#im gonna feel im in the future

[critterbitter]

Introducing! ELESA, the new kid on the block! She's a tiny bedraggled child from Sinnoh and not all that familiar with Galarian, the spoken language in Unova. (One day she'll be amazing. Right now though, she just wants to go play in the mud. And maybe get a better set of hearing aids.)

When not bitterly lonely, she’s scheming to run back to her old home. Or chasing the local patrat. Or watching nervously from the sidelines as other children play on the swings. Oh elesa. (loosely inspired by @/noxstrages' incredible comics about elesa's origins! Ty for the food.)

Masterpost to my submas comics!

[hauntingsofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

still unwell over the prospect of Howdy slowly putting the pieces together and having a complete mental breakdown over it. Laughingstock edition!

[dustykneed]

In your fem!trek, do Jim's boobs still get cameos every other episode? If not, is there an alternative?

hmmmmm.

honestly i have no qualms against going yeah, totally (because, well. 23rd century, after all.) but then again variety is the spice of life and there is just something about underboob and a glimpse of that abdomen that hits SO hard. so i guess f!kirk utilizes this particular... diplomatic strategy constantly loll

also i saw the note you left about f!scotty (saaaame lmao <3333) and let's just say most of the enterprise crew shares the sentiment xDD:

[screechingfromthevoid]

nothing (besides everyone ignoring Orym's deal) has made me angrier than watching Dorian keep up this facade. Dorian Storm has always been a type of mask he's worn. At first he called himself a liar because of it. The happy go lucky bard was a way of escaping for him. He was escaping Brontë so he created Dorian. He didn't believe he was Dorian. Until the Crown Keepers made Dorian real. And for a while, he really believed he was Dorian. That he has this new family and new life and he could be who he truly wanted to be.

And then his brother came back and made his problems Dorian's problems. Until he had to put Brontë back on. Because even if the Crown Keepers + Cyrus called him Dorian, he was Brontë. He had to be who his brother thought he was.

When Cyrus dies, the thread to Brontë had snapped. He was going to see Orym, back to the Bells Hells, back to Dorian Storm. But the foundation of Dorian had shattered. Dorian was created in order to run from his place in life, family, Cyrus. Now he was gone. The Crown Keepers had fallen apart. His friends fell through his fingers and he couldn't do anything to stop it. He was once ready to side with a betrayer god for these people and now they're in the wind.

So Dorian shows back up to Bells Hella and he's completely broken. The foundation of both of his lives has been thoroughly rocked. No brother. No Crown Keepers. The two things that forged Dorian Storm. He wears that mask so fucking well. Because he still wants to believe in it. He said it live on stage that he should "believe his own backstory". The one he made up. The one where he was a bard.

He wants to be Dorian so bad. He spends all his money on Orym, he spins the bottle so he can kiss his friends, he flirts, he blushes and giggles at compliments. Exactly how Dorian would, should.

But he wears the gold of the heir. He has a festering animosity inside his chest. He doesn't sleep. He's thinner than he was. He doesn't sleep. He sicks abominations after their creators. He talks to God's without an ounce of self preservation, daring them to strike him down. He does not acknowledge them as they taunt him.

The god of beauty and magic calls him beautiful and he does not smile.

[bmpmp3]

sorry to be a bit of a hater but i do wish youtubers weren't so scared of making their videos just like, "reviews", whys everything gotta be a "video essay" all the time. every day my recommendations are filled with 40 minute videos titled "_____: An Underrated Masterpiece" where the first like five minutes are reading the wikipedia definition of "masterpiece" in a somber voice with dramatic themed text on screen. please just tell me how good or bad you think something is and use the rest of the runtime to explain why. you dont need to put on all these airs

[sp00ky-scary]

Holy Shit a Bloom Winx Club redesign

Oh My God notes on it

If you can't read the notes on the first image here they are written out (under the cut)

Bloom: Fairy of the Dragon Flame

S1: 16, 5'6", She/Her, Bi (with a tiny bi flag)

Civilian Notes

Next to her hair it says "Short, Practical" and "Bisexual bob /j"

Next to her bracelet it says "Handmade"

Next to her bag and shirt it says "Book Bag, Contains more art supplies then school books" and "Random pins + Bi flag"

Next to her jeans it says "Customised" and "Dull colours to contrast w/ the fairy world"

Fairy Notes

Next to her hair it says "No knowledge of background = No crown"

Next to her wings it says "Simple, no identity as a fairy yet"

Next to her shorts it says "Shorts, Practical"

Next to her boots it says "Boots ✨Stylish✨"

There are too many notes on the notes page for me to write them all out again soz. This is a part of a larger rewrite I've been working on, on and off, for years so hopefully I get around to drawing more characters, fairy forms, and their looks for later "seasons" ! Bonus fact Bloom is AuDHD !!!

[professorsta]

Hey not to be a person with opinions who sticks to them (i know ugh right) but i liked what watcher was producing. The editing was crazy good the cinematography beautiful, all things i enjoyed much more than two boys sitting behind a desk. I have adhd bitch, half the time I'd zone out during bfu cus there was nothing but talking. Aint anyone the same so don't Speak For Me motherfucker. Weird and or Wonderful is a big budget project that I love. You can love the charm of youtube videos all you want, but I can like it when shit looks fucking clean, with great cinematography, and overarching plots/ideas. I guess y'all just weren't Watcher fans. Just bfu fans. And even then i think you just wanted a friend and projected that onto shane and ryan, lol

[kelocitta]

Draw the Slugcats... Two! This time its artfight! Only instead of doing it in a week I did it in like three days <- Bad Full Credit under the cut!

From top piece clockwise:

Spring & Ant - @a-lamp-shade-art

The Mirage - @draagu

Moss & Dumpling - @bashzzey

The Abomination - @doxilline-alien

The Dunch - @coruscant-star

The Seeker (X2) - @voidfluid Enjoy!

[superfruitland]

testing out new brushes on some sketchy leos

[deoidesign]

Hello! I just discovered your blog and I immediately became captivated by your webcomic, but I'm unsure where to read all of it. I know it's on Webtoons, but I can see it hasn't been updated for a while, and you still post about it.

Are your physical novels just prints of the webcomic? Are they a continuation? Is the story complete? Thanks in advance!

Hi there!

Glad you found me and are enjoying my comic!

It's only on webtoons, and the story is not complete yet! We're 2/3 of the way through right now. It's currently on hiatus, and it's scheduled to come back in about 2 months!

I'll explain why it's been so long if you're curious, but also for my followers who might also be wondering about it under the cut. Sorry, it's pretty much just me complaining haha

I took a month off I took 2 months to get the books printed I took a month to prepare my next comic and I took 2 months to write the rest of the series (I knew the character arcs I wanted, but not the time periods or mysteries!!!) I've been working on actual episodes since then

I had to take some time off because of some pretty extreme burnout due to the sheer amount of work it was to draw over 800 pages and write 6 complete stories in a year and a half... I was getting sick almost weekly due to the overwork, it was really really bad honestly. I was having to work 60+ hours every week just to keep up...

The nature of the comic itself is also difficult... Each of the arcs is a complete, self contained story which can be read (ideally) without context, and my arcs need to be about 10-13 episodes each... And since I have an exact number of episodes to work with, it's even harder.

It takes a ton of planning and a ton of refinement, and working week to week with no breaks I was forced to put out second or even first drafts, so I just wasn't happy with the work I was doing... And to do that for the rest of the series? I wouldn't be proud of the work I did.

Plus... To be entirely honest, webtoon has treated me quite badly IN MY OPINION... They deprioritized me before I launched (I had to beg for more promotion, I'm not exaggerating), they outright denied me the opportunity to even ask for a raise, I don't make any money on fast pass and they pay me less than my partner makes working at trader joes. My first editor left me completely hanging, my second editor (who I loved) was fired... And they told me I wouldn't get a third season before my first season even finished. So it was just repeatedly completely demoralizing.

I'm sorry it has taken so long, it'll have been 10 months by the time I come back. But I realized... I won't get promotion either way. I won't get more episodes either way. I won't get more money either way. So to finish everything, to make it feel good, to make it something I'm proud of, I chose to take longer to make it better.

I am fully aware I will lose a significant amount of my readership for this and it might genuinely affect my career moving forward. But it's what I had to do! So I'm sticking to my guns on it, and I'm confident long term it'll be worth it. It never could have been this good if I didn't take this much time.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

more scribbles to throw in the salad

[raineandsky]

#105

The villain isn’t one to intervene when someone else gets themself into deep shit. It’s their own damn fault, usually, and the villain tends to find at least some entertainment in people fucking around and finding out.

Heroes aren’t usually the ones fucking around, though, let alone finding out, so it peaks the villain’s interest when they come across a hero doing just that. And their favourite hero too, god, what a treat. Heroes are as stupid as they look, clearly.

The hero’s been cornered in an alleyway by someone a lot larger than them; that alone is a feat. The hero, all smiles and unearned confidence and bolshy dramatics, has somehow managed to piss off the only person in the city that has more on them in the ‘intimidating size’ department.

The villain scoots closer for a better view as the other person’s hand drifts lightly up the hero’s neck, words spoken between them that’re lost to the wind before the villain can hear them. The hero stares up at them, wide-eyed, their lips parted slightly. 

Damn, the villain would be shoving popcorn in their mouth right now if they had any.

The person’s hand tightens on the hero’s throat—the villain can see the shadowy dents in their skin, even from here—leaning their face in close to the hero’s to whisper something to them. The hero’s hands grasp at the person’s wrist, though not particularly tightly, their eyes closing against what is clearly a murder attempt.

Wow. Heroes don’t get into shit often because they don’t know how to act when they do, obviously. The villain, a master at getting into shit and subsequently dragging themself out of it, decides to intervene. As fun as this little show is, the only person allowed to lay a finger on the hero is the villain.

They flick their blade out with a satisfying click, taking a few steps forward to put themself in the limelight of the moment. “Okay,” they say flatly, earning a pair of interesting, startled noises from the two in front of them, “break it up.”

The hero meets their eye with the same wide-eyed surprise as before. “[Villain], what— where’d you—”

The villain ignores them. “Step away,” they say sharply, their blade pointed to the person leaning over the hero. They do as they’re told, looking just as startled as the hero, their back bumping against the opposite wall in their haste to move. “Good.”

“[Villain],” the hero repeats, finally earning half the villain’s interest, “what’re you doing?”

“Saving your ass, since you clearly can’t do it yourself,” the villain snaps. Their gaze still rests on the other person, nervously averting their eyes from the villain’s. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

There’s a long moment of silence. Long enough for the villain to wonder if they actually said that outloud. “I’m okay,” the hero says eventually, their voice quiet. “You can, um, go. They’re my, uh– they’re my partner.”

The villain glances back to the hero, their gaze also turned away, their cheeks a hot pink, and the villain finally realises, oh fuck, they’re not nervous, they’re awkward.

The villain’s dagger lowers slightly in horror. They glance at the other person, their eyes still pointed to the ground, their face also burning. The villain would apologise if this weirdo hadn’t been so intent on making this look like a goddamn crime.

“Tip for next time,” the villain says flatly, though they can feel their own embarrassment hot in their stomach, “keep this, y’know, behind closed doors. And if that’s still too hard, at least do it somewhere I’m not going to find you and think I’m stumbling in on a murder.”

“Noted.” The hero’s voice is so small. This discomfort would be an incredible victory for the villain any other day, but unfortunately the villain wants to throw themself off a cliff as well. Painfully so. They’re not sure why they’re stalling; they want to get the hell out of here.

“Great. Okay. Yeah.” The villain takes a step back, their dagger hastily shoved back into their belt. “Okay, well… bye.”

The hero gives them a short nod and their partner waves at them. The villain would think they’re taking the piss if they didn’t look like they immediately regretted it after.

The villain escapes that alley like they’re outrunning the law. They make a mental note as they go, one they know they won’t forget—keep to your damn business.

[crimeronan]

i've downloaded zombies run & i'm three missions in & enjoying it so far, but it's also so Tragically and Hilariously clear how much this story was written in 2012. and how it was also less interested in subverting genre expectations than making you move your body (very fair!! given that that's what the game is designed for!!)

the two most egregious things in these first three eps are:

1. i was paired for a run with a coughing woman who insists she "just has a bad chest cold," and even though the camp supervisor firmly establishes that coughing is THE FIRST SYMPTOM of an infection, i'm instructed to go out running alone in the wilds with this lady. who's coughing. so much.

she keeps being like "it's just a cold 💕" while refusing to let anyone examine her and i'm like. YOU GUYS DONT HAVE QUARANTINE PROCEDURES?? PUT HER ASS SOMEWHERE AWAY FROM THE REST OF US?? DUDE??

2. it's then established that everyone at the camp is suspicious of me because other camps nearby have been torched after being visited by shady-ass secret-keepers very similar to myself. but i'm still allowed to roam around and do supply runs like it's nothing. the NPCs just mutter mutinously about me and make allusions to how i'm gonna get everyone killed.

PUT MY ASS IN QUARANTINE?!?!? DON'T LET ME LEAVE WITHOUT ANSWERING QUESTIONS??? WHAT???? YOU GUYS HAVE GOT TO GET A GRIP?!?!?!

the lack of quarantine, safety, and hardass procedures would be excusable if this was a hippie commune or solarpunk future or whatever, but it is Not. this is an AMC's walking dead style deal where the only people more dangerous than the zombies are the non-zombies.

so i'm like.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAST RUGGED BASTION OF HUMANITY. WHAT ARE YOU DOIIINGGG.....

[bruhstation]

I TURN 20 YEARS OLD TODAY.

[softerhaze]

idk if it was the venus retrograde or what, but july 2023 was quite literally the worst month i've ever experienced in my life like.....every single day? awful? worse than the last? it's more likely than u think