Avelera

laughingfish:

avelera:

First image from the art book, don’t mind me as I casually freak out about all the hidden signs and horrific sadness in Newt’s costume for PR2. 

Clearly Newt’s outfit is designed to be subtly off to tip us off about his hero/villain swap from the very beginning, even with the purple number where he still has a white shirt at least. But in general, Newt has been inverted and it’s not just his color schemes (white to black is the most simple transition, but he does actually have a white shirt in his first introduction with the purple suit). No, to me the biggest horror stories are in the accessories. 

In PR1 Newt has a skull ring on his left pinky, in PR2 that ring is replaced with a much bigger one on his left ring finger (traditional wedding band location) and it’s a much larger one, and a living face instead of a death’s head. Subtle inversion aside, let’s pump up the tragedy level by asking “Is this Newt subtly declaring himself married to Hermann despite their estrangement, or is this a symbol of his captivity and “union” to Alice?” It could also indicate that he is “claimed” in other ways, unable to put a wedding band there because this ring is in the way (perhaps even replacing the one he had with Hermann, if we want to go into fanon?).

Next there’s the bracelets. He still has his leather ones but they’ve moved to his right hand, where a watch would traditionally go if you’re left handed (or “sinister”) another mirror inversion of his old self. But now we’re at the part where I start screaming and crying because shackles have been added to his usual bracelets, on his dominant hand, another symbol of captivity. We have the chain but also what looks like an actual handcuff, locking up the right (“good”) side of Newt.

And we of course also have the sunglasses/glasses swap, with clear frames over dark lenses to replace the dark frames over clear lenses. Even his tie in the opening scene with the purple suit isn’t totally black, but has a white stain on it (that I originally mistook for a cocaine stain which, oops, still appropriate) but could, in theory, indicate that that’s about how much of “good” Newt is left in the mix of Precursor Newt. Like a yin-yang, and in fact, the yin-yang isn’t a bad way to conceptualize the mirror swap of color palette that Newt does between 1 and 2. 

Yes, Uprising left a great deal to be desired, but I truly believe that between the costume department and Charlie Day’s attention to detail with the character there are flashes of a lot of care going into Newt’s arc, most visible in these costume choices.

Also, in that first photo, check out the chain going accross the lapels of the shirt, metaphorically choking and/or shackling Newton by the neck. Whereas in PR1, his tie is slightly loosened to let him breathe. I hadnt noticed that until now.