Airfleck - Airfleck

the whole series is good like it is set up PERFECTLY but last olympian really GOES OFF

I love that Gideon the Ninth is marketed as a space opera when like 95% of it takes place on Earth. It’s marketed as lesbians exploring a gothic castle in space, but it’s NOT. The castle is very much on Earth!! I mean, we don’t know that it was Earth until book 3, in which case we were in space by then anyway, but still!

Oh no, he got hot!

Once you know that Marissa Meyer based The Lunar Chronicles (and specifically Cinder, the first book) on an old Sailor Moon fanfic she wrote, the inspiration can be fairly obvious (most obvious being the missing princess from the moon and the threat of war between Earth and the Moon). That being said, there’s enough of Meyer’s own inspiration/ideas in there to help make it stand out (the futuristic setting, for one thing).

But it did make me think: Bill Ellis (who I mentioned on here before) wrote an essay about Princess Tutu where he said that Cinderella–the fairy tale Cinder retells–is an archetypal precedent to magical girl transformations. Cinderella and Sailor Moon have premises unique to themselves, but then I thought about the basics of both stories: both Cinderella and Usagi start out as girls who are at a low point of their life (Cinderella is mistreated by her stepfamily, while Usagi is chronically late for school and failing tests–one is arguably worse than the other, sure, but the point is, neither of them is doing great in their own way). Then both of them encounter magic (fairy godmother, talking space cat, etc.) that gives them, as Ellis puts it, the skills they need to accomplish whatever they need to do (go to the ball, fight evil). For an added bonus, no one at the ball ever recognizes Cinderella, similar to how no one ever puts it together that Usagi is Sailor Moon, despite her never covering her face (though she did have a mask in the early chapters of the manga). Also, there’s a prince in both stories.

With that in mind, it’s not hard to see how it was easy for Meyer to take inspiration from Sailor Moon in her Cinderella retelling. (Interestingly enough, the original fanfic was a Puss in Boots AU, because as Meyer pointed out, both Puss in Boots and Sailor Moon have talking cats.)

Took Alexandria Neonakis' Schoolism class on costuming, and the main assignment was to design the costume for a character in a book, movie, etc. Her example was Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, so I designed Mina Harker from the book Dracula! I tried to make her outfits as close to 1880/1890's designs as I could. Her clothes are of an older style, as she was a school teacher and Jonathan had only just been certified, so in my mind they didn't have a lot of money, and then...Dracula happened.

Very informative class, would recommend!

twilight girlies

Spider-Jon, Spider-Jon

Climbs a wall cuz he’s so done

With Drac‘s shit, all of it

Almost there, just a bit

Don’t look! You’re high up, Jonathan!

Is he strong? Listen, bud

Vamps are out to drink his blood

Can he climb despite the dread?

Take a look overhead

Hey there! There climbs our Jonathan!

In the chill of night, a castle filled with undead

Ignoring the height

He arrives, just ahead!

Jonathan, Jonathan

How the heck did Jonathan-

Laws of physics? He’s ignored

A dusty room is his reward

Look 'round! A path‘s there Jonathan!

To him, falling is not a big deal

Drac’ cosplaying Jon makes him reel

So there goes our Jonathan!

Agnes Montague sketches