#they have lists i can pick from

[ink-the-artist]

I love your artwork so much! Your colors are so vibrant and none of the white speckles in the paper ever shows, its so impressive and I really dig it! I was wondering if you use any sort of blending medium? Like baby oil or anything? Either way, I really enjoy looking at your artwork and I'm always excited to see whatever you'll make next

I use a colorless blender (prismacolor, which is wax-based so baby oil probably wouldnt work) but my scanner is also rly bad about picking up white specks in a way photographing the art with my phone isnt, so I usually have to do some digital editing to get rid of them as well.

I do this by duplicating the layer, setting the one on top to "darken," and using the mixer brush to blend out the white spots + just use the eyedropper tool to select the color of that area (needs to be a slightly lighter shade of it) and color over the white spots with the brush tool

i edited a small bit of the original scan to show what i mean

original:

with the edited layer:

heres how it looks set to normal instead of darken, I used both the mixing brush and regular brush just to demo it

[clownhonkbonk]

hi rqg people i am once again late to the party

[somegrumpynerd]

Time for a new toy!

Looks like the box won by a good margin! So, tomorrow there will be a box (and a new cat) in the garden :D

But now we need to know for next week,

(I changed the wording of hat since I realised helmet was more accurate, but it's still the same toy!)

[funsize-cenobites]

Mihawk-Brain-Eating-Syndrome has seized me with such a gorilla grip I am losing my fucking mind so I guess we're doing this.

The post that started this whole train of thought came from @manofbeskar who's Mihawk thoughts, Mishanks heartwrenchers, and absolutely gorgeous art are so inspiring I feel chewing-on-the-doorframe feral every time I check their blog.

So.. thoughts of the day that Im just tossing into the void to get it out of me because otherwise it will fester inside me and make me ill:

Mihawk has a complicated relationship with vivre cards. Despite his best efforts to keep the world and everyone in it at arm and Yoru length he does manage to keep collecting bits of them though.

Not many nowadays of course, its a rather intimate affair after all; to have someone give you a literal piece of their life so that you may always find them no matter where in the wide seas you may be and that you'll be the first to know should they leave that world entirely. Far too intimate. It feels too obvious, too heavy handed, too much like handing him your heart and asking him to carry it. Such a thing is heavier than any blade and all the bloody deeds he can never truly wipe from the steel.

Its gentle and vulnerable and human, all the things hes convinced he can play at but never truly be again.

But I imagine at the start of his journey he was a touch more open, perhaps accepting his first from a mentor as a parting of ways. Though he didn't yet have one of his own to offer in return. Strange how a simple piece of card in his palm could feel like an open door. Always there, inviting him home. Always there, until it wasn't.

He will never forget the first time he felt one burning away into nothing in his hands. It went up so quick.. he had no idea it could take less than a minute to burn a home.

Then perhaps he found a crew, a more tangible place to nest and he suddenly had more vivre cards than he could tuck away on his person in a timely manner. Perhaps it became a ritual of sorts each morning, a part of his routine to tuck each one away. The captain, vice captain, and the rest of the specialists lining the inner band of his hat while the rest of the crew were individually squirreled away. A meditation, grounding and quiet. He would use it to remind himself of his role as the crew's swordsman, as their protector.

How could he forget the sharp sear of each individual card burning away, stuck close to his skin by waterlogged clothing as he dragged himself ashore gasping and choking on sea and blood and smoke. Having been left by marines that assumed he would drown because- perhaps pointed out by one that had deceived him, made Mihawk believe they were his friend to be led back to his family:

"No freak like that could exist without having eaten the devil's fruit."

How could he forget the embers escaping, dancing in the evening gloam like fireflies swarming around him? There were so many.. now there are none and gods he's been so empty since. How could such a small piece of paper take so much of him? To kill a man with a blade, even butchering him inelegantly, would be a greater mercy so long as he was dead.

Nowadays Mihawk knows better. Knows better than to trust or be trusted. That blades might chip and tarnish but they dont burn, never completely.

Yoru hums and sings in his hands as he wields her and she does not feel like home.. but she feels solid and eternal and cold. She will never burn. Her weight is bearable.

Impersonal.

Professional.

Yoru makes death an art in his hands. She is the brush not the paper, spattering fireflies over a night sky.

. . .

For years after, he kept far from others. Deciding to never get so close to anyone ever again. Safe in the knowledge he would never feel the burning sting of loss nor the cold cut of betrayal so acutely. Trust was a double edged blade, perhaps the only one he truly couldn't handle.

He was no protector.. so he wouldn't try to be.

Instead Mihawk would hunt. Chasing the marines mercilessly. Cutting a bloody path through their ranks and burning their fucking fortresses to the ground. At first they spoke of him as an insane lone swordsman, then a one man army, then a monster, a demon. The relentless yellow eyed freak that stalked the seas and nightmares of future vice admirals.

He systematically killed all those that harmed him. A shadow over the shore, a rogue wave swallowing their ships, a curse of vengeance come to reap. He destroyed all the records of his crew that he could get his hands on. If he must be cursed to slowly forget them over time, then the world government didnt deserve their memory either.

And so on it went for a time. Long enough for the hunt to lose its luster. Slaughtering sheep by the herd in search of a rare wolf.

Mihawk had almost forcibly forgotten about Vivre cards as a concept. His own remained untouched, never moving from where he hid it. He had no friends, no family, no nakama. Only a dwindling list of worthy foes to test himself against.

Until the day the king of pirates died. Until their golden age truly began.

Until he met Shanks, who held out a hand and asked him to step out of the monochrome past and into a thousand possible vibrant futures. Ones of lush reds and glittering golds, of polished onyx black and the purest, deepest blue.

.

"Here," Shanks said suddenly one night, holding out a small scrap of paper. The both of them were perched atop the ruins of a high sea wall on some remote island, enjoying the cold breeze from the north after a hard fought duel.

Mihawk, for all his composure, blanched. "What is that?" He knew and he did not take it.

"What do you think it is? Its a piece of my card." He said it so simply. Like it barely occured to him how precious such a thing was. Shanks didn't drop his arm, even as the silence stretched out between them.

"No."

"Come on, Takanome- Dont be like that! We're nak--"

"Rivals." He cut the younger man off abruptly. His chest felt too hot and too tight, burning and burning and, "We are rivals, Akagami."

Shanks must've been pouting, he could hear it in his voice, "Even more reason for you to take it. We could duel every day if you could always find me~ Come on.. Please? I want you to have it."

"...."

Hawkeyes glanced at his best friend rival and immediately regretted it. Shank's face was always full of so much hope, so much faith in... something.. It made Mihawk's heart catch in his throat every time to see those big earnest eyes staring at him almost as if, for a moment, it was faith in him.

"I don't know if I can give you mine.." He murmured. Shanks smiled soft, a little sad, and infuriatingly understanding without needing to know anything.

"I dont need it. I know you'll always find me." He pressed his heart, his home the scrap into Mihawk's palm and closed the swordsman's fingers over it. "And if I need to find you.. I'll just ask the wind."

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

Please see tags of original post for further notes

[aq2003]

I've had a vague urge to get more into Shakespeare for years; what are the top 3-5 plays you'd recommend that AREN'T Hamlet or Much Ado? And what version of each is your favorite?

(sorry for omitting two god tier ones but I've already seen David Tennant in each of those and I surmise that you're insane about both so I'm looking for some new plays)

gonna be some basic bitch answers but here:

macbeth - the tragedy of macbeth (2021) movie adaptation starring denzel washington. this movie is fucking stunning and the way they did the witches was SO good. also i have the throne of blood (kurosawa's adaptation) also on my watchlist since i've heard REALLY good things about it

richard ii - 2013 rsc production w/ david tennant (link). he gives me catastrophic gender envy, i need to become more masculine to become more feminine etc. ben whishaw in the hollow crown series (link) is great too

romeo and juliet - romeo + juliet (1996) movie adaptation directed by baz luhrmann. this is like, the most well known romeo and juliet and you might've watched it already but i'm listing this anyway because there will never be a better mercutio and the way they did the setting is SO fucking funny and inspired

twelfth night - so far only saw this one Outside On The Grass Where They Performed This At My College but i liked it a lot... reccing the 2012 globe production with mark rylance (part 1 / part 2) (his hamlet was one of dt's favorites as an aspiring actor) (i'm putting my faith in letterboxd and david's taste for this one)

coriolanus - 2014 donmar production w/ tom hiddleston (on archive.org). this is directed by josie rourke, who also directed dt/ct's 2011 much ado! the staging and the effects are fucking awesomeeee (also peter de jersey and elliot levey are in this, i love them)

also shoutout to the ones i want to watch:

the 2016 production of a midsummer night's dream w/ ncuti gatwa (i have found nowhere to pirate it and i might just crack and pay the 10 dollars to watch it)

the 2015 production of the love's labour's lost w/ edward bennett (he played laertes in hamlet (2009) and he's REALLY underrated, i love his benedick SO FUCKING MUCH even if that production overall was a little dull)

either hollow crown's or greg doran's henry iv (it's two whole plays i need so much time to watch that. and ideally i want to watch both lol)

kurosawa's ran (1985), an adaptation of king lear set in 1500s japan

vishal bhardwaj's omkara (2006), an adaptation of othello set in india

[ladyculebras]

tagged by @streussal! Thanks for tagging!

make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. see which character is everyone's favorite

I tag @alaynestone, @hearthouses, @vincenzides, @augustmourn, @comebackali! And anyone else who wants to do it.

[samarecharm]

geniunely not trying to put words in ur mouth im geniunely asking: what do you actually like about persona 5? from all ur rants im just wondering why you didnt drop the game bc it seems (again, im not trying to put words in ur mouth) that it simply not for you? i geniunely have not felt any of the issues you bring up outside of the writing ones and i cannot tell if i'm just easily pleased and not good at discerning what a good game is or we simply have dif things we enjoy in a video game. i hate getting tone across text but im asking out of geniune curiosity im not trying to attack your opinion (;-;)

Nah, i dont feel like ur attacking me, and I hope u dont feel the same when u see my complaints! Lmao. In my defense, I am replaying the game for the first time after completing my first file back in 2020, so alot of the faults i kinda shrugged off in my first playthrough are now glaringly in my face now that I no longer have the confusion and interest in learning the main story to keep me occupied. The game is clunky all the way through, and at some times, even frustratingly so.

But despite that, i do like this game. Alot! Its probably one of my top games ever if im being honest!

This ended up way longer than I intended, so im putting it under a readmore to keep the post short on dashboards

If i had to describe what I liked about the game in the simplest way imaginable…I think I would say, I like how the game makes me feel :) I like the music. I like the vibe. I like the immersion from city to city, and I like the premise! I like the characters and I like the connections you make with these characters! As im replaying this game, i am most excited to see Akira and his comments about the world :) i like hearing everyones voices, I like their little interactions in Mementos, and I like seeing them fight!

P5 is the first game I played in the series; its the game that introduced me to SMT in the first place! And it (smt) is a series that my longtime best friend LOVES and never thought hed be able to share with me! It is a game i keep very near to my heart; it has influenced me in ways i did not think would happen in the short couple of years since i first finished it. It genuinely keeps me awake some nights thinking about the world this game has created, and I think that is a testament to the impact its had, be it good or bad.

The joke about wishing theyd make a persona game that was Good is that despite all of its numerous flaws, the games manage to snatch your attention and pull you in anyway. Imagine if they made a game that had all of those things that i mentioned I loved, but done Right and executed Properly?? Where I got to have a story that made sense and didnt need to be spoonfed to me (in like an HOUR of dialogue and scenes; an HOUR!), and characters that talked and bonded beyond the tiny snippets of interaction theyre allowed to have in mementos? Combat that let me use PERSONAS i liked instead of BUILDS that stop me from getting instakilled throughout the entirety of the endgame, and a Persona building mechanic that didnt feel like I was shooting in the dark looking for possible fusions that end up not even being useful in the endgame.

Ive mentioned it before, but I complain so much bc I have seen what a good p5 game looks like, and its Strikers almost to a T. Combat is still your typical warriors-esque style combat, but it is at least different from the turn based strategy of the main game. Characters talk to each other freely, they hang out and comfort each other in a way that feels more connected that the base game. Strikers implements the ability to see ALL possible fusions with ALL registered personas, not just the ones in your Stock, so you can fuse easily without having yo consult a guide. The story feels like it makes SENSE with antagonists that feel morally grey and sympathetic. Genuinely, alot of the complaints for p5 I had were almost immediately rectified in this game.

But please also know that the praises I sing for this game is only bc of the groundwork laid by p5 and the world it created. Thats what I like about this game, that it had such a captivating premise and cast of characters, that a DIFFERENT company was able to hit the ground running with them. P5 had alot happening in that game, but i think what it had most was potential. The effort put into this game is astronomical, and the possible connections you can outright MISS if u arent paying attention was worth the money and time to implement; even if it meant that it could be considered a waste of resources to higher ups.

Books and games and part time jobs???!! Silly little cutscenes that add nothing to the game PLOTwise, but define and flesh out the personality of your protagonist. There was alot of love put into this game, and its evident by the fact that we have NOT seen a new persona game released; they bank on existing titles bc they are unwilling to make a game like this from scratch again. They dont want to ‘waste’ resources on good voice acting and a complex, overarching story; they dont want to waste money on scenes a player may never see, on routes a player may never get to experience. Making a game that gives u even the slightest bit of freedom means more money in programming and detailing that freedom. This has been an issue for a WHILE, and its a miracle that the gaming landscape had space for a colossal title like p5!

I complain bc I want better, and I do not think that is inherently at odds with my love of this game. In b4 im told to get good; ive played on hard and tested out merciless (its NOT fun, im making godbuilds again and its boring 😞). Its not the most accessible turnbased rpg; theres no colorblind modes, and the affinity system is convoluted and overwhelming. Combo moves are hard to keep track of and it can be incredibly frustrating to see your turns being skipped or seeing characters take extreme technical damage without understanding WHY it happened. The fact that they KNEW the game was desperate for qol improvements by the time royal came out, and instead of updating the base game to have those improvements too, they just pushed the royal edition out for people to play instead. It sucks! Customers and fans deserve better than being forced to shell out money for a game they already played !

As the gaming climate gets more and more hostile and unbearable, I think it is good to look at your games critically, and understand why products come out subpar. Persona 5 is a fun game that has a nice cast and an interesting premise, but it is ultimately tied down by its refusal to build on existing building blocks regarding its combat, and it insists on having insulting and downright out of character dialogue and scenes to appease the audience its designed to be targeted to. It is easy to forget sometimes that queer ppl are infact NOT the prime target of these games, its cishet gamer bros from aged 16 to 40 who will laugh at homophobic comments, who drool over a 16 yr old girl with a 16 yr old mindset and a grown womans body, who need to be placated with constant sexual comments to deal with a convoluted story that will inevitably make zero sense until its laid out for you before the literal end of the game.

Its bad. Its good. Its so shallow and its unbelievable that they thought having the plot twist make ZERO sense until they showed CUTSCENES of YOUR character discussing Goro and his connections to the metaverse for endgame SHOCK VALUE was more important than just having your team be smart and piece it together over time. Its shit. Its literally amazing. It let you FUCK your teacher ??????????????what the FUCK. They also let me shoot a god in the face w the best looking ult persona in the world so i can ignore that shit. And ultimately that is how i got through the game. Lol.

[eggedbellies]

I wonder if I could turn the breeding event into a choose your own adventure style book somehow... I'm sure there must be a way to do it... hmm.

[intuitive-revelations]

After a few years of part-time supporting-artist-ing in Cardiff I finally get a DW-related casting enquiry... a month after I moved away. 🙃

[eebie]

having aimless creative energy sucks sooo bad. it’s worse when you have things you COULD be working on and are super indecisive … So you end up doing nothinggggg

[writing-good-vibes]

💗 VALENTINE'S PROMPT REQUESTS 💗

as a very special valentine's treat, i'm going to be writing some corey x reader valentine's drabbles !!

please send some PROMPTS from [THIS LIST] through my INBOX 💌💭, and i'll write some little stories for us !! (probably between like 100 - 500 words) and there's no limit on req's so send as many as you like 🥰

[if you have any adjacent ideas or a specific direction for one of the prompts, you can send those too !!]

[shrews-studies]

Graduation exam tomorrow, guys if I survive this I'll be the most carefree person on earth for the next 2 years

[dol-dee]

The party is still in full swing and Avery is not doing well. Be it the alcohol and medications disagreeing with each other or something else.

She’s in bad enough shape that Dee leads her into a side room away from the party. It gets bad enough that Dee leaves to call Avery’s chauffeur before princess carrying her to the car

Brought to you by my continued need for Avery to have a crisis<3

I need her to be so flustered and dumbfounded with how easily Dee picks her up and carries her to the car. She's not used to someone babying her and tucking her into bed.

She’s lowkey awestruck for a second when she thinks about it the next morning before it gets eclipsed by hot shame and anger <3

[howtosingit]

Brian I have a nice ask day ask if you wish to answer it 💜 can you pick your top 5 Rafa on screen scenes and rank them? impossible question I know. but I believe in you!

Okay the thing is I did want to answer this immediately but it absolutely crippled me with doubt 😂 so I'm just gonna do it quick like ripping off a bandaid so that I can't overthink it anymore. Also not going to rank them because I'll spiral, so you're just getting 5 great ones:

The first interrogation room scene in 2x08 (but also all Carlos and Gabriel scenes this episode). The constant shifts in Carlos as he puts things together and realizes why Gabriel's there, the heartbreak of him thinking he was doing what his father always wanted, only to disappoint him again... at the time, this was the strongest scene LS had it its arsenal (WE STAN AND MISS TONYA KONG FOREVER AND ALWAYS) and it remains one of the best ones. It's so compelling and amazing to get to see the Carlos and Gabriel dynamic on display for the first time. This episode was a game-changer and I'll never shut up about it.

It's probably cheating to say all of his work in 4x18, so if I had to pick a scene from that I would say his talk with Owen where they toast Gabriel. My only problem with it is that it's so short, but Rafa packs every fucking thing he can in there, beat for beat, and it's beautiful. His delivery on "and forget about it?" but also all the lines leading up to that. The man is fucking hollow and crushed and lost and MY GOD RAFAEL. He's so skilled at what he does, knows exactly what he's doing every time. It's sublime.

Fine, another 4x18. Carlos's vows. I'm not gonna explain that one, the man is fucking beautiful and his heart is beautiful and he puts in on display publicly for what was probably the first time in his adult life, and it's stunning.

I love the scene in 3x13 where Carlos meets Cooper. Rafa is such a brilliant comedic actor, he uses every tool at his disposal, he understands his craft so well, how to use his body and face and voice to delivery great work, he's such a standout. I adore him. I could watch that scene for hours. Also, he is really fucking distracting in those clothes.

I'm gonna pick the fire in 2x12. And I'm gonna pick it because honestly the intensity of that scene, the life-or-death stakes, the absolute devastation and destruction of it, they are fully delivered by Rafa's performance. Like, Carlos's fear is what drives the scene, and Rafa's work sells it. And I'm also going to pick it because he's shirtless and so fucking hot. I'm gay, it's true. Have fully never recovered from it. And I'm also going to cheat and say the scene continues into him crying and TK holding him. So, like, obviously a top 5.

I'm sorry I have to include it I know I already picked 5 and I refuse to cut any of them but the 3x04 scene deserves to be in here and I'm mostly talking about the montage scene where TK wakes up and Carlos is forced out of the room and then his mom is there but then he fucking gasps the breath of a dying man who has been saved LIKE HE BASICALLY SAYS NO WORDS BUT MY FUCKING GOD, THE PERFORMANCE so I'm listing it and you can't fucking stop me Lola YOU CAN'T

anyway I just really love an actor who has honed their skills and studied their craft and dedicated themselves to approaching each scene in a fresh and honest way and I'm just really fucking happy to get to watch Rafa do it so thanks for letting me rave about him Lola you're a real one ❤️

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

It's so funny you mentioned needing to come up with a name because for all the years I've followed you I've been calling you just “80s phase” even now with the new username 😂

omg I KNOW, sometimes i still call myself that in my head. i'm so indecisive, i've been wanting to choose a name to use here for YEARS but nothing feels like it fits so i've just gotten used to my old url instead and it's like. if i DID choose a name years ago, it would feel normal by now because i would have settled into it over time, just like how i did with my old url. and my old url was not good for a NAME. like it was fine for a url when i was posting more 80's things, but not a NAME. and IT STILL STUCK. it makes me laugh but also i need to choose a name.