#its part of my brand at this point

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

"What do you mean their name isn't Beef?"

(for @moondal514)

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

I'm sorry but the irony of Nico calling Max unprofessional is sending me so bad like sir there's an entire garage full of people, who were literally in the trenches trying to survive the Brocedes fallout while just doing their jobs, who might have a few things to say about your (& Lewis') level of professionalism at that time 😭✋️

[stil-lindigo]

the candle.

a comic about rediscovering passion and recovering from burnout.

creative notes:

[moongothic]

Hey so also have Sir Crocodile brainrot and have recently reread Impel Down. This is probably nothing at all but it made me question the artistic choice made. Like we dont see Crocodiles full face until Luffy recognizes him. Before that tho he joins in on Jinbei & Ace's convo about Whitebeard and is shown to (non-)react to Boa Hancocks visit. But we only get his face in shadows or see the hook. Which. Why. Oda we know what he looks like and who the guy with the stitches on his face and the hook is. WHY OBSCURE HIM.

My friend, this is what we call a "cocktease"

Okay jokes aside, yes it was an artistic choise. More specifically, a storytelling technique Oda masterfully used to build up hype and excitement to Crocodile's eventual reveal and re-introduction into the story.

So thanks to Ms Goldenweek's cover story (which ran back during Water 7/Enies Lobby) we already knew Crocodile along with Daz, Bon-chan and Galdino had all been sent to Impel Down, when we also learned about Impel Down, Marineford and the Gates of Justice (+ the giant whirlpool between the three locations) to some extent. ((Now of course, if you were an anime-only then you would've had no idea about the former BW members being in Impel Down. And even if you had read the manga you still would've had to actually pay attention to the cover story and its lore, and not forgotten all about it))

So even before Luffy decides he's going to head to Impel Down to save Ace, we know Crocodile's going to be somewhere down there. The second Luffy arrives there, we are immidiately reminded of the fact when Domino mentions Crocodile taking the traditional "bath" new inmates take at the entrance. And as we descend deeper and deeper into Impel Down, with those cuts to what's happening down at Level 6 every now and then, as well as with the Baroque Works Countdown, Oda time and time again keeps on reminding of us of Crocodile's looming presence in the background. This is all absolutely deliberate. Crocodile was arguably the most iconic (maybe not most popular but iconic) One Piece villian at the time, if given an opportunity of course the readers wanted to see him again. But just letting us see him right away would be anti-climactic, and distracting from what's actually important (Ace, and Luffy getting to him as fast as possible). So keeping him hidden could serve multiple purposes:

For one, Crocodile doesn't get to steal the spotlight from the other characters (at least not too early). We can focus on Luffy, Ace, all the new Impel Down characters and the other returning characters in peace, while Crocodile waits for his turn. Another thing is that Crocodile's presence being downplayed gives off the impression that perhaps him being there isn't that important to the story. Thus, him teaming up with Luffy to break out isn't such an obvious twist (and so when that happens, it's ever more hype as a result)

But indeed, the most important part is that by teasing us constantly through out Impel Down, Oda creates hype. He makes us the readers excited if/when we might get to see the bastard, even if it was just a quick little cameo. So when Luffy finally reaches Level 6 and we finally do get that reveal, everyone loses their fucking marbles over the HISASHIBURI DANA MUGIWARA when we finally get to see The Motherfucker Himself. (And indeed, then getting to see him fight alongside Luffy is cool as fucking hell, completely unexpected and absolutely delightful)

But there's also another thing building up to Crocodile's reveal does. Compare his original introduction to the re-introduction

Compare Crocodile at the height of his power and influence, to the absolute rock bottom he has hit. No longer happily laughing while looking down on people (literally), he's filthy, he has given up on life, with sunken eyes and a hollow look on his face, only moved by a thirst for petty revenge (/an opportunity to go out with a bang). He doesn't even get the whole page for his grand reveal anymore, he's been shuffled to the side so the plot can progress on the same page.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

And to some degree, this is kind of meant to be a shocking realization to the readers. That this is not the same Crocodile we remember from Alabasta, that Crocodile died when Luffy defeated him. This is just the husk that remains, a shadow of what was once there. It's a sad sight, and probably not what the readers who loved Crocodile The Villian wanted to see. It's not the epic Return of the (Evil) King they wanted. And that juxtaposition helps, because Crocodile doesn't return into the story as a villian, but as a frenemy/ally-on-thin-ice. And that idea is easier to signal to the readers in a lowkey manner when you do his re-introduction like this.

So yes, Oda refusing to show Crocodile's face until Luffy found him was 100% a deliberate artistic choise. This is fantastic storytelling

[dnangelic]

ppl hate that dark always has a pathetic side they dont want to see it they think its ooc they hate that daisuke in all his insecurities, in all his clumsiness and plainness, is, yes, in fact, absolute, 100% him, they refuse to reconcile the truth with the performance they only ever want the facade the charm they don't actually care about dark's feelings and this is why i'll fight to the death for my pathetic dark rights

[tangledinink]

This has literally nothing to do with anything, I just kinda wanted to say it cause it's kinda funny/silly to me?

It's not negative or anything and it really doesn't mean anything, but occasionally your pfp confuses me simply because, when it's small, I don't really see the full picture in a sense? My brain registers it as like a fancy little effect that reminds me of your art style with all the lines as textures, effects, crosshatching, whatever it could possibly be and I always get curious about it. And then I look at it for more than two seconds and realize, again, that it's a turtle staring into my soul and I'm like "oh".

And this just keeps on happening over and over and it's just kinda funny to me so I figured I'd share

HEHEHEHEHE. this brings me joy thank you.

[black-rose-writings]

Hello! I know it has been a very long time since you added anything, but could you write something related to Price of safety? Maybe related to the one-shot you wrote about the different ending of Siege and Storm featuring Marya? (I'm always dying for more "The Saints are actually all friends and help Sasha in hsi quest for safety for Grisha" content!) I love your blog so much!!

I have a couple of short fics I'm almost done with for the Grishaverse, though unfortunately none of them involve the Saints. I'll try to finish something and post it soon (I've been on a more of video game fic / original work kick recently, so Grishaverse (which is a lot of work and not much fun, especially considering the things I have almost finished are largely Alina POV, which is bad for my mental health in larger quantities) had to take a back seat.

But to make me more motivated to write, I'll post the premises for some of the fics I'm pretty far into:

Retelling of season 1 of the show but Kaz is Aleksander's son and all of the Crows are Grisha

Baghra's attempt to convince Alina to leave ends... poorly for Baghra. Shenanigans ensue.

Aleksander overhears the fight between Mal and Alina after the Fete and goes to see if she's okay, unintentionally preventing Baghra from doing her "big reveal".

Mal and Alina do find a bit of privacy (wink wink) during their time in Novyi Zem. This causes some challenges for Nikolai and Darkling that they probably should have forseen when chasing after two a couple of teenagers.

And a few that are slightly less finished/fleshed out:

Luda Lives AU (I have the idea and a few scenes but can't quite pin down a plot)

Alina is Aleksander's daughter AU (same as above. I have a few posts about this, but it's one thing to make a bullet point post and another to write a compelling story)

Show!Inej centric story that is unfortunately (but IMO completely justifiably) very mean to Kaz and Jesper and I'm kinda scared to post because of that (might get mixed into some of the other ones, because it has more of a side-plot vibe than a stand-alone story vibe)

[thedevilsrain]

check out this prime shoujo sexyman eye candy

[lightningbig]

I think the slow ego death of fandom can be pin pointed directly to the first use of the term stantwt actually

[mbat]

man so. ive had this pyralspite plush from all the way back in xmas 2014 from whatpumpkin, which, i dont even know if its the same website as it used to be if it still exists

and this plush is very dear to me, it was soft and genuinely the most huggable thing ive ever owned

but of course having anything for 8 or so years makes it dirty, and its once beautiful white fur is now yellowed

and oh my gosh trying to clean this thing amateurly is frustrating sjfjfj i cant afford to pay someone else to clean it and im scared of anyone cutting it open anyway. i could clean just the fabric but i really dont want to cut it open to remove the stuffing. i also dont trust myself to restuff it correctly anyway.

so my amateur ass is rubbing soapy water into its fur sjfjfjf

weirdly, its working. its just tedious.

[beeapocalypse]

haunted once more by a dumb character idea

[snekdood]

ppl rly be like. my favorite type of music is the worst kind you cant dance to at all bc theres no consistent beat or melody to follow

[leoxxii]

so i have come to the conclusion that cheaping out on the ktape was a mistake and i am absolutely not going to be able to even slightly mimic a flat chest w this :( the tape isnt wide enough or sticky enough to stay in place :((

[deelovesbooks]

had my first cooking fail where it's actually pretty inedible at my parents house and realizing that my spices in my apartment are very expired

[toastsnaffler]

this assay is so fucking fake......

[widevibratobitch]

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