WAIT WAIT WAIT, I just need to point something out that I noticed while doing visual research for drawing Mello with his gun.
Buckle in, this was supposed to be a short thought about the narrative use of trigger discipline but now there is extensive image research.
If you don't know about the concept of trigger discipline, it basically means that when holding a gun your finger should be resting outside of the trigger guard and should only be on the trigger of a gun if you actually intend on shooting what it's pointed at, at that moment.
While I was looking for ref of Mello holding his gun the first thing I noticed was that he has HORRENDOUS trigger discipline, I mean look at this.
Pretty much every instance, even in promotional art when his gun is at his side, he has his finger on the trigger. I thought it must just be a character choice with the amount of guns that are drawn in this series. Even when Halle is in the shower (bottom right image) he keeps his finger on the trigger. I also use the top right example with Halle, as this is the second she walks in the door. BUT THEN I saw this post and noticed...
is his finger in the trigger guard???
Proportionally it is quite ambiguous in this shot. However even if his finger is inside the guard what strikes me is also how the other instances we see Mello with his gun he is choked up on the trigger. Though when pointed at Near, his grip is quite loose. Let's start from the beginning of the sequence.
We first see Mello on page 126, if you are unfamiliar with the manga, at this point Mello and Halle have been in contact for a week. They are tenuous allies. When Mello moves his gun away he keeps his finger on the trigger, this will be an important point for later.
Next page, Halle has entered the shower. Mello continues to keep his finger on the trigger of his gun, even though he knows Halle is unarmed.
2 pages later, Mello still has his finger firmly on the trigger. This is one of the best shots of his gun that we get in the manga and is quite indicative of how we see him handling his gun throughout the story. Also we can see the safety, the small switch above his thumb, is set to off.
I'm going to skip ahead but note that between Pg. 129 and Pg. 135 we see Mello enter the SPK headquarters with his gun on Halle. He has his finger on the trigger the whole time.
After Near asks Geovanni and Rester to lower their guns, Mello does as well. But for the first time we also see him place his finger outside the guard.
Now the moment when he turns his gun to Near. While his finger is in the guard, ready to pull the trigger when he points his gun at Near, something that struck me was how differently his hand is drawn in these few panels. As you saw previously, Mello normally has his finger curled tightly around the trigger of this gun, even when at his side. However in the first panel of Pg. 137, I wasn't even sure if he had his finger in the trigger guard with how it is drawn. It isn't until the final 2 panels that we see him tighten his grip. I find this to be a very interesting departure from the rest of the times we see Mello using his gun.
Finally, after Halle breaks them apart and Mello lowers his gun we see him actually use trigger discipline!!! For the rest of the scene!!! Regardless of your shipping preferences, I find this to be an incredible detail in how Mello behavior shifts around Near. While Near seems to make him fly off the handle emotionally, he also shows an increase in care with his weapon when around him. Another fun little drawing detail to notice (and another reason I find these choices to be intentional) you can see in the final panel of the last example that the safety of the gun is now engaged, while in all the other panels it was not. For reference, Mello uses a Beretta 92FS Sword Cutlass pistol, though stylistically it seems to be based off of Benvolio's Taurus PT99 AFS from Romeo + Juliet, right down to the cross hanging from the handle! This shows an incredible level of detail when it comes to the handling of guns in the manga.
Listen I know I've got yaoi brain worms, so if anyone has any other examples of Mello using trigger discipline I would love to see them!
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it actually really fucks me off to see people praising the ICJ’s decision when the Palestinians actually on the ground communicating with us are screaming to the rooftops that this isn’t enough. all the lib-brained cretins on this website crowing about ‘progress’ don’t seem to understand that incremental change means less than fucking nothing when you’re on the ground, watching your home and family and your people being bombed, systematically destroyed by israeli troops. it means nothing when you’re afraid for your life.
Palestinians don’t have the luxury of waiting, and we all know full well that Israel WILL NOT abide by this ruling. Unless greater intervention is made, the bombardment will continue; but the ICJ is a bourgeois, imperialist court, made to serve bourgeois, imperialist interests. While they have shown themselves to be more benevolent than I had expected by condemning israel and conceding that they are committing genocide, the fact that they couldn’t even ask for a ceasefire speaks volumes.
Whether it’s due to deliberate inaction or whether they simply lack the capacity to do so, the ‘international community’ is still failing Palestine. It is up to us to continue the pressure, continue the boycotts, continue the action; and to threaten greater disruptions if further progress is not made.
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