#i'll be posting about extra little things about this comic :3 so check my art tag for that if you're interested

[a-narcissists-warren]

teeehee :3 soooo this is what i've been working onnnnn based on my mutual's comment!!!! she's more like a bear trap in this one if anything but that was the immediate idea i got so it's the one i went with.

There was initially gonna be more but it's already been like 2 or 3 days since i've made that post about the balloon and suitcase grimdark so I'm. I just wanna get this comic out there already. enjoy ^_^ (figured i should,, actually tag my mutual since they gave the idea <:3 so,, hiii,,,,, check this out i maaadeee @sasterisk )

[your-name-is-jim]

TOS fans, you may want to read this comic series!

Sooo I recently read this series of comics called Star Trek: Year Five, published in 2019-2021 by IDW Publishing; I heard it was good, but I didn't expect it to be that good!

If you haven't read it, I suggest to check it out! (it's also not hard to find it if you get what I mean)

The art overall is great and, more importantly, the characters act like themselves and there are several references to their canon backgrounds, past and future experiences! What I absolutely loved was also seeing a lot of "old faces" from TOS show, as well as mentions of events from the series and the movies.

As the title suggests, the story takes place during the last year of Kirk's five-year mission on the Enterprise. I'd like to tell you more, but I enjoyed the surprise of a lot of things I didn't expect, so first of all I'll post a few pics without major spoilers from the first 11 issues (there are 25, so you still have a lot to discover!):

I especially love how Bones and Sulu are drawn, they really look like them! Scotty and Uhura too, but that depends on the artist. Speaking of them, if you like a little Scotty/Uhura, this series has something good about it!

The joke about Kirk thinking there's something strange with the way the Klingons look now cracked me up. LOL

Also, I'm not sure Chapel would call McCoy "Bones", but she is very right in that panel. :)

The last panel is classical James T. Kirk's ass appreciation lol

Sulu has a love story with an alien who doesn't understand human genders and uses they/them pronouns. As someone who headcanons TOS Sulu as attracted to any gender, that was great to see :D

I'm also posting this "end-of-the-episode" panel because it's just perfection. TOS in a nutshell. Aww, look at Kirk and Spock just looking at each other! <3

I must say, you may be a little disappointed if you expect to see many moments with Kirk and Spock together, BUT the scenes they have together are really good! I won't say anything more, just read until the end and you'll see! :D

By the way, this series has a Valentine's Day extra, which is the only part where Kirk has a love interest (a female original character). Yeah, you heard me: in the main story, Kirk doesn't have new romances with anyone; Sulu is the one who gets all the action! ;)

The Valentine's Day issue is not linked to anything else and I don't think Kirk's female love interest is mentioned outside that story, so you can easily skip it if it's not for you. However, even if I can't say I'm especially happy with that story, I personally found something interesting there, for example this:

I think I saw this out of context once, but I didn't know where it was from, so sorry I'm just going to lose my mind thinking about ladies or GENTLEMEN in Kirk's life and Kirk not correcting her about his sexual preferences. Anyway, I might make a separate post someday about this special from a Kirk/Spock shipper's perspective, because I do have a lot of thoughts about it :)

So, if you haven't read Star Trek: Year Five, I hope I convinced you to check it out! I hadn't been lucky with other Star Trek comics before, so I had almost lost hope to find something good… and then here it was! Something that made me feel like it was really written with a lot of love for The Original Series! I really needed it!

If you decide to give it a try, I'd love to see your thoughts and see your favorite parts! I hope you enjoyed this little review. :)

[funakounasoul]

The tsukutabe fandom is very lucky to have you in it. You wrote some of the best tsukutabe fics (like be selfish in front of me) and seeing your daily tsukutabe posts is one of the highlights of my day! I have several questions: what do you think of Kasuga's laugh in ep 2? Why did she do it? I think she laughed out of happiness because Nomoto joyfully referred to her appetite. What do you think? If they have the "kid talk" who brings it up? Who brings up the idea of pets and traveling abroad?

Aww, thank you. While I appreciate the love for my art (as it's my main style of artistic expression), it means something extra when someone says they love my writing as well~

Now, onto the questions! This one got long, so I have it under a cut

So the mention of "Ep 2" tells me we should look into the drama reasons as to why it happened, though I think it works with the comic as well *checks pages* Though the comic DOES actually give us a little extra context with a Kasuga thought bubble. But no no! Let me re-check that episode in the drama to see how it plays out:

[Oh wait, that happened in Ep 3! Whoops, going over to that one]

Okay, yup! It plays out exactly the same as it did in the comic, word-for-word, though we got the treat of actually SEEING Kasuga smile in the drama~

god that's adorable

So, the comic added a thought - Kasuga thinking "Sort of like what I was thinking." So, not just Nomoto's comment made her laugh, it was the fact that they both felt the same way about it from both perspectives. Kasuga was having fun eating WITH Nomoto. This was their first proper party. The eating of the grilled mochi in the previous episode wasn't a proper party, Kasuga was just trying to help Nomoto out and she just happened to be hungry at the same time. But the gyoza meal IS a party. They sat down and made the food together, had a conversation together, and enjoyed the food (and beer, for the first time in a while for Kasuga!) together. This was the beginning of things to come, in terms of food parties. And Kasuga, poor Kasuga who has been a loner for so long, was having FUN. She wasn't being made fun of for her appetite, the atmosphere of the evening was so chill she actually decided to try some beer with the gyoza after seeing Nomoto's enjoyment (and enjoyed it herself! Check out her expression as she takes that sip next time you see that episode), and the person who invited her over was also enjoying the food so much, saying it was because Kasuga was enjoying herself so much that it was sort of infectious.

If that isn't a Feels Overload, I don't know what is (it's just expressed Kasuga-style, as she doesn't emote much ESPECIALLY early on)

The last 2 1/2 questions, I'll answer a bit more simply lol. I feel kids and pets would fall under the same category, to be honest. If not human children, then what about pets? Nomoto has stated in the past about how it's annoying that a lot of people expect women to just find a man and start a family, ESPECIALLY if a woman has a hobby like hers, so I actually think Kasuga would be the potential initiator of such a topic. In an ideal world where Japan not only legalizes same-sex marriage but also allows the couples to adopt, I think Kasuga would like the idea of giving a poor kid who had a bad upbringing a better chance because of the terrible childhood she had. If not a kid, though, I can see them talk about a pet easily. Just have a little one running around that they can raise together...but with fur or feathers lol. Seeing as they're both busy during the day, though, they would choose a pet that would be low-maintenance. And me, being a cat-lover, would probably pick that as their hypothetical pet lol

Meanwhile, I think the talk about a vacation out of the country would be exciting for both. Kasuga would be the practical planner, but Nomoto would be going all excited about which place to go because they have to make it count (it IS expensive, after all!). They must take the time to enjoy the local cuisine, too! With the way Nomoto is about lgbtq stuff (thanks to Yako lol), I feel she'd also pick a country that is more accepting not just to be able to express themselves freely (even if their own expressions are very subtle normally), but to see what it's like in these countries versus their own.

They should go to Thailand or Western Europe to get some of those experiences in both food and social activities, but I can also see them picking places that are just nearby to enjoy the food and culture. Korea, maybe Hawai'i (there's even old, old art on Yuzaki-sensei's Instagram with that idea in mind, actually. Can't share, though. It's got a "don't repost" marker on it. BUT you can find it via thakaome_uzaki over there!). Because I'm a silly Murrican, though, I have considered the thought of doodling instances of them enjoying the various regional cuisines of the US (my 1st thought was clam chowder because I live in New England lol, but I was raised in the lower Midwest, and that has some nice comfort foods~)

Or, y'know, state fairs

...that wasn't a "simply answered" question, was it?

[unforth]

Okay, so, during the holiday season (during which I celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, and my birthday... in 2022 all within the same 8 days... ) my mom gave me a "I don't know what you want so over the next year just tell me some things you want and I'll pay for them" gift, and I've already cashed that in twice - once for something I'll scream about excessively whenever it finally gets here (I have. no idea when that'll be. I just checked Amiami and it says "processing shipping," whatever the fuck that means.) The other time was to put in an order from @shandian-go's in-stock sale (which appears to be closed again?). The "must have" item that got me to make that purchase was 2ha Vol. 3 Chinese, which I wanted no matter what (and which I've already posted a little about the extras, but I'll gather them all some time and take pics, it came with SO MUCH STUFF ASFADFADG).

But if I'm already getting stuff, might as well get more, right? So I went through the rest and ordered a few things. The expensive parts were actually not for me - a book a friend wanted, and a birthday gift I'll also send to that same friend. But I treated myself to some lucky bags, because like... there's always a lot of merch that I like but don't love enough to pay the premium on "I MUST HAVE THAT SPECIFIC THING." I figured if I got a random assortment, odds were high I'd be entirely happy with everything in that random assortment, and it'd be cheaper than picking out specific individual items.

That order arrived nice and quick, since it was all things that were already with Mel in Canada, and yeah I was right, I'm happy with my lucky bags. I got three - one for TGCF, one for 2ha, and one for "all priest excelt TYK/SHL" (mine ended up containing two Guardian things, a SPL thing, and a Mo Du thing, which is about perfect since the fourth fandom option was Lie Huo Jiao Chou, which I'm least familiar with of the four).

Since they arrived (several weeks ago) I've been, uh. Savoring? Because I'm super busy and don't have time to really enjoy but just. poking at the box for a few minutes every few days has really helped keep my mood up.

Today I stole a few minutes to really start going through things, though. So, here's my TGCF lucky bag! A cute Hualian key chain of Hua Cheng comforting Xie Lian, a pretty pin, an adorable Xie Lian wedding chibi standee, and that gorgeous soldier Hua Cheng/God Please Crown Prince Xie Lian art.

As expected, I am utterly satisfied with this purchase. I'm gonna add the key chain to my keys today (where it'll join the Hualian chibi key chains I bought from ShanGo last year), and I really need to finish the quilt I've been working on specifically as a place to hang pins so I can hang the pin.

Whenever I next feel like I can ask mom for a little money, it'll be this - https://koonbooks.com/products/global-examination-chinese-comic?_pos=2&_sid=a2e0144e2&_ss=r. Which has been on my list for months and was what I wanted next no matter what, but has definitely gained a lot more urgency since I started reading the book, lmao. Now I want it like air. Probably over the summer...

(I also just today got a shipping due notice from ShanGo? I have. no idea what it's for, oops. I thought my only outstanding order was the Yanshen plushies but my memory is shot idek. God, this makes it sound like I buy So Much Stuff I swear I don't. With what money would I???)

[theninjazebra]

21 things for 2021

Under a cut because shit is boring to people not me.

1. Got engaged at 00.01 am, 01.01.2021. Have now spent a year Being Engaged. It was mostly a lot of fun!

2. Also got pinterest for the first time for wedding planning reasons, and marvelled at how rich some people are, and how expensive even a standard Traditional Western Wedding is (thank fuck for family with big back yards, and kiwi chill). I also now want to learn how to crochet.

3. Didn't draw as much as I wanted. Probably my biggest regret of the year?

4. Didn't listen to enough music either. '22 needs more art and more music.

5. April (and May) was the Medical Drama Month. Would like to avoid Wellington hospital for another 5 years, thanks.

6. Also started studying again! Fucking hate it, but that's life. Fun thing about being An Adult is that you can study and hate it without it being an existential thing.

7. Said goodbye to second of the 3Bs. As far as putting down pets goes it was as close to perfect as you get. She was ready, but not suffering too much, and we were all in agreement and ready to say goodbye. 16 yrs is a good life for a cat.

8. Also said hello to Merlin, my awful, violent, filthy monster kitten. He's actually grown into a really lovely cat, but oof. Was rough going for a while there.

9. Belle isn't well though. She started the year with Big Allergies, and ended it with and ear infection and being (kind of, she wouldn't be xrayed) diagnosed with heart valve disease. So 2022 may be a really shit year.

10. I've been growing my very thick, very unreasonable hair long this year because I want long boho hair for my wedding. It's the longest it's ever been and I sort of love it but mostly hate it living with it and will be chopping it all off asap post wedding. Nice thing is I can donate it and still have a decent haircut.

11. The things with the lack of art is that there was so much life happening there kinda wasn't room for it in the same way as before. A pretty big reason for wanting to ditch freelancing - if I'm going to draw I want it to be for me.

12. Having said that I did knock out decent 18ish page comic draft this year. Still need to finish the art tho.

13. And after going round and round I think Wake Up, Check Phone needs to be a weird prose/comic hybrid. It's such a lonely, close story, and I don't want to lose that atmosphere to the more explicit image, or the big scenes to clumsy descriptions.

14. Still trying to work up the courage to finish Peace Day. There's a new little interlude I want to add. Just moments and details to really make the world hurt.

15. Now to actually finish any of these projects. Haha.

16. Also post-30 health fuckery. A lot of which was stress and the general decay that waits for us all. With my trusting walking companion now arthritic and with a dicky heart I'll need to get serious about making time for extra exercise. Use it or lose it, ay.

17. Home life has been weird. People leaving, lock downs, etc. Looking forward to getting some quiet and stability next year (cut to some kind of unforeseeable 2022 drama here)

18. I don't like the fashion of doom and gloom of social media this year. Not because I think life is roses or some shit, but because that unrelenting apocalyptic thinking is something I still associate with the deeply selfish myopia of mental illness (whole fucking story in that, not the time or place for it tho). General boo to all forms of social media this year. Distracts from life and actually useful pursuits. A sort of synthetic, substitute socialization and achievement.

19. But despite not seeing my friends in person much it was actually a pretty good year for keeping in contact and having good communication? Like, proper chats and ph calls etc. Going to try for more in person socializing now that covid restrictions have changed.

20. Going to also try to be more proactive about managing stress and anxiety. Simple acknowledging a problem is not the same as dealing with it.

21. 2022. Incoming. Probably a lot of more-of-the-same. Hopefully less bullshit, less drama, less freelance. More art, more music, more people. Definitely some hard times ahead (not looking forward to putting down my dog at all), and still a whole fuckin wedding to go (going to be great! But so exhausting!) And probably a honeymoon??? Covid/general unknowns willing??? And study (boo). And married life ( ❤❤❤ )

Happy new year everyone.