#CAN YOU BELIEVE WE HAVE SO MANY BEAUTIFUL ARTS OF THIS SCENE?!???!

[tamarrud]

I'm curious. What's the tea on Banksy then? I'd love to hear your thoughts on him in general as I've found it hard to find criticism of him 🤔

The below is an answer to a similar question I got in 2017 so apologies if some links are outdated:

For starters, he keeps hijacking walls that are not his. Not only did he paint and tried to beautify the apartheid wall in Palestine, but he literally went to predominately Black and Latinx areas in East NYC, where art is strictly local, and painted over the walls there.

He has the disgusting habit of normalising and whitewashing struggles. Like how he painted an Israeli occupation solider having a “pillow fight” with a Palestinian or how he graffitied Steve Jobs as a Syrian refugee in order to bring “awareness” to the refugee issue, as if all immigrants have the same privilege as Jobs or that they should be dismissed if they don’t become a version of Steve jobs. He simplifies and glorifies oppressions and struggles.

Which brings me to my next point. He butts into issues that aren’t his and to which he shows little to no understanding at all. Like how he had the nerve to paint a “go back to Africa” in a area of poverty and racial tension, which he believes is “satire” that marginalised communities are ought to understand and recognise as beautiful and be happy about it (as if such phrases are not traumatising in nature). He’s basically shoving his way down these communities’ throats as a white saviour whose stencils are going to bring about change, and god forbid we say anything against them. He’s been asked numerous times to leave, be it in East NYC or Bethlehem, and yet there he is.

He views himself as this edgy hipster and as a result he does not understand how complex of a subculture graffiti really is. His white opportunistic ass is always ready to jump onto issues that are not his own, dominate spaces that aren’t his and in the meantime making profit (some of his work has been valued in six figures) by using our struggles and painting over our walls. He shows no regard or respect to writers and as a matter of fact, he painted over the oldest graffiti in London which made many artists angry.

In short, he’s corny and shallow. His attempts are very lazy, peak liberal and weak and are mainly celebrated by the bourgeoisie. What’s treated by law as “vandalism” apparently only applies when the artists are Black/brown/lower class, yet he gets the police protecting him. And while he can tag walls freely, other artists get arrested for it, and while they hardly get any recognition, his white ass gets coddled by the elitist art scene.

You should also go through my Banksy tag for more Banksy hate.

#banksy

[noproofread]

The Painter

"Would you ever try to leave me for somebody who deserves you most?"

Inspired by Million Dollar Houses

Luffy wants reader to sail with him, reader decides to stay.

bittersweet fluff~

word count: 1,262

masterlist here

tag list: @fanaticsnail @vangowithit @dakingsu-blog

You held the paintbrush tightly in your hand as you stared out to the crashing waves on the shore. Your tongue slightly peeking out of your mouth as you focused on the scene in front of you, carefully color matching the bright blue color of the waves before placing the brush onto your canvas. The brush glided effortlessly across the painting, blending beautifully with the base color you had placed beforehand. It was therapeutic for you, you loved painting. And Luffy knew it. As you continued working on your piece, two hands covered your eyes, breaking your concentration. “Guess who?” A cheery voice spoke from behind you, a voice you recognized immediately as the straw-hat pirate whom you had grown to adore. “Luffy! I was working” You whined as his hands left your eyes and landed on your shoulders. You turned to face his smiling face, placing a small kiss on his cheek before turning back to the canvas in front of you. “You’re so talented wow! That looks incredible!” Luffy praised your art, as he always did. He believed you would become a famous artist, he told you that once he became king of the pirates he wanted you to paint a portrait of him and his crew in commemoration.

You were always critical of your art, but you appreciated Luffy’s optimism regarding your career. You never fully believed it as a possibility for yourself. You did believe Luffy would become the king of the pirates. You would watch him train and fight, he was unbelievably strong, and charismatic. He had such a vibrant magnetism that made people like him, believe in him, support him. It worked on you as it worked on everyone on his crew. “I’m going to take you away from this beautiful work of art you are working on because it’s our last night here before we head off to find the One Piece.” His hand found yours, prying you away from hours of work. “You’re leaving tonight?” You echoed his words, you felt a pit in your stomach at the thought of him leaving you. “No, we are leaving tonight. You thought I’d leave without you, silly?” He spoke through a wide toothed grin, running across the beach with you grabbing onto his hand.

You never imagined yourself going out to sea. You were perfectly content living your life in a small town, painting houses for a living and canvases as a hobby. The only excitement in your life came from Luffy. As you approached a high cliff, Luffy wrapped an arm around your waist before stretching his other arm upwards. “Hold on tight!” He exclaimed as you shot up quickly. The wind pressing down on the both of you, you heard Luffy laugh as the two of you fell onto a tree with him breaking your fall. “You’re crazy!” You laughed. He always got you to laugh, it was his favorite sound. “Imagine how many cool adventures we can go on! You have to come with me!” His arm was still wrapped around you. You looked down at him, smiling. You didn’t know if you could leave and set sail with him. “I’ll think about it” You whispered. “No time to think! We’re leaving tonight and you are coming! Come on!” He whined, helping you up. He moved to stand in front of you, hunching over with his back facing you. “Get on! Sanji is cooking a delicious feast and I’m hungry.” You giggled at his request before mounting him. Your arms draped over his neck as he hooked his arms onto your thighs.

“The whole town is throwing us a going away party! There’s going to be music and so much food!” He spoke excitedly. Drool fell from his mouth as he talked about the amount of food he was planning on eating. You nuzzled into his neck, smiling. You loved hearing him talk with so much enthusiasm. You were strongly considering leaving with him. The sea would offer you the freedom to venture onto a life you had given up on. You could quit your job and focus on painting. Being with Luffy would be a bonus, and you would be able to see him become the king of the pirates. You would be there. The scent of grilled meat pulled you out from your thoughts as Luffy let you down. You were greeted by a couple of members from his crew. Zoro barely acknowledged you, being buried in cups and bottles of alcohol. Nami called you over to sit next to her and Usopp.

You turned to tell Luffy but found him already happily chowing down on some food. You giggled to yourself and made your way towards Nami. “Hey! I heard you guys are leaving tonight” You started the conversation, taking a seat next to the orange haired woman. “Yup! The journey never stops!” She exclaimed, looking over at Luffy. “I thought you were coming with us? Luffy told us.” Nami said before taking a sip of her drink. “Ahh. I’m thinking about it” You shrugged. You looked over at Usopp for a moment before deciding to change the subject. “Any new stories to tell, Usopp?” His face lit up at the request. He stood on his chair and began the tale of how he defeated 47 enemies single handedly.

The day quickly turned into night. You were enjoying the party more than you thought you would. Between the drinking, eating, and dancing, you thought about this being your life if you chose to go with the Straw Hats. With Luffy. Luffy noticed you were standing alone and decided to steal a moment with you. He walked over to you, taking your hand and smiling. “Come with me, I have something cool to show you.” You smiled back at him, walking up a small hill located only mere feet away from the booming music. As you arrived at the top of the hill, you could still hear the faint sound of laughter coming from the party. Luffy sat down, pulling on your hand for you to do the same. You sat next to him, looking up at the moon in the sky. It seemed to brighten up the sky much more than usual. You leaned into Luffy, resting your head on his neck as the two of you watched the moon. The silence between you grew thick as you traced circles on his arm as you held onto it. “Have you thought about it?” Luffy broke the silence, still looking up at the sky. You took a deep breath, holding him tighter. “I can’t go with you Luffy.”

“Yes you can,” He argued. Luffy was known for not taking no for an answer. “I would just hold you back. I don’t want to hold you back.” You let go of his arm and looked up at him. “You wouldn’t-” He began, meeting your gaze. “I would.” You reached over, cupping his cheek. You smiled, it was a bittersweet feeling. “And that’s okay. Just promise to come back when you become king of the pirates. I promise I’ll paint that portrait you wanted.” You pulled him in for a gentle kiss. His lips were soft against yours. You pulled away, looking into his eyes. He was sad, but understanding. He wasn’t going to throw you over his shoulder and take you to the sea against your will. He nodded his head, looking over at the sky once again. “I’ll be here waiting for you.” You said, making him smile. “I’ll come back.”

#one piece #one piece fic #opla #one piece fluff #x reader #luffy x reader #monkey d luffy #one piece luffy

[fabuloustrash05]

A Character First, A Love Interest Second: RaMona Did It Right!

((A TMNT 2012 RaMona Analysis))

Something I feel we as a fandom don’t give Raph enough credit for is how he’s the only brother to NOT have a “love at first sight” trope with his love interest Mona Lisa, and I feel that says a lot about his character and relationship with her, not only that, but it saves Mona’s character.

How you may ask? A lot of people don’t seem to realize this, but I love how when Mona Lisa is first introduced she’s not immediately established to be a love interest unlike the other girls. Mona is given some time to be her own character and show off a bit of her personality. For the other girls, there introduction is through the Turtles POV, established as a love interest FIRST then her own character/personality is shown later. This is made clear just from each Turtles reaction when first meeting their love interest. We are introduced to the female character through the “love at first sight” moment!

Donnie

Leo (I hate that I’m using this as an example this but this help prove my point)

Mikey

I wanna clarify before people start assuming, no, I’m NOT saying that the other 2012 girls have no personality. They do, it just bothers me how they were introduced. Them being the love interest seemed more important to establish to the writers then her own character first.

Meanwhile for Mona Lisa; she’s introduced to the audience NOT the Turtles. This gives her a chance to establish her character/personality first then show her as a love interest later!

We learn just from her introduction scene and even her moment when confronting the Turtles that she is: strong willed, prideful (she’s proud of being the warrior she is and takes her battle’s seriously), stubborn (fight first, ask questions NEVER, like Raph), honorable, loyal (we learn she’s a lieutenant and respects and highly looks to her Commander), and even a bit short tempered (again, like Raph).

Her and Raph even get to speak to each other and have a little banter of threats before romance between them starts to blossom. There is no love at first sight. Unlike the other Turtles who immediately fall in love with the girl just from looking at her and thinking she’s pretty. Their feelings for each other took more time.

Raph did not fall for her looks like his brothers, he fell in love with the person Mona is. Physical attraction (I believe) is very important in a relationship and Raph does show and admits he does in fact find Mona attractive (Ex: calling her a beautiful work of art) but her looks is not what caught his attention. It was her personality, her spirit and capabilities as a warrior! I saw someone mentions this in another post once, but on rare occasions do we get to hear the other Turtles explain exactly WHY they like their love interests other then that they found the girl pretty (Yes, Donnie admits he thinks April is “cool” and Leo says Karai’s “fun” but that’s not enough!), meanwhile for Raph from the very beginning he has his list of reasons ready as to WHY he likes Mona! And he has no shame to admit it proudly!

And throughout the rest of their relationship, we see more of those reasons unfold. We see Raph and even Mona show more reasons as to why they love each other so much. And unlike the others ships, we actually get to see them act and be a couple! They flirt with each other, embrace and hold hands, make out, write love letters to each other, etc. The reason they worked so well is because as I said we get to see them be a couple, but also because Mona got to established herself as a character first before being Raph’s girlfriend.

Many of us can agree that TMNT 2012 failed greatly in the romance department, but they at least did one couple right with the relationship of Raphael and Mona Lisa. So I thank them for that <3

#I find more reasons to love this ship every day #And I hope this quick analysis did the same for you #btw this was supposed to be short but then I did a deep dive #tmnt analysis #character analysis #character appreciation #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2k12 #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt raphael #tmnt raph #raphael hamato #tmnt mona lisa #Y’gythgba #tmnt ramona #raphmona #raph x mona #raphael x mona lisa #tmnt leonardo #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt donatello #long post

[accio-victuuri]

Reasons why we think the 26th bday message was from bunny laoshi. 🗒️

I know that a lot of us don’t need “reasons” to even cpn that xz made this letter, but it’s still fun to look at the clues that make the conclusion much stronger. a lot of us just knew once we read it, who the author is. as with all other candies, if you believe it, you do. if you don’t — there is no amount of evidence that will change your mind.

i’m so happy that the bday letter is back, last year was understandable (considering what was going on) so to have it this year made everyone emotional. as usual, it’s a beautiful letter. i am thankful that yibo is loved. that aside from us fans, he has someone close to him, who adores him that much to write something like that for him.

this post is only for the letter, not the bday photo/art. that will be a separate discussion.

A HISTORY,

As with most candies, context is key. We don’t usually react this much without it having some story behind it. There is almost always a pattern. The “birthday” message first popped up for Bobo’s 23rd bday. Then 24 and 26. You could say anyone can make a birthday message — but this is different. It’s way too personal and the way it’s written, to us who pay attention, is very xiao zhan. There were already CPNs for the past 2 years, so we were actually just waiting for the 26th bday letter — and boy did it not disappoint!

• They all start with saying hello to the *age* Yibo. It’s like this person wants to be the first one to greet WYB in his new year of life.

• The way it’s constructed is very similar. It starts with a recap for the year, what WYB has gained from the past and wishes for the future. I have to say that the 2020 letter was the start and then it evolved into what it is today because of the time they spent together. XZ now has more and more things to say.

• The message of growing up slowly is also there. I think XZ really wants this for him, that even if WYB had to “grow up” faster than other people his age, even if he has so many responsibilities — that he still gets to enjoy his youth. 🫶🏼

Even if you let someone else read this letter, and you tell them, “it’s from their s/o”, they will believe you. To those who look at it and think it’s an employee, i don’t even know what to say. You don’t even have to believe that it’s XZ, but it is most definitely WYB’s significant other. Look at UNIQ_OFFICIAL weibo account birthday caption, that’s what employees do.

Now onto the “reasons”. I have listed a couple and I know there might be more out there but here are the ones that made us 😭😭😭😭:

1. My absolute favorite part of the letter:

In the past year, you've gradually learned to relax while working hard and understood how to face the world with a gentler attitude. You've been willing to watch the stars while hurrying forward. You've been willing to enjoy a pouring rain happening one afternoon. You've been willing to quietly see the horizons at the other side of the sea. You've been willing to stop for a beautiful sunset.

A person who knows you will only be the one to write this. The level of understanding XZ has for WYB is just. I can’t. He really loves him. The things he decided to use : stars, pouring rain, sea and sunset is so THEM. He might as well add the moon to have the whole cpf symbol set completed. 😂😂😂

And for comparison, XZ wrote these words in his Oasis for the DC wrap-up:

There are two pictures that I really like, one is the beach outside of the Xiangshan hotel balcony, another is the scenery from the highway in the middle of the Hengdian Xianju forest where we frequently ran. These two different places and different views are both places that comforted me when I was lost and helpless. When I was down, I would sit on the balcony, and the sea breeze, the beach and the moonlight would give me the answer; when I was tired, I could rest on the path in between the forest scenes, and upon opening my eyes I would see the raindrops and the fog that would also give me the answer: in each and every moment, I chose to not complain or be negative, I put my all towards each choice and decision I make;

It’s how freakin descriptive he is. He has a way with words that make you “feel” what he is saying or even see it.

2. This part too, about stopping. Slowing down. It’s the same thing XZ said before. Plus in a couple of XZ’s videos, you will see shots of him admiring the sunset.

Time never pauses, but you seem to know the secret of making the world stop occasionally. You use your calmness and poise to welcome and get in touch with the world. Yibo, sunsets are beautiful, just like every dusk that you missed when you focused on forging forward.

AND THE “Yibo,” OMG. I can hear XZ’s voice in my head saying it. It’s too intimate. I know it’s his name but the way it’s written here — Are we even supposed to read this? It feels too personal 😭😭😭

But my answer is always, WYB wants to show off. He wants us to feel single. I’m in a long term relationship and even I felt single 😂😂😂😂

3. “The small number has changed again” referring to his age. There might be no hidden meaning, but some cpfs interpret this as the person who wrote it is older than him. Because he considers yibo’s age as “smaller” than his. Hello to their 6-year age gap. 👋🏼

4. There is 🎂 emoji in this letter compared to previous years. We think it’s because WYB is at home and they are celebrating together, no need to send a virtual cake. There is also some talk of XZ not being photographed today (8.4) on set. I won’t go to that part of Weibo but the fact that some people are nervous that he is suddenly MIA so close to Yibo’s bday is 👀

5. WYB went online for a bit, we thought he was gonna pull the same stunt he did last year and remove the automatic weibo bday post. He didn’t. What did he look at? The love letter? 🤔

6. Someone asked where was the quote “"stay cool, grow up slowly" on Baidu and the most popular answer is it’s from a book 君生我已老. We know XZ is fond of reading. I found a synopsis, and well, interpret it as you will…..

Excuse the google translate but you get the gist. It’s synopsis is also kind of similar to his drama SUNSHINE WITH ME. The part of age gap. Meeting and falling in love then having to separate, only to meet again. So if I’m to speculate that XZ got it here and liked it, maybe that’s why he chose to film SWM even if he has lots of scripts sent his way.

7. Similar with GG, who does not look at challenges in a negative way. How he regards it as a part of life and something he has to overcome.

Just regard all the adversities as the numerous mountains you have to climb and the endless waves you have to ride.

8. I don’t have to explain it that much. They both have a thing for “living with no regrets.” It’s all over their interviews.

As a young man full of mettle, you have no regrets.

I will stop right here. Again, to a lot of us, Xiao Zhan might as well sign his name at the end of the post and we would be like — Okay, we knew that. LOL.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY KING YIBO! ♥️👑

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #DONT TOUCH ME IM STILL NOT OVER THAT LETTER 😭😭😭😭

[thefaiao]

What are your inspirations for drawing? Like other artists or things

I'll start with my biggest inspiration, which got me into art as a whole: Adam Adamowicz. I got introduced to him through Skyrim concept art, but I honestly think his Shivering Isles concepts are some of the best concept art out there. You can see how much he just takes an idea and completely sores with it. A torrential stream of beautiful sketchy goodness.

I love Oblivion's flat ass dough faces and early Xbox 360 charm, but this shit is simply crazy. Look at this, it makes you wish to dedicate your life to bringing this to life, as all good concept art should. It inspires more of itself.

I could post all the images there are out there, because I sincerely think this is the type of work that has stuck with me the most. It's something to strive for. You can see it for yourself instead. That was what got me started. After that, and through my journey on Tumblr and Twitter, I think what stuck to me the most was the art done by small artists, my "compatriots". The things you don't see. There is so much love in little things, and maybe in another universe there are entire cultures dedicated to them. I wish we had time to explore each and every one of the smallest pieces of media, especially narrative media, weird media.

I'll concede that it's a bit of an abstract thing to be inspired by, but once you realise how much work goes into the smallest of things, I believe you'll find inspiration anywhere you go. I think the reason why my Batter drawings are the way they are is my inspiration from just the design of letters and fonts in general. I think making something that blurs the line of symbol and representation over and over is fun.

One artist that has stuck with me is the late great Gunner Leatherwood. He passed away earlier this year. I watched this guy grow from a hundred followers to thousands. I saw his art improve. I think that inspiration transcends just the visual aspect of the art. It's a story, a lived experience, as all art is, but I felt I understood it much more. I think going after and following these small artists pay off because of this. Everyone can make something truly great, and some people have and no one noticed. Many amazing animated movies have been made, but never got to the people who would understand them, who'd have dedicated themselves to easing other people into it. We like to think we understand media in a completely intuitive, isolated fashion, but it's not true at all. Our shared experience contributes to classics being recognised and loved. Sometimes you need the right person at the right time to understand. Gunner was a great artist because of how intuitive and visceral his drawings were. It was like he was drawing from his entire life experience to express himself in a page. At first he had little control of it, but with time it was molded and polished so that the madness was discernable, but not gone from the drawing. His mindset for drawing was fun, and he too was always going after small artists of all kinds.

But going back to Batter drawings and abstraction, an artist that has also inspired me over the years in that aspect of bluring symbol and representation into one solid thing, and similarly started somewhat small like Gunner, is Matt Lesniewski. His hatching is out of this world, and his character design is evocative and never boring. The characters are huge balls of symbols made into physical objects. Recently he straight-up draws the belts of characters floating. It's wonderful.

Another artist that does this bluring very well, and is very inspiring, is nailgun waowao. They really, well, nail the appeal of making images that have all the defining elements of a certain scene or character, but open closer look they are fragmented and completely abstracted. It's like a bigger image overlayed with many smaller stories and symbols.

But to go back to talking about active inspirations that came before, and got to me to where I am at the moment, it's a bit harder. I can't really make it sound smart besides going "uuh I don't know like abstract stuff, cubism idk lol." Just try to appreciate the great things your friends make, and try and work together to make something even greater.

Some of the most improvement I had in art was from learning with friends. Art ultimately is a form of communication, understanding other people and yourself will make you better at it. Technical skill is fun and speaks for itself, but your experiences will reach much deeper. In a world where we can't even begin to compreehend the powers that be, loving and understanding what is close is probably gonna make your life and art much better.

#long

[nunsongici]

"For you. For all of us."

I do believe "for you" was originally intended for both of them, or even all of them. But, (spoilers,) by the end of this, my delusions win.

Although I'm a shameless lokius shipper who can and will talk about them even on a first date or a job interview, I do believe there was much more going on in this scene than just a showcasing of a tragic love story. And that's not saying that wouldn't be meaningful (these types of stories are the only reason I still read fjjffj stop that's actually very sad...)

For me the story is very similar to how Luca's story ended. Hear me out, please, I'm crazy but I might not even be that crazy by the end of this.

Loki's first season and Luca both came out in June of 2021 so I might just connect them subconsciously, but the way Enrico Casarosa (director of Luca) said the movie was open to all interpretations hasn't left my mind since then. That's a huge part of making art, leaving the interpretation up to the viewer and not giving clear instructions. This way you can actually showcase such layers and depth that are much more similar to real life emotions. Because the line is blurry, no matter what. No label is clear enough to say why you love the way you do and how you do it. It's complex and beautiful.

Loki and Mobius, their relationship is beautiful because it has this complexity. I think it's worth mentioning, that what I'm about to say is a subjective interpretation, because this is my idea of love.

They did develop that friendship that articles like to highlight and we love to clown.

But seriously that platonic friendship is there and it doesn't cancel out the hints of romance at all. That's why I'm also okay with the sylki kiss. Although the first time watching it, for me it felt unnecessary, I can see the significance of it happening. It's an emotional moment, them failing to recognise what they want, their unawareness of the bigger picture, and the comedy of it all, him falling in love with himself. Also... we never really talk about why Sylvie accepts the kiss and her inner conflicts? I need to think a lot more about Sylvie and her wants... but that's not gonna happen in this post, because I'm already going on, anyways... Guess what, Mobius calls this out two times.

"What a incredible seismic narcissist."

"It’s a complicated relationship, okay? There’ s a lot unpack when you’re basically in a relationship with yourself. They say opposites attract. No." *does that face, taking a sip of his shake💅*

It's the same of him being the only one who mentions Loki's behaviour changing. (I'm not sure if he's the only one noticing, but he's the only one who makes the choice of calling it out.) And I also love the way he says no to Loki when he asks him to trust him. Loki stays calm, and just says "watch".

This is so!!! Loki has been doing this for so long, he looks kind of numb to it – this might have happened many times before and he's done explaining or calming Mobius OR he's okay with Mobius's distrust because he on the other hand trusts himself enough that he doesn't have to feel threatened to lose their bond. He knows their bond is strong enough that he doesn't have to worry when Mobius's trust fades for a moment. And the episode proves me right when in the next moment Loki gets access.

"Yes!" Mobius says, grabbing Loki's arm with both his hands, anxious and relieved for a small moment!!!

And that's real trust, friendship and relationship right there.

Comfort, sacrifice and honest moments like these make me feel loved the most. You can't entirely trust someone, you can't expect love to stay the same and you can't expect that the past to just fade away, you can't forgive easily and yet you keep hoping.

"That's a lot of hoping." Sylvie says.

And Loki is the key and his beautiful, beautiful character arch.

Most of these points are connected to my own experiences of friendship and the working relationships I've seen. Just like in Luca, we make mistakes, sometimes things that are hard to forgive and this is kind of the essence of being human.

Now back to Luca and the way Mobius has to touch Loki like his life depends on it. There are touchy people (and it took me some time to realise I'm one of them.) Enrico says:

“We talked about it and I mean, I think the reason probably we didn’t talk about it as much and, to a certain degree, we’re slightly surprised by the amount of people talking about romance is that we were really focusing on friendship and so pre-romance. But it is a kind of love, right? There’s a lot of hugging and it’s physical and my experience as a straight man certainly wasn’t that. The things we did talk a lot about is what is the metaphor here for being a sea monster, for being different? And some people seem to get mad that I’m not saying yes or no, but I feel like, well, this is a movie about being open to any difference.” (source)

Yes, I do recognise the worries about queerbaiting, and yes, I can only wish that wasn't the issue at Disney. But imagine for a moment, a world where this isn't the case and we didn't have to fight with tooth and nail for representation. In that case this story works perfectly as a friendship and yet it doesn't cancel out the chance of it snowballing into romance.

And then there's the last scene. This post sums it up. What I need to add to this is that most story elements are finished. Loki's Glorious Purpose ending is tragic, angsty and hurtful but it's done, finished. His friendship with both Mobius and Sylvie, tragic angsty and hurtful, still finished. What remains and what drives the audience crazy, and in need for explanation is Mobius being shown in between his lives.

I've seen a lot of people make posts about this alredy. How the show kept telling us that Mobius doesn't want to see his life on the timeline, how Loki knows and brings this up to Sylvie, but it's never further explained, really. Other than the natural conclusion that you just might not want to give up your known reality for something new. The show introduces characters who would, so it's not that everyone would hesitate.

Mobius let go of Ravonna, although it hurt him. Mobius did not remember OB, Mobius got scolded by Sylvie. Hunter B-15 (or Verity, my girl♥︎ i love you so much...) and Casey might be his good friends but we don't really see that apart from that goodbye scene. (Which by the way, hurt like hell...) The only reason left is that Mobius cannot live without Loki properly and the last damn scene proves. this. to. be. the. case!!!!

"Let time pass."

I... I love movies man...

(end notes:

– I almost started writing a new paragraph about how this parallels to Spiderverse but let's just forget about that, because that's a box I don't want to open right now, because I will feel ✨dumb✨

– In the Hungarian dubbing he says "For you, Sylvie" and that perfectly sums up this shithole of a country... They did not put Sylvie into the subs though, a win is a win i guess...)

#loki spoilers #spoilers #loki season 2 #loki #loki tv show #loki series #lokius #rambling #mobius #sylvie #reviews from ici

[excineribusbooks]

we waste the same day like nobody dies by @magpieandwhale, illustrated by @cloudy-recesses

I've lovingly referred to this project as "We Waste the Same Day Like Nobody Dies: The Illustrated Edition" ever since its inception [mumblemumble] months ago (since, if you haven't seen it yet, @teleportbooks also made a beautiful binding of the same series!). magpieandwhale is another friend I've known for TWENTY FREAKIN YEARS somehow; I knew I was going to make her a copy of this as soon as she finished it, and I had the great joy of giving it to her in person last week while in her city for a family wedding ❤️

This was another design that got slammed sideways at the last minute by finding the perfect cover paper. Last month, Renegade Publishing had its first-ever retreat, which included plenty of paper for swap and sale -- and what should I find on the swap table but that incredible gold-and-black Art Deco-ish stuff? It fit so well with the titling I'd already done that I immediately switched it up from a full cloth binding to a quarter-binding, with an inset carved out of the board for the title to sit in. For contrast (and a little intentional clashing), I went with silver-and-black on the endpapers, to play with the idea of Xue Yang and Wang Haoxuan as two not-quite-separate entities with much more in common than either wanted to believe.

The spheres in the cover design reference a scene partway through the third story, "shatter what you will not carry":

Xiao Zhan twirls his pen and digs up a fresh piece of scratch paper. “Okay. Think of a ball of some sort.” “Make it a football,” Yibo says, bone-dry. Involuntarily, Haoxuan laughs. His real legacy, right there. Xiao Zhan scoffs. “Too complicated, I’m not drawing that.” He sketches out a sphere. “A ping-pong ball. One half is black, one half is white.” He draws a vertical line down the middle, giving it dimension, shading it into a half-moon. “Do you get it? Two colors, one ball. If you rotate it so one color is facing you, the other is still there. Sound familiar?” Haoxuan glances at Yibo; his gaze is fixed on Haoxuan, stolid. It bores into him. Haoxuan swallows. He dabs his face with a napkin. Xiao Zhan keeps narrating. His pen dashes across the image. “Okay, now spin the ball on its axis. It’s still the same ball, it’s still got both colors on each side. But now that it’s in motion, the colors blend. The ball is.” He wrinkles his nose. “Gray. Should have chosen better colors. But now it’s a whole new thing, still with its component parts. Are you following?”

And the art! THE ART. cloudy-recesses, thank you so so much for letting me include so many of your incredible pieces -- whether they were made especially for the fic or just so fitting that magpieandwhale yelled "THAT ONE! I LOVE THAT ONE!" as we were hashing out what to include.

You can read the whole series at the link above, and see a whole lot more of cloudy-recesses's art on their Tumblr!

#book arts #bookbinding #fanbinding #the untamed #cql #the untamed rpf #cql rpf #ex cineribus books

[existentialcrisistime]

Nic's AOS McKirk fic recs part 1:

longer (mostly 10k+ and/or multi-chapter), more plot-focused works

There are SO MANY excellent McKirk fics out there, and I'm only scratching the tip of the iceberg with these ones, but these are ten of my top favourites (you know, the sort of fics where you have to either yell in the group chat or stare into space for a bit afterwards, then think of it constantly for the following week?), so I hope some of the ones in here become your favourites too.

And remember, be kind, leave kudos/comments where you can, and enjoy!

In no particular order, we have:

jim kirk's guide to starship management: how to work with people you don't like by espressohno (E, 23k)

Jim has an anonymous hookup (read: the best sex of his life) with who else but the one and only Leonard McCoy, who's scheduled to start as the Enterprise's CMO the next day. Hijinks (emotions and miscommunication) ensue. A great exploration of Leonard and Jim's relationship, based around the question of: what if they met under slightly different circumstances?

unscrew the stars by espressohno (E, <10k)

Jim, lamenting his inability to pursue personal relationships due to being Captain of the Enterprise and under Starfleet's fraternisation rules, believes he's found a loophole that allows him to sleep with his CMO. Leonard, however, wants something more. Another one by espressohno, and honestly I'd recommend pretty much anything by this author.

Ask me again in the morning by @torsamors (G, 26k)

Time loop fic: Bones is stuck in a time loop. This fact upsets Jim every time he finds out, but Bones definitely isn't having a fun time either. An excellent getting-together fic told from the perspective of Jim outside the loop, with plenty of hurt and comfort.

One Little White Lie by laughter_now (M, 71k)

Jim lies about being married to Leonard after an accident which leads Leonard to losing his memory, which quickly spirals out of control. An incredible, emotional exploration of the fake marriage and amnesia tropes, becoming so much more than the sum of its tags. Another one for the fellow fans of Bones Having a Real Bad Time, with plenty of Jim angst in there too.

A Wish in the Dark (for a bulletproof heart) by drmcbones (T, 18k)

Without giving too much away: one close call too many for Jim has Leonard at the end of his tether. Somehow, a mysterious medical/magical ailment links the two of them together - how long can they keep it secret from even each other? I say this about every fic on the list, but this one is absolutely excellent - a really interesting plot I hadn't read much like before.

Catching Fire (The Firehouse AU) by kel_1970 (E, 46k)

21st Century fire department AU. Paramedic Leonard McCoy flees a disastrous break-up in Savannah and ends up working at a fire department in Iowa where he meets Jim Kirk. I know this one is on pretty much every McKirk rec list, but for good reason! A beautifully-written, emotional rollercoaster of a fic with rich settings and side characters. Will rip your heart out and stamp on it, then carefully piece it back together again. I read this one over a year ago and still I think of it on a regular basis, it hurts so good.

I Will Hold As Long As You Like by @excavatinglizard (T, 18k)

The Lighthouse fic. Set post-Into Darkness, Leonard takes Jim to a lighthouse to convalesce. Together they learn to weather the storm. A beautiful, emotional character study with rich settings that paint such a picture in the mind. Also comes with (beautiful) art and a playlist to really set the scene. Another one that I read over a year ago, as it was being published, and still think of on a regular basis.

Take a Bite of My Heart Tonight by EntreNous (T, 26k)

Vetenarian Bones AU. Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy get off on the wrong foot as soon as they meet. So if Jim wants another shot with that gorgeous but grumpy veterinarian, he had better get his hands on some pets who need vet appointments, right? Such a fun, sweet, mostly fluffy fic of Jim getting up to some absolute (mostly unsuccessful) antics to win Leonard's heart

three sundays by espressohno

The fight club AU. Not Fight Club the film so much as a literal fight club: Leonard goes to fight club to get his anger out. Jim goes to fight club to get hurt. Leonard realizes this, and decides he doesn't want to hurt Jim anymore, but he doesn't want to stop seeing him, either. Plenty of hurt/comfort, and a whole lot of aftercare.

palimpsest by @fireinmywoods (E, 61k)

What can I say about this one that hasn't already been said? Such an incredible story, even if the final chapter did make me yell out loud the first time around (and I mean that in the most affectionate way). I've read this one twice now and got something completely different out of it each time - an enjoyable read the first time but even richer with hindsight, so cleverly constructed. As for the plot - the Enterprise is sent to negitiate readmission to the Federation with an isolationist religious group known as the Kindred. While there, Jim notices that some of the children seem to be gravely ill. The Kindred do not allow a doctor to be brought in, and so Jim... well, he improvises. + 9 (so far) further, shorter works to flesh out the whole Palimpsest verse, which I enjoyed just as much as the original story - especially aganorisis (E, 15k), which I guarantee you'll want to read right after. Can mostly be read out of order, but you gotta read Palimpsest first, I promise!

And that's it for now! Thank you for reading, please tell me which ones you enjoyed the most (or your own favourite longer/plotty McKirk fics), and keep your eyes peeled for part 2

#mckirk #fic recs #aos mckirk #star trek aos #aos #nic watches star trek

[lazytitans-world]

My research findings on the production of Wish

Never have I seen a fan community do so much with so little than I have with Wish. And to start off, I want to say that you should watch the movie first before going into this and the Starboy fandom as I believe it to be important on forming your own opinion before moving on as I find most of the fandom to have a negative view of the movie, one I do not really share. I found Wish to be fine. I did not hate it, but I did not love it like I do other Disney animated films. But the many rewrites, drawings and animatics featuring character designs that did not make it far in production have become icons in this community inspired me to do a deep dive to see if I could find where in production these concepts died and why.

To save you a read, this production was a victim of simplicity. I feel that many concepts and story ideas were tossed away due to complicating the story, which was always going to focus on Asha trying to save the wishes of her fellow kingdom citizens with the help of a wishing star. I have read many articles and watched a few deleted scenes from the home release and here are my findings.

Starboy never got far in development as the book states that the team went down "a few blind alleys" that lead them to star having a human design for a period. This is probably the period in time where all the Starboy concept art came from and where a potential romantic subplot with Asha was kicked around. It was.

What did Starboy in was the team's choice to make them a shapeshifter as the team thought the character was way overpowered and thus the story lost a lot of dramatic tension (a choice I kind of agree with). It was here where the design team decided that Star needed an overhaul and brought the Story Development artists in and this is where Starboy died and plush Star was finalized.

There are no official storyboards that feature the Starboy designs.

At the start of Wish's production, Frozen 2 was entering it's final stage of production (this would be either late 2018 or early 2019) and was obviously the main focus for Disney animation not to mention projects like Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and Encanto were entering their mid development stages before the shutdown.

The effects of the global shutdown were not mentioned in the book, but I would not be shocked if production was affected by it.

Ariana DeBose has said that Wish did not need a love story as she said that,

“I think we live in a time where things are cyclical, right? And so, it’s good for variance and perspective. Not every female Disney character needs to have a go and ambition of simply finding a man to love her. There are more stories to tell.

"And especially in the world we live in today I think something like Wish, that has a broader outlook that talks about community, is just as important as talking about love. And there are so many different ways to love."

"You do see familiar love, love of friendship" in the movie, including the relationship between Asha and Star. Star and Asha have this beautiful connection with each other and so I think it’s good reminding people that not only we can tell different stories, we can also talk about love in different ways.”(source: Exclusive: Wish’s Ariana DeBose defends lack of romance in recent Disney movies (yahoo.com)) whether Ariana had any say on story or character development is unknown.

7. From what I read from the Art of Wish book, the story was always meant to be about Asha defying Magnifico to fight for the people of Rosas and their wishes.

8. As it pertains to "At All Costs", a song that many are saying was meant to be a love song between Asha and Star, in an article by Variety(Julia Michaels Wrote 'Wish' Theme Before the Script Even Existed (variety.com), it states that a love song was not in the film at the time of production and songwriter Julia Michaels "wanted to write a song that as a standalone sounded like a love song that could be played at weddings."

Michaels would go on to say, "How cool would it be if we wrote a song that if you listened to on its own, it sounds like a love song, it could be something you could play at your wedding, or be a lullaby to your kids, just something really beautiful, but when you watch the film, it’s the heroine and it’s the villain.” She continues, “You realize they’re coming about this both from various points, one from a very selfless standpoint and one from a selfish standpoint.”

9. In the same Variety article, it was revealed that for some time in 2020, no script existed for the movie, but Julia Michaels was asked to be the songwriter for the movie and that is where she pitched "This Wish" which would go on to be one of the first songs revealed for the movie.

10. the Variety article also had Jennifer Lee, head of Disney Animation and one of the writers on Wish, say that she wanted a song that showed "it felt like to hold someone’s wish in your hand. How do we viscerally understand that when you’re with them, you feel like you’re holding someone’s raison d’être?” that song would end it being "At All Costs"

11. September 9, 2022, D23 Expo in Anaheim California. This is where certain members of the public got a glimpse of the production of Wish. Jennifer Lee, writer and director Chris Buck, and co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn spoke about the movie and showed the first look of the finalized design of Star which ended up being the mute plush model that ended up in the movie. This means there was a 3-year gap where Starboy and the romance side plot were discussed then shelved.

It was also during this show where the public would learn that Ariana DeBuse would voice Asha and that Alan Tudyk, a staple of past Disney animated films, would have a featured role in the movie as Asha's pet goat Valentino, who would be able to talk thanks to Star's magic. It was also at that show where DuBose came out to sing "This Wish" but at the time the song was called "More for Us".

Magnifico was not revealed at the event but was teased as "one of the most formidable foes in Disney history" which is debatable to say the least.

12. 5 deleted scenes in total appear on the Wish digital and disc copies each introduced by head of story Mark Kennedy where he would describe why the scene got cut. One scene shows Amaya assisting Magnifico in his plan, tying into an early concept where she was a villain alongside him.

Another scene had Asha, Star (who in this scene could shape shift and talk) and Valentino try to sneak into Rosas before being spotted and chased by Amaya, once again acting antagonistic to Asha.

A scene had Magnifco gather the people of Rosas to demand Star be given to him, as he had never seen Star in this version, and Asha her friends try to distract him by having Valentino, who in this version had a more Steve Carell like voice, pretend to be Star while the real Star, who was voiced in this version and was designed as ball of light with eyes and mouth, was trying to free the captured wishes. This scene was changed because they wanted Magnifco to be more threatening and instead of asking the people for Star, he would capture Star. Kennedy would go on to say that they wanted Asha and Magnifico to be smart and that Asha would not do a plan that silly, and they wanted the climax to be Magnifico and Asha alone, so they set it on a platform high above Rosas.

The next scene featured an ally of Asha's named Flazino that was cut out in order to shrink her friend group and tied the group back to the seven dwarfs from Snow White.

Finally, there was a scene where Asha and her grandfather scaled a wishing tree with her grandfather Sabino that showcased their bond but also Sabino's insistence that Asha take down Magnifico.

Each of these scenes felt completely different to the movie that ended up being released.

13. It should be noted that Wish released only a short while after the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes, which meant that for most of the summer and fall of that year, the actors could not do any press for the movie and all marketing was done through ads, trailers and merchandise.

14. As revealed in an article for Disney twenty-three, a magazine for gold members of the Disney D23 Fanclub, in the early visual development stage, there was a test scene that Asha was briefly transported to the village from Pinocchio. This was done to see how the 3D character designs would match with the hand drawn, watercolor backgrounds of classic Disney movies.

15. In that same article, Chris Buck said that in regard to Magnifico's character development that they wanted the audience "to see the evolution of a villain, so he's not a monster from frame one". From what becomes of Magnifico I get what they tried to do, they wanted to show how a character falls into villainy even if they're intentions are good. It also stands with the modern writing style of Disney animation films trying to update classics, this time by having audiences start off by kind of liking the villain through their personality alone.

18. The article also briefly mentions that Star "went through many iterations" another hint of Starboy being considered as a final design.

19. In the Art of Wish book, there is a page that shows the script where Asha meets Star and Star is described as a "cuddly, 3D, five-pointed star." This would indicate that the Starboy concept never got to the scripting stages.

20. In Art of Wish, the reason why Star does not speak is because the film makers wanted to stick to a tenet of film making, show don't tell.

21. Star's face was inspired by the mask like face of early Mickey Mouse cartoons.

22. From all readings, it is safe to say that Asha was NEVER considered to be a princess in any of the iterations of the story as some writers felt it to be too safe of a choice and liked the idea of an ordinary citizen going against the established power of the king.

23. During production, the Disney CEO position changed twice as Bob Iger left the company in early 2020 and named Bob Chapek as his replacement before returning to the company in mid 2023. It is unknown if these changes had any effects of Wish's production as it was it stated development as Iger's first tenure was ending but took place during a majority of Chapek's time.

24. When Angelique Cabal, who voiced Amaya in Wish, first auditioned for the role the character in 2022 Amaya was written as a villain while Magnifico was supposed to be the good king. It was when she returned for the callback that Amaya was changed to what she ended up being in the movie. Source https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/how-one-character-disney-wish-completely-changed-during-production

In closing, for fans of the Starboy concept, it saddens me to say that it looks the idea only made it as far as concept art as at the time of writing this, no animated sequences, scripts or storyboards have been released that had Star in a human design or discussed a romantic relationship with Asha. I believe the writing team found a romantic relationship between Star and Asha too complicated for the story and decided to simplify the relationship and design of Star to better suit the plot of Asha going against Magnifico. I am disappointed Wish did not go with the more interesting concepts but maybe down the line we'll get that cosmic Disney romance and a villain couple, it just has to work with the story.

I want to say thank you for those that made it to the end, this movie has been on my mind for quite a while and seeing all the re-writes, drawings and animations people have done for Starboy and Asha has been amazing to see. These works have inspired me to rewatch Wish at some point to see if Starboy could have worked in the movie with the story as is, and even share how I would have changed a few things in the story to fit the character and a romantic subplot with Asha plus an idea on how to bring in Starboy while still staying true to the established cannon.

I do hope others watch and enjoy Wish as from what I have read the team did put a lot of effort to makes this movie worthy of not only the high standards Disney animation has set, but as a piece of the 100-year story telling of the Walt Disney company. Film making is already hard enough as it is, especially in animation, but having to make a movie with an original concept and characters that still pays tribute to 100 years of storytelling is a daunting task and I understand and respect the choices they made when making the film and you should as well.

#disney #disney wish #asha x star #starboy #wish reimagined #wish rewrite #wish 2023 #wish #disney star

[leantailean]

Hiiii I love your art!! Sorry if you’ve been asked this before and I didn’t see it but wanted to hear a brief reason why you ship Toko- I respect that ship for sure and see a bit of the appeal but would love to know about more of the depth of it that you see (and I can see in your art!) but haven’t really gotten to feel first hand yet. Thank you!! Plz keep making your gorgeous gorgeous art !!

Hi! Thank you for your question, and i really happy you like my art🖤Sorry for a late answer.

I have answered to some similar questions in the several previous posts (You can find them with "we need to talk about toko") but, in short, I really believe that toko is a beautiful ship, that could be working in canon on several levels:

- Symbolism. In many mythologies Sun (or fire) means masculine force, while Earth means Feminine force. There is also a beautiful symbol of unavoidable meeting of sun and earth (dawn) and unavoidable farewell (sunset).

- Similar experience. Out of all gaang Toph and Zuko are the only ones who share the similar experience. They both are from elitist rich families who grew in a complete isolation from all the world. Both were abused by parents, both needed to face the fact that their families never treated them like human beings with actual personality and were ashamed of them. Both have vision disability, and both know that people judge them by their appearance, but not by their merit or personality.

- A lot of narrative parallels. Their alter-egos Blind Bandit/Blue Spirit are narrative parallels. They both needed a mask to get a glimpse of freedom and mind and action, to escape the influence of their families and class. And they both were guided by egoistic interest unlike another parallel masked characters (Kuzon/Painted Lady) that were following altruistic purposes.

Connection with uncle Iroh. Out of all gaang members only Toph got a special scene with uncle Iroh, and Iroh even compare her to Zuko.

Toph leaves her home for the avatar, and Zuko, who wants to return home but in the end does the same: breaks up with his family to join the avatar.

- Their personalities. They both are stubborn, emotionally closed, persistent. They both can be egocentric, and can concentrate only on their own pain and goal, but in the end they'll always be the ones who is going to help others. Their traumas made them suspicious, and very introverted, not trusting others. They aren't talkative, bad at making new friends, and sure that only person they can rely on is themselves. But regardless of all that, deep down they are sensitive, have a lot of hidden pain, and even share some feeling of guilt and shame.

Their relationship could be healing for both of them. They have a big potential to become more then just friends to each other and heal each other's pain. They also counterbalance each other in many things. Toph is rational, have a foundation so to speak. while Zuko is impulsive and never think things through. Toph has that basic rationality that Zuko lacks.

This is very short account of why Toph and Zuko, in my opinion, are perfect for each other. I believe they aren't just a ship, but a pair that can work perfectly in the possible post-show canon.

toko by toktobis

#zuko #toph #toko #avatar the last airbender #zutoph #zuko x toph #toph x zuko #atla #otp #fire nation family #earth kingdom #toph beifong #firelord zuko #ask #anon #we need to talk about toko

[beanghostprincess]

What do you think about Zoro and Usopp?

(If you’re still doing the ship thing)

yeah!! honestly the ship thing was just an excuse so people would send me asks bc i love interacting with all of you here <33 just use my inbox for anything you want to ask me and i'll reply anytime!!! (for the ones who sent me sanuso/zolu prompts, i swear to god i'm writing them i'm just slow af and busy with work. bear with me pleaseplease).

okay so!! zoro x usopp!!!

i must say, i didn't even think about them as a ship until not long ago when i saw a fanart of them and i went "oh, damn, they're actually really cute!". that, and also that you can't go into the ao3 sanuso tag without finding sanji/usopp/zoro too. which i understand. i just don't usually read those much. but i know the ship exists and i appreciate it bc the three of them deserve love, and tbh at this point i just love the whole sanji/usopp/zoro/luffy poly thingy.

i love the zosopp dynamic. they're so,, so silly,,, and there are so many possibilities for angst too???? like, not my top ship but damn it has a lot of potential. and i'm easy to convince, so with a few fanarts and fics i might actually start shipping them for real. who knows. i'm just very specific when it comes to shipping zoro (meaning i only ship him with luffy, lmao. and sanji when the horniness takes over the critical thinking or when the art is just too good).

i love their scenes together and the whole "calm x anxious" thing that ends up turning into "calm one is actually stupid and anxious can't believe he's really that stupid". that also being zoro seeing usopp's potential and wanting him to grow as a pirate so he doesn't interfere when it comes to things like water 7 or personal growth, but admires him from a distance. while usopp is, like, there, admiring and kind of envying zoro's strength but also admitting that he's human too and has feelings and can act like a dumbass. i think zoro would be clingy with usopp in the sense of protectiveness because in canon he's already protective of him (and also would find comfort in him after knowing him for so long. east blue crew things), so them being a couple would only make him more possessive and caring. which is cute!!! like (and i also say this when it comes to sanuso) zoro knows usopp can protect himself. he just cares too much to let him on his own. and he might act like he's tired of usopp's anxious and panicking attitude, but he gets it. he lets usopp do his things. he stays there. zoro protects and loves and he isn't loud about it but he's like a gentle, big cat. and this is just me being a very violent sanuso shipper, but the three of them together would be good when it comes to protecting usopp and also hyping him up!!! that's their sniper!!!!! they love him so much.

but also, from usopp's pov (because for some reason we always talk about zoro's povs when it comes to shipping???? idk why. it happens a lot with zolu, too, idk) i think he loves zoro in such a silly, teasing, intimate way,,, the east blue crew will always hit different, man, but idk,, usopp loves teasing zoro and making him mad and somehow he always ends up making the swordsman participate in their silly, dumb shenanigans. and i think that's beautiful because it's not only usopp wanting to fuck with him, but also usopp wanting zoro to have fun instead of just being protective and first-mate-like all the time. does that make sense??? i think it does.

there's also the respect between them. like, silent respect. zoro knows usopp is capable of fighting and making his own decisions and yet still protects him when asked because sometimes he knows there are fights that only the monster trio can handle (same thing that happens with nami, basically). and usopp respects zoro's position as the first mate and admits that he isn't just a dumb swordsman. although he loves teasing him bc tbh stressed zoro being out of his comfort zone is just so funny--

besides, they're sooo domestic. i love the tiny bits of them smiling and hugging. soft zoro is rare, but when it happens??? it's my whole world. and i think usopp is one of the few people that can make him smile in such a cute way!!!

also they're chaotic af. since day 1. i love them. they have to be one of the most hilarious duos in this show.

ngl now i have the urge to read fics of them uguhhsdjksdkj

TL;TR: i like them a lot, they're just not my top ship. probably i will ship them soon if i consume enough content. give me a few days.

LOOK THEY'RE SO CUTE GONNA CRYYY

#lalala gonna go read zosopp #and seriously just ask me anything in my inbox i love to be the centre of attention #they're so cutie patootie #roronoa zoro #usopp #zosopp #one piece

[ogata77]

Fireflies can only be seen at night

Less and less to know what will happen to Doumeki and Yashiro in that empty room. Having survived the shock of discovering that Doumeki did have a tattoo, as always I couldn't stop thinking about the mystery so I started to do some research.

After reviewing information about yakuza tattoos, I believe in the theory that Doumeki has been getting this tattoo, better known as IREZUMI, for quite some time and that the last retouching that was done helped Yashiro realize, due to the injuries, that he was tattooed While theories of what Doumeki got tattooed abound everywhere, I want to focus on the deeper meaning of the act itself.

First of all, with the tattoo reveal, Doumeki finally showed that he was serious when he said that he would do anything to stay in Yashiro's world, just look at his reaction upon finding out.

The last scene of the first arc shows us Doumeki plunging into the darkness going down the hospital stairs, then we see how he assures Amou that he is willing to go against his own principles in order to be close to "that" person and finally the statement he makes in the sake bar: "my time and my BODY belong to me", by the way, this is one of my favorite phrases. But words are carried away by the wind, so what better tangible display of his tenacity than getting a tattoo.

In Japanese culture, tattoos have always had a connotation related to the criminal world, so it is not uncommon for the yakuza not to display this art publicly, but there is something much deeper in the concept of privacy of Japanese mafia tattoos. Horiyoshi III, one of the most legendary and favorite tattoo artists of the yakuza, explains that he does not believe that they get tattoos to say that they are loyal to a group, rather it has to do with the ninkyō concept that means helping the people below you, therefore, when a yakuza gets a tattoo, he would want to show that he has the strength to help the weak. If we take this to saezuru I couldn't agree more because Doumeki finally had to reinvent himself to gain strength if he wants to protect Yashiro in any way.

Horiyoshi III (in the image) also explained that the yakuzas only tattoo themselves in places of the body that are protected by their brand new suits, tattooing hands and neck would be prohibited by the afore mentioned. With this information I think I can understand Yoneda's vision of not showing Doumeki tattooed until the precise moment in the story arrived, the final rapprochement with the person he loves. Why would Doumeki have to be showing us as readers something that is so private to him?

This last thing made me remember that I had a book called Junichiro Tanizaki's Praise of the Shadow. The author through different disciplines such as architecture, art, design, etc. It shows us that fascination that the Japanese have since time immemorial for what cannot be seen so clearly. One of the examples that interested me the most was when he recounted how beautiful the Noh theater of yesteryear was where there weren't too many advances in lighting. The old theaters barely illuminated left enough, the development of the works of the moment, to the imagination of the assistants.

When I read this I couldn't help but relate it to Yashiro's phrase "being a yakuza is like being an actor", every time I read these cartoons I thought about contemporary actors but what if Yashiro was talking about traditional Noh theater actors. These actors are almost completely covered with their clothing, only their hands and neck are visible because their faces cannot be seen either because of the masks they use to represent the different characters.

You don't know how excited I was when relating these facts and thinking about the moments in the manga where we discovered Yashiro wearing or removing that mask. On the other hand, Doumeki has always paid close attention to what Yashiro says and after several years it is not evident that he has become quite an actor to the point of deceiving many of the readers at some moments in the story.

My conclusion about the meaning and importance of the Doumeki tattoo is that Yoneda, as always, has masterfully known how to use Japanese tradition, delicacy and mystery to precisely show us everything under a dim light where each reader has to discover this story for himself because the beauty of all this is as Horiyoshi III said: "Fireflies can only be seen at night."

You know, if there are problems with the text, it's Google translator's fault. Thank you very much if you read this far.

#saezuru tori wa habatakanai #saezuru #saezuru fandom #twittering birds never fly #saezuru analysis #Doumeki tatoo

[sheryl-lee]

"gifs = art" could you please elaborate on that besides the skill that goes into it?

🫥 i have no idea why people are looking to me to explain something that has been repeated by many gifmakers and content creators for *years* and should be common sense anyways but...

beyond the skill that goes into gifmaking (the time it takes, the practice required, etc.) the different colorings, typography, blending and other proccesses that some gifmakers use in their creations absolutely can and should be considered an artform. look no further than the gorgeous gifsets some of my very talented mutuals have made:

@yenvengerberg becca's colorful sets are art as far as i'm concerned! like just look at this. she transforms the media she gifs and makes it look completely unreal in terms of sheer beauty and creativity.

@sith-maul one of the best creators on this site. nik is just so so talented. everything she creates is so stunning; you can't look at a set like this, for example, and tell me that it isn't art.

@hoe-biwan again, everything that flo posts is beyond incredible. i don't even watch star wars and i still silently nod my head and gape in awe when one of her sw sets is on my dash. just scroll through the comic book-inspired sets flo's made!!! that's art <3

@buffysummers ok alexandra is such a talented creator and a HUGE inspiration for me when i started giffing years ago. her eye for coloring and scene picking is out of this world! this is a recent set of hers that i particularly adore.

these are just a few examples, but if you scroll through my own blog or the various edit tags for fandoms, you would see more of what i'm talking about. there are so many talented gifmakers and editors on this site who take time out of their busy lives to create for us, and it breaks my heart when their work is discredited or disregarded or underappreciated. for their work to be invalidated and not considered art when it very much is? not only is it rude, it further demotivates creators from contributing to the site and makes them feel like nothing they create is good enough - believe me, i know that feeling all too well.

i've made extremely detailed and color-specific sets before like these, and it took me 3-4 WEEKS. EACH. i'm not exaggerating in the slightest. and since posting them, they've already been reposted here on tumblr and on other sites like pinterest, twitter, instagram, etc. if you even have like a shred of empathy you can understand why that would anger and upset me.

i don't know why people assume that gifmakers copy and paste the same 5 settings on their gifs, export them, and call it a day - it's not that simple at all. so much more goes into making gifs, and the majority of people on this site continue to laugh in our faces, steal the edits we spent so much time and energy on, belittle our work and claim that it isn't art (and friendly reminder! we do this free of charge and ask for nothing in return beyond clicking the reblog button, and so many of you can't even do that much). i shouldn't have to sit here and validate any of that - the creations should speak for themselves. you consider fanvids, fanart and graphics "art" - so why not gifs, which make up the majority of the edits on this site and, in theory, help foster/sustain discussion and fandom?

reposters all run up and down claiming that gifmaking "isn't that difficult" with zero experience... yet if they tried it themselves, they would know that's so far from the truth. and they DO know that deep down, or they wouldn't steal our gifs from us in the first place if gifs were that easy to make 💀

#i really shouldn't have to be saying this in 2023... like ur on tumblr djfdjkdfjk where gifs make up so much of the creations posted here #all we ask for is some respect and to support us when our edits get stolen... what isn't clicking here. #use your brains and don't be a dick! why is that so difficult to comprehend #💌 answered 💌

[headspace-hotel]

Your posts about literary poetry are so strange to me, haha, because I also read a lot a lot of "literary" poetry and... it DOES save my life? A lot? Like that "Pigs" poem, I actually shared it with my bookish friends, because yes, the fleshy meat metaphors are overdone imo, but it was also a really vivid portrait of the way that growing up in a low-income rural area ties into these intrusive, distorted thoughts about self-worth that keep re-occuring throughout the poem. Carter isn't a (1)

favorite poet of mine by any means but also I think it's kind of unfair to reduce him to just disconnected images and cynicism. Some of the most popular poets in literary magazines today, Rupi Kaur aside, which I DO think is objectively bad poetry, are slam poets, and there's an urgency and joy and spokenness to their work that is just completely unseen in English poetry before rap re-infused the poetry scene. Personally I'm so so glad we've moved from the discrete single beautiful (2)

images of 19th century poetry that really do say nothing about social or interpersonal relation, and if you want to hear actual crushing nihilism, that's what the modernists are for. And I promise you both of those genres still exist and get published even on big poetry aggregators like Poetry Daily. It's okay not to like it and I know you've said before that you wish more poetry was rhymed and metered, but that doesn't mean poetry that isn't to your taste is bad? (3/4)

(PS sorry for being on anon I'm on a friend's phone but I don't want you to think this is anon hate where I don't want to own up to my identity, I'm wherewords) (4/4)

We are probably just going to have to agree to disagree on this one but also, I don't dislike individual poems quite as much as I dislike the broad trends

I believe I have read way more literary poems than is recommended, good, normal, or healthy, and there's a post in my poetry tag somewhere that breaks down what I hate most about literary poems in better depth (which I will probably reblog again), but I went through this evolution of my thoughts on it:

When I was taking my "intermediate" poetry class, I was genuinely intrigued and delighted by the range of things you could do with words that I was seeing in all the poems we were reading, and a lot of poems truly felt neat and impactful, and I liked interpreting them and learning to "see" meaning in them.

And then when I was taking my "advanced" poetry class, I started getting more and more critical, and I started to hate what reading these poems was doing to my own writing style.

And then a year later I read like every literary magazine my college library had because...okay long story but I was spending hours every day holed up in the library and that experience turned my existing skepticism into outright disdain

Because listen...there is an initial shimmer to the way unexpected combinations of words and images, like "lemon-lime grieving" or "cumulonimbus cancer" or "ontological algae" plink around in your brain, but after seeing Unexpected Combinations of words thrown together a million times, I started to think most of the meaning I read in literary poems was a kind of pareidolia.

So many poems have no intelligible complete thoughts in them, no consistent entities that are referred to more than once, no narrative, no images that persist longer than the phrases they are in

And it's not bad for art to be open to interpretation, but I had to write detailed journal entries about poems from Poetry Daily for my last class and a lot of this poetry just falls apart like a sandcastle the more you try to analyze it, because there is ultimately nothing there.

Like I said, I've said it all before more articulately. There is a lot more to my dislike of literary poetry. But one thing that really, really put the nail in the coffin for me was finding out that InferKit (a neural network you can feed text for it to complete) could consistently generate "poems" that were indistinguishable from published works by people with PhDs, that could be interpreted and analyzed the same way.

And to an extent I love the role of randomness in art! I think it's cool that humans see patterns in things and assemble narratives! I think it's an unavoidable part of art, and a lot of the "aliveness" of art lies in that indeterminacy!

But it feels like some sort of scam that so many artists with PhDs and MFAs are getting paid to write stuff that barely requires a human writer because the reader is doing so much of the work of interpretation. I'm sick and tired of seeing shapes! I'm not reading tea leaves! Communicate something dammit!

There is also the voyeuristic obsession with the trauma of minorities, the cruelty this is to so many poets that they're expected to constantly write about things that hurt them, the indistinguishable nature of so many writing styles, and the large number of poems that are mostly riding on getting a gross-out reaction from the reader, but I've explained all that in other posts

I don't know what to say. Like, all these poets are being read and circulated in environments where there's a pre-loaded expectation of interpretation and of taking the poet seriously. I'm going to call it crowd-sourced pareidolia because...yeah, I believe that's what it is sometimes. And if a poem has nothing to say to the version of me with no college education, the version of me that is skeptical, or the version of me that wants to hear a real voice that has something compelling them, I don't like it.

#poetry #literary poetry #poems

[sirfrogsworth]

I was reading some of the complaints about Indiana Jones and it looks like people just wanted to hate this movie no matter what.

I actually watched a YouTube video of a guy drawing Indy fan art and he said he hated the movie despite not actually seeing the movie. Like I said, it wasn't the lightning-in-a-bottle of the first three, but it was a solid Indy movie. And it was great to see Harrison in the role again.

I couldn't figure out what the big complaints about the CGI were.

Aside from the de-aging, it was used pretty sparingly. There were some stunts that no actor could do so they did some green screen inserts. But that seems reasonable from a safety perspective.

I read an article that said the locations look like CGI. Despite them filming everything on location. So I guess they are complaining that reality was too CGI?

And they said the de-aging "didn't look right." Can they be more specific? I just feel like I saw a different movie or something. It looked great to me. I thought it was as convincing or more convincing than Samuel L Jackson in Captain Marvel. And it didn't seem like a gimmick either. It was part of the overall story.

But I just think it is wild we have reached the stage where people hate CGI so much that they are complaining about reality.

This CGI hatred is really hurting artists and most of the time people don't even notice the best CGI. They don't realize how believable and immersive it is 95% of the time. There is no way we could tell some of the stories we see without it. The Last of Us was so beautiful and they did as much as they possibly could with practical effects. But sometimes you just can't make practical effects work. Several of the practical things they made had to be replaced. Though it did allow for great reference, so maybe that is something to keep in mind.

I look at this behind-the-scenes video and can't imagine the show without all of the amazing artwork created by digital artists.

And when VFX don't look right, it just seems like a problem of art direction more than the tool itself. Or time and money issues.

But when all of the tools of practical, VFX, and CG animation are used harmoniously together, you get something special like Dune or The Batman or Top Gun or The Last of Us.

I sometimes wonder if we have too many movies with huge budgets. And the studios feel obligated to throw in huge CGI spectacles to justify those budgets. And maybe if we created some $50 million movies, that constraint would help filmmakers focus more on just telling good stories instead of blasting our eyeballs with spectacle just because.

#Youtube

[makoodles]

I have been reading Avatar fics for some days and I have to tell the world something:

WHY IN THE NAME OF SANITY ALMOST EVERY Y/N FEELS SHAME FOR EARTH AND HUMANS???

Like truly, I understand in comparison with Na'vi humans look like monsters, but I rarely have seen a reader who would defend beautiful things that humanity has done. Just look at it: books, arts, paintings, architecture, so many cultures (dead and alive) etc... You cannot tell me humanity has nothing to be proud of.

So imagine Na'vi with human reader, who is forced to speak only Na'vi language with her mate, because he wants nothing to do with human stuff (she's an exception). But her level of speaking this language is not so high and she can't really tell what she truly wants to say. So, one day, when Na'vi mate were humiliating her race and calling humans stupid, she just EXPLODES, screaming DO YOU KNOW HOW SMART I'M IN ENGLISH???

She shows him ancient architecture (for me it's always the best), make him to listen human music, prepare human food, demonstrate paintings of great artists etc. In the end she kills her mate with questions: well, what your people can do?

I believe Na'vi is going to be impressed, but will never admit it. Although he's stoped speaking trash about humanity...

Oh, I finally spoke out.

Sorry if it's a lot.

idkkkk i think that's a complicated one because of the message of colonialism

like i feel like a human on pandora has to come to terms with a lot of things, like the fact that they've arrived on the planet with a violent colonising force and the sheer amount of destruction that's wrought on the planet thanks to our species arrival there.

and i guess a big part of earth in the avatar franchise is how it's dying due to human greed and climate change etc, and how the humans on earth are completely disconnected from mother earth and everything, and i think it would be kind of difficult to have pride in your planet and in the achievements of humankind when you see the connection the na'vi have with their home

i reallyyyyy hope we learn more about what earth is like in the next movies! the deleted scenes from A1 were honestly so interesting, i love the aesthetic of it lolll

one thing i can really imagine is human reader telling their na'vi s/o about like household appliances that make life so much easier. like talking about how much they miss microwaves and fridges, and electric showers and dumb shit like scented candles, and your na'vi s/o will be listening with rapt attention bc they have no idea wtf you're talking about

#asks