#buttons and karl

[devilray-soy]

I found a page of similarly styled drawings in the sketchbook I’m trying to finish and wanted to draw some OFMD with it. I didn’t get everyone but I think they came out pretty cute.

(Full transparency, halfway through inking I spilled some water on the page and the damage is evident. Rip)

[cultofnathanielbuttons]

[doctahdisco]

Hey, don't forget, today is the full moon 🌝

Bask in the moonglow ✨

Check out my Redbubble 👀

[smudgeandfrank]

JIM'S GIFT PIECE IS DONE!! 🧡✨️ I've had sooo much fun making these pieces for such amazing actors!! 🥹🧡✨️ (Just a reminder, this is a surprise gift for our beloved V/co, so please don't share it with them! Thank you, darlings! 🧡✨️)

AND NOW ONLY NATHAN'S IS LEFT?! 🤯✨️ ... It's all sinking in that I'm actually giving these amazing actors these pieces in 2 weeks omg 🤯🤯

[dizzybizz]

autism been spiking lately hm

[kori-senpai]

I have never played smash bros in my life

(Edit: I did a part two ayeee ✨ you guys are persuasive (affectionate))

[follows-the-bees]

Ever think about Ed's relationship with birds?

How excited he is to meet "a bird guy." Wanting to get one for his ship. Ed is absolutely fascinated with it, and the ship, all of Stede's trinkets and collections, how things run, but mostly: Stede himself. He has hope and whimsy.

Ed even asks "and Karl's the bird then?" While not said in the same context exactly, it rings of the second moonlight scene between Ed and Stede. Ed explains his fish metaphor, about how the fish needs to want to be caught, and Stede replies, "and you're the fish?"

Things change and turn for the bitter with Karl dies. It is the ultimate point where the crew turns on Jack, when Stede goes from letting Jack stay to kicking him off the ship. Stede's philosophy can come into play here too: "we don't banish people, that's not us." But when someone hurts the crew, kills Karl — a seabird, it's bad luck to kill a seabird — out they go.

That is the final straw for CJ. He has crossed a line, several in fact. The audience knows how important the seagull is to the first mate, and CJ essentially killed his friend, but he also crossed a line in a common seafaring belief/myth. Killing Karl also killed any commodore gained with the crew (though we know doing this achieves CJ's ultimate goal, separating Ed from the crew — and Stede.)

We end that episode looking down at Ed and Stede, feet touching, smiling at each other even as they are being arrested. A bird's eye view.

Side note: This bird's eye view of Ed and Stede is actually shown several times, including the previous two episodes. 1x6 when they return to the crew after the bathtub scene and 1x7 when Ed and Stede are sitting next to each other on the log as Lucius cooks the snake.

This bird metaphor continues to be heartbreaking in the first episode of season two. We again get a bird's eye view of Ed and Frenchie at the bow of the ship. (I half expected Frenchie to ask "and you're the bird" after Ed's speech.)

At this point, Ed is taking everything to keep going. The rhino horn, alcohol, the constant raids. It's a distraction, cause if he stops — if he lands — then it will all come tumbling down. He is the impossible bird, not landing but constantly flying, just barely staying alive.

There is also something to be said of the crew eating a seabird after the storm, after they think they have killed Ed. The guilt manifesting that way as Ed's impossible bird antics are a manifestation of him trying to keep up the Kraken persona.

Luckily, even through those dark times, when the bird metaphor turns dark, things take a turn due to Buttons. Buttons comes swinging in with his magical realism and first mate wisdom.

Just like how Ed was fascinated and full of hope the first time he met Buttons, he is filled with this same hope again the last time we see him. Buttons shows Ed that people can change. Birds no longer are an albatross around Ed's neck, they are salvation, hope, whimsy. They are magical. If Buttons can transform into a bird, why can't Stede or Ed change? Why can't they get a second chance of happiness, just like Buttons gets a second life as a bird.

Ed's journey with birds and how they serve a different meaning throughout the show, in a circular pattern of hope and whimsy, to death and despair, back to that hope perfectly encapsulates Ed's journey.

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Button from a dress by Karl Lagerfeld, 1980s.

[our-flag-means-yippee]

I fear that this is the best thing I’ve ever made on any app whatsoever

[googoogojob]

i have more buttons

idk who wants to see this but whatever XD

[starbramble]

Our Flag Means Death Studies.

[cultofnathanielbuttons]

The classical Button Collection

[dimity-lawn]

[nerd-elf]

Izzy, why don’t we have a bird guy???

[kutpot]

Buttons & Karl

[mothershipwreck]

Down in the Ol’ Gravy Basket

#ofmd #ourflagmeansdeath #buttons #karlisthebird #izzyhands #israelhands #seawitch #gravybasket