[at Preventers HQ]

[sharing a safehouse]

Duo and Trowa: [staring out the window]

Quatre: What are you guys doing?

Duo: The TV broke so we’re watching a couple break up across the street.

Height Difference

Gundam Wing tried to break pretty much every tradition that existed back then with shounen anime. The “heroes” are terrorists, the bad guys aren’t all that evil, the women are badass, the guys are all pretty boys and a whole slew of other birthday invitation-ripping choices that differentiated it from the rest.

Those apparently include making the lead guy shorter than the lead girl.

Look at them. Heero is almost half a head shorter than Relena here. Like, how comical is that? To have your killer look up to you? *snicker*

As you see, the previous pic is not an animation goof. Relena is consistently drawn to be quite a bit taller than Heero in the beginning. What I love about the above pic by the way is the correct anatomy. Heero may be shorter, but he is still male, so his hands are larger than Relena’s.

(Ballroom e Youkoso has greatly sensitized me to this sort of stuff.)

But does this height difference even make sense or did the creators just want to mess with norms?

Thing is, it does. Zechs is one of the tallest guys in the series, barring giants like Rashid or Gwinter Septem. Look at how he dwarfs Noin:

The dude is seriously tall. So it makes sense that his little sister, who shares his genes, would grow to be pretty tall herself. Plus, they’re from a country that is supposedly located somewhere in Denmark. Have you ever met people from there? Most people end up looking like Noin when they speak to them.

But wait. Heero doesn’t stay that short, some of you will say. He grows taller.

And he does. If we look at the end of the series, Heero has gained some height.

He is not so blatantly shorter than Relena anymore. But if you look closely, he still is a tiny bit shorter. Due to his spiky hair he may look taller, but the height of their chins and eyes betray their actual height difference.

Personally, I’m all over this. I love that the creators let the Scandinavian character be tall, even if she is a girl and the hero’s love interest. Because in all the shoujo and shounen anime I’ve seen so far, the dudes are at least a full head taller than their girl. And I’m always wondering why they all dig neck pain.

I’m also tired of the whole tall, dominant guy/short, meek girl dynamic.

This is where Heero and Relena break another tradition. Heero never controlled Relena, aside from that one scene in episode 47 which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. She is her own character and actually influences Heero a lot. But they never force the other to do what they want.

And this is remarkable because they are both insanely strong-willed/stubborn, yet have vastly different approaches to things. She is a pacifist, he is a soldier and the whole time it’s a question between two sides of a concept between them, be it war and peace or ruthlessness and compassion. Never mind the whole symbolism with Earth and space.

The show spends a lot of time painting them as the two sides of a coin and like those two sides, Heero and Relena, too, are equal. And that their height difference, in which Heero grows to literally see eye to eye with her, further reflects that, is a beautiful and oh so subtle addition to the concept.

Now, I know that pretty much all of fan art featuring Heero and Relena have Heero be taller than her. So don’t take the following as me knocking the artists. I’m not.

But stuff like the lovely pic in Blind Target?

So traditional. The creators tend to be more for this:

Exact same height. And I can see why.

♡ costumes in the sissi trilogy  –  38/50 ♡

sissi’s hungarian ballgown

Priorities.

How to make a character's death sadder

 Don’t have them die of old age after a long, fulfilling life. Many people don’t even think of this as sad (note that this can still work if you have enough of the other factors).

 Leave one of their major goals unfinished. The more enthusiastic they are about completing the goal, the sadder.

 Give them strong relationships with other characters.

 Make them fight against whatever is causing their death. Their ultimate loss is sadder if they struggle.

 Kill them in the middle of their character arc.

 Don’t describe their funeral in detail. Maybe it’s just me, but I find that long descriptions of funerals kill the sadness.

Words to replace said, except this actually helps

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

Quatre Raberba Winner + Text Posts

Duo: So… truth or dare?

Wufei: This is NOT a slumber party!

Duo: It sure LOOKS like a slumber party!

Wufei: We’re being imprisoned on the Lunar Base!

Duo:

Wufei:

Heero: I choose dare.

Duo: Who has four toothbrushes, royalty or something?

Hilde: No, that’s for a family.

Duo, starting to choke up: Family? Like, a whole family and their toothbrushes all together? Two slots for the parent toothbrushes and two slots for their kids?

Hilde: Yes.

Duo, close to tears: So the parent toothbrushes can be close to the kid toothbrushes and watch over them and they can all talk about their toothbrush feelings and they can hold their little toothbrush hands when they’re sad and make sure no harm ever comes to their little bristles?

Hilde: …Sure.