#long as FUCK post

[smiggles]

My most requested commission type: Expression Sheets

[zoroara]

Okay, something very important you are about to learn about me: I am obsessive about many things. One of these happens to be swords and sword fighting, among a few other weapon types but mostly those two. (Also hilariously sharks also are one of these things. Some how neither of these were influenced by khr being a VERY long standing thing.) This post is going to be aggressively long.

And I'll save you guys with a read more. But, in essence what I'm going to be doing here if I'm going to be plainly looking at the three swordsmen, Yamamoto, Squalo and Genkishi's swords, weaknesses and strengths as well as things like battle techniques and generally what you would actually want to do in a fight with those swords. For simplicities sake I'm not going to be factoring in things like Squalo's gunpowder bombs, or flames(which affects a lot of genkishi's fighting sorry dude) and generally things like that. Note there is going to barely be a structure and I'll be writing whatever tangent I happen to think of so like. Good luck. But maybe this'll be interesting for writing.

Now with that clarification out of the way let's dig into the meat here.

Okay obviously we're starting with Yamamoto himself.

So, Katana or well standard Katana as there are several classes of Katana. Are about 24 - 31 inches long(or approx 60 - 78 cm long) his blade is a bit longer than this at which point it becomes something known as the "O Katana" set instead of the standard, they're typically used two handed which Yamamoto does use it as a good potion of the time. They're fairly straight blades, and an important factor to note, folding a sword increases it's sharpness, but can make it more brittle and generally depending on the way it's been folded can affect the whole blade to not be capable of blocking hits well, Katana generally are best used when you have clear ways of attacking, though they can be used to block obviously, you'll want to more change the trajectory of the other blade using the curve of yours more than full stop block something you can do more with European blades.

Things I want to point out in the battle this is used before we move on to the irregular swords.

Yamamoto, while I understand doesn't know much about swords, here's the thing. Though it is a common trope, it you were to hit someone with the back of a blade in a position that does not in fact flex, which i want to note European swords do on the flat of the blade, which will come up later on squalo's section. Hitting someone with the flat, and the back will do fundamentally different things. Yamamoto basically turned his sword into a blunt weapon, if that HAD hit squalo, while it wouldn't have killed him, it WOULD likely break bone and cause internal bleeding the same way taking any pure blunt metal object being swung by a baseball player WOULD DO. WHICH BEING HONEST MIGHT JUST KILL THE MAN ANYWAY.(if Squalo of course, could die. God finds him too funny to let him die)

What gets me here in particular is Squalo's reaction to this. The thing is, this is absolutely not an invalid way of holding a sword. In fact, usually in armor that restricts movements you may adapt techniques that are slightly altered, a lot of ways to hold other weapons can be transferred to a sword, and have been. This way would give the same momentum and range of movement as a swing from a baseball bat, and in fact the only thing strange about this is actually the foot stance, for Squalo to gawk at this, he is either in-experienced with more armoured opponents, or has not encountered that large of a variety of sword technique as others claim he has

(it should be noted he never makes the claims himself except with Shigure Soen Ryu everything we learn about him is from other people. Squalo actually doesn't gloat about his accomplishments and in the manga the only time he calls out what attack he's using is in rainbow arc when he's using his special box weapon move with his exec squad. most of what he says is degrading the opponent or taunts. Patting himself on the back is more of a Levi move-).

Also fun fact about Shigure Soen Ryu, the 6th form is never seen in the series. All we know is that it's a defensive technique. Also how lucky is it they were fighting in a water based arena, half these moves would not go well otherwise-

Now! Moving on, as I cannot possibly tell you shit about swords made of pure flame. I'll be talking about the blades they're originally based on.

So these "swords" are actually known as Tantō they're basically small daggers about 6 - 12 inches (approx 15 to 30cm) in that were often carried with a longer sword like the Tachi and the katana as a support to the free hand, generally with the idea that if you have a hand that's empty you're either protecting it or using something. you typically never want your whole body face your opponent. something too many of these idiots do. For obvious reasons you want to minimize the space your opponent has to hit. That's why when you see a lot of sword fighting, even with big heavy blades, most of the time the stand their sides more predominantly facing their opponent than straight on.

Anyway, moving on the the Necklace of Rain version X! It's honestly a shame we barely get to see any actual moves outside of the flame stuff.

Here's something interesting! When dual wielding blades, it's best to actually have two different sized ones, this way you'll be making certain strikes faster and slower, among other things will make it easier to avoid hitting your blades together. You typically do not want to bring your swords in a place where they would meet in a strike, like X motions commonly made in this series, unless they're different sizes or you have enough control to slightly delay one blade more than the other. Otherwise they will clash and depending where the strike would have started, completely prevent the attack!

Other fun fact, this was a common technique with Samurai(one of the reasons it was common however was due to a Japanese law I'm not getting into here. It was not just because of the benefits to it.) Daishō, is typically depicted with a Wakizashi or a Tantō, however the technique itself is with any long blade and a short blade. Given that Yamamoto was already given four Tantō, I'm almost certain despite the length this was intended to be a Wakizashi.

Now, I could absolutely not tell you why one of them has those gaps though. Well other than the obvious "it looks cool" They could potentially be used as gaps like in other blades to catch weapons and disarm opponents, though, these gaps are very big and would more than likely sacrifice the structural integrity of the sword more than they would be useful. If they are smaller they may see more use in that way.

Other interesting fact, there ARE Serrated Katana blades, but. Well they're against the Geneva convention, but also they don't exist in history and is more of a modern thing that was made for """"fun"""". The reason they don't exist in history is because Serrated blades would get caught in the flesh and would be very hard to get out of an opponent... which is also why they're against the Geneva convention.

Now, We'll move onto Squalo, who because unlike this Section of swords, which the Katana, O Katana, Wakizashi look very similar just in different sizes and the Tantō were pretty much as shown(though you'll find prettier pictures of them), I'm going to have to bring up images of what I'm talking about because no one is going to know what the FUCK I'm Saying.

First off, drives me nuts by the way. As you'll soon find out, neither of Squalo's swords is a Spatha. I do not know WHY this is on the wiki, I do not know it's source, I do not know where this information is from nor who identified his sword as such. If it was a decision by Amano themself to call it a Spatha, it is incorrect. As you've seen above, swords just being different sizes alone despite the rest being almost the exact same makes them different swords, with different names. Additionally when you take this over to European blades, there's also a ton of different guards, hilts, shape, whether the blade is flat or not etc to take into account when identifying a blade.

So automatically, whatever sword Squalo has attached to his arm is not a fucking Spatha if it's referring to this.

Now we'll compare the blade's shape, which as you can see, Spatha actually prefer a round to their edge.

A fairly close shape to this can be argued that maybe it's a 16 or a 13 blade and he just removed it's hilt,pommel and guard. HOWEVER, we know this blade almost reaches Squalo's ankle when he's standing full height. It's REALLY long, as you can see, the 16 and 13 are more on the shorter end of these blades. and they certainly aren't thin enough. The shorter end of these blades before it goes into GladII range is about as long as his calf. These blades are also evidently thicker than what Squalo has generally.

Also Spatha have grooves like this in the sword which isn't depicted in the overall shape, they have these though can be found with only one they're typically more ornamental or smooth if they have these sorts, they're very flat blades so it's not for the shape. Squalo's blade tends to be more than a flat sheet while it's swung sideways.

This thing is custom made to hell and back and cannot exactly be considered exactly one type of sword other than "Vaguely European". However, if I were to tell you what sword he may have taken for a base I would hand you the Italian Arming sword

Very long, clear sharp end, has the correct thickness to the blade among other things. He still would have definitely lengthened it to something that generally you would two hand. Which says something about the body strength Squalo has in his arm. Because let me tell you, it does not matter if you can lift 10 pounds easily. If that is distributed over a long length it gets harder and harder to wield and control. Usual physics stuff you know? If you're writing Squalo remember this dude is fucking shredded to carry a sword that's technically a type of long sword with only one fucking arm and swinging it around as if it's not even there. Now that's a man you don't want to arm wrestle. (well for other reasons than just that but really. Generally you do not want this man within arms reach. He will kill you.)

Now for his other sword that is FOR SURE not a Spatha.(I'm sorry this drove me fucking nuts for the longest time, you have to deal with this too if you want sword facts.) We only see like three panels and OH MY GOD CAN I NOT USE THE FIRST FOR SWORD IDENTIFICATION.

NO SWORD IS FUCKING BUILT LIKE THIS. YOU DO NOT BUILD A SWORD LIKE THIS. ALL THE WEIGHT OF IT IS AT THE END AND THIS IS GOING TO KILL YOUR ARM MORE THAN YOUR OPPONENT. SUPERBI FUCKING SQUALO DO YOU WANT CARPAL TUNNEL? THIS IS HOW YOU GET FUCKING CARPAL TUNNEL(maybe that's why he was fine with cutting off his left arm, but then again then he goes and uses the same blade with his right arm, so if so he learned nothing)

Aside from the VERY obvious blade issue, Spatha do not have hilts pommels or even guards like this, all of them are very kind of, no guard, and shorter hilts, rounded pommels. You absolutely could not get a less Spatha like sword.

Next, the ones where I could maybe get a proper identification off of it.

Since Amano kind of fucks up his sword in long shots this gives a clearer look at what this is. In the 2nd image it's as thin as a rapier. But I can tell from the length of the hilt this sword in combination to it's blade length is made to be able to switch between two and one hand, one for power the other for reach depending on how you hold it.

This type of sword uh, funny enough is known as a Bastard Sword. This is a category of sword and not a specific type of sword mind you. As is Long sword and other such things. However the categorizing is kind of messy because of different languages using the same word both using the term in the same way and also not. However know now a-days that's how we refer to them, as you can see though

The only difference is in size and shape is it's kind of prettier.

But generally both swords follow more arming sword/bastard sword shape and size

Now lemme explain to you why Squalo kneecapped himself by changing swords.

Already I told you the versatility of how these swords will allow you more power and range. But did you know, many of these swords at the time, would purposefully have a dull area you can grab with your hands for even MORE versatility? Essentially if you got stuck in let's say a cramped hallway, you're fighting near allies, or even your opponent is too close to you or even they're wearing armour, you'd be able to wield it like a dagger and give yourself more focused attacks and precision, that you could do better with less risk(this was great at getting into armour gaps). which is something he cannot do now stuck to only wide swings and stabs.

You think that's a pretty bad deficit already? How about the fact he can't change hands, meaning he can't feint opponents with fake swings as easily, that if his opponent is on the wrong side of him he needs to adjust his entire body instead of just switching hands? Normally that isn't a special problem, but Squalo is logically an ambidextrous sword user from the work he put in before getting his prosthetic! So it's a special waste of an advantage. This needing to adjust his whole body leaves him usually facing his opponent full on by accident too.

Not only that either! You know how I said there's a ton of ways to use a sword and even holding it "Strangely" is a valid way to use them? A technique used against armoured opponents is to use these not sharp areas on the sword and basically use the flexible sword as a flail hitting a knight on top of the head with the pommel. I have seen it used and it DENTS armour. and the person inside usually gets stunned hard enough that within a few seconds they'll need to sit down. Imagine what it would do to an unprotected human skull. So saying that a sword was useless against an armoured opponent is very incorrect. Thankfully for Squalo, he doesn't have to fight those.

But regardless on that part, the inability to have the versatility of all of the above makes it seriously impressive that he's even kept his title so long. Man should have lost it ages ago. But then again, in X-Fiamma it was made clear that the Executives weren't allowed to do anything important at least mission wise until Xanxus got back so maybe he also wasn't allowed to got slaughter other swordsman. Maybe the 101 he killed in future arc was to get the blood lust of 8 years out and that's why he's a little more focused.

I do want to point out something here

This? This is Squalo fucking showing off. and you may not know JUST how much he's showing off here. You see, when you're sword fighting, dodging is the LAST option you want to do. This is because of the fact your brain has an order of operations. Because you know it may send signals quickly but it still has travel time. The LAST thing that will get a message is your feet.

So it is safer and better to block, parry, counter. Dodging also can not only get you injured, it allows your opponent to chase. Because you've moved, you can be pushed backwards further and be controlled that way. Squalo doing this is a taunt in of itself because he should KNOW these things more than anyone else here.

Since Squalo's blade stays the exact same. I'll now just move onto Genkishi's four swords.

So immediately you'll notice, it's our old friend the bastard sword! Meaning while Genkishi doesn't use these techniques I mentioned above he'll be able to if you ever happen to write him.

However! It does appear his Sword is a little thicker than Squalo's in some panels, and with how he moves them it is VERY stiff, so he wouldn't be able to use them as a flail but as a club instead. Still though, pretty damn effective against an armoured opponent.

Also this is very silly. For reasons that should be obvious, this wouldn't do shit. Unfortunately despite his very interesting techniques, my notes on his fighting style end here too many illusions <:). I'd love to expand more.

Also if you have any questions!! I'd love to answer them, absolutely obsessed with this kind of this so not only thanks for sticking with me here, but asking any question will probably get you a very long explanation.

Also the reason I didn't go into sword techniques much, just know we actually have no idea the maximum number of certain techniques for the blade there are, just there's "best ways of practice" and certain moves you'll occasionally see, but most of it is working on the fly. Just for the Katana alone there would be an estimate of 1000+. Insane that Squalo thinks he's seen them all.

[hydrattan]

I was feeling agitated and artblocked yesterday so I decided to give my brain a rest by watching TV and then the next thing I knew these were in front of me

[spaceistheplaceart]

thinking about what mabel and ford have in common <3 sweaters, diaries, and bad breakups.

[hamletthedane]

I was meeting a client at a famous museum’s lounge for lunch (fancy, I know) and had an hour to kill afterwards so I joined the first random docent tour I could find. The woman who took us around was a great-grandmother from the Bronx “back when that was nothing to brag about” and she was doing a talk on alternative mediums within art.

What I thought that meant: telling us about unique sculpture materials and paint mixtures.

What that actually meant: an 84yo woman gingerly holding a beautifully beaded and embroidered dress (apparently from Ukraine and at least 200 years old) and, with tears in her eyes, showing how each individual thread was spun by hand and weaved into place on a cottage floor loom, with bright blue silk embroidery thread and hand-blown beads intricately piercing the work of other labor for days upon days, as the labor of a dozen talented people came together to make something so beautiful for a village girl’s wedding day.

What it also meant: in 1948, a young girl lived in a cramped tenement-like third floor apartment in Manhattan, with a father who had just joined them after not having been allowed to escape through Poland with his pregnant wife nine years earlier. She sits in her father’s lap and watches with wide, quiet eyes as her mother’s deft hands fly across fabric with bright blue silk thread (echoing hands from over a century years earlier). Thread that her mother had salvaged from white embroidery scraps at the tailor’s shop where she worked and spent the last few days carefully dying in the kitchen sink and drying on the roof.

The dress is in the traditional Hungarian fashion and is folded across her mother’s lap: her mother doesn’t had a pattern, but she doesn’t need one to make her daughter’s dress for the fifth grade dance. The dress would end up differing significantly from the pure white, petticoated first communion dresses worn by her daughter’s majority-Catholic classmates, but the young girl would love it all the more for its uniqueness and bright blue thread.

And now, that same young girl (and maybe also the villager from 19th century Ukraine) stands in front of us, trying not to clutch the old fabric too hard as her voice shakes with the emotion of all the love and humanity that is poured into the labor of art. The village girl and the girl in the Bronx were very different people: different centuries, different religions, different ages, and different continents. But the love in the stitches and beads on their dresses was the same. And she tells us that when we look at the labor of art, we don’t just see the work to create that piece - we see the labor of our own creations and the creations of others for us, and the value in something so seemingly frivolous.

But, maybe more importantly, she says that we only admire this piece in a museum because it happened to survive the love of the wearer and those who owned it afterwards, but there have been quite literally billions of small, quiet works of art in billions of small, quiet homes all over the world, for millennia. That your grandmother’s quilt is used as a picnic blanket just as Van Gogh’s works hung in his poor friends’ hallways. That your father’s hand-painted model plane sets are displayed in your parents’ livingroom as Grecian vases are displayed in museums. That your older sister’s engineering drawings in a steady, fine-lined hand are akin to Da Vinci’s scribbles of flying machines.

I don’t think there’s any dramatic conclusions to be drawn from these thoughts - they’ve been echoed by thousands of other people across the centuries. However, if you ever feel bad for spending all of your time sewing, knitting, drawing, building lego sets, or whatever else - especially if you feel like you have to somehow monetize or show off your work online to justify your labor - please know that there’s an 84yo museum docent in the Bronx who would cry simply at the thought of you spending so much effort to quietly create something that’s beautiful to you.

[tofixtheshadows]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Kabru deprives himself.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

[egophiliac]

bring back zooterkins, the best 17th-century swear word

I don't normally do Just Characters Swearing, but. ...this kind of wrote itself and then wouldn't leave my head. it comes from both a piece of character-writing advice that has always stuck with me, and also my conviction that Leona is 1000% funnier as a character if his dialogue has to stay G-rated. let Kalim say fuck, but don't let Leona say bastard.

(I'm sorry)

[ryuuna]

season 2 S O O N

[incredubious]

MODERN AU ACESAN !!!! first impressions with a guy who barely passes the No Shoes No Shirt No Service rule

[shadowtraveled]

"mithrun is the only real monsterfucker in dungeon meshi" is objectively the funniest bit you can get out of his everything, but in all seriousness i think his attraction to his love interest is deliberately overstated—and that makes sense, because romantic jealousy is a classic and digestible motive, which is explicitly what kabru was aiming for in condensing mithrun's backstory, and also because until chapter 94, mithrun wasn't willing to admit to the true nature of his desires.

but because romantic envy is both classic and digestible, it probably isn’t a unique enough or complicated enough desire to tempt a demon’s appetite. mithrun’s wish, as far as we can figure from kabru’s reduced retelling, was to have a life in which he had never become one of the canaries, and that carries like 3857 implications and desires within it. that’s delicious. his love interest acts as sort of a red herring to his motivation for making it, though. (side note: i'm saying "love interest" here because, keeping in mind that i barely speak japanese on a good day anymore, "想い人" is something i'd usually take as just kind of an old-fashioned and romantic way to refer to a lover, but in context i wonder if both the connotation of yearning and the vagueness are intentional, and i think this phrasing gets those aspects of it more effectively. anyway.)

mithrun considered his love interest to be untrustworthy. there was a minute where i thought that comment might be about a similar-looking elf (yugin, one of his squad members), but comparing the two…

the "sketchy" arrow is definitely referring to the elf we know as his love interest—the bangs go toward her right, she only has the one forehead ornament, and, most notably, her ears aren't notched.

every time she’s given a full-body depiction in his dungeon, she’s drawn as a chimera, with the body of a snake from the waist down. (side note: the “what if a dungeon has chimeras before reaching level 4?”/“then the dungeon lord is unstable” exchange just being mithrun grilling his past self alive is so funny. he’s so. but anyway) there are a couple things about this.

first, the snake part of the chimera appears to be modeled after some species of coral snake mimic

which, in the biology-for-fun manga, i… doubt is a coincidence, especially with the added context of the “untrustworthy” comment. the dungeon’s conjured illusion of mithrun’s love interest was a harmless copycat of a venomous original. for whatever reason, he felt this person was a threat and made up a "safe" version of her to be in a relationship with, and while it’s definitely possible to be attracted to or even love someone you find to be toxic and/or intimidating, when you take that into consideration alongside the configuration of her body, you get some interesting implications.

which brings us to our second point: if we assume that mithrun was not in fact fucking a snake, then sexual attraction, at least, was so far removed from his idea of a relationship with this person that he did not even bother to keep her dungeon copy human enough to maintain the illusion of the option of a sexual relationship. this is somewhat echoed in the depictions of their interactions, which also imply a frankly unexpected romantic distance. she kisses his cheek and he doesn't seem to react; she's at the edge of a narrow bed with only one set of pillows, on top of his blankets while he's underneath them.

the kiss is particularly interesting because it seems to contrast the text. kabru's narration tells us this was everything mithrun could have asked for, but mithrun is there looking unreadable to pensive, likely because this is right before the panel that makes it clear things in the dungeon are beginning to go wrong.

walking through this backwards for a minute, we have the physical barrier of his bedding and the spatial separation inherent in a bed made for one person, the emotional barrier of his mounting anxiety getting in the way of his ability to enjoy the affection he sought, and... the snake, which historically carries the connotation of temptation, yes, but also mistrust, barring physical intimacy. okay. ok. if a dungeon reflects the mentality of its lord, all of this might suggest that mithrun was not able to have any real desire for a relationship with this person. his unwillingness to be vulnerable or let another person in was insurmountable. but in that case, why was she such a focal point that she remained to the end, after his dungeon had stopped creating iterations of his friends to come and visit him? why would he get so upset over her meeting with his brother that he became lord of a dungeon about it?

well. mithrun's brother was also interested in her, probably genuinely. and mithrun had to win.

you have an older brother who your parents completely ignore, probably in part because he is chronically ill/disabled and almost definitely in part because he received a ton of recessive traits that resulted in rumors that he was an illegitimate child. you are aware, most likely because those same parents fucking told you, that you actually are an illegitimate child. but they keep you around because you had the good fortune of looking just like your mother. what can that possibly teach you but that you, like your brother, are disposable?

it's utterly unsurprising that mithrun, under these circumstances, developed a pathological need to be better than everyone around him. people don't keep you otherwise. i'd argue this is also why he says he looked down on everyone he knew while milsiril claims his dungeon reeked of feelings of inferiority—he sought out people's worst traits and prioritized them in his mind to protect his already extremely fragile sense of self-worth, and all the while he tried to be as likable and high-performing as he possibly could be. his parents disposed of him anyway, but even then he tried to keep up the performance. he was kind to everyone. he never once lost to a dungeon.

when he saw his "love interest" meeting up with his brother, what he saw was himself being replaced by a person his parents had always treated as worthless, and if that was what they thought of the child they'd kept, what value could anyone possibly see in the bastard they'd given away to die? mithrun and kabru tell the story like he wanted to win this unnamed elf's heart, but it was never about being with her. it was about cementing his worth, proving that he didn't deserve to be thrown away.

and so it's particularly cruel that his demon discarded him, too. but maybe it's also particularly gentle that, in the end, there was someone who refused to even consider giving up on him.

kui laid it out in three panels better than i could hope to.

yeah. it's love. you wanted to be loved, even when the only way you were able to understand it was through the desire to be wanted, and you wanted that so badly that the idea of being consumed felt like the promise of finally mattering to someone.

[fanficmemes]

Love when writers do an insane amount of unnecessary research for their fics. I follow an author that did like 8 months of intense research into 14th century Scotland so they could write smut about it, and guess what. It was some fucking incredible porn AND I learned about old Scottish politics

[bigfatbreak]

they both got bonked for being silly.

[bixels]

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

[ink-the-artist]

Rabbits

Some bonus art, I initially started making this in a totally different art style but changed my mind about halfway through lmao, here are the parts I finished

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

I've been asked multiple times, which Vincent Price films *I* personally recommend. Well... all of the above... Also, Theater of Blood...(Gif wouldn't load)

[artkaninchenbau]

People keep on asking for more Baby Robin and Papadile so here is more Baby Robin and Papadile. Now never ask anything from me ever again