#oh boy oh no the implications

[technically-human]

can you draw Edwin doodling embarrassing shit like ‘Edwin Rowland’ or a little doodle of Charles’s face with hearts around it then Charles comes up behind him like what are you doing?

He had some very specific embarrassing doodles in mind

ko-fi

[skysmadness]

hey guys do you ever think about this and go a little insane

boo:

tsats:

[undertalebrittle]

(Narration ripped from @euro-starling's response with permission)

There's a feeble knock at Phasicor's door. It's practically inaudible at first, but it repeats after a pause, getting slightly more determined each time.

The door opens to a lanky figure in prime position to knock for the nth time. It's a pale-skinned humanoid wearing a long lab coat and a fishbowl on its head. (What this is meant to represent is entirely unclear.) It quickly rights itself and does a small bow, catching the fishbowl midway as it tries to slip off. It says nothing, but holds out a little plastic pumpkin basket, clutching the handle tightly in its hands.

(I love your fingers good sir but how the tarny do I make you hold a door)

[lilacthebooklover]

jon matteson characters family reunion. richie is ignoring everyone and blasting japanese nightcore on his airpods. roman is here and acting disgusted at the food while linda boasts about her kids (said kids are currently causing mayhem that will probably end in tears). paul has brought emma with him and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. boy jerry is trying to give him a pep talk on how to propose so he can "do the do" with emma (bj recommends a walk in the woods). the hatchetman bursts in at one point. daniel lost track of time and decided it wasn't worth showing up. gary is happy to be a part of something like he was with the wiggly cult but nobody likes him. wiggly watches for a while then shows up in human form to cause more mayhem, nobody knows who he is, why he looks like them or why he speaks like a toddler but he's freaky and may or may not be on the verge of murder. fun times.

[freneticfloetry]

This has been eating at me, so I’m just gonna say it. I know everything, in some way, shape, or form, has fallen victim to Short Season Syndrome, but I think the execution of TK’s particular arc — not the root or motivation, but the way it’s been presented — has not done him any favors whatsoever.

I love that we finally met Enzo. I don’t love that the show specifically made it the first time he’d met Carlos, especially without giving any sort of explanation for that at all — you’re telling me these two people, who are both so important to TK, have never so much as seen each other on FaceTime? It would’ve been just as easy to go with “it’s good to finally see you outside of a screen” or something along those lines — something emphasizing the fact that this family has actually been in touch, especially given everything that unfolds where Jonah is concerned.

I love that TK wants to raise his brother. As Tay can attest, it’s something I’ve suspected since the lead-up press to last season’s finale. And why wouldn’t he? Jonah is the last living piece of his mother (and probably the most precious kid since TK himself — you go, Gwyn Morgan, giving birth to the two most adorable boys to ever walk the planet). But the way that desire has manifested in words really rubs me the wrong way. TK choosing to take Jonah is absolutely valid, as is giving Carlos the space to make that choice for himself. But saying “if i have to choose between my husband and my brother, I’m going with my brother” — not even to Carlos, but to a third party — feels so disingenuous to me. Disproportionate in scale, relative to the situation. That’s a line for “I won’t let my brother go into the foster care system,” not “I won’t let my brother go to a fancy boarding school in Sweden” — the latter of which, given that they apparently haven’t seen Jonah in person since he was an infant, would not be all that fundamentally different. And let’s be real, if the former actually were the case, Carlos Reyes wouldn’t even need to have that conversation. It just makes me (perhaps somewhat irrationally) sad for Carlos, in that context, when the choice we have for him in reverse is “no matter what.”

But my biggest issue stems from that argument. Because even though they had the whole kid conversation woefully late, they did have it. Carlos was very clear on where he stood, that he didn’t know if he would ever stand anywhere else, and TK told him that was okay. And no, this whole arc isn’t about TK suddenly wanting to adopt a theoretical baby. But “I’m done living my life on hold”… that’s bigger than Jonah. That’s moving the goalpost. And it isn’t fair.

To be clear, I’m really enjoying this arc as a concept. I just wish the writers considered the character implications of their words over whatever the mic drop impact might be.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

i have been mostly twirling my hair and sighing dreamily over Rook X Lucanis but i really did just put my girl in perhaps the worst JustNoMIL situation imaginable

[limonjarritos]

no im still so unwell over this??? vince scribbled out the criticism of rody in the review of the bistro. help

Nooooo but literally. How he immediately discredits any bad word against Rody! It defo made me more convinced that the reason the party ended was because Rody's ex classmate made fun of Rody (and it is mentioned by one of the guests that Vincent can hear Rody very clearly from over there, there's no way he didn't notice that whole scene). I do wonder exactly what was said, since he's not afraid to be brutal to anyone that's not Rody.

If a customer ever treated Rody like shit in the typical way customers act towards service workers I don't think Vince would be too happy lmao. POV: you treated your waiter like shit and now some white french man who smells like an ash tray starts glaring daggers at you.

Come look at my smiling deranged blorbo!

[bruhstation]

I've been thinking about the setting of my TUGS au, the prequel to casa tidmouth, and by extention I began thinking about the show TUGS itself.

it's kind of depressing to know that TUGS is most likely set during the years RIGHT before world war 2. I remember watching a TUGS iceberg video a long time ago, maybe last year-ish. after a series of callbacks and alludes to the little environmental details right at the end of the video, the creator said that the show is possibly not set during the 1920s, but the 1930s, nearing another war period, and that's why I've changed the era of what this AU is set in many months ago.

mitton and cardona claimed that the show is set during the "booming era" of the 1920s, but I can't help but think that maybe the 1920s isn't the most fitting era with how the tone of the show is.

the 1930s setting really does make sense though -- the atmosphere in TUGS is much more, I dunno how to exactly say it, gloomy? serious? it's still a mostly lighthearted kids show, but, to quote some things indirectly from the iceberg video; what's with the munitions? the flammable barges? johnny cuba? the constant mention of broken ships? characters dying right on the screen in such a macabre fashion? burke and blair's whole job? then my mind thought about the star tugs and z-stacks, their relationship and purpose and how it ties to the pre-ww2 feeling of the story.

the conflict between the star tugs and z-stacks isn't fueled by personal grudge against each other. I apologize for comparing TUGS to ttte, but in comparison to its sister series where the engines of sodor have personal banter against each other selfishly, still manage to fool around during their jobs, get into accidents due to their own hubris, and end the day where they learned their lesson, TUGS is much different. they're just there to work and carry through their contracts. they still banter with each other but they know their priorities. they are also driven by their conscience and rationale, not just some "oh he made fun of me so I'm not gonna help him out. I'm bigger and more important so I refuse to do this job and go back to my berth".

zorran dislikes the star tugs but knows that the contracts are much more important and he is willing to work with them if it means the job will be done. top hat, despite his personal distaste for anything smelly, QUICKLY changes his mind about lord stinker and works with him to save the goods engine. zebedee is a character more driven by his personal view on what's good or bad -- he helped the star tugs push princess alice back into place and showed concern when ten cents was pushing the oil barge to the sea, but there's a part of him that's definitely concerned for his own well being.

they have their personal opinions on both their teammates and their rival company's tugboats, but they know better than to let those feelings get in the way. not working means their presence as tugboats will be jeopardized.

these points, added to the very high possibility that TUGS is set during the late 1930s, creates another layer to the overall murkier feeling of the show. the characters know the times are dire. the characters know that they have contracts to go through. they know that something big is coming. they've went through world war 1! with how bluenose and the navy inserted their presence in bigg city port, there's also an idea that there's gotta be at least one character with a sense of foreboding amidst the business.

I also reckon they've grown some kind of fondness (???) for their rival company? it's like when there's a kid at school who keeps annoying you, but next day they're not there and you got a bit worried on where they might be. the two factions don't necessarily like each other, but their rival has formed a place in their normalcy that to get rid of them entirely is not going to do any good, really.

so yeah. that's all I have in mind right now.

[crystal-jack-asripines]

4halo is a thing of beauty, because every time their relationship is at their rockiest, it rises out of the ashes like a Phoenix and comes back STRONGER

[raayllum]

Quick run down: 4 is the lowest typical score given, 10 the typical highest score given (although you can technically go up to 12). Making my post because I noticed Callum’s Justice ranking was at 6 (lower than I’d expected) and I always meant to do a lil more formal comparison between the trio so here it is I suppose.

Devotion: This is value is about duty, faith, and friendship. You’re motivated by the bonds of loyalty and your love for others.

Truth: This value is about fidelity, certainty, and authenticity. You’re motivated by finding strength in facts and by the principle and pursuit of knowledge

Glory: Have you ever wanted to be celebrated by history? This value is about legacy, fame, and fortune. You’re motivated by praise, acclaim, and your desire to be remembered.

Justice: Have you ever been compelled to fix what’s wrong? This value is about balance, virtue, and reward. You’re motivated by adherence to fairness and what you think is right.

Liberty: Have you ever resisted the control of others? This value is about freedom and autonomy. You’re motivated by a world without oppression or suppression.

Mastery: Have you ever needed to rise above your own limits? This value is about control, achievement, and skill. You’re motivated by power, growth, and progress.

Similarities:

Glory is a 4 for all of them. Utterly unsurprising I think - they’re all willing to do things regardless of recognition and aren’t motivated by any real self importance

Truth is a 6 for all of them. I find it interesting that Callum gets the “hide the truth to protect others” rather than Rayla, but we do see elements of that in TTM. For Ezran, it has less to do with a moral truth (Rayla) or how to handle the truth (Callum) but more to do with maturing to see the truth (“I ignored something that is true” —4x03)

For anything other than their Most Important Feature, everything else has roughly an 8. This makes sense as it is still a core value, i.e. Callum jumping off the mountain is very devotional, Rayla works very hard to find real justice, Ezran cares a great deal about placing autonomy in other people’s hands (S3), etc. 

In Betweens:

Ezran and Rayla both have Mastery at a 6 with Callum having it at an 8; this makes sense as he is driven to look for knowledge and power (through magic) in ways they are not / are mostly settled and/or disinterested in

Ezran and Callum both have Devotion resting at 8 - high, but not their highest values. This makes sense as according to the game, Devotion is how obligated you feel to others. Ezran feels beholden to Katolis but that’s something he’s largely grown into, and he feels a wider responsibility to the world at large, moving in between them as he can. Callum is very devoted to his loved ones (mainly Ez and Rayla, but also Zym in a lot of ways) and his desire for freedom often interplays with a desire to have autonomy/capability to protect and/or provide for them in key ways. 

Rayla and Ezran have Liberty at an 8, showing that they value freedom (Rayla’s bio includes her goal to free all people from terrible fates like the one she almost had with the binding ceremony, we’ve gone over Ez’s, etc) even if it’s not as high as Callum’s - but more on that later

Highest Values

Ezran’s is Justice at 10. This makes sense as he is the series’ embodiment of Justice thematically as well as the series’ Witness. This reflects his role as the peace maker for elves and humans and dragons, both politically and interpersonally with Callum and Rayla in S1 and S4 in particular. It is also embedded into the fact that his death itself would have been Justice and his survival is what allows true justice to actually continue, his decisions as king, and the fact he’s king at all, per Harrow’s words: “My father told me that about all, I must be a Just king.” 

Callum’s is Liberty at 10. This foreshadows his arc in season four in terms of a complete loss of control/freedom and why it screws with him so royally. While many of the characters agonize over making the right choice (or a choice at all), not having a choice at all is what torments him the most: “I can’t do anything!” (2x07) particularly when it comes to protecting or helping his loved ones. We see this especially in his quote under Liberty in which despite being crown prince and heir to the throne, he states that he is beholden to his inner circle rather than a sense of duty. In S4 he is concerned about Aaravos hurting his loved ones, and that fear of doing awful things to other people is what has him so especially worried over the situation, reaffirming his statement that “I value those close to me more than anyone or anything” certainly. 

Rayla is Devotion at 10. At first glance it’s easy to take her “My only allegiance is to my heart and those that know it” as a similar kind of sentiment to Callum’s “I value those close to me” statement, but we know what Rayla’s heart is aligned with: “My heart for Xadia.” Her heart is given to whatever she feels her duty is, to what feels right, hence why she risks everything for Phyrrah, someone she doesn’t know at all, simply because leaving the dragon there results in “every fibre in my body is telling me this is wrong.” Bloodmoon Huntress also expands on this further, drawing comparisons to her and Runaan’s sense of duty and love for the whole world, as well as precisely what led her to take on the assassination mission in the first place. In S1-S3 Rayla gets better at listening to her heart rather than shutting it down, although this has changed in S4. She’s learning to prioritize her loved ones more and more, but at the cost of her actual heart.

Misc Notes:

For Callum, it’s worth noting that Devotion and Mastery (magic) are of equal value to Callum and are definitely two cornerstones of his more hands on arc. Thus, we can likely deduce that as much as Callum undeniably values Liberty, the fact it’s his highest value is also because it’s the value that informs and guides his arc the most Thematically. This means that his desire to learn magic and be there for his loved ones is of equal measure in terms of his decision making, but we also see him clearly prioritize his loved ones in ways he does not do with his own pursuit of magic. 

[ Side note: And just as a comparison, Claudia - Claudia’s - devotion is also an 8, but Mastery is her 10, even though so much of her arc is driven directly by devotion to her family (although her bio makes it clear it is supporting her family and her father, not merely her valuing them, as the distinctions are important too). ]

Following this “Two Pillars holstered by One Theme” logic, we can break Ezran and Rayla down into a similar manner.

Rayla is defined by her initial quest of Justice and a growing sense of Liberty (cue: being literally freed from her binding, other symbolic cycles, etc) but this is bound together and streamlined through her Devotion to a cause to people and her family. We can see S4 bring this together directly in her devotion to Callum and her family and how they are both either already literally or becoming entangled / entrapped in forces beyond their control with Rayla wanting to free / protect all of them.

For Ezran, this means he is defined by his place as Justice thematically first and foremost, with Devotion and Liberty as his two tether-hooks: re a child king being put in chains to try and give his people a choice > forced conscription, as well as the work he’s doing to try to create peace and a Narrative of Love (devotion) in S4.

Thus, the highest value for each of the Trio is what informs them at their core and subsequent thematically, with their two respective pillars as how those things are motivated and manifest throughout, with of course a good dose of overlap beyond all three. But either way, I just thought it was Neat™

Closing Note

One thing I found interesting when actually going each beat of their bios is that Rayla and Ezran are inverses of each other and very closely aligned. They share the exact same 3 values, all in similar amounts (either 8 or 10) and just rotate one out for their respective highest: for Rayla, Justice is at an 8, and for Ez, it gets bumped up to a 10 and his devotion down to an 8. This closeness between them, and how Callum diverges, lines up with how I’ve thought of and how I’ve written each of the trio for a while now, re: meta dated September 2021 about this exact difference, well before TOX came out.

Because Callum, strangely enough, does not have Justice™ as a particularly high value. It’s actually on the lower end of his scale, with other heroic characters like Amaya, Janai, and Aanya having it as a 10, an 8, and 8. The only none villain adjacent character (Soren, Viren, Claudia) with a Justice as low as Callum’s is Lujanne, and Callum’s justice ranking is the lowest of the trio’s. This is interesting particularly because Justice is defined by fixing what’s wrong/broken, a sense of fairness and balance. And while Callum wants to have positive impacts on the world and make things better, it shows that his big heart is also equally if not more so tethered to pragmatism, perhaps, compared to his family, even in decisions made like leaving with the egg in the first place being what was also safest for the egg and particularly Ezran during the attack on the castle. 

And well, if you know, you know ;) 

[sugarsnappeases]

we need to talk about tom working at borgin and burke’s more…. hilaaaaaarious to me

[godblooded]

hey.

did you guys know.

alana bloom does not kill with her gun.

she who kills with her gun has forgotten the face of her father.

she kills with her heart.

[sheepkebby]

Helloooo!!!! I loved Virgil in the latest KVTW chapter, very kind and encouraging guy :) (as someone who’s been on boats a bit these last few years, it can be a pretty big deal for a captain to let you on their deck or in their cabin!). Any fun little tidbits about his character you enjoyed that you couldn’t fit into the story?

And DAVE. Is Dave a carrier as well? You’ve drawn him running and hiding from zombies, but I wasn’t sure if that was “canon.” If he is, where is he in all of this?

THANK YOU LOVE YOUR ART MWAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

WWAAAHGGHHGGHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I'm so glad people liked Virgil. I've always wanted to give him a design since he's such an underrated gem.

I like to imagine Virgil plays harmonica, and he definitely likes to hum or whistle little tunes. He's for sure takes pride in his moustache and has a special little comb for it. He'd definitely tell a lot of long-winded stories if you let him, similar to Ellis, but he's less hyperactive about it. If you asked him how he met his wife Donna he'd tell you a beautiful story about meeting her on the shore, and he'd tell you what the weather was like, and how he worked his sailor charms on her. Ooh!

I also imagine he's got a bad ankle from some incidents in his youth + the wear and tear of aging, which is why he walks with a cane and keeps spares all around the ship. (You can even see one in the background of the artwork!)

I was really happy to add in a character that could be extremely empathetic towards Keith's disability. I know Keith's strong, but he's still disabled, and he really needed the support. I'd say something like "He'll treasure that cane like nothing else" but let's be real, Keith carries around gifts from every single friend he's met on his travels. He treasures all of them!

Back on topic; I dunno if Virgil and Donna ever had kids, but if they did, those kids were most likely old enough to have moved away from their Cajun parents. Who knows where they are (if they even exist)... I like to think they do, maybe, somewhere far far away :)

As for Dave... He's a carrier! And he's still kicking!... But where is he indeed? How odd! He hasn't shown up at the military base that the other survivors were taken to, because surely Ellis would've mentioned him! And Keith hasn't passed by him on his adventures, either. Weird! Sure hope the little fella hasn't gotten lost!

[lord-squiggletits]

The Slope by @megatron-fucks provides a great scene where Pharma gets to blow up on Ratchet about how he lost everything good in his life and faced a fate worse than death so Ratchet has no right to judge him.

But you know what else I really want to see and might write myself?

I want a post-Delphi scene where Pharma gets to verbally rip Ratchet apart about how he disowned Pharma and is acting as if the 'new Pharma' is a completely different person, but in reality Ratchet is just desperate to convince himself that Pharma was always a bad apple and the "best friend" Ratchet knew was either a lie or a person who's "died." Basically Pharma getting to lambast Ratchet about how 'the person he used to be' isn't some separate entity, that the old Pharma LITERALLY IS HIM and it's Ratchet who's a piece of shit for being unable to reconcile that Pharma could be his former best friend and also the monster he ended up becoming.

Mostly in regards to the aspect of canon where despite being former best friends, Ratchet made basically zero efforts to have any sympathy for Pharma or extend help/mercy to him and mostly used their former friendship to prey on Pharma's insecurities to manipulate him into doing what he wanted.

Of course it's a narration by Pharma so it might not be 100% correct or unbiased, but like. I just desperately crave some sort of resolution between Ratchet and Pharma. Or if not a resolution, at least some catharsis where Pharma gets to unload and Ratchet acknowledges he was a bastard.

[simcardiac-arrested]

nsh creature

[arttsuka]

Another unpopular opinion by me (wow, a shocker) but the N-word doesn't make sense. Not as a word mind you, but the way it's being treated. 'They have a pass because they're black' I don't care, if it's such a bad word I don't want to be call that either.