#|| meta ||

[vin-robles]

Pictured: Vin gets a bug up her ass to deep-clean her apartment and this goes on repeat for the whole day.

[crimsonprincessbenihime]

Puppet Imagery/Symbolism and Benihime

Kisuke Urahara is often described in very unique, often negative, ways: shady, manipulative, etc. 

However there was one description, well term, that was used that I found extremely fascinating and very befitting of him: puppet master 

This comes to no surprise to me as the title fits. I will not deny he took many underhanded actions or manipulated people. The reason he did all those things is not because he is evil or that he really wants to, it is always for the greater good. He carries a lot of guilt and regrets because of the actions he was forced to take. 

I will not really get into his faults, but he had a hand in setting up people into the necessary places for his plans to be executed with the least amount of damage/casualties. Even if the outcome really hurt the people who were used...Essentially, there is manipulation behind the scenes that was orchestrated by him. Thus, the comparison to him pulling the strings behind people or having a hand in events is not an inaccurate description. 

It's really fitting that Benihime, the reflection of his soul, is puppet-like or doll-like (whichever you prefer, though a puppet is better fitting). 

I have always wondered why Benihime was given jointed arms and hands (I also hc that her legs are jointed as well). The first thing when you see her, the vibes you get, is that she is powerful. Ethereal. Doll-like. Why? Kubo doesn’t include random details like this on a whim. It has to mean something. Something about Kisuke that is blatantly reflected onto Benihime. But it all clicked when I heard “puppet master.” Benihime herself is a massive puppet. Or at the very least symbolic of one. 

BUT, this does not mean that she bends and obeys the whims of her…”master”. In a puppet show, who is really controlling the story? The puppet or the master? Sure the puppet is the entertainment, the main focus of the show. Dancing and acting through the strings or hands that control them. We all think that it is the person that controls the story and the puppet. Are they really though?  

The control goes both ways. The master controls the puppet. The puppet controls the master. The master cannot force the puppet to do what doesn’t fit the puppets character. The puppet, once given a story, a narrative, effectively becomes its own person. The master...now has to perform the story that is true to the puppet. It cannot make the puppet do what it doesn’t “want” to do. THEREFORE, the master themselves becomes the puppet of the puppet. The puppet controls the master to tell its story. The master and the puppet are one in the same essentially. Both are playing the other. That’s essentially the symbolism behind Benihime. You can see how despite Benihime appears to be the “puppet” in this relationship, in the TYBW arc in her bankai form, she looks like she's puppeting Kisuke herself

Kubo went extremely hard with the puppet imagery and Kisuke in the TYBW arc in chapter 666. Literally titling the chapter “Empty Hall of the Puppet Temple.” The name of the chapter could also be referencing what she symbolizes. Puppet. Temple. Benihime is based on Kannon, goddess of compassion and mercy, after all... 

Anyways, when you think of puppets you think of strings. Strings control the puppet, right? Depends on the type of puppet. There are many different types of puppet and thus, many different ways to manipulate one. What I’m going to liken Benihime to is a traditional Bunraku Japanese puppet. Those almost life-sized puppets are usually controlled by hand by at least a minimum of 3 Ningyōzukai (puppeteers). 

Ironically, I do think Kisuke doing a lot of work to work with Benihime is very accurate XD (Work of 3 people given to him). Benihime makes Kisuke work to attain shikai. Bankai...would have been like pulling teeth, for years. No wonder Kisuke took the easy way out by using the Tenshintai. It would have taken years, if not at least a minimum of a decade before she would even think about giving him bankai. 

Kisuke, when you think about it, is essentially symbolic of a Ningyōzukai. Ningyōzukai are in full view of the audience but most of the time they wear black robes and hoods to indicate that they are not part of the story. But in more modern practices the main puppeteer, the omozukai, is visible and can even be wearing colorful clothing while the other puppeteers wear the black robes and hood. It kind of reflects how over time it becomes more apparent that Kisuke has his hand in things...  

This is all I have for now about the symbolism behind the doll/puppet-like imagery we get from Benihime. I may or may not amend this as I further explore this in the future. 

[vin-robles]

Hey Fuss, what would a guy version of Vin be like? How different is the dimorphism for Midoans? What role does culture/society play in it? How would you picture this version of Vin? (You definitely don’t have to draw a picture or anything, I’m just curious for a description.)

Ask Me Stuff | Always Accepting

I don’t think Vin would be all that different if she were a guy, tbh. A little less fluffy, maybe; Midoan men tend to have shorter, scruffier fur/hair than their female counterparts.

Her role wouldn’t change all that much either. All told, Midoan society doesn’t buy quite as much into gender roles. They’re a lot more accepting of the men being the sole caregivers of children, although those responsibilities are most ideally shared among all of the adults in a relationship (they openly accept polyamory). Vin’s father happens to be more of the ‘caregiver’ type, but even if she’d been born male, I think Vin would still have taken after her mother.

(For the record, this is her shitbag younger brother, Den. She’d probably look an awful lot like this.)

[vin-robles]

Mido’s current status: Still pretty much ass-over-teakettle. The Galra Empire is done and Voltron’s liberated the universe, but the fleet occupying the planet either hasn’t gotten the memo or they’re content to just stay there and maintain their own little chunk of space. Strip mines are still going full steam, forests are still being slashed and burned, now at a slightly accelerated pace since outside support is nonexistent. Other planets in the system have become mining satellites to try and supplement what raw materials Mido itself has.

The government, as always, is less than useless and actively works with occupying forces in exchange for certain protections for those at the top of the food chain.

[gun-maker]

△ What’s the most childish thing you still do?

Invasive Questions | Accepting

Unwillingess to answer: 1/10

“I still send bombs to my brothers through the mail. Smoke bombs, mind you. I’m not out to injure them despite how tempting it might be sometimes. It’s become something of a hobby, considering I have to make them increasingly difficult to disarm once my brothers figure out ways around them.”

[thiira-kellerman]

When she has nothing else to do, Thiira runs a little side-hustle fixing things for the locals wherever she ends up. It’s not really for profit so much as it’s so she can just stay busy in the off hours.

Not every city welcomes outsiders setting up shop and cutting into business, though, so she has to use a little judgment in that regard.

[thiira-kellerman]

really  LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY. RULES.  Repost,  don’t  reblog  !    Tag  10  !  Good  luck! TAGGED STOLEN.  From me. TAGGING. Honestly? Whoever feels like filing this monstrosity out.

BASICS.

FULL  NAME :   Thiira Kellerman. NICKNAME :   “Chief.” She’s not a fan of that one, but she accepts it. AGE :  28.  BIRTHDAY :   September 20th. ETHNIC  GROUP :  Cassian (Lowborn). NATIONALITY :   Human. LANGUAGE / S : Common. SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :  Ace. Still manages to find houseplant jokes funny somehow. ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION :  Aromantic. RELATIONSHIP  STATUS :   Unattached. HOME  TOWN / AREA :  Cassus.  CURRENT  HOME :  Wherever the Flashy Trashcan* is docked for the month. PROFESSION : Engineer. She keeps the machinery running for a traveling carnival-slash-bot show so nobody ends up killing themselves by accident.

* Not the actual name of the caravan’s flagship. But nobody but the captain can be assed to remember what it is, and it really does just look like a giant, flying rubbish bin from a distance.

PHYSICAL.

Hair:  Dark brown. Unusually oily. EYES :   Blue in normal lighting conditions. Red in low light. They are not natural. FACE :   Round. Just... round. LIPS :   Big. Always pulled into a frown. A really disapproving one. COMPLEXION :  Dry. A little on the yellow/olive end of the spectrum. BLEMISHES :   Bruises. Lots and lots of bruises. SCARS :  She has a bunch from various accidents and surgery and the like. The most notable of them is the one that runs down the left side of her face from just below the eye.  She got it when she and a fellow soldier got into a fight and he got a lucky hit in. TATTOOS :  None. HEIGHT :   5′10″ WEIGHT :   ~200lbs. BUILD :   Stocky, but proportionate. FEATURES :   There’s literally nothing to note about Thiira. She’s a human, as plain as they come. ALLERGIES :   None that she’s aware of. USUAL  HAIR  STYLE :  She almost always wears her hair down if she’s not working on something. If she even manages to brush it once a month, it’s a miracle. USUAL  FACE  LOOK :   Bare-faced. She hates having anything on her skin other than clothes, so makeup is a no-go. USUAL  CLOTHING :   Coveralls, all day, every day. Once in a blue moon she’ll be spotted in a tank top, but in that case the sleeves of the coveralls are just tied around her waist. She will never let them go. Ever. Ever.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S :   No real phobias, but she has a huge distaste for snow and cold weather. ASPIRATION / S :   To not die for as long as humanly possible. If she manages to open her own independent repair shop/service station somewhere along the way, that’s just a bonus. POSITIVE  TRAITS :  Honest, and, uh... Honest. She’s honest. NEGATIVE  TRAITS :   Blunt. Sarcastic. Impatient. Deadpan. Sorely lacking in people skills. MBTI :   LOGISTICIAN (ISTJ-A) ZODIAC :   Virgo TEMPEREMENT :   Choleric. SOUL  TYPE / S :    Hunter, Thinker, Helper, Leader ANIMALS :   Gorilla. VICE  HABIT / S :    Gambling, Vaping, Snooping on other people’s business. FAITH :  No. GHOSTS ? :   Nah. AFTERLIFE ? :   Nope. REINCARNATION ? :   Hopefully the fuck not. ALIENS ? :   Duh. POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT :    Whichever side isn’t full of raging assholes. EDUCATION  LEVEL :    Military academy graduate, with a specialized degree in engineering.

FAMILY.

FATHER :   Marius. MOTHER :   Cordelia. SIBLINGS :   None. EXTENDED  FAMILY :   None that she knows or cares about. NAME  MEANING / S :    She never bothered to learn the real meaning. She always just accepted that it meant what her dad told her it meant: “Happy accident.” HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? :   Lowborn Cassians are all basically thrown into the same basket of unimportance. Her family is no different.

FAVORITES.

BOOK :  She’s the type who reads technical manuals for fun. MOVIE :   She’s watched a lot of movies but none have really stuck with her. 5  SONGS : 

Dancin (Krono Remix) - Aaron Smith feat. Luvli Summer Nights - SIAMÉS Burning Up - Marianas Trench Nameless World - Skip the Use Black Betty - Caravan Palace

DEITY :   None. HOLIDAY :   Whatever nets her a day off. MONTH :  June. SEASON :  Autumn. PLACE :  Garages. Flea markets. Destruction derbies. Basically wherever she can be around machines or get good deals on their parts. WEATHER :  Rainy days, where she can get away with staying indoors without anyone trying to get her to go on ill-fated ‘adventuring’ trips. SOUND :   Well-tuned engines. Brown noise. Thunderstorms. SCENT / S :   Steel. Oil. Cooking meat. ‘City’ smells. TASTE / S :   She really just likes the taste of a good burger. Or cheesecake. Kind of a tie between the two. FEEL / S :    Microfiber. Soft blankets. Cold steel.   ANIMAL / S :  Dogs. NUMBER :   42. COLORS :   Brown. Red. Brownish-red. Whatever, she likes the color of rust.

EXTRA.

TALENTS :  Thiira’s good with machines, and has a knack for being able to figure out the root of a problem with one mostly by listening to it.  She also has a special talent for getting out of bad situations just by looking and sounding imposing/uninterested in negotiating. BAD  AT :   Cooking. Fiddly hobbies like knitting or crocheting. Sitting still for longer than a few minutes. TURN  ONS :  Nothing of note. Give her something she can tinker with and she’ll be your friend, at least. TURN  OFFS :   Damn near everything. HOBBIES :   Antique restoration. She has an old Dominion uniblade that she works on whenever she has nothing else to do. TROPES :   Aloof Dark-Haired Girl | Stiff Upper Lip | The Stoic | Jerk with a Heart of Gold QUOTES :  “ I have a very strict gun control policy: if there’s a gun around, I want to be in control of it.”

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :   If you could write your character your way in their own movie,  what would it be called,  what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?           A1 :   I hate this introspective bullshit so I’m not answering it. Q2 :   What would their soundtrack/score sound like?           A2 :   Classic rock/spaghetti western. Q3 :   Why did you start writing this character?           A3 :   Thiira was one of my mains in WildStar when it was still around. Q4 :   What first attracted you to this character?           A4 :   I made her, and she is mine. Q5 :   Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5 :   I hate her entire backstory because I came up with her at a time where I was generally feeling like trash, and too much of my own self showed through. Q6 :   What do you have in common with your muse?           A6 :   Copious quantities of apathy. Q7 :   How does  your muse feel about  you?           A7 :    We’d probably be buds tbh. Q8 :   What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ?         A8 :   She had a boyfriend back before she realized that she doesn’t need a relationship or validation from others. He was a granok. It was fun, but they parted ways amicably. Q9 :   What gives  you inspiration  to write  your muse ?         A9 :    Thinking back on old RPs that happened before the community started to suck balls. Q10 :   How long did this take you to complete ?           A10 :  Too long.