Okay, so like as I said, Iām only a few pages in to my digital copies, but Google Kenan Kong or trust me Iāll be reblogging photosets of my newest son in a few hours. But a quick explanation:
Last Year, DC Comics has the big Rebirth event that was a āsoft rebootā, with brand new books and changes to the universe and such (and things are better now) One of the initial big changes was the Superman books (Technically there are four/five superman themed or related books). The Superman of the nu52 series (2010-2015 more or less) who was not ..well, I consider DCEU Henry Cavill up thereĀ āMY IDEAL SUPERMANā and the closer he is to that version the happier I am. Or the mid Post-Crisis married to Lois Lane Superman, heāll do as my second choice. Rebirth had nu52 Superman die/dissolve and the Post-Crisis universeās Superman take over the job. (Simplifying here but itās comics, of course I am). Post-Crisis living in Nu52/Rebirth universe Superman is the one thatās married to Lois and has a son, Jon Kent. if Iām reblogging or reading DC Comics Superman, this is who Iām reading (Dad!Supes).
But when nu52 Supes died, his power split off and attached to more than one character and each of those characters got their own comic book series- to Dad!Superman but also to Lex Luthor who is running around in a mecha suit trying to be a good guy i think? i donāt know that series because it doesnāt focus on Dad!Supes and MommaBear!Lois raising Suberboy!Jon Kent. To Lana Lang and nu52 LoisĀ as Superwoman. And to this random teenager in China. Random teen is Kenan Kong, and heās gonna get himself recruited into the Justice League of China and have adventures with his cast of characters and every once and a while the American Superman cast will cameo, but itās nicely self-contained so easy to get started. Technically its title is New Super-Man.
1) sorry about those horrible feelings, friend, Iām glad the comics helped a bit! Sending you a lot of love fwiw ā¤
Thank you! Iām not sure if thereās medical shit behind it or counts as full on-anxiety attacks. My sister has them among a host of other things and when she describes them I think to myselfĀ āah, sounds familiarā. Iāve suspected for a long time that I have a lot of un-diagnosed who knows what and god knows both my parents do – I wouldnāt be surprised. They are helping so i donāt regret the money spent. Waiting for the tight chest feeling to finish subsiding though
Aw I understand what you mean, but idk it’s just really a lovely fic? : ’)
Yes, itās not a fic I dislike or feel ashamed of- as evident there are plenty of lines from it that are among my favs, and it comes from an AU that Iāve held dear for about a decade now. I just get befuddled and bemused that this is the acclaimed one, especially because I canāt decide if it is an outlier among my works or fits in with my style and tone and all that jazz
I like Whatcha Gonna Call It?, no lie. But itās also like that post about how you send days on a picture sketching, redrawing, inking, and coloring – and then the ten minute half-finished sketch for a joke is the one that gets all the notes and reblogs… That feeling? yeah. Because the fics I hash out in one sitting where Iām just pouring out words with little regard to paragraph and sentence structure, just trying to expunge a bit of this very, very old idea. And wow, okay, itās popular. And maybe itās more humorous than normal but not really? Is it an anomaly among my fic production or not? I canāt tell. And do readers want more of it or was this the only part that holds value and attention?
Okay, so going by kudos my most popular work by far is Whatcha Gonna Call It?, so I figure it was about time to point out what are MY favorite lines from that fic.Ā
Thereās a dry, wry sarcastic tone that I tried to convey and I guess was successful, the authorial voice heavily influenced by Pratchett and Tolkien at points during The Hobbit. So the second line was my hint that weāre sliding into my snark of which I usually write my informal posts but not so often my actual fics.
Everyone had already exhausted all the thorny or offensive or just plain unanswerable questions like why Aegnor married a mortal and was that even possible or ethical or physically possible.Ā
Next up is this line:
Having his prudent advice ignored, their big brother Finrod down in Nargothrond was now writing letters to all the Wise-women of the three Edain tribes and the philosophers among the Eldar (which consisted mostly of Finrod himself, two advisers of Thingol, and one loremaster living with Fingolfin – the majority of the Noldor either uninterested in esoteric questions of soul, especially strange mortal ones, or had stayed behind in Aman to begin with) to bring together in a colloquy to discuss the impact of the first marriage of immortal to mortal and any possible changes or transfers in the nature of their bodies and souls.
Ā Plus the laterĀ āFinrodās colloquy by correspondence side-tracked into tangentsāĀ Ā I am proud of for working in the word colloquy twice and because colloquy by correspondence is just a delightful term of phrase. And I get to tangentially ramble on world-building, obliquely insinuate that all the level-headed and intelligent Noldor with foresight and actual wisdom didnāt follow FĆ«anorās rebellion, highlight Athrabethās stressing of Finrod going about the wise people of the Edain for decades to learn from them and its definitions of soul, body, and the relationships between them and that they are not the same for elves and mortal men. And then the following lines nod to a fun fanfic from years ago that hypothesized (humorously) that CĆrdanās beard was because Durinās missing bride was an elf and CĆrdan had a twin brother that stayed to become the next king while CĆrdan left and has been pretending to be a full Eldar this whole time.Ā
Other fun lines:
Secretly, Angrod wondered if this whole mess should have been a surprise, for Aegnor had assimilated to the BĆ«orians in Ladros more rapidly than their sister had to Doriath. Every morning Angrod checked his brother for sign of stubble on his cheek or gray hairs, for that was the inevitable next step after learning the mortal tongue, drinking mortal beer and eating that mortal food dish involving stuffing animal organs with more meat, wearing mortal clothing, staying in mortal halls, and falling in love with a mortal woman.Ā
BĆ«orian haggis you will pry from my cold dead fingersĀ
The newness and uncertainty of the situation worried everyone but Cousin LĆŗthien, who refused to understand the fuss. She existed, did not she?
(LĆŗthien is a benevolent steamroller of confidence and good heart. Diana from the recent WW movie is actually pretty close to how Iād characterize her, if you replaced her adoration of her aunt Antiope and wanting to be a warrior with idolizing her mother in her role as queen and the Amazonian healers and senators. A little less naivety of the cruelty and moral grayness outside her sheltered kingdom but the same general belief that people are inherently good except for the gods/forces of evil who she will curb-stomp)
Finrod, however, was physically nowhere near Dorthonion and thus unable to intercede between the fight. Wise of him, Angrod thought.Ā
My Angrod loves but resents his big brother, because my Angrod has his hands full managing his younger brother and kingdom and allies. Lots of snarkyĀ āno, weāre fine up here, I donāt need your help [mutters under breath] youāre so far away itās not like youād get here in time to be useful for our current problem anywayā
Angrod held Edhellos, breathing in the scent of his wifeās hair and shaking with his own fear. He knew if Andreth or the babe did not survive the birth, his brother would blame himself and along with most of Beleriand take it as a sign of IlĆŗvatarās proscription against such a union. Aegnor would chose death by grief then.
There has to be a dark, angst, sad moment in a humor fic, a point where the joke becomes real, before it can switch back to seriousness. And hereās the seed of the truly dark AU that stillbirths any more peredhil unions, because this would have undoubtedly be interpreted as Eru banning elven/mortal relationships. This is darker to me than a Morgoth wins scenario, tbh.
Bregor opened the window so the light of the sunrise could illuminate a glowing Aegnor and his newborn daughter
jfc I am unsubtle with my symbolism
He still called her NĆ³mwen, to the disapproval of the girlās parents.
I am forced to pantomime everything but I made myself some hot tea and found the last bag of Bavarian hard candies to suck on so hopefully if I let my voice rest itāll be back soon. But yes, I feel more like myself right now. šĀ
Hahahaha was there really such a gap? Isnāt Dick the Hot One in general? (though in the movie I watched teen Jason already looked ready 2 blossom into a heartthrob while Dick was really not that charming, but I get the feeling thatās not the way of things in general? Hehe)
Dick has always been pegged as the handsome one with the #1 best ass in the universe both outside in fandom and even in-universe – whereas Jason is known for his thighs (Jasonās thighs are very much A Thing), and when drawn pretty, is drawn really pretty. Dick is(was) the social heart of the superhero community, the one everyone liked and trusted; heās supposed to be really charming. What the meta pointed out, in the Batman comic book, at the time Jason was brought back, you had Bruce at the height of his most asshole, and Bruce generally drawn as the standard American Superhero lantern jaw bodybuilder bear in his late 30s, and then Tim Drake, the eternal 16 sixteen-year-old Robin who wasnāt even in the Batman books for a bit at this point, and Dick who was that twenty-something athletic but not too muscled really good-looking guy- but he was in his own series and also going through some ..blah…writing. So hereās newly revamped Jason, filling that gap in-between Bruce and Tim, and sometimes the art in UtH he looked too old or not as pretty, but then panels where yeah, here he is, back from the dead and on the other side of puberty, thank you for the tight jeans and leather jackets. And heās an anti-villain/anti-hero that DC didnāt realize they and made too sympathetic in comparison to Batman. (No seriously they were shocked at how popular he was and especially among female fans).
Of course, I will never not find it funny but also weird that Jason post-resurrection is as tall if not taller than Bruce (not as bulky, but also drawn more muscled than Dick, though), because back in the 80s he was drawn as very short (and his hair very curly) and he spent at least a few years homeless on the streets so realistically that childhood malnourishment would have stunted his height. Then again, like how old he looks when he came back (his UtRH does not look like nineteen year-old), the art made him look older than he was back since the arc he was killed, trying to visually distance from the fact that they were writing the murder of a fifteen year old boy.
Thereās official art depending out which artist that makes any of them either ugly or hot, but itās taken as a given that they are all eye candy, just (slight) variations on the theme.
crocordile said: Of course Jasonās the handsomest tho ā„
why yes i am happy that everyone so far i have introduced to the batfam has followed me in choosing Jason as their favorite/hottest Robin. No shame there.
āAm I biased towards empire-waistline garments? Hell yes ā HELL YES
Is it because Iām a five-foot shrimp with a modest bust but slender hips and an even tinier waist and no ass and thus think empire bust are flattering and comfy on me? Yes.
ā Queen Melian showed them how to harvest the silk from silk worms.ā oh this is lovely!
Byzantine Powerful Queen! Also, Melian was a renegade Maia of Yavanna and VĆ”na as well as of EstĆ«. Something about making fabric off of killing larvae is hilariously appropriate to me. And that means silkworms are a source of food. Itās a tradition Sindarin dish. Noldor are horrified.
āSome elven asshole probably invents neon bright dyes and the Noldor decide that is the fucking best and color-palette wise the sons of FĆ«anor look like the unholy manifestation of the 1980s.ā avgabshdnjremsd IāM SO GLAD I ASKEDā¦
His sigil has a rainbow in the center and he wore three spotlights on his forehead. He is so annoyingly extra. They are annoyingly extra. The accomplishment that gets pointed out in the text, the thing they are known for, is creating their own jewels. bravo, cubic zirconia. They are addicted to bling. Fake bling. I try to ignore the implication of how eye-searingly awful they must have looked, but yeah.
oooh i actually really like cranach-burgundian gown for nargothrondā¦
It doesnāt hurt that so many are gold and greens worn by blondes. Plus the amount of gold chains and rings and necklaces fits with a king who brought enough jewelry to actually finance his kingdom and war effort and would commission and wear the Nauglamir. Though, yeah, that was a piece that was like the Egyptian pectoral breastplate that wrapped around the neck and shoulders and down the chest, not just a chain of office seen in Tudor portraiture. But hereās another reason for Tudor!elves.
Heyyy team Tudor Noldor 2k17!! I go for a way more subdued look than you describe here, but who wants to just stick every elf in a generic tunic? boring.
For some of them itās a mocking out of love (they just get the short end of my love because everyone else so many neglected groups needing attention). And itās a spectrum- some like tastefully refined palettes. They arenāt all Egalmoth. (letās face it, heās actually Exhibit A for excesses in Noldor taste). But yes, my biggest complaint was that the same tunic or tunic variation is so boring- boring to look at, boring to describe. A doublet and multi-patterned hose- that sounds more interesting to read, let alone see.
I feel hypocritical bitching about fanart, but there you go. Plus, the LotR movies put Arwen and Galadriel in the same scoop neck no belt bell-sleeved gown and I got sick of it with Silm fanart copying it.
Roman!elves was actually my original (waaay back) headcanon for valinor hahaha though at some point i had no idea what i was doing anymore
I have sunk too much time and effort into tudor!elves, but if I didnāt, the early Chinese hanfu or Roman tunica are my alternatives. When I remember the equatorial location for the Valinorean locales or when I think of whatĀ āsimpler Vanayr fashion is what againā
āWomen have curls piled high atop their heads. Lots of cute sunhats worn by everyone.ā CUTEā¦
Ancient Roman + Bynzantine + Folklorico. Ribboned updos, fresh flowers or fake flowers in hair, but also hats. Hats and hats and straw hats and keeping out of the sun and AncalimĆ« with a big shepherdess hat. The status-thing again of having a hairdresser to sew you hair into a mess of artificially curled and oiled and perfumed hair. Oh- makeup to hide any sign of aging. Thatās a later NĆŗmenorean thing but you bet your butt grey hairs were dyed and wrinkles or pox-marks hidden
First up, there are a lot of interpretations of fashion design designs for Tolkien that I just plain hate. I have very specific ideas, and if the clothing designs and choices are too generic, donāt have overall consistency, break world-building conventions, go too far astray into RPG or Victorinisms territory, or are just boringā¦I throw my private judgmental bitch-fit that I do for all costuming for fantasy works. I accept that I have very distinct ideas for many groups and time periods in Arda and until I get off my ass and draw/share them, I canāt be judging. So, you want the master-post list of the fashion headcanons? Iāll try to list the majority of what Iāve come up with, roughly chronologically:
Sindarin fashion evolves into this blend of Korean hanbok and Italian Renaissance. Iām sorry, but the fashion of the early Renaissance is infinitely prettier than any medieval look. The same way Victorian fashion, be it the bustle skirts or the early hoop skirts, are actually really ugly and Empire/Regency fashion is prettier. Am I biased towards empire-waistline garments? Hell yes. Sindar in Beleriand wear a lot of silk. It is the primary textile. Armor is padded layers of silk (effective!). Queen Melian showed them how to harvest the silk from silk worms. The mulberry trees and secrets of silk production are mostly lost when Beleriand is destroyed. Menās fashion is pants or hose over a few layers of tunic and a jacket, then over robes or a mantle. Bright colors and very striking patterns- outside it might be dark, but inside homes the Sindar are going to have illumination- why the heck does anyone think inside Menegroth it was twilight? Colors like bright red are going to show up as camouflage-worthy gray when hunting outside – itās reflective shiny stuff and pure blacks to avoid- there is no worries about hunting in daytime. Beleg has bright red shoes because heās too lazy to switch over okay and he spend years breaking them in to be really comfy. Patterns to break the silhouette. Older styles have the skirt and short jacket pieces as separate (sort of like the chima and jeogori) whereas later styles sew the vest to the skirt and the sleeves are the detachable part. Again layers of white undergarments. LĆŗthien was wearing an old style blue dress and removed her over-vest/jacket to have those bare arms as described in the Lay.
The slashing trend was not because of the Swiss Guard this time but survivors returning from fighting Morgoth that first time.
Noldor are Tudor. They love their towers and castles, there are gable hoods to reflect that. If they can invent cubic zirconia (jewelsmiths~) in Valinor, they are inventing those bright Victorian synthetic dyes- and showing an equally Victorian lack of refined taste in using said new colors. Some elven asshole probably invents neon bright dyes and the Noldor decide that is the fucking best and color-palette wise the sons of FĆ«anor look like the unholy manifestation of the 1980s. Rainbow everything. Tacky elves. Shiny spangles all over everything. Most detail work is possements and embroidery and jewelry that is attached separately to garments and can be changed out or added to a new piece. Sindarin tapestry patterns versus embroidered fabrics with heavy use of metallic threads. (This is why the looks arenāt perfect matches with the inspirations). They take fashion ideas and run with it and add structures and exaggerations, so thatās why the hint of the linen undershirt peeking up at the collar turns into those huge starched ruffs needing hundreds of pins that also do a great job of creating this halo/negative space around a personās head and hair as to highlight it. Iām sparing the codpiece, but frankly I could be talked into it.
Vanyar are simpler. Falmari more sensible fabric and fabric dyes.
Noldor stuck in Beleriand are subdued down from that Jacobean to Tudor look, because historical fashion inspirations in reverse. The look in Nargothrond is Cranach gown/Northern Renaissance. By the end of the First Age itās those Burgundian gowns of the 1400s. There wasnāt enough fabric to waste for houppelandes.
Edain fashion turn to tradition European folk designs, especially Central Europe, look at how detailed the embroidery is, but also remember that this period is basically early bronze age to 500-1100s Europe with the dissolution of civilizations, look, Tolkien, call it the Dark Ages. The alternative to Tudor!Elves i accept as valid, by the way, is Roman!elves.
BĆ«orians have Tartan. Hadorim are free to Viking up the heck the way the Rohirrim were. Haladim more subdued than both, but some lovely bold black and white patterned fabrics- hounds-tooth, checked, stripes. Trading with Doriath will do that. Their sleeves, unlike the other Edain, tend to be dolman – Ā the sleeve is not cut separate and sewn on. Itās a weird detail.
All three groups have distinct hairstyles. Beards are considered normal and manly.
BĆ²r have a few differences from other Easterling groups- outsiders canāt tell the difference but they can. They donāt wear beards, hair in braids. Men have two braids, women wear multiple braids, elaborate updos, there is a look sort of like the Vestal Virginās sini crenes where the number of braids and the complexity meant that a woman wearing her hair like it was religiously important and/or a chieftainās wife. Said looks would need a hairdresser to help- the Easterlings have thralls, itās a sign of wealth. Women wear loose trousers over long jackets. Boots with an upturned toe (Mongolian boot) is a sign of a tribesman related to Ulfang, not BĆ²r.Ā
The returning Noldor and Vanyar from the War of Wrath bring back Beleriandic styles and especially a craze for everything and anything Edain. This is Neo-Classical Empire/Regency stuff. High waist, tubular skirts. Designs are simplified with an emphasis on severity before relaxing back into frou-frou craziness. Short hair a la LĆŗthien from the Lay of Leithian is Most Fashionable. Fake beards or at least fake sideburns. Imitation Edain patterns.
On NĆŗmenor the silhouette is baggy trousers and short tight vests for men, lots of wool and sheepskin. Women have dresses that are close to those Minoan frescoes in their look. Hourglass, padded hips, a return to that early Noldor look. White undershirts with embroidered cuffs and neck/chests on everyone. For a while the trend for menās shirts are to have absolutely huge bell-sleeved shirts that completely hide the hands- sign of a nobleman. Tight laced vests. For women though the skirts are this huge many-tiered (traditionally white in some regions, others very colorful) skirts with small aprons. Take the Minoan Snake Goddess and combine her with Mexican folklorico dresses (especially Veracruz). Loose-fitting plain white clothing is sailor garb. No beards. Short hair. Women have curls piled high atop their heads. Lots of cute sunhats worn by everyone.
This jacket/vest over a skirt combo survives in Umbar.
Chainmail is the default armor. Full plate-mail is War of Wrath Amaynar troops. Plate armor seen elsewhere is the segmented plate of the Roman Empire or Qin Dynasty.
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