#hope this is digestible

[fayzart136]

The secret water where your reflection went wrong.

[catdile]

art style anon!! uhm. uhm. and and and ONLY if you want to, could you maybe make a breakdown on how you draw bodies? ONLY IF YOU WANT TO!!!! waaahhhhh (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

ykw hell yeah

[phanoutfitsblog]

Terrible Influence Tour Meet and Greet Outfit Stats

69 (lol) meet and greets later and the official "Terrible Influence Tour Meet and Greet Outfit Stats" are here!!

Compiling all this info over the past 5 months has been a real labour of love and I thought what better way to present the final statistics than in a fun, photocard inspired template for you to share and save and highlight what outfits dan and phil wore to your show

i have also made a TIERMAKER and included every single one (!!) of their outfits they wore on tour so you can rank your favourites. Available HERE!

if the graphics above aren't your thing I have also compiled all of the info into some gorgeous pie charts (on colour theme of course) with all the items they wore and the percentages

and finally, the google doc that started it all, here is the comprehensive list of every outfit they wore to every meet and greet, with links and photos included. you're welcome. Available HERE!

EDIT: huge thank you to @ahappydnp and their big ginormous brain for the genius idea of displaying the stats using the photocard template <333

[please-read-the-manga]

It's all good man, just offering a few caveats before I start:

1.) I never read and have very little interest in Itachi Shinden as it's a light novel (maybe that will change someday, though). That being said I think I (roughly) know about some of the elements you're hinting at (between Fugaku and Itachi) from the novel but not any specifics. I know some people hold them as absolute canon while others completely disregard them, etc. For me, I see them as somewhere in-between, but like I said I fully admit I'm unfamiliar with them. The original manga is where it is at with me.

2.) I literally say in the post/disclaimer that Fugaku is not infallible. This isn't a post to glaze him lol and I even critique how he handled Itachi outside of the moment shown AND criticize Madara as well. It's mostly intended as an examination comparing two perspectives that were striking to me (Fugaku's and Hashirama's) that, again, to me, appear contradictory in an intriguing way. If that means it shouldn't exist in the Itachi tag, I can always remove that so as to not bother his fans here (I just thought since he was mentioned I should tag it that way).

3.) I'm never going to grant that the Uchiha genocide was in anyway necessary or justified. Full stop. So, if there's some element of trying to get me to see 'why' it was done 1.) I already understand the varying character perspectives on it (namely those from Itachi and Danzo), but 2.) I will personally never view those as legitimate/justifiable. I feel very strongly over how events like these are portrayed in media. That being said, again... everything is complex. We can examine (as I'm open to do) the dimensions that exist within the clan politics we're shown in the manga as well as the actions of complicated/contradictory characters like Madara, I just draw the line at ever seeing genocide as a solution to those layered problems. The massacre of every single Uchiha (including civilians, children not named Sasuke, and those likely not even involved in the coup plans) is unjust and I will firmly stand by that. Sorry.

This comes before Hiruzen shoots down Danzo's claim that the 'Uchiha will not be dissuaded' as Hiruzen hasn't even tried diplomacy yet, nor does he get the chance. Danzo makes it clear that his decision to unjustly (I stand by that word) indiscriminately slaughter an entire group of people through Itachi is preemptive. Actions by the Uchiha have not been taken yet, diplomacy has not yet been pursued and Danzo ensures it never will once he presents Itachi with his horrific 'choices'.

Okay, so hopefully that clarifies a bit right off the bat, and I apologize for not being well-versed on Itachi Shinden - my analysis here is restricted to the manga.

(Hopefully this is the correct formatting for replies. This got... really long lol, so I'll cut it up here).

Criticising Fugaku for his terrible parenting is not the same as portraying him as a "demon of hatred and cruelty." It's not even a prevelent opinion in the fandom. Itachi gets way more hate, is demonised way more than Fugaku, even if Fugaku was the one who shaped him, abandoned him, and became one of the biggest reasons why the massacre even happened in the first place. The man could have stopped it all by paying more attention to Itachi after Shisui's death. But nope. He had in fact sent Shisui to spy on his own son.

I guess it's impossible to measure who gets more hate (or I wouldn't know how to do that anyway) but this write-up was never meant to be a comparison between Fugaku and Itachi? Other than their interactions with one another, that is. In my experience, I have more commonly seen portrays of Fugaku being this caricature of an evil villain who lives to ruin Sasuke's life... I actually think the fan works that present Fugaku as a more complex character with honest looks into his parenting difficulties are really refreshing.

Fugaku is awkward. That's something Mikoto outright states and that's something Sasuke acknowledges/agrees with enough to find comfort in following her pointing it out. He doesn't know the right thing to say all the time, but I absolutely do not think this negates his love for his sons.

When Itachi is being wrongly criticized by other clan members over the death of Shisui and his own commitment to the clan's cause, Fugaku defends Itachi and adds weight to Itachi's reasoning for his behavior.

Again, I'm not sure if Itachi Shinden negates these flashbacks, and we can maybe examine the fact they're from Sasuke's POV (these are Sasuke's memories and he was very obviously a child here), but I re-read them and see a father struggling to understand the conflict his son is navigating through but still standing by his child in a way that he can. We can say that it's 'not enough' but to me, here, I don't believe Fugaku is abandoning him. I know we can likely agree too, that too much responsibility was put onto to Itachi - he was far too young to be navigating politics at this level and being used not just as a pipeline from the clan to the village, but the reverse as well through Hiruzen, Danzon and the Elders' own machinations.

So, maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree that Itachi gets more hate, as you say. Really the only measure I could think of is that Fugaku is a MUCH smaller character compared to Itachi and his impact on general fan opinion may be a lot smaller as a result? But, in my opinion, Itachi frequently gets a lot of fan support and is a very popular character, to the extent many don't criticize his actions at all (though there is, of course, some good critical analysis out there). As a fan of certain characters like Madara (whew and isn't he an interesting mess lol) and Sasuke, who certainly have their fair share of awesome fans/positive reception, I know what it's like to see those negative opinions/write-ups slip through that I feel are major misinterpretations haha, and it can be so hard to ignore them sometimes lol. So I get it.

"Unjustly" even if it happened due to the bad decisions made by Fugaku himself, for years, throwing his son to the wolves, preparing him as a weapon so he would be useful for war against the village while having no idea of the future afterwards. Fugaku only realised he had been wrong and destroyed Itachi's life. If he had known this before, he wouldn't have thought of the coup as the only solution to their plight. And even if he had, he wouldn't have dragged his child into this mess to turn him into a killing machine. He was more excited about Itachi's Anbu mission than Sasuke's Academy.

I've kind of belabored this point already, but yes... unjustly. Placing the blame for his family's genocide solely on Fugaku is an interesting take. Again, maybe Itachi Shinden has some revelations I've never heard of, but I think we may be reaching with the 'no idea of the future afterwards' when we literally are not privy to any of those exact conversations. We just don't know (and there's so much we don't know). We don't know what the Uchiha had actually prepared in regards to the coup... how far along they were (though some characters with their own distinct biases have opinions on this, I'd argue we still don't objectively know). We never get a chance to see if diplomacy may have played out, but enough characters do speculate that the massacre may not have been so inevitable (Minato mentions the UCM being his fault for passing away, Itachi literally wonders before he is released from the edo tensei if Sasuke could have changed things, etc)... all that speculation, to me, reveals that it was never so black and white.

I do agree that Fugaku likely had many regrets. Again, he's a realistically flawed parent (to me) in what I observe in these panels. He's, as pointed out, incredibly awkward and when Itachi does point out to him how badly Sasuke wants his father at his attendance ceremony, he acquiesces. I feel the need to stress that I'm not really going out of my way to defend him here, but I am pointing out there are layers to his character that likely influence his actions (even if we are not told so explicitly)... he is the clan head, his clan is being discriminated against (and this has occurred for decades now), his clan is rightfully upset at this mistreatment, and it's all coming to a head. Further, as clan head, there is an expectation (right or wrong) that his heir will inherit his responsibilities and duties one day. I agree that's a lot to put onto a child (especially one who is also being hounded after by the village higher-ups for their own gain), but I do think it's worthwhile to remember that this is what Fugaku is dealing with...

I, personally, don't think he was setting out to ruin his son while laughing manically as he planned new ways to overwhelm Itachi and give him more crushing responsibilities lol - I jest a bit, sorry. If that were the case, I don't think he would encourage Itachi to stand by his convictions in the end, nor do I think he would defend his son to the clan even as said son lowkey showcased some alarming behavior (just to clarify here so nothing gets misconstrued, the POV here is that of other members of the clan who are already suspicious of him - it's not my opinion, we the reader know why Itachi is acting that way).

To dive in further, this scene, where Itachi refuses to explain his mission to his father and is going to take the mission in lieu of the clan meeting, is one where we see a very stern Fugaku who is exerting his authority in the parent-child relationship and reiterating what he expects of Itachi (this difficult balance between clan and village responsibilities when tensions are at an all-time high). It is negative, it is harsh. We still see him later, however, (as mentioned earlier) defending Itachi's decision not to attend and standing by his son when the other clan members confront him. Again, not an infallible guy, but hardly this 'evil' father he gets painted as.

Fugaku did not stand by Itachi's side. Not when it was needed. So this moment only serves to make a 12-year-old Itachi feel more guilty.

Here, I think you are referring to the aftermath of Shisui's suicide? As far as I know, I don't think there was anything specifically mentioned about Fugaku's response or absence of a response to the suicide, but I'll re-read Fugaku's manga panels and see if there's something to add here. If it gets addressed, I don't remember it being in the manga. But like I said, I'll check, I'm unfamiliar on this.

Not exactly sure why this is always used as a criticism towards Hashirama. Once you're a leader of the people, they're your responsibility. And if your family/friends cause any trouble and put the lives of thousands others you're responsible for on risk, you must choose. I don't remember Hashirama saying he'd kill a child, but that if it were his own child. Again, this is Shinobi world, and some kids can be more dangerous than the adults. Madara was involving innocent people in his mess. Hashirama had every right to protect the people who had put their faith in him.

In reference to this line:

It's never stated directly in these Hashirama flashbacks, but we eventually learn that Madara came back to the village with the Nine-Tails solely to challenge him with the (as we, the reader, know) hidden intent of harvesting some of Hashirama's DNA (biting his flesh) for his new 'dream' plan. Madara also doesn't deny it, though, when Hashirama asks if Madara intends to destroy everything they've built together. As much as I enjoy Madara, I have no delusions that he can be a horrendous communicator lol. He is capable of opening up just a bit, like when he shows Hashirama the secret tablet that no other outsider has ever been permitted to see (ie. a big deal) after his doubts are beginning to mount about the village and its future. He literally reveals his doubts and uncertainties, opening up, only to then immediately clam up again (very confusingly, to Hashirama) when Hashirama asks for more clarification. Ah, in some ways this is making me want to examine the two of them as a struggle between show-don't-tell and the reverse, where Madara seems to prefer grand, revealing gestures but Hashirama appreciates more direct words - but alas, that's a post idea for another day.

Now, I can agree with you reminding us that it's the shinobi world and we know they operate with different principles and values... but on the level of examining what I consider Fugaku's unconditional love and Hashirama's implication here (and I interpret that line as him implying he would absolutely take the same actions he's taking with Madara, even if it were his son/brother/etc doing it) my personal take on it and what I relate to more is Fugaku standing by his son and refusing to battle him. I think you may see that as Fugaku foisting more guilt onto Itachi (I also don't want to put words in your mouth though), but I read it more as Fugaku trying to impart one final lesson that is encouraging Itachi to be prepared now that he will walk this new path alone. Similarly, I couldn't fathom killing my own child even if I knew they were doing wrong - so my interpretation of Hashirama's words here are to view them as cruel and cold. That doesn't mean you wouldn't remove said child from being able to cause harm in some way (you absolutely should) but to kill them is a step I can't imagine taking. In such a circumstance (though I imagine I'd hopefully never be in one lol) I think I'd take Fugaku's approach.

All of that, at the end of the day, is pure personal opinion and perspective influenced by diverging values and life experiences. It's absolutely okay for others to disagree here, this post is merely my interpretation of what we have in the manga along with critique regarding fan portrayals that I believe fail to offer nuance to Fugaku/Hashirama regarding these perspectives. I haven't been around long enough in this tumblr space to know why it's 'always' used, but I'd be eager to see other interpretations/sentiments on it. That moment has always stayed with me.

100% Fugaku's fault. He wasn't supposed to use his son as a weapon. He should have talked to the Hokage instead of using Itachi. The oppression was wrong but Fugaku took his vulnerable child and exposed him to extreme violence. Leave aside the fact that he didn't even think of the consequences of the coup.

So, again, I'm a bit lost regarding the 'consequences of the coup' and which panels he mentions he's just going in blind, full-speed ahead everything else be damned? The truth is we never get to see (at least in the manga) if they were ready to ahead with the coup. Danzo, an incredibly biased voice, believes they could take out the Uchiha easily and preemptively. Perhaps they could, but we don't know because Danzo violated the Hiruzen's call for diplomacy, gave Itachi a ridiculous choice, set his own immediate timetable, and went for it anyway.

I really don't vibe with the implication that Fugaku is solely at-fault for his people's own genocide... especially with the oppression and discrimination they were facing. In the panels (and sadly we only really get Sasuke's, Itachi's, and a bit of Obito's POV on the night of the massacre - all of whom are likely, in some way, biased), I don't see anything where Danzo's preemptive rush against the clan was warranted. Planning is not doing - oh, it's still a crime in the eyes of the government, but we were never past the point of no return (ie. actual action) regarding this supposed coup.

Also, if we're granting more weight to the shinobi world and its structure (which I think makes sense, you're right) then we need to acknowledge that Itachi was always going to, unfortunately, take part in the system of violence. Kakashi is also extremely young when he is thrust into the shinobi world and bogged down with horrific responsibilities. The case of Itachi and Kakashi being far too young for the violence expected of them is actually revealing of how flawed Konoha is and how bastardized it became from Hashirama/Madara's initial dream. To them, Konoha was meant to be a place where their younger brothers wouldn't have to fight, where kids could be kids... yet more wars continued where child soldiers were demanded, children were tasked to contend with deadly engagements (including the state-sanctioned chunin exams), even in Boruto (lol) this shit is STILL not fixed. Throughout the story we repeatedly see that the village is a hypocritical mess built on a faulty foundation that constantly fuels the 'cycle of hatred' it claims to fight against. It's a broken state that creates tragedies like Itachi and Sasuke. It destroys people like Kakashi. Their world is a very cruel one.

Now, I think you're really going to dislike this comparison but I think it's interesting that this concept of 'Fugaku taking a vulnerable child and exposing him to extreme violence' in an effort to prepare him for the harshness of the world and make him 'stronger' is quite literally what Itachi tries to do to Sasuke. So, if we grant that Fugaku is also a product of this corrupt, violent state and he knows said state discriminates against people like him and we also task him with being both a clan head that must operate for the village (Chief of Police) and for his clan (the Uchiha who are being oppressed) while additionally traumatizing him with wars and baggage of his own (that we don't quite know the details of, but is implied) and then, after all that, ask him to be a 'good' father and raise his sons so they can survive in such a world... idk, it's a pretty tall order, right? And now let's go a step further, we then have Itachi who similarly mimics these difficult circumstances (bearing multiple, very heavy responsibilities to diverging entities), is also traumatized and mentally unwell, wants desperately to protect his younger brother out of love but doesn't really have a 'healthy' (or what we could consider healthy in our world) example to pull from beyond what he personally endured/experienced... we then finally come to the case of Sasuke who is forced to bear Itachi's torture that mentally and emotionally scars him for life.

We know that Itachi believes this was the right decision, that Sasuke had to become strong to survive and THIS is how Itachi understands survival. The torture that sought to change Sasuke from what he was at his core (an innocent, kind child) came from Itachi's perception of love and the tools/knowledge he had at his disposal within his limited circumstances (though if we can play with the idea that Fugaku could have found a way to stop the coup, maybe, I think we can also play with the idea that Itachi could have found a way to not violently torture Sasuke and utterly devastate his life). I've never said that Itachi isn't also traumatized and a victim of the shinobi system, he absolutely is, but in some ways I believe there is a cycle of violence being passed down that is framed (by the characters) as a way to 'prepare them for the reality of their world' and they do so out of a sense of love... and, in that, Itach is both a victim and a perpetrator of grave harm.

To us, the reader, this is all very nasty on every level. Again, I never said Fugaku was perfect (not by any means) and I don't think Itachi is evil or anything, I really like his scenes with Sasuke and the layers of tragedy they hold - I think they're all (Fugaku included) victims of the corrupt rot that runs through Konoha and began at its foundation.

Oy, but I've probably gone on too long now. I felt these points were worth clarifying. Apologies again for not being well-versed on Itachi-Shinden... if it really is so revealing, I wish those scenes you're alluding to had been included in the OG manga so we'd know about them!

I guess I'll grant that some of this may have been a bit of 'Fugaku defense squad' lol, but I am really just trying to help frame him based on what we see in the manga. This also isn't meant to dog on Itachi or Hashirama... they're both good, complicated characters in my opinion. Ultimately, I personally think Fugaku's final moments with Itachi are filled with compassion and what I view as unconditional love from a parent. Others might not see it that way and I think that's fine. As for Hashirama, I think weighing the state over your closest friends and own family is pretty damn cold and not something I agree with morally, but again... it's individual. This is how I take these scenes.

Hm, been contemplating these panels lately and thinking about which character is constantly demonized within the fandom/fan works involving them and which is frequently viewed as the ultimate loving and moral person...

And:

One is a man bearing the supposed 'Curse of Hatred' who loves his children so much that he is continuing to parent and offer unconditional love to his son even after said son has already participated in the brutal state-sanctioned genocide of their people/culture and is about to end his (and his wife's - who, btw, is on the same page as him) life.

The other is a man from the supposed 'Clan of Love' who boldly holds the conviction that he would cease his compassion towards even his own child if they stood against him and his dream (the village), regardless of the fact his dream (the village) is a corruptible entity that does not maintain personhood.

Interestingly, I think there is something to be said for the fact both Fugaku and Hashirama are also shown struggling to understand Itachi and Madara (respectively).

Fugaku is actually quite honest regarding his issues in relating to Itachi and while we're not always privy to all the conversations they've had about the state of the clan/sentiment of the Leaf village towards their people, it's clear that those discussions have been had. While the panels where we do see more explicit conversations taking place show Fugaku reiterating to Itachi that his role in ANBU is to serve as a pipeline between the clan/village (which could be argued as an unfair burden foisted onto a child, in my opinion) there are also moments that indicate Fugaku is willing to defer to Itachi (at least on some topics) when his son offers a contradictory viewpoint (like attendance at Sasuke's entrance ceremony, for example).

Side note... this also reminds me of the very short (unfortunately) interactions we see between Madara and his father, Tajima. Tajima clearly respects his son as well and defers to him when Madara insists that they not fight Hashirama and his family on the river - Tajima accepts this from his son without pause.

Alternatively, we also see Madara trying to explain his perspective to a skeptical Hashirama before he commits to taking more drastic actions. Madara is trying to articulate his frustrations with what is happening in the village/how it is progressing with regards to his clan and (even though we never really get Madara's own unfiltered perspective on this time period) we are shown instances of Madara's grievances holding water (ie. Tobirama advocating for Madara not to be made Hokage, but instead pushing randomly for a democratic system that never seems to actually be cemented or made precedent within the village afterwards but absolutely benefits Hashirama/the Senju in the short-run, Madara 'overhearing' Tobirama's continued bias against the Uchiha in private conversations between the brothers, Hashirama continuing to scold his brother -someone who had ample power within the system of governance since its inception- for his bias against the clan even when they're brought back via the edo tensei, etc). Hashirama tries to (weakly, in my opinion) defend the village status quo/way it is progressing and seems to want to better understand Madara, but isn't willing or is unable to go that extra mile for his friend - and, perhaps in some ways, Madara too was unwilling/unable to articulate himself in a more digestible way once their divergence of opinion on their shared village came to this new crux.

Ultimately, I just find it interesting that Fugaku, this character who is often portrayed by fans as a demon of hatred and cruelty, would (in reality) stand by his son even in his darkest hour, even as he is unjustly slaughtering their family, and continue to reaffirm that he is proud of Itachi/loves him - and this is directly counter to Hashirama who asserts he would absolutely kill anyone (including a child) that stood between him protecting that which he loves the most (the village).

And, of course, we also have this to chew on lol...

Sasuke explaining to edo Hashirama that Itachi inherited his 'Will of Fire' jingoism.

Mandatory disclaimer that Fugaku is not infallible and all the characters here (but Fugaku and Hashirama in particular) are their own people/the circumstances do vary (especially as one relationship is framed in the context of father-son and the other as two friends/peers)... I should also note that I still enjoy Hashirama as a character, I just think his flaws are often under-examined and that the hypocrisy inherent to the 'Will of Fire' philosophy/the Leaf Village (and by extension the shinobi world) is equally neglected especially when it comes to this fandom's love of tearing down the Uchiha to their worst traits/moments. But, man, something about these two panels and character portrayals in particular have just been eating at me the past few days, so I figured I'd try to work out some thoughts on them.

[the-gnoblin]

Dracula Daily Digest: May 5

Annotations:

Jonathan is back in business which is to say he keeps writing down recipes.

I saw this posted somewhere else but the number one thing about reading Dracula is just appreciating the dramatic irony of all the characters in Dracula not knowing they're characters in Dracula. Case in point: "(Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions)" in regards to the landlady and the coach driver discussing vampires and the occult. Like, Jonathan, you've got a big storm coming.

Speaking of big storms coming, uhh, Jonathan, let's think about our life and the decisions that led us to this point. A crowd just "made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards [you]." That's nOT GOOD.

We have some more Jonathan characterization which is to say further emphasis on his curiosity. Even with all the locals acting like he's a dead man walking, he's able to become so entranced in the countryside that he forgets about all the bizarre happenings of the last three days. He even gets distracted in his distraction by sharing fun trivia about the region! He's too precious for this world, and this preciousness is 100% being established for some juicy character contrast later.

I can sense something significant in Jonathan being offered so many outs by the people surrounding him. Of course there's the immediate significance of "hey idiot that's Dracula's castle you're going to, I'm a human person with an at least half-functioning conscience and I don't want you to die," but I feel like there's some thematic significance that I'm too tired to legitimately ponder.

Another top comedy moment: Dracula pretending to be a service worker.

"...a long, agonised wailing, as if from fear." I am the number one fan of this imagery. Holy cow. Stunning. I don't even know why I like it so much. I think it's because of the chilling tone it helps to establish, but honestly it could be just how classically "horror" it reads.

Initially I thought that Jonathan just kind of brushing off Dracula's weird little Road Moments was really confusing and frankly dumb on his part, but it's actually made more sense to me on this read through, particularly with my emphasis on the "otherness" of this world. Over the last three days, we've seen Jonathan be constantly bombarded with strange and unsettling and unfamiliar behaviors, all of which he seems to be simply chalking up to regional differences. He doesn't find Dracula's behavior on the road to be dangerously odd because he's already been inoculated to confusing behaviors by the townspeople.

"I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do." Me too, bud, me too.

I find Dracula's first explicit introduction to be very uncanny. I think he falls really interestingly into the uncanny valley. He's described in a far more traditionally western way than the rest of the setting so far, which puts Jonathan and by extension the reader into much more familiar territory, but there's something off about him that raises our hackles a bit. His clothes, though nice and more familiar, are all black without a speck of color. His hair, though neatly trimmed, is starkly white. A really concise example of this contrast can be found in Jonathan's description of his speech: "...in excellent English, but with a strange intonation...." Dracula is simply so close and yet so far from Jonathan's known world that he is able to plunge into new depths of his unknown world.

This unsettling nature is only emphasized by Jonathan's later careful examination of the Count's appearance. There is something viscerally upsetting to me about the way Dracula is described here, and that's definitely on purpose. This description also serves to establish a physical baseline for Dracula (specifically his "general [affect of] extraordinary pallor"), the contrast of which will be used to create creeping horror later on in the novel.

Dracula's comments about the wolves and their "music" also helps establish that uncanny contrast I talked about earlier. Up until this point, the Count has been a welcoming and fairly normal host. These comments of his serve as an additional reminder to Jonathan that he is not in a familiar place, and certainly not a safe one.

"I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul." Glad to see that that famous Jonathan Harker Repression was able to make an appearance.

Sorry for the longer notes. My brain was absolutely flowing in terms of stuff to yap about today so I had a grand time. Today is also definitely a really important moment in the story because you know things are about to get real when you meet your titular character.

[doberbutts]

"It is not enough to say 'We must not wage war.' It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but the positive affirmation of peace."

Martin Luther King Jr. Anti-War Conference, Los Angeles, California, February 25, 1967.

As written on the north wall of his memorial in DC.

[summer-oil]

don’t get sick while staying over at dilfguru’s house you’ll get tucked into bed and spoonfed nothing but miso soup and white rice until you feel better

[theslimeologist]

Art tip you love? Any you hate?

The entirety of youtuber art tips. I hate them. (doesnt even watch them)

Anyone ranking art skill. Anyone who sets sweeping rules. Any tips that tell you that you CANT do something. I hate them.

The difference between a good art teacher and a bad one, ive found while in college, is their enthusiasm to see their students create ANYTHING AT ALL combined with their ability to critique in a way that actually helps their students improve.

Critique should always take into consideration the artist’s range of ability, what they like to do, what they want to improve on. A lot of art teachers will judge their students by their ability to do things “Just Right” which can ultimately boil down to style decisions. and you CANT mess with someone’s style.

Tips i like:

shading without black (especially in painterly rendering or colourful art) will richen the colour of your shadows and make a drastic improvement for colour harmony. Try using a superdark and saturated hue for a layer of shadow over your art, changing the hue (navy blue to deep purple, for example) can have a big impact on the overall piece of art. in art school i was taught to paint without EVER using black, as a dark hue can be made by combining the right pigments. when it comes to physical painting (something im bad at) vs digital art there are MASSIVE differences in colour theory due to pigment work being subtractive (mixing pigments will reduce brightness, deepen hue. you can NOT mix a colour brighter than the pigments used) and digital work being additive (as coloured light layers together it becomes brighter. you get white through full RBG values. layer filtering gives you insane control over how digital colours interact) colour theory is complicated! but its something i love a lot. its really interesting and a lot of people start their journey with learning more about colour by taking that first step of avoiding pitch black. THAT SAID- i dont like setting any rules either, as pure black is obviously useful. It just needs intention when used.

if you want to improve your lineart, using larger brush sizes will help a lot with concealing any wavering in your line work. in order to improve line accuracy you just gotta draw lines. man. over the 15 years of drawing digitally i went from redoing a line over and over for 15 minutes, to slowly drawing out my lines and then zooming in to “sculpt them” into the curves i want them to have. (i called this pixel shaving, as it felt really stupid but it always made a genuine impact in my lines. while also tripling the time to line anything) to now, where i have made myself the smallest brush possible to do razor-thin linework and sketching thats perfectly smooth. Lines became near effortless for me after 15 years of torturing myself and refusing to use pen smoothing. ALL THIS SAID- this is the journey i chose for myself as a line artist and the results do show, but THERE ARE NO RULES. as usual. line art is extremely difficult and the more you learn the more you know how easily it can be fucked up. never lose confidence. lines are everyone’s enemy. using brush smoothing, larger brush thickness, textured brushes are all ways to conceal line wavering. Conceal the things that make you self conscious so you can focus on your craft!

enjoying yourself is the best tip though. if you enjoy your art you are likely to improve naturally as you draw more and hold yourself to your own standards to improve. :)

[omppupiiras]

slap that butt

[sweetmapple]

“Where are his eyes?”

“Exactly where they’d always been”

🔥🔥🔥

Can’t banish this man from my psyche

Expect panopticon drawings 😋

[mementomcri]

i think one of the things that i love about brilliant minds so far is that their queer representation doesn't feel secondary or forgotten for long stretches.

wolfnichols is centered (as much as you can in a procedural) and never an afterthought. even with carol's story with morris and alison running in parallel it never felt like a throwaway or like they were trying to cram it in.

their disagreements don't feel like they're just for the Plot or to create drama. there's so much intention there. there is ensuing character development that occurs as a result and it really works. like these characters are in their mid/late forties and while they certainly still have issues to work through, i also appreciate that they're written in what feels like a mature intentional manner --- not just throwing hurdles and conflict at them for the #angst.

it's been incredible to see the growth of queer rep in the procedural genre over the last decade or so, but wolfnichols really does feel a bit first of its kind to me. the queer storyline is given to the main character and for once the gay relationship is given the same grace and thought as its straight counterparts. ( and not to go off on a tangent, but i also love that wolf & carol's platonic relationship is framed and shown as the strongest in the series as well ).

i love a slow burn (even if i probably would not classify this as a slowburn, we do see them go from strangers to a romantic relationship). i love to see relationships develop and far too many times in other shows the development feels jerky or sudden. i had the fear of that in episode 8, but in retrospect you can see it's just a honeymoon phase. (do i still think they could have written their relationship development even slower??? ... yes, but i'm not that mad about it)

the rest of the season also really proves to me that they're willing and wanting to explore so much development between the two. they're not just getting them together mid-season 1 and then wiping their hands of the responsibility of developing them further bc 'well there!! they're together !! be happy !! we did it !!' i love that they're going to experience setbacks. they're going to have to work through things together and in the end it's going to make their bond stronger.

we all love angst and relationships that have hurdles (it makes for a great story to watch lbr !! ), but i love that it doesn't seem to just be for gratuitous plot devices and they don't feel manufactured. there are real repercussions and real growth that comes as a result. which of course, just makes me SO interested in how season 2 might go.

[chromaticcrazyass]

i saw your comment on my mcr caine doodles and it made me so happy to read through it, I hope you have a great week :]

[Caine voice] "Look at this cool meme I made!"

[vorekody]

Mirror that eats you

[janesurlife]

I want this mf to sit in an f1 car for 10 laps during a race as tough as Qatar or Singapore... they'll piss their pants. "he didn't do nothing" FUCK OFF cause by that logic Charles did fucking nothing during Monaco and that wasn't even as tough of a race as Singapore.

[edensrose]

got a reeeeeeeeeally bad stomach ache 🥺 was thinking maybee someone'll gimme tummy rubs?

꒰ ᡣ𐭩 ꒱ oh no my poor baby :(( how DARE your tummy worry such a darling. don't worry i've got you. gonna lay you down and rub your tummy w some essential oils to get it to go away 🫂 you can rest your head on my chest nd then i'll hold you as you fall asleep <3

[hungrytummyprompts]

How about tired with a side of extra whump?

As soon as the door closed behind him, Kurt collapsed straight into his bed. He didn't even bother removing his shoes, or his hero gear. Hell, the hero gear was best left on as much as possible. He'd live in it if he could, it was the one thing he had that protected his skin from his own powers. Anyway, his main goal for now was to just sleep until he felt at least a little rested, which would be...six years perhaps? Yeah, that was in line with how exhausted he felt now. He'd even elected to stay in a room in the team base instead of making his way home home, even though that would certainly leave him more at risk of Katharine's nagging about getting injuries seen to or whatever else. Honestly, she was worse than his ex sometimes.

It probably would have been easier to sleep if he had let her treat his wounds. Then he would just have to deal with the nausea that came with the excess acid in his system (thanks, acid powers) and the way that excess acid made it difficult to eat properly.

Speaking of which, he was starving. As usual. His belly gave its usual complaints, a low, longing groan that bid him to get out of bed and go back to the common room. He pushed himself up on his arms, yawned and decided 'fuck it'. A second later, he was face down in the pillow again.

Sleep didn't come easily, much to his chagrin. Despite his exhaustion, the aches and pains across his body digging into his psyche every time he tried to relax bothering him more than he'd care to admit. Hunger was digging at his belly like a frantic animal, and now he was no longer in the midst of battle his stomach decided it was cool to complain. He shifted position for a while, trying to get comfortable if it was the last thing he did, and ended up on his back, one leg bent up, one arm slung over his eyes, the other draped languidly over his poor neglected stomach. In this position he could really feel it sinking in from lack of food, each miserable grumble like a knife to his already sore body.

He didn't neglect it on purpose, of course. If he could control it, he'd be eating well every day, enough even to become good and fat. He imagined how it would feel to be completely stuffed with good food and thought it would be the ultimate fantasy.

The problem was his acid powers. His body naturally overproduced saliva, enough that he was either forced to swallow it down or spit it out with frankly ridiculous frequency. There was always a pause in conversation when it was his turn while he cleared his mouth of the latest stupid puddle. It meant he always had a huge amount to spit at enemies, but outside of a fight situation it was nothing but a pain.

Additionally, the saliva his body produced was a highly corrosive acid. More potent than anything else he'd encountered in his life so far. His body didn't seem properly equipped to handle it either. Any time it touched his skin, it burned. He had scars around his mouth, his lips mostly scar tissue, his hands and arms carrying the proof of old burns. The inside of his body had some protection. It still burned his mouth and throat, but not enough to cause obvious major damage. Sometimes he would gag as the acid slid down his throat, his body bringing it back up as it begged him to get rid of it, and jesus fuck did that hurt, and having more acid in his stomach than he was supposed to was just awful. It hurt, especially when his stomach was empty, it made him feel sick, it bloated him and gave him ulcers, it just sucked more than anything.

Overall, this made simply eating and drinking normally highly unpleasant. Anything in his mouth caused it to water, which of course meant more acid spit, it would quickly become some nasty mush before he could even chew it, his body would try to reject it when he swallowed, his stomach wouldn't even absorb whatever made it in properly and there was a fair chance he would throw up later.

Okay, maybe some of the neglect was willful avoidance of a very unpleasant process but mostly it was just hard to get anything good into his stomach. A stomach that was currently throwing an absolute tantrum in his exhausted body. He dug his fingers in against the miserable organ, just wishing it would stop. He was tired and just wanted to sleep without his tummy screaming at him. It was too much, he couldn't do it anymore.

At some point in the mess of misery, he must have fallen into a light sleep because he was startled awake by his door opening. He knew who it was without looking. The whole room stank of death and rot, which didn't help the nausea at all. He couldn't judge Katherine for it though, it was a shitty side effect of her powers too.

"Get out."

She instead placed something on the desk. He caught the scent of broth and groaned as his stomach clenched and howled. Katherine huffed.

"I could hear your stomach from all the way down the hall. Eat, you idiot."

He raised a hand and waved her away,  waited until he heard her leave and shut the door and sat up to look at what she had brought.

Soup.

Simple soup. Some kind of vegetable soup by the smell. His belly begged him to get up, take those few steps to the desk and eat the whole thing. When had he last eaten? It looked so good and he was so hungry, and he could tell what Katherine had meant. His tummy was growling non stop and so fucking loud, even before she'd brought the soup in. He contemplated dragging himself out of bed to eat.

Then lay back down with both hands pressed to his belly. He would eat later, he promised himself. For now, he was just too damn tired.