Recently extinct species make me sad for all the usual and normal reasons (loss of life, biodiversity and unique life forms that experienced the world wholly uniquely and acted in it like no other, to name three), but a big thing that also makes me so sad is the forgetting that comes right after. Many endangered species are greatly ignored to begin with whilst alive of course, which is awful, but the way that extinction also causes us to forget. A species could’ve been so abundant a hundred years ago, people would’ve used a fish species or a tasty plant for food, or parents would’ve warned their children to not put a poisonous toadstool or insect in their mouth, a diver would exclaim, “Aha!” after emerging from the shallows holding an especially big bivalve, or someone making a species diary would sketch out a local bird or fasten a single flower to the page. But.. then the species goes extinct. It doesn’t exist anymore. None of these events, these actions happen anymore. Not with these species. The people who had these experiences dwindle out and they may not even realise that their experiences were among the last of their kind. And we forget.
I want to know about Eddie’s sisters, but it’s been so long without them having any kind of presence in his life that at this point, I assume they aren’t close to him at all. He was pushed into the “man of the house” role so young that they never really got to be siblings, and then before they were old enough to get to know each other as adults or even as equals, Eddie was off in the military and had his own family to worry about.
And if they weren’t all that close or regularly talking to him or Shannon, everything they heard about them probably came through Helena, who we saw was incapable of not criticizing everything they did. It sounds like at least one of his sisters went to college. Shannon made it sound like they both stayed in Texas. So maybe they did things the “correct” way (according to Helena), while Eddie and Shannon were held up as the example of what not to do. Maybe they even kind of agreed with her, in that young, judgy, “Well I simply won’t screw up,” kind of way. And with at least one of his sisters seemingly backing their parents after Shannon died, wanting him to go back to Texas, that attitude could very well still be there.
I know it's common in fics for Eddie's sisters to burst into his life and drag him out of his misery while they lovingly pester him, but it's been six years of no noticeable contact. The only time we've seen even one of them interact with Eddie (indirectly) was adding on pressure for him to leave LA immediately after his wife's funeral. I wouldn't be surprised if they were more like Helena then anyone would like.
Something I love about ATLA is that it doesn't force the "forgive the villain" on all the characters. It's been left clear that Ozai is a bad person, and there's no chance of redemption; the only reason he's not dead yet is because Aang is a pacifist
The one episode where a character is supposed to forgive someone who has hurt them in the past is the one where Katara is off to kill a man (which, fair) and Zuko helps. In that episode, even if Aang is telling her to let go, she doesn't forgive him. She never will. But she spares him. Not because she thinks he doesn't deserve death (he does), but because she's not willing to continue the cycle of violence
Killing someone can have a very important impact in your entire being, mostly depending on who you are as a person. Aang would've never recovered from killing Ozai. Katara wouldn't be who she is now, had she taken her revenge on the man that killed her mother
And the best part of it is that Ozai doesn't deserve to die. Not in a "I'm defending him" way (ew), but in a "he deserves worse that than" way
Taking away his bending was the perfect punishment for him. He believed bending made you superior and he never cared enough to train something besides his bending. What a loser. Zuko and Azula wouldn't be restrained by something like that
He's alive. Nobody has forgiven him. Nobody ever will
Remember on the Dream SMP when people built statues and monuments and put up photos and paintings in loving memory of Thrice Dead TommyInnit? And remember when he came back to life, those people were beside themselves with pity? And remember how, within months of that resurrection, nearly all of them returned to treating him as a server-wide punching bag while making excuses for the man who had killed him all three times? Remember how we were all told not to judge them for that?
Something something, Ted calling Trent “Sport” after Trent points out that “sport, it’s quite the metaphor”. When they’ve both just heard Roy talk about his feelings about seeing Keeley again being back at Chelsea and agreeing that it’s better to be the one breaking up with someone rather than being broken up with to quit than being fired. (Also the song in the background going “you’re not alone, you’re not alone” as Trent and Ted are the only ones left in the office. After Ted jokingly “flirted” with Roy saying “if you wouldn’t have left Chelsea when you did, we probably never would have met.” And they show Trent’s reaction right after we’ve seen Roy’s. And Trent is smiling and then Roy looks at him and gestures towards Ted and Trent and Ted are left alone in the office where the aforementioned conversation about sport being used as a metaphor and Ted calling Trent “Sport” happens.
(I’m sorry if this doesn’t make any sense. It’s 4.30am.)
silly comic of a conversation in-game i thought was too funny not to make something proper for instead of a doodle ww
(timelapse + wip images (thus silly process commentary in read more if you like artist commentary :3)
i think the sketch looks silly and goofy and funny so i find it important to share with you the mere presence of the faces i drew on it. i drew it on top of the boxes without staying inside its borders because i find my proportions can get wonky if i draw them cropped in a restricted space. and I feel trapped otherwise and i will draw BAD!!! give me spaceeeee to go wild!!!!
the head circles are there for emotional support
very low res speedpaint because truth is the canvas was much bigger than the space where my comic was placed. i didnt account when exporting my timelapse in 720px that that tiny space would look so pixelated ... but it's able to be percieved, so its okay.
(i will now comment on my process and it is not brief sorry)
usually i would try to clean up my sketches and figure out what goes on top before jumping into linework, but since there are multiple panels and drawings i chose to jump into inking right away for the sake of brevity. i just went in with a brush that uses pen pressure and drew what was needed. i added extra line thickness and contrast in areas around the face because it helps direct your eyes there more easily that way.
according to her equipment rei has a chain belt but i only remembered it existed once I was going to color, and i did not like that discovery... I chose to ignore it to maintain my peace. i already have the color palettes for these characters figured out, and i didnt really want to think about a new element at the moment www I tend to overthink those things a lot so i skipped it
the rest is rather straightforward! not that anything else wasn't, but in here i could turn my brain off and sing. linework and sketching require mumbling so i cannot turn my brain off. just block in the characters with a solid color so i can have a mask (something along those lines,) where the color can stay inside. then just color in !!!
Base colors just had slight cell shading on the skin, and for the hair i airbrush a bit of the skincolor in low opacity near the forehead... I'm not sure what it means, but i can look at the faces easier with it somehow. i like the gentle subtlety it adds even if you cant really tell. it makes things look nice.
background was just me blocking in the color of the wall and floor, shade the wall a bit, then slap a noise and free use wood texture on top. work smarter not harder ! yet it took a bit to make it look stylistically fitting with the characters, and even now i think bottom middle panel looks odd. whatever!!!
for the middle panel i thought itd be funny if the background was a solid silly and colorful one to contrast the next panel's sketchy black one. a contrast to how the word widow is seen. on that note my handwritting is not pointy. i gaslighted my hand into thinking that it was indeed pointy in that moment so i could write "not-yet dead person" in letters that didn't seem cute. my hand did not fall for it but it complied anyway
that's basically it! I'm not sure what else i could say that doesn't feel barebones because it really is that straightforward. if you're curious I used clip studio paint for this. only special brush used was for linework (a brush named Lemon Brush), the rest used were just the default. my computer gets the least credit. it was trying to convince me a 20mb file was going to nuke it all the time and hardly let me save multiple times so i do not appreciate it
they say separation makes the heart fonder but this seems to imply that being together makes the heart not-as-fond which is simply not true because even if I hadn't not had soup in ten weeks I still would want to eat it all the time
how many times do we need to learn as people that irony and hyperbole can be harmful because 'jokes' aren't easily distinguished from genuine thoughts and feelings until we stop rewarding people for speaking or posting about violence
like even if you're joking/don't actually believe that/think whoever you are insulting is bad/immoral/fictional therefore deserves it - ad hominem attacks always do more harm to the people who share those characteristic then the individual you intend to cause harm to or discredit
i literally just realized that i had a closeted homoerotic situationship with my close friend from high school who i dont talk to anymore. Because i remembered when we fought i was SO distraught that i snuck into her locker and filled it with letters 😭😭 something that i NEVER did for my bestfriend even when we fought