#yknow by their standards

[theonewhowails]

Golden Fleece

#my art #cotl #cotl lamb #blood #it was really fun to ponder this one #cause in the game sprite the body on the fleece has the scale-like texture but the hem is sharp like the standard fleece #i felt a 2 tiered piece would work nicely to show both of these contrasting elements #the sprite always makes me think of gold scale mail but i wanted to avoid it looking explicitly like armor #since the fleece gives you stacking atk damage in exchange of taking 2x damage when hit #although tbqh gold armor would be fucking pointless anyways. gold is a very soft metal. which may have been the point but w/e #instead i wanted the shapes to be more reminiscent of wool since like. yknow. the golden fleece #and i wanted it to speak of luxury and power but be rather impractical for movement or protection #i just wanted to do an axe for funsies and by wonderful coincidence remembered the godly axe was gold :] #anyways this pose is brought to you by my stupid ass who spun too hard with my upper body when swinging a bat and felt cool for 1 second #before totally unbalancing myself and falling #the instant after this image lambo eats shit. rest in peace

[kreftropod]

Absolutely loving the fact that, despite Dracula being adapted to death and back by media over the last century, a lot of people don't actually know the original story. As in, here we are, in 2022, tagging spoilers for a 125 year old novel that most people thought they knew from it's countless adaptations but turned out to not know at all. It's great. I love it. Thanks for sharing your first-time reactions to this comedy of an old book.

#it's good to remember that we have 125 years of hindsight when reading this though #people back in 1897 didn't know the things we know today #their worldview was very different from ours and they didn't know all the spooky tropes we know today #since yknow this book was part of the ones who started those tropes to begin with #yes Dracula is a comedy by todays standard and please continue to make fun of our Dear Friend Jonathan and Domestic Teeabo Dracula #but also remember that this book is Old as Fuck #and very old timey English(tm) #so there's inevitably gonna be descriptions and character-opinions that reflect that #just good to keep in mind #anyway love yall #keep on what you're doing #I'm having a blast reading all of your funny Dracula posts #Dracula Daily #Dracula #Bram Stoker's Dracula #babbling in the tags I guess

[possamble]

do you have any particular thoughts regarding marcille being a half-elf? its interesting to me considering the fact that she seems self-conscious about being a half-elf, but denies it when its brought up

i remember marcille looking visibly uncomfortable over laios simply asking her how old she is, which i think the only reason she might feel nervous about this is because it might reveal her as a half-elf to him.

she's never corrected anybody whose called her an elf either.

never mind the circumstances of the reveal, in which thistle goes on about how half-elves are inferior and accusing her of wanting to become full blooded elf, she seemed particularly upset like he struck a nerve-

i wish the half-elf thing was built upon more. also, underrated marcille line:

okay so i revisited this sequence just to make sure I could back myself up and it's just... man. there's a lot going on.

the first reaction we get from Marcille is this huge panel that takes up half of the page

she is viscerally affected. flushing to the tips of her ears with the intensity of it. and we see it again, a few pages later

so it might seem like she's embarrassed about it and lying to herself, but... I really think it's just that Thistle is accidentally hitting sore spots. If you really look at what he says to get these reactions

"you'll live out your entire life [...] and die that way too"

"a hundred years from now, nobody will be there"

Hear me out. I think, if he stuck to harping on about her inferiority without bringing up how terrifyingly long-lived she is, she wouldn't have been as bothered. But right now, Thistle is accidentally hitting all the marks on Marcille's deepest fears-- and this is after the Winged Lion promised her that her dreams could come true in an extremely vulnerable moment, so it also hits her slightly guilty conscience as well.

I do truly believe that Marcille isn't bothered about being a half-elf the way that people assume she'd be bothered by it. To her, the biggest problem with being a half-elf is that it's isolating.

On one hand, it's not hard to imagine why she'd distance herself from elves in the west. A lot of them can clock her as a half-elf on sight, unlike other races, and therefore she's always branded with this weird stigma of being Othered -- I would even say that she considers herself lucky for being born outside of elven culture instead of having to grow up in it. I mean, just... look at the way elves talk about her.

Skipping past the uncomfortable implication of what 'not tolerating the existence' of half-elves would actually entail, this is incredibly fucking annoying. You can see why she wouldn't want to be around elves much. You see a lot of Marcille reacting badly here, but honestly, almost all of it can be attributed to her freaking out that her bluff completely failed. She's honestly more paying attention to Izutsumi's footsteps and trying to coordinate an opportunity to escape.

And in the end, you see her built-up frustration at being asked if she wants to be a full-blooded elf like 2-3 times in a row.

Yeah, yeah, "the lady doth protest too much," and all. But we know Marcille. We know that she's a lot more embarrassed and horrendously unconvincing when she's being prodded about something she's actually self-conscious about.

Moving onto the flipside of things, it might seem weird that she "pretends" to be a full elf around other races, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Again, people are weird about her being infertile or whatever, and a lots of them don't even know much about what sets half-elves apart from everyone else. I mean, look at how uncomfortable Laios is just asking her about it

and look at how exasperated and resigned she looks

And like... she's right. Where would that come up in normal conversation? Why would she go out of her way to tell them? She's functionally a normal elf to other races anyway -- got the ears, the abnormally long "childhood", and the huge mana capacity. Unless it's directly relevant or important for people to know, I don't think it's all that strange or indicative of insecurity that she prefers not to bother with it.

(This combined with her sense of being an "outsider" to elf culture also explains why she thinks elf superiority is embarrassing. She sees the way elves treat short-lived races from the "outsider" perspective nonetheless, and thinks it's obnoxious; especially more so because she usually has to play the elf around short-lived races and deal with the reputation of arrogance that elves have built up.)

The sad thing is, this all means that... she doesn't actually fit in anywhere. She doesn't like going out West much because of how elves treat her. But she's also an outsider in the continents she was born in, treated like this exotic long-lived alien choosing to live among short-lived races for some reason. She is always an outsider, the Other, no matter where she goes. Add in the fact that she'll live longer than literally anyone she knows, and it's honestly kind of heartbreaking.

And I think that's the crux of it. Marcille really doesn't act like she's at all self-conscious about being a half-elf because of any feelings of inferiority or being half-made or whatever. She considers herself a perfectly legitimate being and might even, in some ways, consider herself superior to normal elves because she's not blind with elf supremacy or whatever. (And whatever "elven biases" she displays, all of them are born more out of the fact that she's kind of bad at conceptualizing how other races age and mature compared to herself, not that she actually considers herself better or more mature simply for being an elf.)

I think that whatever self-consciousness Marcille has about being a half-elf is, instead, related to terror and loneliness. The reminder that it ensures she'll never truly belong anywhere for the rest of her very long life. The reminder that, in truth, even she's not actually sure how old she is by other races' standards (hence the discomfort when asked how old she is). She doesn't want to not be a half elf, or be a full elf or full tall-man-- in her ideal world, she's still a half-elf. She just gets to live out her life at the same pace with the people she loves and doesn't have to say goodbye again and again and again until she dies.

and one last very important panel, right after Mithrun tells her that all her desires would be devoured

In her ideal world, she's still a half-elf and reality magically starts marching at her pace. But failing that, the second best thing is that she's still a half-elf-- but one who is able to accept reality and let go of her fear.

(But the rest of the story pans out the way it does because, to Marcille, taking reality apart and reshaping it was less scary than simply and fully reconciling with it.)

#asks #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #marcille donato #manga panel analysis #this is probably riddled with typos sorry #readmore cut bc it got long lmao #i ended up babbling about it bc it's such an important character detail to me #bc like... wow. she's so normal about it. she's literally just chilling. #the only thing that really bothers her is the material reality of it and how people treat her #the stereotypes the stigma etc. etc. #otherwise it just.. #literally doesn't factor into her criteria for self-worth at all #the basic truth is that marcille likes herself on a fundamental level #she's not plagued by a deep and festering self-loathing the way a lot of characters in her archetype are #she likes herself and is proud of her successes and accomplishments #its just that shes terrified of failure and can have *episodes* of self-loathing when she fucks up #but who doesn't yknow #i know its a very slight nuance that makes very little difference in how her 'overachiever' problems manifest but its there #the sword of abandonment issues that hangs over her head has nothing to do with her self-worth or self-esteem or meeting her own standards #it has to do with the fear of not living up to *other* people's expectations and not being useful enough to be worth keeping around #she's good enough for herself but she's always so so so scared that she's not good enough for other people #i wont say much about what ryoko kui is saying using this as an allegory for real world racial biases but #dungeon meshi's treatment of marcille's relationship with her being half-elf is so incredibly important to me because it gets it so right. #a trauma about inferiority or being a half-being isn't inherent to the experience of being 'of two worlds' at all #that's something that's unfairly drilled into people by their environment #the *inherent* anguish is the loneliness. the constant longing. the fact that you are always homesick no matter where you are #always just a little bit of an outsider and never fully at home #and dungeon meshi gets that. #edit: cleaned it up a little

[spider-man-2o99]

miguel o'hara voted most Just Some Guy Having The Worst Day Of His Life Every Single Day (But Literally He Just Lives Like This So It Cancels Out Anyways) of all time ever

#talking tag #spider-man 2099 #spiderman 2099 #miguel o'hara #marvel #comics #comic panels #genuinely genuinely i am SO curious as to whether or not atsv will touch on migs origin story at all because it is so distinctly Different- #-from the Familiar Spidey Origins BY DESIGN yknow........ #like YEAH he IS a really REALLY good character to use as an opposing force 4 miles 2 butt heads with he was MADE TO BE A FOIL TO SPIDER-MAN* #(*modern spider-man. Yes Miles Is Spider-Man dont even try to start that nonsense here lmao yall aint slick.) #but like. Yeah there is a Reason he wasnt Bit By A Spider there is a REASON his powers r nothing like other spider ppls powers are. #mig was. like. one of--if not THE--First Big AU Spideys he set that standard for what IS a Spider-Man-After-Spider-Man nd he IS NOT Peter. #Allegedly from an interview PAD claims that he was the only writer who DIDNT propose a book about a descendant of peter parker. #and. like. for all of its Quirks and all of the Wacky 90s Slang that didnt age well there is a REASON miguel still holds up y/k...

[oliveroctavius]

I got this ask on main but thought I'd pick it up here, my comics history/fashion ramble blog. I'd been wondering this exact same thing recently, and Google initially wasn't much help—Rocketeer replica jackets describe themselves only as "Rocketeer jackets" and the one Lobster Johnson cosplay thread just suggested ordering one of those.

The most curious part is the double seam and horizonal row of buttons that mark out the entire front as possibly being an unbuttonable "bib", like a plastron front. (Please don't ask how late in the game I worked out that "plastron" is the right word for that.)

The closest genuine Golden Age example of a plastron jacket I found was the military tunic style uniform of Blackhawk, created in 1941.

(Pics from the '52 movie serial (right) really show how awkward it is to combine open lapels + plastron. On a double breasted coat, that chest panel IS the bottom lapel, folded shut.)

Here's the thing: This outfit mirrors that of the Nazi ace pilot he fights in the origin issue, von Tepp (middle). And compare further to the far right: real life WWI flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, AKA the Red Baron, in imperial German Uhlan (lance cavalry) uniform.

"The Germans had designed such great costumes, we decided to use them ourselves," co-creator Cuidera is quoted as saying in Steranko's History of Comics, which (more dubiously, in my opinion) compares the look to the Gestapo or SS. Breeches or jodhpurs weren't strictly a Nazi thing at the time, but they do add to the overall effect.

Compare two other military tunic themed costumes from 1940, on Captain Marvel and Bucky Barnes. These are asymmetrically buttoned, and switch to a more classic circus strongman look below the waist.

But somewhere around 1975, with the Invaders book, Bucky gets a buttoned bib! There's something infectious about it—the symmetry, maybe. (Even re: the characters we started with; Mignola didn't draw Lobster Johnson with buttons down the right side, but every artist after does. And Spider-Noir wore a sweater under his coat until Shattered Dimensions introduced the double-breasted vest.)

If it didn't reach his belt, Barnes' button-on front + shirt collar combo would resemble a bib-front western shirt, like the one that became the Rawhide Kid's signature look in '56. (Or Texas Twister's in '76.)

This shirt entered the old-West-obsessed public imagination in the 1940s/50s largely because John Wayne wore it in several cowboy movies. In reality it was rare among cowboys, more common with firefighters and civil war era militia.

Military tunics, Western shirts, alright, but does anything match the style and material and era, or are these jackets a total anachronism? I tried looking into 1930s leather flight jackets and was surprised when the closest-looking results were marked as Luftwaffe.

It took me a bit to work out why: USAF and RAF issued standard flight jackets with a center closure. The Luftwaffe instead let their pilots buy non-standardized ones. The 'weird' double-breasted black German flight jackets were in fact fairly normal (but repurposed) motorcycle racing jackets.

Far left is an English biker's jacket that dates back to the 1920s. Even without the bib, this may be as close as you'll get to an authentic Rocketeer. The jodhpurs were pretty common to complete the look. (What was an early motorcycle anyways, if not a weird metal horse?) The first biker jacket with the now iconic off-center diagonal zip was designed in America in 1928 and yet as far as I can tell, not a single actual pre-war pulp hero wore one.

The greatest weakness of this post is that I haven't been able to find any of these artists' notes on how, exactly, they arrived at similar versions of this iconic Pulp Front Panel Jacket. I'm sure I've missed some things. But as far as I can tell, this jacket is an odd bit of convergent stylistic evolution from the above influences that's picked up enough momentum to now be self-perpetuating.

The problem with pulp heroes is that for the most part, they just wore clothes. The appeal of this jacket is actually very similar to what the 1940s thought the appeal of the bib-front shirt in westerns was: It's alien enough to feel "old". It looks like something invented before zippers or synthetic fabrics. It looks formal and militant but also renegade, rebellious. It also looks a little mad-sciencey*. It's a costume, but you can nearly fool yourself into thinking the past was weird enough that you could find something this cool on the rack.

If I wanted to end on some grand point, I could try to argue that there's a thematic throughline between fascist fashion, John Wayne movies, and throwback pulp. A manufactured aesthetic valorizing the violence of a fictional golden age... but I think the noir stylings of the post-Rocketeer comics in this lineup mean that, at least on some level, they know the "good guys" didn't dress like this.

*If I had another couple weeks of time to burn, I'd try to trace the visual history of the Howie coat in popular culture and investigate its possible connections to this. Alas, I do actually have a life.

#thank you for reading. also don't read golden age blackhawks the racism is awful even by era standards. #comics history #costume taxonomy #<- forgot I had that tag. #not to be like ''in MY favorite comics...'' again but may I point out that Hellboy and Robo and Tom Strong just wear... clothes #like. yknow. A pulp series that had confidence in itself rather than trying to cosplay as eras it thinks were cooler might do- #[I am yanked offstage before I can restart that rant] #the rocketeer

[lameotello]

I hate that we've gone from "don't like, don't read" and not caring about what fucked up shit is depicted in fan media as a standard to hypervigilance and having to mind your every word so the group you've found yourself in doesn't know you ship the Not HOA Approved Ship

#like what the fuck #tello talks #proship #I just can't get over it fr #I have a platonic side acc and the fact I have to be afraid some stupid internet person will find out I ship tcest #and tell all their insane little friends who might or might not harrass me #is LITERALLY insane #I have fight daydreams sometimes. as you do. yknow the type of daydream where you're in a talkshow only this is an internet fight #and I try to think of ways to maneuver around a potential ''are you proship?'' situation by saying Yes Fuck You but in a way that explains #what proship IS not what /they/ have made it to be #and that it was the internet standard until like 2016 when some weirdo decided ship wars weren't enough #they needed to Actually Cancel people #but there's literally no way to win because they would /not/ listen #and that's is Insane and I don't feel I'm exaggerating here #anyway rant over #sorry #lol #long tags

[daily-hanamura]

#p4 #p4g #persona 4 #persona 4 golden #hanamura yosuke #yosuke hanamura #uh huh. i mean. yosuke are you sure youre only talking about teddie here #i love when teddie functions as a proxy or substitute for yosuke sometimes #and idk like im always so hung up on yosukes need to “not create trouble for others” #and how its a standard he imposes on himself but also tries to impress on teddie (albeit unsuccessfully) #and IDK LISTEN you can just see so much of yosuke in teddie and its my everything. #and the game knows this. and i think yosuke also communicates things that he wants to say to yu through to teddie #yknow??? #he's good with his queue

[mcybree]

scott “loyalty” smajor spending the entire first season waiting for his husband to die so he can fuck off and retire

#bree barks so fucking loud #Im not saying he’s not loyal but I am saying his loyalty is almost strictly strategic and is therefore conditional #so he’s arguably less loyal than other players as a result #also. not to pull the dl!pearl card. but. yknow. That did happen #i will say he is explicitly loyal to jimmy in 3l. this post is a joke #but it’s also like he’s calculating the loyalty bare mininum as to not betray his personal self standards. it’s really funny #“I cant ally with cleo i cant betray my husband 😔 hopefully he dies soon though bc it’d be really awesome if I could”

[starrysharks]

found out infected mushroom supports the ongoing genocide, which is already shitty but to add on they also literally made a song out of it,,,, are you taking the piss

#i already knew that they were from israel but i was at least hoping maybe they um yknow didnt support kids being slaughtered #guess my standards were too high! #would encourage any others who listen to them to block their spotify/apple music/whatever #infected mushroom

[hajihiko]

I've seen a few people talk about how much smoother things would have gone for the cast if they had A Mature Conversation about things, but like. they're teenagers. Not only that, they're all gifted kid teenagers who also have Issues (except Hajime who only has the Issues). How capable do you think they are of going 'alright now boys we need to talk about your misogyny' or somesuch

#I think a part of what COULD be the tragedy of it all is on fact that they're teenagers with even less #-of a standard for what's normal than regular teenagers. #16 year old kids seeing another 16 year old kid who clearly has a history of abuse but they're like #Damn that sucks... Uh... Should I tell a teacher or #Oh right wait killing game island. Welp. #Them as adults post game looking back like god DAMN if I could go back in time and respond better #But yknow no time like the present #The fact that people like heard a single word out of Mikans mouth and did not think to intervene says sth- #-about the school they went to methinks. #Anyway. This has been a Me Talking #Ps not saying teenagers aren't capable of being good people #But being in that situation on top of all their backstory baggage I can't blame them for putting certain things on the backburner #WAIT ALSO ALSO. Have YOU ever tried to talk to a mean teenager. Jesus christ #They do not take reason trying to argue just makes them stronger.

[chaotic-solutions]

something i adore about the trigun 1998 dub is that you can really feel that vash is the first character johnny yong bosch ever voiced. it gives him a very natural and slightly off-kilter quality that's also mostly free from the standard patterns of speech anime dubs tend to have, which i find works incredibly well for a character like vash. he makes some truly bizarre acting choices that i don't think a seasoned professional ever would and its extremely dear to me

#i miss anime dubs with amateur voice actors before things became so standardized yknow #also i think this is why i dont like his blr performance quite as much #hes more experienced so its a bit less spontaneous. still great though #trigun #talk tag

[brookheimer]

if your ‘body positivity’ is “i’m sexy too” and not “why is my worth premised on my desirability” then it’s not actually positive. you are not revolutionary. you are not questioning or dismantling anything or bringing society closer to some utopian ideal of equality — you are trying to expand the hierarchy of beauty standards to include you. you are maintaining the beauty value system in the hopes of one day fitting within it. and that’s fine, we all do it (or, at least, i know i do), but you have to be aware that what you’re doing is not protesting against the unattainable ideals of beauty that govern our society, but trying to broaden said ideals so people might see you as having attained them

#partially from tags on prev post lol #and again this isn’t a fuck you take down like i am such a culprit of perpetuating beauty standards sometimes in the hopes of being seen as #someone who fits into them #like i get it #but if you’re not even aware that that’s what you’re doing you’ll never be able to work on it and view yourself & others in a genuinely #helpful & productive way #yknow

[thalassous]

more people gotta see enjolras as that one vine thats like. "hmhmhm. you were wrong! <:)"

(goddess braids enj from the-march-hair because lord thats so smart)

#les miserables #les mis #whale's fall #enjolras #enjolras les mis #grantaire #(for the cameo thanks r) #OK SO THE CONTEXT HERE IS . YKNOW #THE BLOND BOY URGE PULLED ME SO. FAR #WE REACJED ALBINISM #and honestly to me the intersectionality here of like. the writing of hugo where enj is of course this beautiful. western beauty. #and the double standards that are placed on people with albinism / colourism seemed like a Really enjolras thing #we loose the piercing eyes for this one but we win because albino enjolras ok. it fuckig rules #also my peak exr content really is just. did you. do the dishes? i thought you. wanted to. mhhmhmg. you were wrong! #peak modern exr #(i just want them both to be bitches more in fandom like they are in canon) #hi the tags are for my words. its 12 am

[writingjourney]

Why does every work meeting feel like I‘m going to die, I can hardly sleep the night before and if I do I have panic induced dreams about it but then the actual meeting goes fairly smoothly and I, in fact, do not get brutally murdered in the middle of a zoom conference?

#i know why it’s the perfectionism and my own sick standards for myself #but yknow

[fruitless-vain]

When you are a tiny lady so your mum has to make you your own vest bc no commercial tiny dog vests are large enough to be legible or fit useful info

#vests #whata ya think!??? #there’s parts i defi Italy messed up on and of course it’s not as crisp as a computerize embroidery machine yknow #but for my first try and doing it entirely with a standard sewing machine and hand sewing #I’m not too mad at the end result #lots of bits I wish I could have done better #but happy enough with it that it’ll get used for sure

[uncanny-tranny]

It's still fucked up to go "why can't people accept trans men as men when they act JUST LIKE cis men," and it (at best) is putting trans men in a shitty position wherein we have to prove ourselves suffieciently enough and at worst is actively just transphobia reliant on gender essentialism, which affects all trans people and then some.

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq #ftm #nonbinary #transphobia #transphobia tw #i've honestly found that people have held me to a much higher standard than cis men and i imagine that is multiplied tenfold among TPoC #the conversation about how we (general) make TPoC into a Threat is not mine to have. i have seen this discussion pop up multiple times #and the way gender is racialized absolutely affects PoC and TPoC #it runs me the wrong way precisely because of the gender essentialism and how much of that is rooted in transphobia 👍 #like i feel as though people will read past the transphobia i'm talking about to go 'oh classic man whining' but... #...transphobia is transphobia even if it is 'gender-affirming' transphobia #my manhood isn't affirmed when you assume i'm a danger or that i am bound to be a fuck-up yknow? #because i *do* actually try my best to be good to the people around me and i *do* my best to protect others #and i am confident in the fact that the people around me irl will know that i don't fuck around when it comes to wanting to have their backs #like i have made it clear that i am willing to go apeshit if i'm told somebody is not safe #anyway i just want people to be mindful about how they talk about trans people and how playing into gender essentialism won't save us #i want people to know that they're still hurting trans people even if they think they're somehow punching up at us #talking about this because it's weirdly something i see so often when people even look at a trans man (only slightly hyperbolic) #people assume trans men have no idea what women and gender expansive people go through when it's like...??? HUH??? #(also going off earlier my manhood doesn't even *need* to be rooted in protecting others and being a shield for me to be a man)