DUDE HOW LONG DOES ONE TAKE TO GET AN ART STYLE LIKE THATTTTTT ITS SOOO COOLLLLLLLLLLLLL DAWGGGG HOLLYYYYYYYY
THY DON'T UTTER MORE FOR THY IS ABSOLUTELY AND UTTERLY STUNNED WITH THE GLORY OF THIS, THY WISHES THOU'S ART TO BE SEEN ACROSS THEE UNIVERSE, IF THY EVEN TRIED TO FATHOM THE TIME THOU PUT INTO THIS WORK OF ART, THY WOULD FAINT, EVERYTHING SHALL BE GLORIOUS FORR THOUUUUU, MAY PEOPLE REMEMBER THOU
"And thanks to you, I got a chance to see all the beauty of the universe. Things I never even knew were in the world. Or could be. A chance no human will ever get again. I'm grateful that I saw it all. Even if it was just for a little."
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Rant below 👇
I had planned this comic for quite sometime now, since the start of June actually, but now I can say I'm done with this little project of mine. I also wanted to at least contribute to the fandom and since I can't frickin animate (looking at my hands in misery) I decided the next best thing, comics!
It was inspired by many things and yes it was based off of What is Love? by Twice the K-pop idol group. I based Derek from two characters ( three as a honorary member I guess) but this rant would've been three times longer than it should be so I won't get into detail.
Derek, in my opinion, is someone who is curious about the littlest things ever since he was a child, his drive to know more about the world is pretty evident across SFAWTDE, even if it's just surface level considering we don't really know his thought process that much (Compared to Avery that is) .
Which is his strongest strength but also what lead to his own downfall, his own selflessness and his care for both the Avery and the world is what kept him going in DAWTDE. I believe that D3rlord3 could turn against Avery, he is smart enough to understand that he is powerless against the King as Derek had many chances to work with him (across those days and months stuck to his computer), but he didn't because if Derek did then he might as well betraying his own beliefs.
Okay I'm getting a bit sidetracked here 🥲🥲
This comic is me trying to explore Derek a bit more as a character, since love is a general topic that I think anyone can understand (I won't go into detail here).
And I am also just a sucker for characters who are smart but dumb at the same time when it comes to their own affections and feelings. ( I drink it like how Derek drinks his smoothies 😏😏😏)
I am aware that many people portrayed D3rlord3 as someone who had accepted that he is in love with Avery right from the beginning of his demise, but I personally wanted to twist it a bit. Which comes to my main theme of this comic;
"What if he realized his feelings a tad bit too late?"
Derek is someone who puts others first as we can tell from bits and pieces sprinkled across DAWTDE and at the end of SFAWTDE where even as his mind is deteriorating by the second he still made the effort to at least warn Avery. Which I concluded (and most people before me had also) that Derek doesn't care for himself that much but he cares for others and that is what matters to him the most.
I think that's all from me, I've kept you here way too long. I had fun drawing each of the panels, heck I don't care if it flops.
But if you want to hear me rant more on my thoughts of this comic or just Derek in general, my asks are always open. I'll answer them to the best of my capabilities. 😋😋
I keep thinking about D3rlord3 saying Avery “showed him all the beauty of the universe” and going a little insane over it because what do you MEAN all the beauty of the universe. You have seen everything. You have brushed up against infinity. You have knowledge beyond human scale. And your conclusion is still this spectacularly lonely loser (I mean that with all the love in my heart), made your existence beautiful again.
I'M DISTRAUGHT. The tragedy isn’t even that they met. It's that d3rlord3 had the capacity to understand infinity, but only learned how to value something finite right before he died. And of course it had to be another loser. Of course it had to be someone equally out of place and equally lonely and not built for any of this. The worst part about their dynamic is that if they had met earlier, it might have saved him. And if they had met later, it might have destroyed Avery too, but they met at the exact point where d3rlord was already too far gone—the ONLY possible moment where love could not save them.
(I need everyone to be sicker about them immediately.)
DERLORDE SACRIFICING HIMSELF TO SAVE THE WORLD AND AVERY AND SEEING HIMSELF AS A LOST CAUSE, A COUNTDOWN TO AN INEVITABLE INSANTIY
AVERY WORRYING ABOUT DERLORDE MORE THAN HIMSELF DESPITE HIM BEING MOST VULNERABLE TO THE KING
DERLORDE BEING WILLING TO DO ANYRHING TO SAVE AVERY INFLUDING TRICKING HIM AND BETRAYING HIS TRUST AS MUCH AS HE NEEDS TO STOP HIM
AVERY RISKING SUMMONING THE KING BECAUSE HE CANT LET DERLORDE SACRIFICE HIMSELF
DERLORDE KNOWING AVERY AS WELL AS HE KNOWS HIMSELF
DERLORDE IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZING THE FAKE AVERY VS THE REAL ONE BECAUSE HE KNOWS AVERY. HE KNOWS HIM.
DERLORDE CALLING THE FAKE AVERY AN IDIOT AND THE REAL ONE SPECIAL
DERLORDE KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT TO SAY TO RESTORE AVERY’S IDENTITY
DERLORDE ASKING WHY AVERY WOULD BE WILLING TO RISK HIS LIFE FOR HIM WHEN AVERY DOESNT EVEN KNOW HIM, DERLORDE KNOWIMG EVERYTHING ABOUT AVERY BUT HE CANT FIGURE HIM OUT FULLY.
DERLORDE BEING WILLING TO SACRIFICE HIMSELF FOR AVERY BECAUSE HE KNOWS HIM BUT NOT UNDERDTANDING WHY AVERY WOULD DO THAT FOR HIM SINCE THEY ARE STRANGERS
AVERY IMMEDIATELY MAKING SAVING DERLORDE HIS ONLY MOTIVATION DESPITE HIM NEEDING TO BE SAVED WAY MORE
BOTH OF THEM BEING WILLIMG TO SACRIFICE THEMSELVES TO SAVE THE OTHER
AVERY SEEING HIMSELF AS NOT ENOUGH AND DERLORDE SEEING HIM AS SPECIAL
DERLORDE SEEING HIMSELF AS A LOST CAUSE AND AVERY SEEING HIM AS IMPORTANT
THESE TWO FUCKERS ARE THE MOST SELF SACRIFICIAL IDIOTS I KNOW SOMEONE NEEDS TO PUT BOTH ME AND THEM DOWN WITH A DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGGUN
Because, Derek is essentially saying "How can you die for someone you don't even know? How can you die for a stranger?"
And while it may seem like Derek is being a bit of a hypocrite---considering he only met Avery a few hours ago, he really isn't.
Because Avery isn't a stranger to him.
He knows Avery. Infinite knowledge let him showed him who Avery was. He knew Avery's name. He probably knew Avery's favorite color and his favorite food. He could literally identify a fake (seemingly identical) Avery.
Sfawtde au where nothing bad happens and everyone’s happy and they meet in college and become besties before derek drops out and after that they live in the same off-campus housing because they’re codependent that way