#hey i'm still here

[jurinova]

Just thinking about goths. Gotta be one of my favourite genders.

#my art #sketches #original #goth #goths #hey I'm still here #just taking a loooooong well needed rest

[inkskinned]

at some point it's just like. do they even fucking like the thing they're asking AI to make? "oh we'll just use AI for all the scripts" "we'll just use AI for art" "no worries AI can write this book" "oh, AI could easily design this"

like... it's so clear they've never stood in the middle of an art museum and felt like crying, looking at a piece that somehow cuts into your marrow even though the artist and you are separated by space and time. they've never looked at a poem - once, twice, three times - just because the words feel like a fired gun, something too-close, clanging behind your eyes. they've never gotten to the end of the movie and had to arrive, blinking, back into their body, laughing a little because they were holding their breath without realizing.

"oh AI can mimic style" "AI can mimic emotion" "AI can mimic you and your job is almost gone, kid."

... how do i explain to you - you can make AI that does a perfect job of imitating me. you could disseminate it through the entire world and make so much money, using my works and my ideas and my everything.

and i'd still keep writing.

i don't know there's a word for it. in high school, we become aware that the way we feel about our artform is a cliche - it's like breathing. over and over, artists all feel the same thing. "i write because i need to" and "my music is how i speak" and "i make art because it's either that or i stop existing." it is such a common experience, the violence and immediacy we mean behind it is like breathing to me - comes out like a useless understatement. it's a cliche because we all feel it, not because the experience isn't actually persistent. so many of us have this ... fluttering urgency behind our ribs.

i'm not doing it for the money. for a star on the ground in some city i've never visited. i am doing it because when i was seven i started taking notebooks with me on walks. i am doing it because in second grade i wrote a poem and stood up in front of my whole class to read it out while i shook with nerves. i am doing it because i spent high school scribbling all my feelings down. i am doing it for the 16 year old me and the 18 year old me and the today-me, how we can never put the pen down. you can take me down to a subatomic layer, eviscerate me - and never find the source of it; it is of me. when i was 19 i named this blog inkskinned because i was dramatic and lonely and it felt like the only thing that was actually permanently-true about me was that this is what is inside of me, that the words come up over everything, coat everything, bloom their little twilight arias into every nook and corner and alley

"we're gonna replace you". that is okay. you think that i am writing to fill a space. that someone said JOB OPENING: Writer Needed, and i wrote to answer. you think one raindrop replaces another, and i think they're both just falling. you think art has a place, that is simply arrives on walls when it is needed, that is only ever on demand, perfect, easily requested. you see "audience spending" and "marketability" and "multi-line merch opportunity"

and i see a kid drowning. i am writing to make her a boat. i am writing because what used to be a river raft has long become a fully-rigged ship. i am writing because you can fucking rip this out of my cold dead clammy hands and i will still come back as a ghost and i will still be penning poems about it.

it isn't even love. the word we use the most i think is "passion". devotion, obsession, necessity. my favorite little fact about the magic of artists - "abracadabra" means i create as i speak. we make because it sluices out of us. because we look down and our hands are somehow already busy. because it was the first thing we knew and it is our backbone and heartbreak and everything. because we have given up well-paying jobs and a "real life" and the approval of our parents. we create because - the cliche again. it's like breathing. we create because we must.

you create because you're greedy.

#every time someones like ''AI will replace u" im like. u will have to fucking KILL ME #there is no replacement here bc i am not filling a position. i am just writing #and the writing is what i need to be doing #writeblr #this probably doesn't make sense bc its sooo frustrating i rarely speak it the way i want to #edited for the typo wrote it and then was late to a meeting lol #i love u people who mention my typos genuinely bc i don't always catch them!!!! :) it is doing me a genuine favor!!! #my friend says i should tell you ''thank you beta editors'' but i don't know what that means #i made her promise it isn't a wolf fanfiction thing. so if it IS a wolf thing she is DEAD to me (just kidding i love her) #hey PS PS PS ??? if ur reading this thinking what it's saying is ''i am financially capable of losing this'' ur reading it wrong #i write for free. i always have. i have worked 5-7 jobs at once to make ends meet. #i did not grow up with access or money. i did not grow up with connections or like some kind of excuse #i grew up and worked my fucking ASS OFF. and i STILL!!! wrote!!! on the side!!! because i didn't know how not to!!! #i do not write for money!!!! i write because i fuckken NEED TO #i could be in the fucking desert i could be in the fuckken tundra i could be in total darkness #and i would still be writing pretentious angsty poetry about it #im not in any way saying it's a good thing. i'm not in any way implying that they're NOT tryna kill us #i'm saying. you could take away our jobs and we could go hungry and we could suffer #and from that suffering (if i know us) we'd still fuckin make art. #i would LOVE to be able to make money doing this! i never have been able to. but i don't NEED to. i will find a way to make my life work #even if it means being miserable #but i will not give up this thing. for the whole world.

[egophiliac]

just thinking about hair and faces

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #i don't THINK this counts as face horror but just in case #face horror #for your daily dose of me losing my mind over anime characters #i don't know why the hair thing surprised me so much. i think because i thought it was funny that lilia named silver after his hair color. #like ha ha lilia is hilariously bad at names how cute and silly! #oh. oh it's kind of a Thing. #anyway i am excited to see where the heck all of this stuff with silver's various dads ends up! #we still don't actually know who killed meleanor! #we still don't know literally anything about dad draconia! (dadconia? dradconia?) #we don't know what happened to the macguffin gem with its magical dad-saving powers! #(surely this will not come back to save a certain dad at a later point. of course not.) #man i was not expecting episode 7 to be all dads all the time #i mean i'm here for it but #hey remember when the highest stakes were who was gonna win the big talent show #then robots started kidnapping people and now we've just escalated from there #episode 8 our cat is going to turn into a drippy ink kaiju and we're going to have to mecha battle him to save the world or something #each member of diasomnia pilots a limb and we gattai into a giant robot dragon and hold on i gotta submit this spec script to aniplex brb

[little-pondhead]

DP x DC Prompt

…

There are no more heroes.

Well, okay. Rewind a bit.

Danny has been doing the hero thing for a while now. He’s had a big reveal; everyone has accepted him (including his parents), the GIW disbanded, the Anti-Ecto acts repealed, and generally, everything is going great. Some of the A-Listers are even training as junior ghost hunters to help give him a break from his rogues! (Being Ghost King makes things hectic sometimes, and he just needs the extra help. Sue him!)

The point is, literally nothing is wrong with Danny Phantom’s afterlife.

And then Valerie Gray, the Red Huntress, disappears in front of his eyes.

Danny is baffled! She’s just…gone! Valerie just popped out of existence, like she was never there. But no matter how hard he searches in the Ghost Zone, he can’t find her soul anywhere. His core isn't broken in grief. So she’s not dead. Which is good. So then, where is she?

Some of the others come forward with ideas on how to find her. A few ghosts volunteer to go out into the mortal realm, an area Danny had declared off-limits, to see if she was out there. Danny approves it. He rounds up some of the friendlier (i.e., discreet) ghosts and Amity Parkers and demolishes the outside travel ban.

So everyone spreads out, looking for their dear frenemy and teammate. But it becomes apparent very quickly that something is wrong with the rest of the world.

There are no more heroes.

Every single living superhero on the face of the Earth has just…vanished. Villains are running amok; the countries are in chaos! Some aliens are invading Earth, mythical deities are trying to take over, and society is crumbling to the ground. Everything is on the brink of collapse.

Well, Danny was still there. And so were his people. They were pretty spread out, so could they just…take up the mantles? He also knew where to find the souls of dead heroes in the Zone; surely they wouldn't mind coming out of retirement for a little bit, especially if they couldn't die again. Oh! And that skeleton army leftover from Pariah Dark's reign might be useful in repelling those invading forces.

Honestly, there were more than enough hands to go around! And with the heroes gone, Danny didn't mind letting everyone out for a little break, as long as they followed his rules. They wouldn't stop the search for the other heroes, but hopefully, when they found them, the heroes wouldn't mind Danny's intervention too much. :)

In other words:

Someone fucks up, and all of Earth's living heroes are either wished out of existence or are whisked away to some far-off realm where Danny hasn't checked yet. In the attempt to figure out what's going on, Danny lets the dead run amok over the Earth as they search for clues. The skeleton army repels the invading armies, the souls of dead heroes deal with the world leaders, and his rogues and other Amity Parkers set up shop in place of famous heroes, trying to get the cities under control again.

Basically, they just do their best to keep everything from imploding until the Justice League and others are back.

(And why is it that Danny hasn't disappeared? Well, whatever caused everyone to go poof! only affected living heroes. Anyone heroes that were dead in the first place, or even just half-dead, stayed behind.)

#pondhead blurbs #danny phantom #dpxdc #reveal gone right au #ghost king au #for plot reasons #it doesn't count if the hero had died and then came back to life #lots of heroes would still be around then #but this is me pushing the halfa!jason todd narrative work with me here he deserves the fun #deadman is there too #and he's just thriving honestly. it's so nice to be around his own kind even if the world is ending #maybe ellie is whooshed away too cause she never technically died but she took up danny's moniker when he was crowned #vlad is ecstatic cause danny put him in charge of several states while they looked for clues including Wisconsin #skulker is replacing superman and just has a shitty S painted on his chest and just eats kryptonite like candy the first time he meets Lex #Kitty and Johnny take over in gotham and sam is now the new wonder woman #idk man just stupid stuff like this #the press is flabbergasted cause the fucking KING OF GHOSTS just showed up and he's 14 and just looking for some friends #Danny: hey guys sorry about the zombies and fire i'm just here to find my coworker and lil sister and maybe the other heroes #Danny: in the meantime i'll just let my army into the mortal realm to defend it while we figure out what's going on pls don't yell at us :) #the press: how do we explain this to the justice league when they come back. how do we explain that earth was saved by a 14 year old boy- #also idk which heroes are technically dead but are still kicking so if you feel like someone deserves liminal status slap it on them idc #some villains are trying for world dominance and some are just trying to find their buddies. their fight buds. where'd they go? :( #joker gets bitch slapped by a skeleton two days in and waylon becomes bffs with wulf #danny uses the watchtower as a base of operations and it's the only thing he doesn't want to give up when the heroes are back #i have no plot ideas beyond this #i just want everyone to be baffled that an army of the dead showed up while they were gone and just made sure everything stayed cool #later danny realizes he was technically the ruler of the world for a bit since his people were everywhere keeping the villains in check

[royalarchivist]

Ironmouse: Part of the reason why I love this server so much is because everybody's so nice. Everyone! Like, every single person is super nice! And it's like- it's like, genuine nice, it's not like fake niceness. [...] I've literally talked to almost everybody at least once like outside of the QSMP. We've talked on Discord, people regularly check in on me, we get in group chats and we play games like outside of the server... You don't really find that sort of connection all the time with people.

Ironmouse recently talked about her experience on QSMP, and how kind all the members are. I'm posting the entire conversation instead of cutting it up like I usually would because I really enjoyed hearing her thoughts on the server.

[ Subtitle Transcript ]

-

Ironmouse: Honestly, I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I did. He's so nice, he's so- he's always been super nice to me. He's been so nice, I– part of the reason why I- I love this server so much is because everybody's so nice. Everyone! Like, every single person is super nice! And it's like- it's like, genuine nice, it's not like fake niceness. You know how sometimes like– you always hear like, "Oh yeah, you know–" when–

Ironmouse: Whenever you like, join like a new thing, right? Whenever you like join like a new thing, you always worry, 'cuz you always think: "Oh, are the people gonna like me? Are they gonna be nice to me? What if- What if- you know, what if this, what if that?" But everybody like genuinely was nice when I first came by, and everybody has been so nice to me– not just in the game, but outside of the game, and–

Ironmouse: Something special about the QSMP is like... People wanna be your friend like outside of the game? Like, I've literally talked to ev– almost– almost everybody at least once like outside of the QSMP, like... We've talked on Discord, people like regularly check in on me, and like we get in group chats and like we- we play games like outside of the server, and it's just like... You don't really find that sort of connection all the time with people? You know what I mean? It's very– it's very not common when you go on like, a content creator-like server or stuff like that, you know? You'll get like one or two people that you get close to and stuff, but like... Everybody is SO nice, and everybody's been so nice to me, and I can't tell you how many people like, wished me– not just like wished me happy birthday, or like wished- said, "Oh, you know, hap- Merry Christmas!" dadadada, it's like genuinely like... Asked how I'm doing, and like talk to me, and like... Just like– I dunno, it's just like so- so- it's so wonderful. Ironmouse: Like, I get that with VShojo a lot, like– we're all like besties, and we all like talk all the time, but I feel like it's different, 'cuz like VShojo– we're VShojo, we're like– we're our own group, but this is like... You know... You don't expect this sorta thing when you get invited to like be on some- be a part of something, you know? And it's- and it's been so– it's been so wonderful and everybody's been so GENUINELY nice to me, and I- I appreciate everybody on the server so much, and they're just some of the nicest people that I've ever met ever, and it's just–

Ironmouse: It just warms my heart, and I'm just really– really like, thankful to be a part of something so great, and something so positive! Because like, everybody's so supportive! Like– the time when like, I didn't like– I- I- I had a moment where it's like I– do you guys remember in December when I- I was not around a lot? And like, I had to take breaks and all this stuff and it turns out it was like the concert stuff? They all like would message me regularly, like, we would all keep up with each other, and we would all talk. And I remember telling them about like, how much stress I was under, and like all the- all the pressures of the concert and stuff, and– and they were cheering, and- and- and they were just so... so kind to me, it was just so– so sweet, and- and you know, I was in a group chat with a- with a few people, and they were all just so excited and- and- just super nice, and- and very- very sweet, and it's just– and it's just very– I'm sorry if I'm rambling! It's just...

Ironmouse: I dunno! I- I- I just enjoy being here, and I enjoy hanging out with everybody, and... it's just nice to meet really good people. You don't really find that. You don't find that sort of thing all the time. Don't get me wrong– it's not like I haven't met a lot of good people, like– I just feel like this whole like, my whole like– Ever, like– My streaming journey, I've just been nothing but surprised at the goodness of people? Don't get me wrong– I've met assholes and sht like that, and I've met- I've encountered some people that are NOT so nice. I'll never like, talk about it or whatever because that's their thing, and I'm just gonna do my thing and I don't wanna like, you know, spread any type of stupid drama or whatever the fck, but like... I'm just always surprised about how– how incredibly nice people are, and how genuine a lot of people are, and it's... It- it's just nice, especially since like– You're used to coming from like, a certain background and a certain like, environment where it's like, you've met a lot of like fcked up mean people in your life, and you've just been around a lot of like fckery, you know? So when- when you're around stuff that's NOT fcked, it's just like, "Woah, this is crazy! Is this- is this how life is supposed to be?!" And it's just- it's just really... it's really- it's really nice. It's very nice.

Ironmouse: Yeah, it's very refreshing, that's why I- I enjoy hanging out on here, everybody's just so nice to me. And it's not just like being nice just to be on-stream, it's nice off-stream, on-stream, friendship on-stream, off-stream, it's- it's just- it's just so- it's- it's- it's wonderful. It's wonderful. And I just have to say like... man, I'm just really thankful that like... it's crazy that like I got invited to be on here and I'm just really thankful that, you know... Quackity like, reached out to me and he's- he's just been nothing but nice, everybody- everybody's just so kind. Everybody's so nice. This is something truly special.

#QSMP #Ironmouse #February 11 2024 #Subtitles #*clenches fist* You don't want to know how long it took me to transcribe and subtitle this thing #anyways I saw people sharing a Twitter thread where Mouse talked about this #and I was like ''hey that thread cut some bits out'' #so. here I am. posting the entire thing. and subtitling + transcribing it for some reason #anyways I'm shocked Tumblr let me upload this #I did lower the video quality a little bit (reluctantly) because the length + quality made the file size a smidge too big for Tumblr #but it's still pretty good quality imo. yeah? #I'm 100% applying to be a video editor the next time Quackity Studios is looking to hire folks again. #give me money so I can justify the time and effort I put into these things #Edit: Yeah I might make a shorter version of this too #just so I can direct people to this longer version as well #EDIT: LMAO I FORGOT TO POST THIS #Edited

[merrigel]

So it turns out my sharpshootin’ pirate fighter Aveline might have a bit of magic in her after all ⚡️⚡️⚡️

#artists on tumblr #dnd #d&d #animation #dungeons and dragons #actually hey since I already got my laptop up lemme give y'all a lil like #before and after LMAO #still v pleased with this lil loop hehehe #oc #aveline blackwood #eagerly looking forward to when I can get my grubby little hands on that level in sorcerer #spellcasting my beloved #cape curiosity #have I made a tag for that?? loorrddd I'm gonna have some Organizing to do over here

[spoozly]

The h

#Bai he bought macaques sweater. Btw. #Stars.. #I hate thjem #monkie kid #lego monkie kid #shadowpeach #Macaque #macaque monkie kid #Sun Wukong #Lmk wukong #monkie kid wukong #Lmk macaque #macaque x wukong #Hey guys wanna watch me recite part of shadowplay from memory #Mm I'm so excited I haven't been to the movies in ages uh kid this aint a cinema it's a shadowplayyy with puppets whhaaa puppets no I #Thought we were seeing Kung fu monkey cop the movie err check the back oh mei isn't that the guy with the key you mean the magic key that #Can unlock anything? Yeah I'm pretty sure that is him! And I'm also pretty sure that he's still not actually the mayor... Eugh well that's #Not creepy at all. I'm gonna stop here

[kveom]

booseoksoon in 2023

thank you for saving my kpop booseoksoon <;3 i'd been drifting away from kpop for a bit but then booseoksoon happened and look at me now. changed my whole year literally don't know who i'd be if it wasn't for booseoksoon comeback. thank you for providing amazing music, even better performances and just entertainment all around. kings of fun, kings of energy, kings of adlibs, kings of performance please come back next year 😫 cr: x

#seventeen #svt #booseoksoon #svtcreations #i tried #annagram #lextag #roserayne #samblr #tusernix #heymax #hey maxx saw your tag on my post about tagging you in my posts so!! i actually remembered this time hehe <3 #fave title track fave performance fave going seventeen fave person (mr cha) #i didn't want to do a whole seventeen post because it's just too much!!!!! have a good rest boys please!!!!! #but anyway this is fitting because #seriously so many of my fave moments this year were booseoksoon #it sounds dramatic but i literally don't know what my life would be like in 2023 if not for bookseoksoon my loveesssssss <3 #i'm still not as active on here as i used to be but i am very much back into kpop and it definitely has to do with bss #it was just so funnnn with them #thank you for working so hard

[potofsoup]

WELP, IT’S BEEN A YEAR

Are you tired of trying to look on the bright side, and to keep faith?  Cause I sure am.  But also -- the alternative is far less helpful in making the changes that we need.  So: to tiny steps in the right direction, to voting and all the million other things we do to bend the long arc of history.

8 previous years’ birthday comics on tumblr and AO3. 

(I guess I also have it in booklet format, too.)

#happy birthday steve #ugh this year has been a rough one #but I'm still here #and hey tumblr is still here too #and better than before! #steve rogers #sam wilson #bucky barnes #sarah wilson #my annual ritual of pretending to be Steve Rogers to process current events

[cozylittleartblog]

swatchvember: 90′s, rainy day, sleeping

cramming some of these prompts together to be silly <3 they spent a lot of time back then keeping some rich up-and-coming little salesman entertained, he’s one of their best customers. maybe you’ve heard of him...

#deltarune #swatch #spamton #swatchvember #art #doodles #swatchlings #queen #i didn't mean to go that hard on the first one but the colors were important i thought asdflkjdsf #um! ok to tag as ship :) even though it is not meant to be ship they are still just here for his wallet wjhbdfbhj #they're both . drunk. swatch gave him the bill and he paid and left and they nodded off because this is their joint they can sleep where th #where they want. except he intended to come back and when he did they were already conked out. so he just. ''hey thats a good idea'' >zzz #and nobody saw him! nobody saw him they just saw swatch. he falls out of view when he lays down in those booths so he just got to Stay There #... anyway they're plenty awake now ! 😂 #regular spamton is a reprehensible little man but bigshot era spamton is just a little guy with big dreams and i would let #him sell me a vacuum cleaner #... that's reprehensible little man Affectionate. but still #i'm so cool i don't need to be drunk to forget how to count B) i just dont know how to count by Default! #before i forget if you see this pleas use they/them only when referring to my swatch ty!!!

[b4kuch1n]

​​​​            saw you.

#pokemon #swsh #rival hop #professor hop #october piece. it's the october piece #the triple feature will happen soon! I'm thinking abt what snack to make for that. #since the senpai's currently in digestive agony. I'd like to figure something out for it #in another news as well. the game's about to ship! and I'll get my copy soon. hopefully. I'm very anxious about postal stuff here #I have. very bad luck with international mails #when it arrives I'll take photos #mmm. I never really thought of pieces I did with this design to be sequential. but they kind of are? #at least it's become that way now. so next installment next year it seems #wait did I ever post the design sketch for this one lmao... I know I posted the one for the 'modern' variant #but I dont think the sketch for this one specifically ever got posted #well. if I cant find it then I'll post it. otherwise I'll be rebloggin some stuff on the day #have a good night lads. hey if you still have a deviantart account you should delete that shit

[mishidefresa]

Oh yeah sharing food, my favorite love language

#hey long time no see here #anyway the reason bc i post tradicional art lately it's bc i have like 10 new sketchbooks #completely new i haven't use #so now i'm forcing me to finish at least 2 o 3 #bf i buy more #LMAOO sooo here i am #still deep into this ship like #i just read the same 10 fics over and over #writers from Infinity Train #you are the reason why im still alive #thank u #rymin #rymin fanart #min gi park #min gi infinity train #ryan akagi #min gi park fanart #ryan akagi fanart #infinity train fanart #infinity train #infinity train book 4

[thursdayinspace]

I'm having revival feelings. I do kind of like how they're exploring that love is not always enough. The question of "what's stopping you two" has become "what has stopped you two." And I like how that plays with the question of what a committed relationship even is? Clearly they are in one of some kind. There is so much love between them. There is so much between them that doesn't depend on what they call it. Relationships are hard and complicated and nothing is ever guaranteed, but they are bonded for all time and that never changes. What are they? Them. They always will be. In the end love is not an unchanging, stationary object. It's motivation and a driving force and inspiration. And that's what they have always been about.

#txf #the x files #msr #mulder and scully #hey I'm rewatching season 1 right now #@ revival feels you've got the wrong door #but now that you're here let's hang out for a while I guess #(I'd still would have liked to see them having two seasons of just being *happy*)

[breezy-cheezy]

Tristamp may be finished but I’m not. This has been in the works for awhiiiile I just draw slowwwww

Just my hopes for episode 12 before it came out. We kinda got there! More people reminding Vash he’s loved please :’‘>

Please don’t tag this with ship tags, thanks!

#my art #trigun #trigun stampede #tristamp #trigun stampede spoilers #Vash the Stampede #Nicholas D. Wolfwood #Meryl Stryfe #rem saverem #Roberto De Niro #flowers #episode 11 #episode 12 #I'm emotional #ep 12 was VERY good I still very much wanted to finish this #because like....anyone else notice Wolfwood is the only one not like....erased #everyone went up in petals in Vash's mind but Knives superimposed himself over him... #so I was kinda expecting him to use that to break into the mindscape like hey! stop screaming it's just me- #hey you ready to get outta here or- #toting Meryl across the City like a sack of precious flour was also lovwely tho JKHSKJDHGKLDF #also clinging to dadBerto with my clingy found family hands #pat pat from beyond the grave as Rem wakes him up fr fr it's fine #I'm totally normal about the three guns show #it's FINE #anyway this took way too long again what's new #yea that quote is from baby Vash ;;;v;;;

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE GENIUS OF THE INTRODUCTION! 

So I don’t think I’ve talked about this yet, and shame on me for not doing it in depth if I have. 

The pure beauty of the story telling when it come to character introduction in this show. 

As has been said many times by the writers/directors/Oscar: They originally planned to start with Marc but then realized that the story needed to be about Steven introducing Marc to us. Introducing this world to us. 

And this is a classic approach to storytelling. You typically have someone that doesn’t know anything so that the audience can learn about the world with them on this adventure/journey. 

So why start with Steven? 

Let’s go back to the comics! 

In the comics, we start with Marc. We get Marc’s story. We see Marc’s life, his regrets and mistakes. We see him die and come back and act drastically to change. 

But when we leave all of that behind, our first look at the new established life in New York is with Steven and then immediately into Jake. We don’t officially come back to Marc for some time. But that’s done at a very fast pace and you get to know Steven and Jake’s life very quickly in an introductory blurb before you even see it.

Not exactly something that can be done in a show. So we have to pick someone that the audience can follow. Someone that the audience can fall in love with and trust.

That certainly isn't Marc Spector. (It's interesting that they chose Steven over Jake, considering the personality from the comics... But that's a meta for a different day, as I have a lot to say on that).

So in the show, we first meet Steven. 

(Look at this bundle of perfection) 

We follow Steven and we get to know Steven. We love Steven. We would follow Steven anywhere and do anything for him. 

Then we see something/someone throwing a wrench into Steven’s life and causing him problems and stress and ruining everything for Steven. 

And we get our first look at Marc through Steven’s eyes. 

In fact! We don’t even see Marc at first. We just see the result of Marc. The displaced jaw and people shooting at him. The bloody bodies, the car chase, the gun, the violence, the stress. We see the ruined love life, the lonely life, and the dead fish. 

So we know that whatever this thing is that is causing him problems is dangerous and not to be trusted. We feel Steven’s stress and expect the worst. 

Even when we first hear Marc, it’s a stressed out voice demanding that he stop. We just get to see a ghost of a man. Something dark lurking in the shadows and acting menacing. This is Steven’s view of what’s going on and this is Marc’s view of what he is to Steven at this point. 

(SIDE BONUS META: The first time we hear Marc actually talk to Steven is directly after the phone call with Layla. Marc has been ghosting her and ignoring her and playing dead with her for a while now and suddenly Steven talks to her and in that one brief confusing phone call for Steven and Layla, Marc is triggered out and everything he has been setting up for both of them in what, he views, to be a perfect life without him is going down the grain. He’s stressed, he’s watching everything spiral down the same way he has been spiraling down for months now… In that one moment, of course he lets his frustration out and he yells at Steven to stop. He just wants Steven to cooperate and go back to how things used to be so that Steven can live the normal life and Marc can sit back and watch and pretend that things are okay.) 

NOW we as the audience get our FIRST good look at Marc before Steven does. 

What do we have here? Marc lingering behind Steven. Marc watching Steven run into danger and looking anxious, worried, and like he wants to do anything to take it all back and protect this man. Marc even looks back to check Steven’s 6. Menacing and in the shadows? Or a man that is about to risk everything just to protect Steven? 

Years… YEARS of work put into making sure Steven doesn’t know about him and is happy and safe and secure… And he knows that he has to risk it all. Perhaps at this moment he is contemplating if he should. If Steven will get out of it on his own or if he really needs to find a way to step in and force Steven to black out. But Steven is scared and on to him. He knows he has to talk to Steven. Something he probably hasn’t done since they were just children. 

(BONUS META: If you zoom in real good, that second reflection? The expression is just a little different than the first. The mouth is pulled just a wee bit tighter. Jake easter egg? Probably not, since the show was so careful about only hinting at a ghost of Jake… But I choose to think that we see Jake there behind Marc, much like Marc is behind Steven, looking back to watch their 6 and making sure they are safe.) 

So in classic Marc fashion, he appears as a disaster and Steven sees a disaster. 

Okay. That was a bad day. Marc was stressed and they were in danger. The absolute carnage that happened (Marc you really lost your cool there, buddy. You could have easily finished that jackal off and moved on. You were just angry and you lost your temper. That bathroom did not have to be so trashed.) was not Marc’s best work. 

So let’s meet Marc again from Steven’s eyes now that he isn’t scared and about to die. 

Yeah. Steven does not have a very good view of this man. Funnily enough, he’s seeing him in black and white, which is how he’s being presented to him at this point. He sees a violent man that is stealing his life and ruining it. All he can see is the black and white. He knows nothing else about this man. 

And Marc looks right back from the black and white of himself. A man that wishes he wasn’t there. A man that only knows pain and violence. It’s almost like he’s giving up here. He’s saying “Well, I told you to stop looking and now here we are. Look all you want. You see me. Bet you wish you didn’t. If you keep going, this is what you get.” 

And our previous Steven? He keeps looking. So we get a calmer less dumpster fire Marc. 

No. I take it back. More of a dumpster fire somehow. He’s tired. He’s stressed out beyond reason. He’s watching everything fall apart and he has no control over any of it for the first time in his life. The one thing he thought he could control is now on fire. 

And Steven sees a disheveled (handsome) man that sits alone in his storage room with his illegal things and weapons. Not a good picture. Not to mention the whole Khonshu troll bit that comes along with Marc. 

Steven is not seeing Marc in good light. And the Audience feels for Steven even more. Who is this man that’s ruining this sweet cinnamon roll’s life? 

So let’s give the audience another perspective. 

Would you look at that! An upside down shot to show us that we we are seeing is going to be flipped upside down soon. 

(I would do anything for her.) 

And what cleaver writers... We see Layla instantly from Steven’s point of view. This lonely love starved man meets HER and the audience has no choice but to fall head over heels for her. 

But now we are looking at Steven from Layla’s point of view. 

But she isn’t seeing Steven. She’s seeing Marc being ‘Not Marc’. 

We see her return to the flat and she examines Steven’s life. Before we saw everything from Steven’s point of view, but now we get to see her explore it and not just gloss over things but pick them up and examine them. Question them. Question his life. 

And while she’s looking for Marc in Steven, we see Steven looking at Marc watching Layla. 

She watches the fish, alone and unaware. Marc watches her, alone and mesmerized by her, desperate to see her, wanting everything in the world to be with her but too afraid to get closer. He’s in the tank for a reason here. This isn’t Steven’s fish. This is Marc’s fish. This is the replacement fish. And now, Steven is aware of what’s going on outside of his tank and Marc is the one that’s trapped. 

And as the audience, we find a flicker of sympathy for this intruder. This man that watches her with the look of longing etched across his face. 

But it’s quickly dashed as Marc tries to get rid of her and Steven finds out about the divorce papers. Marc’s a disgrace to try to toss aside someone as lovely as Layla. Steven has no sympathy for him. 

From here we see the rift between them. We see them argue. We see Steven lash out at the images of Marc with insults. He judges Marc and Marc does nothing to try to dissuade him. Marc thinks he deserves it. He just wants to finish the mission. 

But then something changes for just a moment as Steven enters into Marc’s world. 

Sure, there’s the scene with the suit. The scene with the bus where he compliments Steven and acts like the impressed older brother and reasons with Steven to get control. 

What changed? I’ve talked in depth about it before… But here it is again: 

Harrow started talking about killing children and then asked to speak to Marc. And Steven expects Marc to demand the body again. He expects Marc to fight him for it and to be loud and complaintive like he was with Layla or like he was in the car. Clearly he can tell Marc is there and he even sees Marc watching them and Marc is talking to him too. 

Yet the second child murder comes up and Harrow starts going after Marc, Steven watches Marc step back. Maybe he can sense there’s something there. Maybe he can sense that Marc needs him. 

Because suddenly Steven goes on the attack. The tables flip and Steven shows his true strength. He starts to reason and show that he is always thinking things through and always picking up the little things. 

In this one motion of protecting Marc, we see Marc calm down a little. This lets Marc take a minute to let Steven have his time. 

And when Steven gives Marc back control, we take another look at Marc from Layla’s eyes. 

She just watched who she thought was her husband having a break down and then become a different Moon Knight, solidifying that this was NOT her husband, but something ‘different’. 

But suddenly Marc is there before her and she can’t pretend that maybe she really did have the wrong guy. That maybe he’s a doppelganger and Marc is out there somewhere else. Because Marc is right there before her and he’s speechless.

Yeah, that’s the look that lets him know that he fucked up. 

But here we are again, not looking at Marc. We see the man in the suit with powers and control and strength. 

And then he fails his mission. Not only is everything he’s been working on his whole life breaking down, but now the people he cares about are in danger and the whole reason he ran off was to keep this from happening. 

And Steven comes back and the audience gets a full view of not just how Steven sees Marc, but how Marc sees Marc. 

And from here, we get the hand off. The audience is now taking Steven’s perceptions of Marc and stepping over to Marc’s views of himself.

In fact, in the next episode we see the struggle between Marc and Steven, but this time we only see Marc’s side of it. Before we saw Steven and blacked out with him. Now we see Marc and we black out with him. We know Marc is trying to get things done. We see him trying to do things right and Steven is the one getting in the way. 

We see a glimpse of Marc being vulnerable when he goes before the Ennad. We see that he’s a man barely in control of anything in his life. We find him broken and abused. He’s just an open wound but you don’t have the full picture. You wonder what it is about this man that tells us to trust him? 

We see him fail over and over again in everything he’s been doing since we first met him! 

If this was all we had, we would only see the picture of a frustrated, angry, and disaster of a man. 

So what keeps us from finding Marc as despicable as he sees himself? 

She’s looking at him there with new eyes. She doesn’t know what’s going on with him, but now she knows that he’s hiding things and after all his running, she’s finally cornered him and she isn’t about to give up on him. 

Her persistence gives us the need to know who he is. Why does she love him so much after everything he did? She only knows part of this world and we are still going on this journey of discovery with her now. 

And through her, we start to see Marc’s pain. 

And honestly, it’s this scene right here that is the biggest turning point in how we see Marc. 

She loves him and he loves her. You can see how much he loves her. With every fiber of his being he’s radiating such deep pain and longing as he still pushes her away and closes himself off. 

And she doesn’t push back. She’s in pain too. She wants to help him and love him. Perhaps in their relationship they had struggled with this before. Him coming back from a mission with Khonshu and being in pain and pushing her away when she tries to help. She’s fallen into a pattern of letting him pull away because she knows that if she pushes too hard, he shuts down so completely. 

And we go into the next scene with her letting him hold her at a distance. She’s angry at him and confused and hurt. 

We see him walling himself off and she can’t reach him. 

And then Steven starts to fight back again. He wants to help. He wants to prevent the violence he knows Marc can do. He wants to go home. We start to see Steven sticking up for himself, REALLY pushing back, and asserting himself. 

And this next scene is still my most favorite scene there is. The first time she really sees Steven and since we, the audience, are now following Layla, this is our first time seeing Steven from her point of view. And… I would argue that this is the first time that we really see him. 

(I could fall in love with both of them over and over again with this scene)

And now we are seeing Steven new all over again. We see him standing up to take on the mission instead of trying to just run back home. We see him talking to Layla and showing off his knowledge and skills. We see her falling for him and he struggles to understand what she sees in Marc, but he’s happy to be with her. 

We trade off a bit when Marc and Steven continue to argue over the body. Their views of one another start to suffer again. Steven has found his strength and now he’s pushing Marc around a bit. He’s tired of being kept in the dark and pushed away. 

We even get to witness Layla’s strength and that she can kick ass on her own. 

And in that one scene with her and Harrow, we watch her perception of Marc shift and we follow her with new eyes. We see his guilt and regret but we see him not fight back. He is willing to throw it all away and admit to everything that she thinks of him if it means that he finally gets to keep her safe by pushing her away. 

Welcome to the Duat! Or, as I like to think of it: The place where Marc’s walls are ripped away and we get to see unfiltered and pure Marc Spector. (I’ve talked about this before too). 

And our perception as the audience is now playing tug of war. We follow Steven and we follow Marc on his desperate attempts to make Steven stop. He doesn’t want Steven to see him and he tries to prevent Steven, and us, from knowing him. 

The more we follow Marc, the more we see his absolute terror in letting himself be known. 

And at last… At long last…. Steven sees Marc for who he is for the first time. 

Now, we are the audience, can see Marc. We know him. We’ve seen the real him and we know his story. 

And it’s Marc’s turn to let us see Steven. 

Steven the protector. Steven the capable. Steven the mighty. 

And because we now know them, we can see Layla’s love. 

And through them, we see her in her pain and strength. 

Her determination to carry on and finish the mission for them and get a little revenge too. Because as angry and hurt by Marc as she was, she still loves him so deeply. 

We’ve just watched a whole episode of Marc being hated and loathed and denied love and of Steven being lonely and without love, and now we open on Layla showing that love was always there waiting for them.

Hey look! A call back! 

Only this time, she’s right-side up! 

And he isn’t curled up in a little ball! 

And this time, he runs to her, instead of standing at a distance. 

The look on his face. Pure relief. Pure love. 

The absolute desperation on her face. He’s there and the last argument they ever had isn’t the last word. 

And in this moment, we are seeing them all from the same viewpoint. We see Layla the hero, Steven the hero, and Marc the hero. All three of them with their own strengths and their own love. They know the pain of the other and they can see more than what was presented to them and us at the start. 

Oh… And a little bonus. 

The first time Layla saw Jake:

We’ll just keep that one in mind for…you know… season 2…someday… someday… 

So after all that? After all that, the audience is taken back to the start to look at them all over again. To meet them. To hold these characters in their hands so gently. 

They wake up together, confirming that they aren’t alone. We see two people here working together now. (though they are very sleepy). 

But They are still trapped. Two fish now, keeping one another company, but still stuck in the little tank. 

At least they aren’t lonely anymore. And at least now they have love. 

But maybe… Maybe the ending scene wasn’t for them. They are happy in their little tank. They aren’t the man that is lonely in a world without love. 

What about the one that’s stuck outside of the tank? What about the one that is still very much alone….?

And now the audience gets the first time we see Jake: 

We see him so small, framed in a little rectangular mirror watching and waiting. 

We don’t yet know his story. What we do know? 

His name is Jake Lockley and no one hurts his system. 

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight Meta #Marc Spector #Jake Lockley #Steven Grant #Layla El Faouly #I'm back at it again #still digging #It's been so many years (2) #I miss them so much #Every time I see a gif or image I'm falling down the rabbit hole all over again #Hey it's even 1am my time while I post this! LIke old times #Why is it always midnight here #Meta now with bad screen shots! #(Hey look! A wild Meta has appeared! I'm still going on about Moon Knight MCU. I must be desperate

[asogikazumas]

hm...? I'd assumed I was treating the Dhams without prejudice... but I...

#vncedit #vanitas no carte #vnc #the case study of vanitas #noé archiviste #dominique de sade #*vnc #*mine #domi's expression is SO good here honestly #i love the character development for her #also noé is such a good egg i love him #also yes hi hey i'm still here and i've finally caught up with reading