#it's my new favourite panel look at him he's so small

[originalaccountname]

little guy

[zosanbrainrot]

part 06!! and the end of Act 1

01 02 03 04 05 06

OK SO THAT'S THAT

I don't have anything else storyboarded right now, I have the dialogues for Act 3 written down, but for the 2nd Act I'm gonna have to rewatch parts of WCI. I'm also thinking of a different approach, more like a series of illustrations not a comic, but idk yet, I'll have to rewatch and see!

It's not like I'm actually using a 3 Act structure as in 'a method of writing a story', I don't know how to and I haven't tried learning that (YET). I just think its neat and reflects how I divided my artistic process. I've always seen this story in my head as 3 parts.

And before I delve into part 06, I can't stop myself from saying that....... part 05 really needed another closeup on Sanji's face. If I ever try and repost it to another site then maybe I'll add it (between the panels of Ichiji & Zoro and the closeup on the spear, it would help the rythym but also strengthen the emotional connection, before Sanji shuts himself off)

Anyhow part 06

Most panels were a breeze, but the last two, my god, I just couldn't get them right for the longest time. In the end my favourite panels are the closeups of Luffy and Nami, I should really draw them more.

Here's how this panel in particular went:

I did like how the pose was looking in my first rough pass, the face is scrunched, the shoulders are high with tension, the direction is consistent

Couldn't execute it though... I think in the first rough sketch the camera is looking at Luffy slightly from above? Like he's leaning into it. That's why the shoulders can be so high up, but I didn't realize what it was when trying to clean it. So when cleaning the sketch I drew the head on the same level as the camera which made the whole pose look flat, also in this weird angle, like it's not fully 3/4, but it's not facing forwards either.

I didn't know what wasn't working, so I doubled down and tried with the lineart, but it didn't magically help. It just looks like he's slouching.

4. so I tried to rethink the pose and commit to a 3/4 view. I like that more of the neck is visible now, you can feel that he's leaning forward with the scream, but I think I could have pushed it a bit more still

5. with linework I made some small changes, like a bit shorter hair, smaller nose and the eyes pushed back a bit. I also added the scratches and filled in the black parts

6. added flat colors & shading!

Last panel with Sanji was even harder to draw hehe

so I thought this would be easy bcs I wanted to basically redraw the panel from the anime

that's why my rough sketch was extremely rough, I didn't think about it much

and then I had so much trouble with it lmao You'd think that it would be easier when you're covering the character's face, but I was in this undecided space of on one hand wanting to show the pain on Sanji's face and staying truthful to the anime scene on the other. I also found it super diffucult to show the emotions without the eyes

4. The pose in 3. also wasn't working so I tried to make him more slouched, like he's curling in on himself more, it was definitely a better direction. I tried going into lineart from here but I didn't like how the fingers were turning out

5. So I decided to get a new ref and took a picture of how I'd make this gesture myself. With this pose I also changed the position and angle of the face slightly, bcs it would have created a very small space between the hand and the nose and I wanted the two shapes to connect

6. I really liked the hand, but was having trouble with the hair, it felt too short, still couldn't get the face right either

7. so I elongated the hair and worked on the face some more and was finally happy with what I had!

8. added colors! At first I had it colored like the other panels, color just on Sanji then gradient on the bottom helping it fade to black, but it wasn't sitting well with me. Maybe because the space above his head was too big and I didn't want to have a background here and also wasn't adding the little floating pieces to the carriage scene (these were reserved for the grass battlefield)

9. SO! I made Sanji's figure darker and also added a darker shade to the whole scene and I think it ended up working really nice. Like he's drowning in the darkness, the only element piercing through it are Luffy's words. It also just fills up the space better lmao, feels less empty visually

Its gonna be A WHILE, before I have updates for this, I'm gonna have to start with the rewatch anyway. Right now I'm gonna have to focus on finishing my extra pieces for the @rdtriozine !! If any of you read this far you may as well check it out lmao I have a full illustration spread there and gonna have spots for a fic too ❤️ I just need to draw them!!! AGHHHH

[lichenes]

on my hands and knees begging for domestic fluff w joost. cooking together, doing livestreams, playing video games, ANYTHING plz <3

My friend read the ask and suggested the whole plot so it came out like a crack fic near the end but oh well, the sillies :D Hope you like it anon and thank you for the ask!!

CW: cursing, broken washing machines??? wc: 689

•───────•°•❀•°•───────••────────•°•❀•°•────────•

He walked through the door inhaling the familiar scent of your shared home. “You’re home!” You said with excitement, thrilled to see Joost. He talked to you about the latest concert, his eyes sparkling with joy when he described a huge group of people shouting the lyrics to his song alongside him. 

You were happy to finally have him back home as this was the last concert of the tour. He expressed how grateful he was for your support and couldn’t quite stop apologising for - as he called it - abandoning you for so long. You reassured him constantly hoping he would one day realise what made him happy, made you happy.

You both were too tired to do anything more than discuss things on the surface level. “You know I wouldn’t give you up for anything in the world.” He said as you both were laying in your shared bed. You nodded, constantly surprised by the level of affection he sported while extremely tired. 

You woke up well rested, finally not worrying if he was okay, he was next to you after all. “I’m doing laundry, do you need anything washed?” You said no and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for you two. When he was done with the load he got into the kitchen and hugged you from behind inhaling your scent. 

“Missed you.” He mumbled into your neck tickling you with his breath. “Missed you too.” You were standing over the stove with a wooden spoon stirring the scrambled eggs. Joost thought proved to be a severe distraction. “I need to focus on the task at hand, Joost.” He let his gorgeous laugh out. “I knoww~ but I didn’t have much time to spend with you and I need you now.” Your face got warmer at those words. “You’ve got me all to yourself lovely.” You said this time making his fair skin turn a shade of red. 

He stopped hugging you and opted instead to set the table. It was quite small but enough for both of you to dine. He made sure to give you your favourite glass. You served the food up. He commented on how tasty it was despite it being only eggs and salt. “It’s hard to fuck up scrambled eggs.” You said with a slight jest in your voice. He laughed and continued. “But it’s not impossible!” 

You went into the living room of your apartment after he was done with washing the dishes and you were done drying them. Your day was spent laying in bed and watching some stupid series full of cheesy jokes which were just cringey enough to make both your stomachs hurt from the laughter. At some point you stood up and went into the bathroom.

Your socks were met with a wet floor which you didn’t expect. Suddenly you realised what was going on. “Joost!” You shouted, calling him over. ���What’s up?” He walked right into the puddle. “The washing machine malfunctioned… grab some cloths.” He nodded and walked up to the closet and pulled out some, handing it to you with a smile on his face to cheer you up before the work you both were going to do soon. 

Unfortunately you didn’t catch the malfunction in time which meant the floor panels lifted due to the moisture they absorbed. Renovations were long overdue and you were planning on changing up the floors anyway you told yourself when you saw the panels literally de-gluing themselves from the floor. 

You decided on a herringbone style of floors this time opting to lay them yourselves, after all how hard could it be? You bought raw planks and let Joost lay his heart out. You loved seeing him work all stuck in his own world. He weatherproofed the planks after cutting them up into size appropriate pieces and made your home look brand new with the shining new floors. 

“You did a great job baby.” You said when he came over excited to show you his work. “We should monitor our washing machine better next time though, we wouldn’t want to ruin these gorgeous floors.” 

•───────•°•❀•°•───────••────────•°•❀•°•────────• masterlist

[stevesbipanic]

@steddielovemonth Day 21: Love is letting him pick the music @sparklyslug

Steve had been dating Eddie for a few months and pretty much their only disagreement was what music to play in the car. They often took turns driving for dates or errands or picking up the kids but would always bemoan the other's radio station. The tapes were no better, only matching the driver's preference.

After another dumb squabble the week before over the music on their drive home from dinner, Steve had had an idea. Now he sat in his bedroom, tape recorder in hand, tapes strewn everywhere and slowly a little list forming on a notebook page.

He was practically jumping with excitement when he finished, picking up the finished mixtape. He quickly got ready for their date and with a smile on his face popped the new tape in the glovebox, heading towards the trailer park.

Eddie was bouncing on the steps when Steve pulled up, seemingly equally excited to see his boyfriend.

"Hey, baby," he said sliding into the car with a kiss on Steve's cheek. Tonight was special, six months since they started dating. Steve knew it was a little silly to have month anniversaries but he was a romantic and Eddie certainly didn't seem to mind.

They got burgers at the favourite diner but Steve was distracted thinking about the gift in his car. Now back in the car he was about to give it to Eddie when Eddie spoke first.

"I, um, I got you something, well, made really," he said sheepishly handing Steve a small parcel wrapped in newspaper.

"Oh, Eds, that's so sweet of you," he replied happily unwrapping the gift. Wait.

"You made me a mixtape?"

Eddie blushed softly, "Yeah, it's ah, it's um for you to have in my van though."

Confused, Steve flipped over the tape to read the tracks, finding a lot of his favourites mixed with a lot of Eddie's.

"Thought you deserved a piece of yourself in my car, besides maybe pop is growing on me."

Steve laughed softly, "Eds, look in my glovebox."

Now it was Eddie's turn to look confused, he opened the panel to see a new tape box sitting next to the others. He gingerly took it and scanned his eyes over the tracks, eyes lighting up.

"Did you make this for me?"

"Think you deserve to have a piece of yourself in my car too, don't mind sharing the airwaves with you."

There weren't as many arguments over music after that, what else would they want to listen to besides a perfect blend of each other.

[royboyfanpage]

@devine-fem 's comment on my last original post, I can't believe I've never mentioned how much I love Roy Harper before, I should amend that immediately /j

I love like... everything about him. Roy Harper in the golden/silver ages? Absolute baby, I adore him. He had SO much trust in Ollie, and he was a sweetheart! He was the secretary of the Green Arrow fan club! He had a stamp collection! And even as a small child he was SO unhealthy, like my go to panel is this

Which is literally baby Roy willing to sacrifice his life to save Ollie, baby boy was going into that with FULL belief that he was going to die and he did it anyway and there's SO much I could say about that. I love Ollie, I've defended him in so many situations, but holy shit he raised a child to have issues. But little Speedy Roy was the sweetest thing!!! He wanted Ollie to pick him up ice cream!! He was just a little guy, a little fella!!

And then Snowbirds came along and obviously changed the way Roy was written, it was a major turning point for his character because it was really the comic that initially fleshed him out- before then yes obviously he did have his own distinct personality that differentiated him from the other Titans but at the same time that was VERY clearly a point in which he went from being a traditional child sidekick to being Roy. It gave him his own morals, his own struggles, and his own determination. Remember, Roy made the choice himself to get clean, he wasn't forced into it. Obviously Snowbirds has its problems, it was a PSA written in 1971, but also it was sosososososo foundational in developing who Roy is as a character.

There weren't too many comics featuring Roy between Snowbirds and Lian's birth, but they are also so interesting. I'm pretty sure it's Green Lantern (1960) #100 but also I'm rambling and I'm too drunk to fact check so I'll reblog tomorrow if I'm wrong but there's an issue where Roy goes back to Star City and you can SEE his desperation to be a hero, you can see his determination, and it's so beautifully written and in the epilogue Ollie tries to have a talk with him, tries to make amends after what happened and you'd EXPECT that Roy would take that, that it'd be water under the bridge, but Roy has his own agency and he fucking leaves!!! Because he's not ready to make up with Ollie and he has his own agency!!!

And then the second big turning point in Roy's career is when Lian is introduced, and you can SEE how much of an impact she has on him as a character! At the end of The Cheshire Contract Roy says he thinks Lian is gonna change him and he was right! She does! He goes to Ireland and meets Moira and Buttons (I think those are their names? Again, not fact checking this post) and looks after them and that's the start of his development as the "dad Titan", and he loves Lian so much!!

This panel from Rocks and Hard Places makes me SO emotional because he loves her!!! She's the most important person in his life!!! Plus his relationship with Jade is SO compelling to me, because he loves her and he'll always love her and she loves him too (even if a lot of writers have done their best to make that not the case- I love Jaderoy and I will always love Jaderoy)

And he's also generally such a good guy, I don't have the panel screenshotted and I can't remember the issue but there's that New Titans issue where Kory kills someone and she tries to justify it to Roy and he's just like "you don't need to explain it to me" and I wish his friendship was explored with her more because they had SO much potential as friends.

And then and he's SUCH a good mentor figure, like in New Titans #116 which is my go to issue for anything mentor Roy related because it's SO GOOD! He's constantly trying to wind the kids back to make sure they're okay, telling Terra II to not get too cocky, making sure Grant's okay (and the "yeah no wonder I'm in charge" panel when Grant suggests blowing Gar up is my favourite) and expressing genuine concern when Bart attacks Kyle recklessly and I WISH his relationship with Bart and Terra II had more susbstance because it's so good

Then there's the Arsenal Special which is really the comic which explains WHY he's called Arsenal!!! I've made so many posts about this comic and I love it so fucking much because he fucking takes all those guys out with only shit he can find then takes all their weapons and loads them onto himself while giving a badass monologue which, from memory, goes something like "he thinks I was was sent here to kill his daughters. Well guess what, I have a daughter too. So it all comes down to his daughters or mine. Who gets to think their daddy's a hero, or some thing that crawled out of the dirt. Get it through your head, 'cus it ain't gonna be mine". I love him. I love him so much.

Then there's Teen Titans (1996) #12-15 which I recently made a post about but it's a comic I'm SO greatful to have physical copies of because it's so fucking good for Roy stuff. There's so much on how others percieve him- I love the fab five, but they (well, the boys, Donna wasn't in it because she was mourning Robbie's death) have such a derogatory view of Roy. Like Dick's "he's good but not good enough" and Wally's view of him as not good enough to lead (which is brought up again in Titans 1999 secret files), and the constant references to Roy's addiction in that comic. Then he gets his Green Arrow inspired suit (very Red Arrow of you, late 90s) which he brings on to the Arsenal mini, and his whole fascination with the suit because his biggest dream is being good enough for Ollie, he IS way more than good enough for Ollie which was clear even from the end of Snowbirds but my boy has issues, and then Joto dies because of the explosive arrow he fires which IMO should have fucked him up more than it did but it also absolutely did fuck him up at least in that comic and in the Arsenal mini and there's probably more I could link that too but again, I'm drunk.

And then there's the Arsenal mini. Holy fuck I love the Arsenal Mini. it's so fucking good for like, all his familial relations in the Arrowfam in the late 90s. The flashbacks to Dinah and Roy during Snowbirds and Dinah's "the bravest person I ever met was the one who was flawed" speech, that panel of him resting his head on Dinah's shoulder, the fact that that entire story was fueled by his love of Lian, his talk with Connor about Ollie and how Roy never wanted to be Green Arrow he just wanted Ollie to have asked? It's so fucking beautiful and I love it. And the fact that he WAS gonna team with Vandal to save Lian, he's a father first and a hero second, but he thought about it and decided that there had to be a way to be both and he was right!!! He's so insanely good and I love him, he has a reputation of being a bad boy but he is SUCH a hero it's beautiful.

Then comes Titans '99 which I really can't do justice just talking about. He's so incredible in it it's insane. Like his father/son dynamic with Grant is so beautiful to read, he loves that boy!!! He loves that boy like he's his own flesh and blood and I will take no criticism!!! And his relationship with Donna is so painful to read in that comic because he's such a romantic and even though their relationship was gonna fail from the beginning because of the nature of it and because of Donna's reasons for it he still kept on it because he loved her!! He loves her so so much that he's willing to have his own heart broken for her and good god my boy is unwell. Plus it's the peak for Roygarth, their relationship in it is so great and their talk in issue 16 is amazing and I love it, plus Roy's genuine heartbreak at the possibility of Garth being dead just gets me. And while it's overshadowed by Outsiders, there is a lot of Dickroy potential in Titans 1999, Dick being so loving towards Lian with the "yumyumyumyum" panel in issue 1 and him generally just being one of the closest people in Roy's life, plus Roy being one of the only people who are willing to actually call Dick out on his BS and that being the thing that breaks that out of purgatory? Chefs kiss

And who would I be without mentioning Green Arrow 2001. I'm tired now so I'm not gonna talk about Archers Quest but I can't not talk about Boys Night Out because!!! He's so good in it!!! His speech to Connor that sounds SO much like a coming out acceptance speech, taking Connor to a bookshop despite his own boredom because he wants Connor to have a good time, the brotherly teasing while Connor's driving, him calling Connor out and supporting sex workers, him protecting Connor... it's the perfect issue. Anyone who hasn't, please read Green Arrow (2001) #32, it's so fucking good I promise.

And finally (and I mean finally as in I cba to talk about Red Arrow because I'm getting sleepy), Outsiders which is. So fucking good. Oh my god. Like him forming a team just to help support Dick through Donna's death, the fact that once again he's underestimated but this time Dick stands up for him, him getting shot and getting PTSD because of it (Oursiders 2003 #11 love of my life), everything that happens in this run is SO FUCKING GOOD AND I LOVE ROY HARPER!!! And for once he actually stands up for himself when he's called a junkie!!! He punches Dick in the face!!! As he fucking should king!!! And issue 45 (I think?) Is the best because it's. So good for him and Lian. His protectiveness over her, his love for her, and her being able to see when he's not okay. Beautiful outstanding and incredible.

In conclusion I LOVE Roy Harper because he's the best dad in the world, he loves everyone so much and will never stop, and he's just. Such a good person. I love him. I love him a lot.

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 23

welcome to the twenty-third fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.  

1. lucky i’m in love with my best friend by @nezueye

“I really wanna kiss you right now,” Lance murmurs, staring at Keith’s lips.  

“So kiss me."

Lance scrunches up his nose. “In front of all of our friends? I thought you were allergic to PDA.”  

Keith shrugs. “You’ve been sitting in my lap for the past 20 minutes and I’ve been basically groping you the entire time.” He punctuates this statement by bringing his hands back to Lance’s ass and squeezing just a little, as a treat. “Some more PDA is okay, I think.”

yes i know i recced one of nez’s fics last week and i’m here doing it again. they’re amazing okay. every single time the devotion settles heavily in my lungs im ALLOWED to be obsessed with them. this one gets to me especially bc its established relationship, which is my favourite dynamic always, and its as funny as it is sweet!! double blamy!! also the title is from possibly the most klance song ever, and if you would like to hear jeremy shada (lance’s VA) singing a cover of the song... you’re in luck

2. the meaning of donuts by @katranga

The next few days were filled with Lance informing everyone, multiple times, of their “new” friendship. “We’re friends now, did you hear? Keith and I are friends.” Over and over, big smile, loud voice. Looking between Keith and whoever he was telling like he expected a round of applause. Or confetti. Or a parade. What he usually got was somebody making a crack about bonding moments, which prompted a tight, put-upon sigh on Keith’s end. And Lance would look at him fondly, and Keith would have to bite his cheek to distract himself from how much he wanted Lance to lean over and kiss him. -- Keith realizes he may, potentially, possibly have some feelings for a certain blue paladin and he is Not Thrilled about it.

14k words of keith being exasperated by himself by being disgustingly in love with lance and lance being increasingly more in love but lowkey being oblivious about it??? hell fucking yeah!! lance is so bright in this fic bc thats how keith (begrudgingly lol) sees him and its so true and wonderful

3. perish the rest, this thought is yours by @moonguilt

“Lance? Lance can you hear—” Keith's voice crackled unintelligibly. “—big hit. Are you—” More crackling, and—silence.

Lance frantically pressed his comm button. “Keith? Keith, hey, uh, small problem maybe—”

The control panel flickered a few times, then sputtered out, and suddenly Red was falling—eerily slow at first, then faster than a bullet. Lance bit back a scream, smashing buttons and yanking at the controls desperately, but Red just kept falling, falling, falling, and all Lance could do was watch as she turned belly-up in the air, giving him a perfect, horrible view of Black taking several heavy shots directly to the cockpit.

This time he did scream. But it did no good, and Lance was forced to watch as Black—as Keith—careened toward the moon's surface, a faint trail of purple dusting his wake like the tail of a comet.

————–

Lance and Keith are sent on a mission to answer a distress signal from the desert moon of Xat-lor VII. They get more than they bargained for, both in enemy numbers and in feelings. They have to fight to survive long enough for the rest of their team to arrive, and in the meantime, Things Happen.

i will Never get tired of flirty keith. somehow in the first couple years of this fandom we forgot that keith is the one with game and lance is the one whos freqently getting flustered and tongue-tied, and god bless finn for reminding us. this fic has post s7 but only the good parts (and fuck s8), black paladin keith red paladin lance, bamf co leaders who are in love and also stupid, and (im mentioning it again bc Duh) flirty keith. loml.

4.  feel it in the space in between by angelbolt

“Coffee champagne, in my opinion, would be carbonated coffee with a shot of white wine. Does that sound like a good time to you?”

“It sounds like a great time.”

Adam leaned in, his nose wrinkling with a smile as he whispered, “Junkie.”

“You love it,” Takashi dismissed, kissing the wrinkles. “You think it’s endearing.”

Adam drummed his fingers over Takashi’s scalp, “I find too many of your flaws endearing, my love.”

“Even my dad jokes?” ✦ takashi and adam get engaged.

prekerb adashi does NOT get enough attention!!! at all!! i love them in love and happy with baby keith!!! this fic is sweet and sappy and gives both shiro and adam some much-needed dimension. shiro is a DOG and i love that for him. the big hero six scene made me cry. 

5. two bros, chillin’ in a space pool by angelbolt

Harrumphing, Lance paddled to the edge, heaving himself to sit on it, one foot extended to point at Keith, "Fine! Then if you believe yourself to be so much better than me—"

Keith seemed distracted, mouth slightly open, "I never said—"

"I challenge you to a duel! A swimming duel!"

He looked wholly unimpressed once again, "Wow, that's new." ✩ My take on why they were both shirtless.

i will never in my life get over angry pining. the idea of being down bad for someone and FURIOUS about it will never not be funny to me. this entire fic in general made me laugh out loud and in particular this fic used the word ‘ah-HOOGA’ unironically which is not only ballsy but also beyond my words to properly appreciate. lance is a menace. early s1 fics my love

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!  

[positivelybeastly]

To the Mod: I know Cat! Hank is your number one version of the character, now I'm curious of how you rank the other encarnations from least favorite to favorite...

Ha, so, funnily enough, this reminds me of an old meme I made, which is horrifically low quality, but eh, it makes me laugh.

Pretty much all versions of Hank, I can find at least something to love about them, even if it's just something visual or something small, one little scene that works for me, so, with that in mind, let's begin our ranking! I hope you don't mind, but I went from favourite to least favourite, just because that's the way my brain works. :)

Platinum Medal - Feline Beast (2000-2012)

As you mentioned, in my opinion, absolutely the best version of our man. When drawn well, he has the best design, the best look, the best storylines, the best everything. He's still eloquent, he's still hilarious, he's still bipolar, he's still ridiculous, he's still so aggressively unhappy and doing his best to make it through, he's still the biggest bleeding heart you'll ever see. He's my guy.

Gold Medal - Classic Beast (1974-2000)

The boy! The bouncing, bludgeoning, bountifully blue Beast himself! Honestly, I used to be a little down on him, I used to think he lacked complexity and was just kind of a weird 'diversion' on the path to cat Hank, but reading New Defenders completely changed that opinion, and now he's firmly second place. He's just such a goofy goober!

Silver Medal - Dark Beast (1994-Current)

Honestly, one of the better evil twin/counterparts I've seen in media, mostly on account of some very subtle characterisation tweaks that make him fascinating. His strange, borderline narcissistic-but-also-self-worth-affirming fascination with 616 Hank, his inability to hurt Hank's parents because the idea of being loved makes him weak, his absolutely incredible sense of humour . . . like, I dislike what he's done to the discourse about Hank, since people will trumpet the idea that Dark Beast 'proves' that Hank always goes evil, but as a character, I really am just happy any time he's on panel.

Bronze Medal - Modern Beast (2012-2019)

You'll note that I cut this off before 2019 for obvious reasons. Honestly, this version of Hank is saved primarily by a few key stories that actually bother to examine his actions and ongoing personality crisis in more than surface level detail, and I do really like this design, even if I wish people could be more consistent with it (seriously, he's not a hard character to draw, can we please establish if he's as big as the Hulk or not?). Forever tarnished by being written by Bendis, but I do like him when he's written well.

Runner-Up - TAS/'97 Beast (1992-1997, 2024-Current)

I love this boy, but he hasn't gotten quite enough stories of real import and character development for me to say I like him as much as the comics versions of Hank. I'm optimistic that season 2 of X-Men '97 will rectify that, given some key scenes in episodes 5 and 7, but until then, I just like him. I think he's neat. Definitely has one of the best voices of all the Hanks.

Runner-Up - Grey Beast (1974-1975)

I used to regard this guy as just a transition from human to blue Hank, but going back and reading those issues of Amazing Adventures and the tie-in issue of X-Men Unlimited, I actually kind of adore this brief but meaningful period of Hank's life immensely. When I started writing my big X-Force fix-it fic, the idea of regressing Hank back to this colour and something like this state of mind was key to my vision of the character, because it's so under-explored and so fascinating to me.

Runner-Up - Sublime Beast (2004)

The best of the villain turns Hank has ever had, because it's not really Hank, and yet, the manner in which he turns is so achingly Beast - he burned himself out trying to keep everything afloat, and in his desperation, he made a stupid mistake that ended up hurting him most of all. Also, 11/10 character design. White fur and purple leather? Fucking god damn what a daddy.

Runner-Up - X-Men 3: The Last Stand, The Marvels (2006, 2023)

Honestly, good version of the character, even if I don't love Kelsey Grammer's politics. Great voice, good design, good integration into the storyline, interesting place for Hank to end up after leaving the X-Men, good use of his acrobatics. I was very pleased to see him crop up again in the Marvels.

Runner-Up - X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine & the X-Men, Marvel Anime (2000-2003, 2009, 2011)

Throwing these all into their own little space because I do love them, but they were very much just supporting characters who didn't get a real chance to shine outside of one or two funny moments, and one or two episodes (the Beast of Bayville from Evolution is the standout here). Great designs on these three fellas.

Runner-Up - Human Beast (1963-1974, 1986-9, 2013-2018)

Honestly, not my favourite version of the boy. He's fine, but he's not done yet, he hasn't finished baking. I appreciate a lot of the stories that come from this era, but I always regard this version of Hank as fundamentally unfinished and incomplete. The magic stuff with time displaced Hank was interesting, the Jean love triangle and the conga line of humiliation Bendis was intent on putting him through was. Less so. Still. Good lad.

DNF (Did Not Finish) - X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix (2011-2019)

Just not really the same character, tbh. See me after class for notes.

An Affront to Me, Personally - X-Force Beast (2019-2024)

If I could fill your bed with thumbtacks, Ben Percy, I would. You have poisoned the earth for this character for decades to come, if not forever, and I regard you as a blight upon his legacy. The fact that you were allowed to do this with the character is all the confirmation I needed for my theory that the X-office, and Marvel at large, does not give a single solitary fuck about the integrity of this character, will not protect him, and does not hold any regard for his history or meaning.

Beast in name only. Shame on you.

Bonus: Lives In My Head Rent Free - Gay Exiles Beast (2009)

It's canon.

This list isn't entirely exhaustive, there are a billion other versions of Hank out there, like Brute from Mutant X, Manga Beast who looks like a teddy bear, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3 Beast, Ultimate-1610 Beast, etc, etc, but these are my 'core' Beasts, and as such, this is my ranking.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Sorry to give more attention to something that sucks, but I figure I'm not the only one who'd rather know than not know about a comedian I like in a case like this - remember last year, when Richard Ayoade gave that supportive quote on the cover of Graham Linehan's book? And it was disappointing, I figured that even if it's what I assume happens regularly with books like this, where they'll just get whatever famous friends they have to give some positive quote for the cover, even if those friends haven't read the book - even if it was that, that still sucks on Richard Ayoade's part, if he signed off on that for a book like this. But hey, maybe he just doesn't follow the news of which old colleagues of his have lost their minds on social media, maybe he didn't think that much about it, maybe he didn't even know what the book was about, maybe he didn't even write that quote himself. Still sucks, but doesn't necessarily mean all that much.

I fortunately wasn't a sufficiently invested fan of Richard Ayoade to be hugely upset about it. I mean, I wasn't happy. I find him very funny on panel shows and I think Garth Marenghi's Darkplace was a masterpiece. I am, however, sort of pleased that the fact that Richard Ayoade sucks now makes it more acceptable for me to say I've always found The IT Crowd overrated. Also, while he can be very very funny when he's good, his persona does get grating after a while (especially given that... look, if he's going to express support for a man who's so against people changing their outer markers to affect how they're perceived, it's worth noting that it's not his real voice). It annoys me that the running joke on Catsdown is how he's so good at it because he's such a nerd, and they keep doing that joke even though he does badly in all the games. He's not really that smart, he just puts on glasses and a nasal voice and identifies as a nerd. He often doesn't even seem like his heart is really in the persona, I think he just played one nerd in 2006 and then got typecast and stuck doing it forever. Garth Marenghi was still a masterpiece though.

Anyway, I've just been pointed to an episode of Gyles Brandreth's podcast from a few weeks ago, where Richard Ayoade featured as a guest and discussed Linehan. I listened to the relevant passage and can confirm that he did know what he was talking about when he gave that quote for the book, he talks about how Graham Linehan has been doing good work and treated unfairly, and has been accused of transphobia but really it's about women's rights. Thought I'd share that for the information of anyone who likes Richard Ayoade and, like me, would rather know that not know if a comedian we like is saying stuff like that. Sorry again for giving it more attention. I briefly considered posting the clip, but I don't think I need to spread the actual audio around - if you, like me, like to hear things from the actual source rather than relying on out-of-context secondhand accounts, you can hear it yourself on the Ayoade episode of the Rosebud podcast. But I don't really recommend doing that.

I'd love to say I'm not too upset by the Ayoade news because I don't do that kind of parasocial putting celebrities on pedestals, to the point where I'd be upset about them turning out to be bad. But that's not true, there are plenty of comedians to whom I have some scraps of faith in humanity tied, and those rare scraps would disappear if my favourite comedians came out in support of Graham Linehan. Richard Ayoade's just not one of them. It was Matthew Holness who made Garth Marenghi so great anyway. And he did a far better job in one scene than Richard Ayoade did in four seasons, of playing a nerd in an 00s sitcom that was created by a guy who's now an awful transphobe. Even in a niche as small as that, Richard Ayoade doesn't win.

In order to make this post not 100% about terrible people being terrible, I'm going to take this somewhat tenuous excuse to talk about Richard Ayoade's best friend from Cambridge, who is far better than Richard. A couple of years ago, I went to make one of my little Bugle compilations, it got out of hand as I kept adding stuff to it, and I accidentally made a feature film. I entitled it A Groundhog Day of Hatred, as it chronicled the saga of John Oliver vs. Sarah Palin, every time their careers regrettably crossed paths. In September 2023, I updated that film with a few further bits, and released a second edition, which runs at 78 minutes. It's too many minutes.

To accompany the second edition, I thought it would be funny to create a movie poster. I got one quote from the excellent @lastweeksshirttonight, but thought it needed another quote, as all good promotional images are accompanied by quotes of famous people talking up the work. I realized that actually, John Oliver's old friend/Footlights teammate had recently given one of those promotional quotes that, by coincidence, would work just as well to describe my movie as it did to describe the work that that quote was originally used to promote. In fact, it would work even better. Because the story of John Oliver trying to cover Sarah Palin's political career really is the tale of a hero's harrowing journey, unlike Linehan's shit book.

So basically, if you find Richard Ayoade's political views disappointing, you can just look at that quote he gave Graham Linehan's book, and imagine he was instead describing this:

[samobservessonic]

In the last issue, both of our on-going multi-parters wrapped up, meaning that we’ve got new stories this time around and both of them were written by Kitching (he also wrote and drew the Decap Attack story in this issue. Busy guy!). This main story is a oneshot, while the later Knuckles story is a multi-parter

After being spoiled by Elson doing the lead stories for Knuckles’s whole introduction arc, it is noticeable when they switch back to a different art style here. But Rodriguez’s art in this story has some great expressions that I’m looking forward to sharing later on in this post. Elson hasn’t gone too far either, as he’s drawing the Knuckles story I’ll be covering next

But for now, we get Robotnik and Grimer, who seem to be taking a direct approach after successfully destroying Sonic’s base and forcing the Freedom Fighter on the run last time

I think we know where they’re going with this

It’s the return of regular brown hedgehog Sonic! Y’know, this is one of those things that I just forget isn’t considered canon across the rest of the brand now, so I didn’t bat an eyelid while skimming through this story. But for those of you who aren’t familiar, StC follows an older Western Sonic backstory, where he was originally a regular hedgehog who gained his speed via an experiment with chaos energy gone wrong in the lab of one Dr. Kintobor, who was also affected and became Dr. Robotnik. That’s a quick version of the story, but StC has covered this backstory quite extensively by this point, so I don’t think it’s worth going into too much detail

The next question is, what happened to Robotnik?

…Oh. Okay then

Wait, what do they mean back at Sonic’s secret base? He doesn’t have a secret base any more, they went on the run last time. I can only assume that maybe this was an older inventory story that wasn’t run until now. It’s a bit of a shame, especially since they could’ve edited it to say that they’re in the caravan, since the background isn’t too detailed, but I’m not going to nitpick about that

Elsewhere, Robotnik is having a great day and Sonic is having a terrible one

Sonic makes it back and at first the Freedom Fighters are alarmed to see that the location of their hidden base has been exposed to a stranger

…Which brings us to the two best expressions in the issue! Johnny’s surprised pose on the left panel and Porker’s CONCERNED face on the right panel

This might be my new favourite MacGuffin drop - some guy made it, but he’s dead now and we’re never going to mention him again, so it doesn’t matter. That’s the kind of British snarky humour that I feel would’ve been at home in a Discworld novel and it works here as well

I can’t remember if we had a “countdown to things that make Grimer quit his job” count going, but I think we can add this moment to it

The badniks are either programmed to pick up on the chaos energy specifically, programmed just to go after targets that are blue and fast, or genuinely believe Robotnik looks like Sonic now. Whatever the answer, Sonic has mixed feelings about this mix-up working out in his favour

It’s up to Grimer to fix this one, so he decides to go ahead and take Sonic’s powers back away from Robotnik again

The swap has definitely worked in Sonic’s favour as well

Now that he’s got his super speed back, Sonic wastes no time in grabbing and destroying the device, so that this can never happen again. On account of the guy who made it being too dead to make another one

Y’know, if this was just the image with no further context, it’d accidentally seem like Sonic is threatening a gay couple :( 

And that’s the end of this story! It was a nice oneshot with a good premise, acting as something of a cooldown story after finishing up a longer arc. My only two nitpicks with this story are small - the first being what I already mentioned about how this story feels like it should’ve been set before the last arc. I was looking forward to seeing stories about the Freedom Fighters on the run, so it was a bit of a let-down to not get that right away. And the second being that the location it was set in feels very generic. I know that as StC carries on they’ll move more away from the game locations and into more comic-exclusive locations, but it still feels like a bit of a shame to go from the actual game locations to a nondescript canyon background that I assume was supposed to be set in or around Emerald Hill? Like I said, nothing major and I still enjoyed the story, but I hope we can get to them being on the run next time

[martiszcz]

Loki's Armor - 1960s

His first appearance in 1960s – sometimes considered his first appearance period – was in Journey Into Mystery #85 from 1962. His costume changed too. There is no cape, there are no fangs and even his horns aren’t so devilish.

And that was his costume for few years, with some small changes to color scheme – some intentional (going into inclusively gold and green outfit), some more accidental (elements being green or gold; shape of the hood, horns, etc.).

In 1964 tales about younger Thor started appearing in Journey Into Mystery. It also included younger Loki and his suit, usually similar to the suits he was wearing in Thor’s regular adventures from that time.

And then, there’s this monogrammed suit from 1965:

One of those childhood stories included a cape, not seen before on this Loki (and not seen after for a long time). It also showed more Thorish helmet:

In 1965 the main Loki also debuted a new look. Sadly there was not even a panel explaining his new suit.

His later appearances had some major – changing lime green for gold – and minor color changes – green or gold accessories. Sometimes Loki even got a cape, but it wasn’t consistently drawn even within one issue. The biggest change was the helmet shape – it got much smaller.

Of course the change of the main suit meant the change of the younger Loki suit. (I call him younger but at that time visually he looked similar to main-story Loki). The biggest difference comes from differently-colored accessories (my favourite is the purple cape).

This “younger” version got his harness only in the last issue of Journey into Mystery in 1966. It doesn’t really make sense, since for few last issues he’s on a boat, but I choose to believe that he packed the harness and then put it on to look his best while doing a Heroic Deed.

There are also some special version of his armor, like protective lab-coat one:

This suit didn’t last all that long – after coming back from his banishment from timeless limbo in Thor #147 Loki appeared in the previous version of his costume. I guess he took a spare one.

The only changes in this look are caused by forgetting some detail:

The third issue of “Not Brand Echh” from 1967 marks the forst appearance of Loki from another Earth (665), called Hokey - God of Naughtiness. His armor is pretty similar to Loki although the “underwear above clothes” idea is much more visible.

On the other hand, when he appeared just as a background gag they used the classical version of his costume so he would be easily recognized.

[ninhaoma-ya]

1076 — Old friends

I’m sure the chapter titles will make sense once we have the whole picture, but at the moment I am very confused. Sure, it refers to the end of the chapter, but will it also (in hindsight) refer to the beginning?

No cover story but very pretty colour spread:

The dynamics of Kaku and Lucci with Zoro and Luffy are just *chef’s kiss*

Oda’s perspective shifts, both narratively and artistically, are really nifty. Here, for example, we don’t know what Kaku means, since his face is in shadow and mouth hidden. We just have the two very different interpretations as offered by Luffy and Zoro to go on.

The following pages don’t shed any further light: did Kaku want to get feee to pursue their original goal in the end, or did he just keep mum about it to reduce antagonism due to “you’re just here to kill us”-vibes? Why is Lucci really telling all — is he confident in their ability to fulfil their orders, no matter what their opponents know, or does he bet on honesty over deception to get out of their cuffs?

It’s a nice reminder that the others are still in danger!

However, Zoro, you should have more confidence in your crewmates. They can take care of themselves once they get their head in the game, even the Weakling Trio (all conveniently paired up with a stronger member at the moment).

Good thinking, Luffy, making sure Lucci goes first after you when all’s said and done. Of course Lucci couldn’t ignore such a thinly-veiled insult.

Luffy does have an eye for personal drivers and battle strategy, doesn’t he?

I just enjoy the pairing of brute force + brute force and slicy + slicy.

But what is happening on the island? Who captured Vegapunk?

Is it evil Lilith, who was shown to control the seabeasts? Is it logical Shaka, voice of reason and analytical skills? Is it A Secret Third Thing?

Too tired to think about this right now, hopefully there-crafters out there fill in the blanks.

And my new favourite sub-arc! Kid vs Shanks!

First, the introductory panelling is genius. Even though we see a house, the disparity between ship size and house size could be chalked up to rushed sketching or lazy reading. The placement of the “bar at a small port”-bubble, completely obscuring the ship behind confuses further.

And then, of course, we have just a silhouette we all know and a very familiar call-back to the very first chapter. Everything looks nice and normal. The size of the sake cup is similar to what Shanks was shown to share with Whiebeard, so nothing particularly remarkable there — the dude’s been shown to love partying, after all, maybe he just loves over-sized cups. The size of the meat could also be just seaking or something similar.

And then, sudden giant blueberries.

We’re not in Kansas, anymore, Toto.

AND FINALLY! THE RETURN OF DORRY AND BROGGY!

I wonder who won the fight in the end.

Shanks has a certain je ne sais quoi. I love him.

So Rockstar’s role seems to be messenger. Iiiinteresting.

It’s so funny to see the dejected kid from a few pages ago just completely dwarf Shanks and his crew. Could he even fit on the Red Force?

A bit weird that the giants follow Shanks, though. I thought they’d be much too fierce warriors to do so, but on the other hand: Harjudin and his New Giant Pirates served under Buggy, so maybe the last 100 years without proper leadership really left Elbaf to the mercy of other powerful players?

And how will Usopp visit if the island is under Shanks influence — would a Straw Hat visit be construed as an act of war?

And poor Makino (beloved OTP) if the behaviour of the ladies in this chapter is something to go by. A girl in every port, huh…

Kid looks a bit worried there, while Shanks exudes calm and confidence.

I wonder if Shanks has the last missing Poneglyph. We also didn’t get confirmation that they found Kaido’s red one in Wano, so that’s still up in the air.

So exciting!

I give the chapter two thumbs up: one from Shanks and one from Kid.

I give the chapter two thumbs up (one from Shanks and one from Kid).

[evolvingchaoswitch]

Freakshow-Chapter 1 Hanging by a Thread

evolvingchaoswitch

Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories:

F/F

F/M

Other

Fandoms:

Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Video Game 2021)

Five Nights at Freddy's

Relationship:

Rocket Raccoon/Original Female Character(s)

Additional Tags:

Game Theory Lore

Hurt/Comfort

Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Canon-Typical Violence

Body Horror

Implied/Referenced Torture

Mental Health Issues

Implied/Referenced Suicide

Slow Burn

Body Dysphoria

Non-Consensual Body Modification

raw dogged by an anthropomorphic raccoon

Eventual Smut

Summary:

Tinkering with my design, twist and turn my feral mind Play with me 'til you've found another toy Let me be your freak show, I could be your favorite monster Rattle my whole cage, remind me why I can't be fostered Let me be your freak show, I could be your favorite monster Lock me up, don't let me out 'cause you know I can't help myself.

Notes:

This is my first in a few cross over OC's I've created over the years and my favourite to pair with Rocket. The song I reference in my summary is from Sub Urban it is a very good Rocket themed song. I base inspiration for this character from Game Theory's coverage of FNAF. Happy reading looking forward to your thoughts.

Chapter Management

Edit Chapter

Chapter 1: Hanging by a thread

Chapter Text

The ship was in rough shape but hopefully not so fucked that Rocket wouldn’t be able to find some useful materials to repair his own ship that he had hobbled together out of scraps. His enemies had been getting smarter when it came to keeping him locked up, opting to shunt Groot off to a prison further away from him hoping that would be the key ingredient to keeping him caged. Rocket would laugh at the audacity of the thought process if it didn’t cause so many flarkin annoying troubles for him. Once his makeshift ship was patched up a bit better he’d go looking for Groot and most likely a more structurally stable ship along the way, this one’s engine was fucked in a way he couldn’t fix with his current tool set.

Rocket hummed a wordless tune as he went to work stripping the ship of what was valuable as he moved further into its hull. Rocket could hear the faint sound of a dog whining, had Cosmo found himself on this ship? Rocket may have had his issues with the stupid mutt but he wasn’t going to let him be trapped here if it was Cosmo making the noises. So tentatively Rocket made his way towards the sound to see if it was Cosmo or not, and he was right it was a dog just not Cosmo.

In a cage over in one corner of the room was a dog circling around desperate to get to something just beyond his view, something that was hidden in the shadows adjacent to this cage. The dog's fur that appeared to be white was now strained with dried blood and the general grime of the cage, a pair of piercing blue eyes locked with his own cognac coloured ones as the creature looked frightened. Then terrifying as metallic panels opened up all over the animal, showing pieces of exposed internals along with other modifications, Rocket wanted to hurl. Was this a new creature from Him? Was this a new abomination from Halfworld? Either way he couldn’t leave it there whimpering like that, Rocket may be a professional asshole but he did have a bit of a soft spot for his fellow mammals.

“Keep it down I’m getting you out” Rocket got to work opening the cage and he was relieved to see that the action seemed to calm the animal down, maybe it was intelligent not his level but enough to follow orders. The smell in the air was putrid. Something was undoubtedly rotting in the second cage in the room if Rocket was going to make an assumption it was probably the person the dog was so eager to get to. The dog came to sit near the cage door anxiously waiting for it to open. Rocket could see on the purple collar around its neck hung a small silver coin that read Bianca. The dog was a she apparently.

Rocket watched as Bianca bolted over to the other cage before pawing at the door while whining for him to open this one as well which Rocket started on while sighing. Groot in his life was starting to make him go soft, Rocket was hoping once Bianca saw that her owner was dead it would be easier to drop her off somewhere safer. Rocket paid no mind to the body on the floor as the corpse appeared to be one of the former members of this ship and not Bianca’s owner. Rocket didn’t care for paying any respects to the dead crew of this ship, he had looked up some of the shit these people had gotten up to and lets just say he didn’t give much care to traffickers. The door slid open a moment later and Bianca bolted over to the figure that was hanging in restraints in the middle of the cage.

The figure looked to be from Terra, coppery red hair that was cropped short to the head, pasty white skin dotted with an assortment of freckles and an easy to enjoy feminine form. One problem ,Rocket had never seen a Terran with a chest cavity open like theirs and still alive. He could hear the heart still faintly beat from behind the metal that surrounded it, though it was difficult to see the organ, what with the power cord obscuring it from view. Two thoughts that hit Rocket at the same time, this person was still alive and had been used as some form of power source for this ship.

Those sicks fucks.

As soon as Rocket disconnected the power cord and stepped away to lay the cord on the ground Bianca sprung into action placing her muzzle on the exposed powercell that worked in conjunction with the heart. Bianca seemed to let some form of energy pass from her internals to her owners slowly recharging the girl till slowly the chest started to seal up protecting the organics behind. This girl wasn’t like any make of android that he had ever seen before and he certainly wanted to know more about this Afton Robotics place. Rocket might have a few bones to pick with them over their design choices.

Rocket could hear soft cries coming from the newly renewed girl in the corner at first he thought she was just crying over being chained up and used as a power source.Made complete sense to Rocket if that was the case but as Rocket took a second to listen a bit closer he could hear the repeated phrases of.

“I’m so glad you’re safe Bianca” “I’m so sorry” “You’re ok, you’re ok, you’re ok”

Rocket felt an unwelcome tug on his heartstrings before he felt obligated as his current state of employment as a professional asshole to ruin the moment.

“What’s your name?”

“Ѐabha Tinsley and Bianca Del Barko the finest bitch in the land”

The last part was stated as a fact rather than a flippant statement.

“I’m Rocket and something tells me that you didn’t leave Terra willingly, want to hitch a ride back?”

Ѐabha was trying to figure that out right now too much had happened since she had forcibly been put into sleep mode as they drained her for power. Now that she had gotten the first thing out of the way, making sure her beloved Bianca was safe it was now time to reacquaint herself with what was going on in the moment. Now it was time to sort through all the intrusive messages that had popped onto her internal log once she was back online. Most of them as per usual were about update permissions that she made sure to quickly dismiss. The organic within her would forever fight with the inorganic. The scars that her maker had left on her all those years held long lasting effects on her but none so aggravating as her update protocol that wouldn’t be satisfied until she was perfect.

She could already tell that over the miscellaneous time that she was out that her body had moved from sixty-percent organic to fifty-eight percent which didn’t seem like that much of a drop in percentages but to her it was.

Your savior appeared to be some kind of talking raccoon but after everything you had been through over the years it hardly phases you. Hell even the corpse rotting away in the corner of your cage failed to stir up a response from you. At least this one still had all its internals. At least it wasn’t a six foot plus animatronic with dead kids inside. Fuck your life was weird.

The anthropomorphic raccoon appeared to be your savior or at the very least the guy that took pity on you enough to free you. You could live with that easily, though looking at the little bit of metallic that showed on him you got the idea that he had gone through some similar shit. Looking down at Bianca the two of you had a brief vibe check discussion via eye as you typically did before you responded.

“Can she come too, I don’t go anywhere without her” Savior or not like hell you were leaving the only member of your family behind.

“Oh course, though things will get a little cramped when we pick up a friend of mine hopefully we’ll have another ship ready” Rocket took a moment to think out his next question “You any good with striping ships for scrap” Rocket didn’t really expect a yes but if there was one it would make life easier for the next few hours. Rocket watched as you nodded your head before you started to strip some of the room you were in for useful materials, stepping over the corpse as you went to work. Rocket was fairly sure he saw you plop a few scrapes of non-useful materials into your mouth like a snack though that wouldn’t be the strangest thing he had seen in space for a long shot.

They both finished their work within the two hour mark before heading back to Rockets ship to continue on. It wouldn’t take Rocket long to get all his shit together in order to grab Groot. Groot was going to be thrilled that he picked up a couple of strays along the way, the Flora colossus did enjoy meeting new people even if all they understood was I Am Groot.

Rocket could see that his two new passengers had fallen asleep in a small out of the way corner on the ship. Rocket elected to leave both alone as he plotted out the way he was going to get Groot back.

One way or another. @elegant-fleuret @aliasrocket @momahoneypleasesugar @honeypleasesugar

[bookdragonofsomekind]

******Manga-Monday 01******

Tokyo Ghoul Volume 01

Summary: 

Meet Ken Kaneki, a shy college student who loves to read. One day Ken’s dream finally comes true when a charming girl named Rize decides to go on a date with him. She seems to be the perfect girl for Kaneki. She even reads the same books as him! Even better she has the same favourite author! What could go wrong now? 

Happily ever after.

Unfortunately Rize is not a big fan of fairytales and seeks a different end for her date. 

Poor Kaneki.

Characters you will meet in this volume:

Ken Kaneki 

Hide 

Rize Kamishiro

Touka Kirishima

Dr. Kano 

Hisashi Ogura 

Yomo

Mr. Yoshimura  

Nishiki Nishio 

Quotes I particularly liked:

"I’m not the protagonist of a book or anything, I’m just a normal college student who likes to read, but if I were to write a book with me as the main character it would be a tragedy." - Kaneki 

"The bird struggles out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever would be born must first destroy a world." - Herrmann Hesse/ Kaneki 

"You are both ghoul and human at the same time. You are the only person who has a place in both worlds." - Mr. Yoshimura  

My thoughts:

What brought me to read Tokyo Ghoul in the first place was my boyfriend. You can absolutely blame him for this project. Tokyo Ghoul is one of his favourite manga series. 

You could say that I’m a fairly new beginner when it comes to manga and anime. I only started one and a half years ago with watching anime regularly and I think a year ago with reading manga. 

(You can also totally and absolutely blame my boyfriend for this)

So starting Tokyo Ghoul I’m not completely new to the premise of the story. My partner already told me a few things about the story and characters. 

Just a small disclaimer that I wanted to get out of the way.

So let’s start…

First things first Tokyo Ghoul is written and drawn by Sui Ishida and was published in 2011. I’ve gotta say I love the art style but also dislike it sometimes. Throughout the first chapters the illustrations are easy to follow and wonderful to look at. But when the action panels start it gets a bit tricky for me. That might be because I have little experience with manga of course. But I wish that he would have drawn some panels with a bit more clarity. 

Kaneki at first seems to be the typical side character even though he is absolutely the main character of this story. But with characteristics like being shy, reading a lot and having a non existing social life (except of course for Hide, his best friend) Kaneki would not have been my first pick as an interesting character. But what makes him interesting is his reaction of the tragedy that befalls his life. He keeps fighting with himself to accept what happened to him. Frankly he doesn’t really know what happened to him. But as he learns more about his new self and the world that changed before him he still is set on denying being a monster and separating himself from the "monsters" around him. He is and always will be human (we will see about that).

He is very strong willed. Which is not always a good thing. He’s also pretty good at talking himself into the depths of depression. 

It was a bit weird for me that he doesn’t tell anyone (not even his best friend) what happened in the alley with Rize. He keeps to himself. Tries to deal with it without help from the outside. He decides to be alone in this matter. 

Even when Hide tries to break through to him. Hide is the polar opposite from Kaneki, loud and he appears not to be the brightest. But as you read on you learn that that is definitely not the case. He notices a lot and he is a very capable people reader. He senses danger. (Something that Kaneki is not as good… unfortunately for him).

As Kaneki is being changed the world around him changes too. Or at least Kanekis perspective of it. Where in his eighteen years he never had an encounter with a single ghoul he now is trembling into them at every corner. 

And we quickly learn that not every ghoul is the same. I really liked Touka for example. She felt very real. She is someone who has a lot of anger inside of her. She implied many times throughout the volume that she didn’t have it easy in life. Being treated shitty from the human side as well as the ghoul side. By just confronting Kaneki how cake tastes or how easy it must be to eat all the time whenever you want. She is scarred from her life and knows the rules how to get by. 

On the other side we have ghouls like Nishiki to show the complete opposite. I’ve got the feeling that Nishiki is the "standard" ghoul in the story. By that I mean a cruel, asshole who doesn’t care about humans but is pretty good at disguising as one and being charming just to get what he wants. Manipulative, greedy and absolutely power hungry. As he doesn’t only treat Hide (kinda his prey) like absolute shit but also Kaneki (a ghoul just like him (who looks to be a bit inferior against Nishiki)). Not to mention the rivalry between ghouls which is portrayed in the territory fights we’ve seen in this volume. 

And then again we meet Touka's boss aka Mr. Yoshimura . He screams father figure to Touka and I could imagine that he will also be a great influence for Kaneki. He is just cozily nice (except for the human flesh in his fridge). He didn’t waste a minute to offer his help to poor Kaneki. And even after Kaneki doesn’t take his first "present" he still wants to help. Mr. Yoshimura  achieves something that didn’t happen before. 

Let me explain what I mean by that. I think and believe that so far Hide was the only good thing in Kanekis life. Of course Kaneki read or drew and found joy in that. But what I mean is that Hide was and is so far the only connection that Kaneki has to his "real" world. He goes out to dinner with or introduces other people to him. So of course Kaneki saw Hide as his only hope to ever live a normal life again after the incident with Rize. 

But Mr. Yoshimura  achieves to give Kaneki a sliver of hope to live a normal life again. And Kaneki, just by asking if he could work for him in his restaurant, takes it.

Not really a character but a thing that I really liked was when Kanekis ghoul side showed up! I really enjoyed the chaos that broke loose between Nishiki and Kaneki… and how Nishiki didn’t even have a chance. I will call it muscle memory from Rize and yes people could say that Kaneki is overpowered from the very beginning. Being good at fighting and all. But I like the fact that he just went feral and annihilated Nishiki (something he deserved). 

Minor characters like Dr. Kano appears to be pretty sus to me (Who transplants organs without permission ?!) just like Hisashi Ogura the ghoul expert (I’m still asking myself how he knows so much about ghouls). I think they will (and I hope, I want the answers!) appear again.

The world building so far is nothing to be mentioned that much. It’s the world we live in but with predators on top of the food chain that aren’t humans. The volume doesn’t explain too much what’s up with the ghouls but I’m fairly sure we will see more of it in future volumes. What we know so far is pretty dope! Ghouls don’t have a choice… they have to eat humans or else they will die. Their weapons seem to be their kagune, they have changing eyes, are kinda indestructible and then the usual heighten sense of smell, very strong and totally sassy. 

All in all it’s a good opening to a story and I’m definitely intrigued to read on. There are many questions still unanswered and I really really hope I will get them answered. 

Please leave your thoughts and be kind and don’t spoiler anything!

Thank you for taking your time!

Please feel free to discuss your thoughts, I would like to hear them!

I will see you in a week with a new volume!

[cosmignon]

11, 16, 23! :)

11. Favorite comment you’ve ever recieved on your work?

Oh that's such a hard question bc I've gotten a lot of sweet comments over the years! But one that sticks in my head from recently is one of my regulars for my commissions commented that he's appreciated seeing my art improve over the years thru the comms themselves and it made me really happy! Like aw shucks, you liked my art enough then and continue to enjoy it more as I improve and grow?! Golly! Wow!!

16. What’s the most daunting part of your process? Ex, planning, sketching, lineart, rendering etc

Planning and composition can be so hard esp if I need to rope everyone into a background!! Once I've gotten past the sketch I can usually get on with things smooth sailing but oh the planning... for comic pages it's hard to get the panel layouts to look good, I still struggle with that a lot too.

23. Do you listen to music or watch shows while you work? If so, what’s your favourite?

Definitely lotta music and youtube vids and podcasts! There's definitely too many to list favorites properly!! but I'll just go through a small sampling of the more recent go to's

Dice Funk! I love Dice Funk theyre wrapping up their current season Rezubian this Sunday and I highly recommend that one it's a good goofy scifi adventure for ppl who like something of a star trek/spelljammer type setting. Ya Like Ilithids? come get em.

I've had AJR's new Album Maybe Man on loop. and by the album I mean Inertia and a handful of the other songs, tho they're all good!

I also continuously compile playlists for all my projects, like Runaway Drakaina, my DnD comic I'm chipping away at, concepts I'd like to work on someday... the RD playlist is 6 hours long and rn the most recent addition is Gone by Morning by Madilyn Mei

I have been slowly (slowly...) watching hbomberguy's donkey kong nightmare stream after seeing him share his side channel, like on and off when I want something really in the background. no paying attention head empty just listening to a man struggle with an old game while raising bonkers $$$ for a good cause

I like watching speedpaints where the artists really go into their process, ABDIllustrates and GinjaNinjaOwO are two big favs in that department! they inspire me a lot esp when it comes to character creation!

BobbyBroccoli got me to engage in a feature length documentary abt Nortel when I don't particularly care for the history of like... tech companies. so glowing endorsement he makes great docs abt tech/science related scandals

I could go on and on but we would be here All Day

[boredomofpain]

Inarizaki and the theme of sound, the greatest feat of Haikyuu’s narration (to me):

Manga is a medium in which you can’t directly use sound or movement to express something, as opposed to anime. A mangaka has to find a way around it. And Furudate managed to create an atmosphere around sound despite those limitations.

I’m going to focus on sound today using the wInarizaki match to illustrate it.

Sound is one of the main features of this game with the cheer squad, the silence, booing, drums..  So much so that we actually see the Inarizaki cheer squad before the team, as Karasuno enters the gym:  

Here we have the first technique to « show » sound: growing sound effects (sfx) as the team gets closer to the source of the noise. 

Right after that we get those dynamic straight lines on the crowd and instruments to create an oppressive atmosphere, and those banner-looking sfx:  

Still in the same chapter, we have the sfx covering the bubbles of dialogue to convey the sensation that the cheer squad is covering every other noise:

We then get quite massive and repetitive sfx as Atsumu walks to serve, creating a rythm of sort with his steps

which he then stops by himself, leaving only small silence sfx that shows the difference with the noise from the start of the chapter:  

This silence remains quite oppressive with the use of shadows and proportions of Atsumu’s fist.

As both Atsumu and Asahi serve, we get a new trick. This time we have large bubbles of loud people over multiple panels, highlighting the noise, so different from the silent gym. The booing also covers Suga’s bubble again:

There is this oppressive tone again to the booing with those straight lines:  

Right after that we get something unusual, it is the cheer squad that calls the chance ball instead of the player receiving, who stays silent, showing how intrusive they are in the game:  

As Suna serves right off the whistle blow, we get two panels on the whistle and one on Suna watching the referee. How could you make your readers more focused on the whistle blow than that ?  

An interesting contrast occurs on Karasuno’s shocking broad attack as we get a large sfx on Hinata’s spike and then none, not even the one representing silence:  

This is a technique that is reused later on Hinata’s (cult) receive, no sfx  at all again, only silence and shock:   

Another way to contrast with the crushing tone the cheer squad gives is to put the sound effects behind Kageyama as he serves, as opposed to the previous ones covering players, showing that the noise isn’t affecting him in the slightest:  

This one is a pretty classic use of the form of the sound effect, as it draws in length through the page, showing how long the booing is:   

And after Kageyama’s moment, it’s time for chapter 251 main feature: rythm.   

The use of alternate panels showing clapping or people hitting drums gives an impression of rythm as you go through the pattern:  

Now this is a really good one, notice how every panel we get one more sfx until we get to the toss where the rythm is finally in place and looking really intrusive:   

This makes the silence even heavier in contrast:  

Fortunately for Karasuno, this atmosphere won’t last forever as the Japanese Taiko drums arrives:  

We then get a showdown between the two cheer squads, with quite obvious parallels even in the panneling, as we see Inakou’s from the front and Karasuno’s from the back in consecutive pages:  

An interesting point is that the Taiko drums are represented with hiraganas that are typically used for japanese words to contrast the use of katakanas for inarizaki’s cheer squad, as katakanas are mostly used for onomatopeias or foreign words. An opposition of style between traditional and unorthodox.

Now this is surely my favourite. Saeko’s group is here to change the mood, they do so by giving another tempo to block the crushing atmosphere, shown here with the rythm techniques i mentioned earlier. The second page depicts this with a calm flutist and Krsn sfx literally blocking Inarizaki’s. This is pure genius:  

There are three techniques left that I noticed, the first one is to throw bubbles and sfx of different shapes and in every angle to show how helpless and stressed Yamaguchi felt as he couldn’t find his reset point:  

The second one is the use of a large sound effect to cut off Hinata’s joy by literally cutting the page in half:  

And lastly the fist of Atsumu going over the two other panels, to stop their noises, with the trick of the sound effects disappearing from one panel to the other:  

As you can see, there are multiple ways to trick the audience into « seeing » sound when you can’t actually make it audible. Furudate is a master at this and it is a delight to analyse.

« We aren’t limited to one way of being great »- Furudate to other mangakas while overcoming his medium’s limitations

[ragedaisy]

AO3 First Lines

I was tagged by @vault-heck​, thanks:)

rules: post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to ao3. if you have fewer than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

1.

Catalyst could not think of what kind of mind to sculpt today.

from 3 Flowers For Cash, where my Decepticon artist OC Catalyst is feeling a bit glum and decides to gatecrash an artist party for fun and things do not go well for him. (Or anyone else present) 😬 (mind the tags)

2.

When Lizzie Wyath stepped into her favourite bar, she saw a man in a fancy suit sitting at her usual table

from Derek Roy's Failed Charisma Check. Derek offers Lizzie Wyath a job and a fancy laboratory at the vault where he’s from. They could use someone with her talents and mindset! Only catch? It’s in Canada...

3.

Dear Self, Today, a small black-and-white tomcat, with a magnanimous gesture of his tail, granted me an audience in my living room

from Small Fictions. A lonely man is visited by a cat (a series of poems and style exercises, inspired by fanfiction)

4.

About a year ago, he found a loose ceiling panel in the studio, with some kind of crawling space behind it

from From Bad To Totally Screwed. When the Overboss of Nuka World suddenly decided to wipe out all the gangs, RedEye thought it best to lay low for a while. He knew the perfect spot, too, a hidden room where no one would ever be able to find him. But find him she did and now she wants to talk to him...

5.

The door slid open with a swoosh and the Overseer of the [location redacted] Ronto vault stepped inside Derek's room

from Contribution to Science. Overseer Alkali pays a visit to Derek Roy, her friend and unofficial right hand man. (mind the tags)

6.

"So  then I broke into Smeltrise's place and reprogrammed his entire collection of severed Autobot heads, added proximity sensors, some batteries and now they all sing every time he goes near them!"

from The List. My Decepticon artist OC Catalyst is hanging out with Sharpshooter, the Autobot Art Critic (borrowed from Slyjinks). Sharpshooter tries to convince Catalyst to be a better person, however, Catalyst's idea of "acceptable behaviour" is "what I have observed from my peer group" so yeah that's a bit of a challenge there.

7.

Toby looked around in wonder at his new friend's place, it was so nice!

from 1812. Things are looking up for Toby Quinn; he gets to hang out with his amazing new friend, a handsome and mysterious vaultie who came all the way from Canada!

8.

'Caravans ain't that well guarded'. Well these folks obviously hadn't heard that rumour.

from A raider, a tire iron and a deathclaw. A vignette about a raider having a very bad day, which then gets worse

9.

It had been a long day's march, when three Gunners suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice.

from Derek Roy's Epic Wasteland Adventures. Three Gunners come across a lost vaultie in fancy power armour. He seems quite trusting and naive, so getting him drunk and stealing his gear should not prove too much of a challenge, right?

10.

Before that disastrous bash, two months ago now, Afterglow and Mosh only ever saw each other at parties.

from The Invitation. After the events of 3 flowers for cash, Mosh and Afterglow have both lost people they care about and they seek to comfort each other. Desperate for some semblance of normalcy, Afterglow invites Mosh to yet another artist party. She's not taking no for an answer. Now Mosh has to rethink a lot of his life choices, not in the least his choice of friends...

I think most of my mutuals already did this meme 🤔? Tagging @beckyh2112 and @slyjinks if you want? Or anyone else who wants to do this meme?