#There's something fascinating about them

[maintitle]

By the by, Final Fantasy VIII deserves more respect JUST for the fact that you can take that first disc and hold it up to literally any other multi-disc Square PS1 game, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better contained story within it.

One of the things about art is that working within the confines of what you have can create some of the most unique experiences possible, and having to use multiple discs for games WAS a constraint that in and of itself could be art. The first disc of FFVIII is the one time I can think of where that format they were forced into actually added A LOT to the story, because within the scope of one disc you learn the setting, the characters, their struggles and best and worst characteristics, and are given a plot hook powerful enough to drive the rest of the story. Add to that an EXCELLENT last few sequences and a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, and I truly believe that disc can't be touched.

It's a stunning experience, and to this day the only disc of any multi-disc game where I remember EXACTLY where it starts and ends, and everything that happens in between. THAT'S an achievement, and I truly think it's the only time it's ever happened with these kinds of games.

[umblrspectrum]

getting in that spooky spirit

[cup-o-stars]

Last part for old GF sketches

(Actually, most of these aren't old at all, but their average is brought down by the last picture, which I drew back in August and kept forgetting to post)

[partfae]

this has probably been pointed out before, but i love this parallel between Celebrimbor and Tar-Miríel in season 2 so much.

[beetlethebug]

consider,,,a lucanis who is in love with emmrich, a spite who is in love with rook, a rook in love with emmrich, and emmrich who is in love with all three but wants lucanis, spite, and rook to get together because he feels he is not the type of man any of them deserve...

bonus points for spite being the one to realize just what sort of love quadrilateral is going on and is the one to get them all together.

[martianbugsbunny]

how did I not see it before it is absolutely UNHINGED behavior for Stone to draw that foam art of him and Robotnik with hearts on ROBOTNIK'S LATTE unless he feels a hundred percent flipping secure in doing so???? like there is an implication there

[mamawasatesttube]

tim kon cassie trio on the mind today. not a love triangle, not a polycule, but a secret third thing (when a gay man, a lesbian, and their pet bisexual freak love each other very much...)

[fatedroses]

More than just the Demon.

[marlynnofmany]

Hey, time to overanalyze magic again. It makes sense to me -- follow closely now -- that earthbending would just be the control of rocks. It's all the minerals that come from the ground, and sure, even some artificially created ones as long as they have the same structure. But just rocks. Not dirt.

Why not, you ask? I invite you to consider what dirt actually is. It's lots of things! Some rock dust, yes, but also crumbled plants, and decomposed animals, and a variety of fungus, and bits of poop from creatures both microscopic and large. Basically, it's a mess of all things organic (plus tiny rocks).

You don't want an earthbender for dirt.

You want a necromancer.

[transxfiles]

thinking a lot about the phenomenon of celebrities going through their "baby gay" phase in the spotlight. idk i know it's funny to joke about jojo siwa and "gay pop" etc etc and there's so much valid criticism there. but i also think there's something to be said about how pop culture forces queer people out of the closet which means that if celebrities try to work through their baby gay phase on their own they're considered "traitors" or "liars" or "queerbaiting" etc etc for trying to keep their sexuality private, but if they decide to come out as soon as they know "what they are" they become cringe in the eye of the public bc they're still figuring out what it means to be queer. idk. like even with chappell roan, i know she's a pop culture darling rn and i adore her. but sometimes she says stuff in interviews that feels so baby gay and i have to remind myself that she's just. a young person who is in the spotlight and figuring herself out still. and even with the jojo siwa thing like. again obv she sounds so ignorant when she talks about wanting to "invent gay pop" but it's also like. god. figuring my gender/sexuality business out was stressful enough when i was sitting alone in my bathroom at age 13. i cannot imagine growing up in the spotlight with hundreds of cameras and millions of eyes on me. and then having to be my "cringe" newly out queer self to the masses. idk lots to chew on. i've just been thinking about this a lot recently.

[beaulesbian]

One Piece ep. 257 || "That was really something. They don't call themselves pirates for nothing."

manga ch. 367

It was cute Luffy really did the peace sign in the manga as well!

+Bonus "That was fun."

"No human could pull that off"

[thetrinitytest]

[jinlin-at-the-moon]

i dont know how to Articulate my thoughts abt this but like. im deeply fucking surprised i haven't seen any 3zun fics where it would fully lean into jin guangyao's severe parental issues. like maybe im just too svssspilled (its totally me being too svssspilled thanks 'i wouldnt abort you' sqq) so the freudian angle analysis comes way too easily to me for it to be normal but like. someone else has gotta be seeing this shit right. rancid desire for approval meng yao couldn't get from his father specifically was already deeply seeped into his relationship with nie mingjue from the start. sideyes lan xichen and raises an eyebrow. "the child desires to kill its father for it is in competition for its mother's affection", huh? shit kind of writes itself and my primary reason for even considering this angle is that jin infamously committed actual incest and later also kicked out his half brother for trying to flirt with him guangyao would absolutely hate it

[al-luviec]

I got so insanely mad while drawing this

+ closeup and normalness

[gingermintpepper]

One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that something has to be sad for it to be tragic.

I've always been a big believer of the 'Apollo has an awful love life'/'Apollo is plain unlucky with love' line of thinking but it does bother me that the general reasoning for that statement is given to the concept of 'Apollo is somehow undesireable and thus rejected' (Cassandra/Daphne/Marpessa) or 'his lovers die young and thus their love is unfulfilled' (Cyparissus/Hyacinthus/Coronis). I personally think that's a very unfortunate way of looking at things - not only because it neglects the many perfectly cordial entanglements and affairs Apollo has had, both mortal and divine - but because it presents a very shallow interpretation of the concepts of love and loss and how loss affects people.

Apollo can still grieve lovers that have a long, healthy life. The inherent tragedy of an immortal who knows his lovers and children will die and cannot stop it does not stop being tragic simply because those lovers and children live long, fulfilled lives. The inherent tragedy of loss does not stop being tragic simply because someone knows better than to mourn something that was always going to end.

What is tragic is not that Apollo loves and loses but that loss itself follows him. Apollo does not love with the distance of an immortal, he does not have affairs and then leaves never to listen to their prayers again. He does not have offspring and then abandon them to their trials only to appear when it is time to lead them to their destinies. He raises his young, he protects the mothers of his children, he blesses the households that have his favour and multiplies their flocks that they may never go hungry. He educates his sons, he adorns his daughters and even in wrath he is quick to come to his senses and regret the punishments he doles out.

Apollo loves. And like mortals, there will always be some part of him that wishes to protect the objects of his affections. Apollo, however, is also an emissary of Fate. He knows that the fate of all mortal things is death. He knows that to love a mortal is to accept that eventually he will have to bury them. There is no illusion of forever, there is no fantasy where he fights against the nature of living things and shields his beloveds from death. Apollo loves and because of that love, he also accepts.

And that, while beautiful, is also tragic.

[sir-adamus]

Raven's semblance is so telling about her character

the facade of the tough disaffected bandit leader crumbles completely under it - it's bonds to people she cares about. it's hard to pretend like she doesn't care when her literal superpower is defined by how much she does

but you can read deeper than that - cos it's defined by those bonds, you have to wonder about the original utility of that power was; what in Raven specifically led her to develop Kindred Link as a Semblance - to be able to open a portal to someone she cares about anywhere in the world? not necessarily the reasons why and how she uses it, but why it manifested like that

was it a desire to protect? a plea for safety?

or a cry for help?