#buggy rambles

[thatbuggygirl]

A long time ago

Two years ago

Now

I think about this a lot, how the way Yanma talks about the privilege of having loved ones subtlety changes over time. Because I think it's deliberate, that in the past he says he's got nothing, but when he's talking about it with Himeno (who says "anyone") he mentions only his parents. Because by that point, he's probably starting to realize he *does* have people he cares about, in ways more than just his duty to his country. And by the time episode 35 roles around, forget about it; he's got a loved one.

It's one of those little details about KingOhger that makes it so good!

[bugtastic]

I started working on the jealousy fic with Vash and it's gonna have 2 parts. Whenever I write for Vash I end up writing a lot of lore :'D.

Sorry for not posting this weekend I ended up being in pain because my braces are KILLING me and I couldn't focus. I'll continue to write tonight!

Also- I might change the looks of the blog a little and change my name to bugtastic. So yeah :'). Sorry again for not posting so frequently.

[cheetospuffsgoods]

what's your favorite and least favorite character within creepy castle?.

For favorite, I’d say either Darking or Poindexter! Least favorite, I’d say maybe Pinky Punk, but I’ve got more of a love-hate relationship with her because I don’t like how she treats ant queen, but I think she’s also kinda silly!

[goblinbugthing]

im only a man when im a grown ass man and im only a woman when god forbid women do anything

any time other than that? im a fucking Echidna

[deimosatellite]

underrated bit in marineford was when law was like ''give luffy to me i can help him im a doctor" and buggy took one look at him and went "NO THE FUCK YOURE NOT"

[lulu-the-bugaboo]

This is so funny to me

Has anyone else noticed how much faster Ace clicks with characters who have daddy issues? And sometimes without him even knowing. Like with Deuce and Yamato it took less than a day (maybe even Sabo when they first met) for them to become best buddies

And then there are the other characters like Luffy, Jimbei, and Whitebeard who had to go through his murder attempts for a good while before he deemed them safe for a normal relationship

Bro has an instinct for it

[kabutoden]

Hi! My name is Kabuto and I’m the goofer behind Aphids/Bugstuck and a ton of original work.

Unfortunately, due to stuff outside my powers, I’m going to have to move again soon :( which is scary and sucks. I’m not thrilled about it, but I don’t have a choice. I’m hoping people might enjoy my work enough to help cover rent and food!

While I’m still struggling to find a part-time job, getting paid for art means more time to make the Cool Content you guys want to see. I spend around 30 hours a week drawing, both to improve my abilities and complete projects. With your support I can draw your requests+work on aphids without having to stress so much. I’d like to release 3 pages or more a week along with a regular ask requests! Designing characters is super fun for me, after all! :Y

So checkout my patreon!! I CAN DRAW BUGS

[hoodiemanic]

Tumblr why

[blackholesun321]

Shanks Doesn’t Have A Dream! And I Can Prove It!

Ok, y’all, can I talk my shit again? Because I have thoughts and feels about our good old one-armed favorite disaster of a party pirate, Akagami (Red-Haired) Shanks. I’m going to be completely honest: I may have had this rant before, but I can’t find it, and no one else has this take. I need to talk about my vision of him that I’m like 60/40 percent sure is correct canon-wise and would explain so many of his—let’s call them quirks.

I think one of Oda’s beliefs and the teachings that One Piece has so blatantly told us about, such as personal freedom, charting your own destiny, and making your own adventure along the way, are a reflection of Shanks’ character as someone who never got that chance and never would. That, to me, makes him one of the saddest characters in One Piece.

Let me cook here. I’m not going to cite anything because I don’t want to, and I do that enough already in college, so we’re running on trust me: I’ve read the manga and watched a lot of theory videos. So lock in because this is gonna be long.

Anyways, back to my thesis. Shanks is a character of contradictions. He was the youngest person to ever become a Yonko (but then Luffy came in), probably one of the strongest men of his generation. He regularly fought the world’s strongest swordsman for fun. He has a crew whose members each have over a million bounties on their own and are so physically or politically strong that they can stop a war in its tracks just by waltzing in and saying "stop." Not only that, he stopped Kaido in his tracks and made him turn around. His father was the Pirate King and claimed him as his successor; he could even be tied to the Celestial Dragons. He’s charismatic, and when things need to get done, he gets down to business.

On the other hand, he’s also a goofy guy who regularly gets blackout drunk, has a horrible sense of pant style, parties his life away, and thinks bullying kids is the height of comedy. He cares about his kid to the point that he forgets to be a responsible Yonko but also wants to fight him for the One Piece. He seems so blasé about everything but is obviously, in the background, making connections and being all sneaky about something; he has plans but also didn’t decide to go after the One Piece until after his prime. He’s been stagnant but moving and shaking around the world, all for some big ideal, some big plan, something huge.

It is my stance, idea, theory, if you will, that all this makes sense if you look at it from the viewpoint that nothing—not the planning, not stealing the fruit, not the power growth, or making his way to Yonko status, not building his crew, even the hurry-up-and-wait—he’s been doing all these years, his whole life? Is because he’s hasn’t made a single decision for himself since Gol D. Roger died.

Outrageous! You cry! Shanks, a man who supposedly spouts on about being free and charting your own course and being a pirate? Is none of those things? Impossible, you will say. I will ask you how you got into my house and to please leave. But aside from the pirate bit, yes, and I can prove this. Calm my chili-baby’s and listen.

Yes, Shanks had his life taken from his adventure, his destiny set and marked right before the Loguetown execution. It is my belief that all this can be laid at the feet of—drumroll, please—Gol D. Roger himself!

Gasp! Crying! Fainting in the audience! I know, what a twist. Let me explain. In a flashback, we see Roger talking about Ace. It was Roger’s belief that Ace (his child) would be the savior of the world, the new Joy Boy, destined to destroy the World Government with what they learned from the Poneglyphs and Laugh Tale. He believed their generation was too early and that the next would usher in the new world. Ace would be his true successor. A little narcissistic, but a man like Roger probably couldn’t help but be. Not just that but it probably felt prophetic he found Laugh Tale of course that had to mean something?He was also dying as it was and put things in place for Ace to survive. He told Garp where he was so Garp could take him away with Rouge—a safety net, that sure was useful. Once she ya know, died.

With the understanding that the next generation would usher in the new age, Roger took aside a thirteen-year-old Shanks and revealed everything. He told him about the birth of the new Joy Boy, everything about Laugh Tale, and how he believed his son would usher in this age. I believe he gave Shanks this purpose: to pass on the straw hat to his son and help him become a man strong enough to fight the World Government. I think little traumatized Shanks, who is about to lose his father and has had the weight of the world put on his shoulders, takes it to heart and buries everything he is to fulfill his captain's last wish. And that’s horrible. I’ll get into the psychological implications later, but holy shit, Roger, what the fuck? He’s thirteen! And about to watch you die!

But yeah, doesn’t this make sense? Why the hell when Buggy wanted to go after the One Piece, did Shanks hold back and say they should wait, losing his brother because he has a secret his captain entrusted him with. Why the hell did they know about the Gum Gum Fruit and were searching for it? Why did Shanks spend so long on a little island like Fousha in the East Blue? Not only was he looking for the fruit, but he was also looking for Ace! (And maybe Rouge.)

Why has he been making all these connections but doing jack shit with them? Why did he become a Yonko but claim no territory for fucking years on end and do nothing really with his status? Why does he rely on such a small crew of such powerful individuals? Why does he party his life away, seem almost aimless, and not start to go after the One Piece until Luffy reaches Gear 5?

Because he’s the one to pass on the legacy; he’s the placeholder, a cog in the proverbial machine that is fate. He made sure Joy Boy would exist. And now that the dominoes have been placed and are falling fast, he’s going to challenge Luffy and make sure he’s strong enough to fight for it—strong enough to take on the World Government, the Celestial Dragons, and Imu—and then hand him a big red button to help do it afterward. That button will be all the sneaky shit he’s been doing in the background.

He’s been the bridge between his captain and this new age. Sure, it was too early, but his influence rippled out through the people he trusted and touched in his life. The same way Rayleigh trained Luffy, knowing what he was preparing him for in the next part of his journey, waiting years for him to arrive at Sabaody.

And all that needed to happen was the dreams, adventures, and sacrifices of a young boy. It’s almost poetic—a son for a son (or sun, in this case). My therapist says I make light of dark shit so I don’t have to emotionally feel the pain.

And now we get into the sad portion of today’s episode. Prepare the tissues because this is why I think Shanks is one of the saddest characters in One Piece.

Because think about it: Shanks’s life was charted for him; his adventure and future were stolen, decided with the reveal of Laugh Tale and all the secrets around it—everything, all so the next generation could one day rise up and bring a new dawn. Shanks never got to have a dream because it was stolen from him. He’s a walking, talking empty automaton, fulfilling his captain's dying promise made by a grieving thirteen-year-old.

He is dreamless, and for a man who is, in some sense, the freest in the world—can go anywhere, can do anything, is powerful enough to stop wars—he’s still trapped, chained to a future he can only wait for.

I don’t think he knows who he is outside of this. I don’t think he thinks he’ll live beyond it. (Which like I will fucking cry because this is gonna be kinda true.) I don’t even want to call it an ambition. Duty, maybe. Damned promise, more likely. And it’s ruined every relationship outside of it he’s ever had. Aside from one—

(Don’t even get me started on him and Mihawk and miscommunication, failed expectations, and Mihawk being the epitome of everything Shanks isn’t. With his dream chasing to the ends of the world, ending up unfulfilled and alone. Finding companionship and what he thought were similar drives in each other, but once Shanks lost his arm and his hat, he realized Shanks was never fighting for something he wanted. And it broke him a little; it broke their relationship—one of the only relationships Shanks chose for himself, with nothing to do with his mission.

And Buggy—he gave up his brother, was forced to leave him alone, and couldn’t say anything, couldn’t tell him the truth, couldn’t destroy his dream. And he couldn’t even be selfish enough to make him stay. Like, oh my God, the drama.)

Doomed yaoi aside, the only thing and person I think that messed up his perfectly made plans is Luffy.

Sweet baby Luffy wasn’t so sweet before the Red Force arrived. In the manga, it is mentioned that he was an angry, bitter child, lashing out almost like Ace to a degree. But Shanks, by just being kind, by being good, and by reaching out and teasing this little ball of anger, transforms him, saves him in a way. He gives him a drive, a dream, and a morality to live by. He gives him everything he never got—everything stripped from him. Shanks turns him into the type of person a special kind of Devil Fruit might call out to and get eaten by.

Nika chose Luffy because Shanks saved him by just being good and kind, giving this kid something beyond his anger and bitterness. Shanks gave Luffy the idea of freedom, and in return, he allowed Shanks’s perfectly clear mission to shatter. I think this Shanks makes the first real decision in his life: he goes, "Fuck, well, we’re backing this horse now," and Luffy becomes his child—not his captain's, but his future to bet on and help grow.

And I fucking love that. Luffy saves him just as he saved Luffy, in a way. And that’s his kid, his successor, more than it ever was for Roger. I will die on this hill. (If you want, you can even look at it as Shanks finally choosing a dream all his own and it’s Luffy.)

Will Oda see it this way? Probably not. He has a habit of brushing off stuff like this; I think he’ll make Shanks’s character into a noble man dedicated to stopping the World Government and not even think about the implications of tying all that to him at such a young age. But I do think Shanks expects to die when Luffy comes to fight; I think he wants to, just how Mihawk wants to die from Zoro’s blades. Because what is there beyond this? (And again, parallels!)

And I believe he will live! (Not Mihawk—he's gonna die.) Shanks will live, and symbolically, Luffy will free him from this self-imposed duty, this promise made by a child. Shanks will have made, even unwittingly, the thing that would free him, allowing him to move forward in a world where all the purposes he needs to find are his own.

And holy shit, that’s a lot for him, but then Blackbeard will happen, and he’ll die only having known freedom for a short while. Luffy will cry and create a new dawn, and it won’t be for nothing—except it will be for everything to Shanks.

In conclusion, Shanks doesn’t have a dream of his own. He never had a dream; if he did, it was squashed out of him in order to fulfill a promise set by his father, Gol D. Roger.

He loses his brother, loses his control over his destiny, and as his father sets such things into motion, Ace, Roger’s child, will become the new Joy Boy.

He makes a connection with someone outside of that mission and purpose, and in doing so, creates the opportunity for his own freedom and his own choice in Luffy.

Later down the line, Nika/Luffy will eventually free him in the same way he created his own freedom back then, giving him a new choice going forward. They will free him from the mission that was placed on his shoulders as a thirteen-year-old child, and afterwards, he will consequently be killed by Blackbeard, and everything will be horrible, and we will all cry. The end.

I hope everyone enjoyed this thesis on Shanks. Feel free to use it and steal it to your hearts content. I would love to write more if anyone has any questions or things they want to ask; I will be opening up my ask box for questions. I would love to go into more detail on his relationship with Luffy, his rivalry with Blackbeard, and how that ties into all of this, as well as his relationship with Mihawk (fuck man the parallels!!) or maybe Buggy. (Which I have less on it’s just really tragic.)

[cinnbar-bun]

Imagining the hilarity of being in the One Piece world with a history of working in childcare. Like can you imagine accidentally slipping into a teacher voice or something with someone like…. ZORO. BUGGY? Or god forbid even, like, CROCODILE? SHANKS???

[thatbuggygirl]

One of my favorite things about Udai Tenma is that throughout the series, Haikyu sets him up to be kind of a Big (little) Thing.

Like, Hinata goes on and on about how amazing he is and how inspirational watching him play was. And he's always talked about with, like, reverence, because he was the star player when Karasuno was in their heyday. There's so much hype built up around him that it seems he's become larger than life; he is, after all, *the* Little Giant and he's kind of a Big Deal.

He's incredibly important to the story, but kept sort of shrouded in mystery. He's Karasuno's #10. The star player. The Little Giant. His actual name isn't even revealed until much, much later in the series.

And then he turns up at the tournament and it's this moment where Hinata gets to meet his hero, f i n a l l y and he's just

Because after all that, he's just some guy.

He's not the man, the myth, the legend. He's just some nerdy college student, living a regular life.

And it's interesting, I think, to explore how he was built up so much throughout the course of the series. It was done so well, in a way that seemed to build anticipation for this moment where he and Hinata would cross paths. You were only ever treated to glimpses of him, but still had an idea of what to expect, and then he just turned out to be the complete opposite of what he was set up to be and it's kind of weirdly satisfying.

Then he comes back later looking like this

and that's somehow even better.

[bugtastic]

I love seeing p*rn bots follow me on my main account 💀

Like please LEAVE ME ALONEEEEE they are just flooding the account

[mothymayhem]

And one more design post!! Color/messy color concept for Moth Lunar

[goblinbugthing]

this will forever be the funniest screenshot i have

[localceilingdevil]

off string designs for visceral growths. puppets actually built for moving around!!!

myths is technically already an "off string model" so i won't draw her design :p but here's the others

since they can't function without their neurons they have tiny ones inside of their body!!! i could go on about the functions. thinking about this stuff is so interesting to me.

rambles below the cut

ok so uhm the main thing i had to keep in mind with their off string design was mobility. OBVIOUSLY. their legs are built the way they are for the sake of traversing through harsh, bumpy and uneven terrain (for a multitude of purposes. i think in general their ancients would just want them to be mobile for important meetings and even in case of emergencies! ancients thinking about the future that DOESN'T involve mass ascension ... unheard of) and have springs based off the "prototype"'s (myths.) feet to absorb impact when falling. fields especially has a special ability to jump higher from the added mechanisms he has in his legs :]

their feet are talon-like for the sake of grip and their legs are generally very agile despite their chunky design! with multiple joints that allow for flexibility. their hips are also built to allow their legs to stretch to the side and whatnot. they're just very flexible in general.

now for my favorite part!!! the jelly-like substance that each of their puppets has acts as their "blood". despite being considered iterator blood it isn't fluid, and is comparable to the texture of the silicone from a breast implant—doesn't spill, is a great regulator for heat, and prevents any possible damage to their innards !!! the ancients figured that they'd need their neurons to function properly sooo they just shrunk down copies of their data into tinier neurons and just. filled em up with them. the neurons float around freely inside of them.

i also think that their cores are somewhere inside their torsos like a real heart, protected by the silicone. they also have a bunch of wires and functions inside that require frequent coolant so they probably have a bottle for it somewhere along their back that can be taken out at any given moment.

i think that's all i have to ramble about so far. they're so neat and fun to think about and ough. they're just like their superstructures fr fr <333 I'll probably yap more later but for now that's all

[charliethechandelure]

Thinking about how Buggy stabbing Luffy's hat at the beginning of the manga is not only a big fuck you to Shanks but also one to Roger. Damaging it was a beautiful way to show his resentment towards both the brother and father that failed him but also to the kid who got to live his dream. Buggy seing Luffy being able to chase his dream without unealthy expectations placed on his shoulders probably slapped him hard in the face .

Luffy really is a reflection of what he could've been had life happened differently and that probably stings a lot