#don't ask about the heels

[mocha-illustrates]

SLUT CLUB SLUT CLUB SLUT CLUB

fun little collab i did in the weekly magma with @venomous-qwille (moon) and @maudiemoods (sun)

These boys belong to the lovely @naffeclipse

[canisalbus]

So i remember an ask mentioning your mortal enemy, Felis Atra and their cats, and i thought it'd be fun to draw what Felis Atra's version of your italian dogs would be.

I think they would be called Butter Knife and Flamengo! Butter Knife is not his real name, it's an nickname given by his peers because of how harmless he is. I choose Flamengo because that's the name of Vasco's rival football team here in Brazil, so i thought that was the perfect name :)

Cat Machete was slightly inspired by the Oriental Shorthair cat because of their long noses and thin head shape.

Cat Vasco was inspired by the Scottish Fold cat, because FLOPPY EARS. I gave Flamengo longer ears and orange fur to make him more like his look-alike.

The last doodle is a reference to this ask (https://canisalbus.tumblr.com/post/728923918314946560/me-i-am-machete-ear-fan-number-1-those-ears) and contains the tumblr ask stand-in dog, whose cat version was inspired by the American Curl cat! They have round ears that are slightly floppy outwards.

Final notes: I know cardinal clothes don't come in vibrant blue, but i was ADAMANT on switching Machete's and Vasco's clothing color patterns. I would draw the rest of Butter Knife's and Flamengo's clothes, but i suck at designing cool outfits.

Speaking of outfits, for Machete's iconic void outfit, i figured it would be fun to make it more baggy for Butter Knife, in contrast to Machete's, that looks very tight-fitted. I think it's cute, it kinda looks like a sweater. Also i can't imagine a Machete doppelganger without high heels boots, so those HAD to stay.

Oh, and just to be clear, i'm not like, claiming ownership of these guys or anything. I just thought it would be a fun exercise. Hope you like them!! I love your art and your characters.

.

[kyouka-supremacy]

Thoughts on akutagawa being drawn with no highlights in his eyes, hair, coat, or on rashomon,,,like everything is drawn pure black? I like when he's drawn a little bit like not-human--contrasts real well with Atsushi's dilemma of being a tiger, personally thinking. Also like when he's drawn like a void. Little bit like the cryptid creachur he is. I think you wrote something about it in the tags on panels in his introduction in the Manga. I like to think other characters also see him the way we see him so his void ass scares the fuck out of others too. Man's skeevin and tweakin even in his design

I'm OBSESSED with Akutagawa's design. Look at him. This is what he looks like on a white background:

And this is what he looks like on a black background:

It's BRILLIANT. He literally disappears in the black. He's the ultimate monster. In his appearance, he embodies what above all is most scary for the human psyche: the darkness, the unknown. The way Harukawa took advantage of the the art rule of never using pure black by breaking it in the most clever way! No light gets reflected on him, because his form absorbs everything– is absolute darkness. Visually, his figure itself is Rashomon eating everything it encounters, and it's genius.

He is so nightmare coded. I love his big, inscrutable eyes that look like two voids, two black holes. I love how oftentimes you can't tell where Rashomon ends and where he starts, I love how sick and unhealthy he looks. I love how he looks scruffy like an abandoned dog. I love how young he looks– way younger than he is. It gives the impression of a ghost, someone who was killed before growing up and is now stuck with his young appearance no matter how many centuries pass.

I adore everything about these chapter 33 pages. The way he initially appears as just a single black shape, hardly resembling a human. His crunched, unnatural stance. The staggering. The way you can feel with your senses the thick and sticky blood. The top picture is the left page of the manga, so just imagine the visual impact of turning the page to be hit with an almost full-black page- it's meant to impress, it's meant to shake. The way he's one with the darkness: no textures on him, only white making out his outlines. The way you can't tell where his coat ends. His left arm hanging numb, limp, lifeless, inhuman. The spurts of blood on his face. His smile, how you won't notice it at first and how that makes it all the more disquieting; its juxtaposition with the violence that surrounds him and that he is the cause of. The way he covers his face, the impressions of hiding and looming. His face being split, which only adds to the horror elements. Akutagawa's character design as a whole is an ode to the gothic and grotesque.

And then this. Hello??????????????? The progression from how Akutagawa used to be to the last time we saw him alive is astonishing. It's upsetting. It really makes me wanna cry from a technical execution standpoint alone (imagine from a plot related standpoint). All the black is now replaced with predominant white, everywhere. His shirt is white and candid and pure, emphasizing contrast with the splash of blood in a way that almost results sickening. The blood on him is his this time. His face looks rounder, and healthier, and he overall looks more mature. His smile is sincere and genuine, it's light, it's affectionate. This scene is the culmination of Akutagawa's character both visually and thematically: the monster, Akutagawa, too, can be good, and arguably had good within him since the very start. Does it really matter if he lives after this? His character already developed to be the best version of himself‚ and this panel here is the proof.

Further readings: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

[moe-broey]

Doodles

Low-poly Thing

Have you ever sat in a chair before.......

+ Other doodles on the same page

[essektheylyss]

I know you said you need to stop screaming first but I am EAGERLY awaiting your thoughts on Essek in the teaser

OKAY OKAY HERE GOES.

The thing is, there's no real reason to include him.

Yes, he's very popular, but he has never historically been included as a default, validly! He occupies a very interesting space mechanically and narratively, but he is still not a PC. Yes, he's part of the Mighty Nein as a group, per canon, but not until the end, which in theory would be well beyond the first season, and so is Cad, who is not present in this teaser—presumably to preserve the mystery around [INSERT MAJOR SPOILER WARNING HERE].

I would imagine that Cad is not present because having Taliesin's voice twice is too much of a tipoff for anyone watching LoVM but not the campaigns, whereas simply having Matt voice someone is not.

HOWEVER.

There are a decent number of lines that you could choose for Essek that are about the Nein—personally, my favorite, that I've thought previously would make a really stellar trailer line, is from 124: "You certainly carve a unique destiny, don't you?" Everything down to the way Matt delivers it (which you can see here) would make it a really viable option.

But the line they went with isn't about the Nein—it's very much a line about Essek himself. "I want to unlock these mysteries. I want to dive as deep as I can into that ocean of the unknown and see what is possible." It's a line that is very specific to Essek and his actions and goals, even beyond his involvement with the Nein.

And it's placed in the middle of the pack, which frames him on the same level as the rest of the Nein! Someone who is not familiar with the campaign would hear that as simply another protagonist. But of course, he's not—unless there is some serious restructuring (more even than the restructuring present in LoVM, which, aside from introducing a few of the initial less plot-bearing aspects later, like the Slayer's Take, it's thus far structured in order), he won't come into the show for quite some time, and almost certainly not in the first season.

But we don't really have any idea how this show will be structured. There are different comments on the beginning from different sources; notably, Gizmodo mentions Calianna being present in some way initially, while no one else does. The logline most outlets are reporting revolves the Nein "prevent[ing] the kingdom from plunging into chaos when an arcane artifact capable of reshaping reality falls into the wrong hands," presumably the beacon (my beloved).

So it makes sense to mention Essek, for, you know, the obvious reasons, as comment on the beacon itself. (I'm going to guess they're simplifying it to one beacon, per the press release, for ease lol.) But this line, while about dunamancy as a whole and the powers of the beacon, is not about it directly. It's still about Essek's interest in it. It is an excellent line, and on its face, it has nothing to do with the Nein or the plot of the first fifty episodes of the campaign.

There's plenty of speculation to be done about how this might be structured, and I'm sure I'll do plenty of it because, let's be honest, I do not shut up about adaptation and translating stories between formats, it is one of my absolute favorite subjects, and this is the Nein, babey!!!

So my point here being: I think there is a lot of room with the nature of Wildemount politics to get a little wild with structure in the translation from D&D game to TV show that, while not impossible in LoVM, wouldn't really have added anything to the story, and honestly, might've taken away from it. Because the point is to watch Vox Machina become the big damn heroes! We do see tidbits of Brimscythe and the Briarwoods beyond the purview of the heroes, but mostly in ways that feel very '80s cartoon villain cameo' which fits the feel of the show perfectly.

But there are a lot of political players and forces in Wildemount that the Nein navigate whether they're aware of them or not, one of whom of course becomes a member of their party, and that's part of what makes their story so interesting. The Nein are the heroes that no one knows, who are always playing within and against the system and are hyper aware of that, and I think expanding how much of that we get to see now that the format allows for it (not necessarily a lot, not to the point of adding whole plotlines, but at least some of it) would only add to the tension and stakes, and Essek's presence in the trailer makes me wonder if they will.

[klanced]

you Must speak on what makes keith a barbie. for the people

1. comically large skill set

barbie MUST be highly skilled at an EXPANSIVE number of things. i am of course alluding to the sheer number of careers barbie has had (over 200!!!!). a barbie must be able to somehow solve every problem she encounters by drawing on her staggeringly large toolbox of Things and Stuff. and keith, to me, fits this bill better than lance.

the other day i was joking about how keith is the most guy of all time, and i stand by that. i think keith has worked a surprising number of jobs considering how young he is. i firmly believe keith has a weird amount of skills and trades under his belt, and with them, he can at least brute force his way through any problem he encounters.

i just think keith can do way more things than lance. BUT, and this is important, most of the things he can do are not life-savingly important. keith is not smarter than lance, he just knows things like how to do the heimlich maneuver on dogs, the best way to select a watermelon (organized by variety and season), how to ground an electric fence, etc.

2. simple zest for life

another defining characteristic of barbie is her simple zest for life. this is not to be confused with like........ idk, constant optimism and being an extrovert (although barbie is pretty optimistic). i just think barbie goes through life pretty confident in herself, and it helps her move through the world feeling very unbothered. it's about being satisfied and content.

i think keith operates in a similar way. like he does the things he does because he thinks it's the best way forward, and then he just does it. lance, meanwhile, is bogged down by a lot of anxiety about himself and his place in the world. keith also has a lot of anxiety about his identity, because of how much is completely unknown to him, but he's not afraid of the not knowing. (well, until the galra thing becomes a possibility, then he has a lot of feels about that.) but besides that, keith in the face of a self-crisis is just like "yeah ok whatever. can i go now? i have to go change the oil in my speeder." like he has shit to do, y'know? like who cares. his dog likes to go on walks at specific times in the day, he doesn't have time for this.

also can we be real for a second. if lance went as barbie for halloween he'd prepare like a million different reasons/justifications for why he's wearing this neon pink cowboy vest and bell bottoms. meanwhile keith would roll into the party dressed as cowgirl barbie purely because he saw the movie and liked the outfit enough to remember and wear it. no further thought.

3. serving cunt

look. i'm just going to be frank with you all: i think keith can, has, and will outserve lance any day of the week. like i'm sorry, but unless we all start getting real desperate with our fanon, that's just the plain truth.

you can put lance in a crop top all you want, but keith's p*ssy p*ps s*verely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[samijey]

Reason #583412 why Sami Zayn is the ultimate babyface: even after being verbally and physically attacked by Jimmy and Jey, he continues to appeal to them to join forces and do the right thing together.

[willowser]

💔for the ask game! when did bakubrat get jealous over you haahaha

�� were there ever any moments of angst or jealousy thanks to the hidden feelings ?

bakubrat hehehehe let's see !! overall, i don't think bakugou is a very jealous person bc i do think part of his little months long process of understanding his feelings, is making sure that whoever (me) is...trustworthy ?? loyal ?? so i don't think he'd get jealous in a sense that someone might steal me away, but—

i do think there are some little insecurities that can eat away at him ?? like. i laugh at everything. it's very easy to make me laugh LOL so if i'm chatting with some sidekick boy and he makes me laugh, i do think bakugou is kind of watching through the window like 😒😒😒 LOL bc i like funny and he worries he's not funny enough for me....even though i laugh at everything and he makes me laugh all the time anyway 😊 or he gets a little jealous of guys like sero or kirishima who are just naturally very charming and can have me blushy very easily — even though he also has me so blushy but he only notices when someone else does it he's silly idk idk

i unfortunately have terrible self-worth and therefore am terribly jealous, so i would expect him at any point to find someone more suited to him every single day of my life LMAO it would honestly probably lead me to pull away from him every now and then 🥺 at random times 🥺 i get too much in my head over the weekend, thinking about someone that's stronger and cooler and more accomplished and then come to work on monday and pretend he doesn't exist until he approaches me 🥺 and even then i'm just kind of surface smiles and small talk 🥺 THAT would probably bring the most amount of angst into this stage of our relationship 💀 whoops 💀

pining stage ask game !

[the-way-astray]

i must be the only (kind of) unironic aldella shipper in this entire fandom . . .

[anglerflsh]

after you gradute will you go no contact with your parents?

After I have a stable job, absolutely. Can't sue me for abandonment of elder in need of care if I never cared in the first place

[riordanverse-madness]

Sooooo, we all know that Percy's Achilles' heel is the small on his back bc his fatal flaw is loyalty and you can't kill him unless you litteraly stab him in the back.

But nobody is talking about Luke's Achilles' heel and it's signifiance

Luke's fatal flaw is holding grudges aka. If you hurt his feelings and/or betray him he will hold it against you.So you have to (poetically) stab him in the heart, and his Achilles' heel is his chest, close to his heart.

How did it take me so long to figure this out?

[scramble-crossing]

"I think it's especially interesting how he considered himself to be at his most "beautiful" once he'd gone taboo. It wasn't about his actual appearance. It was about breaking from the confines of his old body, which lacked the strength to take on the Composer and could never see him through to his ultimate dream of usurping Joshua's position and shaping Shibuya to his own desires. The power he possessed and the violence it allowed him to exert was really an artform in itself. Beauty for him, I think, is in the freedom to shape oneself to their most extravagant desires, which implies a lot about what he might've been like as Composer. Of course, the tragic downside to the actual, physical state of his body tying very little into his sense of worth is how willing he is to tear it apart over and over again to achieve his goals. Very shrewdly mathematical of him."

bro i am metaphorically kissing you on the mouth. you get it. you UNDERSTAND. he uses his body as just another addition to his latest opus. "freedom to shape oneself to their most extravagant desires" is so real, and also "following one's wishes" which is why i think that he gets along with konishi at the end of OG where he says that he zetta digs her style, because she's following her selfish desires to the end and he finds that beautiful. or how he smirks about rindo factoring out how his time travel works, allowing him to manipulate time to his desires. i think that the interest in trash says a lot too. he thinks that anything can be beautiful, no matter how much others view as garbage, because it can be a canvas when heaped together.

"implies a lot about what he might've been like as Composer"

personally i think that people over-exaggerate the whole "he would've turned shibuya into a trashpile!" because we see him capable of supporting OTHER PEOPLE in this too. i think that he would hate anything that homogenized shibuya, even himself. he wouldn't want everyone acting exactly like him or whatever. that doesn't make interesting material for art. instead he'd want to see everyone pursuing their selfish desires with hierarchies ripped apart

^For context I'm pretty sure this is the post anon is referring to

Hehe thanks :] I think specifically his interest in trash is fun because you're really able to take it in different directions based on what you want to get out of his character. "he thinks that anything can be beautiful, no matter how much others view as garbage, because it can be a canvas when heaped together" is one super cool interpretation! I also think that you could take it in a direction where he has a more negative worldview, and his "The world is garbage!" schtick is more about him believing that there is something deeply wrong with the world he is living in and only he can fix it, which could provide a motivation for why he wants to become the Composer. There's no one "right" way to interpret Sho which makes him really fun to write about, you can really do whatever you want with him. Which makes me even more frustrated with how hard it is to replicate his mathspeak...sigh

[hydraxx]

i love (sarcastic) when i ask a very specific question ("do you knit the full back length of the ankle before starting the short-row heel turn?") and someone jumps in to give me a bunch of other advice

[whenthegoldrays]

my feminine charms are too powerful

[belle--ofthebrawl]

🌹🌹🌹

He's an expert on heels when his research is done. If he wants Dew to suffer, there are overpriced shoes with steep arches and thin heels that are terrible to walk in, but will make his legs look fantastic, push his little ass out while he stumbles around.

[fangaminghell]

What do Charlotte and Laura think of Suraya? OwO

Do they act as wingmen for her and Saphira?

YES DEFINITELY!!!

Essentially, they both think Suraya is great and are beyond happy that Saphira is letting someone in, let alone actually starting a relationship with them. However, they both give Suraya the " if you hurt our sister, we will destroy your" talk ( Laura is much more polite about it. Charlotte is not). But outside of that they wholeheartedly approve of Suraya! It helps that she's Leo sister lol.

They are definitely wingmen for the two. Charlotte is the more chaotic of the two, totally being obvious in trying to get the two alone together and just getting Saphira so red hgvgvnngjnjdddx.( Charlotte: Welp I gotta go....do something. You to have fun~....but not too much fun. Saphira: Charlotte.) Laura is much more subtle, but still pretty obvious. She likes asking the two to meet up for tea and conveniently having something else to do rendering them alone.

With Saphira specifically, the sisters are pretty much constantly hyping Saphira up to make a move, cause let's be honest, she has no idea what she's doing. Romance hasn't been something on her mind until Suraya came into her life, and she's absolutely stumbling her way through it. I think she underestimates how down bad she is lmao. Laura loved gushing about how romantic they are ( or can be) and has a bouquet of flowers tailored for Saphira when she decides to ask Suraya out properly ( I like to think Suraya was planning to ask her out on the same as Saphira was. Que cute little " you jerk, I was going to ask you out first!" Moment hgvhvgvgvcg.) Charlotte was definitely spying on them on their first date and roped Laura into it hgvhvgvgvcg.

Both Charlotte and Laura actually give Suraya little pointers on how to woe Saphira- her interests, habits, dislikes etc. Suraya is actually just as nervous as Saphira is here so said pointers are very much appreciated! Literally every interaction they have pre-dating would just have Charlotte and Laura in the background giving a thumbs up. To who? Probably both lol. They both need it.