#this is a tangent

[dying-weeds]

i hope ur doing ok. i don't think u r, but i hope ur at least better than u were. idk how long ago cause there's not times on ur posts but. i hope ur doing a lil better. :] -dal

Hi dal, I'm okay just have been having a hard time tonight bc Dylan was drunk and belligerent again and it makes me feel so lonely and sad because I hate him and i want to kill him when he's like that but then I feel so sad and alone because I just want him to love me and hold me.

Like why can't I be angry idk why I'm like this. It's like I'm so angry at him and i hate him then like an hour later i want him so badly to love me and comfort me because I'm so sad i feel so unloved.

I'm sorry I'm crazy but yes I'm feeling a bit better I went and cuddled him while he was asleep so I'm okay.

#dal anon #anons #answered #im so sorry im crazy #this is a tangent

[quill-and-chalk]

The good autism representation debate is so funny to me. Cause you can have a character that is literally so 50/50 split on whether people think it’s good autism representation or if it’s the devil incarnate (Looking at you Sheldon)

It’s almost like autistic people are varied and human and have different experiences and opinions. Meaning that no Autistic representation is going to be a perfect fit for the entire autistic community because it’s not a monolith. It’s almost like treating the community as a monolith is a form of dehumanizing because it’s treats us as this separate single minded group apart from neurotypicals. It’s almost like any autism representation (that isn’t just inspiration porn or a some overtly cartoonish stereotype) is good autism representation to someone and therefore good autism representation.

But what do I know? I’m just a person on the internet.

#autism #autistic characters #autistic representation #this is a tangent #but also it boogles my mind whenever we have this debate #like come on guys #stop treating your own community like a monolith thank you

[prokopetz]

Genuses of The Normal One:

The Normal One in their own mind

The Normal One, relatively speaking

The Normal One while they're on the clock

The Normal One if you're not paying attention

The Normal One as long as you don't mention the thing

The Normal One because the subject honestly never came up

The Normal One in the sense that whatever's wrong with them perfectly counterbalances everybody else's dysfunctions

The Normal One because they own a car

#media #tropes #9. the normal one because they're perpendicular to the tangent of the plane

[stellamancer]

23 + 45 for your ask game, please!

hiyo anon! thankoo for asking!

23) Best writing advice for other writers?

Okay, I will try not to spew my usual answer to this question. And my answer is... have someone you can soundboard with. Like, I think it helps a lot to have someone you can hash out an idea with. Not entirely because they could have their own input that ultimately helps the story get better, but by talking it out you could realize something yourself. Like for example, you might get stuck and just... talking out what's going on might help, you know?

That being said, I know a lot of people, myself included, can get a little protective about their ideas, especially with rampant idea lifting and stuff like that. But the person you talk to doesn't always have to be another writer, a family member maybe, or a partner, or your friends? ...exposing yourself to normies might seem scary but the real ones aren't gonna judge you, you know?

(overall, I think having friends you can talk to about your work is always a nice fun thing. you can hype each other up!! it's very exciting!)

45) Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

I would much rather make them laugh. I mean, I say that knowing I lean more into writing slice of life humor rather than like... angst. But I think ultimately, it depends on the fic's purpose. So like, if I'm writing humor, I want them to laugh. And if I'm writing gut wrenching angst, I want them on the floor sobbing.

#asks memes #on anon #writing advice is so hard man #i think in the end most of my writing advice comes out to like mental state when writing rather than technical stuff #the next answer will be a more technical one i think lmao #angst is really not my forte #this is a tangent #but honestly i think it's easier to write humor than angst #because most things that are sad are pretty universal #but i think humor is more unique

[lotus-pear]

these losers again

#sorry for literally drawing never ever. apology skk for u guys #ALSO WAIT WAIT nobody talks abt this but #we need to enforce the fact that dazai has these large soft gorgeous brown doe eyes and chuuya has the vulpine sharp sullen dark cat eyes #skk both have brown eyes guys. not enough ppl know this💔 #anyway enough abt that before i go on an entire tangent abt how bones fucking RUINED everyones character designs #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd #chuuya nakahara #nakahara chuuya #dazai osamu #osamu dazai #skk #soukoku #lotus draws

[thebibliosphere]

What do you think Batman's coffee order is?

#batman shitpost #following this thought tangent to see where it goes

[critterbitter]

THEY ARE ELECTRIC STARTER BUDDIES NOW.

Emmet and tynamo become partners! With a buddy in his pocket (literally), Emmy’s becoming bolder by the day.

Plus a bonus Ingo. (He has not found a starter yet. Here's his feelings on that.)

For more, check out the submas masterpost!

#for the viewers: yes elesa is charging her hearing aids. The cables she’s using is later repurposed in her bw design. good for her! #and Yes emmet’s saying ‘look!!’ in sign #i headcannon he uses is pretty sparsely cause he and ingo hang out all the time and ingo usually talks enough for both of them but like #i will ALSO say that sinnoh’ian sign and unovan sign are two different buckets of fish so alas… poor elesa gets Tangents of Info at a Time #The kids r interacting!! good for them #pokemon #art #sketchbook #submas #myart #fanart #pokemon ingo #subway boss ingo #submas comic #pokemon elesa #pokemon emmet #elesa #ingo #emmet #tynamo #blitzle #nimbasa trio

[hawberries]

vultur volans | paradisaea

#description in alt text #the tangents and lines are all over the place in kaveh's illustration. i know. i see it. i am very tired and his outfit is very bad #sorry for my lack of integrity :( #hopefully his lovely face makes up for things #genshin impact #alhaitham #kaveh #haikaveh #fanart #people! #gallery

[silver-tangent]

Sometimes I think about how the entire history of the advancement of human weapons can be boiled down to: “we found more elaborate ways to hit things with rocks…”

Spears? Sharpened rocks.

Slingshot? Ranged rocks.

Arrows? Sharpened rocks with range.

Hammers/Clubs? Refined rocks.

Swords/axes? Sharpened refined rocks.

Guns? Sharpened, refined rocks, propelled by explosives…

We discovered how to make explosives, and we fine tuned that technology to better propel refined and sharpened rocks at insane distances… we are still hitting things with rocks… we just became experts in the science of hitting things with rocks… The human race is basically just a “dump everything into geology” build…

#late night tangent #humans #humans are space orcs #rocks #medieval weapons #modern weapons

[caramelldansenu]

bonus sketches

kittys first sneeze

#art #fanart #drawing #sketch #cult of the lamb #cotl #cotl narinder #it goes on random angry tangents when it feels even a little bit pissed off #lamb: pass the salt please :D narinder: you're useless you cant even get up to get your own salt stupid dumb lazy idiot #shams and the lamb constantly hang out with it so it doesn't feel lonely everytime they see it sitting alone they go; ohhhh :(( #it finds this extremely annoying

[xiewho]

i think they should meet

#wanda childa #fig faeth #zayn darkshadow #fantasy high #dimension 20 #fantasy high junior year #truly just an excuse to draw alt clothing #yes wanda childa is just fig but she is also So Much More Than That #she's my ebony darkness dementia raven way #do u think they listen to uh. whats the fh equivalent of ptv #also if i remember correctly zayn is goth right #OGUUGHSH TRADGOTH ZAYN u will be in my thoughts #on a tangent wanda childa is actually insane to me #she is an agent of psychological warfare truly #maybe zayn should meet ruben actually. do u think theyd hit it off #hello to the 3 zayn darkshadow likers btw. i know its hard out there #my art

[motherspores]

i find it very funny that people keep saying that grian is going against his rebellion rule by working for the government (not necessarily incorrect) and that the dhp is going to incite a revolt because the dhp is Different from previous governing forces in that the only control grian is excising over the other hermits its annoying them as much as possible (which he does regardless).

like. hermits love corruption. they love running corrupted governments and then dismantling them violently for fun. the dhp isnt necessarily Not Corrupt, but its Not Not Corrupt either. grian gets no profits out of this. he tries to avoid doing his job in every way possible but he still ends up doing it. the dhp is just here to rectify any mistakes made during the initial hermit permit set up and help people with their permit problems.

the dhp is meant to be as soul sucking as possible, but it does still help in the end (if you can actually get grian to cooperate). He'll Do This For You, but he Won't Be Happy About It. his sole payment is how crazy it all drives you.

and while this is not NOT an unrevoltable offense (the hermits have certainly rebelled for less), this also doesnt show any outright corruption other than whatever you'd call a depressed looking man working customer service who hates you for making him do his job. which i dont think really counts. thats just what customer service does to you.

#grian #hermitcraft 10 #hermitcraft #this is all just to say that the chances of a revolt may be lower than you think #government work is just like. extended customer service. if you think about it #some day one of my posts wont turn into a multi-paragraph tangent #joel threatened him with a sword and still ended up losing in the end. #the dhp arc is up there with hyperspace hippies in terms of my favorite arcs i think

[cuddlytogas]

So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

#everyone say 'thank you togas' for not including a long tangent about evil rimmer in red dwarf 5x05 #Our Flag Means Death #Togas does meta #and yes these principles DO fall apart slightly in s2 and i DON'T like those costumes as much #don't get me wrong they're fun and gorgeous - but generally a bit less deep and more inaccurate. so. :( #I'm not sure this really says anything new about Our Flag but I just needed to get my thoughts out #i hate hate hate Gritty Period Drama costumes they're so boring and so ugly and so wrong #god bless OFMD for using more than 3 muted colours and actually putting men in heels (and not as a shorthand for rich/foppish villainy) <3 #looking at that Tudors still is insane like they really will go to any lengths to not make men feel like they've got bare legs XD #image descriptions in alt text #and yes i DID just sink about two hours into those so you'd better appreciate them

[endivinity]

sprout goes on an adventure

#kullen art #endi crew #leech monster #this is like 80% of the reason for the 'neopets should hire me' sudden tangent. id toss my mutant pteri in that cave #spider web #monsters #creature art

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 4: Deranged Bedfellows

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.5)

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #mdzs au #lan wangji #nie huaisang #Yungmeng Jiang training arc AU #This is the *first* part of what was supposed to be a much longer comic (LWJ's morning routine in full). #I'll finish the remaining part as a reblog to this post! I just think this is the funnier chunk. #Lan Wangji absolutely is the kind of person who has a perfect internal alarm clock for when it is time to get up. #He already has a dedicated sleep schedule. He is accurate within 10 seconds of 5am every day. #I think the Jiang disciples are most likely used to waking up around 6:00-7:00am #But the allure of having a guaranteed time keeper getting you up in the morning is worth the earlier hour. #I imagine they started outside lwj's door and slowly moved closer as the weeks went on. #Now LWJ has to cope with being way too warm in the night from all the extra body heat. #LWJ is not a fan of this but they scamper off immediately after he wakes up and they at least show initiative to follow routine. #NHS joins in only because he is a chronically heavy sleeper and needs this level of intervention to get up early. #His boldness would be a death sentence in the cloud recesses but here? Whole new game. #Yungmeng Jiang isn't a lawless land. It's just a land with different laws. #And one of those laws is to forcefully domesticate the catboy coded Lan boy through any means necessary. #Completely different tangent: I drew the thumbnail for this before I did comic 134. I then realized they had the same visual gag. #So I had to space this one out so it didn't seem like I repeated the waking up joke. That's my secret and all of you have to keep it. #And in my land the law is that snitches get itches (telepathically transfers hives onto your body)

[nova-rpv]

#had to use Times New Romans for this one #FUCK i found a tangent. oh well #sth #sonic fanart #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #nov.aart