#and that works for a lot of subjects

[just-a-little-unionoid]

You know I think we can resolve a lot of our problems and moral dilemma by asking ourselves "does this really matters that much?"

[ionomycin]

Grief

ref photo by @jawsstone

[adiradirim]

Sephardic Jews from Thessaloniki in their traditional costumes, in the city’s old cemetery, before the war // a contemporary photo that shows where the destroyed cemetery once was, which is now Greece's largest university, built partially on top of and with land and materials (particularly tombstones) stolen from the razed site.

Thessaloniki or Salonika, once referred to as “the Jerusalem of the Balkans” due to its Ladino-speaking Jewish majority, saw roughly 96% of its Jewish population murdered during the Holocaust. This mass destruction extended to the city's Jewish cemetery, which had been the country's largest, established in the 15th century and housing hundreds of thousands of Jewish graves until its razing by city authorities who had long desired to repurpose the land and resented the inconvenience of Jewish presence. Despite its large-scale destruction during German occupation in 1942, which was initiated and carried out primarily by Thessaloniki authorities with Nazi consent and arrangement, some parts of the cemetery survived intact as late as 1947. Many tombstones were subsequently appropriated and used by city authorities and the Greek Orthodox Church. After the war, people were still carrying away Jewish gravestones each day and regularly looting the cemetery in search of valuables. The city's officials, led by their mayor, completed the cemetery's destruction and sold the tombstones to contractors for use as building materials in various projects; as such many were and are still found in various walls, roads, structures, and churches around the city. A 1992 commemorative book pictures Greek schoolgirls playing Hamlet with skulls and other bones they found in the cemetery.

“[T]he ‘rape’ of the cemetery escalated, marble flooded the market, and its price plummeted. Jewish tombstones were stacked up in mason’s yards and, with the permission of the director of antiquities of Macedonia and overseen by the metropolitan bishop and the municipality, used to pave roads, line latrines, and extend the sea walls; to construct pathways, patios, and walls in private and public spaces though out the city, in suburbs such as Panorama and Ampelokipi, and more than sixty kilometers away in beach towns in Halkidiki, where they decorated playgrounds, bars, and restaurants in hotels; to build a swimming pool – with Hebrew-letter inscription visible; to repair the St. Demetrius Church and other buildings...” Devin Naar, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece

Most of the efforts to return found tombstones throughout the city are led by Jews, particularly Jacky Benmayor, the curator of the Jewish Museum and last Ladino speaker in Greece, who has personally recovered hundreds of tombstones including his own family's. Surviving Greek Jews never received compensation for the confiscation of the land under the destroyed cemetery, upon which now partially rests Greece's largest university, Aristotle University, which also used Jewish gravestones as building material for its long-coveted expansion finally made possible by the dispossession and annihilation of the city's Jews. In 2014, 72 years after the cemetery's destruction and appropriation, a small memorial was established on campus grounds to acknowledge the Jewish cemetery the school is built on and with; the ceremony just 10 years ago involved the first-ever acknowledgement of the atrocities and apology from a Thessaloniki mayor. The memorial has been vandalised multiple times since its establishment.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I know this is just a silly bad quality random screencap of a screencap that I found on facebook lol, BUT it's a succinct enough image to easily describe the concept in a quick/accessible way hopefully :

-

(and of course, feel free to elaborate in tags, etc.! (especially elaborating about other senses as well.. can you "hear" in your mind just as well as you can "see"? taste? etc.) It's an interesting topic to me, as someone who's like a 4.5 at MOST lol. I'm curious what option will be the most common :0c )

[atyourperil]

hey, actually. justice for ugly people. justice for people who have never been kissed/fucked/whatever because nobody wanted them. justice for the people who were asked out as a joke or dare as kids. people are so mean to people they think are ugly and it’s fucking unfair. it’s not a sign of a lack of worth or morality or whatever. it sucks sometimes but being unattractive isn’t a failing. you didn’t do anything wrong. beauty is not the price you pay for existing in the world.

[littlecrittereli]

So I was reading this transcript of an interview the Kratt brothers did and at one point Martin talks about how he almost became a veterinarian, but ended up changing his mind and becoming a zoologist.... so I raise you.... TEAM MEDIC MARTIN?????

Bro carries around a slew of random medical supplies on him at all times. (Just like the creature power disks nobody understands how he can remember where everything is but he's always handy with exactly what he needs)

Chris skins his knees climbing up a cliff? Martin's got bandages and antibacterial spray.

Koki burns her hand while tuning up the Tortuga? He's got burn cream and a cool towel and making sure she compresses it for at least 10 minutes

and God forbid someone in the Tortuga so much as SNIFFLES in his presence. It's bed rest, soup, and fluids from there.

And beyond that, I think he'd be very knowledgeable about natural remedies too. They ran out of cooling ointment for their sunburns? its okay, they can use the aloe vera plant sitting in the window! Aviva is nauseous because she's had nothing but redbull and coffee for 2 days? peppermint oil and ginger tea!

Just like how they learned from the Orangutans about the leaves that relieve muscle sores, Martin would pull a lot of inspiration from nature's remedies.

[ohitslen]

College (uni??) AU catering to my own interests as it should always be hehe :)

[ruvviks]

hanan at age 24 vs hanan at age 35 :] becoming a test subject at arasaka special programs really changes people huh

taglist (opt in/out): @shellibisshe, @florbelles, @ncytiri, @hibernationsuit, @stars-of-the-heart, @vvanessaives, @katsigian, @radioactiveshitstorm, @estevnys, @adelaidedrubman, @celticwoman, @rindemption, @carlosoliveiraa, @noirapocalypto, @dickytwister, @killerspinal, @euryalex, @ri-a-rose, @velocitic, @thedeadthree

[soulmvtes]

i'm so glad i did this summer internship :)

[spookygibberish]

Hiii! I REALLY love your Thrones and I'd like to ask if I could make one as a oc?

I'm not sure if I've shared enough information about their cultural context publicly for people to do this well, but I have helped my friends workshop Throne OCs before.

Some important stuff to know:

There are two broad classes that most Thrones fall into, private and imperial. Thrones which are private citizens can technically be found all over the empire, on account of the fact they're wealthy enough to go and live wherever the hell they want, but you're going to find the greatest number of them in Godtomb and other densely urbanized areas of the Imperial core. All thrones belong to the aristocracy by nature, as they're directly a product of wealth and privilege. If a Throne is not currently wealthy, they are inevitably descended from wealth. They were also a huge huge fad before the creation of new thrones was clamped down on, and nearly every old money merchant empire is a Throne family. Godtomb (the imperial capital) has the highest number of Thrones which are not associated with the government, as it was the birthplace of the literary movement which first spawned them (longish story). It is tempting to say that private citizen thrones are more diverse than governmental ones, but it's more accurate to say they are more diverse than thrones belonging to the tricolor court, which has fairly strict expectations for the appearances of Headless (quadrupedal; preferences for lions, lizards (varanid), oxen, eagles; a set color palette (gold, azure, white); the inevitable 'mantle' of 'petals', etc....)

Imperial Thrones can be divided along the lines of whether or not they are associated with the Tricolor court, A government body made up of regional power centers (Greathouses) which communicate directly with and contribute to the government in Godtomb. Each Tricolor Greathouse has houses under it which may or may not be aesthetically aligned with the tricolor court, if not directly members, depending on how culturally similar they are to the Hegemony. The further you get from the Bitano, the more likely these Provincial Houses are to differ and be more influenced by non-hegemonic local culture.

By necessity, all Thrones, governmental or not, are inexorably associated with the Empire and their existence functions first and foremost to legitimize its authority. Even in the cases of provinces like Lujnola and Sevab, which are each heavily tied to indigenous cultures (and therefor divergent from Tricolor Court aesthetics), they belong to ruling houses modeled on the Hegemonic standard, and are all vassals of the emperor in Godtomb.

Slightly finer categories:

There are Throne Houses which are not themselves Imperial houses, but are in the employ of Imperial houses. Many of the Thrones produced by these families are more or less born and bred for the military. Prominent members of such Houses (need to come up with a name for these...) often marry into Ruling Houses, although rarely TRICOLOR Houses, since they lack the clout to be competitive in that marriage arena.

There are Sansin Thrones. Sansin are an all-male order of magnyd (essentially the same type of being as Unbodied) that staff the Bibat Temples (of the Jacantese State Religion, they make and manage other sorts of Dangyds.) I will elaborate on Sansin later this post has gotten long but theyre just monks. Its an all-male social caste of monks that grow new members in little jars and sometimes they make their own versions of Headless and assemble their own version of Thrones. These Thrones are smaller, usually bipedal, and always sexless.

Other things to know:

Due to the biological reality of thrones there are headless which are born outside of major Houses. The vast majority of Throne-children are Unbodied (the sort which more or less exactly resemble ordinary humans), and those Unbodied inevitably leak out into the general populous. All Unbodied are capable of parenting a child which is Headless (the lower half of the throne). Headless born outside of major Houses will inevitably be snapped up when discovered. Even prior to the existence of Thrones, Houses can be propagated just as well by apprenticeship.

Not all imperial Thrones are lazy figureheads! Just the majority of them. Some Thrones belong to a guild which is basically Throne Interpol, going around and keeping despotism in check. What happens when one of those guys is corrupt? Don't be silly that doesn't happen and isn't a problem (it is.)

It's more common for Thrones to be generals when in military positions. Thrones tend to be high ranking wherever in whatever employ, not really because they're uniquely qualified, simply because they're Thrones. Many of them have fairly insufferable personalities on account of being treated like they shit gold their entire lives. They're not inherently *bad people*, but they're almost exclusively coddled, spoiled, deeply entitled, and profoundly disconnected people. This is isn't true for every single throne, just like, a solid 99% of them.

[fromtheseventhhell]

I want to make a longer post about this someday but: I think Arya's TWOW arc is going to include her coming to terms with her identity as a Lady. This has been an ongoing conflict with her since her first chapter and I think her flowering in winds is going to mark a turning point. The theory of her having an apprenticeship with the courtesans holds a lot of weight and the idea of Arya going through puberty among a group of unconventional women she's fostered a positive relationship with is just too perfect. It would really have an impact on Arya reconciling her personal idea of what a Lady should be. There's also a lot that she could learn from them in terms of courtesies, communication, appearances, body-language, etc. that would elevate her current skill-set and ways her relationship with them could push the plot.

Not to mention she will undoubtedly reclaim her identity as Arya Stark, and her being a Lady is inseparable from that. Arya Stark is a Lady Stark and being a Lady is a social position, not a measure of how well someone preforms feminine tasks. She shouldn't have to relinquish her position because she doesn't fit patriarchal standards. That's not to say that she's ever going to be the perfect example of a traditional Lady but what I think will happen is that she becomes capable of playing the part. She plays several identities throughout the series but she's always been Arya underneath, so I think it's appropriate that she learns to adopt a "persona" that's part of her. Her remembering Ned putting on his "Lord's face" (+ the various examples of other characters being separate from their ruling persona) makes me think that Arya will be donning her "Lady's face" when she makes a return to Westeros.

[havockingboo]

The King ,The Soldier, The Poet aka The big stupid heads of all time

Temporary reference sheet because it’ll be awhile before I actually finish all three weeeee

[chiscribbs]

Apocalypse Future Donnie Concepts

I wasn't actually planning on posting these until I had a definitive final design to share alongside them, but- It's probably going to be a while before that happens and I feel bad for how inactive this blog has been lately. I've been working on stuff, but only in-between projects, and none of it is really ready to post. So, here's a little something to prove that I am still alive. ❤

Donnie's design is so hard to update. It's just...so good in its simplicity??? Every element feels necessary to his character - so figuring out what to keep, what to get rid of, and what to change slightly is a definite challenge. It's even harder when we're given so little (canonical) information about what role he played in the Resistance and what effects the Krang Apocalypse may have had on him...including how long ago he was killed in relation to the movie. Or how he was killed, for that matter.

So, I'm playing around with some potential ideas and trying to get something that feels right - feels like Donnie, but if he had to adapt to the apocalypse (while also trying to stick to the show's simplistic, shape-heavy style, so nothing too terribly detailed or complex.) I'll share a few of these ideas below, for anyone who's interested.

(Also, yes - I know the spot-goatee is in no way an original concept, but I have a deep affection for it and had to include it in my design.)

One of the concepts I'm considering is giving Donnie a prosthetic leg, something to sort of parallel Leo with his Robo-Raph arm. But in Donnie's case, he probably lost his leg long before Raph was killed or maybe even before he built the robots of his family (maybe this serves as the inspiration or catalyst for the idea.) My working theory is that he was attempting to detonate a mine field full of some Krang dogs and something went wrong which caused him to get caught up in the resulting blast. He was lucky enough to keep his life, but lost his leg and probably some of his hearing in the process. Naturally, because it's Donnie (and because they're living through an apocalypse), the leg will be more than just a prosthetic limb - it'll have some kind of weaponry or technological capabilities built into it. Just haven't decided what that's going to be yet, lol.

I'm also toying with the idea of him creating some kind of "Ninpo Protection Device" - something to act as a defense mechanism against the Krang's mystic-cancelling (or, more accurately, locking) abilities. He's testing it on himself before green-lighting it to be used on his brothers (which, obviously, never happens.) The problem is I can't decide how to visibly convey this idea, I was thinking something along the lines of one of those medical aid devices that become permanent attachments to the user's body. But most of the visible parts of his body are covered in natural armor, save for his limbs and head. So figuring out the best placement for a thing like that has been a little challenging.

I was considering giving him a mechanical hand along with/in place of the robotic leg, as well. Reason being - he works primarily with his hands and almost never wears practical protection gear (another thing I tried to partially remedy with the addition of the gloves), so if any part of him is going to be lost, his hands would be the logical first choice. I also think there's a poetic element to the guy who relies on his tech becoming more and more "mechanical" himself (but only in the physical sense). It would also imply that there was a time when he couldn't work as efficiently on his own as he normally is able to, due to having one less hand, so there was likely an adjustment period wherein he had to lean into his mystic abilities (and the aid of others around him) far more than he's used to doing. A little background character development for him, because I love that kind of stuff.

These are about all of the definitive concepts I have for him at the moment, but obviously, I'm nowhere near having a finished design just yet. So, all of these could potentially be scrapped or tweaked in the final version.

If you read this far - kudos! And thanks for your interest! :>

[catacropolis]

Twisted Wonderland Fear and Hunger AU

Malleus fear and hunger concept designs

for the human/ funger design i had a lot of characters in the same type of outfit so for malleus i wanted to give him a long skirt to break up the designs. bringing the skirt into the design balanced not only the cast but the design as a whole.

on the belt a few sprigs of herbs are tied for easy access.

i wanted malleus to be still recognisable as himself without his horns through his hair and i believe achieved that

Moonscorched malleus

the Lonesome

Born from Malleues’s fear of being alone forever and losing those around him the lonesome is born. Being a dragon his horde of humans will keep him company for eternity absorbing whatever unlucky soul that dares to cross its path. the lonesome lashes out and perceives whoever approaches as a threat. If left alone the lonesome will seek more people to add to its never-ending horde. The lonesome seeks companionship but its very nature repels 

Malleus will become moonscorched on the afternoon of day 2 if you fail to stop an interaction with a non-playable contestant (character not decided at this time). Failing to intervene will result in malleus moonscorching in the orphanage. There the lonesome will lurk the abandoned hallways searching for its next companion. 

The draconic nature of his moonscorched form correlates with his draconic fae heritage in twst. His moonscorched form stands upon a horde of bodies like a pile of gold. The faces of those he's obsorbed are displayed on his body. For this design, i wanted to invoke a sense of an almost eldritch horror. Trying to capture the feeling and style of fear and hunger while also making the design my own and incorporating elements of twst is the challenge of these concept sketches

His moonscorched form would be one that most would avoid occurring because of how powerful and difficult it is. he isn't one to underestimate and neither should his moonscorched form. His fight however wouldnt be impossible to beat just really difficult. 

want to know more ?

Au explanation !!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hi!! I love this series so much, and as someone who hasn’t really drawn since they were a kid but wants to start as a hobby, do you have any advice for sort of learning to doodle on paper and get better at it? I want to start but I don’t really know how/where

The most important step in getting better at any skill is Persistence and Consistency. Practice and keep practicing! The best way to do that is to keep it fun! Picking a project helps generate ideas (e.g. drawing Pokémon, or characters from a series you like). There are also a ton of monthly prompt lists out there!

I also highly recommend scheduling in a 'drawing/practice' time in your day. For me, I started with 30-60 min before bed (bonus: its a good 'no screentime' activity), and the habit took root there.

There are a lot of 'technical' things to study but find the fun first. At a certain point you will discover you've hit a wall, and have a specific aspect/goal you want to target (colour theory, anatomy, lighting, comic layout). Then it's time to go looking for resources.

Once you have the habit and some goals, go collect some inspiration! Find people who inspire you and study their work!

Another little 'art skill builder' I recommend is the Shrimp Method! Only if you find technical challenges like this fun though (Example of one of my studies below)

[sorrelpaws]

is it really an authentic r&m dynamic if it doesn't involve (at least mildly) morally questionable preservation tactics