#I intend to fix that

[pumpkin-master]

So like, I know MDZS has that whole Wei Wuxian's smile is a very nice and bright thing going on and he's a pretty cheerful, optimistic and carefree guy right? In addition to that he has adopted siblings who he loves more than the world, questionable parental figures, an antagonistic view towards strict rules, and a deep love for all his precious people.

You know who this reminds me of?

Monkey D. Luffy

The obvious

Luffy is almost always seen and described with his trademark 'D' smile which is bright and happy to everyone who sees it. Both of them are people who will absolutely go to the ends of the world to make their precious people happy as well as protect them.

Family

It's also fair to take into account their familial situations, with WWX obviously not having any contact with any sort of relative of his. The closest we get, in fact, is probably Xiao XingChen, who is technically not even blood related.

Jiang Fengmian technically counts as his uncle but just barely because he knew WWX's dad very well.

And now when you look at Luffy, obviously his Dad is alive and we know Jack about his mom, but both are noticeably absent from their child's life. The only "parental" figures in his life (if you can even call them that despite how much I love them.) are Dadan and Garp.

(I'm sorry to say that Shanks doesn't count despite how much it hearts my heart. But he's more of an idol to Luffy and was only around for maybe a year at most in Fuscha? Though I guess you can call him a parental figure if you squint, but even then he's an active pirate and that alone warrants the 'questionable' title.)

And look, Dadan...is a mountain bandit and clearly not the 'parental' type, despite how much she loves ASL, and Garp... Well, do I need to say anything there? Sicked his grandchildren onto a mountain bandit and regularly put them into dangerous situations in order to become stronger. I don't doubt he loves them, but he's just not fit for raising a child as we've seen.

You could fit Makino if you really tried but she's more like the kind older sister type than a mom.

Onto the siblings, both WWX and Luffy were brought into an already existing sibling dynamic, e.i. WWX with Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli & Luffy with Ace and Sabo. Both had a bit of a hard time entering the dynamic for differing reasons (JC because he was mad that his dogs were sent away and Ace just didn't want Luffy around until he stuck up for them with Bluejam). This is an interesting similarity because they are such differing ways to enter similar dynamics.

Views on Authority

Moving onto how they view the world, both of these characters dislike strict authority, obviously they both recognize that there needs to be some authority to regulate and decide certain matters, but strict stifling authority is where these characters start getting itchy.

Some obvious examples include WWX and the rules of Cloud Recesses, be constantly complained about them and he questioned how the disciples and sect Members even survived there. Another honorable mention should probably be the Wen clan indoctrination and how that whole bit went down.

For Luffy, I feel like I shouldn't need to mention the whole Pirates vs Marines since it's kind of a given, but for this I specifically mean the "hard" justice that many seem to have, like Akainu and the world government. Who just seem to wipe islands off the map willy and just assassinate any other opposition.

I should mention that both of these characters are fine with normal authority, each sect for WWX has their own governing style and enforcement but unless it's a problem for everyone else, they don't really do much. And Luffy is fine with fair authority given by how he treats Boa who is queen of Amazon lily, Momonosuke who is supposed to be Shogun and treats him as such, King Riku as well as Viola and Rebecca who are princesses. He simply treats everybody the same but he respects their position for the most part.

Friends and Precious people

Now, the most obvious thing here is that these characters will move the heavens, part the seas, and raise the dead for their precious people (sometimes literally). They both take Honor to their promises extremely seriously, WWX owed a life debt to Wen Qing and her brother for saving them and doing the core transfer (as well as WWX just not excusing what are essentially concentration camps), so he repaid the action by saving the remnants and he promised to bring Wen Ning back to life. Which as we all know, he did.

And that's not even saying like I mentioned that he gave his golden core to his brother since he lost it to the Melting hand, and before THAT he was willing to give up his hand so the Wens would forgive the sect. It’s also notable that he promised Madam Yu he would protect Jiang Cheng with his life, and, well, everything that happened afterward should tell you he did his best!

To say he takes his honor and promises seriously is an understatement. Yet the same is also true with Luffy.

We all know that Luffy is big on promises and his nakama, a huge part of One piece is demonstrating how far he and his crew go for their friends and comrades. Some examples of major things like this are:

Arlong Park and helping nami

Promising Laboon to come back and fight him

Helping Vivi defeat crocodile

Saving Robin at Ennies Lobby

Promising to help Brook reunite with Laboon

Literally all of Marineford (despite how it ends, the effort alone Luffy put into saving his brother should tell you enough)

Fishman island

Liberating Dressrosa

Wano (literally what do I need to say there? It speaks for itself)

I might have missed a few and others may not have made it but these are the biggest displays of Luffy loyalty and promises.

It is also notable that if you feed Luffy, he will repay it. That is a threat. Tama fed him once in Wano and after realizing that was her last bow of rice and the whole issue with the country, he literally fought to liberate the country with a whole army.

Symbolism

Theres a lot more I could say but the last things I will dig into is this. Both Luffy and WWX have constant symbolisms of ‘Freedom’, whether they’re quite literal or more nuanced.

WWX always has had a carefree character and this is displayed in numerous ways, like how he named his sword “whatever” or how how he’s unashamed to show his more childish side at times (“Xian Xian is three!”). His flippant attitude towards authority tells you enough but he’s also prone to use the punishment against the punisher by finding a way to make it entertaining for him. (I.e. annoying Lan Wangji and provoking Wen Chao.)

This is also just in general that his name is symbolism towards his character, with how Wei Wuxian means “no/without envies” which really gives you an idea about his personality. I’m not a mandarin speaker nor even attempting to learn it, so more information his name and it’s symbolism can be found on this post.

Now Luffy, we can’t exactly say the aumbolism isn’t hitting us in the fact with all the sun motifs and it literally being mentioned multiple times as “warrior of liberation”, “joyboy” and whatnot.

But Luffy’s smile and constant laughter is associated Nika the sun god who was a warrior who fought for freedom and s the god slaves pray to in secret. (And supposedly based on an actual diety whom i don’t actually remember the origins of right now.)

And with the Sun symbolism (this is honestly now head canon territory) but the thousand sunny being a ship that carries the fruit of the sun god doesn’t seem like a coincidence, and another is that Luffy’s straw hat being something akin to a halo is a pretty neat idea.

Conclusion

Both of these characters are some of my favorite in media and the similarities between symbolism and parallels they have with each other is insane, I honestly hope people see that this type of characterization is very fun and amazing.

But honestly i just wanted to write a character analysis with these two cause they are my fav bois haha.

[edwardbonnets]

how to ask the demon you've been smitten over for 6000 years to dance: an angel's guide

bonus:

[seagiri]

heatstroke

[ryssbelle]

Inspired by these comics by @zivazivc and this comic by @chongotheartist

This has been chilling in my mind since I first saw ZivaZivcs comic and I finally got the energy to make it XD

[circusballoon]

At the time of queueing this, I'm about to enter a heatwave and possibly won't be drawing for a bit. Logically, I should draw for Art Fight, but .... In Stars and Time calls to me still.

It'd been a while since I had a piece of media to Be Weird about though and I'm having fun

I'm done drawing for the moment but now I kinda wanna draw everyone dancing together because dancing is cute and they're!! all!! cute!!

[artistlara]

Redrawn whiteboard doodles

[lemon-t4rt]

kobylu modern uni au just because i can…

i apologise but i wanna draw them, if nobody else will then i must step up.

[tavtime]

There is something skittering around in my brain tonight about the way that BG3 intends the audience to view mind flayers as individuals vs as a species, and the way that plays out in the player's relationships with Omeluum and the Emperor.

I mean, one of the primary gears upon which the story turns is that when a person becomes illithid, the soul they previously had is destroyed (but not their memories of the person they were). This is presented as an insurmountable wrong - literally socially aberrant - and it certainly is so from both the point of view of the gods concerned with mortal souls, and illithids' mortal prey concerned with keeping their brains in their heads.

The Emperor's storyline takes this to the conclusion that the condition of being soulless is, in and of itself, a complete destruction of the individual; that whatever it was before, the illithid will be invariably manipulative, inherently untrustworthy, and unable to reconcile its needs and desires into peaceful coexistence with non-illithids. It's certainly the conclusion you're intended to draw from Duke Stelmane's story, as well as numerous supporting texts, most notably from the creche.

But then... Omeluum offers the refutation to that. Here he is, leading a peaceful life because he just... wants to. Absent a soul or comprehensible mortal desires to operate as a moral compass, Omeluum still chooses to contribute to the Society of Brilliance. He voluntarily and at personal cost researches alternative food for himself so that he doesn't need to feed on sentient beings. He helps the player character multiple times, despite the fact that doing so carries variable risk with little promise of reward.

So clearly, being illithid in and of itself is not what makes someone manipulative or untrustworthy: it's not a baked-in species trait. The Emporer isn't Like That solely because he's a mind flayer; he's like that because... he's like that. That's who he is as a person. That's what he has become, in his current incarnation, and yes, some of it is certainly due to his transformation (having your soul shredded and your will broken would screw most people up pretty badly, I imagine), but not all of it! If something about his circumstances had been different, maybe he could've been different as well. Maybe his moral compass would have pointed in a similar direction as Omeluum's.

[ratsnu]

a good scolding is necessary before every cabinet meeting

[ashleyslorens]

Oh, I can see us now in our bathing dresses. You in a nice, rich navy, and me, stripes perhaps.

+ bonus

[elizakai]

the boys as nuns ^///^

[shizunitis]

i think when shizun smiles earnestly, it’s so beautiful and refreshing that everyone’s meridians in a five mile radius are cleansed and reenforced, their bodies purged of all impurities and their heart demons banished, but his smiles are so rare, so precious, it hits everyone like a freight train and leaves them speechless.

but when he’s trying to muffle his laughter—the loud, boisterous, uncontrollable, takes-you-by-surprise kind—i think it looks a bit like a grimace. his nose scrunches like he’s just hit his elbow and he’s trying not to moan about it, the corners of his mouth pinch downwards like when he’s scowling, but just a bit lopsided, and his eyes scrunch up in a way reminiscent of when he scoffs at the contents of a contrived story. the skin of his cheeks folds with the movement, his smile lines deepen and stretch, and he has shallow dimples on his chin when he pushes his bottom lip upwards to hold back his amusement.

he knows he looks ridiculous, so he attempts to stomp down any reaction whenever something funny happens at inopportune moments (which is always, in his mind—he should never look so undignified, immortal master that he is), attempting at a stony, unmoved expression, but it slips through sometimes.

thing is, he does look a bit ridiculous, a bit odd—but everyone, when they witness it, is enraptured. when the fan flutters, snaps open, and censors it, they all heave a disappointed sigh inside their hearts, and get back to what they were doing, now half a measure more wistful than before.

[iguessmyfishisgay]

I wanna get these TMAGP 8 thoughts written down before the public drops so here's your spoiler warning!

SPOILERS AHEAD

So this "Gifted Kids Program" that the Magnus Institute had is very intriguing. I'm going to throw a thought out there that's kind of a gut feeling, with only OTHER gut feelings to back it up

What if they were trying to make Avatars? I can't help but feel HEAVY Stranger vibes coming from Gerry Keay in this episode. Something was so off about him, and I don't think it's just because he was a much more normal person (apparently, at least) than in TMA. And Sam certainly has tendencies that lean towards The Eye.

I've been trying really REALLY hard not to drag The Fears into this, but this was my gut feeling and I wanted to share. Maybe the new entities (if there are some) parallel The Stranger and The Eye which is why I'm getting those vibes from Gerry and Sam, respectively.

[pinkinsect]

<-

maybe the real michapocalypse was the friends (?) they made along the way

[joltrify]

(In a very american accent) Esas Crituras >:)

[doriana-gray-games]

Can an attractive MC see their beauty as a curse?

Not thinking of themselves as plain or monstrous, but accepting that they are conventionally pleasing to the eye and not being happy about it because yes, pretty privileges, but it also leads people into not taking them seriously, get distracted staring at them, or even straight up harassing them.

And you can't even say that shit out loud!

Yes

Yes

Yes, very much so.

If you choose very attractive, I would say the... pros—will be well measured by the cons 😗