#formal apologies to the following:

[fangxin-guoshi]

Tgcf has officially ruined any and all mlm romance for me bc how am I supposed to go from 800 years of love and devotion thru existential crisis and severe trauma and life threatening battles to "highschool drama" like my standards are SO high

[empiireans]

happy 100 years of disney to the disney bros✨

[noodle8]

he's soooooo. geugh

[tirami-puff]

hello Kallus nation

[targarrus]

how do you even caption this

[khickuwa]

paying my monthly luke tax

[stealingpotatoes]

I don't go here but my little brother is extremely into Star Wars and I need you to know that by now whenever he tells me about a character from it, the only frame of reference I have for what they look like is your art.

Anyway I walked in while he was watching a Star War the other day and recognized someone and my first thought was "Hey I know that guy, that's blorbo from Potes' art!"

LMAOOO OH MY GOD i love that so much,,, this means i'm winning at star wars i think. you're winning at star wars too i mean

broke: blorbo from my star war woke: blorbo from that one potato mf's art

[pokeharvest]

still learning how to draw him but i really like how his face came out here :)

[Image ID: Two digitally drawn images of Gale from Baldur's Gate 3. In the first image, he is sketched in a profile view with his hair half up, looking down as he cooks. He is also shirtless and has a bit of a tummy. He has a slight smile as he cooks. The second image is a close up of his face. End ID.]

[bandtrees]

I went over to check, and you were alive, so I pulled you back to where there was more air, and began to remove the worms. ...Are you alright?

and they say chivalry is dead, smh

[hallowpen]

The plan was to start watching The Sign by divvying up the series into two episodes per day until I could finish. Well…that plan went completely out the window and I ended up binge watching the entire thing in one go. So, as I try to gather my thoughts, I wanted to sort of get my feelings out there on what I thought was an incredible show before I finally unfilter the tags (as to avoid any outside influence on my opinion).

Let me preface this by saying that this is going to be an incredibly bias opinion given my cultural upbringing and background (I'm half-Thai and I've spent almost half of my life living in Thailand), so please take that into account before reading any further. I metaphorically removed my western-lensed glasses while watching this series and preferred to watch as a Thai viewer, which probably made the more confusing or difficult parts of the show a lot easier to swallow. So, yes, I will admit that the show was not perfect by any means, but I was able to overlook a lot of its shortcomings given the parts that had been done so well and what this series could mean for Thai QL media going forward.

My goddess, where do I even start…

I'm a sucker for the reincarnated/fated lovers trope, so the show had me before it even started. What I absolutely loved the most about the romance and the A+ chemistry was that it didn't dominate or singularly drive the story, which was refreshing to see. It gave room to explore the fantasy/mythological elements of the show, the investigatory plotlines (which we'll get to later), and the relationships of the characters surrounding the "main leads".

Episode 3, my beloved, was what solidified my trust in this series and served as the foundation for the personalized experience I curated in my continued viewing. First off (and a bit of a side note), seeing Yoshi show up as Sand just made my heart super happy. I've been following her off and on since 2018, and she was one of the only things I actually liked about หมอ มือ ใหม่… but I digress. Behind the main story (and maybe even because of it), this episode was, for all intents and purposes, a love letter to Thai culture and its religious mythology. Which, when you consider how much international draw a BL series can hold, is truly momentous. International viewers got to experience the Bang Fai Phayanak (the naga fireball festival) that occurs every Wan Ok Phansa (the last day of what is considered Buddhist Lent) and the significance it holds over Thai history and culture. Using this as the stepping stone to establish the importance of the series' reliance on naga folklore…brilliant! The episode was also the viewers' introduction to the Buddhist idea of the cyclical intermingling of karmic fates. How the implications of an interdependence on one fate more than the others would later define the relationship between Phaya, Tharn, and Chalothorn…genius! All of this!? In one episode…of a BL!? I was overwhelmed by a sense of cultural gratitude and pride, that I still can't quite shake. I think Saint knew exactly what he was doing when he chose to adapt this series and I love him even more for it.

Aside from the cultural dependency and relevance, the show delivered so much beyond that as well. The production quality sailed high above previous BL standards and, in turn, lent itself to beautiful visuals and cinematography.

The casting! Billy and Babe's chemistry was just so *chef's kiss*. I knew Billy would absolutely smash it in the role of Phaya, but I often forgot that this was Babe's first ever acting role. It was an undertaking, that you could tell, he did not take lightly. Heng!? Wow! What a performance! He's been a staple in every Idol Factory series thus far, but he really nailed the purely villainous role of Chalothorn. Gap as Yai? No notes. He was able to flesh out what could have been a very one-dimensional character. Tack and Poom as Khem and Thongtai were a welcome levity inbetween, what was otherwise, a more weighty plot.

If I had to address any gripes I had with the series, there were only two that really stood out:

1) I wish the moments/conversations between Tharn and Chalothorn that eventually led to Tharn's return hadn't happened off-screen. There was a lot left to be resolved that could have been explored in that instance. But using my own inference based on Tharn as a character, his relationship with Chalothorn, and the core of his personality, I could kind of piece together how that ending came to be.

2)The lesser intriguing elements of the investigation storylines were shaky, at best. (If you were looking for the show to have a firm western-influenced ACAB agenda, then I'm sorry to say you were setting yourself up for disappointment. As much as I selfishly wanted it to be, this series was never going to be that show, it's a Thai drama.) From a Thai perspective, it made sense that the "copaganda" aspect of the series focused on the incompetency and inefficiency of a police force where justice is often informed by wealth and greed. I got an idea of what the show's stance on the matter was supposed to be but the overall plot and its consistency got lost somewhere within the final execution.

Other than that, I was left feeling satisfyingly content with where the series landed and I will continue to highly recommend it. It's easily one on my top five favorite Thai BL dramas and just Thai dramas in general! And…

There is such a rich history of mythology and folklore left for the show to still sink its teeth into: the garuda of it all, the pre-existing feud between the naga and garuda and why that is… Aside from a few minor specificities that were missing from naga folklore (their exclusion didn't really detract from anything, but it could have served to benefit non-Thai viewers), all of that could be addressed in a second season. Which, at this point, seems pretty likely 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾 and would be HUGE in the BL world.

PLEASE, LET IT HAPPEN! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[amass0fvoices]

Second thing I wanted to share was my Halloween costume!!

I’ve got process pictures I might share at a later date, but I’m so happy with it!!! I planned this with a friend in June, and I put in a lot of hours and late night in October to make it happen.

We didn’t go trick or treating, but we did fuck around at a mall and handed out showfall business cards he made the night before.

He also got a picture of me in the portrait pose he’s being sneaky about, I’ll have to share when he finally tells me what that’s about.

Over all a great spooky season for me, I’ve also got some pictures relating to a certain video game movie I’m waiting to share until after the strike is over.

[tabooiart]

yall KNOW i had to draw the outfit swap they pulled last night

[moltara]

not to fucking mention RWBY was produced by roosterteeth which is......not Exactly known for its feminism

[puppygirlpencil]

late morning

[drewbs]

i swear i’m ace guys i just-

[raticalshoez]

I am manifesting Nosy Neighbors to be happy and not have bad things happen to them ever. I'm adoring a slightly more unhinged BigB that I'm not used to and Pearl being herself