Arabes

She/Her Hungarian🇭🇺, writer, artist

[arabesdiangelo]

It always grinds my gears when I hear people talk about superheroes like they're all meant to be these perfect, larger than life figures. Like, sure there are some superheroes who're meant to be that, many DC heroes, but I heard this argument from people whose only exposure the superhero media was the MCU. The MCU!

The same MCU where one of the most beloved character spends the beginning of his movie being a snarky douchdag. Seriously, we all know that Tony deliberately antagonizes people because he's insecure, Steve indirectly contributes to the Avengers falling apart by never telling Tony that Hydra killed his parents, and Peter is also bundle of issues. Hell, the Avengers spend almost the majority of their time on screen bickering and disagreeing with each other. They're FAR from perfect, and the only way to think they are is if you never actually watched any of the movies.

What makes superheroes admirable is not they're perfect and have cool powers, but their ability to overcome obsticles. Tony Stark is admirable because of his readiness to confront his flaws, Peter Parker wants to help people, even when he's not sure how to do that, Matt Murdock believes that everyone van be redeemed even if he think he can't. When the Avengers come together after an argument it feels triumphant and when they don't it feels tragic. Thinking that people like superheroes, especially ones in the MCU, because they're these perfect ideas completely misunderstand not just the characters themselves, but what makes great.

[arabesdiangelo]

So I saw this comment under a video on YouTube video that theorised that the reason why Reinhard is such a beast is because of Wilhelm. Basically, it idea was that Od Lagna took Wilhelm defeating Theresia as a sign that the Sword Saint was too weak so when Reinhard was born it made damn sure that next Sword Saint was powerful enough.

And it sounds kinda painful, but also so deliciously ironic. Wilhelm relationship with Reinhard already mirrors his relationship with Theresia. He wanted to make sure that being the Sword Saint didn't consume Theresia and succeeded, but he ended up being the reason why his grandson's life became delfined by being the Sword Saint. Reinhard is what Wilhelm feared Theresia could become. If this theory were true everything that happened to Reinhard would be (if indirectly) Wilhelm's fault. The love he had for Theresia, everything he did for her, would all end up dooming his grandson. It's so mean, but also so deliciously tragic and angsty.

[arabesdiangelo]

I love Frank as a character but people really need to stop glazing him especially in the whole killing vs no-killing debate. Like, Matt's moral rigidity is kind of a problem, but people are trying to make Frank seem reasonable in comparison are just missing the mark.

Frank is right, that there are some cases where people are just too dangerous to be left alive, but it's not like goes through a rigorous vetting before deciding to execute people. Big time crime bosses are far from the only people he kills, and sure, they were criminals but it's not that simple. Organized crime is most often associated with low-income neighborhoods because poor and desperate people are easy to exploit. People don't become part of the mob because they enjoy it, but because they want to survive and need to feed their families. Does that make what they do okay? No. But did they have any other choices? Not many probably. So alongside dangerous crime bosses Frank is also killing the disenfranchised.

The problem isn't the criminals it's the system that's creating them. Frank is right that beating up criminals does not address the problem, but neither does killing them.

So both him and Matt are wrong

[arabesdiangelo]

Something that I find very interesting in Hazbin is that despite the Sin of Pride, in the show, Lucifer is arguably most characterised by the sin of sloth.

In Christian theology sloth doesn't just refer to general laziness, but also 'spiritual sloth' or 'being too lazy to do good'. Not helping people in need or seeing something bad happening but not intervening. Basically means apathy towards the fate of others. Sounds familiar?

I've seen some people argue that Lucifer is racist for letting all imps and hellhounds be treated poorly, but that sounds pretty of out of character. It's way more likely that demons started doing that stuff all on their own while Lucifer was busy being in his own depressive bubble. He doesn't go out of his way to harm anyone, he doesn't even interact with people all that often, but his inaction and refusal to interact with people still results in things going to shit.

It's genuinely one of the most interesting depictions of the sin of sloth in media I've ever seen and it's most likely 100% unintentional. Still good though

[arabesdiangelo]

People really need to let go of this idea that Johnny is dumb. It drives me up the walls.

Can he be a jerk sometimes? Yes! Does he make bad decisions? Heck Yeah! Is he overall stupid? NO!!!

The only reason why Johnny seems like "the dumb one" is because he's almost always surrounded with the smartest people on the planet.

Sure, Johnny might not have an encyclopedic knowledge on all things science like Reed, but he's not dumb. He's canonically an expert mechanic and, while he might not know some of the more complicated stuff, but he sure as Hell knows basic science what Pavlovian conditioning is.

Like, this guy knew Reed Richards since his early teens or even younger. Are you seriously trying to tell me that Reed wouldn't have made sure that Johnny had a good education and at the very least a decent grasp of sciences?

[arabesdiangelo]

I see people trying to defend Charlie from the backlash by saying fans are cuddling Alastor and Lucifer, andit's misogynisti, but I feel like that completely ignores the real problem: Charlie was not written well at all this season.

Like the real reason people like Alastor, Lucifer, Angel Dust and other male characters more is not just because of misogyny, but 'cause they are all much more fleshed out character. In season 1 Angel and Lucifer both had complete on-screen character arcs where they were faced with a flaw they had and learned to overcome it, while Charlie only ever had external problems, never having to confront any of her own flaws.

This season they tried to do that, the problem was that they dropped the ball. Like what was Charlie suppossed to learn?! From her interractions with Vaggi and Vox it was probably that haters gonna hate and she shouldn't care about what other people say (a flaw she didn't have in season 1), but I'm really not sure she learned that by the end of the season, and that's a problem. 'Cause not only was her character arc butchered BUT MOST OF IT HAPPENED OFF SCREEN! I see people bringing up that Charlie apologized to Lucifer OFF-SCREEN and probably helped him OFF-SCREEN to defend her, but like: NO, that's bullshit. Imagine if in Iron Man we only see asshole, playboy Tony then hard cut and he's like: "So I was kidnapped off-screen and realized that war profiteering is bad actually...." You'd flipp the shit out 'cause that's bullshit.

If you want people to like your protagonist you have to TREAT them like they ARE the protagonist, and Charlie has been playing second fiddle to other characters from the beginning of the show. In her ranking of main characters Vivzie placed Charlie second last and it SHOWS. Charlie's issues are never treated with same gravitas the problems of Alastor, Angel, Lucifer or even Vaggi are. Like one of the reasons her blow up on Lucifer was so jarring was because up to that point Charlie's emotional reaction have almost exclusively been treated as a joke. Her sadness: a joke, her anger: joke, panic attack: JOKE. Like how are people suppossed to take her seriously when most of her development happens off-screen and outside of a select few scenes she's always treated as a joke. Other characters can see Charlie as a joke, but the audience shouldn't.

What really convinced me that Vivzie doesn't really care about Charlie is when I saw the scene of her apologizing to Lucifer after the finale that was cut. And I understand that the show only has 8 episodes, but it's clear to me that since Vivzie doesn't care about Charlie that much it's usually her scenes that end up on the chopping block. And I get it, I love Angel and Alastor and Sir Pentious, but Charlie is the protagonist so her development needs to take precendence even if that means cutting other characters, 'cause if you don't end up with a shitty character arc and a protagonist who seems to not give a fuck that one of her friends decided to shack up with his rapist boss and her father is bleeding out in front of her.

Thank you for comming my TED talk!

[arabesdiangelo]

New Summer design. Not that much different from the original, just desaturated her clothes a bit and gave a little volume to her hair.

This is one of the first drawings I made with a digital drawing pad. I used to make art using my mouse, but it always bothered me that it looked very different from the drawings I made by hand. I though that since this whole thing started with her, drawing Summer would be appropiate.

[luckycharming-deactivated202508]

Sometimes I hate when the fandom takes fanon headcanons or ideas and treat them as canon material when it's not and then get mad when not everyone in the fandom vibes with it. Like, it's not an inherently bad thing, and most of them are actually pretty damn cool. But sometimes I just think to myself, he or she are not, in fact, gay or lesbian just because the majority of the fandom, for whatever reason, depicts that character(s) as their gay baby/lesbian girl boss wife. Like, if that's how you feel, good for you! That doesn't make that thought true for everyone though.

Therefore, people AREN'T automatically homophobic/lesphobic just for not viewing a character the way that you do. And to be real, if y'all can project your sexualities and identities onto these characters despite it conflicting with canon depictions/material, you cannot turn around and deny other members of the fandom that same right as well.

Obviously, there's exceptions and stuff, but still. You can't say he's gay or she's a lesbian, even though canonically speaking they're not and are straight, then turn around and get mad when someone else headcanons them as bi, pan, trans, ace, etc. That's not how that works. And low-key, that kinda shit is biphobic, panphobic, transphobic, acephobic, etc. because a lot of the l and g in the lgbtq don't support those particular identities or want us to get any kind of representation or support because they think it takes away from theirs, even though it literally doesn't, but y'all ain't ready for those conversations.

And hating straight people has never been cool or trendy, so maybe stop doing that? Like, you hating someone solely for their identity is hypocritical when you know how it feels to have someone hate you solely b/c of yours. M/F ships aren't boring just because they're m/f, and y'all need to stop doing that shit too. You can't say ship whatever you want (within reason) and then get mad when people do it lmao

[arabesdiangelo]

Ed: *is forced to wear military unifrom*

Ed: I can't wear this! I look like a tool!

Roy: Well, at least now you're dressed for the part

[arabesdiangelo]

Ed: Once I'm getting a car I am running over everyone who called me short.

Roy: If you reach the pedal.

[arabesdiangelo]

Blake: Is something burning?

Yang: My desire for you

Blake: Yang the toaster is on fire!

[arabesdiangelo]

2 for the price of 1!

This was supposed to be the illustration for Chapter 3, but this part is from Lia's POV so I made a new one with her. This was supposed to include her, but I realized that woudn't go the 20 meter radius of her.

The new character is Opal. She and the others will also be introduced.

[arabesdiangelo]

Chapter 3: The plan

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13866872/3/

[arabesdiangelo]

Bumbleby trolling on Whiterose wedding.

Inspired by:

[arabesdiangelo]

I think I had the most fun with Briar's design.

Her original design had pig tails, but when I decided to give them to Lia. Other characters got changed around a lot, but Briar stayed basically the same, except her design.

The idea behind her is that she's supposed to be the perfect mix between Ruby and Weiss, and I wanted her look to reflect that.

As for her personality: She's optimistic, energetic, a prodigy in fighting, kind to everyone and always gives 100%. Because of this people always had high expectations for her and wants to meet them all, but in the process sometimes ends up hurting the people close to her.

[arabesdiangelo]

Vic is finished! I know he's probably the character you're least interested in, but he's still important to the story. I didn't want to make ever character a legacy character, because that would've been very contrived. His character changed a lot when I started writing, but weirdly his design didn't. One of my friends told me he looked very plain, but I think it's fitting for who he is and what his personality is like. The magnetic plate on his back is for his swords. It's putting magnets on the fridge, but reversed. I came up with this idea, because on my first drawing I forgot to put any kind of straps or belts for his swords, then when I drew him with it, it looked stupid. Next in line is Briar.

[arabesdiangelo]

So here's Lia's design. Her weapon wasn't very visible on my first drawing, because I was in the middle of redesigning it, but now we have a better look at it. It's in pistol mode, because Lia prefers to use that. Thought it's not visible, her shoes have steel toe caps in them because her fighting style involves a lot of kicking. I thought about making her like Yang, but with Blake's colors, but wanted her to have purple eyes, so that became Bee's design instead. You may wonder egy she has the resting bitch face on nearly every drawing. Well, originally wanted to draw her with a high grin on her face, but it felt very out of character. She alludes to the Cheshire cat, but besides her general design, emblem and semblance there aren't many similarities. That's because I decided to change her personality. Originally it was supposed to be closer to the Cheshire cat, but she really lacked depth so I tweaked her character a bit. One change lead to another and she became very different from her first version. And when I was drawing her posture I wanted it to reflect her personality (like it did with Summer, casual pose, small smirk), so I couldn't have her grinning for no reason. But I still drew her grinning face just to know what it looks like. I hope you like it, next is Vic.