#I'm not sure how much sense it would make as they're be tons of references to events that no one is aware of but me

[altered-personas]

Thinking about finally getting around to that Phantom Spider v. Sovereign drabble that's been sitting in the back of my mind for months.

[pluckyredhead]

☕️ sliiightly late but would love to hear your thoughts on Tom King (I get the impression you’re not a fan? - ive only read one book of his (heroes in crisis) and a couple issues of mr miracle but I always see people talking about how great some of his books are)

Lol I am indeed not a fan. BUCKLE UP, FRIEND.

So two things about Tom King that give him such a good reputation outside of fandom circles: one, he is regularly paired with some of the best artists in the industry, which means his books look incredible. I mean, just astonishingly beautiful all around.

And two, he is very good at including certain signifiers that indicate "this is a prestige comic." It's hard for me to describe it - it's an "I know it when I see it" kind of thing - but there are certain ways of writing and laying out a comic that signal seriousness, intelligence, boundary-pushing. Art with a capital A.

The easiest example I can give is the nine-panel grid, which is exactly what it sounds like: a page of three panels by three panels, all the same size. This is associated with older comics (like, Golden and Silver Age) because it's so simple, but also it's very very associated with Watchmen. So now when people trot it out there's an element of "Look at me! I'm just like Alan Moore!"

Tom King looooves the nine panel grid. He uses it a ton in Mister Miracle (Kirby used it a lot so this kind of makes sense) and Heroes in Crisis, especially for the therapy sessions. And there's this thing in the industry where people see a nine panel grid and they're like "Oh! This comic must be Smart." But if you scratch a lot of Tom King's work, it has very little substance beyond a sort of complacent nihilism.

(Geoff Johns also used the nine panel grid to signify that he is An Intellectual Writer now with Three Jokers, which was fucking hilarious. Geoff Johns is the Michael Bay of comics and he was trying to be Wes Anderson. It was embarrassing for him.)

And actually, speaking of Tom King and Watchmen, Heroes in Crisis has a great example of how he's using shorthand instead of, like, building a real story. There's a moment where Clark tells Bruce and Diana that someone anonymously sent all the superheroes' therapy footage to Lois, and they're like "She can't publish it," and Clark's like "She's a journalist. She did it 35 seconds ago."

This is a reference to a very very famous line in Watchmen, when Ozymandias is talking about his plan and then reveals that "I did it 35 minutes ago." But Heroes in Crisis has nothing to do with Watchmen, and Lois's actions (publishing private medical information for no reason) have nothing to do with Ozymandias's (dropping a fake alien squid on New York to end the Cold War; also, sorry for the Watchmen spoilers). It also has zero consequences, either within Heroes in Crisis or in later comics.

That moment serves literally no purpose except for Tom King to tell the reader "I've read Watchmen." Which...is not really much to brag about? I'm pretty sure it's the bestselling graphic novel of all time. Lots of people have read it, dude. The line has no story or character purpose, it's just the equivalent of like...teenage boys quoting Rick and Morty or whatever at each other to signal that they're an in-group. Except pretentious. It's like if teenage boys quoted Proust at each other. (That would actually be amazing.)

And in fact - and this is my big beef with King - the line actually harms the story, because it's wildly out of character for Lois (and Clark, who fully supports her decision here). Why on earth would Lois publish the private medical information of dozens of people, many of whom are her husband's friends, or even her friends and in some cases family? It's not newsworthy, it's deeply unethical, and she doesn't know who her source is. It makes zero sense that she would publish it, and equally zero sense that Perry would allow her to - they're the Daily Planet, not fucking TMZ. But she does it...so that Clark can paraphrase Watchmen. Okay???

And that's the big problem with King. He has no knowledge or understanding of the vast majority of characters that he writes, nor does he care to learn. He is a fundamentally ignorant and lazy writer. Heroes in Crisis really exposes this, because it uses so many characters, and he gets so many of them wrong, and it's so clear that he like...Googled shit with no context.

Like, take Kyle Rayner. King has him praying in Spanish, and like...okay, sure, Kyle's dad is Mexican. Except Kyle didn't know that until he was well into his twenties! He literally had no idea that his father was Mexican or that he himself was Latino until he was an adult, and while he does canonically speak a second language in the comics, it's Irish. In both HiC and Omega Men, King writes Kyle as devoutly Catholic, when Kyle has never been shown to be religious in any other comic. King just went "Oh his dad's Mexican, he must be Catholic and fluent in Spanish." Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't have comics where Kyle engages with his Mexican heritage, but this is just a stereotype.

King also has this trick where he goes back to a character's debut issue and does a close reading of it to inform his writing, and everyone congratulates him on his deep cut...but he reads nothing else about the character. In Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the only Supergirl comic he references out of 63 years of canon is her first appearance, which is all of 8 pages long. Way to dig deep in that research, champ.

His book Danger Street was touted as celebrating the obscure characters of the DCU, but it was really just utilizing this trick to the max, because it was all about characters from a comic from the 70s called 1st Issue Special, which was dedicated to trying out new characters and concepts, so it was a whole bunch of debuts. I only skimmed part of Danger Street while researching something else, so I can't claim an in-depth reading, but one of those 1st Issue Special characters was the blue Starman, Mikaal Thomas. King uses that 1st Issue Special debut issue and literally none of Mikaal's other appearances to inform his writing. And you might say, well, okay, that's an obscure character so who cares? But Mikaal is a historically significant character who was half of DC's first on-page gay kiss in a mainstream comic, and you can't even tell from King's take on him that he's queer, because surprise surprise, his queerness wasn't in his 1976 debut but was a later development. And everything Mikaal does doesn't have to center his sexuality first and foremost, but it would have been nice if it seemed like King was even aware of it.

King also doesn't understand, like...really simple themes. I thought Mister Miracle was really good when I read the first issue...and then the story kept going, and I was like "Ohhhh he doesn't understand the point of the Fourth World at all." And the Fourth World is, like...the least subtle Kirby ever was, and Kirby was never subtle. Anyway Scott Free is a hero and Orion is also a hero, and if you don't understand that basic fact and how it is the central theme of the Fourth World - that given the chance, good will always be stronger than evil - you need to go back to remedial comics school.

AND FINALLY (lol sorry), all of his comics are just...miserable. They're about terrible people being terrible to each other. Which...is fine, I guess? But it's not why I personally come to superhero comics.

So yeah: I don't like King's work because he doesn't actually know what he's talking about, he doesn't do any substantive research, and he's so cavalier with the characters that he's been given temporary charge of that even DC has made almost all of his writing out-of-continuity after the fact. And the fact that the comics establishment treats him like he's some kind of genius makes me want to scream.

[cokoweee]

okay, I've been following your account and loving your art since the Mikey vape comic days-- probably about a year or so now? and. holy shit. your art improvement has been absolutely INSANE.

can I ask if there was anything specific you did to improve so much and so quickly? was it, like, a quantity thing-- just drawing a TON very rapidly, doing lots of little sketches, going insane over an au and knocking out like thirty comic panels in a few days, etc etc-- or a quality thing, like doing a lot of specific studies in anatomy and environment or genuinely practicing at some particular skill? I feel like I've been very stuck in terms of improving my art lately, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to get myself out of the rut. Just curious to know how it's worked out for you!

if you have any specific advice for how to improve in making comics, that would be super helpful too. i feel like you're very good at posing/rough anatomy (as in, you draw forms from a lot of different angles and with very slight variations that really sell the poses for me), and that's something I would LOVE to get better at. also, the way you draw environments!! i've never been good at background or situating characters in a particular frame, but it always looks so natural whenever I'm reading your comics-- the layouts make sense, they're never under or over detailed, they feel appropriately cluttered or clean, etc etc. Any advice for something like that? or, more relevantly, any recommendations on how to get better at something like that?

thanks! love your work <33

I’m still not here

Uhhh I didn’t do anything real fancy? I looked at a lot of homies art along with actually using references for bodies to understand them better. Not entirely sure what I did other than I draw a LOT

I spend any minute I have at work and home pretty much drawing. It’s actually a lil unhealthy with how much I do. I ignore what my body wants/needs 90% of the time

Uhmmm read some comics. Use references? Oh I stopped using a pencil so much which somehow works?

I know you u want like an actual answer but I’m pretty terrible at that. Best I got is just expand ur noggin on stuff. Use references, read different kind of comics and get a feel of them. Chomp out the things you like. Be goofy with what u doodle even if it don’t look right.

Don’t try to make a masterpiece every time. It’s okay to be a lil sloppy

[red-hibiscus]

BL characters I relate to most as a mentally ill gay trans man

Daisy from SCOY

Surprising no one, I, a trans person, relate to Daisy. They're outgoing and seemingly don't care about how people view them. They know they're visibly queer and they normally don't mind it (from what I see). But at the end of the day, society does affect them. They're hesitant to believe Touch genuinely cares and is attracted to them despite Touch being an absolute green flag who is very direct with his flirting. Even after, Daisy was worried about people would view their relationship with Touch and tried to become Day, a more masculine version of themself. Impossible of course and they broke down emotionally exhausted. I feel that so much because I also don't believe it when people, especially cis gay men, are attracted to me. I've caught myself trying to change my behavior to be more masculine (as I'm a bit on the nonbinary side of things). It's bad, but I know how Daisy feels.

Wang from 180 Degree Longtitude Passes Through Us

As a 26 year old trans gay immigrant in a country that doesn't want me, I have a shit ton of pent up anger that has been building up since I was a child. I've calmed down over the years, but I can still be stubborn and argumentative when it comes to politics and human rights. I'm also a linguistics major, thus an academic.

Wang is so much like myself and like a lot of people around me. Like me and Wang would be close friends irl I know it. We're young and stubborn. We're angry at the older conservative people around us, too much sometimes. So he lashes out. Many of his points are correct, but they're not hitting. Partially because the people he's talking to don't want to change, partially because he himself is stubborn. People like us yearn to be free, to be ourselves and to learn. Wang has a passion for the humanities like myself. Yet he knows society really only cares about STEM fields. I've compromised and am getting a master's in computational linguistics. Even though really I just wanna learn as much as I can about sociolinguistics.

Karl from Gaya Sa Pelikula

I haven't watched GSP in a hot minute, but I do remember feeling very seen.

So in the show Karl has his gay awakening, tries to internally and externally deny it, and eventually let himself be free to feel everything and be himself (at least in private).

Now I didn't have a gay awakening, but I guess you could say a trans awakening. In middle school I felt different, I suspected maybe some flavor of LGBT, but wasn't sure and I was too afraid to think about it too hard. Come high school I secretly wanted to join the LGBT club, but was afraid. Then I was essentially adopted into the LGBT club and dragged into the friend group during lunch because I was a loner like everyone else. At the time still "identified" as a cishet woman. As time went on people started to suspect. "Why are you in the club?", "why did you cut your hair", "why do you dress like that?", "your voice is low for a girl haha", etc. Much like Karl, I was not ready for any of that. I was still struggling to make sense of it all and come to terms with it myself. So I kept rejecting it and every time it hurt.

I kept rejecting it until I couldn't. Until someone I resonated with so much came out as trans and it clicked. My trans awakening was complete. I became able to be more myself, but only in private safe spaces. I wouldn't come out and live as a man until after high school and it was terrifying.

Adachi from Cherry Magic

I've only watched the jpn ver, but I'm sure that character remains the same.

I'm anxious and used to be quite shy. Now I'm just awkward. I'm really bad at seeing the good in myself cause I feel like I'm wandering around aimlessly in life. Not that impressive. So when people compliment me I think "haha they're just being nice" (refer back to me never believing people are actually attracted to me).

Adachi is the exact same. He has the same routine every day. Just going through the motions and not really thinking anything of himself. But then Kurosawa comes along and the ability to read minds. Adachi then realizes "wait, someone I respect so much actually loves me? And thinks I have a lot of good qualities? Makes me wanna cry." And me too Adachi. I'd be the same.

Jared from 7 Days Before Valentine

Jared, my precious baby, is described throughout the show as kind, but weird and different. We later learn that he has dyslexia, and honestly he seems to be somewhere on the autism spectrum. Even if he isn't, he has a behavioral difference people pick up on and then shun him for it.

I too was seen as kinda weird growing up. Maybe it was the autism, maybe it was the social anxiety. Probably both. And then of course there was the gnawing feeling that I was different than everyone else and it turns out it's because I'm trans.

So when Jared said that people didn't talk to him because he wasn't like other people it hit me so hard.

Myungha from Love For Love's Sake

The whole show is sad yet cathartic for me. Myungha is depressed yet spends his time comforting others. He has a hard time loving and receiving love. If you give him a fictional character who is very similar to him he will love them and see all the good, but he doesn't see it in himself. Relatable as hell.

I have an incredibly hard time being honest with my emotions and letting people love me and express attraction. Mostly in a romantic/sexual context. Dpdr is cockblocking me. So dating is hell, but I'm lonely and yearn to not be.

Probably if you put me in a situation like Myungha I'd also go "yep, that right there is my blorbo" and then not realize that all the things I like about the person and make me care about them are things I have.

Honorable mentions:

Both Akk and Ayan from The Eclipse

Nozue from Old Fashion Cupcake

Oh-Aew from I Told Sunset About You

Cher from A Boss and a Babe (I headcannon him as autistic)

Amber from DNA Says Love You

Uea from Bed Friend

Mitsuomi from Restart After Come Back Home

Jao from SCOY

Maybe I'll make another post for those later

[amethystfairy1]

hi I'm back, back again. I did more art, this time of witch Martyn, bc I LOVE him :)))

also I have more questions for u

so u know how u said in ttsbc that it's respectful to learn the courting rituals of the individual you're trying to woo? Well, I was just wondering if that happened with doc and Etho, and I did some research, and...

I might draw this lol. I'm picturing Doc just SCREAMING and Etho w/ a thought bubble that just says "hot" LOL.

Anyways the question was over whether doc ever did that for etho or vice versa, but considering the rituals, I'd think not...

2. For traveling thieves, do the collars respond to intentions? In the latest treebark fic, the guy says "do not harm him" whilst referring to Martyn, which made me wonder how vague it could get. Could you say "don't go too far away" in leu of any other movement restrictions (ex. Grian's old "don't fly higher than twice the height of the market), and the collar would just understand? Or, even vaguer, "don't do anything I don't want you to do" to prevent any loopholes people like Pearl would find?

3. Are witches that rare/powerful? Ren comments that Martyn could have the world eating out of the palm of his hand, just because he's a witch, which makes me wonder how important they really are. For example, would he or Gem have more authority? Also what powers do they have besides the training in healing that Martyn got? Any fighting ability, or stuff like that?

ok that's all, have a good day :)

Hello!!!

I SAW! I SAW WITCH MARTYN! He's SO PRETTY! I absolutely ADORE HIM! Thank you so much for drawing and sharing him! I reblogged him as well, I absolutely love him! Super super cool!

Doc just screeching at Etho and Etho doing the like anime girl blush is absolutely hilarious to me. Y'know what. Headcanon away. I love this idea. 😆

Questionsssss 🏃‍♀️

2. Ok, lemme see if I can explain this properly. The collars respond to an 'understanding' of the order. They'll enforce whatever the hybrid hearing it understands the order to be. So in this situation, Ren understands the arena master is referring to Martyn when he says 'do not harm him' so therefore the collar accepts that as the order, and Ren can't make any aggressive moves toward Martyn without triggering it. For your other example, if someone said to Pearl 'don't do anything I don't want you to do' there's a million loopholes in that, because Pearl doesn't know for sure what her master does or doesn't want her to do. I mean, obviously they wouldn't want her attacking them, but like...what if she attacked some other guy? What if she flew really high in the sky? What if she stole some food? She doesn't know for certain that those things aren't things her master would want her doing, so the collar wouldn't trigger. Another example would be if someone said the same thing, 'Do not harm him' but the hybrid truly didn't understand who was being referred too. Then the collar wouldn't trigger. They didn't understand. Of course, in these scenarios, most hybrids as we know them would ask for clarification to ensure they didn't disobey, but even still, that's how it would work. Hopefully this makes sense!

3. Witches are quite rare and powerful, yes! Not to the extent that they're insanely rare and completely unheard of, but like, if you saw one walking down the street, it would be quite the event. Most major cities have a coven of witches established in them, but that's only a few dozen individuals within a population of tens of thousands, so that's still quite rare. Martyn is headed out into the sticks, so the more remote areas he heads too probably only have one witch per town, and so that witch would command a great deal of respect and their word would carry a lot of sway. Martyn being someone on the same playing field as those sorts of people automatically makes him very important. Comparing him to Gem isn't exactly possible. Gem holds a ton of authority in the underbelly of cities and with the mercenary guild, but with your average person...well, they wouldn't even recognize her. Like in the story where she and Pearl are going after that dude, he doesn't recognize her as the Slayer, she has to tell him that's who she is. Martyn is obviously a witch, from how he dresses to his charms and pendant, you can tell at a glance, so that's a much more sweeping sort of authority. He'll come into any conversation already being heavily respected and any average person would take him at his word. As far as powers go, the thing about witches is that they have an incredibly high level of inborn mana, to the point that they can actually die from mana overdose as kids if they don't find someone to help them with training, and we hear about how this almost happened to Martyn, but lucky his teacher took him in. Witches are special because they have unique inborn skills, such as the pocket dimension spell 'Inventory' (yes I know I'm very clever 😭) and also several different appraisal skills. But that's not all! They also aren't restricted to one form of magic. Martyn studied healing magic, but he can still cast fireballs, ice spells, weather magic...pretty much nothing is off the table for him so long as he's at least passable familiar with it. He might not be as good as an expert, but he can pull it off. The only sorts of things he couldn't do would be nature magic, which is specific to elves. But basically any magic a human is capable of, Martyn is capable of. And he also trained and studied for the purpose of being able to mimic and manipulate spells and mana usage that he sees off the cuff, unlike mages who would need to train up to using spells in their domain. And Martyn isn't trained as a fighter! He can't throw a punch, but he can throw a fireball! That's why he needs Ren, because like all good witches, he needs space, focus, and casting time to get spells off. Suddenly being assaulted by bandits on the road by himself wouldn't end well for him, so he needs someone like Ren who is capable of physical combat to keep him safe and give him that time to get his magic going!

Jeez that was long-winded...whoopsie! Well, I hope you enjoyed my rambling! Thank you again SO SO SO much for the witch Martyn art! I will cherish him! 💖

[gartenofbanny]

(Long rant ahead lol)

People defending Helluva Boss saying that the series is far from finishing/they're in hell is not gonna be able to stand actual serious adult shows.

Viv had so much to inspire and take reference from. Moral Orel, for example. We see how generational trauma, abuse, sexual assault, and a lot other things can get people in a horrible mental state. But no character is always described as 'pure' and 'does now wrong'.

Bojack Horsemen also handles the same topics. And they have one thing in common : they're not focused on just one character while making every other character seem like bad people.

They don't make a pity party or make only one character be the spotlight of the good. No one is perfect or 'good' and that makes it worse for them since they're in hell. A supposedly eternal damnation where sinners are punished for being imperfect and horrible people.

No one is supposed to be a good person in hell. And that one thing they failed to do. Honestly helluva boss is gonna crumble and no one is gonna be surprised.

The series is a bit far from finishing, but I honestly don't think that's a good thing as people like to say. Helluva Boss finishes the development of characters to return back to the status quo or gives them no development at all, the show establishes new threats and completely ignores the already looming threats, it forces the characters to be insufferable for the sake of comedy, and it doesn't make any sense of the worldbuilding essentially making it more confusing than it already has been.

The second paragraph is essentially why I and many other people cannot sympathize with characters like Blitzo or Stolas. Vivziepop and the other writers for Helluva Boss want us to feel bad for them regardless of their actions beforehand.

I haven't watched Moral Orel, but I did watch Bojack Horseman and I'm pretty sure the writers of Bojack Horseman didn't want us to feel bad for Bojack. He's self-destructive and did a shit ton of bad things to himself and those around him because of his selfishness. Sure, certain characters will forgive Bojack Horseman and move on, but I think all of the characters made choices in their lives to distance themselves from Bojack because Bojack affected them negatively in one way or another. You can't undo what you did regardless of how you were raised.

Bojack Horseman faces the consequences of his actions and we all understand why, but in Helluva Boss the characters don't. Vivziepop and the other writers would portray characters that the main cast has wronged in a negative light just so the main cast would be seen in a positive light and that's just not realistic.

It's not even Hell anymore, demons aren't even pure evil in this show, and when they are pure evil they're the antagonists we're supposed to hate.

[butchthirteen]

what’s your pitch for good!Flux? And good!Power of the Doctor?

okay so i'm going to preface this by saying i have not rewatched flux or power of the doctor since potd aired and that is because potd dealt so much psychic damage to me that it retroactively ruined the entire chibnall era and now i can never watch it again. so this is going to be extremely vague/broad strokes because i don't remember what happened very well.

on the other hand, this means that the bar for a good version of both of these is very low.

overall, flux should be entirely about the doctor's reaction to the timeless child news and her subsequent identity crisis, and secondarily about how she is in absolutely no shape to have any kind of relationship with another person.

to make room for this, we're cutting out like half the plot lines. i liked bel and vinder but what were they doing there. we don't need the unit thing either, and i think i'd also cut the lupari, or at least, i might keep karvanista as a figure from the doctor's past but i'm not sure connecting that to a species that exists to guard humans makes literally any sense. i'm not sure we need swarm and azure either, and i would maybe replace them with a lackey for tecteun who's responsible for creating/spreading the flux. the weeping angel thing can take up more time, that was one of the cooler parts of flux, and it could also build up some suspense (ie. the angels are stalking the doctor, what do they want with her, finally she's in the 60's and this town is crawling with them, etc.) and we keep dan so yaz can have a companion.

plotwise like... i feel like the flux itself has to feel personal. like... okay, planets are disappearing, but they're planets the doctor cares about. she drags yaz to some planet or another because she thinks it might give her more clues about what division is, and the planet is just full of refugees. and something is clearly extremely extremely wrong. and they go back to earth to check on it and they realize the streets are strangely empty, i guess i'm lifting from the dimension cannon audios to say the flux got the sun. which also gives them a time limit on fixing it because pretty soon the earth is going to be uninhabitably cold. and they pick up dan somewhere in there. but as they like. go around the universe trying to figure out what's wrong it's clear that like. places that have a particular significance to the doctor are gone. you could pull a ton of different references from past seasons. and then she realizes she keeps seeing the angels.

you need to either do way less or way more thasmin, and i'm a dyke, so i would make the thasmin way more explicit, but also way more toxic/codependent. yaz knows thirteen is hiding something, knows it's massive, knows thirteen is running away from her, but can't leave because 1. she's never felt this way about anyone and she doesn't want to lose what she has and 2. she knows that whatever thirteen is hiding is clearly devastating and rooted in trauma etc which makes her 100% more likely to forgive thirteen. and thirteen for her part is like. perfectly nice until yaz tries to challenge her/ask questions and then she falls back on the "haven't i shown you amazing things!!" thing that we get like. one line of.

also like yaz having WWTDD on her hand was a clear attempt to show that she looks up to the doctor and wants to be like the doctor but it's like. extremely on-the-nose and stilted. "show don't tell" isn't universally useful advice but it would be useful advice in this specific instance. show us that yaz is becoming like the doctor!

for example. i kind of want to keep some of the stuff with the mouri, maybe the doctor goes to them to figure out whether something's wrong, realizes a couple are missing, but crucially yaz is like "wait if you get another person in there will it stop the universe from being so fucked up." and jumps in. because she thinks she can handle it. and the doctor is like. oh shit i don't want to lose yaz and jumps in too. because then you can have all the flashbacks, maybe you give yaz glimpses of a possible future for herself (without the doctor... but with the doctor's constant intrusion) (also in good!flux yaz has already quit being a cop and she's an emt in the future thing) and then that can parallel the doctor's glimpses of a possible past for herself, with the present as an intrusion (ie. she's seeing yaz instead of her actual partner or whatever).

yaz's separation from thirteen (and her watching thirteen turn into an angel) needs a lot more narrative and emotional weight, we should see her sobbing and wailing, and then we should see her stand up and figure out what needs to be done. the doctor doesn't give her a hologram (because thirteen being like "well i think we might get separated!" and planting a hologram makes NO sense) but she does have like. a silly souvenir hologram of the doctor from some amusement park or something so it's literally just the doctor grinning and going like "hi yaz!!"

and she has dan with her but i think i'll leave jericho out honestly because the main thing i remember about him is yaz taking a historical object out of a dig site type of place and going "we should return it" and jericho going "no no it's a discovery!!" and like. i think maybe i'm actually not going to have a character of color say "hey stealing this cultural item kind of sucks" and then an older white man from the 1960's who's just there to go "no it's great." i mean if i do keep him in i take out that line and i give his death way more impact. but anyway . we can keep dan as companion for yaz and also like. general emotional support guy. this also means that he gets an extremely one-sided picture of yaz's relationship with the doctor. i also think he assumes they're dating/partnered just by how desperate yaz is to get back.

but anyway without the hologram yaz doesn't have a mission from the doctor, but she does have a mission, which is to get back to the doctor, and she's spent enough time with the doctor that she knows if she looks hard enough eventually she'll find a time traveler, possibly another version of the doctor, and she can get that person to get her back to the doctor. i think also if we keep the tunnels she needs to discover them through research etc., like she needs to read somewhere about this guy in liverpool who keeps saying these tunnels are going to weird times/places, and then she needs to follow up on those rumors and seek out the guy and ask him about the tunnels and convince him to show her the tunnels and then she gets back. and dan is there to be like "hang on i know about these tunnels!!"

meanwhile!! first of all we make a much bigger deal about the angel thing, we see thirteen left there for much longer, and it's tecteun who comes and turns her back. also the conversation with tecteun starts with tecteun addressing thirteen in gallifreyan and then switching to english when thirteen absolutely refuses to engage. this is the "reveal" that yes, the flux was about the doctor, and it's all so the doctor can have a beautiful new universe to play in, etc etc etc. honestly i don't think i'd change much about this bit, it's just all the stuff around it needs to give it way more weight. i'm honestly not sure how this resolves, though. i think thirteen needs to think tecteun is right for a moment, and then she's like wait fuck this and figures out an escape. probably she figures out tecteun has an escape plan and uses that. to be honest i don't worry a lot about the technicalities of stuff like "how does she escape" because i feel like that's secondary to the actual plot. like in doctor who the technical stuff never makes any sense but you buy into it because the emotional story is good. unless the emotional story is bad.

and then like. we're back on earth with the sun gone out. it is extremely crucial that thirteen does not get trisected after the interaction with tecteun because this means that yaz is now in the right century, directly in front of the tardis, but the doctor isn't there. which means that we can use the chekov's gun of yaz knowing how to pilot the tardis (!!!) and have her get in there, get out her big binder and all her sticky notes or whatever, and figure out how to find the doctor. and honestly i think it takes most of the episode for her and the doctor to find each other. meanwhile they're both trying to figure out how to solve the problem of the flux. they find each other, have their moment, thirteen is absolutely wrecked emotionally and physically, yaz is doing a little better but like it's been a long four years. and there's a moment where thirteen is completely defeated, yaz starts throwing out solutions, like "maybe there's an antidote" "maybe there's something that works against it" "maybe we can turn back time" etc etc etc.

and here's the thing... i think maybe this is where the heart of the tardis could come in. like when it's used at the end of the first episode of flux, it's so anticlimactic. but in s1, it's established that the heart of the tardis gives you what you need. and i feel like thirteen looking into the heart of the tardis could like. do some things. for the universe. particularly i think thirteen coupled with the tardis could fuck with the timelines to reverse the progress of the flux, there's still lots of loss but she manages to save earth (and the sun) and get the flux out of the universe. honestly i'm not sure if this would actually work but again it's one of those things where the emotional storyline needs to really sell it.

so that's flux. and you know what you could just have the doctor regenerate right there, considering the heart of the tardis has a track record of killing her, but let's say instead she expends it all trying to fix what the flux did and then she's just so fucking tired. and yaz is like "okay let's have a beach day. do you want to invite dan."

and then we get eotd/lotsd. i won't go into too much detail here except that these episodes need to like. foster actual conversation between thirteen and yaz. like they need to actually talk it out. thirteen needs to tell yaz what she's been hiding, yaz needs to express how it's hurt her. which sets them up for potd.

good!potd involves a few things. first of all, tegan and ace are both explicitly dykes. none of this "i have two ex-husbands" whatever. she's married to nyssa and we all know this. secondly, we need an actual bodyswap between the doctor and the master. what actually happened was way too confusing. thirdly, if you are going to open on a random child and then not use that to talk about thirteen's childhood trauma. what is the point. fourthly yaz needs to either choose to leave on her own accord (because thirteen mistreated her, because even though they're talking now it's too little too late, because her time in the past made her realize she really missed normal life) or there needs to be tragedy. like she needs to die. we also need an emotional kiss either right when she's about to leave or while she dies. honestly i don't remember what the actual plot of potd was but like. fewer plot lines more of the master and the doctor goofing around in each other's bodies, more dykery, more tragedy. and also thirteen needs to die as a direct result of the forced regeneration. honestly i only watched potd once and since then i've been trying to wipe it from my brain because i hated it so much so i have fewer thoughts on this one.

anyway i hope you enjoyed that. i gave myself real emotions thinking about thirteen's emotional journey in my own personal version of flux. if anyone has thoughts or wants to add anything let me know. i thought about adding jack to both flux and potd because according to the released shooting script for rotd he was supposed to come back at the end and deliver a cliffhanger into flux (presumably written before the bbc blacklisted john barrowman) and like if we're living in a perfect world where no one sexually harasses anyone else having jack there (particularly as someone who knows the doctor very well from a very different point in their life) would be cool so there's also that.

this is long but i'm not putting it under a read more. woe! good!flux and good!potd be upon ye!

[darlin-djarin]

What are your thoughts on Luke Skywalker’s love interests in Legends (Mara Jade, Callista, etc.) versus his fanon love interests in Disney canon (Din Djarin, Ezra Bridger, etc.)? How do you think Luke is viewed differently, and how would the fanon Disney love interests be treated if they were canon? (I should also be working on an art piece rn but I was thinking about this.)

okay so i don't really know anything about legends, i only pull references or lore from it when i need it, so i don't really know much about mara or anyone else. i've seen a ton of maraluke content, and a lot of it is really nice actually. the art is cute and i have many mutuals who ship them. idk if i actually ship them, because again, idk who mara really is, but i don't mind the ship much. idk who callista is, but i like the name. anyway, fanon love interests in disney canon are pretty good. i personally adore dinluke (the fandom... is another story) and i endorse every other luke ship out there. i don't really care who he gets shipped with, i'm just going along with the vibe. i guess i really enjoy that disney canon never gave him a love interest, because that leaves a lot of fans to do with that as they please. i do like the aroace luke headcanon too, and i do like ideas of him being in a qpr with whoever. i think since more people are familiar with disney canon luke, they characterize him to be a bit more feminine and make him more of a "sub gay sunshine twink" (cries and sobs and vomits and wails and screeches and-) so i do tread a bit more carefully with the gay or queer ships luke is in. i don't really see luke getting shipped with any women outside of mara (which makes sense because this guy never interacts with women in the first place), which is kinda unfortunate, but understandable.

i guess in the end, i'm not actually a big shipper. while i do dabble with ships here and there, i'm not really directly into just shipping, so i don't try to interact with shipping fandoms unless i really enjoy a specific ship. i think that a lot of the world would be really enraged if luke got an actual canonical love interest. it's just something that a lot of people would be mad about. and introducing an actor to play a love interest for luke is sure to get some of the most vile hate out there, especially if they're a poc (or a woman. or both). so while the idea of luke getting a love interest, whether it be already a fanon ship like dinluke or skybridger or skyrissian, or another new character brought in from legends, is cool and all, i think bringing fanon into canon wouldn't end well, and it'd be better off to just leave things as they are. ofc there's always the opportunity to explore character relationships with luke in an interesting and dynamical way. romance doesn't need to be a thing in the story for the story to be actually told.

that being said, i just don't really see luke ever getting into a relationship in canon. i'd say it'd be interesting to see him with a love interest, but i know that if that actually happens, i'd probably be mad about it too lmao. i'm just very keen on keeping things the way they are already.

thank you for asking

[bluelockednyx]

mind if i brainrot about rin/isarin in your anon asks? sorry, i know of zero other isarin shippers on tumblr 😭 personally, one of the reasons isarin has such a tight grip on me is because of rin himself. i was thinking abt this for a while but now ive got a bigger urge to talk about it cuz of something that the author aparently said about his depiction of his character. his edginess is sorta how he represents rin's apparent attempt at "having to become an adult" which i thought was interesting. the author also said he thinks his desire to grow up is why rin intentionally complicates his relationship with sae. to me, it reads as though rin associates maturity with broody angst. reminds me of a lot of the "friends are stupid, everything sucks" type of faux maturity where ppl think them closing themselves off to healthy emotional support is them being logical. the fact that he's younger than isagi makes a lot of his underlying naivete matter a lot to me and my feelings towards this ship. ig i use isarin as a way to develop rin opening up to love and affection again, and realising that growing up is so much more than just being angsty 24/7 idk if this makes any sense tho. i could just be being dumb lmaoo

I will take any and all opportunities to talk about Isagirin, and yes, there are very few of us, so ask away as many times as you want :D

I'm not surprised Kaneshiro-sensei said that -- referring to his edginess specifically -- about Rin, because he and Nomura-sensei did a really good job showing it in the manga! The sweet, sweet angst of growing up in shonen manga; Rin being all broody about it is so typical teenager but also depicted so well.

The edginess and 'friends are stupid, everything sucks' mentality is a side effect, imo, of being so attached, and then badly hurt by Sae. I would say that it's a bit of a self-defense mechanism too, because if his own brother, whom he adored so much, and he's sure loves him back too, could hurt him this badly, then it's a bit of a no brainer for someone who's not even family, to hurt him too. I'm pretty sure Rin hesitates to let himself get emotionally attached to anyone at this point, and I'm also pretty sure he's not fully aware of this part of his psyche yet.

On growing up and how Rin intentionally complicates his relationship with Sae: I think yes and no, on this. The simple part - they're brothers, and they always will be. Neither of them can erase that even if they wanted to.

On the complicated part - sibling relationships can be very complex, and just because at the end of the day they can interact properly with each other in a civil manner doesn't mean that there hasn't been real damage done in a relationship, and to a person's psyche. Even the dumbest things done without real intention of hurt can cause lasting psychological effects, whether or not the person knows it for themselves.

Kaneshiro-sensei views Rin as intentionally complicating his relationship with Sae. I don't. But YMMV with this: this POV is personal, and there's a ton of cultural aspects to consider which I am definitely not in a position to talk about.

Sae was cruel to Rin in the flashback when they had their 1v1 after Sae came back from Madrid, and Rin never gets the chance to address that issue because he never gets to communicate properly about it with Sae. There's probably a camp out there who says Rin should just get over it, that Sae said it in the heat of the moment, but I'm not part of that camp. I don't believe in sweeping stuff like that under the rug. It's not fair to the person who was hurt. It's also, well, a common tactic in abusive relationships to trivialize the victim's feelings, which sits even less right with me.

We know Sae better because we get an omniscient POV as readers, but from Rin's perspective, Sae stonewalls Rin and never tries to explain or elaborate. While I do agree that trying to talk in the middle of a football match isn't the best place for it, it still doesn't change the fact that they wouldn't be in this situation at all if it weren't for Sae (and also for the sake of compelling plot drama). Sae definitely owes Rin an apology imo, though given what you've just told me about Kaneshiro-sensei's view on Rin intentionally complicating their relationship, I really doubt he's ever going to have that happen in the manga, so :/

And yes!! Rin being younger than Isagi was something that I had suspected back when they were doing the first 3v3 matchup, from just reading the way he spoke. It was confirmed later, I think, in the yoga scene, then the character guides. And yeah, one of Rin's bigger flaws is definitely his lack of close relationships. It severely limits his ability to empathize with other people, and can become a horrible feedback loop in and of itself. Yet, like I said in my meta, if Kaneshiro-sensei wants to develop him into a healthier, more well-rounded character, that's what Rin needs to do -- develop relationships with the rest of the Blue Lock boys as equals, and become actual friends.

I get you!!!! That's what I want for Rin in the Isarin ship too. Just Rin opening up to love and affection again from Isagi, and growing up and realising that he needs friends the other Blue Lock boys that he can count on too. Let's be dumb about fantasizing Isarin with a loving and affectionate Rin together!!!

[hawkesque]

hey sorry to ask this on your non-art blog but i was wondering if you could explain the process and decisions you make when - and im not sure if im saying this properly because im still new to art - you apply stylistic choices to anatomy? i love your art and what im curious about is how you make your anatomy stylistic while retaining their recognizability? do you feel that there are certain details about a reference that you should capture to retain that more than others? thank you for your time! i hope this made sense!

anon you're lovely. i'll try and answer this the best i can, but--crucially--i have very little in the way of actual artistic training and have truly been making shit up this whole time, so grain of salt for everything i say! (under the cut because its long)

firstly i wanna say 2 disclaimers:

i have been doing art/capturing faces for a Long Ass Time (i think art's been my main hobby for...nearly a decade now?). i'm only "good" because i have a shit ton of practice. art always takes time and effort, there isn't like. A Key to doing it perfectly

i don't always get it right! i only post the things which turn out the best! i have a ton of poorly done drawings that look nothing like the person i'm trying to capture.

alright, that being said. there are certain features i try to get right for any person i'm trying to capture: face shape/jawline, nose, eye shape/tilt/distance, eyebrows, and lips (or lack thereof). yes this may seem like all the features. it is not tho.

after that i look for anything else that stands out: for BJ, for instance, it's his ears, the shape of his forehead/his hairline, and the particular kinda down-turned/hangdog look of his stache (he is SO hard to draw without it, for me), and for Hawkeye it's his cheeks/laugh lines when he smiles (the lines around his mouth and his crow's feet), his occasional double chin, and his brow ridge.

and these aren't things i ever render in like, insane detail...just little lines following the contours of features and indicating that they're There usually does fine? for stronger features like face shape/nose/etc it takes a bit more intentional doing, for me, but i still tend to just do The Outlines. (it might be helpful to pull up a reference and just trace whichever features stick out the most to you, and go from there)

after that its a lot of trial and error. like, a LOT. for me it usually takes several passes with several different references at different angles/with different expressions, or a while of looking at a person (so like. binging a show, or being friends with someone for a while), or both, in order to get a feel for someone's face and be able to draw it consistently.

(to illustrate this point and also embarrass myself, here are my first ever attempts at drawing Hawkeye right after i started MASH in 2022, vs a much more recent attempt:

as you can see i was fucking struggling. lmao. again it's all about time/practice/familiarity)

after a while of trial and error, you'll start to get a feel for which features you want to emphasize--it won't be the same for every character, and you probably won't emphasize all the same things another artist would. and the specific way you capture/emphasize features will be unique to you! here are some more artists with similar(ish) stylized styles you should check out and get inspo from (i certainly have), in no particular order: leescribbs, loopnoid, steadbox, tinyufoboss, averysartblog, pherredraws, and a ton more i'm probably forgetting (sorry)

you don't have to do everything i do (or everything anyone else does) with your own stuff, this is just how i personally do it. i wish you the best of luck with your art journey, anon! i hope you have fun with it!!! :-)

[pancake-breakfast]

Well, it's a good thing I tried to get ahead earlier in the week because it took this long for me to get to the last part.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 4, Chapters 6-7 below.

Chapter 6: The Bystanders

Falling ships and giant worms. Looks like we're off to a great start here.

Ok, I really hope we get a worms-eye view of The Fall in Stampede. I'm not gonna hold my breath given that they've kinda already covered it and they just don't have a ton of episodes to work with, but I love love love the idea that we get this backstory from the perspective of the planet's native, sentient, and very inhuman inhabitants.

You know what, Zazie? I dunno what this face is supposed to be, either.

Ah, the Japanese inclination to apologize for everything.

Oh, gods. Nightow's gonna intersperse this backstory with the boys fighting, isn't he? *SIGH* I wouldn't normally complain, but Nightow's fights are, far more often than not, hard enough to follow to begin with.

For as twisted as his body is, Hoppered's hands look very normal. I don't know what I was expecting.

Ohhh, Hoppered's beef is about July. Shoot, I saw someone make a comment about one of the cops in Stampede during July, and now that makes sense. Like, at the very least, that cop's line was a callback to this scene.

Ah, the innate trouble with translating the two-syllable Japanese "待って" (ma'tay) to the monosyllabic English word "wait." Personally, I would have gone with "W-- Wait!" but I'm not the one doing translations here.

Vash is denying it because he can't imagine wanting to destroy a city, but Hoppered is right; he just doesn't know.

Is... is Hoppered crying?

Eyyyy, old-school Hoppered! Looks like he was a bit of an odd one even before he joined up with the Gung-Ho Guns.

Ah, there's that term "independent." But the way Zazie's presenting it is making me think about it in whole new ways. Stampede brought it up in a way that made me think of them as having a freedom other Plants don't, but this interpretation has me thinking of the innate alone-ness of both Vash and Knives, what that means to them, how they deal with it and how they make it a part of their being. Knives revels in it and lets it feed his sense of superiority (much to Legato's dismay, I'm sure). Meanwhile, Vash... I wouldn't say he resents it, but he finds it very lonely, and it doesn't make him feel superior so much as it makes him feel very Other.

And here's the first place we have it straight-up said that they're Plants.

Ah, so the Bystanders referred to in this chapter title are Vash and Knives. I thought it might end up being the worms. But hey, no reason the title can't work both ways.

And then ANGEL ARM?!?! Ohhhh, Zazie's story's being interwoven with Hoppered's. This is July. How was I supposed to know that without metagame knowledge??

Ok, this panel is great, 'cause it was only a few pages back that Zazie noted they have the innate ability to sense others' emotions. It just adds a level of intimidation on the whole thing.

Hahahaha, Midvalley. I guess I shouldn't laugh at his suffering, but he tried to kill Wolfwood, so eh.

There's something innately ridiculous with him being like, "Time to pull out the BIG GUNS!!!" and then immediately being like, "Aw, man! My instrument's busted or something...."

"He's almost too pathetic to kill at this point." Rude.

Black-suited moron? Wolfwood?

Yeah, it's Wolfwood.

Milly to the rescue! Again!

LOL, he's doing better than he looks.

But not as good as he thinks he's doing.

The Adventures of Big Girl and Short Woman by Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Uhhhh, who's the person with the light?

Hahahaha, Zazie looks sooooo unimpressed with Midvalley right now.

Zazie has a point, but I think he's preaching to the choir here.

Where tf did Midvalley get alcohol from all of a sudden? Also, is the alcohol called "Drifter"? If so, that's kinda cool. Something something meaningful names for alcohol in this series.

Oop, Zazie's worm sense is tingling!

Chapter 7: Hopeless Sinner

CW: Suicidal ideation

Oh, Vash. This look has me really worried for you.

"Sinner" is generally the word Knives uses for humans in this series. I wonder, though, if it might be being used to apply to Vash here.

Ohhh, babygirl looks soooo troubled. And then looking up and seeing the hole in the moon.... That's not gonna improve his mood.

Ah. He remembers. And... you know... in this shot, he looks amazingly like Knives.

Heh. Hoppered just... sort of peering over him. Like he's checking on his wellbeing. It's the opposite, but the casualness of it is deceptively calm.

I'm... honestly not quite sure what Hoppered did to silence Vash here. Slap him, I guess?

Ooooof. Vash just straight up embraces the killing urge inside him. He looks it straight in the face and says, "Yeah. This is a part of me." But in the same breath he rejects it, says it's not something he wants because he doesn't want to go down that path. He doesn't want it so bad he'd take his own life to keep it from taking over.

Gods, he's sooooo sad. Even Hoppered feels bad for him.

Hoppered still wants him dead, and still wants to die, as well. TBH, this feels more like he empathizes with Vash to some degree. Something something double suicide.

Uhhhhh, sudden light??

Yeah, I dunno what happened here, either. Vash got knocked somewhere?

*sigh* Wheeeerrrrre does Wolfwood think he's going???

Did... he just gut-punch Milly????

Yes. Yes, he did.

He deserves booing. But I love how he just... caves. I bet he didn't really want to leave and was only gonna do so to get Milly out of there. But Milly didn't want to go peacefully and so here we are.

I really feel like Midvalley should get a strap for his sax. It seems like that would be useful. And this series can't have too many straps, belts, etc.

If five seconds is all it takes, why isn't Vash dead yet? Hmmmmm???

Uhhhhh, what's with this crazy airship??

Ohhhhh, shit. I have enough spoilers to know who that is.

This chair, though. It looks like a musical instrument.

Author Bonus Chapter

I have no idea what Nightow is rambling about here with this Barbarian Bonehead All-Stars nonsense.

Ohhh, so this isn't Kuroneko. This is Nya-Kun. My bad, I got them confused.

"My emotions are overflowing into rambling!!!" Hahahahahaha, I know we all do this from time to time, but it just feels very Nightow.

Ohhhh, something got lost in translation here. I've watched enough Attack on Titan to know that apparently Nightow replaced a word here with the pronunciation for "heart," but there's no corelary on the page.

I had heard about Nightow's love of action figures.

"They gather at the ocean with pleasant feeling." This sounds like something that was translated too literally from Japan. The phrase doesn't quite work in English.

"The meaning of their name in Japanese is 'omocha buzoku.'" This tells me nothing about the meaning of their name in Japanese. I am very confused.

Ah, he addressed the difference in the planet name from the manga to the anime. Sort of.

Haaaahahahahaha, ok, Story Time. A couple weeks ago I was at Anime Expo with @sweetpotoooooooos, and she went to a panel by Studio Bones (one of the old-timers as studios go) on one of the days when I couldn't attend. She said that during the panel, Bones mentioned that when they first got word of just how popular Fullmetal Alchemist (the original) was in the U.S., they thought they were being lied to. The numbers seemed too high. (As someone who was into anime at that time, I can verify that four of their five titles preceding FMA were talked about in the community, but only Wolf's Rain actually aired on Adult Swim where it could reach a broad audience... and... well, let's just say Wolf's Rain is not as good as FMA. (It does have an excellent Yoko Kanno soundtrack, though.)) FMA was first broadcast on Adult Swim in 2004. Trigun was first broadcast on Adult Swim in '03. The idea that anything anime would be popular enough to warrant action figures in the West would have absolutely been mind-blowing to any mangaka, and much more so one as in love with figures as Nightow.

Mata nee, minna-san!

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10 || Volume 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 1 Supplemental Research, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Volume 1: Covers + 1-2, 2 DT, 3-4, 3 DT, 5-6 || Volume 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Volume 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Volume 4: Covers + 1-2, 3-5

[unohanadaydreams]

I saw a post that showed Mayuri’s purple neck pillow with the original detailing! I wonder if Shutara gave it to him or I wonder if fabric became a hobby to him. I also read somewhere that certain Japanese spiders live in the ground. It makes me wonder if she started the maggots nest. Or if she had anything to do with Squad 2. It might solidify another reason why Kisuke and Yoruichi knew each other. I like to think that Kisuke, Yoruichi, Kukaku, and maybe Tessai (even though he looks stern, he definitely breaks rules) would sneak up to squad zero as kids with the Shiba cannon

You mean this one?

Personally, I think it's something that he made himself! It reminds me of camouflage and seems like a cheeky nod to what Kubo would later fully conceptualize in Hell Arc. It really seems to me like defensive markings (like the Red Helen Swallowtail Caterpillar which again, is better repped in his Hell Arc look but the powers Jizo exhibits in Soul Society arc go well with the nod, especially since there's a huge misconception in general that swallowtail caterpillars are poisonous).

I'd like to think he dropped the design because he wasn't satisfied with how it well came together his first go around. Yet another Shutara can bully him for. (Can you just imagine Mayuri going on about improvement and shit and Shutara's just like "yes, I'm sure your lack of execution stings less with that logic, hm?" She just doesn't give a shit and knows she can say whatever she wants, I love her.)

But it wouldn't shock me at all if she was the one who started the maggot's nest and had ties to the 2nd, considering one of her larger contributions is the Shutara Scale which seems to be one of the go to security measurement systems. And Urahara starting the R&D in pendulum arc seems to be the big catalyst for 12th to be more involved in security of the Seireitei. You can easily imagine that before that the 2nd and 12th had a more collaborative air, with 12th doing the research and 2nd being more involved in the development & execution.

It would also help explain her familiarity with Mayuri, if she wasn't brought down as a replacement after Urahara noped out during pendulum. Shutara being a previous head of the Detention Unit ala Urahara also tickles me as a concept. (And the delicious thought of Shutara being a former prisoner for being labeled a danger and building the Maggot's Nest as a way to ensure that those who hadn't per se Done something but were dangerous had SOME kind of avenue of leave that she perhaps barely got herself.)

(Also I like the burrowing spider reference. Personally I've always associated her with mukade/centipede. I guess it's the gold arms and poison which just really vibes with me? But the spider + silk combo also makes a ton of sense)

As far as Kisuke and Yoruichi knowing each other, this post altered my entire viewing of Kisuke, Tessai, and Yoruichi. The disclaimer of results may vary when you pick up Maggot's Nest talent can not be understated lmao. Like, Shutara hoisting off Kisuke and Tessai off to the Shihoin estate because they are such thorns in her side and also because their minds would be a horrible waste mirroring Kisuke doing the same for Mayuri would be beautiful. <3

I'm not sure how likely those three sneaking up to Squad Zero is but its clear they got up to a lot of shit they weren't supposed to, considering the gross amount of knowledge they have about the Seireitei where even old hats like Shunsui and Ukitake seem like they're just kind of going with the flow when new developments come along. Like, I'd say its pretty debatable if Unohana knew as much as those three seem to.

[purple-compromise]

I came across Tiwwan fairly recently as I'm new to TF2 (just got a computer that can handle anything beyond art programs without sounding like it's about to take off on the nearest runway) personally, I'm on my 6th reread of this fic (series?) and I love it a ton. I know you're focusing on other projects but it's just so good and I will happily wait for the next update. Even if it's well into next year.

I've got a few questions. It can be answered with headcannons about TF2 in general or related to Tiwwan, totally up to you. I couldn't get them all in the normal submission without feeling bad about imploding your inbox from word count as it was so I'll do my best to separate text from here.

Do Blu and Red teams ever run into each other on their days off and in town (before red specialist knocked the three guys into next week at the bar in town) or do both teams get assigned a day to go into town to get supplies, so like RED can only go into town in the evening and Blu can only go in the mornings? If they do run into each other, do they get into full brawls (or do only certain members get into brawls with a 1 v 2 with Red specialist with Blu medic and Blu spy) or is it more similar to the relationship that red demo and Blu soldier had in the comics (doesn't matter if it's the entire Blu and Red team or if it's a select few, like Red and Blu engi, pyro and demo for example just chillin off the field at a bar or star gazing)? Or are both teams assigned to different towns of where they can get supplies from in order to avoid contact with the opposing team entirely?

How much does Blu team deviate in interests from their Red counterparts? Are they close to the same as  their counterparts or do they stray in different ways? For example, does Blu specialist like reading novels but prefer a different genre than Red specialist or does Blu specialist enjoy reading but prefer another form of arts such as drawing/painting but uses art books as references? Or with engi, where both play guitar, but maybe Red favors guitar while Blu favors banjo more? Or red scout loves westerns while Blu scout might prefer watching American football matches with soldier instead when the channel comes in?

If Red specialist takes vacation time to visit her mother and it happens to fall during work days (not sure what it says in her contract for time off if she has any or if miss pauling allows her a short leave of absence to visit her mother) do both teams get time off from fighting each other due to unbalanced teams or does Blu specialist get the base to her self while everyone else is on the field/getting intelligence/pushing (stopping) payload? does she get reprimanded if she tries to help give her team an unfair advantage from being out of range/off the field?

How frequently do both teams get stationed at different areas/maps? I know Tiwwan takes places primarily in Teufort but I wasn't sure if both teams would get shipped out to different locations (or even experience different game modes like Mann v Machine, though  it would be interesting to see Merasmus appear and having both specialists reacting to the wizard that is Merasmus).

 (bonus, does Blu specialist have any teammates that she gets along with? Any that she despises with her entire being and would personally send through respawn herself if they're an annoyance?)

I know that this is super lengthy but I do love your work! Take care of yourself!!

[Submitted by: @taytay4674788]

Gosh. I'm sorry I sat on this so long but I've read it more than once and just haven't had the time and energy to properly reply. But wow!! Just wow, thank you so, so very much!!! Your sixth read??? I'm floored and delighted! 🥺

Interesting first question! I've actually thought about and maybe discussed (though not here) what might happen if both teams were to supply at the same time. I don't know if they've been given specific days they're allowed to go, though that would absolutely make the most sense! But, if they did happen to be in town at the same time, there's no guarantee they'd recognize each other if they weren't in uniform. Plus, if they did, I think only certain members of the team would be prone to brawling... most of the team-members like Engineer, Sniper, Spy, Heavy, and Specialist (possibly even Demo) would, for the most part, view it as "I'm only paid to beat you up M-F, 7-3. I pretend I do not see you." But! It would also 100% be possible to get in a conversation with somebody you do or don't recognize from work and accidentally strike up a friendship with your double over literature or what a limited selection of food this town has. The idea of both Specialists getting to know each other outside work has come up on the blog before, I believe, under the tag "Berry Smoothie."

Another interesting question regarding the teams' similarities! According to my own interpretation of what's going on (that I don't think I've made explicitly canon at this time), both teams are made up of completely different individuals but ones with such similar, hand-picked skillsets that they do, at first glance, seem the same. But! They do have their own interests and appearances. For most of the mercs, I based their small differences in personality largely off what it presented in the "End of the Line" SFM short. For BLU Specialist, she does have some interest in literature but actually dropped out of college while studying theatre to support her sister's education, a bit like RED Specialist joining the Navy post-college to help pay her mother's medical bills.

Ooo, this is a great question and I've never thought about it! I imagine if Spesh (or any member of the team) needed emergency leave, if it's only a couple days, everyone might get time off, but if it's longer the counterpart would likely have some forced time off or time spent doing some other kind of busy work. Who knows! Maybe they'd be sent away to fulfill some other contract for a bit.

While most of TiWWaN takes place at Teufort, the team will, at some point, rotate to other locations--probably more and more frequently until we reach the fic's conclusion. This also means we'll see Marasmus around Halloween (I think Scout did allude to it at one point) and Mann vs. Machine is definitely in the future when Grey Mann finally appears.

Bonus: BLU Specialist will eventually be in a romantic relationship with the BLU Spy and they probably have at least a casual relationship already at this post in the story! She also gets along well with her team's Heavy, Engineer, and probably Demo or Soldier. BLU Specialist absolutely can't stand the medic and finds their Scout exceptionally annoying.

Thank you so much for you kindness and your interest! I enjoyed your questions and hope you have a wonderful autumn! 💜

[ilaiyayaya]

The Anti-Big Oof, Some May Even Say "The Small Foo"

Just played The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog today, a dumb, goofy little visual novel made for April Fool's Day a few months ago. It's really cute, it took me waaaay longer to get to it than I expected, I originally was going to read it the day it released, but uhhh i forgor💀 but now that I have actually finally read it, it's so good and was definitely worth reading. It's not very long, and there's not a ton to it, but it was created by a team of really dedicated Sonic fans including a few of the writers for the IDW comics and it is so incredibly obvious, it is absolutely filled with obscure little references to the series as a whole that only weird obsessive freaks like me would ever even notice. The number of times I went "WAOW✨" was immeasurable, the Knuckles OVA hat, "Big Oof" (classic), I think they even indirectly referenced the fucking Shadow pissing on Eggman's wife video, not 100% sure on that tho, may just be reading into it too much, but in my headcanon they're 100% referencing Shadow pissing on Eggman's wife frfr. It's crazy how the writing teams for every Sonic related thing now, the games, the comics, even the social media is just made up of a bunch people that are just as obsessed with Sonic as even the most insane fans, like the last 10 years of Sonic media has pretty much just been a collection of officially licensed fan passion projects and I'm all for it. Like obviously there's been the typical corporate made stuff that was obviously just rushed out for money and had no love behind it too, just like any franchise, but like, I'm not here to talk about that, I don't want to talk about that, I'm here to talk about PURE, RAW, UNFILTERED PASSION AND HOW FUCKING COOL IT IS!!!

The Sonic community in general is just insane in how passionate they are, like what other community has multiple entire expos dedicated to fangames, that have been recognized by major members of the official Sonic development team? (If you can't tell I am very excited for SAGE and SHC, the next 2 months are gonna be so pog >:)).

It's so exceptionally fun experiencing any kind of work in general that's so clearly made with a ton of passion put into it. Like art that you can just sense the passion oozing out of has got to be like, peak art, always, no matter the actual thing itself, if it's been made with a ton of love, it's peak, no question. It's why there's a lot of specific artists and communities that I just resonate with so hard, like when an artist or community just loves what they make, that's just like, so cool this is my excuse to mention Trigger/Gainax I love Trinax I love it when they have to make the final episode of an anime black and white and at 2fps not only for stylistic reasons but because they just HAD to put their entire budget into the 2 minute big robot scene like how could they resist and I mean this entirely unironically I fucking LOVE that they know exactly where their talents and passions lie and are willing to put everything into what they want to make at the expense of other parts that they don't want to make. Remember when in Promare Galo starts ranting about like ancient firefighters or some shit in the middle of a fight and it was basically just a stand-in for the writers wanting to rant about ancient firefighters or some shit? yea, that was cool. Remember when in Promare they kis-

Also I don't know where to put this but I want to say it because I thought of it, but references aren't just cool because you get the reference they're making, references are cool because they can show a clear love of the thing they're referencing, and that's why Sonic is cool ok bye :)

The fact that this game is the 2nd time they've referenced the Peter Griffin death pose in official Sonic media is honestly very concerning.

[anghraine]

@venndaai, I hope it's okay to answer your reply in a separate post! This is likely to be long (since I'm incapable of not rambling when it comes to GW, lol), so I wanted to be able to put in a cut.

Ah, thanks for this response! I was feeling a little worried my ask had been annoying so I’m glad it wasn’t!

Oh, not at all! I was so thrilled to get a GW2 ask that it took awhile to organize my thoughts, lol, and also was just busy with some RL things (including crafting my first legendary for my mother's birthday present when I only had the resources for a staff and no Artificer character >_>). And then it happened again sans legendary, but! I've been looking forwards to being able to reply properly :)

Honestly, thinking about it, I think I abandoned my human character because playing them felt like I’d skipped a lot of homework and I just didn’t know the lore that would have made the story and the locations feel meaningful? The Sylvari and Asura characters feel the most accommodating of my ignorance- everything about the Sylvari is new, and the Asura don’t care about anything outside their personal projects.

That makes a lot of sense! Even though human characters aren't (IMO) allowed to "lean in" to their culture in the way of the other playable species, so it's not quite as bad as it could be, there are a ton of references to a lot of things. Part of my undying Ascalonian rage is that it's continually fed by references that aren't necessary to understand to play, but like ... for instance, in the Ascalonian Catacombs dungeon, Rytlock goes on about how Master Ranger Nente killed his (Rytlock's) ancestors like a coward by hiding behind his beasts and shooting ye olde Charr full of arrows. In GW1, before the Searing, Nente is one of the first teachers for Rangers and the one you have to talk to in order to get a pet. (The context of him shooting the Charr full of arrows is pretty clearly their invasion of his home, since he's stationed in a zone with zero Charr until the Searing.)

You don't need to know that to play the dungeons and it's not hard to guess that Rytlock's version of history is slanted, but yeah, it is a richer experience that way.

(Additionally, I tend to prefer fantasy human characters in general, especially magical ones, and since GW2 humans get the kind of spirituality, familiarity with magic, and weight of ancient history that often goes to Elves or whomever, while still being very recognizably human, it triggers a similar affection to what I have for Númenóreans and such—they're special and weird but their culture and history are nevertheless essentially human and shaped by being human. Even my aasimar D&D character was basically the same type in that respect: sure, she has lots of cool powers and is very tall and lives to be 160, but her sense of identity and culture has been profoundly shaped by her ostensible humanity and the aasimar arc resolves with her accepting her celestial and human sides as both essential to who she is.)

Totally agree on Trahearne and Mordremoth being well integrated into the Sylvari storyline. But I think the Crystal Desert and Cantha probably work better with human characters? Not to mention the Bloodstone stuff and all the Mists and gods content. My reaction to Balthazar was very “well I never voted for you, whoever you are”

Oh, true! I have terrible altitis and mostly play in Central Tyria with the various characters I've accumulated over ten years, lol, so I didn't think of that. But yeah, essentially part of the promise of the expansions was that we'd get to go to GW1 places that didn't originally show up in GW2 (the maps are a bit strange because GW2 is much bigger and more expansive to experience, but covered less actual territory than even the first GW1 game (which included the Crystal Desert, Ring of Fire islands, etc). But since the GW1 places and cultures were largely human-dominated and humans were the only playable species back then, a lot of the lore for those regions is human-oriented and much more rewarding if you play as human, even without necessarily playing GW1.

(Like, Kasmeer's angst over Balthazar makes perfect sense if you play as a GW2 human and are constantly encountering human spirituality, hearing "Balthazar bless you with courage" etc etc all the time and you yourself refer respectfully to the gods often enough. I like this despite being agnostic IRL because it's one of the ways in which human PCs do get to embrace a widespread aspect of human culture despite being railroaded into being more "reasonable" than many humans in other respects, so—yeah, I do agree here, though I do low-grade resent GW2 retconning human lore yet again.

I have a post in my drafts about it that I probably won't bother posting, but one of the kind of fun though ultimately pretty inconsequential aspects of choosing human in GW2 (which you may already know) is that the abilities you get from your species all come from the human gods. That's a cool concept IMO, even if most of the abilities kind of suck—and until you get well into the game, the best one is pretty indisputably the fiery hounds that Balthazar gives you (esp if you're a squishy spellcaster who could really use a couple of elite meat shields). So this god who had been comfortably established in the franchise for well over 10 years and always seemed cool and helpful being turned into the main antagonist is kind of /sigh, here we go again.

I would love to hear rants about Gwen! Whenever she’s appeared in GW2 I go “oh it’s blorbo from Elizabeth’s game!” but don’t know what to think of her otherwise.

Awesome. She is very definitely Peak Blorbo for me, so I'll talk about her in a separate post where I can give her full attention, haha. But thanks <3

(I had just over 700 gems left over from something I bought recently and suddenly realized that would just cover Gwen's outfit in the gem store and Althea could dress up as her hero for Halloween. It's 100% going to happen, lol.)

Haha, I did get my map completion, but I also realized the real reason I hadn’t finished Ascalon, which is that the Charr heart quest givers are so deeply unpleasant to deal with if you’re not playing a Charr and have no real reason to want to help them.

Yes. Like, the responses seem to either assume you are a Charr or at least are going to be totally chill about destroying historical artifacts of humans driven from their homes by the Charr reconquista, and there are a couple I simply refused to do the "short" way and instead just completed by killing enemies within the range of the heart. Or, even aside of human stuff, the one where you're supposed to like ... whip prisoners who are the real labor force fueling the Charr war machine is just mind-boggling, or "kill the dredge who are just singing happy communist work songs to steal their resources" are just like ... jfc, why should my character feel the slightest desire to do any of these things whether I'm human or any other non-Charr species??

I really really want to get Crystal Bloom armor but I’ve gotten distracted trying to unlock my roller beetle. After that I’m going to be grinding on Dragonfall which seems like a really really fun map.

Ooh, cool! I hope you either are enjoying or did enjoy doing that. I've been scouring the Silverwastes for crafting resources, which somehow I hadn't done before, and it's actually been really fun to do RIBA runs and rake in the rewards. (I think I've gotten 4-5 mastery points out of it? It's very satisfying.)

[bleachbleachbleach]

Hey, I really like how you approach POV fanfiction. I really like that you care about their inner self and wants to keep them in character and not bending them for the sake of the story.

I personally write only a very few characters as POV for the same reasons. I know them the most and I can think with their heads. Everybody else is very difficult to write as POV for me because I don’t know their character well enough and would need a tons of research and practice to get them right. I guess I am just lazy and like to keep in my comfort zone :D

Anyway, I really like the concept of your WIP, and kudos for writing all the chapters at once because that’s something I would never manage to do.

Aaah, thank you so much for sharing your process! Craft talk craft talk. <33333 (For those interested, this is in reference to this post! I'm just replying a million years later because sad life.)

I don't think there's anything lazy about knowing what you want to write and whose POV you want to write from! It takes a lot of love and attention to get comfortable with a character's POV, though I think it can feel like a Project for some characters and for others visits itself upon your brain without you realizing it. <3

For me, it's partly about keeping someone in-character, but it's also not? In the sense that like, I think I could write a lot of things that were in-character, but still wouldn't feel collaborative, in the sense that the character is wholly willing to be a part of it. An example might be, hmmm... writing a story about someone that is all true, but the subject not wanting that story to exist in the first place. Or wanting to write a story based on something you know to be true about someone, but they don't actually want to be interviewed. Except the "someone" is fictional lol.

In one of my other fandoms, there's a meta episode where the main characters discover a book series that's basically been writing their lives. And they get in an argument with some guys who'd read the books, and the guys were like "...They're fictional characters. They don't care" and one of the main characters was like "OH, THEY CARE" and that, friends, was the exact moment I feel in love with that show, for that exact scene. Sold for life.

Also, thank you so much for your kind comments about my WIP!I am not sure why this fic... decided that it needed to be told from all these POVs, because I approach writing almost any Bleach character with abject terror and the multitude of POVs in this fic certainly is not helping that!! My comfort zone is definitely randos whose POVs I can't mess up, because I'm making all the rules, like Sasakibe or ORIHIME'S RANDOM NEIGHBORS, whereas by contrast my faves, my blorbos whom I know the most and spend my every leisure moment thinking about, are the most terrifying of all. 😱