#i really enjoyed the series so far

[madpatti]

Watched Hazbin hotel and had to draw Alastor :)

[chancheols]

[errorkey]

wait i feel like i Need to say something re: the kantbison bondage scene in ep3 part 4

i've been seeing a Lot of people be like "yeah no that scene was really off-putting idk ://"... i think that was the point?

neither of them are actually in the moment. kant is very clearly not enjoying himself At All, and bison is inebriated (and drugged???) past the point of real comprehension.

but that's the thing – that scene isn't about the two of them having sex. it's about them trying to desperately get their hands on what they really want.

the show's established that kant isn't into this stuff in the least (as seen post-fadel's confrontation at the tattoo parlor), but he's willing to suffer through it, to grit his teeth and bear through the quite literal pain. he's willing to do anything, as long as he'll finally be able to get the evidence he needs to be free of these things forever.

on the other hand, we've seen bison state over and over how much he's wanted to do all of this, how he's never been able to find someone to actually hold power over. and now bison – younger brother, "never allowed to make a real decision of his own for even a day in his life" bison – is finally, finally able to take control over someone's life; something that's meaningful, something that matters.

that's exactly why i'd argue that the entire scene isn't meant to be "hot" or "appealing," but rather unsettling and weird (especially with the constant cuts to fadel digging(?) mysteriously in a field, but that's a whole other thing).

TLDR; kantbison's first time may have been passion and lust incarnate, but this one is so far removed from that. because, this time, neither of them actually care about the sex more than about what it means – a means to an end for kant, and a first glimpse at unadulterated power for bison.

[living404]

Dropping off some The Suckening doodles I did when watching ep 1-5 with a friend :^) (they're not ordered right lol.) Don't kill me if these are ooc pleaseee ☹️🫶

Please no spoilers! Just finished ep 5 !!!

[boltlightning]

year of the dragon round up

you may or may not have heard that i spent this blessed lunar year of the dragon reading many dragon books. here i am rating them based on how cool and relevant the dragons are and nothing else. they are listed in the order i read them here.

NOTE: year of the dragon ends on jan. 25, 2025. so if you have any other recommendations...let me know 👀

the earthsea cycle by ursula le guin — these dragons have left an indelible mark on my soul. i adore that they are super intelligent and have their own customs, but they still act like animals with animal instincts. orm embar you will always be famous to me. ∞/10

seraphina by rachel hartman — love em. lots of good discussion of what it means to be human and what it means to be draconic. the sequel gets WEIRD about their lore but i liked the rest of the worldbuilding enough to politely ignore that. 8/10

fourth wing by rebecca yarros — the dragons are regrettably cool but the logic around them is not particularly sound. they don't act like dragons; they don't have the wants or needs that supposedly wild animals would. their classification is awful and bad. but i like that they give their riders powers. 4/10 but really they get a 0/10 for compelling me to finish this book and a -2/10 for starting a wave of romantasy books with poorly considered dragons.

eragon by christopher paolini — i adore saphira. i don't remember what the rest of the books teach us about dragons and i won't be rereading them anytime soon, but i love saphira sm, and i love that despite dragons being a recognized part of life, they still have some magical mystique to them. 7/10

temeraire by naomi novik — you all don't need to hear me talk about this series more. gold standard for lite fantasy dragons. tied intimately to the themes of the story. lots of variation and biological consideration. as a dragonet temeraire hisses like a cat when he gets caught in a hammock and bats at swinging lanterns. what more can you ask for? 10/10

dragonfall by RL lam — i loved the lore and religion. dragon parts as relics is such a cool idea. that said we didn't have a lot of time with the dragons in True Dragon Form but i will look forward to that in the sequel. 9/10

the aurelian cycle by rosaria munda — these books are like if fourth wing was good. LOVE the idea of these dragons, i wish they were explored more in depth, both from a biological view and an emotional, thematic view. they could've been replaced by horses and it wouldn't have changed much. but i like them and they're cute. 6/10

the farseer trilogy by robin hobb — look. when i first read these books i didn't know they even had magic, let alone dragons, and they function so differently from dragons in all fantasy that i don't even know how to rate them. it's such a surprise i don't want to give more than that away. i haven't read the sequel series that actually deal with dragons more in-depth, so i'll give them a go read these books/10

(and yes i know the rest of the realm of the elderlings books have more dragons, i just haven't read them yet. the rating is a command for you all as much as for me)

a natural history of dragons by marie brennan — love the biologist-centrist view of this books. they are animals and they are treated like animals and that's very refreshing and fun in its own way. i wish i liked the book more so i felt compelled read the sequels to see the other variations. solid 7/10 for the dragons tho

tooth and claw by jo walton — this entire book is a heavy-handed metaphor, and while i had trouble visualizing the dragons, their biology is inherent to the heavy-handed metaphor and pretty fuckin cool. there's gross eyeball stuff. they wear hats. 8/10 for that alone

harper hall trilogy by anne maccaffrey — i haven't read the rest of pern but a friend told me how the dragons in the series came about and honestly...love it. wish i could make myself read more of these books. 7/10

to shape a dragon's breath by moniquill blackgoose — love to see feathers and spikes. there was a surprising amount of chemistry (legitimate science not metaphorical) involved with their magic and i like that they're not just for warfare. but it had the same issues as the aurelian cycle, where they are not characters and contribute very little to the emotional journeys of the humans. but their breath is very cool! 8/10

the bone ships by rj barker — not only are the ships made of dragon bone cool, but the dragons are also cool. and importantly they are as gross as they are mysterious. the sopping wet sailors get a 9/10 and the arakeesians also get a 9/10

DNF LIST

heartstone by elle katharine white — genuinely really enjoyed the dragons and their variations as presented here. this book is regrettably determined to get in the way of its own interesting ideas for the sake of being a pride and prejudice retelling. however i will give the dragons a 6/10 for being present and cool despite this

when the moon hatched by sarah a. parker — i did not even get to the part of the story where the dragons appeared. regrettable. NO SHOW/10

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

a song of ice and fire by george r. r. martin — i read these books 10 years ago before i was dragonpilled. i remember liking the themes and drama of dany's dragons, and what it takes to feed/train them. HOWEVER: i can't bring myself to watch house of the dragon. while i am supremely jealous that this series gets a high-budget dragon show and not temeraire (peter jackson PLEASE buy the rights again there's an audience for this shit!!!!) glad that there is a dragon show that has gotten so popular, it bothers me that they're wyverns, not dragons. this is the dumbest thing to be pedantic about in this series and i know that. nonetheless: 5/10 very thematic but not particularly cool. sorry.

the book of dragons, an anthology by johnathan strahan — lots of variety here (obviously) and the graphic design fucks. i'm still working my way through it, but it's impossible to rank these all anyway, so i'll give it a GRAPHIC DESIGN IS MY PASSION/10. in particular i love the brooke bolander piece and think about it all the time <3

[freddyloyd]

I get the feeling im supposed to take Batman insulting Guy as like 'sick own' because Guy is annoying, but Batman is also acting like a massive douchebag so its basically just two man babies throwing petty insults at each other, not funny very cringe.

(BTW this isn't a critique of Batman before anyone takes it like that, its a critique of the writing for Batman in this comic)

[sassypantsjaxon]

I've seen quite a few people comment on how Sensoji bullied Shouta in high school, but I've never seen anybody talk about how he didn't treat Hizashi or Oboro any better.

Like...Shouta literally doesn't care??? Shouta just...ignores everything he does??? Which is easy enough when you really only have to put up with someone when your classes have joint training. Hizashi on the other hand? Hizashi's the one who's stuck with him.

Sensoji clearly doesn't think much of Hizashi. We've seen him steal his ideas-and take credit for them, mock him and his friends, and quite literally shove him aside so he can get all the glory in a fight (the interesting thing about that is that 1. Hizashi is smart 2. Even after interning somewhere else, Hizashi is still the only one who knows Oboro and Shouta as well as they know each other. He would have been able to actually analyze and predict their strategies, but by throwing Hizashi away, Sensoji also threw away his best chance at actually beating them)

through it all, Hizashi seems to mostly shrug it off and take Shouta's advice to ignore him. Except when it's Shouta himself that Sensoji takes a jab at. Then Hizashi immediately jumps to his defense.

But still, one has to wonder how much of this Hizashi had to endure during his internship? How often has all this happened? How many times has Sensoji taken credit for Hizashi's ideas? How many times has he shoved him aside and said you're not needed here? How many comments has he made about Shouta or Oboro, just to see how far he could push, then to switch to bullying Hizashi, just to see how much further he could go? And many times did Hizashi just...let him?

Then jump forward to when they're adults. Sensoji's stayed with the Buster Union, while Hizashi's parted ways with them, only to return for one big team up. And...there doesn't seem to be any hard feelings between them. That's not surprising on Hizashi's part, it's been repeatedly shown that he's not the type to hold a grudge (there's a really good analysis on that I reblogged a while back that I can link if anybody wants to see it). And Sensoji seems...annoyed by Hizashi's...exuberance, let's call it, but he seems to actually listen to and respect Hizashi's input. There's no more of the antagonism we saw from him as a teenager.

So there's clearly been a shift in their dynamic. And you kind of have to wonder, was it just Sensoji growing up and learning how to work with others better? Or was there something specific Oboro's death that triggered a change?

[weaverofink]

teddy my most beloved!!!<3 (wip)

[sisaloofafump]

Daily Diana #4

I am going issue by issue through Wonder Woman (1987—) and drawing my favourite outfits on a very vague daily schedule. This is issue 4, a super important issue! Diana gets the name Wonder Woman, she has her first major fight, gets some allies, ages quickly then rejuvenates, etc.

Masterlist || Previous || Next

Alternate inkings & the outfits in context:

[hurlumerlu]

Best part of Only Friends might actually be the youtube comments. The gap between what's in there and what's actually happening on screen is pure comedy.

Like:

"I feel so bad for Nick, he just wants to be loved but he's being taken advantage of" -> Nick bugged his fuckbuddy's car and is listening to him having sex with another guy

"Boston is so incredibly manipulative he's evil" -> Boston is using beginers levels of manipulation to sleep with fully consenting adults

"you can see Mew was raised by women because he's emotionally well-balanced and kind" -> Mew threatened to leak a guy's sex tape just to watch him squirm

"This show is actually so profound" -> a guy gave a highschool level clapback

[welcometogrouchland]

Finally saw Wicked today. I fear it is, in fact, actually all that and a bag of chips. Like it is genuinely that good

[sengoku-nadeko]

[crehador]

brother crab's fall 2024 first impressions: maou 2099

i think i forgot to make a post after the first ep because my first impressions of it were just. not that deep. i do remember going in with zero expectations and thinking hey this is actually better and more interesting than what i'd imagined! but it still wasn't That interesting

HOWEVER

SECOND EPISODE ELEVATED EVERYTHING

first of all peak bishounen demon lord design here. nothing revolutionary but a solid classic. 10/10 no notes

and like okay so the premise of a ye olden fantasy times demon lord being defeated then resurrected into a far future sci-fi world sounded really fun with the potential to be super funny. it made me think of paripi koumei which was basically incredible

the first ep was a little higher on the drama than the humor imo, but the second ep? second ep, the humor really hit

i'm absolutely loving the demon lord's extremely loyal, faithful follower who worked for centuries to resurrect him and is also his number one simp. like this poor girl almost got outed as a demon king otome doujinshi otaku. right in front of her demon king

demon lord's job hunt and the outcome of it is also just. i won't even spoil it because. hilarious. truly

the worldbuilding is also reasonably interesting, i think that was one of the things that impressed me most in the first episode

overall, really pleasantly surprised by this one and looking forward to more!

[limnsaber]

Limnnnn any thoughts on The Acolyte so far? Bc you have the best thoughts lol

Hi Ell! Thank you for the ask! The first thing that came to mind is something that's been bugging me recently- just enough to talk about it. The fandom of Star Wars, at large, seems very keen to ignore the Buddhist roots behind a lot of the ideals of Star Wars, attachment, and the Jedi.

Like. Recently I watched a SW YouTube video, which I highly advise against doing, and in it the video paraphrased a comment saying that the comment stated that Star Wars was inspired largely by "westerns, samurai films, WWII films, classic cars, and religious meditation practices." In ACTUALITY, what was quoted as "religious meditation practices" in paraphrase was written as "Zen Buddhism" in the original comment.

It's mind boggling to me why anyone (much less a YouTube channel about Star Wars, who would know about the roots of the themes and ideas of Star Wars) would reduce the real-world ideas that inspired the universe and all of the Jedi to "religious meditation practices". Like. Removing this context that George Lucas so strongly intended as a Buddhist himself is wishy washy at best and actively harmful at worst.

We can talk about Lucas's/SW's orientalism all we want, (and smarter people than me have said better things about that,) but I'd argue that this exclusion of real world religious and cultural ideas, by the fandom specifically, contributes to that. And maybe if we had greater intercultural understanding, we would have fewer arguments about what 'attachment' in SW really means.

In short, not great. Aside from that, I'm really enjoying the show itself so far!! I just finished the third episode! Like other people, I'm sure there's more to the story on Brendok, but I really appreciated the simple parable of Mae's actions. If you can't let go of your attachment, if you let your desire for control guide your actions, you will set yourself on fire. Also star wars is at its best when it has twins. I love Star Wars when Star Wars has themes! I'm excited to see what's coming next!!

[quietlyblooms]

where is my “ we’re getting married for the convenience/extenuating circumstances but as time goes on, maybe i do have feelings 👉🏻👈🏻 ” au?? where is my “ there’s a zombie outbreak, but at least i have you and god help me if anything happens to you ” au?? yes these seem unrelated but in reality, i’m just watching the kdrama happiness

[r0semultiverse]

Is anyone gonna ship these 2 or do I gotta do it myself?

Looks like I gotta do it myself!

& this scene too

There's also Rao holding onto Thief off screen at least twice!

They literally held hands too!

Look, even the toys on Amazon have them together, like c'mon now!