#*depth

[gideonthefirst]

i think it is so strange to argue "[character] must have [experience] because everybody has [experience] in one way or another" bc like even presuming you're correct and all real people do have that experience in one way or another fictional characters are not real people

[chann3l-chas3r]

[nintenderniere]

Star Wars au where everything is the same except everytime somebody (mainly obi-wan) tries to punish Anakin for his actions he just pulls out the ‘is it because I was a slave 😩😕🤨🤨’ card

[buddyapologist]

hi hello!!!!! what is your favorite type of character to write? is there some element you’re drawn to in certain characters?

hi!!!!! omg I love your blog <3

ummm gosh okay so i naturally gravitate towards characters I share certain fundamental traits with for the POV ppl, usually stuff along the lines of inadequacy, fear of being alone/being unwanted, feeling like there is something deeply wrong with me that I will never be free of, fun stuff like that!!! both bc those tend to be characters I get attached to and ones that are just easier for me to write.

I also really like writing characters who are just messy little nightmares with no filter who say acab bc they're free to do pretty much whatever they want, so like, chaotic girlbosses, they do not give a fuck and i love it and i wish I could be more like that 🥲 but especially when they have a lot of interesting underlying reasons for that behavior

lastly, and this is just bc I'm very lazy, i like writing ppl who have a lot of unanswered questions about their backstories, personalities, opinions, etc bc then I can build on them with my headcanons and I don't completely stress out over characterizing them properly like I do normally lmfao stressing abt that has been my life for the last 2 months

[bybdolan]

would love to see you rank taylor’s album covers and maybe explain what you like/dislike about each of them one day. :) i’m not creative in the slightest and have almost no preferences about that sort of thing, so it’s interesting to hear what more artistic people have to say about them. but even as someone who’s not creative like that, i have always thought the rep cover was trash. like normally i never notice that kind of thing but it feels like that “graphic design is my passion” meme lol

Disclaimer: I am NOT a trained graphic designer, so this list and all my opinions are based on my personal taste and my “eye” for things, not any actual knowledge on what makes a cover good – though I have taken the recognizability of each cover and how it represents the album into account. Making this list has also instilled a deep loathing of the design of the Taylor’s Version packaging in me – the complete and utter lack of care put into any of it genuinely pisses me off. I wanted to say this before showing you my actual ranking, because cover-wise the albums rank higher than Taylor’s earlier work, however, I really have to say that I think all of her albums up to reputation have a spark in the album packaging design that simply was not there afterwards. I think we can blame the streaming era for this, and it makes me sad.

You can find the ranking under the cut!

1. 1989 – This is the shining star of Taylor album covers to me. I don’t think anybody can deny how easily recognizable and iconic this cover is. The polaroid adds the 80s vibe (and I LOVE how those photos defined the album packaging as a whole), the omitted eyes are mysterious and intriguing, and the handwriting makes this album cover so tactile in the sense that it feels like an actual object. I love when album covers have a sense of physicality to them, for example when the title is written on a surface somewhere in the cover photo (check out HAIMs Women In Music Pt. III), and 1989 really delivers on that. I would go as far as saying that this is one of the most iconic album covers of the 2010s.

2. RED – Going from 1989 to RED feels like a pretty significant drop in quality already, even though the original RED album cover isn’t bad by any means. There is a sense of sensuality and mystique about it and it sells the Blue homage it is attempting. My biggest qualm with this cover is the font; I don’t love Bebas Neue as it feels heavy and clunky to me, more advertisement than album cover. I think a different, more subtle font would have done wonders for this. However, it is worth recognizing that the RED cover is an established image in pop culture as well, and I think the overall design with the diagonal stripes is quite nice; it feels vintage-y and sophisticated and I love how cohesive the booklet is.

3. Folklore – I mean. Yea. This is kind of boring but it fits the album in its subduedness and I do like the imagery of Taylor disappearing in the woods/the world she has created. The folklorecover does what it needs to do and it does it well. Anything more would probably have been too much for this album. I have my complaints about the back cover and the booklet though (yes, I understand it had to be made last minute, but still… could have been better!)

4. RED TV – I actually preferred this over the og RED cover when it first came out, and I still love the photograph, but idk how much I love it as an album cover. The RED ring is absolutely FANTASTIC (see my notes on album titles being part of the cover photograph in the 1989 section), and I think this could have been my second favorite Taylor cover, had they just zoomed in on the face and the ring a little bit. I simply don’t like the framing of this photo, and it kind of ruins the whole thing for me. I am intrigued to see what she does for the rest of the recordings, but so far, I have been incredibly underwhelmed at the lack of cohesion and graphic design care put into a project that would be fantastic for collectible editions and is meant as a tribute to Taylor’s legacy. Even though most of her early covers rank below the newer stuff, I do have a soft spot for them because I cannot help but feel like Taylor’s album designs have gotten lazier and lazier over time. If I were to judge the album packaging as a whole, I think this list would look a little different.

5. Speak Now – This was spot 7 on this list but then I typed the last sentence of my RED TV review and was like !!! You know what! Speak Now is very cute and at least she isn’t lazy! This is obviously a rather cheesy album cover, and idk if I like the pretty big section that is just. White. But as I said: This isn’t lazy. The hazy fairy tale vibes are there, the painting effect is a nice touch, and I can’t help but think about how whimsy and cute the back cover and the booklet are. Yes this is not wonderful graphic design, but at least it has heart and ambition, which you cannot really say for Taylor’s album packaging from reputation onwards.

6. Evermore – Again: It does what it needs to do. It’s fine. I cannot complain about it by any means, but I also don’t love it in the slightest.

7. Fearless TV – This should be bottom of the list simply for the abomination that is the back cover, but Taylor looks super pretty in the photo and the whole thing works as an homage to the original Fearless cover. I even have a soft spot for the sepia filter until I discovered that apparently not all rerecordings would have that feature. So now it’s kind of weird. Again, you cannot tell from the cover alone, but the whole packaging just is so boring to me and just feels so churned out. Where is the fucking spark?

8. Fearless – This has spark! I kept swapping og Fearless and Fearless TV around because at least the packaging of og Fearless feels like people had fun making it, but I cannot get over my dislike for the fonts used here (which is why I prefer the European version!) Whyy is the “Fearless” so big and has a shadow around it. I don’t like it, I am sorry. I do LOVE the booklet though, it radiates joy.

9. Taylor Swift – This is a country album released by a teenager from Nashville in 2006. I think I shouldn’t have high expectations. Debut is fine. She is cute! That photo of Taylor kneeling in the pond was part of my bi awakening when I was 14/15, so I have to give it that. The notebook vibes of the booklet are a nice touch. Now that I think about it I do have love for the design of this, but I think it’s mainly nostalgia. I applaud the cohesion of the color scheme and I like the little notebook details :)

10. Reputation – I think this is terribly ugly and the only reason it is not at the bottom of this list is that I can appreciate the idea behind it. She is speaking her truth after the media has tainted her, whatever. I get it. I just think the execution is awfully lackluster (stop with the fucking white backgrounds!) and the most basic take on the “album about the media” idea (I may direct you to Faber’s I Fucking Love My Lifeas an album cover that did it better). Taylor’s face and neck also look a little strange to me. It does have a sense of recognizability, I’ll admit that. But I cannot believe this is the cover one chooses for their “taking back the narrative” album. Have a little fun! But, with all of reputation, we didn’t get what we could have gotten.

11. Lover – I HATE this. The diary theme in the booklet is cute and I don’t hate the back cover at all, but maaan I find the actual album cover to be awful. It’s a shame, really, because the album cover shoot is fantastic, but the coloring of Taylor’s face on the cover is super dull and strange, the weird sky background feels so lazily photoshopped and the font is just. Bleh. Cheesy and ugly. The CD is super super nice though, and, again, the rest of the packaging is honestly fine, but I cannot get over how actually unprofessional the album cover looks. The aforementioned weird color of Taylor’s face is honestly my biggest issue. This is just. Bad. It doesn’t make me as angry as the booklet or back covers of the TVs, but I just think it’s sooo… How does the biggest pop star in the world end up with this album cover?

[mel-street]

not trying to start any arguments but i remember when this fandom used to HATE alina and people would literally get mad at me when i told them that i liked shadow and bone as much as six of crows and thought she was a good character-

[chosobf]

Hana, Ochako, Shoko, Kairi, Sakura...the list is long, and I know it's something that will never change 💔 Any female character who even comes close to the MLM ship will be treated as: -the couple's therapist -the home-wrecker -the queer best friend

exactlyyy, they never just get to be their own characters with their own issues & interests, they’re just devices to support the ship and im so tired of it happening in every single fandom