I apologize in advance for all the fangirling I'm about to do.
[PT. I apologize in advance for all the fangirling I'm about to do.]
Hello! I'm an uncomprehensible and formless creature that has been caged in a human body for her sins. You may refer to me as Void and by she/her and they/them pronouns.
Non-exhaustive fandom list:
Inazuma Eleven
Inazuma Eleven GO
Pokemon Main Videogame Series
Pokemon Legends Arceus (dk if it's part of the main series or not, so I'm counting it separately)
Paper Mario Series
Mario & Luigi Series
Warrior Cats: TPB and TNP. I also like SkyClan.
Avatar The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
Other fandoms will be added if my mind decides to collaborate.
I do not take part in fandom discourse of any kind. People should be free to write and draw and whatnot whatever they want in their corners of the internet.
Bigotry, be it for people's gender, sexuality, race, ethnity, religion, looks, disabilities or neurodivergences, and any other form of bigotry I may have missed, will result in an immediate block.
Sometimes I type in italics and/or bold because it helps me focus and understand what I'm writing/reading better.
It's been… one hell of a ride. The hostile architecture memes have taken a whole new meaning… Also, what did the developers take when coming up with that final boss? Because I want some.
And I don't know if it was intentional, but the background music has some notes that are very similar to Xerneas/Yveltal's theme.
I can't look at the Rust-Syndicate building in a normal way, even if i try-
The first time i ran past it in game i noticed how much it stuck out from the other buildings in Lumiose.
I work in public administration (in germany) specifically in the Building Departement, so i thought about how most cities (especially old cities) have regulations in place, to keep the architectural aesthetics/design uniform as a way to preserve part of the cities identity (we call it Gestaltungssatzung here, idk the english equivalent).
I looked up wether Paris (The City that Lumiose is obviously based on) had those types of regulations and how strict those are. And they are pretty strict in a lot of parts of Paris- (colors of the walls, type of rock, the height and the way the roof is built, etc has to match the surroundings.)
The Rust Syndicate office is made of dark stone, an entirely different roof, essentially a fully (what i assume) Kitikami inspired building that does not match the other buildings in Lumiose.
Meaning: This bitch built his office 100% off regulations. Just to keep his own aesthetic. And i respect this Diva for that-
However the fuck he pulled that off-
In my head he either:
1: Argued the extent of the regulations to get a permit for that (he can afford the personel to help with that i'm sure)
2: Built it with a fake permit or without one and hoped for the best
Secret third option: Pulled some strings to not need a formal permit- (maybe Blackmail, Bribery or something)
Tldr:
Corbeau does anything to keep things within his aesthetic, including the architecture of his office, even if its off regulations. Hes a Diva and i love him.
A thing the Avatar Legends fandom fundamentally misunderstands about bending is that the benders are meant to be equal. Stop arguing about who would've taken over the world. The airbenders can suck the breath out of you for sure, that doesn't mean they would've destroyed the world if they felt like it. The waterbenders can bend blood, that doesn't make them invincible. The firebenders could make war machines and incinerate entire villages, and we know they failed. And the earthbenders? Just cause they can bury hundreds of people at once, it doesn't make them the strongest either. The show is literally about balance and people out here still arguing about who would win when the chips are down. When everything goes, everyone goes. You know what a four way war would look like? Chaos. Air splitting, everything burning, armies iced out, and people in complementary graves. So please, stop this nonsense.
This is my Pokemon… sorta OC, sorta fangame protagonist. I'm still working on a name, but I'm leaning towards Floriana. A femenine version of the SV male protag's name, as a nod to her family being from Paldea.
The default design for an hypothetical game would be the one of the upper left, with brown hair and eyes. But I'm taking inspiration from Legends ZA, in that there would be a big degree of customization. I made a few extra designs with hair and eye color changes as examples because they were the easiest to make, but you can also change hairstyles, clothes, skin color, add or remove freckles, change eyebrow and lashes size and design, etc…
Now, let's talk about design choices, because while the art is simple, there are several layers of characterization in Floriana's design.
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Design Notes
First of all, she wears sports clothes. On a surface level, this may indicate she exercises often. This is true, since she is a traveling Trainer, spends a lot of time walking/running from place to place, and takes on martial arts during the story. But if one takes a deeper look, her clothes hint at facets of her personality.
Again, she wears sports clothes, which indicate she prioritizes comfort over appereance. Looking pretty is low on her list, and doesn't bother beyond looking presentable. She doesn't understand or really care about fashion, forgoes makeup most of the time, and often ends up wearing the same clothes over and over accidentally, since she doesn't pay attention to it long as the clothes are clean. This is backed up by her hairstyle: a simple ponytail that's very quick and easy to make, and very practical.
But let's talk about the particular sports clothes she wears: shorts and a jacket. Is she hot or is she cold? This represents one of her biggest hidden depths, that she may not be aware of herself: her indecisiveness. She overthinks everything, even how the weather is going to make her feel. But at the same time she's impulsive, making the first choice that is presented to her, without thinking stuff through until she's in hot waters. In practice, this means she makes stupid decisions in the heat of the moment that she later regrets or cost her in some way that would've been prevented if she thought about the consequences.
One of these choices is trading a Pokemon she loves for one that's supposed to be more useful, but immediately regretting it and demanding a trade back. This damaged her Pokemon's trust in her for a long time, and one of them ended up disobeying her at a crucial moment. Another of these choices is rushing into a romance with someone she isn't sure she likes, and ending up in an unhealthy relationship. Another of these choices is getting into battle with great number of Team Rocket members without backup, that almost gets her killed.
Her overthinking, on the other hand, appears in smaller but no less self-sabotaging situations. She gives the first order that comes to mind in battle, and immediately changes it when another one comes to mind, something that costs her lots of battles. She impulsively says something, then thinks it's not enough information, so she says more, then thinks she's overshared, but can't take her words back.
And to finish this little analysis of my own art, let's talk about her gloves. An item that makes sure your hands don't touch anything directly. A physical but subtle representation for being "out of touch", if you will.
Floriana is cheerful, enthusiastic and has hope in spades, in a region with huge presence of Pokemon trafficking, disappereances, corruption and abuse of power (Kanto in the Pokemon anime is a dumpster fire). She believes that she can be the strongest Trainer in the world if she tries hard enough, instead of finding it an impossible but pleasant fantasy like most regular Trainers. She believes that friendship is the most important thing about training Pokemon, and thinks any obstacle can be overcome if one tries hard enough. None of this gives the impression of someone who knows how cruel and unfair the world can be. I did consider gloves as a representation of Floriana's ignorance or the lies she tells herself, but as her story grew in my mind, I realized something very important.
Floriana is not — and realistically wouldn't be — as naive as other characters think she is. And fingerless gloves were the perfect representation of that. She is idealistic, doesn't know everything about competitive battles, but isn't naive.
She is flawed, she makes mistakes, she doesn't live up to her own ideals, she loses sight of them, or doesn't know how to put them into practice. But the ultimate message of the story is that she's idealistic, and she is right. There is always a silver lining that makes you believe in humanity again, if you know where to look. Hence, why her gloves are fingerless.
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Estimate time I've spent on this: a little more than eleven hours and half over the weekend.
Elaine's skin on my phone looks very different than on my computer, and it's weird. I could have sworn the green-haired version had a different shade on her hair.
The color difference between her shorts and jacket fought me so much, oh my god. I spent at least half an hour picking and trying out different shades. There are seven shades of dark gray and over fifteen of dark blue stored on my color picker.
I ended up having to adjust and redraw Elaine's body multiple times, so maybe her proportions look weird. Once the outline was done, I copy pasted it until I had enough of them to have all the hair-eye color combinations I wanted to try out.
This is my first fanart, so it's pretty simplified in comparison to what I had in my head. But I think it looks pretty good, and I'm proud of my work, so I'm happy to share. Hope you like it!
I never liked those posts that reduce the Disney princesses to “girl who overacts about something and dramatically flings herself down and bawls” (super popular in the early 10’s and somehow that’s how a shocking majority view the classics now) but after an Aladdin (1992) rewatch, it’s especially egregious that they ever included Jasmine in that.
This part. This is the part I’m talking about
This is not a woman falling to pieces because her father won’t let her marry a man she just met.
This is a woman born to a life she has very little say in. She has never had a genuine friend (besides a tiger). She is facing a marriage to a man she doesn’t know and doesn’t like but duty (and the law) demands it. So she took a risk, ran away, ran to a world she doesn’t know or understand and when she landed in trouble (serious, serious trouble) a stranger came to her aid. She finally (finally!) made a real connection with someone but they didn’t get much time together before the guards showed up and she had to reveal who she was.
This moment when she’s crying her heart out? It comes after she’s been told that the first person she ever connected with, the first person to be genuinely interested in her for who she is and not what she is, the first real friend she has ever made, was executed… because of her.
She believes a good, innocent person has lost their life because of her actions, and what’s more, it brings home the reality for her that she cannot have a normal life or normal relationships, because see the consequences one little attempt wrought?
I actually love this trope. People treat crying like some kind of moral failure. Boys shouldn't cry, girls *can* cry, but that's also what makes them inferior. If this is not an example of toxic masculity, I don't know what is.
Crying is normal. Even if it's over something trivial. We all face a lot of struggles in their lives, whether we acknowledge it or not. Something minor might end up breaking the camel's back.
Anyway, here's one of my favorite scenes in Beauty and the Beast:
Belle's reaction is completely understandable. I think Mrs. Potts put it best: "The girl lost her father and her freedom all in one day." That's not overreacting!
Really, none of the classic princesses deserve the misinterpretation.
Cinderella?
Again, this is not after someone told her “yOu CaN’t MaRrY a MaN yOu JuSt MeT”—this is after she went to great lengths to get ready for the ball, adhering to the intentionally difficult (meant to be impossible) stipulations set by her abusive step-mother for her to be allowed to attend (when really she was invited and had as much right as the others to attend). She made that dress (I can’t recall off the top of my head if the classic animated version was also her mother’s old dress she restyled or not but still, she put in a ton of work on top of all the extra house work) and what did her step-family do? They tore to shreds while she was wearing it. Of course she’s lost hope: it’s the final straw after years and years of doggedly remaining optimistic despite constant harsh treatment.
Let’s go to another favourite: Mulan.
Mulan’s just had the worst day.
She tried her hardest to live up to her family’s and her society’s expectations and vision of a perfect bride but she failed. Not only did it go wrong, but she was publicly humiliated by the Matchmaker—by extension, humiliating her family.
Granted, her family has been kind and sympathetic about the whole thing. Her father even goes to encourage her, assuring her of his unconditional love for her and his confidence that she’ll get it right next time.
She’s just beginning to smile when the drums pound and news of war reaches their village. Her father—her beloved father who’s already a veteran and lives with a disability—is expected as the only male in their family to suit up and head out in the morning.
Mulan can’t help. Nothing she says will be listened to and she can’t take his place (until, of course, she thinks of a way to do so which this moment of crying it out in the rain leads to—score one for having a good cry and clearing your head).
There’s of course more. Take any princess’ dramatic crying momentTM and review the context and I’ll bet you’ll see it’s never as trivial as some have framed it. And, yes, like prev pointed out, it’s this awful thing of people believing boys can’t cry and girls can but then they can never be taken seriously.
Crying is healthy. And crying in response to emotional distress is totally normal. Writers and storytellers across the ages have understood it and portrayed it.
Sending love to everyone who is just... tired. Life is a lot, and sometimes the answer to it all is to just be still and silent for a while. Give yourself space and grace.
Whether it’s decision fatigue, anxiety fatigue, information fatigue, routine fatigue, getting life back together fatigue, career fatigue, social fatigue, financial fatigue, or physical fatigue: take a moment to breathe and recharge. You deserve it.
