the interaction between wille and malin in ep 6 is super interesting to me because wille is showing a degree of professionalism and confidence that he doesn't show very often. Throughout the series it appears as a way to show that as much as he doesn't see it, he does have the makings of a good Crown Prince, even Kristina has said it

this makes it all the more important that you realize that wille's decision at the end of the episode is because he doesn't want this and not because he can't do it. we've seen plenty of evidence throughout the seasons that wille actually has a lot of solid leadership skills and the right mindset as a leader when he puts them to use in the right places

but none of that matters because he doesn't want that life or that role

With the reveal that Aduo didn’t actually want to be the mother of the nation, looks like we now have a concrete path to a happy ending for Jinshi.

Though I actually really want to see him as the Emperor one day (at least for a time), it would be thematically appropriate if Jinshi takes not after the Emperor, but after Gaoshun and becomes the retainer of the future Emperor.

You wanna talk about House and Benny? Let’s talk about House and Benny. Let’s talk about how House says he saw Benny as a son figure ans a rightful successor to the strip. Let’s talk about how Benny was so charmed by House’s offer that he literally killed a man to get the position to agree to it. Let’s talk about how House was intentionally priming Benny and regrets not doing better, not for the wasted time but of Benny’s wasted potential, how it was misplaced. Let’s talk about how Benny didn’t question House’s leadership until the guy started going radio silent. Let’s talk about House and Benny:

Why is the anime so weird, it's not even the same series dude?? It's like,

Anime:

GOKU: I have a great idea to bring peace to the universe, and my leadership and compassion alone will unite us all. I have No Flaws and am A True Relatable Everyman :)

VEGETA: NO! I AM THE BEST AND I WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS UNTIL I AM RECOGNIZED AS SUCH!!!!

Manga:

GOKU: Vegeta what's cornmeal made of? I know it's what the corn eats, but what's it made of? VEGETA: Hey Kakarot let's play the quiet game until one of us dies.

You know what makes me very infuriated with Jiang Cheng (apart from everything else), if he had shut his mouth and was not homophobic for five seconds,none of the confusion of feelings leading up to the temple between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian would have happened. By the tree scene when Lan Wangji catches him it's pretty clear WWX is both aware of his own and Lan Wangji's feelings and comfortable with them. It's Jiang Cheng who makes him doubt himself and I'm still mad about it.

What fills me up with hate makes this even funnier is that there’s a not insignificant portion of the fandom that has made homophobic Jiang Cheng their Gay Icon™️. The man whose homophobic tantrum almost ruined the actual factual canonical queer relationship in the novel is now fandom’s queer fav.

Nothing but pure comedy.

i totally get not shipping jonerys but i think there's too much potential for george not to explore. i do think jon is going to be critical of dany’s methods and they’re doomed, but they have a lot in common too? like wanting to impose their beliefs and world view on others, and they can bond over having really bad pr too! i just hope that it’s more interesting than the show, for my own sanity.

I do think there's potential to explore but I just do not see the romantic potential. Their commonalities are not the sort that would make them get along. Jon's bad PR is he's a reclusive dick running off bad advice (from another Targaryen to boot) who won't explain his long term plans to people he doesnt like, sends every single one of his allies away, and is trying to break down long held prejudices in the span of a few months. Dany's bad PR seems similar except on top of "breaking down long held prejudices" she trusts violent, shady ass men at every turn (while Jon just straight up executes Slynt! Do you see Jon misstep wrt Alliser and Bowen? Yes, but he is not sitting here justifying their violence the way Dany justifies men like Daario), compromises in ways that completely undermine the prejudices she's trying to break down, and has now simply accepted that her dragons killing innocent people is an acceptable loss. Dany takes a profit off the selling of slaves and I simply do not believe Jon would react so cavalierly to Dany telling him about how she burned her slave alive to hatch her dragons, especially after whatever shenanigans Melisandre and Stannis are going to be getting up to in TWOW. Not for nothing here, but Jon does not use Ghost as a killing machine; anyone or anything Ghost has killed has been in defense of Jon while Drogon is very much a weapon of war.

Beyond that, Dany's identity is very tied up in the being the last dragon. She's going to be ten times worse in the books about finding a dragonseed in Westeros, especially if Rhaegar found out Elia was killed and married Lyanna, thereby legitimizing Jon above Dany's own claim. She's going to kill Aegon VI and destroy KL, maybe even Casterly Rock and parts of Dorne as well! The thing I think everyone overlooks here though is that she is not getting to Westeros until the very end of TWOW at the earliest! She's going to have wracked up a kill count higher than every other character on page, probably a kill count higher than the Conquerors or the Dance or the Redgrass Field. Regardless of any similarities they have in their backgrounds, what Jon is likely to feel when she lands is horror, and a fair amount of nerves. Do I think he will feel guilt for having a hand in his aunt's death, in ending the line of Targaryens? Yes, absolutely! It doesn't mean his guilt will drive him to side with a woman who lands with a slave army and then sets fire to half the continent.

And to be completely honest, if they do hook up, if she lands and she's lauded as a hero after destroying the city states of Slaver's Bay, after slaughtering the khals of the dothraki, after taking a profit off slavery and engaging in collective and cruel & unusual punishment, if murdering Aegon VI for *checks notes* being lied to about who he is and having a better claim than her but not "earning" his ending, and finds some sort of happiness with Jon, I'm saying that's 100x more misogynistic than what the show did, not to mention nauseatingly imperialist and classist. The reason I am very firm in saying Dany will go dark is because it is my opinion anything less is a betrayal of the themes of non violence, the costs of war, and the punishing of the poor. Like, Robb's murder is a tragedy but the book does not shy away from the harm he does! Dany will not (should not!) be treated any different just because she's a woman; that's like the basis of feminist theory!

Fireheart watch out! Your big brother figure is initiating you into a cult in which he will betray the very trust and respect you had in him in a way so devastating and horrifying that you're entire belief system will be shattered! Oh no Fireheé̴͉r̷͇͝t̸̠͗s̵̻̀t̴̳͒ar! He can't hear us he's got airpods in!

no shadows under cut

u know at the beginning i kind of thought kfp4 was gonna do something with shifus whole. deal. but they didnt like at all which is a shame

I was looking directly at a reference while drawing these and I still somehow convinced myself he had long hair. Whatever, he's pretty.

A-Z Isekai'd Cress deign by @acfan120 really got me in some kinda way and I couldn't help wanting to draw him. I also have thoughts on story for him but I'm not gonna be annoying with that rn. Maybe someday.

Bonus my warmup doodle:

oh OH hO spicey ohhh having a spicey little tantrum about the boromir tag don't listen to me at all do NOT listen I mean it I mean it this is so petty

"Rodimus is a better Prime because it didn't hurt for him to bond with the Matrix while for Optimus it did" headcanon/theory my beloathed.

One day I'm literally gonna snap and make a whole post addressing why what's wrong bc I'm tired of the inaccuracy and tired of ppl not understanding the Point TM of IDW and its version of the Matrix/Primacy and even more tired of people putting down Optimus in favor of Rodimus by essentially arguing that being unworthy means you deserve to be punished/put in pain bc you just weren't good enough to hold the Symbol of Ultimate Authority

This would definitely... Bloat some things, but I still want to do it cause then it involves all four clans like it Should, but man I love the idea of each clan having their own "Power of Three" trio. Like a lot. Originally I was going to make them all descendants of the current leaders and spread the litters throughout TNP, Po3, and OotS, but that didn't quite seem right to me. There aren't a ton of descendants for me to work with to this end (especially for Blackstar, who I've decided is Darktail's dad who never has another litter in the clans). Soooo instead, I want all of them to be forbidden kits. Half clan and medic children, baby. So obviously this includes the ThunderClan three, and the other litters I'm considering are Tawnypelt's kittens (moved to be born late in Po3) who would technically be ThunderShadow kits... that or I'm changing who the other parent is. (Here comes TawnyFeather with the steel chair...? They could meet again in Outcast... owo?) and Sedgewhisker and her sisters who are apparently WindRiver kits?? Which I didn't know was a thing til now.

That just leaves the RiverClan three who I'm not totally sure on. My friend Vio suggested Icewing's first litter, which I kinda like cause that includes Beetlewhisker. Makes his fate in the Dark Forest all the more terrifying. But I'm also considering Minnowtail and her siblings (reviving her brother Tumblekit). I do not remember if those guys have confirmed dads but if they do, uhhhhhhhh. Well they aren't their dads anymore. Officially halfclan now.

In Berry Blast Brigade Yusuke is way more chill about the "Chidori kidnapping him that one time" thing than most people would be but Hamuko does not forgive or forget when it comes to her baby siblings so whenever Yusuke wants to visit Chidori in the hospital Hamuko is in the hallway glaring menacingly.

So many beautiful things about these panels: Cyrus acknowledging that he was saved from his own despair thanks to the protagonists; the fact that he doesn’t punish Charon for his betrayal, simply leaving him behind instead; listening to Jupiter’s words and taking full responsability, even though he doesn’t intend to do bad stuff with Team Galactic anymore; the sweet moment when his Magneton lifts the three admins, taking them with him.

Cyrus slowly embracing his own flaws and imperfections by finding completeness in others is just so meaningful and sweet, especially for someone who grew up in an abusive household and had a hard time making friends, choosing to tinker with machines instead.The pain he endured all by himself, the fact that he lost Rotom for some reason, the loneliness and struggles. He never deserved any of that. And he never meant to destroy the world or hurt people, although his actions are controversial. He just wanted to get rid of emotions because he was never enough for his parents. He never found himself enough, often seeing his own existence as incomplete because he never had validation or affection. Still, he has such a strong will. He did everything he could to make a new world without any strife (albeit as twisted as his mind at that time).

Cyrus was never meant to be evil. He was literally just in a very sad and lonely position when growing up. He was in deep pain and by default decided to interpret that pain as a flaw of the spirit. “I can’t feel pain if I don’t feel anything at all.” As twisted as this thought is, it had logic for him, and he treasured logic above everything else. It made sense in his mind and this is why he was only able to see the errors of his ways when he realized that his plan would never be possible. He started listening and opening his heart to Diamond, and he finally understood that he could have overcome all that pain by finding peace and support in others, which is particularly hard for him because how could he trust people when his own family saw him as a disappointment, no matter how high his grades were or how hard he tried to live up to their expectations?

And yet, against all odds, he is trying. He literally found redemption by changing his own perspectives of the world, all by himself. That’s how strong Cyrus’s heart, will and spirit are.

Also, the fact that Edelgard assumes every person fighting against her is one of the goddess' vanguard is fucking stupid. People are fighting for their lives because of a war SHE started and invasions SHE started. But if they defend themselves, if they don't want to be turned into New Adrestia What's Fodlan, they're just "the goddess' vanguard" now. Not, you know, people defending themselves/their home/their families. You're either on her side or a vanguard of the goddess. There's no for her or against her for her violent actions causing the deaths of your countrymen, friends and family as she tries to reform your entire land into New Adrestia.

She doesn't care about the people. She cares about wiping out the Nabateans and conquering Fodlan like every Adrestian emperor before her has tried to. She wants to wipe out the Nabateans and the other leaders because she doesn't want anyone else to exist who is powerful enough to stop/kill her in the future.

I want to say it's so gross that people actually defend this shit and say that she's a heroic figure who is "uwu progressive", but that's not really even a strong enough word anymore for what they do and the lengths they go to defend her. I bet if this happened to them in real life, what she does to other people, they would change their tune REAL quick.

Eh,

Given what is happening right now in a certain server, I don't even want to guess what some people who think this writing presents her as a "progressive" character are actually thinking.

Back to the game,

Her reasoning - explicited in Nopes - is clear, you are either with her, or against her. And if you are against her, it must be because you oppose her reforms/uwu ideals.

No one gives a fuck about the "blood pooling" at her feet, unless it's to express her sorrow at the sacrifices she had to make to reach her goals.

(that's what I ranted about in the Zahrofl post about Claude and consequences, who deals with consequences of people dying in a war ? Dimitri, who has to deal with Flèche's resentment. There's no Flèche on Supreme Leader's route, aka a NPC that gets a special event where they try to kill her to avenge someone she "had to" cut down in her path of conquest!).

And as Supreme Leader makes everyting about her war centered on "war against church'n'the goddess" PR, while leaving the "MAGA" motive only for the narrator or Hubert to give any exposition, the game cannot have anyone oppose her because, no, they don't want to be part of Adrestia - m-ass-terful writing strikes again, the only person who "complains" about her conquest receives the award winning "no u" explanation, and the game leaves this "issue" at that, no one gets to call her out on her war of conquest, and actually challenge her.

:/

I still find it fascinating how, in CF, Supreme Leader explicitely calls for Dimitri's head - when she can let Billy spare Claude - because she realises (something Nopes erased from her character because elsewise no "uwu what if golden route uwu") Dimitri, aka Faerghus, cannot exist if Adrestia has to be Great Again - Dimitri will always want to oppose her vision and Adrestia's expension in Faerghus (and people will rally behind him).

Opposing Nabateans though, while I think Rhea would be opposed to a continental MAGA war, if Adrestia never targetted Garreg Mach, I wonder if she would have lent the KoS to either the Alliance or the Kingdom - she might try to stop the war and asking for peace talks or what not, but intervening in a human, on-going conflict ? Remember, she only stepped in when Loog already defeated the Adrestian Emperor, aka when Adrestia "lost" to act the end of the War.

So, imo, taking Rhea out isn't due to her possibly opposing with her knights a conquest of Fodlan, but it's more due to the shape of her ears - FE16!Supreme Leader really really really doesn't like Nabateans, and the idea that they can exist and have any sort of influence on "Humanity" - Rhea has to go beause her ears are pointy.

Ik the cover page illustrations aren't canon but he's wearing friendship bracelets with shikamaru and gaara so it's canon IN MY HEART