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please help a gal out!

hiiii im shelby, im a trans girl that has recently lost her job because the company i worked for went bankrupt. ill be fine on rent for about a month or so and hopefully it wont take me long to find a new job but if you can spare any cash id really appreciate some money sent my way to help me stay afloat. im not the best at it but if youd like i can draw or write something for you in exchange! thank you all so much in advance U^x^U

p*ypal is shelbybunny

sentada

dear-kumari

I like Custas’ storyline, he’s one of my fav characters. However, I wish his character wasn’t so focused on his struggles/suffering, I think (esp for him being one of few poc characters, and one that’s gets the spotlight so much too). Maybe it would have been better if there were some scenes of him and Dagda prior to the river incident, and/or scenes of them trying to be happy + persevering afterward? Maybe there are scenes like that (my memory sucks). I was wondering what u thought about this

Hi anon! I think we are basically on the same page. As interesting and important as Coustas is, his suffering and angst are pretty over-the-top compared with the other child characters. I mean, it's literally canon now that he can only be an active character if he's stressed and unhappy, because feeling safe and loved will turn him into a tree. I might explain my thoughts about the parasitic Silverwood curse in more detail later, but let's just say that it's possible to make a character's suffering so gratuitous and manufactured that it becomes hard to take seriously. Coustas suffering because of his poverty and disability made sense and was a good jumping-off point for Shirahama's commentary on real-world issues, but at a certain point he has become just another cautionary tale about "forbidden magic," a loose, broadly applicable fantasy concept with arbitrary consequences that she can shift on a dime because it isn't grounded in reality.

I don't know that having a few scenes of Coustas and Dagda being happy together would actually fix the problem, though. There are scenes like that, in a way, because Shirahama has had brief flashbacks establishing how happy they were together. It's part of the contrast she uses to make his suffering and Dagda's death more angsty and fucked up. I think what Coustas is actually missing is agency — any sense that he can actually exert his own will rather than being pushed and pulled by circumstance and other characters exerting power over him. For all his angry monologues and active magic use, he actually doesn't do a lot of stuff of his own free will in the Silver Eve/leech kaiju arcs. He's pushed into one role by the Brimhats and Ininia, then pulled by Coco back to the "right" side with the Pointed Hats, then turns into a tree because, surprise, the Brimhats' initial gift to him actually still had control over his fate, and only changes back because of Dagda's choice. The only thing he's done totally independently is save homeless people from the leech with the counterclock spell, which isn't nothing, but it also isn't given much focus and feels like a contrivance to briefly separate him from Dagda.

If you ever go back and read the last couple arcs, or even all of his appearances from the beginning, I encourage you to take note of how often characters talk to Coustas versus about Coustas, as well as the kind of things they say. Notice how often he's framed as a sort of difficult charity case to further other characters' agendas and development — something the Silver Eve arc had begun to criticize, funnily enough, but that the leech kaiju arc doubles down on. Coustas isn't treated like a subject with his own agency the way the other major kid characters are, and in combination with how he's often drawn with "savage" expressions (he has exaggerated wolfish teeth for some reason), I can't help but feel like that has something to do with his racial coding and class position. I'm sure Shirahama's intentions are good and that her personal progressive politics are genuine, but she really is not above showing some ugly biases in her work.

kustas

would love to hear more of your thoughts abt how Custas is drawn, if you have any. I feel like she used to draw him pretty normal and then got a bit weird with it after he got magic. I get pushing expressions for drama but she’s doing too much to him and only him. it always feels like we’re supposed to find him (little preteen child) kinda scary??? idk

I agreed that he's drawn as a bit scary. WHA likes drawing "extreme" (not that extreme for manga in general which tends for extreme exaggeration of facial emotions, but compared to how people emote in real life) faces to highlight strong moments, such as this classic Qifrey pannel:

This isn't only for negative emotions! Positive ones also get their fair share of exaggerated looks, such as this adorable Coco with huge eyes, a tiny round mouth, messy hair and biiiig blushy cheeks out of nowhere

For comparison, this is what I would see as a more realistic expression, and there's also plenty of those:

I've compiled some of the expressions given Coustas that are quite extreme, along with their context. Few things that often come up when he's drawn include:

Face partially or fully obscured

Wild eyes, with blurry pupils

Pointy canines

This disturbs me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I don't think the reactions are warranted - I feel in a lot of these poses he could have been given a more somber look, because a lot of his angry moments revolve around grief, but take that point with a huge grain of salt because I do NOT like extreme emotions and will always prefer lowkey ones in serious comics. Second, as mentioned, he's one of the only characters drawn this way - while Agott and Ininia get some villanous faces, they're few and far between, with the former getting more friendly as the series progresses and the latter being, well, a villain. Coustas stands out among the kids in this regard, which sure, makes sense because of them all he's got the most "intense" life, and the most intense reaction to what goes on, but nonetheless it makes him drawn in a standout way that has more negative connotations than positive ones. The last point I've seen mentioned a few times is that both the animalistic associations of the wild eyes and pointy teeth and the darkened face can be a bitter pill to swallow given he's one of the only characters of color not counting background NPCs and there's baggage that comes with that.

Like you said, he's a little preteen kid. I personally find that his design when drawn with a neutral or happy face is very cute with his fluffy animeboy haircut and his big black eyes. Before the horrors he was a very charming kid too, extraverted and playful, which helps.

I'm honestly not sure the visual choices are the only thing. They're extreme, but when you take in mind how WHA's art style is when it comes to emotions being drawn, it matches. It might be as much the fault of his writing. Personally while I found him being mean and erratic sensical at first, I find his breakdown very unconvincing, he's used too much as drama fuel with his extreme reactions. While sure, before the last arc he was already shown as extremely energetic and a bit of a charmer, making him react this hard on at Coco and Tartah just feels off? And it's very situational too - in his fight vs Lulucy, he doesn't make this kind of face. Given both Coco and Tartah like him and understand where he comes from, making him scary specifically when interacting with them is an odd choice, as I don't think it makes sense for them to see him as a monster for how he's reacting to the stuff happening to him.

TLDR it's ugly and also why. He small

adorable early cuscus face palate cleanser to end this ask

calocera

they should make kpop demon hunters a series where they go over every music genre

calocera

numetal demon hunters

akm87

1percentcharge

I don’t know that much about Kingston

charl0ttan

does any body have recs 4 muse covers of nina simone songs.... have they ever done that.... lerhaps in a very fuckable manner..... scientests??? emhello????????