#bc if you pull the panels out of context that's what they look like

[lightyakami]

my feeling towards misa & light largely is that the situation o&o created is misogynistic from a meta perspective but misa's behaviour within that situation is completely comprehensible and frankly pretty realistic. who wouldn't be a little toxic if the god who avenged your parents turned out to be a boy in khakis who threatened to kill you then kissed you on the floor of his bedroom while his mom made you both tea downstairs

[bumpscosity]

I don’t think I ever posted abt this but I think it’s funny anyways last time I went to disneyland I went on so many rides that when I got in the car to go home I put my seatbelt on and for a split second I freaked out bc I couldn’t find the yellow strap to pull on 💀

[twipsai]

this one panel in issue #50 and it's, like, not THAT bad alright

fuck it im tired and had a long day this is my treat to myself. im talking about that panel. yes, THAT panel. which one?

THIS ONE. alrighty this is off the cuff and terrible, lets go.

so this panel isnt like, that bad in context when it comes to Sonic. i think specifically "ive made peace with enough enemies to know there is a better way" is a really interesting line here, because it calls back to the amount of times that the "villain" hes fought has just been a person whos hurting, and how hes been able to help those people. it makes sense that eventually hes more keen on trying to figure out someones whole story before deciding if theyve gotta go (which is rare).

but i want to talk about the FRAMING of this panel, and specifically the larger context of this issue in particular. theres a lot of flip-flopping in perspectives. usually, IDW is told through Sonic's perspective (loosely, this kind of thing is up to interpretation a lot), but in issue 50, it switches rapidly between four different groups -- Sonic and Surge, Tails and Kit, Eggman and Starline, and Belle and Metal. within these groups, the perspective its being told from changes a few times, but never as much as Sonic and Surge's do

i actually love these two when they interact as a storyteller myself, and one that has handled scripts too often for my own liking. Sonic and Surge do this thing where they push and pull the pacing of the script to fit their motives -- Surge keeps trying to escalate things, whenever shes in a panel everything starts pushing rapidly and it feels like the panels are tumbling off the page. when Sonic does anything, though, its slow and deliberate. hes having fun fighting, sure, but he can very much tell that Surge is trying to kill him and hes not having any of that. Sonic keeps things slow and focused, Surge tries to push things faster and unfocused. i could get into how this reflects her motivations and stuff but thats not what this is about i already lost track of what i was talking about fuck hang on

ok so. Surge knows shes supposed to be Sonic, to be BETTER than Sonic. its all she knows, really, and thats the problem. shes traumatized and full of rage and Sonic has been put on this high pedestal, not just by her, but by everyone. she cannot stand this.

this panel is how SURGE sees Sonic, specifically the composition. hes shrouded in light and physically above her -- its not even that subtle of a metaphor, they use it all the time in idw.

the entire overpowered saga shows Surge clawing for control of herself, her life, her freedom... this issue sets all that up in the main story. the way Sonic is framed here isnt how he sees himself at all. weve seen him do this exact same thing from his own perspective before, where everyone is on even ground. he doesnt see himself as above anyone, this instance of him being depicted as such isnt alluding to how Sonic feels about himself, its how Surge feels about Sonic.

and, look, its not the most well-done in the world. this issue has a whole host of problems, evident by the constant switching of focus from one group to a next (a problem that i think they did better on in the Phantom Rider saga). i literally forgot about Belle and Metal in this issue bc theres just so much more going on, i wouldve loved for them to slow things down a bit, maybe splitting it into two issues, but hey, what can you do, yk?

as an aside, i think its really weird how people narrow in on this specific panel of Sonic as being "so out of character", which i sorta like, 30% agree with (i think some phrasing could be better), and then ignore the page right after it...

...in which he pretty much says "you dont get freedom if youre gonna be a problem". funnily enough, on twitter i have this flow chart saved whenever i need a quick guide on Sonics morality and stuff, its really not that complicated

x

none of this is new imo, we see he has the same philosophy in sa1 and satbk. Chaos was blinded by rage and pain after being trapped for thousands of years RIGHT after they were attacked by the echidnas. Merlina was so scared of death (implied to be because she had lost family members and wasnt able to cope with it well) that she became a monster in an attempt to never let anything change ever again. these arent very different stories in my head i guess, just cases of Sonic seeing people who are hurting and doing his best to free them from that.

uhhhh anyways. all this is disorganized i forgot what i was talking about like 5 times while writing this but. people on twitter are ripping into this issue again. like its a b tier issue stop acting like its an f yk Q_Q i will defend anything if people are too mean tbh

thanks for making it this far if you read all this. i love idw a lot and i think that it does have some flaws, theyre all really blown out of proportion.

have a great day/afternoon/evening wherever you are yall :) bye bye

[roseworth]

Thoughts on Robin Lives?

sorry it took me a few days to get to this but i just read the last issue and. hm.

it honestly had me right until the end. i was on board. everyone hated last month's issue but i didnt have a problem it, and i was literally reading this newest issue like "okay... i see why people dont like it but i dont agree! im having fun!! i like it!!!!" then the last two pages happened and. what the fuck

i am a strong defender of elseworld characterizations being different than what i want in main universe. i saw a lot of people mad that jason had an obsession with joker in this story and i dont agree with that at all tbh! i liked it!!! i dont like it when red hood jason is obsessed with joker, but this is robin jason who watched joker murder his mother then beat him nearly to death like. two weeks ago. he is fresh off the ditf trauma in this story so i LOVED that he was trying to hunt down and kill the joker, then froze at the last minute last issue. i dont like it when red hood stories do that but THIS was good

and honestly i saw the screenshots of the panels of jason becoming joker out of context and i was STILL willing to hear the story out. like sure maybe if we really lean into the fact that hes so fucked up by the trauma of ditf straight into everything that happened in this story, i could be on board with him becoming joker jr. again, if the story is good i will accept so many things happening in elseworlds

but what the fuck was that!!! i was SO into the story and i was completely into the universe. the first moment that snapped me out was when bruce and the therapist got married?? for some reason???? that felt like such a random choice to me (and its very much a "there is a female character in this story so she has to fall in love with someone" situation) and i thought that was super weird and out of nowhere. but its a minor thing so i was willing to ignore it if the rest of it was good. but then the joker thing happened

many people are going to disagree with this but i think i would've liked the story overall if jason had become joker jr immediately after killing the joker. imo with this story the writer could've chosen two different paths, one where everything gets better so you can look at it and be like "awww jason could've been happy if he lived :(" OR one where everything is monumentally worse, and i would've been fine with either because once again, its an elseworld story so who cares. but i didnt like the fake out of "you think its gonna be better but its actually secretly WORSE 😈" because it ended up just coming out of nowhere. like jason becomes the joker AFTER going through therapy and getting a degree and a job and a life?? why????? i would've been soooo much more interested if he was fresh off the trauma of killing joker right after everything that happened. like i said i knew that jason became joker bc i saw the panels, so when he ran away i thought he ran away to joker out, and i was kind of really into that idea. i thought it would've been a kind of cool elseworld story if jason becomes the joker right after everything that happened. but thats not how it worked out

it just. came from nowhere. there was no buildup. it was clear the writer wanted to like. make the reader think it would be happy, then pull the rug out at the last minute. and because of that it just became weird. like i wasnt upset as much as i was confused because like ?? why???? why did that happen how did that happen What happened. thats not a story or an ending. thats just a thing happening. again, if the story had just led down the path to jason becoming the joker i would've liked it sooo much more because at the very least there would've been a plot. but that was nothing!!!! i am a strong supporter of "bad" endings, but only when the story leads the way to the unhappy ending. that felt like angst just for the sake of angst. like what was the reason!

sorry i feel like im repeating myself a lot im just trying to wrap my head around this. basically to me the book's biggest crime wasnt the decision to make jason become joker, it was the fact that it didn't bother to create the path to jason becoming joker. i am willing to hear a story out but i cant forgive bad storytelling

[solar-halos]

do you have any ideas about what annie’s wedding dress would look like👀

DO I (warning for a suuuuuper long answer)

okay. so. not many things are canon to me in the Deep Dive fic, but the annie and finnick d4 wedding IS. idk how they would pull it off (esp in the context of it being this big party) but they DO. and in it annie has two wedding dresses

this is the formal wedding dress. this one is for the glam of walking down the aisle (her staircase inside the victors village) but once they finally take things outside i figured that annie wouldn't want her handmade dress to get all sandy (also, dancing is a very sweaty ordeal!) so she'd change into something more light and airy. not that its that important but ive put a lot of thought into this so i feel obligated to say that in the story i said it was pink instead of white. also, the formal wedding dress really reminds of this dress by teuta matoshi. thats all i dont have anything else to say about the comparison i just think everything teuta matoshi designs is beautiful

then, for the canon wedding dress, ive always been stumped! katniss only describes it as a silky green gown if i remember correctly, which should be really easy bc it gives us so much flexibility to mess around with the design, but im honestly stumped! to me, i think it has a bit of a flowy drape but is cinched at the waist by a panel of lace for the illusion of longer legs (bc this dress was originally designed for katniss who is very short). i also think the straps were constructed the same way, white and lacy. having her wear some sort of white isn't important to me bc its a wedding, but because of the *context* of the wedding. like i don't think annie and finnick would be very happy to have that all out in the open in that current moment in time, i think they both had their own shit to work through that they weren't even thinking about legally getting married, so i think having some sort of capitol tradition (such as wearing white) being incorporated into the dress would be really bittersweet. because, on one hand, i think they really would have loved to get married! on the other, however, i don't think that they'd wanna do it like *that.* also, i think katniss and annie have a big height difference, so the dress stops at annie's ankles when it was originally supposed to drape onto the floor with katniss

[danothan]

started reading robin 2021 and i wanted to take the time to appreciate two of the most beautiful spreads in issue #1. they captivated me with how gorgeous and momentous they felt, which must have been the point bc i ended up staring at them sm that the symbolism finally kicked in

SPREAD 1:

1) LOVE the red and green at play, it’s such a difficult color scheme to get right lest you end up making the whole piece feel like a christmas card, but gleb melnikov pulled it off. the environment is rich and elegant and well-contrasted; it rly brings out damian’s classic red/green robin combo, even tho he’s not actually wearing his robin suit here. the green of his clothing highlights the green of talia’s, as well as the assassin’s tattoos, and, when combined with the cool-toned background, makes the red just pop out at you. pretty palette aside, it’s a very calculated choice in colors.

2) speaking of red, melnikov rly wanted you to notice the blood in these two pages. from the emphasis of the words DEMON BLOOD to the reflection of damian in the blood puddle, it only draws attention to the fact that his blade is perfectly clean of it in the second panel. one can only assume that talia killed that guy so hard that damian’s sword was caught in the collateral (damn talia !). it frames damian as the one to land the killing blow, as though his doubts/restraint with killing mean nothing because he still has the blood on his hands, blood passed down from talia. that doesn’t necessarily make it true ofc, but it does give us a reflection of his mindset with the blood acting as a literal mirror.

now before we delve into the second spread, lemme preface this with some context: many characters will refer to damian as an actual bird (“what better way to take out a robin than with a hawke,” “i’ve fought little birds like you before,” etc.) which speaks to his reputation, but i think it’s most notable when coming from talia:

at first, it’s used condescendingly, as it usually is from most ppl, and she speaks in a possessive tone when she talks abt returning him to the nest. she even tells him that if he IS to be taken under her wing, she would not treat him as her son but as a weapon. however, we know that this contradicts her intentions as she later uses the same “baby bird” petname as a term of endearment, even to calling him her son—notably when he is out of earshot.

you get the sense that they have this unspoken code of conduct around each other—family dynamics tend to be rigid in that way—but there’s also this feeling of regret as well as unfamiliarity navigating it coming from talia. i mean, she said it herself: damian was just a baby bird. he flew out of the nest too early.*

*see read more

so why does she taunt him for running back to his mother? why is she pushing him away? and why does she monologue for so long that she lets her guard down and closes her eyes long enough for him to disappear…?

SPREAD 2:

BECAUSE DAMIAN IS JUMPING OUT OF THE HELICOPTER!!! BECAUSE TALIA IS PUSHING HIM OUT OF THE NEST !!!!

talia doubled down on her militaristic plans as an opening for damian to leave. with that sense of regret mentioned earlier, talia knows she raised damian under harsh conditions, but she doesn’t know to raise him differently either, so she urges him to find his own path. presenting “the way of the demon or the way of the bat” as the only 2 options to her already rebellious son was guaranteed sabotage. she pushed him too early when he was younger, but she knows that her baby bird is ready to fly now :”)

bonus: what a classic jason todd move to wear a mask underneath your mask btw. guess it just runs in the family! (but on a deeper, unironic level, damian switches out both his robin and his demon suit into this new one. this obviously symbolizes his forging a new path, but also reveals his intent/doubts abt the whole confrontation. a mask underneath his mask? he was never truly looking to rejoin the league. after running away from bruce, he runs to talia to test the waters and see if he would do better there. and when it ends in the same shadowing of an ambitious parent, he ditches the whole thing. the fact that he had a back-up plan meant that his heart wasn’t in it, just as talia’s heart wasn’t in keeping him caged. a confirmation bias given permission by a mother’s facade. god, the al ghul mindgames are truly smth to behold)

*so much can be said abt how talia’s approach to parenting parallels and contrasts bruce’s. they both have the same good intentions for their son, and they both realize that he’s too young to face what he had and what he’s abt to. but talia wants to start the healing process of her control in his upbringing, and bruce wants to prevent damian from having to face it alone knowing firsthand what suffering he “endured to become batman.” one is letting go, the other is desperate to bring him back.

it’s such a fascinating look into the push and pull of their fatal flaws and mistakes as parents, as well as making them feel human and reasonable within the limits of all they know and are capable of. OF COURSE they’re overcompensating for their regrets, that’s just so… them!

and the fact that you can see both parents’ traits and influence in damian as he searches for his own identity just makes the whole family feel well-rounded. robin 2021 is so good you guys, it’s too fucking good

[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon ep 179 spoilers and thoughts that are like okay i can see where this is going and more below the cut

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i'll get the first thought out of the way rn. i think i do see what they were trying to do now! this ep feels better than the last one!! i'll talk more about that below

right now though i am mostly entertained by HOW MUCH LLOYD LOOKS LIKE A SALESMAN IN THIS EP IN SO MANY PANELS HAHAHAHA

he looks like the

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

the panels in this ep genuinely are really great they're not terribly over the top besides a few and i think thats a good balance,,, i especially like the focus on the chief's reaction to all the changes that are going on in his life now that they have the choice of an alternative method (well,,, choice is said loosely LMFAO)

coming from last episode of lloyd going "oh yeah i love peace im a pacifist :)" to telling the demon kids "hey sometimes. theres people u need to beat up a bit. and people u need to beat up a LOT" and IT MAKES ME SMILE THAT THE KIDS TOOK THAT TO HEART HAHAHA

powerful ass kids. lloyd is teaching the younger generation to Take No Shit and i really like that,,, esp considering all the shit suho had to take in korea asldkjflajskdf

AND THEN WHEN THE VENETOS TRIED TO RAID THE CARRIAGE. HELP

obsessed w the composition of this panel. its nothing like new or clever per se i just really like how it looks , the light that pulls down from lloyd, to javier, to demon guy (I DONT KNOW IF HE HAS A NAME) i just,,, really like. they look like thugs. like bosses u have to fight in a row. ITS FUNNY I LIKE IT. this sequence as a whole was really fun,,,

javier and demon guy explaining that they either piss off or fight, AND THEN LLOYD GOING FROM THE MOST OMINOUS THING YOUVE EVER SEEN TO THE FRIENDLIEST LITTLE SMILE IN THE WORLD. AND OOOH,,, IT'S THE ROUTINE AGAIN,,, HAHAHAHA

like seriously he looks like a fucking car salesman. he's basically selling this whole financing thing he's got planned w the venetos,,,

like when he did the money exchange for goods thing i was like oh,,, he's scheming something with like finances and banking or something like that isn't he,,,,,,, salesman looking ass

ALSO THE NUH UH PANEL FUCKING SENT ME I HAD TO INCLUDE IT HERE

AND WHEN PPODONG KICKS THEM ABOUT AND HE JUST WALKS ON SCREEN AND STANDS THERE IM. the POSE HAHAHAHA you know i had to do it to em lookin ass. GOOFY

genuinely his poses in this ep are so stupid funny i love them sm . recently we've been seeing a lot of his face being Totally Evil Exaggeration or Seriously Going Through It but these goofy ass salesman poses and expressions are SOMETHING ELSE HAHA GOOD CHANGE OF PACE

and it's not like he's forcing their hand he's just stopping their usual avenues, bc he juuust so happens to be working in the area now for magentano,,,, honestly i think he would have put the chief into a corner at some point eventually, but it also seems like lloyd's efforts had also affected other aspects of the chief's life, like his relationship w his family and the other veneto hunters,,, which may have put the chief in the corner early,,, a matter of time, i suppose,,,?

like the chief had a lot of very like remorseful / realization type expressions in this ep, i really liked this one in particular,

and (okay i guess we're diving into the main thoughts now) i think now that i have the context of this ep for the previous week's ep, it kind of paints a picture of what exactly it was the adaptation team was going for. the venetos are prideful and rooted in inconvenient traditional ways, and lloyd's plan is a type of interference that twists that pride one way or another (though i dont think the chief feeling remorse after seeing his wife and child finally being okay with him was a part of lloyds plans LOL)

it,,, makes sense! and while yes it's due to lloyd's interference, it also feels like the chief is making a decision himself here, (in,,, in a way?) (not sure how to explain what i mean by that) like the chief absolutely sees how bad things had gotten under his original policies and outlook, and then saw the immediate change from just... changing the way they acquire goods. i really liked watching that happen, and it helps characterize him as someone who is so incredibly stubborn but really wants the best for his people, and the best he had known at that point was what they had done all this time.

this does makes me wish that ep 178 was handled with a lot more tact and awareness of what they are setting up for. i think if ep 178 had a similar tone as ep 179, it would have been received a bit better, maybe,,, of course i wouldn't know for sure, and i'm not sure how i'd rewrite it myself, but i think 179 handles the line between moments of thought and moments of gags a lot better than 178 (if that makes any sense). because of this, the chief in 179 feels different than the chief in 178,,, i would feel better about 179 showing his redemption process if 178 had been handled with just a bit more care. i don't think we needed to see a man bully/verbally abuse his family to show that the venetos are traditional in a detrimental way,,, while also nearly presenting everyone as a gag at that? man idk,,,

i'm not entirely sure still, maybe i'm just being sensitive or something, but regardless (and again), 179 feels a lot better than 178 so i'm really hoping this arc finishes strong,,,

anyway serious thoughts aside! WHEN LLOYD PULLED OUT THE CONTRACT I KNEW IT WAS OVER LLOYD HAD WON ALDKFJSDFHHAHAAAAA

ohhhh the signing,,, it's binding~ you're stuck now!! HAHA

AND THE REVEAL OF IT BEING LIKE. A FINANCING BANKING THING AFTER ALL I AM BOTH APALLED IN A /LH WAY AND HAPPY BC I FIGURED IT OUT BASED ON WHAT LLOYD WAS DOING HAHAHAHA

like wow. lloyd u r about to toss these people into the throes of capitalism . good job, i think,,,??? honestly it makes sense that lloyd would know how this works or how to do this considering all the financial trouble he faced in korea

NO WONDER HE LOOKED LIKE A SALESMAN IN ALL THESE PANELS TOO. HE'S A BANKER GUY IN THIS EP LAKDJFLSKJDFH god i hate him /aff wonder what his next step in the plan is,,, cause. how will this possibly get the venetos to do the job of keeping charge of the mountain railroad stuff??? like will they be more inclined to work to like pay off the bank stuff? <- does not know how banks and loans work

that's all for now,,, i am excited and hoping the next ep will keep going back up!!!

[pumpkinstrawbrew]

𝕐𝕠𝕦'𝕝𝕝 𝕓𝕖 𝕒 𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜

𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕀'𝕝𝕝 𝕜𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕒𝕟𝕪… ⋭

…

(so, where to begin? i guess from the simple fact, that i wanted to do smth fun with this clean-cut parallel. at first, i wanted to make some quick edits, but then, i decided what the heck. i might just re-draw it! *or sort of re-draw it anyways*

the shippy stuff is shippy, but really it was hard not to be all like *insert dicaprio pointing meme* when i was reading the venom comic, and flash just pulled a batman on me. beat jack up, n’ then instead of killing him, like he wanted to, he spared him. took him in his arms all gently-like n’ carried his sorry ass into the dawn. like man, it just hit the cords within me! i was all like oohhh, it's like in one of my most fav scarecrow issues! i wasn't expecting this from the comic, even less so from flash, who always had a bit of bipolar resolute, when it came to jack. 'he wanna kill him, he wanna kill him not'. that sort of thing. yet, this moment kind of shown, that he prob will always find a reason to talk himself out of putting him down.

that's aside, another part of why i love those stories, is that both issues felt personal. both, jon n’ jack had personal grudges, both batman and flash were struggling with personal darkness within them. both overcame it, n' literally had to beat up their personal walking-talking nightmare *flash even refers to jack as that later on*. like, it was pretty great, honestly. all that emotional baggage, uncanny kinships with their own twisted mirror, which resulted in them actually feeling sympathy for scarecrow n' jack. giving them a small speech, that they couldn’t hear *bc unconscious*, sort of implying that maybe ‘they’re not beyond help’. it's almost bitter-sweet. even if most people would argue, that both jon n’ jack are way-way too far gone at that point. even if 'solution' sounds too unrealistic to be true. still, if someone like batman believes in you, then maybe, just maybe there is a chance. n’ if someone like flash spares your life, even though, he’s nothing like bruce *he actually killed people before*, then perhaps, there is smth beyond projection, which made him do it. 

all 4 characters are very different, n’ thb the context in everyone’s motivations n’ struggles are very different too, but i love how bruce n’ flash came to the same conclusion. took the same route with their respective twinky ghoul. showing mercy is noble, n’ it’s pretty sweet tbh. one of my fav tropes in fiction is when the hero/protagonist shows kindness/empathy toward their villain *who in most cases doesn’t ‘deserve it*. that whole cop out thing about 'evil should be punished by death' in fiction really takes away the romantism n' bendiness of fiction as whole tbh. esp with heroes. they supposed to be able to do 'impossible', including 'forgive the unforgiving'. this is why i prob will always advocate for the ‘no kill’ rule for super-heroes. i mean, it makes you have moments like those. smth that is actually emotional n’ also shows the cracks in heroes themselves, bc usually they can only truly relate to their rogues, someone who is usually designed to be a warped up reflection of hero’s own weaknesses, struggles or traumas. n’ while i always see jack o’lantern as spiderman’s villain *he’s one of oldies, a classic villain after all*, i suppose, that this version of jack was tailored for flash’s venom specifically, n’ i *unexpectedly* i loved it. daddy's issues run deep in this one for both of them. meanwhile, bruce be out there lecturing jon's school bullies, after he nearly killed them. what a man lol.

now, the comic panels themselves. just for better visualisation.

i didn’t include the first bit in my lil art thingy above, but i love how not only the venom mirrors batman in actions, but also how they’re even facing opposite sides, playing around with nearly opposite color pallets in each fight too. caters to the mood, but also it just looks nice side by side tbh. the blue/black/grey for batman, and orange/dark brown/yellow for venom. a dark knight / soldier n' maskless halloween villain. this prob the only point, where they connect narratively n' thematically, but it's a major one.

anyho', i didn't had a hardcore goal to re-draw those scenes to a t, just make it recognizable for the most part. but it was fun! also gave me an execuse to stare at those comic panels some more.

as for the song, it popped out inside my head kinda randomly. but it fits them, i think. even the tune itself adds to it. somewhat sad n’ slow. but the meaning of it, not fully hopeless. at least, they will always have someone there for them. after all, guys like jon n’ jack will always come back, seeking ‘their hero’, hungry for punishment or other things. n’ for someone as crippled as bruce or flash, it might not be the worst thing, really. usually, the hero is stuck in the same miserable 'unchanging', unwinnable situation as their villains are. be it outside forces, fate or sickness, that keeps them bond. it's still better to try and make the best of it, right?)

[pokeberry5]

PLS what is the story/lore behind the tim insomnia art piece (w/ him holding the bloody batarang) the angst looks SO GOOD

ngl it's been a while so my memory of the concept behind insomnia is spotty, but for more artsy pieces like this it's less about the lore or specific situation and more about the visuals/feeling to me? so it's more that i have a scene come to me and i build that out (<- me trying to explain that i dont have elaborate lore lol)

so the context i came up with to justify the scene is tim being overwhelmed/semi-dissociating, caught up in the problems he's been running from as tim drake using robin an escape, unable to deal with them, and trying not to think about the fact that half of those problems are caused by the fact that he's robin, that he has a secret identity, and that he's going through it in ways he can't explain to people not in the know -> hence, tim clutching the batarang both as something to ground him and as something that's hurting him

i had also recently read silverwhittlingknife's post about tim as a watcher, especially when he's first introduced—the set of panels where tim is just a set of eyes definitely informed some of this ("some" being the panel with the giant eyes lol) (pls read swk's meta their stuff is always so cool)

i think? i also pulled the aesthetic of the bloody batarang from an old scrapped piece i never posted bc i didnt like how it turned out (it's like. from when i first started drawing tim) so some of that is there

this was like. one of my first attempts at more comic-style dramatic lighting and yeah damn i've come a long way. again! i dont know what's happening here, i just wanted to draw tim bleeding, clutching a batarang, and under some dramatic lighting

(this is also. beyond what you asked but: i think this shows how much my design for tim has changed since my initial conception of him--he had much straighter/longer features that have really softened up, which i think you can see most in the nose. and no moles!)

[theysangastheyslew]

Hey!!!

I want to share more suffering with you, homie haha *crying*

What do you think of the episode? Especially 132 part ofc!

Hi friend! :'))))))))) Ooooooh honey that gif is such a mood XD I’ve been trying to collect my thoughts and this is the best I can do atm. Sorry it’s kind of wordy but here we go 🥲

Ok! So ever-present pacing issues aside, the overarching story made for a solid episode and the animation was incredible. Hell, even the things I disliked objectively looked well-done out of context. Overall, that was no small feat to pull off, especially in such harsh working conditions. I truly do want to acknowledge that.

But in regards to 132, you guys already put into words how I feel better than I could. I may not have anything new to add, but I’ll say what I liked first and then put my issues under a cut.

As someone who actually really likes Yams’ art style, I loved that they consistently kept Hange’s face accurate to the manga. It was really inconsistent throughout the final season and they struggled to not make it too short a lot of times. Hange was always still stunning of course but the difference always stuck out to me. Here everyone was drawn well, but you can tell she got some extra attention.

The way they inched Levi closer to where Hange was sitting while talking with Yelena. Insignificant yeah but consistent with their past behavior. Also I’m glad they tweaked the position of his bandages so it looked less like they were painfully tugging upwards on his nose.

The pained expressions of the kids and Hange watching Levi struggle to even hold his gear

The “unrequited love” exchange. It had most of the softness and emotion from the manga even though the weight of that line will never be realized in non-written form. The camera lingered on each frame in a way that conveyed the sentiment. This is what got my hopes up that they would stay truer to the source material with DYH.

I'm so glad they left in Hange's lines to Flochroach about not giving up. Helps show—once again—that they wanted to live

The choked way Levi said “Devote your heart” + Hange’s widened eye and soft gasp at his words. Though not tearing up like in the manga, the shot still looked lovely for the half second it lasted. He doesn't pause halfway through saying it though so this one I'm still wrestling with.

Of course, the last stand. Onscreen, Hange took out at least 16 colossals (including the ones we see trip and get trampled) and definitely more offscreen (when they cut away to show other characters) and for the last few, did it while in the most pain a human body can feel. 7/10 for combat, my ass. Idk about y’all but I can’t stop hearing Romi Park’s screams in my head. I knew it would be nauseating and brutal but dear God. At the same time I cannot put into words how proud I am of them. That's my commander 💜

Ok “like” is definitely not the right word for this but I had wondered when I first read 132 how Hange’s gas tank was so well-insulated that it didn’t ignite, and.. well I got my answer.

I’m thankful that they didn’t show a glimpse of Hange’s bloody, crushed remains the way you see in the og panel. That at least felt respectful to me. This is wishful thinking I know but the defined charred outline makes me choose hope they fell more off to the side from where the titans were walking so at least there was maybe still a body left to recover someday.

The afterlife scene, the kids all sobbing their hearts out, Levi holding his own hand in the aftermath trying to process what just happened, and Onyankopon confirming the plane’s significance all really were appropriately gut-wrenching.

I really recommend taking a little break between The Rumbling and Sinners. It definitely makes the shift in emotion less jarring and less

When I did that with my rewatch it helped with the flow of things.

Ok, now twist me up and call me a pretzel bc here there be some salt :|

I’ll try to leave out my og issues with the manga chapter itself (like how painfully obvious it was all just to make Armin commander and how unnecessary Hange dying was IN THE FIRST PLACE and IF it had to happen at all how it could have been done at the final boss skelepalooza showdown, etc.) and just focus on the episode.

Goes without saying but it bears repeating: pacing. 75% of my issues with the execution of DYH would be gone if they just slowed down a bit. Just let the weight of it sink in a little. That this moment —all shreds of shipping aside— is the end of the line for these two heroes who have been supporting each other for ten years while bearing the weight of the world on their shoulders. But Mappa completely reversed the timing of the sequence of events. In the manga we had a longer, more intimate farewell followed by a last stand that was so short even when you knew it was coming it left you reeling from how fast it was from start to finish. Whereas here they hurried it along to get to the “main event”. Hell, it flows better in gif sets than it does in the actual show.

To me, it felt like Hange’s demeanor didn’t really change from talking with the kids to speaking with Levi, making their false bravado seem like less of a front. I know their tone was meant to sound like they were keeping up appearances, but with how often Hange just gets reduced solely to being a titan freak the way they had Romi say the lines made it sound like actual excitement, especially with the way they drew Hange's facial expressions (more on that next)

Hange’s little smirk after the salute. I kinda get what they were trying to do here but to me it came off as very flippant and dismissive of Levi’s choice of words, especially since they all but got rid of their lips trembling and eye beginning to well up with tears. I wish we’d gotten the big fake smile and laugh because that would have shown better that Hange was overcompensating by trying to put their brave face back on after starting to lose their composure. Their fear is obvious in the manga but it just simply didn’t come through as well throughout this entire exchange.

Sooo Hange almost tears up when Pieck said their words inspired her yet minutes later when their Best Friend tries to say goodbye there’s nowhere near that kind of reaction? Sure, Jan

Levi’s face. Ok look. It’s not a lack of emotion on his part that bothers me. It’s that it’s an entirely different one to begin with. He looks bummed at first yes, but then that changes to what I’m guessing is supposed to be determination which comes off as anger or annoyance (kinda like what changed with his scene with Armin on the stairs). They removed what made this parting different from previous ones, which was the sense of open vulnerability and the dawning realization that now he’s going to have to let Hans go too. See it's not like they were in the middle of the battle just yet. This situation came on suddenly and unexpectedly; it wasn't "supposed" to happen. One second they were on track and the next Hange is being torn away by fate. And yes, the highlights play a part in that transition. Anyone who draws eyes knows the importance of placement and intensity and the major impact they have over the final expression. And when drawing a comic you certainly don’t take up valuable page space with three panels focusing on the hope draining out of someone’s eyes if it wasn’t supposed to be the focus. I mean for fuck's sake, even the Final Season!Nendoroid Levi got it right. Plus, if they could make a point of getting Eren's eyes right during the raid on Liberio they could have gotten it here.

When the camera cuts to the kids watching the titans fall the angle doesn’t let you see that Levi can’t bring himself to watch for more than just a second

NOT MAPPA’s FAULT but since I’m being whiny right now I’m going to add that while ACWNR is a mixed bag to begin with, WIT’s adaptation not including Levihan’s introduction saddens me bc Levi asking Hange to keep watching loses a bit of extra oomph.

Really it just comes down to the fact that there was nothing wrong with the original page. It wasn’t overdone or dragged out by any means but considering many other scenes got shot-for-shot depictions I don’t think we were asking for anything outrageous by wanting a faithful adaptation. The couple frames we got that were almost perfect were so freakin fast you barely had time to process them before it cut away.

I wanted to like it, I really did. Especially since MAPPA did so many things so incredibly well as a whole. My expectations weren’t high, and I did want to give it the benefit of the doubt. But when it came to DYH, it felt both watered down and disjointed, like a completely different scene.

But so it goes. At the end of the day, Hange still dies a horrifying, demeaning death for plot convenience, and Levi is left behind to suffer once again. It was always going to hurt and I was never going to be ready for it, no matter how it was done.

[tfw-no-tennis]

one piece liveblog chapters 813-814

ayyy

813

liiiiisten this is some of my favorite shit. like, the trope where a big reveal happens in front of other characters and they react to it and stuff? delicious.

'you think I know or care about your family issues?' hvbajhdfbajskdfhb bege

sanji being so blindsided is hhhhh delicious

BROOO the flashback to jaya (!) with sanji mentioning he's from north blue and brook pointing out he'd had to have traveled over to red line to end up in east blue....hello!!!! insane forshadowing my god

tbh I don't think oda had this planned from the beginning, or even from when he put that in jaya - it was such a small moment that it could've easily remained as is and it wouldn't have been a plot hole or anything

buuut I think oda did a great job leaving a lot of avenues open to do exactly this - expand on an existing character in a major way without it feeling cheap or sudden

like, I absolutely believe that sanji had a second secret tragic backstory that he never mentioned before. that makes complete sense in the context of the story!

yeeeeah pretty obvious (at least to the reader?) that sanji has been chosen for an arranged political marriage to unite the vinsmokes and big mom - though it also has the effect of linking the strawhats to big mom thru sanji as well. uh oh!

I'm soooo glad that the whole arranged marriage thing was played straight and there was no question of sanji potentially leaving the crew for a marriage bc he loves women sm or whatever. I was afraid it was gonna get treated as a joke/gag but thank godddd that wasn't the case and the arc was too serious for that 🙏🏼

like even here, there's no moment of sanji being like 'ohhh a woman oooh' he str8 up says 'I'm not marrying someone I've never met'

and like. ugh I wish sanji's character was less 'creepy and weird abt women' and more 'romantic about love.' that would be sooo interesting here, bc I DO think sanji is a romantic at heart and that's part of why he would never accept an arranged marriage, but also still wants to try to make it work/holds out hope that they could be compatible, etc

sanji saying luffy's gonna be pirate king 🙏🏼😭😭

lmfao sanji saying whatever take caesar we're leaving. yea ditch that chucklefuck

honestly love bege he's great here as a villain and I love his gangster theme and I really like his character arc during wci

vito is one of at least 2 Tongue Guys in this arc lmao

mannnn what did he say to sanji??????

honestly the emperors are hype as FUCK especially at this point in the story where we haven't directly dealt with them much...

sanji leaving the note and saying he never meant to hide anything from them....hhhhhh and its TRUE he seems like he genuinely never thought he'd have to deal with the vinsmokes ever again, let alone be used as a pawn in a political marriage by them

and pulling the classic move where he's like 'I have to resolve this by myself' oh babey buckle up time for a rescue arc fuck yes

the way he just yeets them out of bege lmao

no rights for caesar lmao good

MANNNNN SANJI BEING SO COOL...I love when sanji is written well wwwww

him threatening caesar, who they need alive, and deducing that the reason his bounty poster says 'alive only' is bc of this wedding thing, so they can't really harm him...yummmm

sanji quickly doing the math and realizing that giving himself up here is the only way to strike a bargain and make sure his crew is safe 😭 dude aughghhhh

and surely he feels extra responsible bc he's in charge of their little group while the rest of the crew is in dressrosa

they call bege godfather, love it

nekomamushi is sooo fucking cool I love his fangs

dangggg bege just lying and saying one of jack's men killed/injured pekoms

AUGHHH i looove the panel of sanji smiling and telling the crew he'll be back ;_; mannnn

fr looks like he's about to die horribly and knows it tho damn.

and of course he says 'this is my problem' bc he doesn't want to burden the crew, or put them in danger, so he sees it as something he has to resolve on his own

yeah okay like that worked out so well for nami and robin lol c'mon sanji of course luffy isn't gonna let that happen

and his note oughghhghh. so badass and casual and also just 👀👀

SO HYPE. MY GOD

814

KUREHA AND DALTON WWWWW DRUM ISLAND AWWWH

brook should 100% sing random exposition and filler stuff more often plsss

ok so pekoms didn't die. I figured lol

nekomamushi running after the catnip hvbhajksdfbjksfdn

LMFAOOOO brook making stuff up for his song abt nekomamushi....valid

bro I love luffy so much he's like oh cool sanjis gonna get married but he said he's coming back, I wonder if he'll bring his wife, that's chill

hhhhhhhhhh everyone can see that sanji is throwing himself on the sword to keep the straw hats out of it, and him claiming he'll return is hopeful at best - but of course luffy wouldn't see that bc to him there's no question that sanji wouldn't be part of the crew

awwwh chopper crying :(

zoro acting all blunt and uncaring...ohhhh I have so many thoughts about this

I do think zoro really DOES think sanji can handle himself and doesn’t necessarily need their help - tho that doesn’t turn out to be the case

I love too that zoro immediately backs up his attitude with facts - they just put themselves right in kaido's line of fire, and they can't just ignore one of the emperors...they're at the point in their journey where shit is heating up

zoro: we don't have time for a crewmate rescue arc we're too far along in the story for that

and like it's kinda true, I feel like rescue arcs tend to take place closer to the beginning of a story as an easy way to flesh out characters and interactions, so one taking place past chapter 800 (!!!) and with one of the well-established main characters is kinda wild

like, wci ran the risk of feeling/being kinda redundant character-development-wise (obviously it was always gonna have important plot stuff w/big mom) but instead. it slaps

oh yea zoro mentioned kin'emon. where the fuck did he and the other guy go lol

to be fair. luffy did already pick a fight w/big mom lmao sanji didn't start that beef

also again I love how opposite zoro and sanji are as characters - zoro doesn't have a complicated past w/his family, and if he were in sanji's place he'd probably just be like 'nah.' and deal w/the consequences directly

but of course sanji loves self-sacrifice so here we are

luffy being like. well. lets ask sanji! I LOVE HIM SM....

luffy really said okay kaido can wait lets go tangle w/another emperor first. he's so iconic

luffy suggesting they'll be quiet....................have to laugh vhbjakusdfslfd

mannnn the scenery and environments in one piece slap

PEDRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lmao remember when everyone thought chopper was gonna get a mink gf during zou...listen this is one piece we're talking abt. no romance allowed (mostly)

IS NEKOMAMUSHI EATING LASAGNA. HBVHJKSDBFJKSJBF

EPIC GARFIELD REFERENCE

chopper being the stern doctor...love it. it truly is tough when patients ignore your instructions. but also chopper lives in the one piece world so everything is kinda crazy anyways

nekomamushi is soooo funny vhbahkdsjfxhbksfdbh him being serious then instantly chasing a ball and injuring himself. helpp lmfao

'I'm only in bed because I decided to be' that is Exactly something a cat would say lmao

ooooh pekoms isn't dead

VINSMOKE LORE DROP TIIIIME

oh jk cliffhanger tiiiime!

pekoms saying that the vinsmokes are famous assassins and active in the underworld really DOES make it seem like they're a mafia family like people theorized

love the contrast of pekoms saying the vinsmokes are assassins over a panel of sanji smiling. excellent

zoro and perona in the SBS doodle wwwwww love them. mihawks weird goth kids

OH MAN these chapters are great. I love the buildup to whole cake - the tension is excellent, and it's really hard to tell at this point where the story will go.

we still haven't learned a lot about the vinsmokes yet and thinking abt it now, sanji's reaction doesn't even tell us that much about them - he's prone to self-sacrifice so he probably would've gone no matter what

I mean its obvious there's a reason sanji has never mentioned his biological family before so clearly it isn't a huge leap that they're evil, especially as we slowly learn more abt them

anyways this is dope but I gotta go to bed...more to come!

[thirtydaysinamonth]

my 1st sem starts july. in a month. its weird bc ive not had a break for 2 years. and now i wont have a break for the next 5 years. eveyrthing feels a little weird and overwhelming. i love my friends but this si happening so fast. ill be thrust into this new era in my life and im unsure than i was 3 months ago.

i cant articulate how i feel rn. im about to start writing in my new journal. i decided to switch to a new one when i start college. dont know how consistently ill write in it.

i met a friend after 5 years of not meeting her. it was surreal to be together inm y room again. it was natural as soon as i met her. we talked for a bit.

i just feel deflated. at night i have so many racing thoughts and many of them are so poetic i feel like writing them down but i get too lazy to pull out my phoen or diary. i also just fear that the minute i put my figners on a keybaord or hold a pen to write down something profound ill lose that thought or ill never do justice to the feeling im feeling.

one thought i had recently was about whether your past matters. it was in context to interviews for colleges or jobs. i think its sad how we expect to leave no space for correction or for change in these industry run, market driven enterprises. you have to be the best in the first go or why are you even here. why are you here if you oculdnt figure out your life goals in your teens. i think its scary that these panels expect eveyrone to have this perfect answer to their life choices. do my past choices reflect my future performance? just because the initial years of my student life saw several changes, does it mean my future middle aged self will be impulsive?

another thought is about addiciton. a very close relative is an alcoholic and i dont know how t odeal with it. should i feel resentment towards the shit theyve given to my mother and my other relatives? should i be empathetic to thier condiiton and realize that it is a disease too? is it a choice or is it a compulsion? do i judge or do i not judge? what to feel. how to not be hurt by their decisions.

anothe thought is on anxious attachment. i think i realized my best friend had been anxiously attached to me a while ago but only recently have i been affected by it. since i realized my own anxious attachment to my ex, i realize how suffocating it is. to be reassuring this person while knowing they dont want to seek the professional help that they need. i feel straight up annoyed now that i have to help her take every decision in her life and its making me feel like fuck i need space, i need space, i need space. from college applications to ordering food for her to deciding for her what to eat. its just so many things that earlier i didnt have a problem with but now i do. the random projecting insecurities and the not telling me what she wants or if she is upset about xyz thing. i also realized how much she bails on me and its a shit feeling. so many times ive been like okay its fine she's going thru her migraine episodes, she doesnt WANT to skip. but idk so many times having to reschedule or cancel. and then she thinks i dont want to spend time with her. which is wild. fuck i am pretty resentful about this nwo that i think about it.

im just someone who will take ur words at face value. and not look for a deeper meaning. if ur mad at me and u pretend like ur not, i will simply not ask if ur mad at me. i cannot read your mind and definitely not if its been churning inside you for the past 7 months. if u have something to say, say it whenever u want but dont expect me to read u when u cleraly havent expressed why ur sad/upset.

i realized i did this a lot to my ex. sucks to be on the other side. i have a lot of respect for his paitence. im just sick of people for a bit. enough of boys and enough of people.

i love my grandparents place. its so cute and lovely and slow paced. so nice.

[dg-outlaw]

No offense to the artist, but it's giving AI art vibes. One of those things that looks interesting at first, but after you look at it for a minute you see where the algorithm of the tech bro's useless wet dream that uses up all the water got it wrong.

Here's why:

The jacket. Is it attached to his body armor like a faux jacket/vest? Did the algorithm find old photos of Red Hood and add in the jacket like a mock cape?

The shoulder pads. Are they part of the faux jacket-cape? They seem detached and rigid and not like whatever cloth material the faux jacket is made of, but there was an attempt to connect it bc the coloring.

I agree with @the-mad-dame , the giant emblem looks like it detaches and could be used like a boomerang... or a machete to cut someone in half. Maybe the algorithm pulled in some Jason Voorhees refs by mistake. Side note: I've never been a fan of the semi-bat-shaped logo that's his hooded face in silhouette. I know there are in-universe reasons for not using a bat, but still... this one looks like an angry bird with a huge beak.

His hood is black. One of those, the prompt read "hood" and added a hood. Maybe he's the Red-Black Hood now? War Hood? Mister Checkers? Idk.

The broken face mask is explained from what context I have of the issue, but I've seen AI art where it doesn't fully translate a mask onto a character.

His face. While young and appropriate for his age, he looks more like an amalgamation of Tim and Damian's recent face styles. Like if they did a DBZ style fusion and boom, they become DamiT Hood.

The pants are fine. I hc that they're actually Tim's that Steph stole back when they were dating. She never gave them back, but Jason was in a rush and they were there at his apartment and he couldn't find his pants. His regular tactical pants are at Steph's. I'll let you put 2 and 2 together. That or go ask your older sibling or parents.

The boots are giving classic Air Jordans. I'm fine with it. It works with his street level, urban Gotham boy vibe. Maybe they were a custom gift.

And finally... he has 4 fingers on his right hand. Maybe I missed something in canon where he lost his pinky, but I don't think so and I'm sure I'd see it in fanon stuff all over if that were true. It could be tucked under due to perspective, but wonky, missing, or extra fingers is another AI thing.

Again, no shade to the artist(s) if this is not AI. Okay, maybe some shade, but I get that they are often in a rush to crank out pages. I even get a kick out the long distance/overhead/bird's eye view panels where it's just a doodle of a character and maybe you see a blockman and red oval and it's Jason. They took a swing here, but it didn't connect... IMO.

So Jason is fine (as I totally knew he would be ahaha 😳) but what the fuck is he wearing. I said he should die and come back in a better outfit clearly my wish was not granted

[wellnoe]

do you think jean being human passing is important to how she relates to her mutation? do you think she would feel differently if she wasn’t human passing? how do you think she relates to mutants who aren’t human passing or are in some way impaired by their mutation? and this one is just for fun but what do you think would be a fun physical mutation on jean or how would her power manifest physically in a fun way? love your blog your art is gorgeous and planning to commission soon!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA i love this ask so much.

To the first two: yes and yes. first, i think jean is kind of vain sometimes, and likes other people thinking she's pretty (and from what we know of x-men/marvel being seen as pretty and being ‘human-passing’ seems to go hand in hand). like. i pull out that panel of rachel talking about how she looks compared to her mom ( from uncanny x-men #184) all the time for rachel reasons, but i think it also matters for jean. like. i think jean cares about people thinking she's pretty, and that comes out sometimes in the way people talk about her.

[id: rachel is standing in front of a mirror, sticking her tongue out. she is thinking: "Ugh-- I've seen healthier looking ghouls. No wonder the bouncer didn't trust me. I wouldn't, either. On her worst day, I bet mom never looked so awful. And my hair!"/end id]

i think a lot of jean’s insecurity and fears are based on the idea of making people uncomfortable, or burdening them. and i think a lot of this can be traced back to her manifestation and her parents’ reaction to it. her parents loved her, but i at least get the sense from stuff talking about jean's early experience with her mutation that they didn't really know how to handle it, or her, and that was a large part of why she spent so much time with xavier and why he was such an important person to her. there are times they are scared of her, or uncomfortable with her. and this bothers jean a lot. she is terrified of being rejected by them. in uncanny x-men #136, her father's rejection of her is one of the tings that really drives her into dark phoenix.

i think looking human, and being conventionally attractive, becomes very important to jean in this context. it eases her fear of rejection, and her some of her anxieties about how she'll be treated for being a mutant.

Some other issues that I think are important here are uncanny x-men #262 and #263. they are mostly forge issues, but jean's body is changed by masque, who gives her tentacles. before this happens, jean's body and how she looks is brought up kind of a lot by the book, with banshee noting that she is very attractive. After her arms are turned to tentacles, she takes it hard! forge notes that she has difficulty accepting them, and asks her if she feels like her life is ruined bc of the way she looks. there's also a bit where masque basically asks jean if she thinks scott will love her anymore, again bringing up that fear of rejection. (these issues' perspectives especially on beauty are interesting, i think, bc callisto's body is changed to make her more conventionally attractive. something that causes her a lot of anguish, and is bad. and i think that's an interesting counterpoint to jean maybe). anyway. i think looking human, and specifically looking conventionally attractive, provides jean with a sense of security.

to the next question: it’s not a perspective jean has, and i think it can be a really big blindspot for her. i don't know that she really thinks about the specific issues that mutants who can't pass as human face very much. i think jean is generally like. sympathetic to other people, but doesn't really think of this stuff without it being brought to her. in terms of impairment i am basing mmmmmost of my thoughts on this in terms of how jean treats scott's disability and how that relates to his mutation. and like. she is also, in at least some issues, concerned about his access to his visor/glasses, and very supportive of him when things go wrong, when he loses them or they are taken from him, as well as of the limits to his vision in general. so.

lastly!!!!! i think jean should have kept the tentacles. i really and truly do. it would have been very fun. and i would have liked to see it. also i may have talked about this before, but i think just having jean be bodiless would be fun. like. her existing as a mind on the psychic plane, and that’s it. i think that would be a fun way to get to talk about some of how jean thinks about bodies, and her body, and how she presents herself, by fundamentally changing how all that stuff works.

anyway! thanks for asking!! and thank you!!!

[sanstropfremir]

ok, so here's my miscellaneous music show stages post! idk what to even call it in terms of an 'official' title or whatever, but who cares. a lot of my fave stages already ended up in the fave stylings posts or i've talked about them in some other capacity, so this is just for outliers and ones that have stuck in my mind over the last year!

+

set design

test me - xdinary heroes, music core 220723 // the concept of the test me cb was an underground battle of the bands type thing, and i loved the set design of this specific stage because it's so subtle and builts directly out of the existing stage intrastructure. also the yellow jumpsuits are cute, so sue me.

invu - taeyeon, inkigayo 220220 // honestly, i'm just obsessed with the choice to use the led floor panels to to simulate a pool, ringed with the surrounding greenery. the rest of the designs is great but lighting effects are always gonna get me

voyager - kihyun, music core 220319 // i LOVE this ship, it's a great way to work the band into the stage with different levels all in association with the theme.

+

styling

feeling - kim wansun, music core 220108 // the only pants to every exist in the history of ever

wooah hip - mamadol, mcountdown 220127 // my villain origin story is that mamadol was a temporary project group. give us kahi back!!!!

chase - minho, mcountdown 221229 // people have slept on minho's solo which i expected, but honestly i really enjoyed it and i like how he very clearly showed that he had clear ideas that he wanted to explore than aligned with his own interests. the styling overall was not particularly notable bc it's a very naturalistic theme, but this patent leather trenchcoat really is something that only minho could pull off

what if love - up10tion, music bank 221014 // what is even happening with these outfits. i'm obsessed with xiao's shirt.

chronograph - victon, inkigayo 220130 // just looking at any pictures of hanse from any two victon eras should be enough to convince you that gender isn't real.

undercover - craxy, music bank 220819 // fun af fake chain props for the choreo, very theatrical!

focus - ha sungwoon, mcountdown 220825 // he only did one stage bc this was right before he enlisted, but did he need to bedazzle his cleavage like that? did you sungwoon??????? also this choreo is so fucking fast like holy shit you really did the damn thing even though you did not need to

me = naneun - just b, show champion 221130 // if anyone wants to fill me on on what fuck bain is wearing i'd gladly take any info. train conductor chic is all i got

dance with god - craxy, mcountdown 220224 // i can guarantee that on any given day those gold fringed pants will pop into my head at any random time

tomboy - wei, show champion 220608 // no comment

boom - minhyuk, mcountdown 220630 // no comment, but louder. again, another cb that almost made my top stylings list, but i can't keep rewarding him like this. any one of these stages gives me brain damage.

louder - tan, inkigayo 220626 // could not tell you what is going on here. a.c.e's stylist seems to be periodically working with tan and so their styling ranges from fine to excellent to batshit insane on any given day and every single louder stage is a hit. honestly all of their cbs almost made my top stylings list just for the sheer insanity of them.

alone - highlight, music core 221112, YOSEOB PUT THOSE AWAY I SWEAR TO FUCKING GODDDDDDDDD. dongwoon don't think i didn't notice you also but we're not gonna talk about it. also yoseob's collar for this stage i'm gonna be sick who allowed them do this.

+

staging and/or other

this GORGEOUS staging of kim jaehwan's back then, it's one of the few times that i've seen in the round used properly in a kpop context and maybe the only time i've seen it on a music show? also great set design and it looks so good with his pinwheel lightsticks.

tbh i just picked a random ascension stage for this, bc the sheer amount of production value they put into everything they do deserves being viewed even if they didn't make any of my other lists. prop kings, literally.

dkz's mcountdown special stage of lupin, because she's a queen and she deserves the love

plus a couple of not specifically music show performances, but they they are music program performances. mostly this is here for me to pimp kbs listen up bc NOBODY watched it except me and nana and it literally had some of the best stages of the year:

kihyun's solo performance of someone's someone on k-909, bc it's soooooo cute. honestly ppl watch k-909 too they put so much production value into everything

dkz on listen up performing a remake of in the rain, featuring kyoungyoon doing a standing backflip for no reason??

seungsik, subin, and sejun (victon) on listen up having a ball and also flipping a couch over

woohyun on listen up being sluttier than he should be allowed to be

ren on listen up god i miss nu'est so BAD

ghost9 on listen up absolutely WRECKING the hundred millionth kpop song named monster

swan absolutely wrecking on listen up stan purple kiss i stg

+

that's a wrap on 2022 posts! now i'm gonna get cracking on all my backed up asks 😭

[2n2n]

rapidfur 

In chapter 82 we see snippets of tsukasa and amane alive... as I'm sure you know! The issue is we can't know how canon it is, but I like to believe they're real as they seem a bit too grandiose for a kid like Tsukasa to imagine. (Plus, the reveal of Tsukasa's face in the school entrance ceremony...) He seems kind of Tsukasa-ish all things considered. maybe a bit more placid and normal? Less crazy-looking?

ah you’re right I’m being hyperbolic (its a TRAUMA RESPONSE!!**a joke**)I’m really thinking about this sort of minicomic, 

every time one of these flashback minicomics happens or a more context-filled color spread I’m like *on my knees* PLEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE WHEN YUGI!!!!!!! PLEASE LET ME SEE THEM TALK *shaking bars of my cage* PLEAAAASE SHOW ME THEM PLAYING LITTLE GAMES, WHAT IS THE DYNAMIC LIIIKE AT AGE 8??? They be catching bugs and playing katanuki but pleeaaase, is Amane like, a doting big brother??? Is Tsukasa like, more attentive or placid?? Or more wiley??? Would Amane pick on him with little games and stuff??? Did Tsukasa pull back on his rowdiness at all, is he still super clumsy, AAORUGORGH it feels like we cannot see anything more substantial yet.... the random few silent shots are edging me. Did Amane compare his stupid kokeshi doll to a penis back then????? At what age does his sexual irreverence start?? Does he subject Tsukasa to his boob talk?? I have 100 questions. AND WHAT WOULD TSUKASA SAY OR DO??? I can’t begin to think about ‘Tsukasa with others’, I CAN’T EVEN QUITE TALK ABOUT LIVING TSUKASA WITH AMANE....!! *visibly dying on the ground* did they draw zoo animals together. What would Amane say about Tsukasa’s drawings. Did they give eachother Valentines. What kind of Christmas presents would they get each other. What are birthdays like at 8-13. Does anyone COME to them or is this insular? 

Besides that, we also have Tsukasa at age 8, who is allowed to go out with amane and roam the festival. All we know about him here is that he hyper focused on a stall game for hours and starts to あばれる if anyone stops him. This is still not a lot, but it does paint a picture of a volatile and independent child... still, it's interesting how AidaIro still refuses to show his face most of the time.

Oouuuuhh I can’t use the word volatile, despite, the phrase, being so like wildin’, look at how incredibly affectionate Amane is as he talks about it, hims little blush, it makes me envision Tsukasa flailing his little arms around and whining and Amane not having the heart to drag him away. 

this panel is my lifeblood......... Amane referring to Tsukasa doing something sooo inconvenient but so warmly ..... he’s like... *sigh* that dog of mine ..... maybe he just knows this will happen every Tanabata. Resigned. Its even Amane’s favorite game too, argh..... I wonder how long he ‘lasts’ having fun with Tsukasa ... *losing the plot*

...anyway this is just me adding on, I think the idea that Tsukasa was different is interesting because otherwise --

--WHAT WAS THE POINT... of aidairo hiding his face!?!?

Anyway I am just adding on a little bit, I think we really don't have enough evidence on alive Tsukasa so I am anticipating the bait and switch now. i am enjoying reexamining my interpretation of the yugis by reading your blog!!

WHAT WAS THE POOIIINT OF NEVER LETTING US SEE THEM JUST, TALK???????? I feel like any more like... nuanced? Expression is really being guarded.... there’s this like, sense of plausible deniability, maybe Tsukasa was always :D ... or was he ? arrrghhh

anyway I did assume the most desirable bachelor to talk about was 13 year old Tsukasa, truly the biggest mystery. We only have his most sublime serene corpse drawn.

I guess friendship with the 4 year old would be like, him showing you hims, giraffe drawing, maybe, playful but also walking away mid interaction bc he saw a grasshopper.