#feedback monkey

[marsarchy]

I am practicing. Can't let gang know I don't know what I'm doing

[artilite]

more rogue monkey mk clone :^)

that's the final! here's the part before that where i struggle to make a character design as a fanartist o(-(

[chlorophyll-tints]

willing loyalty turned helpless devotion

[thescreenking]

My Top 10 Favorite Ben 10 Aliens

[kitaurita]

One of the things that has struck me the most about One Piece's incredibly well developed characters is their realistic reactions to traumatic events, despite living in a fantasy world. Something that spoke to me specifically, as a person with PTSD, was Luffy's first few minutes awake after Marineford (spoilers for both Marineford and Post-War, and the same TWs that apply to Marineford apply here--mentions of trauma, death, blood, and dissociation/derealization).

Luffy, on account of his hyper-optimism, had never actually considered or prepared himself for the possibility that he may lose Ace. He is so blindsided by this that his initial response upon waking up is complete disbelief.

This "dream-like" feeling about Ace's death is potentially derealization, a type of dissociation. Dissociation is a method the brain uses to shield the person from traumatic events they are not equipped to handle. While it is a symptom of PTSD (and even more so, complex-PTSD), short term dissociation is a normal reaction following traumatic events (from mind.co.uk). At its core, dissociation/derealization is about feeling detached, or physically or mentally numb. It is most commonly described as feeling like real life is a dream (as in Luffy's case), feeling like you (or others) are a robot, feeling like a passenger in your body, or feeling separated from others by a glass wall (mayoclinic). I describe it as feeling like I'm wrapped in layers of bubble wrap that separate me from the real world.

As stated previously, dissociation/derealization is a relatively normal response to witnessing a very traumatic event, particularly one that is surprising. It would make perfect sense for Luffy to be experiencing this in light of the events of Marineford. More evidence for this comes slightly earlier in the episode:

Not a perfect comparison to what Luffy is experiencing, but I sometimes get "gut punch" moments, where I swing drastically between dissociating and not. I am typically most struck by it when suddenly exiting dissociation, as it feels like a literal punch to the gut or being dunked in ice water. It feels right to speculate Luffy may be experiencing one of those moments now.

Another hallmark of trauma is an overactive fight-or-flight response. Given Luffy's character, no one is surprised his reaction is to fight. This can also come out as restlessness, aggression, and irritability.

The thing that resonated with me the most is the clip below:

The symptom of trauma or PTSD that people are most familiar with is "flashbacks," though the psychological term for them is intrusive recollections. When most people hear flashback, they imagine the Hollywood movie-esque war flashback, where a character goes catatonic and watches the events of their trauma like a video, or genuinely relive the event (which we see Robin do in Enies Lobby, though I will talk about that another day). Not all, or even, most people with trauma or PTSD experience this.

Intrusive recollections come in a wide variety of ways. There is the classic flashback mentioned above, unwanted memories that come from nowhere, the sudden feeling of being in danger, and much more. My interpretation of the above clip is that Luffy is experiencing a type of intrusive recollection where a person is aware of their surroundings, but seeing reminders of the event almost so that it overlays real life, feeling momentarily the same things you felt in the moment (might be heart racing, sweating, hyperventilating). I was personally just overjoyed to see a depiction of intrusive recollection that was not the stereotypical flashback.

My interpretation of this overall is that Luffy is very realistically dealing with the psychological fallout of a traumatic event. I am always keen to diagnose characters with PTSD, but I don't really think that is what is happening here--though I have not watched very many episodes past this (diagnostic criteria for PTSD is that symptoms must be happening for at least six months, among other things).

We all knew that Oda develops his characters incredibly well, so I am not surprised, but I appreciate how characters in one piece deal with death and traumatic events the way real people would. So many shonen anime protagonists watch someone die and clench their fist and vow to train harder, or cry a bit and move on. And this often feels natural to us! As a detached viewer, we are not surprised when characters have a reaction to violence that mirrors the muted one we have. No matter how normalized the viewer is to the violence of this universe, Oda is sure to show it takes its toll on the characters. Despite being 2D, so many One Piece characters feel like living, breathing people and I think the characters having real-world reactions to fantasy violence is part of the reason why.

(Forgive me if any of this was stating the obvious! I haven't written show/character analyses before, I just see characters experience trauma symptoms and I feel seen. Please comment/chat with me if you have anything to add or discuss :D)

[atlas-the-bastard]

same sketch as yesterday (or was it the day before?? but I recoloured + added a loof! I still haven't figured out how to shade/draw lighting properly so I just kinda put shapes everywhere and it...kind of works???

click for better quality cos tumblr hates us

[gouraminnow]

I'm sorry but sometimes I think this blog was a mistake. I somehow keep forgetting how every time I try to write fic I end up fucking hating the space. There are some really nice people, yes, but also a lot of people are straight up entitled and nitpicky and rude as shit for no reason at all. It always ends up moving away from what I actually want to do.

[mugiwara-lucy]

I swear this arc has gone to show the resemblance between Luffy and Dragon with each passing chapter....

I mean look at them!

[maydainsula]

The light now poured out of the doorway along with the final words of Rick Astley's “Never Gonna Give You Up.” In that door stood a small person […] so full of “fuck the world” energy that there was absolutely no one else it could possibly have been.

-Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, 2020

[tigirl-and-co]

Space Monkeys

Hey everybody, here's a rough draft of the first chapter of Space Monkeys, what will (hopefully!) be a sci-fi novel featuring Saiyans, from Dragon Ball!

Even if you aren't familiar with Dragon Ball, I urge you to check it out, especially if you have an interest in sci-fi! I've put more effort into this bit of writing than I have anything in years, so while it's still a bit rough I am very proud of it! Please give it a chance, it's a labour of love.

Those of you familiar with the sci-fi novels of yesteryear should feel right at home, and I'm hoping those that aren't may find themselves interested!

~~~

Space Monkeys, Ch. 1

"You humans are up to something."

Witloof pushed his own head into the collection of human ones, and it wasn't hard for him either with his comparative strength. The small gaggle who were gathered around a computer screen hushed into a nervous silence- not the fear of being hurt, as they all knew what repercussions the Empire Regulatory Committee would enact under such a circumstance- but rather the schoolchild silence of an unwelcomed outsider sticking his nose where it didn't belong and not heeding the rebuffment.

The Saiyan made eye contact with the human he assumed was the leader of this troupe. "You humans are up to something," Witloof reiterated, "And I want in."

After many fewer moments of pondering than should typically be utilized when determining trustworthiness, the human Derebak grinned conspiratorially. "Good. We can use a strongman."

It is well-known throughout the universe that if you want to come home with an interesting story, you find a group of humans. Well known only to spacefaring humans, however, is that if you want to get up to any real sort of trouble, you'd best find a Saiyan and earn his respect. Dependable as anything once they like you, but therein lies the issue.

When the two empires met on the edge of space, there was a near-immediate understanding that they were like each other. This was unfortunate, considering just how much humans like to squabble amongst themselves. The superior Saiyan strength very nearly had to test itself against humanity's advanced tactics and brains, but eventually the issues were sorted out and the two fell into an uneasy peace, as far as the heads of each civilization was concerned.

For anybody who spent any time at all on a station where the two species collided, they understood the peace wasn't uneasy in the slightest.

Sure, for Saiyan tastes humans were a bit yappy, and they were all soft in the face and in the heart. And humans thought the Saiyan appearance and temperament a bit beastly, sticking closer to the apes from which he had sprung up than man did. But really, it usually took very little time for them to look past this and start swapping stories of home over drinks paid for by whoever lost that day's bet.

And so while Derebak didn't know Witloof from Adam, it knew he was sincere. Saiyans made for awful liars and for great troublemakers. Both species hated being yanked around by the chain, and Derebak was confident that if it could rope Witloof in on smaller stuff, he'd follow this thing all the way to the top.

And taking care of an earnest idiot is merely human nature, not that a human would ever let a Saiyan cotton on to that fact.

Derebak 'Rabies' Johnson, not-quite-rogue astrogator of the tourist jump-ship Tyger, Tyger, stuck out a hand. "Call me Rabies, all the people I like do."

It looked the musclehead up and down, but there's not much to be gleaned from a Saiyan at first glance. They're a longer-lived race, averaging about 150 earth-years and don't age like humans besides. And as for uniform, there's certain standards, but each piece of armor seemed unique. You couldn't even tell the tourists apart from the warriors by anything except their stance and their tails, as finding a Saiyan in anything but armor was about as likely as finding a shaved grizzly out in the woods and made them about as uncomfortable.

A fanged mouth and solid grip returned the gestures. "Good to know you, Rabies." He snorted, hoping the name was indicative of things to come. He could tell by the human's uniform he was outranked, but he had heard human society was a bit less stringent with formalities than home was, so he made the conscious choice not to bow or salute. Witloof was hoping to enter this troupe as a member, not a tagalong. "I'm Witloof, stationed here 'just in case.' Exactly what threats to the Vegetan Autocracy are expected from a tourist station on the human side of the boundary, I don't know."

One of the other humans spoke up, a blonde man who could easily have been the face of a boyband if his voice didn't bring to mind rusty nails in a blender. "Maybe you're here to save us against some awful threat like a meteor or invading monster, earning our government's trust and establishing yourselves as a race of altruists!" He guffawed, "A real protection racket!"

Witloof wasn't sure he understood the joke, but all the humans burst out laughing at that, and he decided not to take offense.

"Cuss," Rabies managed to squawk out between breaths, "you gotta warn a freak before you go and say something like that! You're gonna kill us!" It managed to hold its breath long enough to calm down before turning back to Witloof with tears still in its eyes. "That's Jack, although he's got a few less pleasant nicknames too. Don't pay him any mind, that's just how he is. He's an engineer here on the E.S.S. Poetry, and you know how engineers are."

It wiped its face a bit. "Right now we're just looking at the supply chain for this place, but come meet me in my quarters at, say, nine o'clock station time. I eat a late dinner but I aughtta be finished by then. I'll tell you a bit about what, as you put it, we're up to."

Derebak reached into a pocket and pulled out a small pad of paper and pen, writing down its bunk's location. Crew area, of course. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to find, Witloof still had a bit of trouble with the way humans organized big spaces and the crew area was doubtless less well-marked than the area meant for the easily-lost masses.

Witloof took the paper and tucked it into the breast of his armor. "You can count on me," he acknowledged. He tried to study the computer screen, but this sort of stuff was never his expertise and it was in a language he barely knew, to boot. He was mid-class, sure, but his parents were low-class so the traditional Saiyan warrior was really all that was open to him.

As the humans yammered on quietly about resources, Witloof took the time to observe them. Saiyans usually came with one hair colour, one eye colour, and a very small range of skin tones. Halfbreeds weren't all that rare in the lower classes, so it wasn't like he'd never seen a blonde or a redhead before, but moving through groups of humans he was always astonished by their differences.

And their physiques! He had heard that back in ancient history, humans had been a hunter race. But he doubted it. How could any species so soft in the body bring down prey? Humans didn't eat nearly as much as Saiyans did, but surely they had to eat something, and, in his opinion, there was no way they could kill enough to fill their bellies with such meagre strength.

Although, as the small group disbanded to go about their tasks for the day, Witloof had to wonder if it had something to do with their reputation for trouble and penchant for surviving it. Was it possible to turn that into a hunting strategy? Did ancient humans cause so much chaos that the beasts around them simply died of it, leaving the humans unharmed?

He was a bit torn- on one hand he wasn't paid to ask big questions. On the other hand, he had already decided to join them- he'd even given his word and partaken of the human hand shake gesture. To his understanding from the cultural training, such an act was not only a statement of friendliness and companionship, it was also how they sealed unbreakable deals.

Maybe they already considered him part of their troupe? Humans formed close bonds incredibly easily, that much he was certain of. He had heard stories of them bonding to things that weren't even alive, but he wasn't sure how that would even work.

As Witloof wandered off to Poetry's dining strip, he started thinking about just who or what he was entrusting his strength to. He hoped Rabies was a good leader.

Well, at least humans knew how to make good food. That counted for something in his books.

[sketching-shark]

Think I've finalized my facial design for Yuebei Xing, Sun Wukong's large and powerful daughter from Journey to the South! Also making an appearance are some of the inspirations behind this look.

[amitoyshandmade]

The crochet pattern

[beanghostprincess]

"Jealousy and other pathetic feelings"

(Zolu/Sanuso fanfic)

Luffy’s like the sun. So bright and hot that it burns if you approach him enough. Everybody wants to stare at him, but only Zoro is brave enough to get blinded and melt in his rays. Usopp, on the other hand, is so domestic and fragile Sanji fears he might slip in between his fingers like sand. It’s delicate. Both things are. - Zoro and Sanji pining over their boyfriends and moping around with jealousy because Luffy and Usopp are acting closer than usual.

This is a silly fluffy prompt that @leiatroublecat gave me and I turned it into a bittersweet, character analysis, angsty fic because I am a menace to society! That being said, I hope you all enjoy it!! <3

[sxcret-garden]

I shall not rest until i have converted EVERYONE to at least a switch!hwa truther hehehe

ok hear me out, here's some thoughts on sub!hwa because i know some of y'all are waiting for that fic but i came up with actual plot so that might take a while... so i'm giving y'all this instead, as a little taste...

definitely a confident sub once he's over the initial flusteredness... like, he thoroughly enjoys the way you worship him and please him and he's literally melting underneath you when you take your time to rile him up real good. breathy moans and deep groans you could die for as your fingertips are exploring his body anew every time you two get down. loves it when you use his tongue on him, like when you suck a mark onto his skin and slide your tongue across it in a soothing motion afterwards, or when you're kissing your way across his chest and take your time playing with his nipple in your mouth, and of course he loves it when you suck him off as well. just imagine you have him cuffed to the bed, following the way his muscles dance under the skin everytime he tears at the restraints because everything you do to him just feels too good, along with a deep blush on his cheeks and his desperate moans as you're edging him. and this boy loves being edged, over and over again until he's ready to lose his mind at a single touch, and when you tell him not to cum he'll do his bestest to keep it in, but sometimes it just gets too much for him... he's not one to distract himself with sobering thoughts, he stays in the moment, and the second he cums into your mouth without permission he'll whine the prettiest apology you've ever heard... will take any punishment you have for him, but you know he did well and so how could you opt for anything but to simply keep going until he squirms and whimpers and cries underneath you from the overstimulation, making him cum again and again and when you eventually let him taste himself on your lips you know this boy is gone, not a single thought in his mind but you and how he wishes this night would go on forever

[moondrop39-dovewing70]

Why do I have the urge to make Paper Dragon Puppets of the LMK Characters....

Like the paper dragons puppets from Tik Tok?

Those cute and beautifully designed beauties?

Yeah what if I made LMK versions of them...It would take FOREVER but I am up for the challenge since I'm...Kinda sick at the moment.