#but also a metaphor

[toxictoxicities]

Sorry if this sounds odd, but I've been wondering... do birds have any significance in your Trafficlights? Birds have been mentioned in at least three of your Trafficlights drawings. Was that just a coincidence/spur-of-the-moment idea, or is that a theme for them in some way — in symbolism, or maybe it's something they connect on, etc.? (I'm asking because I have this silly idea for them more directly related to birds, but I need to know if that's actually a running theme)

Nah it's not odd at all! Especially when I have in fact littered so many little symbols and foreshadows in designs and art pieces I've done - and I love sprinkling in little symbols or using certain elements which aid in the whole visualization of the narrative.

However I cannot spill alllll my lil secrets I've laid out, but I'd love to hear your interpretation of it!

#ill give u a curve ball also #someone pointed out that only Suns left antenna twitches #lil details like that >:) #toxart #toxtalk #trafficlights #I think more the bird is somewhat a symbol #but also a metaphor #im not sure how to label it #but it did stem from me just liking birds #and that theres many things I could do with birds and certain things meaning different stuff about the two #srs #nsh #iterators #rw #rain world #qna #sketches

[atissi]

i don't really like when people say dungeon meshi is accidentally good autistic representation, because while i understand not wanting to make conclusions without explicit confirmation from the author, there's always the weird assumption that non-western authors somehow don't know about things like neurodivergency/queerness/etc. (on top of the assumptions that east asian authors are somehow more naive or oblivious to "western" social issues).

given that dungeon meshi started being published in 2014, it's not really a "work belonging to its times"—it's as contemporary as any other media we discuss on this site, which means it should be fair to assume it engages with contemporary topics (and at the very least, you shouldn't say that the representation is accidental with so much confidence)

but anyways, the chapter "perfect communication" in ryoko kui's "terrarium in a drawer" is some of the most straightforward autistic representation I've seen, and from now on I'm going to assume that laios's character writing is absolutely intentional in that regard:

#beepbeep.txt #dungeon meshi #ryoko kui #this is me trying to explain h/ollow knight lore #also yayyyy reading new things. chapter 18 'spring' is basically UFUT if you squint (sorry for the jumpscare if you know UFUT) #but the last two pages were such a surprising gut punch....it's hard not to see it as a metaphor for both the experience of raising childre #and of taking care of your parents in old age....aughh....

[cracklewink]

My Mane 6 Redesigns all together! I was going to post them separately but ended up finishing them all before I got around to it lol

#mlp #my little pony friendship is magic #my little pony #mlp fim #mlp redesign #earth pony twilight truthers where are you #bat pony fluttershy truthers where are you #dark color palette rarity truthers where are you #ALL OF YOU RISE WITH ME #im ESPECIALLY an earth pony twilight truther ever since I saw the old G5 concepts #I love the idea that Twilight's bonds with others are her true magic rather than beams or spells and I feel earth pony twi fits that well #since “the five elements brought together creates the sixth element magic“ aka friendship since FIM she embodies ”magic“ in a #more metaphorical sense #the star in her eyes is also a reference to the first ep when twilight says “the spark” ignited inside of her heart #plus the earth pony to alicorn pipeline is so cool and i like the idea of an earth pony being the bearer of the element of magic as a #fun contrast/its unexpected

[egophiliac]

don't think I'm not still deep in the episode 7 brainrot. because OH BOY AM I

(also one more extremely, obnoxiously self-referential thing, I'm -- I'm so sorry)

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 part 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 #twisted wonderland book 7 part 7 spoilers #and so ends the saga #(this time for real i promise) #malleus post-episode 7: shroud...i should have heeded your warnings...now tell me more about how i may hunt this elusive 'snipe' #alas poor puppies :( i'm glad they had a little aside about how they can fix them after this whole mess #let ortho have his dogs! #man i love that this has come down to malleus vs technology though #MY FAVORITE #ortho: you can destroy the shell that links me to this mortal world...but can you select the CORRECT DOWNLOAD LINK??? #malleus: (downloads a billion viruses and dies instantly) #also i'm probably the only one who thinks idia complaining about his own mental tartarus prison is funny #but there we go #idia has two modes and two modes only #he's either in the middle of a metaphor where he finally forgives himself for his brother's death and takes charge of his own destiny #or he's like 'fuck yeah i'm about to get isekai'd into the internet! (immediately falls over making dying whale sounds)' #wait no he has a third mode: actively suffocating because silver and sebek won't stop squishing him #look he's just delightful no matter what's going on okay

[triona-tribblescore]

He's a little silly but we support him all the same <3

#Im so sure someone has probably already done this #but everytime I see this legend of a vine I think of our metaphorical dumb blond turtle <3 #lil guy is so smart in all areas bar the obvious #nahhh but fr the headcannon of leo and april being each others queer confidant has my heart <3 #love them sm <3 #also I need to draw april more?? #love her so much i really should #rottmnt #rottmnt leo #rottmnt april #rottmnt comic #rottmnt fanart #unpause rottmnt #tribbleart

[inkskinned]

something bad happened to you, and you died, and you came back wrong.

not wrong all the way. the little ways. you forget important dates, stopped going out with friends. it's harder to make you smile. you're apathetic towards things you used to love, afraid of places you used to go to cheer up. quieter. flinching. different.

you came back for love. you're still here for love. what pulled you back was a brightness so loud that even death couldn't outshout it. death heard the call and smiled at you and said okay. go home. somebody is waiting for you.

but you came back different. like lot's wife; you've turned into salt. you used to chirp through life in hops and skips; but now you lose skin just standing up. you have to move slower, skimming across this world without-touching-it. most things feel dull - until they're suddenly all-too-much. life, and being alive just rushes up and over you and you get hopelessly crushed.

you try to explain it to them: it is ugly, but this is what you are, now. the huge golden hoop of your halo now a little bronze ring. you are still watering your plants and wearing the same clothes. after all, you worked hard to come home. this life; so odd and off-color, now that you are wrong.

but they waited for you - it's just that they wanted the "you" that happened before this. the "you" that could sing in the show and hug people tight and look at a blade without breaking down to cry. the you with a smile in pictures. god, holyshit, it's like looking at a completely different person, isn't it. that other-you; the one they actually wanted.

you are the consolation prize. you are the body that forgot the ghost. you are the memory of the bad thing, and the death after; like you are wearing that memory as a banner. you are a fragment, an assembly. simulacrum. you don't make eye contact in mirrors, afraid the light will glance off and your true nature will flash back at you.

you hear them talk about it in their hushed, desperate whispers. sometimes they even admit it to your face; harsh and violent, acid thrown at christmas dinner. god, can you just fucking be normal again. you do not remember what normal is. you had to climb so far to get back here; you are far too exhausted. you want to open the glass door of your heart and show all the gears. can you help resolve whatever got messed up?

you try so, so hard. you came back for them. because you believed they would love you, even when you were so horribly broken. because you believed they would be patient. because you believed unconditional meant "without exception." you cannot do things the same way. you just get tired too quickly these days.

you want to put them on a couch and pour them the tea with hands that shake more than they remember. you want to line them up and draw them a map of where you have had to wander. you want to show every bruise in a backsplash; the little helpless ant of your soul carrying all that weight, over and over. you want to say: yes! it is different! but i did it for love!

you want to say: "i'm not the same, but i'm yours and i'm here. can that be enough?"

#this is very obviously about my battle with #ptsd #but i think it's also like a pretty apt metaphor for a lot of things like setting boundaries or going to therapy or choosing recovery #i was thinking about the 'comes back wrong' trope and i was like. oh no i have feelings about this bc i have mental illness #and once i stopped masking - i was WRONG. i was different #here's the good news: i am now INNUNDATED with love. fucking swimming in it. excelling at it. the people who stayed #learned my new self. my new different body and how i am different but i am trying. they have held me so tightly #and my life no longer feels quiet. it is not based in my suffering. it feels like i have been growing a tree in my chest #and now it is flowering. #it is so lovely to be surrounded by people who have said - oh! you cut off so many branches i was worried you weren't the same. but now... #... this is just a new you. and i love you. and i love that you're different and happy. #(but yeah also im nb so i was absolutely influenced by Trans things)

[metanarrates]

nothing is more sexy to me in fiction than a time loop being thematically linked to the experience of grief and/or trauma. a constant reliving of loss and pain that becomes literal, an inability to move on, a cycle that always finds new ways to hurt... literally where would we be without it

#narrates #hi guys. im regular #also this is why i like the read of majoras mask as a grief metaphor... i think a lot of people make it overly literal #but my brain was rewired as an adolescent by viewing that game as grief for link's lost childhood

[prokopetz]

I fully realise this blog's readership is exactly the wrong audience for this sort of advice, but I'm annoyed enough that I don't care: the reason you consistently dodge directly into the very projectiles you're trying to avoid is because you're looking at them. You reflexively move toward wherever your gaze is fixed. Don't look at the projectile – look at the gap or safe space you need to reach to avoid it.

#gaming #video games #grumping #the is about video games but it is also metaphorically true of literally everything

[worldformula]

you don’t know what you’re asking for.

#ffxiv #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #hermes ffxiv #emet selch #fandaniel #ff14 #Finally my last comic of the year #Been obsessed w like 30 different concepts lately so I crammed 5 of them into this cheers #Also to that sweet anon in my ask box I shall post what you seek I prommy ❤️ #This is a long ass post but like look upon my metaphors boy #endwalker spoilers

[heritageposts]

translated:

and again, this is from the minster of communications

#palestine #israel #gaza #i don't even know what to say... #the palestinian resistance gets called religious extremists but this is somehow fine and normal? #also zionists on twitter are trying to defend it by saying it's a 'metaphorical foreskin'💀

[ofswordsandpens]

rip book scene where Percy ditches Grover at the bus station, you were too funny

#also in the show it would be even more valid of Percy since Grover threw him under the metaphorical bus lmaoooo #mine #pjo #pjo adaptation #percy jackson #grover underwood

[lilybug-02]

Dark Fountains Causing the Apocalypse? ❌😒

Dark Fountains as a Metaphor for Global Warming? ✅👏

#deltarune is a metaphor for climate change #change my mind #also climate change is real and Ralsei is an environmentalist #bread #comic #deltarune comic #used a new brush today for line art! absolutely loved it #I love changing up my style and consistency! #deltarune #art #my art #memes #carbon emissions #reduce carbon emissions #environmental action #this only took me like an hour and a half? not bad!! #yes I’m pushing my own ideals on delatrune. who hasn’t #ralsei deltarune #ralsei #kris dreemurr #susie deltarune

[withdenim]

How sad to watch him grow

#I did the thing I said I would!! for once!!! #so here’s the piece I mentioned doing about lloyds loss of childhood #look . if you look at older lloyd the sand is stuck to him #cause like #the sand metaphor is really intentional pls I love the sand metaphor #me when it’s slipping from his fingers but it’ll be stuck in his clothes and to his skin no matter how hard he tries to get it off #I’m normal #he’s ever aware of the itch in his skin that tells him what he’s lost #hey also btw idk if you noticed or care but Lloyd is so pretty #ninjago #lego ninjago #Lloyd Garmadon #ninjago fanart #ninjago Lloyd #Lloyd Garmadon fanart

[egophiliac]

I've had a beast of a cold for the last few days, but I wanted to get this out before the new year! while I've sort of made my peace with my first take on Lilia's UM poster, I really wanted to do a version with the new context that chapter 6 gave us. because. c'mon.

(don't worry, Lilia can carry ALL HIS KIDS AT ONCE)

#art #twisted wonderland #unique magic posters #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 part 6 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 part 6 spoilers #the dragon cradle does make me laugh #no look i understand it's a ~visual metaphor~ for malleus' isolation #(and also lets lilia run up a bunch of steps all dramatically later) #but the image of this enormous ten-story cradle with the teeny tiny little egg in the middle of it is pretty hilarious #the draconias are SO extra about everything #now if you'll excuse me i have to go fall over for what remains of the year #happy 2024! #(i apologize to the poor person who asked a cute question about meleanor and got a giant cold medicine-induced essay in response :') #(i have been incapable of coherent thought for...a while now)

[pokeberry5]

something like tim convinces himself that robin has to be a Boy™ and then steph becomes robin and shatters that conviction and all his repressed gender feelings come spilling out, but actually letting go of that conviction isn’t all that easy

if there's no homoerotic tension between you and the manifestation of your alter-ego that you’ve constructed in your mind, do you really have identity issues?

closeups + refs (leyendecker) + bonus:

#sart #dc #probably gets resolved by tim watching steph in action and having not-conversations about his function as a vigilante w bruce and dick #im not sure how to tag this ? bc to me it’s somewhere between a metaphor and tim taking his compartmentalization too far and an actual ship #but ive also been affectionately referring to this as timcest #so take that as you will #tim really has me reaching unparalleled levels of blorbo brain rot #i was in the dairy aisle like man i want to draw tim in a dress but I’ve also never drawn tim in a suit #and things spiraled 😌

[hellenhighwater]

What are your pronouns?

my gender is someone gave me a bowl of raisin bran and my brother a bowl of cheerios, and I like raisin bran just fine, but if they'd asked what I wanted I might have picked cheerios? But I'm already a couple bites into the raisin bran and it seems like an awful fuss to switch to cheerios now, and while I've heard that some people prefer lucky charms or cinnamon toast crunch, and those do seem super fun...I'm not really willing to put in the effort of explaining my breakfast choices to people who think that everyone should just be eating raisin bran or cheerios and nothing else, especially when I don't really care if I'm eating raisin bran or cinnamon toast crunch or lucky charms or cheerios, though I do think everyone should eat whatever cereal they want without being bothered about it.

She/her's fine.

#ive been told that this probably means im actually agender #to complete the asexual aromantic trifecta #but i dont really care enough to do the research necessary to figure out if that term really does apply to me #when i wouldn't really do anything if it did #my gender is i am lazy #also i just realized this is maybe an odd choice of metaphor for a person who doesn't actually eat breakfast