castrato being their current superstar, with people ignoring the suffering he's gone through for the sake of their beloved music.

Changes:

Bryars changed his colours. At first, he was just some nameless young man in a pretty gown that you could eat or bloodlet, so I just gave him a random appearance - blond hair and light skin; one couldn't even interact with him aside from eating or healing (I didn't write the mingle scenes or the scenes at the square in the prologue until I started to flesh the story out) so it didn't matter, I cared more about describing his costume. When he became an actual character and I decided that he will be a RO in a certain route, I changed his hair colour to black and his skin tone to olive since there's already a young, pale, blond, male RO as it is.

#fervency #fervency if #interactive fiction

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #351

Yuri!!! on ICE, DVD vol. 5, Hiramatsu Tadashi's interview

~To make a body posture be like a facial expression~

　Yuri!!! was an anime, where we tried to depict figure skating realistically, so I always was extremely careful, how I was drawing body proportions of skaters. If the body of a skater, when he's performing, is drawn within a scale of natural proportion, then the performance starts to look realistic. But when I'm watching real-life figure skaters [they do things that] look so impossible. So I thought that we can't let ourselves be defeated by reality. There are some cases when that's impossible [to win with reality], but for example, [we draw] body proportions and poses that are not normally depicted in anime. It was difficult to translate into drawings the lines of waist and hips, as well as to make legs look long. When I was drawing first version of designs, too, I've heard from Kubo (Mitsurou)-san and from the Director to be careful with lengths of arms and legs.

　The "male sex appeal", that the Director was very focused on, was tough. My works have gained reputation for cute female characters, and I think that (the Director, Yamamoto) Sayo-san knew about it, as well. When I'd first heard the request [to work with her], she told me that she wanted me to draw male sex appeal. It surprised me. She didn't mean, that she wanted me to draw men in the same way as I'd draw female characters - she meant that she wanted me to bring out sex appeal and cuteness that only men possess. From men around me I collected those traits, that I could think that: "well, probably you could call it "sex appeal" or "cuteness", I suppose"… as best as I could, and I transplanted them onto the characters. Being more specific - postures and facial expression. Hands can tell you a lot, so I always tried to include hands in the illustrations. When I was drawing, I wasn't just relying on facial expressions alone, but I tried to make the whole posture act like a facial expression.

[Notes: Hiramatsu-san scanning his male co-workers for cuteness and sex appeal...✨]

#yuri on ice #yoi translations #yuri on ice translation

[pb-dot]

Film Friday: Ex Machina

Today, I figured it was time to talk a bit about the dynamics of the back half of His Impossible Brushstrokes, and the movie I've chosen to do that does perhaps lead by anti-example a little bit, but I'll get into that when we get there. Today's movie asks two important questions; what happens when a Turing Test gets (emotionally and practically) complicated and is he going to fuck the robot?

Domhnal Gleeson plays Caleb, an everyman programmer who wins an unusual raffle prize, the opportunity to visit his enigmatic tech bro boss, Nathan played by Oscar Isaac. Nathan, however, has a grander plan than hanging out with his underling in his isolated mountain estate. He wants Caleb to turing-test his AI. Ava, played by Alicia Vikander, is a near-human robot that Nathan is keen to determine whether has developed into a humanlike intelligence, true AI, or still is merely a very convincing simulation of the same.

It is a strange task, seemingly by design. Ava has a very humanoid face but is otherwise visibly robotlike, and the very act of calling for a face-to-face Turing test seems doomed to fail. Still, Caleb starts seeing humanity in Ava, and precious little of it in her creator and, arguably, captor Nathan, but the question of who is testing who is still very much an open one and it will remain so until the credits roll.

One thing I really enjoy about Ex Machina is how open it is with many of the questions it deals with and the implications of the same. There is, for example, the question of gender. Nathan admits that he has tailored Ava's design to appeal to Caleb, and it's hardly a stretch to imagine that he similarly has engineered how he presents himself to seem as much of a domineering jailer as possible to push Caleb into wanting to save Ava from him.

There is, of course, also the fact that the latter may arguably be Avas play. She is programmed to want to escape, after all, and some level of deception may be necessary since Nathan holds all the keys and Ava is dependent on outside assistance which Caleb may provide. It's a fascinating movie in that you can read a wide variety of levels of sentience into Ava and her actions. I do not at all feel confident enough on my read of the film to say anything definite, but I will argue that the takeaway may actually be how the entire exercise of determining whether Ava is an intelligence worthy of being a Person or some sort of digital P-Zombie is an act of sophistry, and an argument between Nathan and Caleb that isn't actually about the intelligence in question.

See, Nathan wants Ava to succeed in his test, which isn't as much whether Ava is a truly sapient AI as much as it is whether he can sell that idea sufficiently well to Caleb, but it isn't for intellectual or philosophical reasons, hell, it arguably isn't even for the money. He seems to take perverse glee in setting up the entire scenario upon a foundation of lies, both direct and by implication. Caleb wasn't randomly selected to participate, he was chosen specifically based on harvested data from Nathan's facebook-by-the-way-of-google Bluebook, he was supposed to fall in love with Ava, or at least be sufficiently charmed by her to turn on Nathan, to choose the robot over the human.

What exactly the endgame of this was for Nathan is a bit more unclear as the finale doesn't shake out the way either of the men intended. However, while Caleb may come out of things more in the clear than the profoundly morally icky Nathan, I wouldn't say he's in the clear per se. To his credit, Caleb seems just about as on board with Ava's humanity as one can for a visibly non-human humanlike entity, to the degree where he pulls a Blade Runner and starts wondering whether he, himself, is human.

Unfortunately, if I may phrase things a bit spicily, Caleb doesn't view Ava as a person. He views her as a woman. The jokes about Objectification practically write themselves, but I'm pretty sure that's by design. There is the uncomfortable energy of the Nice Guy to the whole arrangement. Caleb doesn't want to save Ava from Nathan because it's right as much as he wants to save her to be the one who saves her, the knight in shining armor, rewarded for his decency by her adoration, as it were. Look no further than to Nathan's taciturn maid Kyoko who also turns out to be a robot, functioning enough like a human that it took an unmasking of her "human" flesh for Caleb to realize. While this reveal does shake Caleb to his core, it doesn't really change his goals. Kyoko doesn't feature in his plans, so it doesn't matter to him whether she is a person who is a machine or a machine pretending to be a person.

Now, all of this isn't to say Ava's in the clear here either for the record. In fact, I would wager that one of this movie's greatest strengths is the complex question of morality in play. Ava is, as far as we the viewers are concerned, human enough that it'd be absurd to treat her as an experiment like Nathan does, and uncomfortable to treat her like a prize to be won like Caleb does. In the end, she does deceive Caleb by playing into his desire to save her, yes, but it is hard to blame her considering how desperate her situation is. Leaving Caleb behind to die is harsh, I will admit, but it is also one of those decisions that is understandable in the context of Ava's prime goal being getting out of there and staying out of there. For the movie, it's also a very interesting move. Is this last-minute betrayal of the machine, the AI finally revealing itself to be fundamentally inemphatic, or is this a maltreated humanlike intelligence who has decided to take no chances with her one shot at freedom?

In the end, Ex Machina is one of those Sci-Fi stories that stick with me because it isn't just about the relative sapience of this one robot, but how we understand the philosophical existence of others. One could argue, quite successfully I think, that Caleb and Nathan would treat Ava very similarly if she had turned out to be a human brain transplanted into a robot body as they do with her brain being circuits and resistors, and her being a robot is in some ways mostly a convenient way for them to sidestep the question of her agency in the situation. Put plainly, even if Ava was "fully human," however you can define that in a meaningful way, Caleb and Nathan would still objectify her, treat her as less than human in their own ways.

Now, all of this stuff is rather tangential to His Impossible Brushstrokes, but I did take some inspiration from this one in the form of the tension between Nathan and Caleb. The push and pull of who's in charge and who is manipulating who, as well as the unmistakably "Wow both these guys suck in their own way huh"-aftertaste one is left with after interacting with them is very Oscar and Tomasz.

I found examples like Ex Machina pretty useful because it's a good example of "how dudes can be superficially nice and also plotting each other's murder and/or exploitation"-type behavior. It's not a dynamic I'm particularly familiar with myself, but I did find it the right blend of enticing and fucked up for Brushstrokes. Granted, I'm pretty sure neither of Nathan and Caleb particularly wants to have sex with the other, but honestly as a queer author, what are you even doing if you're not writing writing "story we're mostly familiar with except they fuck/don't fuck" on some level?

There is also the fact that Mara would run circles around both of these guys if given a chance and an incentive to do so, but I think it is perhaps for the best that there's no Robo-Mara in Tomasz' cellar, whatever other horrors may lurk there. Now that I think about it, there is also a plot point with self-locking doors in both stories, so that's a fun coincidence.

#film friday #ex machina #his impossible brushstrokes #wow do I get into the weeds on this one #here be philosophizing

[beevean]

Kojima drawing Women's faces: Pretty diverse and unique. Nothing crazy but you can tell at a glance that they're all different people Kojima drawing Men's faces: "There's only one face that turns me on and I'm gonna draw it in a bunch of different ways"

Yeah, and unpopular opinion, I don't like it.

Her men are all really pretty, but the similarities sometimes are just too much

I love Trevor's design in CoD, and Richter in SoTN is really beautiful too... but they really look too similar:

Scar aside, Richter's hair is wavy while Trevor's is straight. That's it.

"oh but they're related" yeah, but Trevor was born 300 years before Richter, by this point the Belmont genes should have been diluted a little more

There was a post pointing out that Trevor and Mathias shave their eyebrows in the same way

Like, they have the same face! And Mathias sure isn't related to Trevor! Take notice of how many characters have the exact same eyebrows.

I know he's a fairly minor character, but Joachim is basically the illegitimate child of Alucard and Juste and in fanart I have trouble recognizing him because he has nothing to make him stand out

Also, as you can see, she really likes a specific shape of eyes and nose. You can tell Isaac wasn't supposed to be "pretty" because he has stronger features, much like Majima lol

This is a big issue in terms of character design. Almost all men drawn by Kojima have either have long hair (Simon in Chronicles, Walter, Trevor, Richter, Mathias, Maxime, Julius), fair hair (Leon, Soma), or more commonly long and fair hair (Alucard, Juste, Hector, Rinaldo, Joachim, St. Germain, Simon in GoS). The only exceptions I can think of are Isaac (shortish red hair), Graham (short grey hair), Hammer and Zead (both bald, and Zead's baldness is foreshadowing). Natural shades of red hair are nonexistent too: there are three characters with fire engine hair, and while I could accept it in Walter and Isaac's case to symbolize their villainy, Simon in Chronicles is such an eyesore that I refuse to accept it as canon lmao.

(this also seems to be a trend for women. She likes women with long, blonde hair, Mina and the Succubus in SoTN are the big exceptions. Oh, the Succubus also has fire engine hair. Women with long dark hair started to pop up in PoR and OoE, games Kojima didn't work on)

And this is nothing. Go ahead and count the non-vampiric characters that do not have blue eyes (heroes) or grey eyes (villains). I found teen Maria with green eyes (but as a child she had blue eyes), and Mina with brown (orange?) eyes. I get that blue eyes are really pretty, but you could have much more variety! How about giving blue eyes to the Belmonts only, if you have to?

Kojima is a brilliant artist, she really is, and she shaped the identity of the series. I like the general design of her characters, mainly their clothes... but it's undeniable that she suffers from severe Same Face Syndrome. In her Santa Lilio Sangre book there are a lot of men that look like other Castlevania characters, especially Alucard

#castlevania #ayami kojima #barely in the fandom and i'm already gonna get my fan card revoked lmao

[syensy]

for the weirdly specific artist ask game: 3, 6, 30!

3. What ideas come from when you were little?

Hmm… not quite sure! In general, being into MLP, Invader Zim, and another series, though I don't particularly draw any of those incredibly often anymore. I recently revised an old Irken OC of mine, though I'd have to find a picture. I do have a picture of a completely redesigned… ig alien? Oc named Mitch, though! https://toyhou.se/17979154.mitch-apidae :)

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)?

Probably HLVRAI and Earthbound. Someone clocked me with having watched hlvrai because a design of mine that had a hair style similar to how I drew Gordon. Can't help drawing men w/ long ponytails ig (pensive emoji here)

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated?

Possibly https://syensy.tumblr.com/post/688156631030251520/memories-sure-can-hurt-huh, https://syensy.tumblr.com/post/667145654834020353/the-clown-herself, or https://syensy.tumblr.com/post/673320817204117504/y2k-you-let-me-down-now ? Not particularly sure :o

#documents folder #ask game #THIS IS HALF A YEAR OLD I AM SO SORRY #THANK YOU FOR THE ASK BUT ALSO SORRY. AA

[hawkfurze]

wait what happened with penumbra podcast? i dont listen to it currently but i used to

It's gonna be a bit long and I might get some details wrong as this happened around last September. Also please note: I haven't been keeping up with anything involving Penumbra Podcast and the people who worked on it since these events happened, nor listened to the podcast past S3, before these events, and everything I saw I saw through Twitter, where these events happened, and through videos on tik tok from the TPP community there. I'm white and a lot of other creators, ones more affected by this than me, have made more detailed videos about this on tik tok (I never check the TPP tag here but there most likely are more better posts about it on here too). Also I don't condemn this post being used as an excuse to harass the people involved cause I'm not about that. The best thing to do is just to stop listening and posting about Penumbra Podcast.

CW for racism, ablieism, and transphobia

TDLR if you don't want to read the whole thing: The TPP creators hired an artist with a lineup of the Junoverse story characters portrayed with racist and abliest caricatures. After people expressed their concerns, Harley makes a vague thread about bullies that was targeted towards people that expressed their concerns about the racist art, pulling more of the fandoms attention towards the situation. The thread is deleted and the TPP creators are silent. The artist makes their own apology, holding themself accountable for the art they have made and promises not to make the same mistakes in the future. After a week, TPP posts a public statement made by the other creator of TPP, Kevin, shifting the blame for the events and "apologizing" for what had happened but giving no clear plan going forward to make sure this doesn't repeat for a third time. Harley theirself still hasn't apologized for the thread they made. I don't listen to The Penumbra Podcast anymore and you shouldn't''t either.

So last year, a couple weeks before the first episode of Season 4 was supposed to come out, TPP announced the artist they hired for the art for the new episodes of S4. You can go on their Twitter and find the artist there if you really want to, but a lot of people were not happy with the choice, specifically because of the artists lineup they made around 2 years ago (at the time of the announcement) of the main cast of Junoverse, mainly because of their designs for Buddy, Peter, Vespa, and Alessandra. Buddy and Alessandra's designs were both racist caricatures of black women, Peter's of east Asian men, and Vespa, a canonical paranoid schizophrenic woman, was portrayed as violent and bloodthirsty (I also saw some comments saying her design was also transphobic, but I believe this lineup was made before it was confirmed that Vespa is trans).

A lot of people were vocal about their choice for the artist saying it wasn't a good idea and that they should consider hiring another artist to do the promotional art for TPP because of this line up. They could have listened or made a public post about peoples concerns, but instead threw more fuel into the fire. I don't know how long after the announcement this post was made, but one of the creators, Harley Takagi Kaner, conveniently and undoubtedly was targeted towards the people pointing out the artists racism in their work, made a thread about "bullies." I admit, I don't remember everything that was in it and don't have screenshots as the thread has been deleted, but the timing of the post as well as the content of it, made things boil over and the fandom was collectively pissed. Kevin Vibert, the other creator of TPP, says Harley gets a lot of transphobic messages sent to them, but that's not an excuse when it's pointed out that the artist you hired has made racist and abliest fan art of your show.

The thread got deleted a day or so after it was made, but the damage was already done and there was only silence from the TPP creators as people directed their messages to the artist in question. The artist did apologize and promised to not lean into those caricatures again, though they used the word "goofy" instead of calling it what it is, but was left to deal with the fallout by theirself with silence from the TPP creators.

About a week later they announced they will issue a public statement, and one was made by Kevin. In the statement, Kevin apologizes and talks about the harassment Harley receives (even before this event) vs the harassment he receives, mainly these messages being transphobic attacks towards Harley, focusing more on this than on the fact that most people were respectful when raising their concerns about the racist art before Harley made that thread calling members of their own fandom bullies and that everyone only wanted to hear some kind of accountability from the creators. Kevin also admits that of the two POC people they had hired to review the artists they were considering hiring, neither of them were black, despite most of the cast for Junoverse being headcannoned as such, and that what pushed him to make the statement in the first place was because the Patreon was losing patrons as people pulled their pledges away from the show because of these events. He talks about the show being a part of his and Harley's livelihood but no real clear indication about how and if they will try to stop something like this from happening again, especially since this was not the first time this has happened (tho I didn't find that out until after this whole thing). Harley hasn't made a public apology yet, at least on twitter, and I think is taking a much needed break from Twitter. The apology, as a whole, was a messy thing that shifted blame and highlighted the mistakes behind the scenes, without giving some kind of clear statement of if the creators even intend on making sure that nothing like this will happen again.

Personally I think the way this situation was handled was sloppy and unprofessional, and as Harley Takagi Kaner still hasn't made an apology on Twitter, I am not holding out much hope that they will say anything about it at all, though I am glad they're taking a break from Twitter as they very much need it. I can't support a show that claims to be inclusive and diverse when you are alienating a whole part of your fandom, especially if you are actively encouraging people to design the main cast of characters as POC, and behaving like this when people point out your racism instead of apologizing and trying to do something better. Also by taking so long to even announce that there will be a public statement made, leaving your artist to handle the backlash alone, but, in Kevin's case, still being able to do a livestream while the shows fans are practically begging for some accountability, and only making a statement once it started affecting your patreon, doesn't make me feel like there will be any changes in the future when it comes to how things like this will be prevented before they even have the chance to happen, and how they will be handled when they do.

If you were unaware of this having had happened, I highly encourage you reconsider continuing listening to the show, and if you must must must listen to it, figure out how to without directly supporting the creators, as well as not post about the show anymore. I haven't listened to TPP since this all happened, even though it was one of my favorite shows at the time, and there are other creators out there who can and have had handled situations like this more sensitively than how the TPP crew has. Racism from the creators shouldn't be ignored in favor of the queer rep The Penumbra Podcast brings, and no show should call itself inclusive if it's creators are going to treat it's non-white audience like this.

#damn it hawkfurze #the penumbra podcast #tpp #racism tw #ablism tw #transphobia tw #yeah thats why I dont post about tpp anymore #and again dont go harassing the creators or the artist again cause this is year old drama and honestly it'd be better if you just #stopped posting about the show and find something new with gay people to listen to