#monkey musings

[contactlessdrivethru]

there is something unique and deeply special about monkey d luffy as a protagonist. he’s overwhelmingly ADORED by the fandom. he’s consistently the most or at least top 3 most popular characters in the whole series. peoples takes about him are gushingly positive. and that’s… really uncommon.

a LOT of fandoms i’ve witnessed or been in have a tendency to favor characters other than the main character. especially in anime. the main characters are often written as a blank slate for readers/watchers to project onto, but that makes them not as interesting and so they don’t get the fan attention.

but luffy is so far from that. and he’s ALWAYS been this way. we love him so much. he’s the heart of the story and the heart of the fandom in every single way. and i think that speaks to how well-written he is as a character. he’s fun and charming and complex and interesting and he makes us laugh and cry and cheer and hope and love. he’s able to inspire so much joy in people, both in his world but also in this one. and i think that’s really special. i feel so grateful to have found this story that means so much to me, and i’m so grateful that luffy exists.

[i-am-minty-fresh]

One piece is a story about healing your inner child but it takes the interesting approach in directly acknowledging that children are…weird, violent, and annoying most of the time.

Luffy is telling his crew mates to allow themselves the opportunity to get the experience that they’ve always wanted growing up while allowing for them to be every bit mean and violent and selfish that normal kids are allowed…in conjunction with normal happy situations.

Like yeah they build pillow forts on the deck and eat as a family BUT kid Zoro would have loved a violent competition of who can beat the most marines…kid Robin would just yearn to stare at a corpse with those big blue eyes…kid Nami would want to rob the place blind…kid Franky would want to build something big and scary…kid Usopp would want to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk…

So they all get to. This is not a picturesque childhood where every just needs a good cry and a big hug. Most of these kids were weird from the get-go and were not given the proper environment to foster that type of necessary enrichment.

Welcome aboard the ship of dreams where you’re gonna heal your inner child by competing with everyone else in deck to see who can be the biggest bitch (spoken with love).

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

Crunchyroll having the Episode of Sabo appear right after every new episode is a calculated decision designed to keep me in my Sabo Hyper-Fixation forever. Every week when i go to watch the newest episode, I’m reminded of him.

I recommend watching that episode though, its a great recap of the first part of Dressrosa if you dont want to trudge through all the long-drawn out anime scenes

I swear to god, within like 5 years, im gonna have the entire Dressrosa arc illustrated. Im not actively trying to do it, i just really like drawing themn

[gummmy]

Ed my beloved. Muse was unnecessarily difficult until I figured out his shapes but u can still see my struggles.

Plz read paranatural <<

[alt-rock-confessions]

I've recently come to a conclusion that literally every band you and I can think of has some sorts of sexual tension between at least two of its members. It's just something universal in the world of rock.

Sexual tension and tenderness, don't forget. Anon you have no idea how much fun putting together this post was, cheers.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

It just dawned on me that the Netflix “One Piece” show using the original anime voice actors for the Japanese dub is a lot more complex than it seems. At first glance, it looks like the voice actors are just reprising their roles. They are already familiar with their characters, so it shouldn’t be too difficult doing the dub.

What makes things complex is that, technically speaking, these aren’t their characters. When Mayumi Tanaka goes to voice Luffy in the anime, she’s only working off of the script and directions from the director. When Mayumi goes to voice Luffy in the live-action, she’s actually working off of Iñaki Godoy’s performance. Even if you’re the greatest actor in the world and can replicate another performance perfectly, there’s still going to be distinct differences that will make you stand out. These differences could be anything, from dialogue changes to make the pacing work for the show to Godoy’s own little nuances that he adds to his version of Luffy.

It’s strange to think that even though Mayumi Tanaka is doing the Japanese dub for Luffy, she has to approach the same character from a different angle since this isn’t her Luffy, it’s Godoy’s. Same goes for the entire cast and their respective characters. It’s like they’re starting fresh.

[raspberryluvr]

Rewatching Gossip Girl and actually getting super into it and omg early season 5 Chuck was rly him at his best. I’m on season 5 episode 4 and I don’t want to punch him? For like the first time ever? He’s finally leaving Blair alone, he’s got a weird semi-friendship with Dan, he’s finding true joy in caring for a dog - the writers rly set up a lovely arc that shows how toxic and undesirable Chuck and Blair’s relationship was and allowed Blair to slowly find power within herself again, all while actually beginning to make Chuck almost sympathetic (a task I never would’ve thought impossible), and tied everything together with a Dan-Blair relationship that suddenly seemed like the obvious path for these characters that might have even been subtly building up since the very beginning of the show, then threw it all away at the end of the season just for some last-minute fan service that required some insane retconning to actually try to justify narratively huh? It’s just so aidhjenwhsbaiwnwbi. Anyways long live dair ig.

[forged-in-kaoss]

🦋Fights and battles have begun Revenge will surely come Your hard times are ahead 🌀

[ladyfauxhawk]

Listening to The Car on a rainy morning

It's been a while since I've done a full re-listen of The Car. I'm noticing things that I'd overlooked.

The wall of sound strings jump out to me more this go-round. These are Puppets-level string arrangements. For an album about longing and masks and missed opportunities, it's hard for me not to think about this in comparison to Everything You’ve Come to Expect. We hear the strings but the whole song cycle is about absence. In lieu of a Puppets album, did we get Alex arranging strings and singing without (but about) Miles? Without Miles, we get something beautiful and heartfelt, but with no electricity.

Like the moment in Big Ideas where Alex chokes back a laugh after singing "we had em out of their seats" at 1:51. In good headphones I felt it resonate.

He knows he's not going to get people out of their seats. His new sound is for sit down concerts. I love this sound, but I also miss the fire.

I may be reading too much into this, but I'm curious if others feel it too.

[beaulesbian]

one piece chapter 1118 spoilers

i absolutely loved the last two pages of this chapter!

luffy telling bonney to become like him, and bonney to get the future of being free! seeing herself completely free!

that's the whole deal of luffy - not only bringing freedom to people, but slowly helping them see what it means, to want to free themselves!

and it works - bonney can imagine that future, and become the most free - when luffy is most free, he's nika. so she becomes nika, too. i adore this storytelling!

we don't know how much her fighting style would be similar to luffy - but the iron giant possibly reacts to her too, the gorosei feel something is wrong, and i love that it could mean this power is not just luffy's, but maybe whoever who can get into that mindset of freedom (or like bonney adapt with her abilities) - because that's what nika inspired, "he will take you out under the sun to the freedom of the sea" (from ch. 1095).

i love it because luffy doesn't want to be the hero, or worshipped or celebrated. he just wants to be the pirate king, and this - the sharing of the power or its similarities - is something that feels so fitting for him to make happen. he won't share his food (with almost anyone), but he will share these powers to fight for his goals. he doesn't know what or who nika is, (and bonney calling him that twice now is still fun), because it doesn't matter who he is - it matter what he is, and that is free.

[unbreakablemouserat]

What's up with Britain in the 2000's launching rock bands' careers with rodents as vocalists/guitarists?

[i-am-minty-fresh]

I love how interactions with the strawhats work at this point cause they’ll meet someone who has first interacted with Luffy and their attitude will become, “wow your captain is really insane! It’s gotta be a lot of work being the well-adjusted group of individuals you all must be-“

Only to make direct eye-to-dick contact with Franky while Zoro and Sanji lick the blood off of each other like cats. Chopper and Usopp are cry/screaming while Robin and Brook poke and laugh at some nearby roadkill to past the time.

Jokes on you, they are literally all insane.

[necroticmusings]

                        When you look at me like that, my darlin',                                                        what did you expect?                          I'd probably still adore you                                      with your hands around my neck.

                                                                               — or I did last time I checked.

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

Hey random thought but maybe you don't have to sexualize characters/people of color for you to value them

[usagisbunspace]

HEEWWWWOOO MY MANGO BUNS!

Happy valentine's day!!! 💌 🌹

Featuring this silly dynamic with @senri-liyue oc and Yang!

HIHIH finally finished it here they are! (It took a while but i decided to fully finish today!

Hihihihih i love them

[angellan]

So on Sunday I read @lawsbbygirl's fic : Desires of the flesh (read the tags and warning before reading !) and it's been going round and round in my head ever since. I knew it wouldn't stop until I'd drawn Dragon!Luffy, so on Monday night I started and spent about 12 hours in a state of bliss. (Sleep is for the weak)

Here's the result. Censored by Law's lovely head. If you want the uncensored version (⚠️warning NSFW 🔞) don't hesitate to ask, my dm's are open. 🫣

Sometimes I'd just be looking for a detail about Dragon!Luffy and I'd end up rereading the whole fic, forgetting what I'd come for. 🥵😳🙈