we get introduced to the gender swap au stuff first in the August 2018 Reverse Fellows omake, but this page was included later in one of the Daydream Hours (for the life of me I can't find a source for it, probably a leak from an unreleased edition) and is really instructive to Ryoko Kui's approach to how sex and gender informs her characters and her designs.
like, look at everyone except Kabru. aside from some hairstyle changes and some robes changing length, everyone else is dressed basically exactly the same as before. and this makes sense, because we're told in the story and in the Daydream Hours that dungeon gear prioritizes comfort, function and readability above all else. There are some obvious cultural touches here and there (dwarf's propensity for fur and lighter armor styles, the floofy healer robes, the elf-mage look), but mostly it all lends itself to those three criteria above. Your shit has to be comfortable to move around and fight in, it has to keep the blood inside your body, and it has to clearly communicate your role to others (the later adventurer's bible has a note about how wearing healer robes without knowing the requisite healing spells is illegal on the island).
now look at Kabru. I know Kabru was raised by elves and elves seem to have an overriding cultural imperative for serving cunt, but like. girl. girl. the waist-high leather boots, cleavage down to here and no armor whatsoever, it's like she went out of her way to specifically violate each unspoken tenet of dungeon gear.
and i think she did, purposefully. but to understand why, we need to look at kabru, and also laios.
Kabru was always intended to be a foil for Laios. They're both cut from a lot of the same cloth, being melee fighters in mail who lead their respective parties, but the similarities end there. Whereas Laios is very very often flatfooted in social situations, Kabru is the picture of grace; whereas Laios probably received some basic combat training before deserting the army, Kabru is highly lethal and trained under a Canary from childhood; and of course, whereas Laios's special interest is in all things monsters, Kabru is hyperfixated on people and their social intricacies. He has the same kind of keen eye and wealth of knowledge that Laios has, just turned in the opposite direction. Because he correctly surmised that knowing where your friends and foes lie relative to you, what they think of you and others, can be just as much of a tool (and a weapon) as a dagger or a sword or a spell.
And this is expanded upon pretty plainly in their designs. Look at Laios. Between the cuirass and the mail hauberk he's most heavily protected his chest and vitals, and kinda winds up looking like a turtle; the cuirass specifically, with the exaggerated anti-dungeon rabbit gorget, was purchased because it was designed to protect against monsters. What we get is a picture of a fighter who places efficacy against monsters as the most important element of his armor, and it kinds winds up screwing him in the actual function department; like, how often do we see Laios getting killed or just straight up throwing himself into death and danger, relying on his teammates to bail them out of trouble? it's part of his strategy ofc, his faith in his party and his intuitive understanding that his body and health are just as much elements to be used as collateral in fights against monsters (who also instinctively understand this, any hunt is always a life-or-death situation), but it also reads as dangerously gung-ho and presumptive, a fact that many characters remark on throughout the story, and something that causes Kabru a great deal of consternation when he's considering the problem of Laios.
Then there's Kabru. Already, when compared to Laios, he looks much more well-armored. He's got the greaves and the poleyn, and while this particular drawing from the Adventurer's Bible doesn't include them, he also wears gauntlets with an exaggerated lower cannon which stretches up to protect his elbow. Taken alongside the leather cuirass and the mail hauberk, he looks way better protected than Laios. Like, he looks more like a man-at-arms or a mercenary, someone who knows what he's doing (and keenly, someone who considers other people to be his main enemy). He looks like the respectable leader of an up-and-coming party who have a solid chance at conquering the dungeon—which he is! And, i can spill ink about how this style of armor can probably help him in x, y and z ways during combat, distributing weight and lending him better protection against slashes and stabs and blah blah
but i think the most important element for Kabru isn't its function or defense against people or whatever: it's what it makes him appear like to other people. for Kabru, the assumptions other people make about him because of how he looks is the most important thing about his gear. that it makes him look competent but not foolhardy, approachable but not vulnerable, reasonable but not naive. With a sword strapped to his waist, he looks like he fights primarily with a sword, when in reality, he's probably comfortable using literally any kind of weapon to its maximum lethality. he understands that before he can spill any blood, the very first blade he can slip past the enemy's guard is in the assumptions they make about him. that he's a friendly, charming guy, a lady's man they've seen flirting with girls at the bar up on the island, a swordfighter who is honorable and kind and definitely won't immediately go for the jugular the second the opportunity presents itself.
Kabru has an intuitive understanding that his image and reputation are collateral that should be used whenever the chips are down. he understands that while his training lends itself to opportunistic hunter-killer shit, the easiest path forward is to wear the mask of the good guy dungeon adventurer, and only let it slip in moments where being as cutthroat as possible is advantageous. its another way he's a foil for Laios: they both think about the dungeon in very animal/monstrous ways (as a holistic ecosystem in which they themselves are a part of a greater whole), it's just that Kabru's animal of choice is the human animal (which does wind up with him getting the shaft by how often he gets party-wiped by the same monsters Laios's party is able to handle).
which brings us back finally to fem!Kabru.
why the fuck is she dressed like that? because fundamentally, she's still Kabru, and she still understands that people are assuming shit all day long. she correctly surmised that she can weaponize people's assumptions against them, but this also starts laying bare her understanding of human cultural conceptions of sex and gender. Ironically it also winds up revealing how much masc!Kabru has also thought about how his own gender plays into people's assumptions—it's not that i don't think Kabru isn't authentically a lady's man, but that he's keenly aware what acting the playboy does for his image; likewise, understanding that human culture isn't nearly as equitable across gendered lines as elf culture, that a cultural tradition exists that devalues the physical abilities of women in human societies, that aside from Rin and Falin we basically never see human women in the dungeon as adventurers, and that she has no inclinations or talent for magic, fem!Kabru probably figured out the following:
being raised and trained by insane Canary dilf Milsiril, she's probably the best melee fighter in the dungeon (against other humans)
but wearing armor like a man would mostly just have negative ramifications for her image and reputation among other humans; girls don't wear armor, duh (probably get in better with dwarf girls, but you get the idea)
however, because of her training, she probably doesn't even really need the armor; Canary armor is a lot like modern Kevlar, prioritizing ease of movement while maximizing protection, so Milsiril probably passed a lot of that same ethos onto Kabru. Wearing elf armor would also have negative ramifications for her image, for obvious reasons (elfs are fucking annoying)
so what does she do? lean really really really hard into "i'm just a girl teehee". Waist-high leather boots, floofy shirt with cleavage, gloves. that's it. she looks like a swashbuckler, or a rogue, but more than that she looks like a girl pretending to be a swashbuckler. prioritizing looks and fashion over function or protection or any other reasonable dungeon standards makes her look dumb, which is precisely the point.
as always, Kabru's first move happens when his enemies first lay eyes on him. he invites them to make a fatal assumption; in fem!Kabru's case, she's begging them to make that fatal assumption. fem!Kabru isn't the kind of adventurer you'd wanna try reasoning with, because she's a dumb girl and not worth your time: she's the kind you'd tie up and take back to your base, only for her to slip her bonds (which she could've done this whole time) and cut everyone's throats (with the dagger in her boots) when the idiot who was supposed to be watching her passed out drunk. fem!Kabru's design is laser-focused on getting people to underestimate her, and just like masc!Kabru, it also sucks complete shit when it comes to fighting monsters. but this is Kabru we're talking about, so that's not a surprise. she's a femme fatale to a T, n i think it's a testament to how fucking stellar Ryoko Kui is at character design that all of this is communicated in a Daydream Hour doodle following up on an omake she drew probably 5 or so years ago at the time.
Making a shitty one-page RPG called Oh Shit It’s the Killer. The premise is simple: you’re a high schooler spending the weekend in the woods with your besties. The Killer is there also. He is trying to the Kill you
I say shitty not to demean the quality of my work but because it’s less an exercise in good game design and more an attempt to induce paranoid internal conflict that turns into murder (in game of course). It has like three mechanics and one of them actively encourages you to murder the other PCs
I put like three braincells into this, so if there’s anything about it that outright sucks, uh. Sorry not sorry, L + ratio + let’s use the 1-page restriction as an excuse for any unfun mechanics
Recipes from Portland's famous but long-closed Rheinlander restaurant. This cookbook was produced in a limited window before Chef Mager's death. All of these fucking slap.
The lentil soup post is yeah beyond amazing. I know lentil soup doesn't seem like it could be that good. You simply don't Know how beloved the rheinlander lentil soup was. This was a famous soup here.
Hi my name is Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair (that’s how I got my name) with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee (AN: if u don’t know who she is get da hell out of here!). I’m not related to Gerard Way but I wish I was because he’s a major fucking hottie. I’m a vampire but my teeth are straight and white. I have pale white skin. I’m also a witch, and I go to a magic school called Hogwarts in England where I’m in the seventh year (I’m seventeen). I’m a goth (in case you couldn’t tell) and I wear mostly black. I love Hot Topic and I buy all my clothes from there. For example today I was wearing a black corset with matching lace around it and a black leather miniskirt, pink fishnets and black combat boots. I was wearing black lipstick, white foundation, black eyeliner and red eye shadow. I was walking outside Hogwarts. It was snowing and raining so there was no sun, which I was very happy about. A lot of preps stared at me. I put up my middle finger at them.
-The opening paragraph to My Immortal, posted 20 years ago today
It went well! At least 100 people attended, families dogs a solid portion of Glasgow's trans community. There was a really lovely atmosphere, nice weather and a very cheerful celebratory vibe.
After short speeches from the ballhaver and the large dyke (my wife), the ballhaver was given a chupa chup and blindfolded (execution style). The balls were then duly kicked; it made a surprisingly loud dull thumping sound. She fell to the ground to loud cheers and there was a moment of silence while Taps played on the flute. The large dyke wore solovair urban hikers.
Arrived early to find the crowd already gathering, so the kick got off to a prompt start. Following some introductions from everybody and some cheery folk music from our flautist (my wife!) we got on with the kick.
I think we got good contact, the top of my boot making a good solid noise on impact. Very good atmosphere all round, people stayed to chat for a while. Were it not January it would have been an excellent opportunity for a picnic.
10/10 queer event, would happily kick anybody in the balls in the name of community.
7am: the pressure is getting to me; I wake up and drink half a bottle of diet iron bru from my bedside table; roll out of bed, and psych myself up in the mirror - "you can do this my little pogchamp" I say to myself over and over until I decend into a stupor.
8am: I play an hour of Okami on steam to replenish my chi levels
9am: I look at my balls for a while
10am: I spend 20 or so minutes trying to decide what to wear before realising it's the subartic in midwinter and I'm going to have to dress for -2C° regardless of what I choose and opt of my trusty black Schott thermal padded winter flight jacket and a pair of loose, warm Uniqlo trousers to give my testicles room to breathe.
11am: crashing out, texting my friends to arange a substitute kickee, an understudy, anybody so I can just become one with the crowd and not go through with it
12am: the homies have arrived, I'm drinking redbush tea in a small cafe by the park; god is in his heaven and all is right with the world
12.15: "you must be here to watch me get kicked in the balls?"
12.40: a circle emerges, from within the circle a palpable energy focuses like a lens down unto me and I feel like I'm gonna pee my pants a little
12.50: cheers begin, several complete families with dogs arrive - more friends appear and assort themselves into a gathering of 'real heads' ready to watch my groin be dessicated by the firm lace of a women for woman woman with a foot loosed through the gates of war as Augustus saw fit the dispatch and return of his troops from far corners through the blessings of Janus.
12.55: I think I left the stove on
1pm: Short introductions are made, grace is shown, beautiful flute music accompanies the gathering
1.03pm: what is left of my dignity disappears up my inguinal canal; I fall to the ground and languish a moment. I can feel it more in my lower chest than I can in my groin but the humour and adrenaline lift me and I'm laughing on my feet again soon. I kneel for the last post.
*doctor places stethoscope on my chest* “Good news and bad news: here’s the good news, I can hear it chanting it’s own name, so diagnosis is easy. The bad news is… you’ve got tuberculosa.”
i’ve been looking at some of the visi discussion in the Dispatch fandom and one of the biggest points people hold against her is her hyper sexuality. which i totally understand, on my second play though i was uncomfortable with how she continues it even if you don’t flirt with her or go to the movie. including calling robert a pervert repeatedly, which i found very gross. I don’t hate visi, i think having a complex and flawed female character like her is super valuable but i do have some thoughts on her. in my first play though i thought her hyper sexuality was reminiscent of a trauma response. there’s absolutely no canon supporting this and i don’t think the creators had it in mind but to me her behavior kind of read like someone projecting sex as a defense mechanism or self empowerment. i think that if visi were a person who had survived sexual assault i wouldn’t be shocked. again zero canonical basis here. of course if this were true it wouldn’t excuse making other people feel uncomfortable or violated but this perspective made her behavior feel so much more cohesive to me. did anyone else have a similar reading cause i though it seemed like an obvious conclusion but maybe it’s just me. altogether the entire dispatch cast makes extremely crude or sexual statement all the time, it’s just a part of the games comedy but for visi it’s basically every causal line she says. it’s definitely not something i think the devs would ever actually touch on cause it’s far to real but it added to my perception of her.
any other six of crows fans grow up reading artemis fowl? i just realized that my affection for the asshole mastermind might go back farther than i expected
the plastic dress crow man booktok erotica is going to be the thing that finally ends fast fashion everyone say thank you plastic dress crow man booktok erotica
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