#I just thought the last panel was the funniest thing to draw to show how dramatic jeremy would be

[7c0a02]

the punchline/ 3 panel format is taken from a manga i saw on twitter i thought i bookmarked, but didn’t. will edit if i find it. sorry!!!!

[deadite-central]

Applauding myself for somehow fitting my thoughts on this arc in just three posts. This was a feat

Pudding to me is one of the most overhated characters in the series. She’s a sixteen year old girl who has been conditioned to believe by her own mother that she’s disgusting and ugly, and since she’s not physically strong the only way she can see herself being useful is by being the cunning one. When Sanji calls her eye beautiful, the same eye that she was ridiculed for her entire life, she breaks down, and she falls for Sanji as he’s the first person outside of her siblings that sees her as something other than a monster once he sees her eye. She’s not an evil bitch like a lot of people are convinced she is, she’s a traumatised child

In other news about the wedding, I adore Luffy’s plan of using Brûlée’s power and doing the funniest thing he could: creating a situation in which a hundred feral Luffys jump out of Big Mom’s cake. Absolutely hilarious and wonderful everyone go home. Things seriously don’t go Linlin’s way cause soon enough Jinbei straight up leaves her crew. And holy hell I love this scene so much. He’s so badass! Standing in front of a terrifying emperor and not even flinching? Not being scared at all? Jinbei is one of the most loyal Straw Hats and here you can see it on full display

Big Mom’s backstory in itself is insane, and while most people will be jaw dropped at the plot point that Linlin accidentally ate her friends without even realising it, to me the Mother Carmel reveal is what always gets me. ‘Orphan seller’ displayed in the box is so jarring, and the fact it’s the navy looking for these kids should tell you all you need to know about how much they actually care for the justice they wear on their backs so proudly

While Luffy vs Katakuri is great in the anime, as Whole Cake is where I’d say the current style of One Piece finally found it’s bearings, it’s absolutely ingenious in the manga. Oda goes so hard on the panelling, and the pacing of the fight is absolutely wonderful, with the reader learning more about Luffy’s abilities, Katakuri as a person and the dynamic between the two as the battle goes along, and it never once feels as if Oda is drawing something out or adding unneeded stuff. Everything here serves a purpose, and I adore this fight, even if it isn’t my favorite in the series

Also on the topic of Luffy vs Katakuri I highly recommend this video as it goes over WHY the panelling of the fight works, it’s really good I just gotta recommend it

Something I really like about Whole Cake is how it brings back the themes of Sanji’s character explored in Baratie, and puts them on full display. Big Mom may be a tyrannical emperor that’s chasing the main characters to kill them, but for Sanji, she’s still hungry, and she still deserves to eat food. It’s the biggest reason Luffy wanted him on the crew: his kindness towards everyone, something his father saw as a weakness, but that One Piece shows you again and again, is an important trait to have

And well, the cake Sanji, Pudding and Chiffon make us absolutely wonderful. I really want to bring attention to the absolute masterclass of a panel this last one here is, from the passage of time when you’re holding your breath between the six panels before it, to the absolutely amazing rendering of Big Mom’s face, I adore it so much. Maybe it’s a silly thing to gush over and give a whole section to; but damn me if I didn’t mention it

Besides the musical number being sung in the background, Whole Cake Island ends with Jinbei now officially a Straw Hat, but having to leave for the last time to save the crew. Again, his loyalty is unmatched, one that has been built up since the Summit War Saga, and every single time it’s on display, I love his character more and more. I genuinely don’t get people who believe he shouldn’t be a Straw Hat, he deserves to be part of the crew more than anyone else you could have wanted here

[ideksams]

at last, it's finally been a month and i get to answer! there is a lot to get through, so i'll try to keep my rambling to a minimum... 🫣

i really love spy x family (obviously) so i thought it'd be a fun idea to share my own thoughts on this and do the challenge to see if anyone has anything in common. so without further ado...

1) How did you get to know Spy x Family?

everything started when i checked out hulu for the first time. and thus, i found spy x family in 2022. no one recommend it to me or anything, i just found it through browsing... there were only 12 episodes out!

i basically lived unknowingly until late 2023 with having only seen up to episode 12... in 2023, i saw a crunchyroll ad saying season 2 was airing. i ran to crunchyroll. i can't believe i didn't even know about the second cour of season 1, even... nothing at all. and from since then, the rest is history since i started drawing again...! i literally thought the best fanart only existed on pixiv...? LMAO. there was a particular fanart i saw from the mole arc that had me surprised and i was like... where is this from? does this happen? and that's what had me discover the manga. from then, i was obsessed...

2) Favorite character?

loid forger, or agent twilight. (if i have to explain all of these answers, this might never end so i'll keep it short LOL)

3) Least favorite character?

just the bad guys~

4) Favorite opening?

Kura Kura (Season 2)

5) Favorite ending?

"Todome no Ichigeki feat. Cory Wong (Season 2)

6) Favorite soundtrack?

"Make all ladies happy" (Season 2)

https://youtu.be/-sQu9XQVQ00?si=8snM3W0uycrnTz5S

7) Best moment for you?

when yor falls asleep on loid during the island resort episode. that panel is engraved into my brain and is the main reason i love to draw twiyor.

8) Worst moment for you?

i've been sitting here for minutes and still cannot think of a "worst" moment. the worst moments are whenever the chapters end. how about that? hehe

9) Funniest moment?

the bar scene in episode 24. i laugh so hard all the time...

10) Saddest moment?

i wonder if there's an even more sad moment than anya crying in episode 4?

11) Intense moment?

in the manga, it's the mole arc for me. that's all i can say...

12) Best moment of your favorite character?

i loved reading twilight's entire backstory. i don't know what loid's personal favorite moment would be- maybe hearing yor say the most sincere things about him...

13) Best moment of two of your favorite characters?

twilight and yor. best moment for me is every moment because i can't choose. my damianya best moment is the "your family sounds nice" scene.

14) Favorite couple?

twiyor (duh...)

15) Favorite friendship?

anya and becky! and loid and franky, probably!

16) Favorite quotation?

that's literally an impossible question... i can't choose one! whenever yor, loid, or anya have sparkles in their eyes, usually the words that come out then are the best haha.

17) Favorite manga art?

that's hard, i love them all. i really like endo's art style.

18) Favorite anime art?

i really like artwork that's dramatic, like when it shows both of their identities at the same time.

19) Favorite volume cover?

1 and 10 haha

20) Favorite anime chapter art?

i really like the winter scene where loid is in the car and yor is walking with anya on the sidewalk!

21) Favorite anime season?

i like both... if i had to choose, season 1 because that's where it all started... but i really love season 2 as well. this isn't even a competition ahaha.

22) Favorite arc?

anime: the first arc / manga: mole arc

23) Which character do you find most attractive?

answering this question is so funny to me- obviously loid

24) Character you consider a mystery?

yor and anya? we hardly know much about their backstory!

25) Character you consider to be forgotten?

hmm... the boss of WISE? (above handler)

26) Do you like WISE, The Garden, or the SSS?

they're all cool, i'll just pick WISE because i'm biased.

27) What place in Ostania or Westalis would you like to see?

berlint- definitely always wanted to go to europe.

28) Favorite theory for the end?

i don't have a favorite theory, i'll accept whatever happens honestly lmao. i would love to see a confession from loid or yor though!

29) How many chapters do you think Spy x Family has left?

well, first of all, life is fragile. i appreciate what we have now, and the things i look forward to are even more precious because there's no certainty whether they will happen or not?!

i really do hope that spy x family has many, many more chapters left. i look forward to more chapters every day! but i also accept the fact that spy x family is written and drawn by a real person, with a real hand. i can only wish that the author continues to be in good health, y'know...

if you ask me, i think spy x family could go down multiple different routes and continue for a long time if it wanted to (5+ more years, maybe up to 10?). or, for whatever reason, it could be cut short... but i lean more towards the "long time" option HAHA. hahaha.

30) Why do you love Spy x Family?

honestly? i love the story. i love the characters, the world... how it has everything i like, from action to comedy, suspense and drama, with a tease of romance, and a lot of wholesome and comedy and unseriousness... in my life, i've always wanted to create a story that didn't just focus on one thing. because there's nothing wrong with loving a lot of genres... but it's very difficult- even advised against. so therefore, i just really love it! to me, it's a masterpiece. i get that it's not for everyone (i understand the arguments against why it's not their personal favorite), but for me... it's high-key my personal favorite :)

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #23

#118 - Quiet

I suffer from hayfever and as such, the ettiquette of saying “bless you” has sort of run dry on me over the years. I’m already annoyed enough that whatever I’m doing is being interrupted by sneezing 15 times in a row, there’s no need to draw attention to it.  Whatever soul or demon you think you’re driving back inside me with your words left several decades ago!  So yeah, that’s what inspired this one - it is interesting to see how many times it takes before people stop saying it (usually two or three).

I had fun drawing Bri as dishelved by the experience as possible.

#119 - Fresh

Mimi’s first appearance, apart from a brief early cameo on Brianna’s work schedule in comic #60:

(As mentioned in a previous trivia, the doodle in that comic was designed to be distinct enough to base a character on later, but otherwise I hadn’t designed her until now).  Mimi has always been a name I liked - funnily enough I actually came to know someone with the name only a month or two after this comic (via the series even, they were the significant other of a friend/mutual who followed me after discovering the Chamomile randomly on tapas).  I don’t tend to use the names of people I know for OCs, so Cammie’s Mimi came to be just in time to not be called something else lol.

If it isn’t clear, the goal with Mimi is that beyond being ever-present in Cammie and Bri’s life, she’s a super memorable person in terms of charisma and appearance too, and yet, mirroring the fact that she’s always been off-camera up to this point, Cammie has no memory of her. One of my cartoonier gags but it’s one I’m weirdly fond of even if it means Mimi has been fairly one-note over the years in her few appearances.  Her appearance here and now was just a decision to just flesh out the world a little - clarify that Brianna does actually have a few other members of staff, she doesn’t run the The Cubby all by herself like some sort of cartoon character. So... yeah, it’s ironic that I used such a cartooney joke to illustrate this, lol.

Barely trivia for my long-time followers, but she is wearing earrings of my childhood character Frogy, who has cameo’d a couple other times in Cammie so far.

#120 - Sea

I don’t THINK I planned out this whole beach arc from the start - I just figured I’d think of beach stuff to make jokes about as I went. In addition, considering they live in a seaside town, I felt a need to address why the beach hadn’t shown up as a location more often now that we were 100 comics strong. I remember thinking how incredibly dumb I was for forgetting what happened to Cammie in the only other comic set at the beach to date at this point.

Getting the realistic seagull close-up’s vacant expression JUST right took a while, I remember. I was literally adjusting at the pixel-level to find what I thought was the exact funniest middleground between an intimidating piercing stare in Cammie’s direction and an utterly threatless vacant expression.

#121 - Nostalgic

Bri gets nostalgic of younger days. Boy I sure hope she doesn’t ruin anyone’s summer trip with this nonsense in about 200 comics time!

The last three panels deliberately mirror the earlier flashback comic of young Bri and Cam:

#122 - Kind

Another case where I was showing sentiments of Vienna being into history without wanting to draw too much attention to it either - just let it be a subtle character thing. Can you believe that giving your OCs interests other than your own means you have to RESEARCH stuff? I had to find out some details about medieval castles to make sure Vi’s was close to historically accurate, but the more interesting thing to research would be how on earth she made all that detail with a children’s beach bucket and spade.

#123 - Evening

Nothing too much to say about this one! I just wanted to draw this as a scene, and came up with the joke in the process. It’s funny how establishing a running gag makes a comic like this feel like a gimme in retrospect, but this was actually the comic that made the gag running - prior to this, Cammie had only had one unfortunate fire encounter in #53.

#124 - September

And the “Cammie and friends go to the beach” arc ends with a little “Webcomic Time” trope joke. It’s been done bunch of times before, my spin on it was tying it into the fact that time really does fly like that when you’re an adult, actually!  And of course I bookend with another Mimi joke - beyond just being a memorable character, this incredibly memorable unseen storyline centered around her apparently happened during the part of the year the comic didn’t cover and Cammie can’t remember that either.

I did always plan to keep the story of that day as a potential bonus content type dealie if I ever reach a time where I can afford to make bonus content as well as the main comic!  It’d spoil the joke of everything Mimi-related being so off-camera of course but... I haven’t written off ever covering it just for the sake of preserving the joke in this one comic.  Maybe one day we’ll find out what happened, but don’t worry too much about it if not, I think Mimi came out of it just fine.  Well, maybe.

[More Chamomile Comic Trivia] (Above link may not work correctly on tumblr app)  

[the-official-account]

A Dump of my last pre-s2 theories

(and probably my last unqueued post for the day goddamn.)

Originally written yesterday. Edits day of posting. This post builds of evidence not yet presented in cannon but that is public to build the theory. If you consider that spoilers, dni. But here’s the tea:

On june 6th 2022 I sent this doodle to the discord

[ID: a simple, scribbled ink four panel comic showing a person with a short afro working on a laptop and slowly leaning back in their chair, silently, for three panels as the shot slowly zooms on their face which lookis progressively more worried. The last panel shows a close up of their face as they say “I’m worried about Elio.]

in hindsight I don’t know why i had to draw it out but i did? Alongside this I sent the messages

“Part of me wants la catrina to be undeniably good so bad but the more I think about the "nobody tells you what possession feels like" bit from episode one the more nervous i get and then listening to the season two trailer MMMMMMMM me, knowing he's not gonna be okay: I hope he's okay”

to which samy reacted with a single server emoji of that dude smoking and sighing and i have thought about that fucking reaction EVERY DAY SINCE.

But the REAL kicker? this post

[ID: a red blurry zoom in of the words “elio in season 2″]

IT SAYS ELIO HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF GODS BEINGS PRAYED TO IN SEASON TWO. WHICH. WHAT THE FUCK? AS FAR AS WE FUCKING KNOW, EVERY OTHER PERSON WHO ORIGINALLY PRAYED TO LA CATRINA IS DEAD.

[ID: a meme reaction of a guy pointing to a red stringed, paper covered cork board, explaining a conspiracy.]

Anyways. Here’s where i start copying a lot from the discord so it’s more me being weird and less eloquent essay format.

La Catrina's WHOLE DEAL is that she's a blend between Christian and Nahuatl religion. And GUESS WHAT? THE SHORT STORY CONFIRMS THAT THE SAME IS TRUE ABOUT TALIA And the way the baron and la Catrina dance together? And their deeply worrying plan im the final trailer????? I dont have answers but I do have fear .

What does it meeeeean.........I mean clearly if Leo can be an angel while being anti crusade hope isn't lost but......okay this is a stretch but I wonder if there are crusade-approved....is missionaries the word? Like folks with the crusade, who's whole role in the system is to pray to Christian assimilated versions of dangerous gods to overpower past believers and try to control them. It's a STRETCH. But ??????

Shinji's Shinigami man fucker be stable. Shinji if it comes down to it pleeease pull through.

The Good...ish? news is that though the clip about Talia wanting to be a stripper instead of having to kill god (the funniest thing to say but queen shit) she says she HAS to kill god. Not HAD. So. Uhm. Based on structure shit, and stuff Samy mentioned I can't cite rn (understand that I am very tired and most of these rants happen in this same situation) about the show probably being about 3 seasons I think there's a pretty high chance that end of season 2 brings us up to speed with the narration timeline, because that's just a great opportunity there.

Which means that what I mentioned before about Shinji feeling unsafe mentioning where his family is still has a chance to come to change, so yay good. Elio refers to himself as the bane of crusaders or something along those lines, which means that BEFORE he fights god he's still doing pretty well so, hey, he probably won't get zalien god sucked again. Good, cool, chill.

Downside being we can't be absolutely sure if they live through the whole series but HAHAHA HEYYYY ITS FINE

I'm so mad cause I know there are so many details I'm missing that would make me actually chew on wood furniture as much as I say that like for real.  I might speed read the transcripts tomorrow [im not gonna so that asjdlfsfasd im tired] which it probably the worst way to consume this show but I have no defense. But the purpose of the recordings though it so help the next generation basically.

They're for preservation, I don't know how they phrased it exactly (sorry but you haven't seen my cry about the internet archive and I'm not gonna get started about the internet archive because it brings me to tears everytime but that's to say wow preservation is a subject and theme that HITS) but it could, alternatively, be very likely that the show recorded before finally preparations to fight TBMINTS

Which, you know, from a writing perspective there really are those two choices. Let the audience know there is a major format-shifting change end of season 2 to build anticipation for the final season OR save that getting up to speed but until the last few episodes of season 3 because a long term formatting change might annoy some audience members. There's also the idea that you can get up to speed, have daily/more recent audio-diary-like things, and then do a format switch end of season 3

We've got to find out about them fighting god somehow, and I don't know if the current format fits that whole deal? Maybe it could, I’d love to see it if it did, but I think the chances for a switch are high and what that says about the pacing of the show has some effect on how sure I am that my faves are gonna live ngl.

Like if you wait til the last few episodes a reflective on the noble deaths of the big 3 would work pretty well and yes it would be a wonderful story if it went that way I have full faith, but I also don't WANT it yk?

But I do not see all the cogs I am a poor fic writer leaning up a cypress tree etc.

[Here, a brief discussion on themes of cultural preservation and how they’re often recorded in real life]

Which HITS with elio especially. And also talia having read that short story. They had parallels but now they have PARALLELS. I just am literally so scared for elio next season though. And Talia by parralell extension but also cause I think Samy mentioned giving more into her deal s2 in the q&a? But less like SCARED scared.

Okay wait hello this is very  but IS it a stretch to say there may be legions of believer’s tainting how the god’s menifest? Like it's a stretch if you're assuming these people are AWARE of their roles in the system. That it's an intentional force by each individual directed at helping the crusade

BUUUUUUT TBMINTS runs on media. He run on major movies. If I was the god of a massive, relatively culturally cohesive continent (north America in comparison to, like, Asia, has very few thriving cultures, the colonialism will do that to you) and I was created by, and therefore knew how to leverage, media to harness belief to get more power from humans, like the next step would very obviously be to manufacture more media to help reach my goals.

And if I was manufacturing media to help me goals with a very large, organized force that surely has some sort of research division because what is marketing if not research but evil, I would totally say to myself

Hey!

I can control other gods by controlling the perspectives of their believers!

Hey! I can make people believers and shape their beliefs with media!

Hey! Why not send out various targeted feeds in the news and in pop culture funded by my massive organized theocracy showing the most powerful of my enemies as fitting more cleanly into the idea of good and evil that benefits me, both so that the I convince the subjects of my dominion their is no other alternative than the way I rule and also to hinder the other gods by making them more wreckless and more violent in ways that do not help their ultimate goals and create a cycle of demonizing them in the eyes of the masses? Literally what is stopping me from doing that?

NOTHING.

[Edit: There’s some evidence to by found maybe in that Elio who grew up in the americas had no fucking clue about the governments of europe and japan until he was told. Smells like a propaganda machine to me.]

And if it wasn't TBMINTS plotting himself he's got, like, at least a million bootlickers one of them has gotta be a mastermind with how much holy steroids he pumps into them. 

And like. The show's been...well it hasn't defined belief yet, which is really what leaves room for this theory.

Marcus didnt believe in lady luck in the same way elio believed in La Catrina (shrouding themselves in dark robes and praying In basements "it was all very dramatic") he just saw her once and just kinda lived his life knowing that. It only came into play much later when he needed to confront it.

Witches are just assured of themselves and their power. That's a background belief they don't pray to themselves they don't actively maintain that.

And Samar's whole deal?

My point is with the breadth of diversity in what "belief" is in the show and how it powers gods there's definitely space for this crackpot theory still (watch that change as soon as this ep drops shfskhslss) [edit: VINDICATION! you cant call me wrong yet] but if I get even one thing right I'm gonna be elated.

But god also?? Like I feel like we're lead to believe fighting TBMINTS is going to be a physical thing. The trio's growing strengths are very physically centered. But how do you kill a god REALLY? With as many followers as he has even if you somehow slew him, what stops TBMINTS from immediately being reborn? His power  comes from the cultural eradication of nonbelievers, and as Leo's sympathetic example could be taken to hint at: you really just can't kill all those people. Many of them are just ...people. not crusaders.

SOOOOOOOOO IN THAT CASE. If you're fighting a god of the media in a world where where all power is based on popular belief and perception is not the best counterattack to create your own media? Physical aptitude keeps them alive, it wins the small battles, but it hearts and minds that win the war

WHAT IF THE REAL UNIMAGINABLY POWERFUL WEAPON WAS THE PODCAST WE'RE LISTENING TO ALL ALONG?!?!?!!?!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 265: Tamaki What Did You Eat

Previously on BnHA: The heroes began their invasion of the Ol’ Villain Marriott. Down in the basement, Re-Destro was all “what’s going my fresh villain citizens, what a beautiful day, well I guess we should start that meeting” and they were all “WE’RE UNDER FUCKING ATTACK” and he made a face and I laughed. Class 1-B, Edgeshot, and Midnight then jovially killed some people, and then we cut to Dabi and Hawks! Hawks was all “sorry it has to be this way Bubaigawara but I’m gonna have to arrest you” and Twice got all Harry Potter in that one scene from the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, and then he did the thing, and fucking Hawks just fucking stood there and DID NOTHING. So now he’s gonna have to fight 100,000 Twices I guess, and meanwhile Dabi is running up the stairs on his way to intervene and somehow make things even more chaotic. Also either Hawks or Dabi thinks heroes are scum, and I’m still not clear on which. But basically it’s safe to say that angst is on the way, friends.

Today on BnHA: Tamaki turns into a horse. I have questions. Dark Shadow fights fucking Re-Destro and fucking destroys him in like two seconds flat, like holy shit whaaaaat. Then Tokoyami just hops on inside of Fatgum like a goddamn marsupial, and spends several pages like this, during which I completely can’t focus the entire time but I do remember that we learned that Machia won’t be joining the fight because he apparently only listens to Tomura, so that’s convenient I guess. Then we cut to Twice and Hawks (I literally typed out “Dabi and Hawks” just now and had to go back and change it, so you can see where my mind is at), and Hawks defeats Twice and is all “guess I’ve got no choice” and is seriously going to kill him (hahaha what the fuck), but then DABI FUCKING BURNS THE ENTIRE ROOM DOWN WITH EVERYONE IN IT WHILE LAUGHING AND THEN THE CHAPTER JUST ENDS. I feel like I just got slapped in the face.

so before we start, let me just mention that I got a ton of asks and messages about the whole “HERO SCUM” line, and I appreciate everyone keeping me up to date on the twists and turns of our wild little fandom lol. so as you all probably know, in Viz’s translation of the last page they had Dabi saying the line (“Twice, this isn’t your fault. as always... scummy heroes are to blame”). so naturally everyone was either like “whaaaaat!” or “I KNEW IT!!”, but then Caleb went and deleted his original tweet saying that it was Dabi, and replaced it with a new tweet, the gist of which was basically “I don’t fucking know either” and admitting he wasn’t an authority on the matter. so to sum everything up, we basically don’t know and will never know until the anime airs this in about three years’ time, or until the only man who can actually clear this up decides to stop drawing weird mushroom men for five goddamn minutes so he can clarify for us

anyway, so in the meantime it’s time to see who’s having angst this week! probably everybody! let’s just assume it’s everybody and save some time

ohooo so we finally get to see why they had Tamaki and Tokoyami in the vanguard, eh?

(ETA: gotta say, “you” is an awfully impersonal way to address someone whose entire body you are shortly going to stuff inside your little quirk papoose and tote around like a fanny pack.)

honestly this isn’t much of a mystery though lol. Tokoyami is obvious, and with Tamaki it’s probably because of his kraken thing if I had to guess

...excuse me sir is this leading where I think it’s leading

sir. Mister Gum, sir. please do not tell me you are actually about to lead these children into the building and down into the basement. first of all the thought of you and Tamaki in yet another basement is already giving me PTSD so no thanks. and second of all, ???!?!?!?!?! [gestures incredulously to the two children] ?!?!?!???? [emphatically taps my computer screen with the wiki page showing their respective ages] ???!?!?!?!?!?! [gestures wildly toward a picture of Gigantomachia I pulled up just now in a google search. yeah that’s right. Gigantomachia!! you all forgot about him didn’t you!! well guess who didn’t forget about him?? that’s right. so you’d better explain yourself right the fuck now, Fatgum. oh wait I’m still talking in action brackets whoops]

holy crap is Tokoyami giving orders lmao

well look at you. a general, huh? somebody must’ve told them about his little maneuver at the Battle of Taanab

so now some generic villain guys are all “HOW’D THEY FIND OUR SECRET PATH” and “WE MUST DEFEND IT” and I sure can’t wait to watch them get their asses kicked three panels from now

OH LORDY

EVERYONE TAMAKI HAS JUST TURNED INTO A HORSE. I IMMEDIATELY HAVE SEVERAL QUESTIONS, THE MOST PRESSING OF WHICH ARE (1) WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO HIS PANTS, AND (2) DOES THIS MEAN TAMAKI ATE A FUCKING HORSE. PLEASE STAY TUNED AS WE URGENTLY INVESTIGATE THESE NEW DEVELOPMENTS

lol and the cow horns too. why though. just completes the look I guess

loooooool he’s all “apologies, but please remain still” who are you, Tuxedo Mask??

LOOOOOOL

by the way, I almost skipped right past this, but the text says Tamaki will be a sidekick at the Fatgum agency starting “next year”, which presumably means “in a couple of weeks because the school year is about to end.” our boy is graduating! I’m so proud, and also really pissed off about Mirio all of a sudden, just throwing that out there. how much longer must his dreams be put on hold. where is the justice. man I need a minute

okay! anyway so now Tokoyami is just running into the basement alone!! hooooo boy. I know it’s dark down there and that’s presumably why they’re sending him of all people, but still. hooooooooo boy

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS NO WAY

IS TOKOYAMI GOING TO TAKE ON FUCKING RE-DESTRO AND IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING AND WHY THE FUCK IS NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN SUDDENLY PLAYING

KDSFLK;L’LLL

AM I IN THE RIGHT MANGA. DID DARK SHADOW REALLY JUST GROW NINETY FEET TALL AND START WRESTLING THE SAME FUCKING GUY WHO ALMOST* BROUGHT DOWN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE OF FUCKING VILLAINS

*except he didn’t, let’s be real. didn’t even come close. but still, on paper the hype looks real good!!

AND DO RE-DESTRO’S ROBOT LEGS SOMEHOW FUCKING CHANGE SIZE ALONG WITH HIM. CHALK ANOTHER ONE UP FOR THE MYSTERY BASKET. PUT YOU RIGHT NEXT TO “BUT FOR REAL THOUGH DID TAMAKI ACTUALLY EAT A FUCKING HORSE”

OOOOOF

LOL DETNERAT’S MERCHANDISE REALLY IS TOTAL SHIT. CAN’T EVEN HANDLE A LITTLE CLASH WITH A GIGANTIC SHADOW DEMON

by the way, check out that one guy in the bottom right corner who just totally doesn’t give the least of fucks. he’s fresh out. he wants to know how much longer this is gonna last so he can go home and get back to playing the new Animal Crossing. did you know they added a new crafting feature. can’t believe he’s stuck here at this boring meeting. this man genuinely doesn’t seem to be at all aware of anything that is currently happening around him and it’s amazing. added to the box of questions

oh man. I don’t quite understand what is happening now but I keep expecting Gigantomachia to just pop up out of nowhere any second and I can’t fucking stand it. Horikoshi please stop showing us these close-ups of destroyed walls

OH GOD OH GOD!!!

(ETA: what a casual fucking line implying that Tokoyami genuinely believed that there was nobody in THE ENTIRE LEAGUE OF PLIFF who stood a chance against his latest super move. don’t mind him everyone, he’s just been lowkey biding his time to become the strongest member of class 1-A offscreen while his loser classmates were having dramatic family dinners. how many High Ends could Dark Shadow take out I wonder. why did I suddenly get a mental image of Toko losing an arm only to sigh and nonsensically quote Shakespeare or some shit before wrapping Dark Shadow around the stump and getting back to the asskicking.)

NO TOKO NOT THE ANGRY BALD MAN, HE’S TALKING ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE!! OH FUCK OH FUCK

LMAO

:) :) :) can we maybe get my solemn bird son out of this fucking DEATH BASEMENT right the fuck now. can we do that, please

holy shit!?

:) :) :) I can’t decide whether I trust these panels or not. why is he so confident. does this mean Machia really will be sitting out the arc, or is a trap. help

(ETA: I guess it’s okay for now. ... dammit I’m still suspicious sob.)

also, Tokoyami’s “?!” face is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen though. the fact that he’s physically incapable of altering his expressions no matter what is true comedy gold here

NEVER MIND, THOSE WERE THE WORDS OF A CALLOW YOUTH WHO KNEW NOTHING OF TRUE COMEDY GOLD

WHAT A FOOL I WAS. PLEASE PARDON MY IGNORANCE. SO HERE WE HAVE TOKOYAMI’S MONOEXPRESSION BIRD HEAD STICKING OUT OF FATGUM’S JOLLY BELLY FOR NO REASON, WHILE FATGUM IS ALL “DON’T YOU FEEL LIKE WE’RE KICKING TOO MUCH ASS AND SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN”, AND SOME OTHER POOR GUY WITH SCISSORS HANDS IS JUST LYING THERE DEAD IN THE BACKGROUND. MY GOD. I’M IN AWE OF THIS

dfkjkjk oh noooo

“does this young man amuse you,” Horikoshi says as he darkly pencils in the disturbingly concave shadows of Fatgum’s ridiculous fucking quirk. “are his ‘magnificent fellow’ bird antics pleasing for you to watch. I guess it sure would be a shame if I gave him some... angst”

but for real y’all I genuinely can’t take this at all seriously when Tokoyami’s head is still stubbornly and persistently poking its way out of Fatgum like a goddamn baby kangaroo in every fucking panel

we are entering another Tokoyami+Hawks mentor flashback and this is still all I can think about. why is he even in there. why is any of this happening. Tokoyami really just flung Re-Destro into a wall and then climbed inside of Fatgum feet-first so they could run along to freedom. just fucking ensconced himself. do you think it’s cozy in there. do you think Aizawa would fall asleep

hey Toko please stop having ominous thoughts about my other bird son

have you ever heard of an announcer jinx. “now here’s a guy who the fans have loved since the moment he was first introduced. and if you look at the stats, fourth place in his first popularity poll, which was taken only ten chapters after his introduction. heck, he’s so popular they even went and gave him a role in the second movie even before he appeared in the anime! it’s undeniable that this young man has a bright future ahead of him, Al.” now you listen here. I don’t at all like where this is headed and it needs to stop right now

anyway so of course on that note we are cutting back to Hawks

so we’ve confirmed that Hawks has his hands full just melting all of the new clones as they come, and doesn’t have the speed or the excess feathers (or the conviction? :|) to go after the original and put a stop to all this

or you could just ignore everything I say ever because immediately on the next page Horikoshi is all “actually he’s winning lol”

anyway but it sure would be a shame if someone were to run in and set you on fire right about now. that probably sounds sarcastic but it actually would be really bad lol please don’t set Hawks on fire

(ETA: motherfucker. goddamn. fucking --)

and now Hawks is making clones of his fellow League buddies oh shit!! but right when I was about to scroll down I noticed that Hawks is carrying some sort of recording device?? or communications device?? in his hand very conspicuously in that last panel? and so what is going on here, exactly?

oh shit and never mind about those LoV clones

that’s all well and good Hawks, but I need you to please just be very cautious and aware and proactive about not catching on fire okay. watch your six

oh my god oh my god

“now here’s a guy whose rise in popularity was unexpected but just a real pleasure to watch. he just really cares about his friends.” “you said it; he really came into his own a couple arcs back. twenty-third in the most recent poll, and the fans all love him.” fffffff Hawks isn’t a killer Hawks isn’t a killer, I can’t hear you lalala

LA LA LA

maybe... he’ll just... punch a small hole through one of his lungs... ...

...

or... a large hole... ... ,,,

oh THANK GOD he’s jumping on top of him. so clearly he’s fine because Shounen Rules. that’s right, this is a manga where Toga survived blowing up from the inside out and Jeanist survived being murdered and stuffed into a tote bag. (right??) why am I so tense I hate this!!

HEY WHAT IS THIS

or you could just KNOCK HIM OUT??? ?????!??! did they not teach you that in peewee assassin league?! Hawks

I DON’T LIKE THIS I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS!!

STOP SHOWING US TWICE’S SAD THOUGHTS YOU BASTARD NO I DON’T LIKE THIS YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE ME CRY SO STOP!!

GODDAMMIT HORIKOSHI I FUCKING HATE YOU

“HERE’S A SERIES OF PANELS WITH TWICE CRYING AND THINKING ABOUT TOGA WHILE HAWKS HOLDS A FUCKING KNIFE RIGHT ABOVE HIS EYE,” HORIKOSHI SAYS WHILE IGNORING EVERYTHING I SAY AND DISABLING ALL COMMENTS ON HIS TWITTER, PROBABLY. WOW I JUST LOOKED IT UP AND APPARENTLY YOU CAN’T DO THAT? DAMN, TWITTER REALLY SUCKS, BUT ANYWAY

FINE THEN DABI YOU CAN SET HIM ON FIRE!!

JOKE’S ON YOU ASSHOLES, YOU CAN’T HURT ME IF I CAN’T SEE THE LAST PAGE OF THE CHAPTER THROUGH ALL MY TEARS

FUCK

[SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] THE FUCK WAS THAT

DON’T YOU EVEN DARE, HORIKOSHI. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANY “BUT YOU GAVE HIM PERMISSION”, COME THE FUCK ON, YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT DIDN’T MEAN SHIT AND I WAS LIABLE TO CHANGE MY MIND YET AGAIN ONLY A PAGE LATER AS PER USUAL! WHAT SORT OF TWISTED MIND WOULD DECIDE THAT THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE TWICE WAS TO SET THE ENTIRE ROOM ABLAZE AND THEN HAVE DABI GLEEFULLY STOMP ON HAWKS’S FACE. WHAT KIND OF SICK MONSTER WOULD DREAM THIS UP. THIS ISN’T HOT AT ALL. HOW DARE YOU

ALSO WTF DABI, “HERE I COME TO RESCUE TWICE” WHILE BURNING HIM ALIVE AS WELL, JESUS CHRIST THESE FUCKING TODOROKIS I SWEAR TO GOD. DID YOUR BRAIN CELLS CATCH FIRE TOO

I CAN’T BELIEVE I WAITED ALL WEEK IN A FUCKING LOCKDOWN FOR THIS SHIT. THIS CHAPTER WAS A FUCKING TRAIN WRECK, AND I DON’T KNOW IF I WANT TO THANK ITS STUPID CONDUCTOR, OR PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE. it’s not the manga we need, but it’s the one we deserve. I guess

[kae-karo]

texas smash babey

anyway can't believe it took me a week to post these but here are some Great™ pics from MHAcon texas smash last week special shoutout to @dabidevito the very incredible shiggy, baku to my kiri, and long todo (as well as the one doing all my eyeliner for me thank u so much), @/texas_fatgum/texasfatgum (on insta/tik tok) who saw me as kiri & screamed KIRISHIMA!!! super excitedly and then asked to take a pic, and the wonderful smol child named isabella who gave us the adorable mina drawing. honestly the most wholesome event I've attended. v v wholesome stories below the cut

on the literal first day, ten seconds after we arrived, a smol child ran up to us as kiri and baku and asked if they could take a pic with us it was very sweet

shoutout to the todo and dabi (katie and micah) who ran up to us and went KIRIBAKU then proceeded to chat with us for like half an hour

there was a panel with kurono and overhauls voice actors and they deadass were the funniest people and SO chaotic. kuronos voice actor was talking abt how he transitioned from the more gangster style voice to smth a little less Like That and his literal description for his thought once kurono takes off his mask was "he hot". overhauls va got all of the 8 bullets' vas in a twitter chat as soon as they were all announced and then they all got pizza. it was a q&a session and at one point a kid raised their hand, and kuronos va asked their name and the kid just rattled off their question instead and both of the guys were like THAT'S A REALLY LONG NAME at the exact same time, then high fived

a kiri (I think? I cant recall but they had red hair so probs either that or a todo) and a deku who just like. kept enthusiastically waving to me?????

the person who complimented my red contacts (as kiri) and said they really took the cosplay to the next level and they hadn’t seen anyone do that before (I literally turned to rose a minute later and was like.....okay so clearly they havent been on tik tok lmao)

the vendor person who caught my attention long enough to gesture at me, then their own shirt, then give me a thumbs up (cause I was wearing a red riot shirt)

on the second day I was hawks and rose was shiggy and as soon as we walked in someone was like "oh I love ur hawks". this happened several times (or some variation, like people just going HAWKS)

THE LOVELY PERSON WHO WALKED INTO THE BATHROOMS WHILE ROSE WAS FIXING HER HAIR, SAW ME, AND WENT "OHMYGOD YOU'RE HAWKS?????" then covered their mouth and was deadass speechless for several seconds

the dabi who said they liked my flower and vine tattoo :')

the person who not only came up to us and went SHIGAHAWKS? (to which I immediately responded I PREFER DABIHAWKS BUT YEAH) and then asked if rose was supposed to be texas shigaraki (yes. yes she was)

the person who came up and asked us to sign their wooden block that they had a ton of other cosplayers sign??? very wholesome

ONCE AGAIN ISABELLA WHO GAVE US THEIR MINA DRAWING AND SAID THEY THOUGHT WE MIGHT LIKE IT AND ALSO THEY LIKED OUR COSPLAYS

extremely special shoutout to the person who showed up in a SHIRTLESS HAWKS COSPLAY with some extendable/retractable FUCKIN MASSIVE WINGS that were probably a good 7ft across, u a real one my dude. they took pics for like 2hr with people, had their own music going, and the postmates driver who dropped off our food saw them from two stories down and asked us about them. also shoutout to the kid who was with their parent and, as they left the big-wing hawks and passed us (I was in hawks as well) said "normally he's not shirtless, he's wearing a shirt like that"

the todo cosplayer (we later found out this was katie, the todo cosplayer who found us a bit later) who asked the gran torino va if midoriya was all mights secret love child

the people who asked various vas if they believed the dabi=touya theory, and the amajiki va who deadass said "isn't that basically canon?"

shflshdkhskf I almost forgot the panel on bnha Theories hosted by pretty reckless (idr which social media they're on sorry rip) like we were hit with SO MANY theories all at once it was a challenge to really think through them all but it was a BLAST

seriously I cannot express how many amazing and adorable cosplays we saw. tons of dekus and todos and bakus, someone had this BOMBASS shinsou wig, another person had an incredible mei wig? someone made a full mei-during-sports-festival costume and it was awesome. there were so so so many amazing shoes like I cant even begin to say how many shoes rose and I pointed out to each other. the baku with red/yellow/orange camo jeans and a dope black hat??? the nejire in her hero costume? a ton of excellent dabis??? bonus points to the ones with red feathers in their hair. lots of togas in full costume. the smol child dressed in full amajiki hero costume??? the dope-ass tetsutetsu hero costume??? the tokoyami and dark shadow cosplayers??? that villain!todo. a fair few hero costume bakus (truly incredible those gauntlets are a Whole Thing and I applaud you) and a few hero costume kiris as well. literally so so many wonderful people they were all incredible

like. I've heard horror stories of bnha cosplayers, attending cons, etc. but every single person we interacted with was super kind and respectful and wholesome, I genuinely had such a lovely time and I'd absolutely do it again???

[1863-project]

Big Fat Summary of Everything

I’ve been rewatching all the Big Fat Quiz episodes for...well, no reason, really, other than that I felt like it. So without further ado, here’s the important stuff I’ve taken from each episode.

BFQOTY 2004:

The first-ever episode. It takes a little bit for the series to hit its stride, and it’s probably most visible here.

Simon Pegg is here, though, which is always a nice plus.

BFQOTY 2005:

Another quieter year, although major celebrities appear alongside the comedians - namely Sharon Osbourne and Gordon Ramsey.

Jon Snow appears reading songs as news stories for the first time. He doesn’t start dancing to them until much later, though.

First appearance of panel show master David Mitchell on BFQ.

BFQOTY 2006:

This is where it goes off the rails, because 2006 is the first of the three appearances of the team that becomes known as the Goth Detectives, Russell Brand and Noel Fielding. Teams gave deliberately weird and funny answers to things they didn’t know before this, but they took it to another level.

Ironically, despite this they end up winning as a joke, which is hilarious.

Big Fat Anniversary Quiz (2007):

First appearance of Richard Ayoade on the show. He and David Mitchell are a team, to boot (and go by the name “Speccy Nerdy Fucknuts,” at that, after their plan to be seated in the middle yet call themselves “Team Three” is thwarted). 

BFQOTY 2007:

Noel and Russell return to defend their title, the only time the winning team has returned so far intact for the next year’s episode. Jimmy Carr isn’t as lenient with them and their bullshitting this time around.

This is the first time regular Rob Brydon is on the winning team even though he’s been in every episode up to this point with the exception of the anniversary episode.

BFQOTY 2008:

Jonathan Ross is glaringly absent this year, but it’s because he and Russell Brand had gotten themselves into some pretty serious trouble over the course of the year. Rob Brydon is also absent, meaning that the Bipedal Seal is now the only constant on the show.

First appearance of Claudia Winkleman.

First appearance of two for James Corden, and he flawlessly sings a verse of That’s Not My Name from memory, foreshadowing his future career as Carpool Karaoke maestro.

Davina McCall and Claudia Winkleman talk about wanting to double-team Jon Snow.

BFQOTY 2009:

Despite what had happened the year before (not on the show), Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand are allowed to be a team.

David Mitchell refuses to dance. It’s very funny.

Rob Brydon does the man in a box voice.

BFQOTY 2010:

First teaming of absolute dynamo surreal dream team Noel and Richard, clearly the best idea this show has ever had. They set a then-record with a score of 12. Team name this year is The Electric Moccasins (although as a joke Robson and Jerome comes up as an alternative).

“How can you throw a live wasp?”

“Why do you think it’s weirder throwing a live wasp than a nightmare?”

BFQOTY 2011:

David Walliams and Miranda Hart set the all-time low score record with a measly 4. Which is impressive because Noel and Richard have been a team eight times over the course of the show’s run as of early 2019.

BFQ of the 80s (September 16, 2012):

Not the most notable of episodes, but still worth it. At least go watch the Mitchell Brook kids act out Live Aid.

BFQ of the 90s (September 23, 2012):

Two words: Mr. Blobby. Jack Whitehall is traumatized for life now.

BFQ of the 00s (September 30, 2012):

Noel and Richard’s second appearance as a team, and most notably, the episode where they make their legendary “your mom” joke at Jimmy’s expense. (Team name: The Indoor Kites aka Hot Shame.)

BFQOTY 2012:

Jack Whitehall’s first non-special appearance on the show. He and James Corden proceed to behave like a couple of giggling schoolboys the entire time, even ordering pizza and white wine and having it delivered to them. Oh, and they’re in tuxedos.

Richard Ayoade’s first win on the show. He’s teamed with Gabby Logan.

Russell and Jonathan are a team again. Apparently this is working out for them.

Charles Dance reads 50 Shades of Grey.

BFQ of the 80s (September 22, 2013):

Again, a quieter special by comparison to some of the episodes of the show, but David Mitchell and Phill Jupitus are a team, so if you’re a fan of panel show team captains appearing on other panel shows, it’s worth it.

BFQ of the 90s (September 29, 2013):

Jimmy Carr gets gunged (slimed for the Americans who grew up with Nickelodeon).

BFQOTY 2013:

Dream team Noel and Richard return as a team for the third time and are actually joint winners, marking their first victory as a duo on the show. Sadly, there’s no team name.

Jonathan Ross brings a turkey and makes sandwiches for everyone else.

BFQOTY 2014:

This is the notorious Mel B episode, but it’s also the first appearance of Sarah Millican, who is wonderful.

Richard and David Mitchell are a team again.

Jon Snow’s dancing career begins in this episode, if I recall correctly.

Big Fat Anniversary Quiz (2015):

Third and as of now final appearance of the Goth Detectives. Russell hands out his phone number to audience members and gets them to text him the answers, which isn’t caught until fairly late in the show.

Jack Whitehall does some texting of his own and interacts with Chico, and it’s honestly one of the funniest things that’s ever been on the show. Claudia hugs him as if she’s his mom when he gets a response for the first time.

BFQOTY 2015:

BAD DONG. I’m pretty sure this doesn’t need to be elaborated on, but if you’ve never seen Bad Dong, you need to see Bad Dong. The episode is worth watching for Bad Dong alone.

Of course, if you like Taskmaster, Greg Davies is here, so that’s a good reason to watch too.

BFQOE January 5, 2016:

First-ever Quiz of Everything. Chelsea Peretti of B99 fame is here, if you’re a fan of Nine-Nine.

Richard and Noel (under the team name The Ladder Collars, named after Jonathan Ross’s giant shirt collar) almost win, but Richard insists on making a joke on the last question and they end up in second. Noel of all people calls him out on it.

Mel Giedroyc takes her shoes off to get more comfortable at one point. Noel notices and proceeds to compliment her shoes (high praise coming from him), then says he’d like to drink Bailey’s out of them (which is a reference to probably the one Boosh thing everyone on the internet has seen at some point in time).

BFQOE 2016 Series Episode 1:

Worth it alone to see Jon Snow doing YMCA.

Jonathan Ross and Bob Mortimer’s team name is One And A Half Condoms.

Two dancers from Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing With the Stars in the US) perform a series of dances for the teams to identify. Somehow, despite hosting the show, Claudia doesn’t get most of them right.

BFQOE 2016 Series Episode 2:

Noel and Richard have the team name “The Sultans of Bhunai.” Also, by some bizarre set of circumstances they actually win outright. 

Richard goes on an absolutely legendary rant after Rob Beckett steals his tray of candy, which amongst other things leads to him renaming Jonathan Ross and Adam Buxton’s team “The Ancient Fucks.”

Personal highlight for me besides Richard’s candy rage: Noel drawing himself and Richard on the bottom of the screen at one point. Cute as hell.

BFQOE 2016 Series Episode 3:

The only time Noel has won two episodes in a row. Here he’s teamed with Eddie Izzard, which is honestly inspired.

Alan Carr and Romesh Ranganathan call themselves “The Twins.”

BFQOTY 2016:

Romesh’s father has been dead for three years and Jimmy didn’t bother to find that out before asking him what his father thought about his tour of America with his mother, which led to the show breaking down before it even got started this time.

Mel Giedroyc is obsessed with Crossrail. It’s great, trust me.

BFQOE 2017:

Noel and Richard’s team name this time is Humanity’s Last Hope:

Katherine Ryan and Aisling Bea bring puppies on. Real puppies. And it’s wonderful. Everyone takes turns holding them.

When the panelists wonder who owns the moon, Noel just flat-out raises his hand. Because, you know, he IS the moon.

Noel draws an eel in a top hat, which I suspect is a Hitcher reference.

BFQOTY 2017:

First appearance of Big Narstie, who ends up fitting in surprisingly well on the show.

Noel and Richard’s team name is Cakes in the Maze.

Oh, and Noel is dressed as the podium.

BFQOE 2018:

Vic and Bob are a team! An actual double act is a team for the first time! (Their name is Strike Force One.)

Personal highlight of this one for me is the Mitchell Brook kids acting out Kasparov’s loss to IBM’s Deep Blue.

BFQOTY 2018:

Noel and Richard’s team name is Discount Fireworks.

Mo Gilligan flosses to Baby Shark.

On that note, upon learning Baby Shark was the biggest hit of 2018, Noel throws a tea mug and shatters it...then immediately goes to pick the shards up so that nobody gets hurt.

“That’s right! I’m on Bake-Off, motherfuckers!”

BFQOE 2019:

Sandi Toksvig and Big Narstie are becoming friends and it’s the cutest thing.

On that note, Sandy (a lesbian) and Joe Lycett (bi/pan) answer a question asking what three songs have in common with “Gay. They’re all gay.”

Also, Sandy knows weird facts about everything, in case you were wondering if QI is in good hands. It definitely is.

Jon Snow brings all the boys to the yard.

[canaryatlaw]

OH BOY AM I TIRED. let’s see how much of this I can write while still keeping my eyes open- actually I’ve been typing this last sentence with my eyes closed because if I focus I can do that with no actual mess ups (I just opened them, no mistakes). but yeah, today was really cool but circumstances going in were not great because for some inexplicable reason I was unable to fall asleep for my life last night, and ended up being up until after 5:30 am, meaning I got less than 3 hours of sleep, which is of course not good at all. but I got up at 8:30 and got ready, did my makeup, and waited to get picked up while eating some breakfast and chewing some caffeine gum. made it to the con after a whole adventure with parking which was kinda nuts, and end up meeting our friends over by photo ops and then switching to autograph lines. a good part of the day was spent in different autograph lines, mostly for Shield guests that I do not know at all so I wasn’t really invested, but it was still fun and of course we got to explore the show floor and everything. I got a hot dog at some point because my stomach was like TOO MUCH CAFFEINE, NEED FOOD so I did my best there. Then we went on a whole adventure trying to find one of my internet friends who works for the company that puts on the con. we couldn’t find the booth number on the map for our lives and were going nuts, and then I find out the number is not a booth, but actually one of the panel rooms upstairs 😂duh. So I went upstairs and got to chat with her for like 20 minutes in between panels so that was a lot of fun. When I came back downstairs they were waiting in Ming-Na Wen’s line, who is of course a Shield person but she’s also like in Mulan so I had some interest in meeting her. I didn’t really say much, just kinda went along with it, but it was fun and she was really cool. after that we wandered around artist alley for a bit before saying goodbye to our friends since they had to go, then did one more loop in artist’s alley to see what we can find. I ended up getting a button with a drawing of Lafayette from Hamilton that says “America’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman” and Jess ended up getting a shirtless Kylo Ren like little pouch thing that’s fucking hilarious, and then a sticker with Angelica Schuyler from a collection I’ve seen on tumblr very recently that’s super cool. I wanted to get this drawing of Draco I liked a lot, but they didn’t have it in the smaller size, only the larger poster and like, I legit cannot fit another poster in my room at this point lol I don’t even know how I’m gonna hang up the photo ops I have from the last two cons. But yeah, we headed out after that point, it was raining so the walk to the car was kinda a pain but oh well. Drove home and got dropped off, got changed into comfy and dry clothes, and ended up just sitting on the couch and watching news and then america’s funniest home videos just because it came on and I was lazy, and I made dinner before Supergirl came on at 7, which I had initially totally forgotten about. Interesting episode, it was focused around Russian Kara which is actually apparently Kasnian Kara (Kasnia being one of the fake DC countries, along with Markovia and Bialya) and what she’s been going through and how much of a role Lex had been playing in it and how he’s been spending a lot less time in prison than we thought. I’d say it was one of the better episodes this season, though tbh that’s not saying very much because I have definitely not enjoyed most of the episodes this season. So when that was over I started getting ready for bed because I was dead tired, so I showered and then looked at stuff on my computer for a bit before finally writing this and now I’m here and GOD I’M SO TIRED I’m gonna go sleep for like 14 hours now. Goodnight dears. Hope your Monday doesn’t suck.

[lacewedding]

WEDDINGS & FEMINISM

If you are in the midst of planning your wedding day, there are a number of traditions and ceremonial practices which I imagine you have already thought about: from stag dos to first dances, guest lists to flowers, you’ve got it covered.

I want to highlight where some of these imbalances occur, and ask you to challenge them when thinking about your own wedding plans. You might not want to make any changes to the traditions, and that’s fine! It may be that your bride doesn’t feel comfortable giving a speech or your groom doesn’t fancy a grand entrance, and there’s no shame in that. It may be, however, that when you actually start thinking about it, there are all sorts of changes you want to make to your wedding in order for it to better reflect you as a couple, rather than reflecting age-old customs and attitudes.

But, before you get too far in your planning process, have you thought about how many of these customs are incredibly gender-imbalanced? Usually, the groom gets to give a speech but the bride doesn’t, but then the bride gets a grand entry when she walks down the aisle and the groom is expected to stand solemnly at the front and wait for her (insert sexist joke here about the bride always being late…).

This calls into question how the Hen Do would work – would they be invited to the usually all-female shin-dig? Well of course they would! They’d have to help organise it! It would be bizarre for me to have a Hen Do without them. I might draw the line at making them wear matching dresses with my bridesmaids though… But if they want to, I shan’t stop them! 

Now I may be miles away from getting married myself, but I already know that alongside asking certain women in my life to be my Bridesmaids, I have some very special men in my life as well. I simply couldn’t imagine my wedding without them being my Best Men (Bridesmen?).

What about the speeches? Would they get a speech, just like the Best Men do? More on that later…

If we want to delve into the nitty-gritty depths of Bridesmaids and Best Men, we could even comment on the titles themselves… The bride gets ‘maids’ and ‘matrons’, while the groom has the honour of presenting his very best man at his wedding, the cream of the crop. How about having Best Women at your wedding instead?

My sister was a Best Woman a couple of years ago. Albeit it was for the groom, not the bride, so sticking to half of the tradition but still causing some raised eyebrows. The reaction from friends and family when she announced the happy news was mixed. While many of us celebrated with her, there were some who were sceptical, and even laughed at the notion of a woman taking on the Best Man role. She did it with enthusiasm, though – everything from planning the Stag Do to giving a speech at the wedding.

Indeed, the honour of giving a speech is usually reserved exclusively for the males attending – the father of the bride, the groom, and the Best Man (in that order, if my Googling is still up to scratch!). At my sister’s wedding, she asked if either I or our mother wanted to give a speech. I opted to sing for them instead (and being the lyrical genius that I am, I wrote them a song, so that was basically a speech to music, right?), but my mother decided against giving a speech for fear of her being “a blubbering mess” (her words, not mine!).

Speaking of speeches – it wasn’t until my sister’s wedding last autumn (you’ll notice a running theme here – I have drawn lots of inspiration from my sister in this blog!) that I realised the bride does not usually give a speech at her own wedding. The father of the bride, certainly, but the bride herself? Apparently not.

Now, I dare not assume that the reason women are usually not part of the speeches segment of a wedding day is because they are all seen as being potential blubbering messes, but I can’t help but feel it may be a contributing factor. Another may be that it is assumed that women aren’t as funny as men. Speeches at weddings are meant to be funny, so clearly that’s a man’s job. A glance at any late-evening BBC comedy panel show can tell you that much.

My sister, however, proved all of that wrong. Delivering by far the funniest speech of the day (#notbiased), as well as not needing to dive for a handkerchief, she goes to show that anything can be possible.

As I said earlier, I imagine having Best Men on my side of the room and would offer them the opportunity to give a speech if they so wished. Of course, I would offer the same opportunity to my bridesmaids. I think this is the key takeaway here: offer the chance to anyone who you think would make a good speech!

Now, why is it the groom is not offered this same moment of glory? If he has put in just as much effort as the bride to look the part on his special day, shouldn’t he get a chance to strut his stuff while everyone watches?

Who would have thought that I could even make the simple act of walking down the aisle a feminist issue? It turns out, however, there are a couple of aisle-related imbalances that I would like to explore.

The first is actually a tradition that favours the bride (for once!). It happens in all the movies, the soap operas, and in the finales of TV-shows: the groom is stood waiting at the altar and everyone turns to gaze in awe upon the bride as she is walked down the aisle on her father’s arm. Beautiful.

Again, drawing from my sister’s wedding, my now brother-in-law did just that. Unfortunately I was not witness to the scene, being a bridesmaid (or, should I say, best woman?) and therefore preoccupied trying to hurry my sister along to ensure she wasn’t late (damn her for sticking to at least one stereotype that day!). I have been told, however, that it was quite a sight to behold. Having blasted Chesney Hawkes’ “I am the One and Only” through the PA system, he strode down the aisle with as much pride and confidence as any man on his wedding day should have.

Another issue which sparked quite a debate in our family was the part of the ceremony where the bride is meant to be ‘given away’ to the groom by her father. There is even a prescribed format for it – “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” – which was traditionally seen as the father literally giving ownership of the bride from himself to the groom. The nature of this exchange gives the impression that the bride is an object to be owned and traded, rather than a human being who came voluntarily to the decision to wed the man standing in front of her. How you choose to interpret this is of course up to you. My sister ditched the wording, but still chose to be walked down the aisle by our father. You may choose to go as far as getting both your parents to walk you down the aisle, or neither! (You go, gurl!). Whatever you choose, it’s just important to remember that you have a choice – it is your wedding day after all.

There are a myriad of other potentially anti-feminist wedding traditions I could talk about (engagement rings, the bride taking the groom’s last name, the white dress, and so many more…) but I think that this is the most important point I could make in this blog: you have a choice. You can choose to stick to traditions, or you can choose to throw them out the window. Do whatever makes you and your partner feel happy on your special day.

Now here’s a question: where do all these hetero-normative traditions fit into homosexual wedding ceremonies? The answer is, they do or they don’t. It’s up to the couple getting married (duh?). You may choose to dress like two brides, two grooms, or one of each. You may choose to have best men, bridesmaids, or just a bunch of people who are not defined by their gender roles at all (heaven forbid!). You may choose to walk down the aisle with your mum, your dad, your pet dog… But the funny thing is, the same applies to any wedding. You can make it as traditional or as non-traditional as you like.