I know it all comes back to It’s Magic and it’s a serious story element and all but I can’t get over laguz de-laguzing if they breed with humans. Like…does that mean they know immediately after sex if the woman is pregnant? What about miscarriages? Stillbirths? Does that mean the gays are the chosen people of the gods?
That serious story element of Beroc/Laguz breeding sort of breaks down the themes of the Tellius series.
But yeah logistically it makes no sense? Also certain comments imply that female Laguz lose their abilities upon conception, whereas males lose it upon the birth of the child. But yeah….IDK either.
Don’t forget when one of those half-breeds confronts a literal goddess on why she hates their kind, Yune is just like, “? What are you. I’ve never seen one before. What ARE you???” So whatever is sucking away a laguz’s power isn’t divine punishment or nothing.
It’s a pretty weird lore decision, since in FE9 we know Branded are hated by society (which why not, racism). But then FE10 trots out Almedha and Lehran as actual evidence that Branded adversely affect their laguz parents… Not so great a message when “getting over differences and racism” is supposed to be a central theme.
alright, I’ll bite.
This part actually has fascinated me from day one from a ‘this is squicky and fridge-horror with a side of vaguely tasteless on all levels ….. give me.’ and I do have a habit of gleefully deconstructing shit like that. is it still tasteless given the anvil of the anti-racisim theme? hell yes. still an interesting playground to work in? absolutely.
the easy answer would be what @agoddamn mentioned in a different post - that it’s reminiscent of fairy tales where there’s a habit of faeries and mythical creatures loosing their powers to unfortunate circumstances (thinking of the selkie myth in particular; however tumblr’s already eviscerated that myth in particular - there’s a few good posts floating around).
the long answer?
it reminds me a lot of the really tricky/ugly questions around parents who end up with kids with disabilities.
There’s a lot of meat to unpack there - I have no time in going through all the levels, but as the Branded is framed as this lacking thing that happens as a direct result of a mutation of sorts with a higher chance of certain individuals getting it on, it’s kind of hard to ignore the parallels. Sapped energy from the parents at best, a lot of societal baggage (that doesn’t have to be baggage, mind you) - and an inherently different individual in the child that is resulted. There’s a lot of coded subtext that Branded feel … off, as Soren has pointed out obliquely, multiple times. Stefan, too, strikes me as someone that’s learned to pass as not-off in ways that is very similar to uh, heh, habits I’m aware of.
What’s more moral in the long run (or if not that, easier?):
carefully keeping apart parents with that gene so That doesn’t happen anymore, or awkwardly working around the societal baggage in hopes of creating a better and more tolerant world, all the while facing the grim statistics the parents would likely be separated/divorced, killed, end up in an emotionally abusive cycle due to depleted resources, or be felled by a thousand other stressors when it’s no one’s real fault?
(Mind - this is not an actual posed question as it’s horrifying in the eugenics aspect. but again, implications that the game poises almost unintentionally.)
Anyway, that whole tangent isn’t an exact matchup of course - but i have also found … in general to worldbuilding - there is always a tendency to make an equal but opposite entropy of sorts. True blind destruction. Yune was meant to be that equal (aka chaos vs order), but it’s a potential irony that the Branded could be due to her runaway powers without her knowing it. Like a virus gone wild - again, organic systems are horrifying in their own way when you look close enough and strip away rose-colored glasses.
Nature does not give a single shit about ethics, after all. You survive, that is all.
this is me nerding over the nuts and bolts of making comic pacing work more than hellsing specifically but i do think hirano-san’s action-drawing skill (and the layering of storytelling) is
o b s c e n e l y underrated.
especially since it’s seen only as gorn porn (which it is, don’t get me wrong) and not that and a delicate understanding of clarity, beats, how to rip at your heart while alucard’s still guninng down mooks like no tomorrow, the fuckkin detail in general, the clarity again. like - take it from someone who does the same medium - action scenes are fucking nightmarish to draw.
(-gestures @ self with a ‘kill me now’ expression lmao-) (analysis doesn’t count as procrastination right)
take these pages from the brazil fight: this whole thing is a start-to-finish slaughter when the paramilitary force finds alucard. from a ‘how do i execute this visually’ standpoint, it’s a man vs nature fight, you are required to dial up the intensity a bit. there’s some lovely set-up with alucard emerging from already being gunned down once, so the stakes are pretty high - first blood has been dealt and you know this monster’s just itching to be let loose.
and so he does.
most of the paneling is literally just three or four rectangular pages a pages, no fancy dynamics, no interruptions - it’s literally like screenshots from a movie right in a row. partially because with the amount of blood/dynamicism, things can get complicated as shit visually, and hirano’s strength is bold ball-bustin’ delight in horror, so the framing is simple to let it shine.
note too how he plays on negative shapes in the first two panels - inversing alucard’s face goes a hell of a long way towards a not-quite jump-scare but close.
before i mention the exquisite way how the blood trails lead the eye to the next panels, also note that the first entire page is just alucard chompin’ down on a neck; manga tends to be slower in pacing than western comics (not unheard of western comics to have 10-12 panels in a page) - which works in favor of scenes like this. more drawing, yeah, but reading it is hella easier.
second page is a classic (action > (close up for shock effect) > wide pan of a reaction set of beats) - the whole spread deliberately moves from uncomfortably close up shots > wide pan, like the chaos is spreading outwards. classic movie cinematography.
third page is another beautiful 3-beat-setup like mentioned right up above. again, hirano knows his cinematography what with alucard’s face being placed in the same screen real estate for a delicious ‘oh-shit-i’m fucked-eyes-meet-eyes’ moment.
fourth page seems a little unnecessary at first glance (there’s nothing he’s doing there that he’s not doing in other panels) but it’s telling if you line up these pages and delete that page, something feels off about the pacing; it doesn’t quite feel like alucard’s gone through the whole group before facing down the last soldier (below). again, spreading the chaos outwards.
you know what I love about these pages too? one of the only times alucard’s not using his guns in the whole brazil episode. it’s a beautiful visual underline towards that ‘man vs nature’ skewed power balance; he’s a terrifying monster that is perfectly willing and able to shred apart trained military men with guns, and that fact doesn’t matter to the point it’s laughable.
- drags fingers down face - ART!!!!!!!!!!
now this moment could be really complex to draw from a series of ‘how thefuck do we hint that alucard’s used his weird ass telepathic powers to lock the dude in without showing door mechanisms or loosing the pace of this whole thing’
fear.
raw primal scrabbling-at-the-door-terror at being locked in with that. i’m honestly in awe at how hirano shows that clarity of expressions even in those butt-uggo ski-masks (though actually the eye-holes tend to make the eyes more circular in fear more, so +1 for deviously brilliant character designs)
i have a theory in general that good comics are made up of nothing but action>reaction pair setups - which is slightly beside the point, but you see it here how there’s one explicit action per panel, it’s very clear - the head drops, swat guy reacts in fear, alucard steps forward, has a second sub-action by locking the door in anticipation of swat guy pissing in his pants and running for it - which he then does.
(note the panel sizing too; biggest one is the looming malice of alucard with fucking blood and gore dripping from his hands how metal is this.)
i’m gonna say my one critique out of this whole set of pages is hirano goofed by making the hand silhouette on the door not easy to read (personally i’d remove the ‘wha’ speech bubble so it’s clear his whole arm is reaching towards it), so hey, nobody’s perfect. what i do like on that page is the stark negative (white) space as the swat guy turns slowly in fear again, which pairs -
- really damn well with this inky black dark horror walking forward.
and bam, nothing like a good full-pager to go from ‘teeny tiny corner panel’ to ‘oh FUCK’ in terms of contrast (mike of hellboy fame does the same thing in his comics which tells me it’s a reliable trick). and i also just noticed how vaguely unsettling it is that alucard’s hinted to be leaning on a wall with the outstretched arm like he just slid in there and the weight of the dead guy pressing down. brrrr.
i lov lov lov that last page too - another gorgeous if terrifying action/reaction blitz. boot step action to ratchet up the tension (you know the guy is deader than dead) > paired successive actions as swat guy reloads and falls back against the door, cowering - you can practically feel the pistol shaking in his hand > alucard’s response.
(it’s unorthodox to split the last panes like that but tbh i think it works with the necessary pause as alucard gives the greatest line of all time back. brilliant multi-level work of symbolism there; note that the ‘i get that a lot’ has his face carefully obscured; it’s like a barb against his back, something he fights off through the whole series, naturally (and naturally for the series that sides with the monsters) he -as the dark mirror to humanity - turns it around and asks the quintessential existential question in return - what are you?
Romeo + Juliet (1996) Trivia: Shakespeare described Tybalt swordsmanship as “showy”. To transform this into flamboyant gunplay, John Leguizamo worked with choreographer John ‘Cha Cha’ O'Connell to create a flamenco-inspired style.
Todays doodles are Myras personal Horse Acting Guide! 🐴
DISCLAIMER: im not a horse expert, but i’ve been hobby riding for 13 years and read some books through the years, so it’s just my personal experience. I dont know everything and people have different ways!
> at home ‘letting’ the cat out the door (except the dickhead just sits there and stares outside) > mom walks up, amused > me: 'seriously, dude, are you in or ou-.’
Jonathan, like Phryne Fisher, clearly hasn’t taken anything seriously since 1918.
And, I would suspect, for similar reasons.
^^^This. Jonathan being in World War I makes total sense. It’s
almost impossible for him not to have been. Given his age and background, he probably
volunteered in 1914.
Of course he’s going to not take anything seriously. Of
course he can shoot. The drinking, the skittishness, the recklessness, the
sense of ‘keeping your head down’, the scepticism about traditional heroism….
The one with more actual experience of death, carnage and
fighting is Jonathan. Not Rick. Not Ardeth Bey. Jonathan.
When Rick says ‘I’ve had worse (situation/odds)’ and Jonathan replies “ Me too”. That’s probably true.
Drop The Mummy
into the real world context and that’s a character who’s going to have seen a
lot of his school friends die, along with the myths and tales of heroism they
were raised on. Sort of makes the line where Evie’s scolding him for drinking/messing
about a lot darker…
Evie: Have you no respect for the dead? Jonathan: Of course I do, but sometimes I’d rather like
to join them.
Jayd (chirart) commissioned me last year to be a part of her grand plan for @littlefoolery‘s10th anniversary celebration! Been over the moon and honored to be a part of an all-star team of ~26 artists,especially to showcase @thelastdogfighter‘s stories. With that being said, guess what:
( + concept art and the full story of Last Call at the Camellia Club where these two are from!)
Muun and Jayd have become dear friends to me over the years, and it’s truly been a delight to see how their creative partnership has made stories like Sfeer Theory (and more) happen.
