#recognition? i guess?

[sunlit-mess]

doodle before I go to bed lol

[deoidesign]

For my birthday... read my webcomic! It's literally free! (Unless you want books. Those are not free)

It's beautiful, it's gentle, it's funny, they're canonically t4t and gay... And it's about time traveling vampires solving supernatural mysteries!

I've spent thousands of hours writing and drawing it, and it's really good! I'm not biased!

It's on hiatus right now and coming back in 2 months, so it's the perfect time to get caught up

[doloneia]

thinking about this article i read that mentioned illegitimate children in ancient greece (athens in particular) and also this chapter from imagining illegitimacy in classical greek literature and how teucer's entire relationship to telamon (and by extension, ajax and eurysaces) is reliant on maintaining telamon's favor, and how when he loses that - after fighting for ten years to sack his mother's city, killing his own maternal family in the process - he is basically left without any kin at all. and i think it hits harder that teucer went to war against the side of his family that (in other circumstances) he would have been included in, since illegitimate children were typically raised by their mother's relatives. he gambled everything and he lost it all in return

[allthatmay]

So, today my husband said, "Some people think Shanks is a radial leftist, but I think he's the most centrist character in the show. Dragon fills the role of the radial leftist/anarchist that people often attribute to Shanks."

And, huh, yeah. People do often talk about Shanks like he's an anarchist, but he's really not. I've always said that Shanks is a mediator, keeping a tentative peace between the pirate tribes and the government until the time comes wherein the One Piece can be claimed and the mysterious consequences can happen, but that means he is effectively playing the part of a centrist—straddling the fence, as it were. The key difference, I think, is that Shanks knows for certain that change is coming in the form of a rubber deity, and he is trying to guide it into place. All his work is done behind the scenes with very little violence if he can help it.

Now, it's easy to assume that Shanks' plans involve the complete dissolution of the government as it presently stands; that he is simply using his power & influence to mitigate harm for the many until the "real fight" can begin (and, with him having recently decided to chase the One Piece, now it has), but that might not be the case (and, even if it is the case, a lot of centrists use "mitigating harm for the many" as a reason not to take action against some truly heinous acts). The reality may be that Shanks doesn't see the need for the total collapse of the government, or perhaps he knows something about it that we don't (i.e. because he might be of Celestial Dragon blood). I don't really believe this is the case because, as far as I'm aware, Shanks hasn't ever shown any real support for the World Gov but he has shown, time and time again, that he believes in dreams, in people's personal willpower, and in the ability of anyone to become strong and change the future. But the truth is that we can't know his intentions for certain without Oda giving us more information, so my husband's assertion that Shanks is a centrist makes some sense.

In particular, Luffy is what makes this theory interesting: slap him in between Dragon and Shanks, and there's a very real dichotomy between the two "fathers" in his life. See, Luffy idolises Shanks and thinks of him similarly to a father, but he might realise as time goes on that he can't be like Shanks; he might realise that Shanks' ideals will only carry him so far. After all, what good is it to be a pacifistic when your enemy is a powerful government that is comfortable with mass murder?

(My rebuttal is that Luffy is the only one who can be like Shanks. He is effectively Shanks' dream: Shanks wants to be strong enough to do all the work himself, to suffer all the pain himself, and while he is one of the strongest men in the world, he simply can't do that; what he can do is only achievable through the support he has at his side. Meanwhile, Luffy has close support in his crew, and he has the Gum-Gum Fruit! He can literally become a godlike figure and shape the world around him! He can do everything that Shanks wants and needs and, as sure as I am that Shanks wishes he could have done it himself—I'm thinking back to his days with Roger here—he knows that it was never meant to be him.)

This is where Dragon comes in. Dragon, in direct contrast to Shanks, uses violence as a tool whenever he can. He's all about the greater good, for lack of a better term. His thinking is along the lines of, "People are suffering now and we can help, and we have no qualms in forcibly dismantling a government that uses slavery, genocide, and imprisonment to control its populace. We don't wait for the right time to act, we simply act." Do I think Shanks would approve of Dragon's goals? Yes. Do I think he would approve of Dragon's means in achieving those goals? No, but mostly because Shanks is very self-sacrificial and tries to take whatever suffering is necessary for change onto himself, relying only on his small, personal crew, whereas Dragon is happy to let other people martyr themselves for the rebel cause. He lets a small, amnesiac child join them, for crying out loud—something Shanks would never do, not even if the child proved very capable.

If anything is to come from this difference of ideals, I think it's that Luffy will learn from both of them and find his own way to the One Piece and into the world waiting beyond. Why? Well, because Luffy is all about freedom, and no one on the side of Dragon or Shanks is truly free. As for the world itself, it's hard to predict what will happen after Luffy's done with it because it's pretty dependent on Oda's philosophy. For instance, Oda seems to approve of monarchies, which is not something I would personally imagine remaining in a world without a governing body—but, hey, what do I know?

Of course, we all know that the true centrist in the show is undeniably Garp. He will let real, undeniable harm befall those he cares about in order to maintain the status quo, or to stop the government from toppling because [gasp] that would be the worst thing ever! He's a man who believes the government is essential and joins up in order to change it from the inside, only to fall short of his own expectations because he won't stand up when it matters most. Not even for the sake of his beloved grandson.

[vagun1ka]

masters and their disciples

[kalpasoft]

it feels weird because it's obvious i've 'dropped off' since first announcing my game, the hype from the kickstarter and the markiplier play through of the prototype dying down.

it's weird because of course it bums me out that people aren't as excited as they were, but its also nice because it feels like there's a bit less pressure hanging over my head.

[gaeasun]

We all make fun of the disaster lineage for being disasters, but when you think about it they had exceptional dueling skills. Dooku was specifically known for his dueling ability; Obi-wan beat Anakin and Maul and yes though he ended up shooting Greivous he was one of the few Jedi to even survive dueling him; Anakin was well, Anakin.

Its hard to even say whos the best but Ahsoka sure has a list of achievements against opponents three times her size, and i think shes my favorite to actually watch (animation that is, with her reverse grip and acrobatic style).

Surviving Ventress in her first week as a padawan

Defeating three magnaguards, also in her first week as a padawan

Survives Ventress several more times, when Ventress is crazy enough to give a Jedi Master like Luminara serious trouble

Surviving Grievous when she still had one lightsaber and stubby baby montrals

Surviving Grievous again later during the youngling arc, once she has two lightsabers and a lot more experience under her belt. Even using all four of his lightsabers he can't kill her.

You know, Maul. When she was 17. Need i even say more?

The time she beat that one Inquisitor without her own lightsaber and killed him with his own (happened in both the book and TotJ).

That time she beat off two Inquisitors at once.

There are only three Jedi who ever survived against Vader. She did technically die but she came back and also a temple fell on her. anyways she survived long enough to have a building fall on her which is saying a lot.

Anyways disaster lineage are epic duelists and we have to respect them for that

[worstloki]

I don't think Loki could get away with working as a vigilante in new York who occasionally bumps into the avengers and goes unrecognised despite having the same face or by wearing a mask to cover that much. But I do think Loki could get away with being a magical girl who keeps doing emergency outfit transformations to take attention away from the fact he's hanging out on earth as a woman and the sparkle aesthetic and expressive makeup is keeping him safe from criminal charges

[lowkeyrobin]

not so kind reminder that ai writing IS NOT WRITING. especially in fanfiction. get off the internet if you're that fucking dense. you're a loser and this isn't up for debate. making ai write the next chapter to your shit harry potter fanfic is loser activity. it's bland, lazy, and you're taking credit away from actual writers.

I beg of you to block me if yall stand w that shit or use it to do your writing for you

[banditblvd]

Ough…..Clorten Mini arc….

[astercontrol]

I have not watched the wolverine deadpool movie but the idea of two indestructible guys dealing with the "boohoo immortality would mean you lose all your loved ones" rhetoric by going FUCK YOU WE DONT WANT YOU PUNY MORTALS WE WANT EACH OTHER is 1. epic 2. legendary 3.the same reason I used to go feral over Jack/Ten

[l0verei]

CLEAN START AU UPDATE

Currently working on writing for the Clean Start AU, might take some time depending on how much I can get done considering that art block AND writers block(?) is a pain.. But I will be posting the writing here! Maybe add a few artworks here and there, some short animations too. But as of now, I am going to focus on writing and reference sheets, don't be shy to ask any questions!! Im here to answer, theories, ideas, maybe I'll get inspired by your comments too!

[ Perhaps I'll add a few OCs of yours into the background... As long as I have a reference! ]

(will update later)

CLEAN START AU HERE

ARTWORK #1

CHAPTERS

[non-plutonian-druid]

[ID: Two similar images of Viktor in the Paranatural au in a grocery store, pushing a cart and looking behind himself worriedly. He is surrounded by people going about their business, unable to see anything strange, including his mother. In the first image, the background is a photo of a grocery store aisle and Viktor's eyes are glowing, indicating that he is talking to his spirit. In the second, the landscape is white and gray and the architecture has turned into violin shapes. A giant spirit, the White Violin (based on Vanya post-surgery in the comics) reaches out towards Viktor, who is the only point of color in the scene. End ID.]

tfw you astrally project while grocery shopping and find a giant woman who really, really wants to kill you

(for those not in the know: in paranatural, when spectrals talk to their spirit, they go into a bullet time trance and the spirit changes what the world around them looks like. The White Violin makes the world black and white (mostly white), empty, and exclusively made up of melty and/or violin shapes. Also, the white violin is a wight and so "talking" doesn't really come into it very much)

(oh also, i based the background drawing off a screenshot i took of a supermarket 3d model made by richcontent on sketchfab, this appears to be their website: http://dougricho.com/. the actual photo i used is from an advertisement for shelving units)

[micahdotgov]

heartbreaking: ollie is not on the wikipedia page for special advisors but glenn is

[queercodedcowboy]

i have TWO best friends who absolutely refuse to watch justified but it was REALLY nice to get these messages this weekend

[viiridiangreen]