#which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened 4 times

[gara-bat-05]

If I had a nickel for every time a sapphic punk/delinquent girl broke up with her femme dictator girlboss girlfriend I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

(A quick and a bit messy drawing 4 tonight!)

[icedgarlic]

leigh bardugo must be stopped !!!! her slow burns are too much for me like they hurt me so much but they're so good

[stillgotme]

my attention's on you

[s0levis]

The height difference between Erwin and Levi is the same as my dad's and I AND the same as me and my friend's, so I really can't see Levi as comically short or understand when people describe him as hitting Erwin's waist lmao

[fluffypichu876]

BEATING HIM WAS SUCH A GOOD RUSH OF ADRENALINE

[cherrylight]

sighs.

[kumakuma-circus]

i don't know whether to cry or feel happy about how cute this line is-

[sonata-stigmata]

love when the topic of 'types of people you're attracted to vs who you attract' comes up bc i get to talk about how much witches love me

[traumatas]

Sometimes I just see a hot old lady and loose it.

[thewirewitch]

I had a dream last night where I went to some kind of magic school, despite not showing any clear signs of having any kind of magical powers.

That was until I managed to break a magically reinforced window by kicking it a few times. I just really wanted to go outside, no time for doors.

[star-light-shadows]

I really wish narrative recontextualization of this nature was more common in media.

One particularly effective example of this I've seen is in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, Particularly Fnaf 4 and Fnaf World, and I think it's one of the most subtly brilliant storytelling choices I've ever seen.

Originally, the 3rd game in the series told a pretty basic story about saving the soul of Golden Freddy. You did so by going through minigames and finding the other spirits in some sort of spirit world that was filled with often nonsensical imagery. The player, at the time, wasn't really given any identity so all this was just presented as being the Puppet's doing.

Then, Fnaf 4 and World went back and completely recontextualized the entire quest. The protagonist of the 4th game is heavily symbolically presented as the Puppet and the once nonsensical imagery of the minigames is recontextualized into being from his memories. And World subtly but directly states that he was the protagonist of the 3rd game and set up Happiest Day.

On top of that, the Golden Freddy child is presented as having an especially close personal connection to the protagonist and is also established to have set up the paths he uses to save the others but neglected to set up one for herself, suggesting that she doesn't want to be saved.

The whole story becomes this child, who is heavily implied to have been friends with the spirits prior to death, returning 40 years later and saving them all, ending with the child whom he was closest with, despite her deliberate resistance to help. Expanding upon the original ending into something much deeper than it was, without really changing anything about it.

Idk if this is a sentiment that’s already been expressed, but one thing I really like about ninjago is the show’s ability to just… “recontextualise” certain things? Not really “foreshadowing” — that would imply a level of preplanning that just isn’t possible with the way the show is produced. I also don’t think it really fits into “retconning” either — I feel like a retcon completely changes established events/lore, and this isn’t quite that. Like, it specifically happens after the fact: something will happen in one of the earlier seasons, and then later, the writers will retroactively give that event more context. Not changing the event itself, but rather changing its meaning or how we’re supposed to interpret it.

The example that immediately comes to my mind is Cole’s flashback sequence from season 8. That flashback is taken all the way back from the pilots, and (from what I remember lol) it mostly existed just to establish some basic character traits: Cole climbs a mountain to test his own strength, cuz he’s the buff earth ninja. But then in season 8, this event is recontextualised as one of the ways Cole dealt with the grief over his mother. The writers took a scene that was originally kinda bare bones and basic, and then they refreshed it in a way that gave us new insights on Cole’s mental state. (Btw I love you season 8 you did so much for Cole’s character mwah I give season 8 a lil kiss <3)

I think it speaks a bit to the resourcefulness of the writing team; they could’ve made up an entirely different flashback and touched on the same topics, but instead they chose to use a scene that was already there. And even though there’s definitely instances of this happening where you could it’s lazy or making an unnecessary change (I’m NOT saying ninjago never retcons anything lol), it’s also led to some genuinely interesting bits of characterization and lore. It’s one of the few things I can unironically say is pretty cool about this show, writing wise.

[fiction-justanotherstateofmind]

If I had a nickel for every time Dylan O'Brian ends up in a ship where:

1) the love interest slams him against the walls

2) the love interest chases him when Dylan's character runs into danger

3) he holds up his love interest and helps him escape from danger

4) he ends up with the love interest hurt and with black veins from of a not natural "poison"

5) he and the other actor go along with the idea of the ship

6) the ship is not officially canon but still it's the most famous ship of the show (despite his being in a canon straight relationship)

I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice

[mavratt]

If I had a nickel for every time a popular Wolverine ship was with someone that is commonly shown without pupils, I would have 4 nickles, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened so many times

[inbabylontheywept]

can we get more security clearance stories? they are amazing

Yeah, sure. Remember how getting contractors in to perform regular to the maintenance is basically impossible? One of the issues that we have is that the roof is kind of fucked. Like, in the newer sections, it's fine, and in the older sections, it leaks and we just have big barrels to catch the rainwater, and in the oldest sections there are actual holes. Which is crazy, because the oldest sections are where a lot of the tests happen. Those are almost always the most important parts of the facility. And the holes have been a problem for a while, but it is only "recently" (the last ten years) (yes, that is recent in government time) that the holes got big enough to fit birds.

So we have been getting birds into our secret facility.

This causes several issues.

The first issue is that, surprisingly, the people here are gentle, and they don't like seeing birds die. Some of the old hands are pretty jaded about it, and they have tennis rackets that they used to use for uh... bird removal. But the newer batch threw a fit when they suggested that, so now we have to make a big ordeal out of getting the birds out of the building. And if I sound bitter about it, I'm not - I am one of the people that said absolutely no bird smashing. But it is much easier to catch a bird than it is to just smack it out of the air.

(Another layer of difficulty is the whole "working in a labyrinth" thing. The birds have a lot of places to run.)

The second issue is that sometimes we can't get the birds out, and they die in weird places. This isn't just sad - it makes the test areas smell bad for weeks afterwards, and a lot of us spend the majority of our working hours in those locations. So it's sad and gross and stinky.

And the third issue, which is actually kind of the worst, is that government knows about the "perimeter leaks" (IE, large holes in the ceiling) and instead of fixing the holes, they put extra security measures in place. You know, in case spies climb in through the holes. Which means that, unfortunately, instead of getting the holes fixed, we got a state of the art alarm system, complete with motion detection lasers.

So the birds get in, and we actually can't leave until they get out, because they will, and have, and frequently do, trip the alarms. And when the alarms trip, people get called in to check the site and confirm for the 10,000th time that no, it's not Russians: It's birds.

It's always birds.

(Some of the techs actually kind of enjoy those calls during the weekends, because it means free overtime where there's literally nothing asked of them. Getting the "bird alarm" call is just 4 hours of OT where you check the test cell and confirm, no spies, just birds, then sit there and play checkers or read or whatever until the airforce base calls back and says that it seems safe enough for you to go home.)

(Engineers like those calls less, because we don't get time and a half, and we also don't need the cash quite as much as the techs do.)

Anyway, the crazy scenario is when it's like, 30 minutes to quitting, and a bird gets in. Because now we can't leave until we get the bird out. And the scene that happens is actually quite pretty.

So, the first thing that will happen is that there will be yelling downstairs. The downstairs people are always irate about birds getting in close to quitting. The anger is directed vaguely at the bird, and vaguely at the government, and more specifically at whatever absolute fuckhead bought us an alarm system instead of fixing our roof.

The majority of the crowd of grousing engineers and techs will then move into the upper offices. A couple will break off to grab the floodlight and shine it down the stairs, a few more will prop the doors open, and someone will venture back into the basement to turn off the light.

Click, the light goes off, it's dark, there's this big, warm, yellow pool of light just dripping down the stairs like a river of melted butter, and there's a crowd of tennish people + whoever is poking their heads out of the office to watch. No one will be breathing at all... and then, 9 times out of 10, a little bird will flit out of the basement, up the stairs, towards the light, and trigger the apocalypse.

Everyone chases the bird.

The goal at first is not to catch the bird. That's very difficult, and none of us have very good hand eye coordination. The goal is to thunder along and keep the bird from sitting down and having a breather.

We are there to exhaust the bird.

It is just accepted that this thundering herd will go wherever the bird goes. If your office door is open, and the bird flies in, it doesn't matter what reports you're filling out, or what phone call you're on - you are expected to deal with the panting and scrambling and general primal chaos of the hunting party until the bird goes somewhere else. Eventually, the bird will slow down enough that someone can catch it. This is a semi-coveted position, because, yes, you do get to hold a bird in your hand. And holding a bird is a wonderful thing. They are so soft, and so small, and you feel so careful with the poor thing. But also, it will bite you. Always. And the birds out here bite like needle nose pliers. It hurts so bad. I have been the guy holding the bird before, and it's this kind of beautiful scene again - to be standing there, hands cupped gently around this thing that is chewing the fuck out of the squishy webbing between my thumb and my palm. Tears streaming down my cheeks, surrounded by my little hunting party, that is telling me how much further until the nearest exit, opening all the doors for me. Hushed in the silence as they acknowledge my sacrifice. Inspecting the chomps afterwards and giving their opinion on how long it will be until it stops hurting.

I'm getting a little lost in the sauce here and don't really know how to end this. It's a really good job. Wouldn't be half as fun if it was run in a sane and competent manner.

I'll make this into a post at some point.

[beefycupcakes]

I watched the Cars trilogy recently and with that came a wave of nostalgia and a strange desire to make my own designs for the cars as humans. Aka taking all the charm out of Cars but scratching the brain itch.

So, no need to drag out the intro any longer, I have some notes written out about em for those who might be interested or just bored.

Lightning McQueen:

I tried to make his suit look as professional as possible, with references pulled straight from McQueen's paint job/stickers, while also keeping in mind that I do intend to draw him more so I didn't want to go too crazy with the design. In a perfect world I would've let my maximalist cravings win, but alas let's keep it digestible for my sanity.

I feel like everyone's kinda on this unspoken agreement that McQueen as a human would pretty much look just like Owen Wilson, and that's the big picture here. I used Wilson as inspiration while tweaking and exaggerating a few things to my preference. (Okay, well not everyone, lmao.)

The chevron markings on the front cut off at the side seams not wrapping around the entire suit as to not clash with the sponsor logo on the back.

Also, he's wearing special gloves to help him grip & have control over the steering wheel. I think sometimes that looks a little weird when his sleeves are down & cuffed, but I just feel like he needs to have the gloves there— especially when he comes out of the top half of the suit. (It's also lowkey supposed to mirror his 4 tires when you consider his shoes are also black.)

So yeah, that's basically all I have to to say regarding Lightning McQueen's page. I feel like a lot of my design choices are self explanatory and, honestly probably shared universally... I mean, he's really cut & dry. (But I love him ⚡︎)

▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

Mater:

I'm not gonna lie, Mater was a bit challenging for me. I definitely had to step out of my comfort zone but I wanted to stay true to the character and not butcher anything.

My first thought was to give him a fishing pole to substitute for the tow hook— but then the more I was thinking about it, the more that felt so... out of place? Radiator Springs is in Arizona, which is (not entirely, but mostly depicted in the movie as) a desert. And even though there are beautiful bodies of water in Arizona, in the movie I don't recall seeing any prominent ones, at least in relation to Mater. So, scratch that, instead I gave him a lasso, which isn't supposed to entirely substitute for the tow truck— no, he still drives a tow truck, but the lasso is so he can grab people/things similarly to Tow Truck Mater (very cartoony). My explanation for this is the cattle ranch. Yeah, Mater is a tow truck driver but perhaps he has a side hustle, or hobby, if you will.

Also, I didn't want to make him... dirty(??) Like, yeah, of course, Mater would obviously get a bit filthy from time to time, it's just in his nature, but that is NOT going to be the core of my design. In regards to the rust happening on him, I felt like instead I would substitute this with being very tan. Again, Arizona is a desert. Because of this, he would take off his shirt often, and this would substitute for the missing hood like on Tow Truck Mater. The removal of the shirt also reveals just how tan Mater actually is.

It's his uniformed overalls that have his original aqua color, but from years of wear & tear they've been patched up with brown patches, this would also reference the rusting. The one strap is supposed to mimic the one headlight being broken, and I know that's a stretch, believe me, I wanted to do something with his eyes but eyes are not the headlights in the Cars universe..... think about this. Think about it really hard... if you know what the headlights are in the Cars universe then this actually makes perfect sense.

He is taller and wider than McQueen, which is a reference to the literal frame of their vehicle counterparts. (A little hard to picture with these images, but eventually I'll draw them together!)

▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

That's all I have to say really, but do let me know what you guys think! Gas it up and it might encourage me to make a part 2 with some of the other characters! Who would you like to see next? ♡ Thank you so much for reading & have a great day, Kachow!!

[sleepymarmot]

If I had a nickel for every time a Dragon Age protagonist interrupted the antagonist's Fade ritual at the beginning of a game releasing in the year 20*4, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.