thebirdkiwi

[thebirdkiwi]

loook at this kitten i found on twitter

[thebirdkiwi]

Do Americans realize that for the most part other countries just do not have military bases in foreign countries. And of the other countries that do its like usually less than 5. The fact that we have huge carve outs in the territory of so many other countries just for power projection is actually fucking unusual

[thebirdkiwi]

i enjoyed the new episode :)

[thebirdkiwi]

This scientist crafts stunning visual art through chemistry.

[thebirdkiwi]

Nasha, she's the only one who's always been there for me. She's always loved me. Every me.

[thebirdkiwi]

[thebirdkiwi]

as a fat person who's always clamoring for more interesting fat characters in media, I honestly think one of my all-time favorite depictions of a fat character is Jumba from the original Lilo and Stitch - both visually and personality wise

from a design perspective, even though he's an alien, he has so many little anatomy quirks that make him a more believable fat character than many fat human designs in other media. I love the realistic sag and layering of the fat on his arms, the lack of neck definition, the rim of chub around his face and upper back, the way his back is rounded. his clothes pull taut and pinch in anatomically accurate places (e.g. shoulders are firmer = smoother outlines, the sides and back are squishier = bumpier outlines).

and he's stylized so well! all these great details boiled down to some simple shapes and pen strokes. IMO the Lilo and Stitch art style is extremely appealing - it's warm and clean and visually pleasing, but every character is super unique. Jumba isn't supposed to be pretty, but even though he's a very large, very fat, bald older guy who spends most of the movie in crop tops, the way he's stylized and staged makes it clear the audience is supposed to find him interesting to look at, and variably intimidating/cool/powerful/capable. he's often funny, but the physical aspect of his comedy is derived from being so hefty the other characters struggle to prevent him from barreling ahead and doing whatever he wants; being fat makes him come off more in control of the funny situations he gets into, not less. also, because the art style is what it is, a lot of his character acting also just makes him look kind of cute ... though that's universal across the cast

I also really like the fact that his size clearly gives him both realistic advantages and realistic disadvantages. along with having a stronger sense of agency in the comedic scenes, his size in combination with his impulsivity also makes him a more intimidating antagonist. you never know what he's going to do, and his size makes it difficult for other characters to stop him when he's made up his mind. at the same time, it seems to take him longer to catch his breath, he sometimes grunts when moving around a lot to imply it takes more effort, and he clearly struggled to find clothes that fit him when putting together his disguise. I think it's awesome that the character's size impacts how he interacts with the world so much, and again, in relatable ways

and personality wise, it is ALWAYS great to see fat characters portrayed as intelligent - not only is Jumba an accomplished scientist, he's also crafty and witty! a few quiet scenes imply a philosophical side, as he ponders on Stitch's existence and feelings as a living weapon. with Stitch explicitly being made in his own image to an extent, I'd argue there's even room to interpret some of the things he says about Stitch being hints to how he sees himself; we never learn much about Jumba's past, but it's clear he's a social misfit and strongly defiant. I don't think it's a stretch to assume some of what he said to Stitch about being a monster who can never belong anywhere was intended to read as projection (which makes it all the more heartwarming when both of them find a place to belong on Earth)

it's also a nice twist that toward the end, Jumba is the one who is unexpectedly compassionate toward Nani, while Pleakley tries to urge him to ignore her. again alluding to a level of emotional depth and intelligence that is often missing from even well-intentioned depictions of fat people. his character isn't even fully explored, and yet he's one of the most dynamic and interesting supporting characters in a movie full of fantastic characters. the audience is expected to find him fascinating and even sort of mysterious, and he is!

the sequels and spinoffs were more merchandise-driven franchise fluff for kids than the artsy direction of the original movie, but even so, I remember Jumba went on to become Lilo's lovable, amoral uncle figure, which I also thought was so fun as a kid. I love that they committed to the fact that he was more caring and compassionate than he seemed. not only was he a cool evil mad scientist character, but he was also eventually ... a friend ...

and he was even gay

[thebirdkiwi]

guys pls

[thebirdkiwi]

the doldrums

[thebirdkiwi]

shhhhh its nap time now

[thebirdkiwi]

It really is 2003 again Jesus Tapdancing Christ.

Like, all Republicans did was replace Iraq and gay people with Iran and trans people.

[thebirdkiwi]

more au design stuff... but in a new lineless style!!

writing a fic for these guys but at my pace it might take like 2 or 3 decades to finish idk

[thebirdkiwi]

...AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES (oh primus they were roommates)

if you cant tell, college au skystar has had me in a chokehold

I hope my future roommate would be chill... fingers crossed.

I don't even know if i should apologise for making this. on one hand, im so sorry, on the other hand i kinda had to. The starscream gremlin noises game from a sr pelo video and i just think it really fit. I was gonna have the screaming be muffled but i had no idea how to make that sound effect? so...

I have no idea what transformers dorm rooms would look like so i took some liberty with designing it hehe :P.

This might be the best background ive drawn for anything yet, I'm really quite proud of it.

[thebirdkiwi]

Charcoal pens unlocked ✅✅✅

[thebirdkiwi]

[thebirdkiwi]

boycotting a piece of media is quite literally the easiest thing you can do to support the liberation of Palestine and Palestinians. It's so fucking easy. BDS is a decades old Palestinian-led form of peaceful resistance where they have quite literally done the work for you by telling you who to boycott AND providing alternatives. They ask so little, but people can't even boycott a Disney princess movie, can't even miss *one* marvel movie, can't even just not watch the Pedro Pascal zombie show, and can't even skip watching the worst fucking singing contest on Earth. I don't understand. help me understand how it's so hard to just *not* do something. All you have to do is not watch or talk about these things, and instead, do quite literally ANYTHING else. My eyes are filled with tears right now. There are families being massacred every day and, yes, times are hard for everyone in their own way. but the most inexpensive thing being asked of you to help disempower the genocidal war machine killing Palestinians is to just NOT WATCH OR TALK ABOUT a handful of things and wow many of you won't even do that. you are not serious people. you are careless posers and I hope, genuinely, that when you ask people to do a simple thing to help you that you rot from the inside out with the guilt that you couldn't do the same. That you couldn't even just not watch a stupid singing contest as a gesture of solidarity with Palestinians being massacred. anyways, if you read this far, please consider donating and sharing @amalashuor 's campaign. she is trying to raise enough money to keep her husband and baby alive until they can flee Gaza. her campaign is vetted (#175 here). Here's the link to the campaign. Everything we do can help the lives of Palestinians, whether it's boycotting or protesting or sharing their campaigns, please stop underestimating your own impact.

[thebirdkiwi]