Twila, they/them, NSFW, TME. I write and do art, although both happen slowly. My writing at Ao3 is under @thedragonsarecats, but you can find it here under my #Twila Writes tag or my art under the #Twila Draws tag!
the "rip ___ you would have loved ___" meme is inherently more fun with ancient characters. rip clytemnestra you would have loved morse code. rip theseus you would have loved the airtag. rip callisto you would have loved wearing shorts.
I have seen some people in the tags confused about the color! Silk is subject to fading over time just as many other fabrics.
People have pointed out that it is "green", and yes it does appear that way! Yet if you look at the collar, it looks closer to blue, however still can come off as looking a greenish color.
What also makes it appear more green is due to the chiffon color also possibly fading which I can only assume was more white before.
not to be a joyless hag but I've started seeing genderbent "yuri" shipping Markiplier and Ryan Gosling and I can't help but think of someone I recently I unfollowed for posting that they have an easier time caring about genderbent versions of boy characters than regular fictional women
and I'm also building some connections to that post I made about reading books by Black women (you know the one) and the people who would respond by saying something akin to "joke's on you, I only read fanfic 😜" as if that were some kind of clever loophole and not a demonstration of the exact thing I was talking about
like yes fandom is about fun or whatever but idk man at what point has your desire for no thoughts head empty uncritical consumption left you splashing around in something that's been blended down to an indistinguishable goo for the sake of avoiding anything remotely challenging. with the thing that's "challenging" here being. you know. giving a shit about women and Black people and like frankly anyone but your shippable white men (and honorary Markiplier).
here’s my pitch for next doctor who. budget of 5 cents and a dream. a female doctor with female companions and a female master. they will all get horrendously gay for each other. we will make 5 billion dollars. bbc please hire me.
I’ve been thinking about this for a long while and regarding folkloric accuracy, it appears to me that the writers of Twisted Wonderland supposedly went with a sugarcoated approach regarding the portrayal of humanoid characters like beastmen, sea creatures, and faes. While it is considered a satisfaction that Malleus gets called out by one of the bold characters like Ace. But, however, in my eyes, that’s a suicide move.
Why do I think that? While the plot is supposed to be some kind of narrative progression in the perspective of villains, the portrayal of humanoid creatures was traded from folkloric accuracy to character drama.
Humans and weak mages throughout have been treating humanoid characters like they’re peers. In myths, folklore, and biological reality, you would have gotten maimed in the brutal way possible if you keep poking the forces of nature. As for faeries, they are volatile and alien-minded beings. Lilia and Malleus, the full and pure-blood faeries, had often reacted with confusion and amusement to being called out by humans or weak mages [Yeah, because this is Disney], but if that was folkloric fae accuracy included, they would have maimed humans brutally for having their circle of nature disturbed, even with Malleus as a dragon being a threatening reminder of keeping the head attached to the shoulders.
Even if Lilia is just a playful and mischievous fae who enjoys scaring or pulling pranks on humans, it doesn’t change that he is a mythical creature of actual folklore. Aside from Chapter 7 revealing Lilia was once a cold and ruthless general with no warmth and was rather merciless towards humans, he still has that side of him even in present time at NRC.
Same goes for the Savanaclaw with Leona’s nature of a lion who can bite and tear the throat, Ruggie the hyena who has the powerful jaw and canines to snap marrows and bones, and Jack the wolf who can tear carcasses with teeth and claws. Even the Octavinelle trio, who are aquatic sea creatures.
It seems like to me Malleus faces more scrutiny than any other characters so far, like Leona, putting Malleus in a ‘damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t’ double standard, all because he was acting on his natural intuition and primal draconic instinct, just like in his vignette where he was forgotten again to be invited to the Housewarden meeting so he came up with a plan and used his teleportation magic to bring Housewardens with Diasomnia, only to be met with harsh reprimand from his colleagues for treating them like objects. Like y’all forget he is a dragon, this is his nature! Just because he comes to understand human resources, doesn’t mean he is to become civilized nor tamed. This is one of the moments where I see Malleus is acting like a real dragon.
And in Chapter 7, after Malleus’s overblot, his situation was treated as an apocalypse, while Leona’s overblot was just treated as a localized crisis and that was pretty much it for Leona’s situation.
Fans were saying Malleus needed to be called out when he almost obliterated on school grounds and they even showed frustration why he wasn’t called out. Again, he is a force of nature and an apex predator wired for territory, primal, and survivalism. If human characters or mages call him out to his face, they are literally asking to get singed or have their heads detached from their shoulders. A miracle that Ace, Leona, and others can walk away from this.
Now that I have pointed out this massive biological and instinctual divide, how very accurate did Twisted Wonderland portray such folkloric tales with disneyfied filters?
NOTE: I am aware writers have given glimpse that humanoid characters have folkloric traits and do act on their instinct on circumstances. Malleus was treated as the dragon mage who shouldn’t be approached, was left uninvited to events, and did give warnings of personal space.
While I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, I cannot say that I agree with any of them. Not to say that you cannot have these thoughts or that it is bad or incorrect to have them, it’s just that I don’t find myself nodding along for... many reasons, shall we say? The most succinct response I can muster is that I believe these conclusions are based on faulty expectations.
For my detailed thoughts (and be warned, it's VERY long), please see below the cut.
It’s true that Twst isn’t “folklore accurate”, but that doesn’t indicate the quality of its writing or mean that Twst “sugarcoated” it. Fairy lore is extremely dense, varied all over the world, and has changed over time, so there isn’t even a single “true”, “real”, or “accurate” depiction of fae to compare to. I think you’re assuming that all fae come in the same shade of mischievous and having the instinct to kill, which isn’t true at all. In fact, many stories aren’t matching this idea of being “folklore accurate”, including Disney Fairies, which portray fairies as very light-hearted, generally benevolent, and community-oriented rather than mischievous and easily scorned forces of nature. There are plenty of tales of fairies being forces of good. Fairy godmothers, for example. There are fairies that don’t fall into the broader good or the bad categories. Each story offers its own interpretation of mythical creatures and their lore, and that helps to make them stand out.
Let’s look at dragons as an example. Western depictions of dragons tend to paint them as greedy, powerful, and violent creatures, but eastern depictions of dragons tend to paint them as wise, peaceful, and even symbols of good fortune. Western dragons have wings and are associated with fire, while eastern dragons are more serpentine, lack wings, and are moreso associated with water. Even within Twst itself, Malleus states that dragons and longs from the east are not one and the same; they differ a lot. There is zero standardization anywhere, it highly depends on where you look.
For Twst, which is an IP with a focus on character drama and personal growth, fae are of course written to better fit the series’s vibes and long term goals. And with Twst generally being rated for ages 4+, the age rating prevents them from showing gruesome displays. It’s about telling inspiring stories that appeal to an all-ages audience, and Twst’s lore reflects that.
It’s not true that humans have always been treating the other races like peers. Modern day Twisted Wonderland generally has smoothed out race relations (most likely for the sake of convenience). However, there are still microaggressions that occur, such as Ace assuming Jack must come from Sunset Savanna because Jack is a beastman. Additionally, there are frequent references to poor race relations, especially in the past, and efforts to enhance them, like how the Mermaid Princess established a land boot camp and other programs to facilitate merfolk coming to work and study on the surface. Fae in particular are still viewed as solitary beings that people know very little about. Book 7 goes into detail about how humans used to fear fae and their magical might, with many NPC soldiers calling them “monsters”. These views have become less extreme in the present, but the awkwardness between humans and fae remains.
Regarding Lilia’s dream in book 7, I’m certain the violence of war was dialed WAY back in order to comply with the game’s age rating. I don’t know if I would call general era Lilia entirely “cold and ruthless […] merciless […] with no warmth”, since we don’t know how accurate his personality in the dream was to real life. After all, Lilia spares and defends many humans in his dream, even protecting some of them from Maleanor’s wrath. It’s not like he intentionally kills all humans. He lets several run away in fear. Lilia also does still have a soft side to him, as he has a sense of humor (he makes fun of Baur’s uptightness and Maleanor being temperamental and bossy) and is able to pal around with his fellow soldiers.
It’s difficult to claim Malleus and Lilia represent all fae when they’re such a small fraction of them. Of the two, Malleus is more sheltered so him reacting with confusion is completely normal. He explicitly came to NRC to study so he could learn more about other races. Lilia has travelled the world and experienced all kinds of people and cultures. He’s curious and always willing to learn—because even at his old age, he doesn’t know everything. The world is vast and times change rapidly for humans. Lilia loves to ask questions and generally learns when he does wrong (such as apologizing to Silver when his Endless Halloween Night prank goes too far).
Malleus faces more scrutiny than other animal-based characters because of his immense magical power, not specifically because of being a dragon. I feel the two things are being falsely equated here. He’s not invited to things as a callback to his Disney inspiration, Maleficent. Malleus is feared and not approached because of the potential harm his magic could cause, and any harm he does cause validates and confirms the preexisting belief. The same applies for some other characters, but it’s not exclusive to animal-based ones. No, the association is often with power in general, not animal ancestry. For example, Vil and Riddle, both humans, skilled mages, and dorm leaders, are feared because of their strictness.
Using a teleportation spell in Malleus’s dorm uniform vignettes isn’t inherently dragonic; it’s how he operates in the world because he has the privilege of having enough magic to casually use it to solve daily minor inconveniences. What makes this act improper is that Malleus is casting a spell on living beings, rather than inanimate objects. He is disregarding his victims’ sentience and independence. It has nothing to do with him acting “wild”, “uncivilized”, or dragon-like. Lilia doesn’t scold him for acting like a dragon, he scolds Malleus for failing to learn and adapt to human social norms.
Malleus’s OB is treated like a big deal compared to other OBs not because he’s non-human, but because all previous NRC OBs (human or not) were contained and Malleus’s was not. Riddle, Leona, Azul, Jamil, Vil, and even Idia had their OBs localized to small areas of NRC (such as a particular dormitory) or a contained facility (like Styx HQ). This would mostly affect maybe a few hundred people. Malleus’s OB actively broke free from NRC campus and affected hundreds of thousands of Sage’s Island residents (20,000, if I recall correctly). Leona’s OB and Malleus’s are not comparable in scale; the former was trapped to a stadium where bystanders were evacuated whereas the latter instantly swamped an entire island. Not only that, but Malleus’s magic is posing a huge threat to everywhere else in Twisted Wonderland (because his thorns spread), and it is to the point where his OWN family and country side against him. This serious treatment his OB gets is extremely warranted. Fans calling for Malleus to be called out more is, similarly, due to the large scale of his magic and the lack of consequences Malleus has always experienced in previous instances where he has fucked up or committed a social faux paus. (At best, Malleus is scolded but then never actually learns from these mistakes.)
People in-universe often do not call Malleus out for a variety of reasons. There's his power, of course, and fear of being struck down by it--but there's also factors such as his high social status as a prince, the almost cult-like worship he enjoys from his countrymen, etc. He is not used to being challenged. Those few instances when he is challenged or is called out (by Ace, by Rollo, etc.), Malleus tends to find these instances amusing and novel, refreshing experiences. He states in his Birthday Bloom vignettes that he's glad to have met interesting humans such as Ace, and even expresses a similar interest in befriending Rollo despite Rollo's active efforts to end Malleus's life. Of course, there's also instances where Malleus gets antagonized and retaliates (Leona insulting him, Magicam Monsters touching him without permission and not heeding his requests, etc.)--but Malleus reacting violently is NOT always the default.
I find the implication that Malleus isn’t “civilized nor tamed” very… strange?? “Volatile”? “Alien-minded”?? "Force of nature", "apex predator wired for territory, primal, and survivalism”??? 😭 What do you mean by that??? These sound like phrases Heinrick would use to describe the “barbaric” fae he’s trying to conquer (even if, in this context, these phrases are trying to be utilized to defend Malleus). Sure, Malleus has his occasional fits of rage, but this particular phrasing gives the impression that Malleus is some rampaging monster that can never control his behavior or be controlled, and that any and all times he lashes out are because of his dragonic blood rather than conscious choices he makes. It’s characterizing Malleus for what he is and what his blood says he is rather than evaluating him for who he, as the individual, is. Something about that just feels… wrong to me.
I think the root of my disagreements is that all of the supposed “real” behaviors and potential for harm are being attributed to characters’ animalistic sides when 1) many of these are assumed to be the case when canon has rarely suggested these extremes, 2) it denies these characters of their humanity, boiling down to basically being wild beasts with no recourse, and 3) it implies these characters cannot be held accountable for their own actions, since they can easily be blamed on “oh, it’s just their nature, they can’t help being violent” 💀 The characters are being spoken about as if they are defined by their animal identities, while everything that makes them human (higher thinking, cognitive functioning, reasoning, sentience, etc.) is left to the wayside. It’s implying they would NOT be able to control themselves if Twst weren’t “sugarcoating” the lore. From this perspective, they are being “othered” and reduced to animals that operate on base instincts and nothing else 😬
“The LEGO Movie was my favorite movie of 2014, but it strikes me that the main character was male, because I feel like in our current culture, he HAD to be. The whole point of Emmett is that he’s the most boring average person in the world. It’s impossible to imagine a female character playing that role, because according to our pop culture, if she’s female she’s already SOMEthing, because she’s not male. The baseline is male. The average person is male. You can see this all over but it’s weirdly prevalent in children’s entertainment. Why are almost all of the muppets dudes, except for Miss Piggy, who’s a parody of femininity? Why do all of the Despicable Me minions, genderless blobs, have boy names? I love the story (which I read on Wikipedia) that when the director of The Brave Little Toaster cast a woman to play the toaster, one of the guys on the crew was so mad he stormed out of the room. Because he thought the toaster was a man. A TOASTER. The character is a toaster. I try to think about that when writing new characters— is there anything inherently gendered about what this character is doing? Or is it a toaster?”
— Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg commenting on how weird gendered defaults in entertainment are, and why we should think twice about them. Excerpted from this longer original post.
(via 360degreesasthecrowflies)
my most controversial pokemon opinion is probably that i like the pawmot evolution line better than i like the pikachu evolution line on both a design and conceptual level.
like. it's a buff rat that punches people. it's electric/fighting. its punches act like a defibrillator it's literally one of TWO pokemon that learns Revival Blessing.
re-reading avengers children's crusade. and the way billy's entire justification for why he's the scarlet witch's son, why he isn't just some magic user, is that tommy is there and he's just like quicksilver but also looks like billy and that has to mean something. he repeats this again and again, in his internal monologue, to the avengers, everyone. and then he turns around and calls tommy a sociopath. really makes it seem like in this point in their lives, Billy straight up doesn't like Tommy. but he's obsessed with what Tommy represents. it was kinda dehumanizing and objectifying in that sense.
Banging my head against a wall, I need to lock in and write whatever fifth dimensional plane of existential angst these two have going on
germansingergirl
romaincrisis
origamiaround
turnnoffyourmind
jbbartram-illu
