don't have a boat but I do have a black flag @escape-the-game-itself - Tumblr Blog

brookstolemybrand -> escape-the-game-itself

Feel free to reblog any post that has reblogs on. I don't always tag posts but if I did actually object to something being reblogged, I would just turn off reblogs.

Please keep asks on topic (this is a One Piece blog for talking about One Piece; if you want to talk to me about something that isn't One Piece then at least try to do a convincing job of tying it to One Piece somehow lol)

(Also I might be slow to respond to them, sorry)

anmechokola

(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1185)

Hi. Hey. Listen. Was this really necessary?

Yeah yeah, I get it. One of these women is not like the others, let's all point and laugh

#yeah wasn't a fan of that #one piece 1185

thatcoolneighbor

the funniest comparison between sir crocodile and captain hook will always be that hook’s character was based off of ahab, who lost his leg to moby dick and became obsessed with revenge.

and then sir crocodile who lost his hand to whitebeard, who’s ship is named the moby dick…

Another fun thing about Luffy being the perfect pirate king is how he keeps turning people into pirates

Like almost half of his crew were people who straight up hated pirates at some point and he still convinced them

And not just his crew but a whole bunch of the grand fleet weren't pirates before being inspired by Luffy

Not to mention all the non-pirate allies he has

I genuinely can't think of anyone who has inspired more people to become pirates than Luffy, other than Roger himself

#one piece thoughts #monkey d luffy

escape-the-game-itself

(Warning for salt)

Look, we all know Oda has issues with gender essentialism and especially with writing female fighters, I've literally complained about that latter point at length myself

But I'm getting really tired of the fandom massively over-exaggerating the problem and in the process also dismissing any arc for a female character that isn't about fighting or being a strong independent woman or whatever

And also ignoring all the female characters who don't look like "Oda-women"

Just recently I saw someone say that Chiffon is a bland character because apparently she's got nothing going on aside from being a mother and a wife, which... I can tell you didn't pay ANY attention to her AT ALL

Chiffon is such an underrated character, I swear to god. She's someone who suffered in silence for so long, who was used as the scapegoat for her twin sister but never resented the sister for it, who survived as best she could, who learned to love the man she was forced to marry because he's a genuinely good husband and actually worthy of her love, who chose his side against her own abusive mother, who continues to look out for her sisters and is ready to risk her life for their sake, who is not a fighter in the physical sense but who is doing what she can to contribute to the fight in her own ways.

And other than Robin's mother, I think she's the only sympathetic mother character who's shown leaving her child behind to go do what needs to be done, even though it might lead to not being there for the child anymore. We see fathers in One Piece do that all the time, but mostly mothers just die. Chiffon not only does it, has her husband fully and happily accept taking over fulltime childcare duties while she's away, and she returns alive. And at no point does the narrative shame her for it either, because she isn't defined by her roles as just a mother and a wife, actually, she's allowed to have other priorities. In fact I would argue that her roles as mother and wife are actually only minor points in her story in comparison to her story of surviving abuse and her relationships with her sisters. It's just that people look at a character who is both and wife and a mother and that's suddenly all they can see of her, unless she gets to punch people ig

I also love that as much as Lola is the rebellious one and the one who seems to be a fighter and who is the captain of her own crew, and as much as Chiffon was the quiet one, Lola is so sweet and so idealistic and naive while Chiffon is cynical and ruthless. It's a fun contrast. And yet they both share a deep commitment for their loved ones and an unshakeable sense of honour. And they both get to be very cool about it

And I love that Lola chose to fight for her right to marry for love while Chiffon found love in a political marriage, and both are treated as valid and neither is shamed for their approach

They're so good, they're such good characters. But people dismiss them and I can't help but suspect that it's because they have the nerve to be unattractive while being women

And then the same people complain about how Oda draws all the women the same.... MAYBE HE WOULDN'T DO IT THAT MUCH IF PEOPLE DIDN'T MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THAT'S WHAT THEY PREFER

I mean yeah I can blame Oda for caving to the pressure to make the women appealing and I'm sure he also has a bias in that direction himself, but it really doesn't help that the fandom, including the ones who make themselves out to be all holier than thou about Oda's sexism, just completely dismiss the female characters who aren't drawn to be conventionally attractive. And especially so if they are also very feminine like Chiffon

That one's not on Oda, that's on you

rubberducksuspicious

I would also add that Dadan does not get enough love in this fandom. She raised Ace, Luffy and Sabo as best as she could. She fought for them. She almost died for them. She punched Garp in the face after Ace's death, for not saving him. She reminded everyone, exactly who would be suffering the most from Ace Death.

Those boys lover her so much and she loves them too. Ace even wore a necklace that suspiciously looks like Dadan's.

No one is outraged that Garp initially blackmailed Dadan into taking Ace in. He was like, 'I know a woman I can bully into looking after this kid I promised a dying man I would look after.' I can't remember for sure, but I think Dadan was originally cowardly. Which made her fighting to save Luffy and Ace, mean all the more.

Idk, my salty side sometimes questions why Dadan isn't represented more in fan works. If there is a modern au, Garp tends to be the parental figure in ASL's life. (Really, Dragon,Kuma, Iva and Hack should be Sabo's) Don't get me wrong, they can still be amazing fics I enjoy, but I will be looking for Dadan mentions. She is hardly ever mentioned. Sometimes I wonder, if Dadan was conventionally more attractive, would she be in more fics or art?

#YES!!!!!#THIS!!!!!

merrilygoingaround

Au where Chopper is some kid who spends way too much time at the local zoo

mii-riana

I love how nami has her own personal cloud 🍊☁️

maofa

Namivivi bc I don’t draw them enough and the world needs more girls <33

also hi im not dead ✌️✌️

no background & ref ↓

ayla-scribbles

Happy Pride 🧡🤍💖

Also yes, I know I complain about a lot of things too, like Otohime and Gan Fall and the Usopp thing in Water Seven and the sidelining of the female fighters and the narrative being too soft on the marines etc. Very hypocritical of me

But I feel like that just shows that it's not like I'm unwilling to criticise the series, I just overall prefer to enjoy it and to give it a certain level of benefit of the doubt and to wait and see where Oda's going with whatever is going on currently rather than immediately jumping to the worst conclusions

And I also just still genuinely love the early arcs so much and I think they're massively underrated

Just rewatched this video

It has some excellent analysis of the Syrup Village arc and if you haven't seen it please do watch it. The points about Kuro and his relationship to Kaya and Usopp and the wider themes of One Piece are so good, and the point about his glasses is especially clever

The analysis was as good as I remembered, but what I'd forgotten about this video was how ruthlessly critical it is about the Syrup Village arc and early One Piece in general. I think I just didn't mind that sort of thing back when I watched this video originally, but nowadays it's genuinely starting to get to me, because I'm just so tired of people complaining about how bad early One Piece supposedly was. And it's so unnecessary too, he really didn't need to keep harping on all the supposed problems with the arc at every turn. It has literally nothing to do with the actual point of the video and it comes off to me as really insecure like "oh don't think that I have such a bad taste as to think that early One Piece was well written and well drawn! I have much more refined taste and I'm also above poop jokes!"

To be fair his ultimate conclusion is still very positive and clearly he still appreciates the arc a lot, but man it was grating to listen to. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive but some of the things he complains about are just absolutely not problems at all? Like idk what's wrong with the way Usopp's backstory is delivered, I mean other than wishing that Banchina had more of a character beyond Dying Mother, I think it's genuinely great. It's a retroactive reframing of Usopp's pranks and it's explained to Kaya just as she has said goodbye to Usopp and has learned to lie a bit herself.

And I just don't understand why he seems to feel the need to keep saying that the poop decorations on Kuro's outfit are unsubtle. Why is that a bad thing abdjkfkrkf

One Piece isn't trying to be subtle about everything, the primary goal of this series is in fact to be fun. And a fancy overly serious butler with golden poop on his coat is fun. It's the kind of dumbass goofy bullshit that was part of why I fell in love with the series in the first place. I like that Oda doesn't take himself or his series too seriously, that even to this day he refuses to do so

Also I like the art in this era, I like the simplicity and charm

Like sure the arc isn't perfect but I don't understand the disdain that like 95% of the fandom seems to have for it, and which this seems to be another example of. It's overall a very solid short story with a lot of nuance relatively to its length, and I know TBSkyen knows that because he literally talks about some of that nuance here!

He's on Tumblr so he might actually see this (hopefully not but I'm aware that it's a remote possibility) in which case: hi, love your analysis, sorry about the venting (that's all this really is)

I think this is getting to me because I'm just so tired of hearing about how bad early One Piece is and about how it "gets good" in Arlong Park / Alabasta / Water Seven / whatever. Which isn't what TBSkyen is saying, obviously, but it still kinda feels like a part of the same chorus

When I got back into One Piece in 2022, I kinda turned into a pusher, as I think most people do (altho weirdly I don't think I was when I was originally reading One Piece for the first time) but now I feel like I've become the opposite

I've gotten to a point where I actively tell people to drop the series if they aren't enjoying it from the start

If someone is complaining about the first few arcs, I'm just like okay stop reading/watching then

My reasoning is that if someone is actually genuinely interested they'll keep reading or watching anyway, and more importantly, I'm at a point where I kinda wanna gatekeep this series because I don't want any more "fans" who talk about One Piece like they actually hate almost everything about it

I'm tired of the "wishing every arc was W7/EL" crowd, I'm tired of the "Oda needs to kill more characters" crowd, I'm tired of the "Gear Death" crowd, I'm tired of the "marines are actually the good guys" crowd, I'm tired of the "I love One Piece but I hate Oda" crowd

Not to even mention all the complaining about there not being enough fights anymore, or too many flashbacks or whatever

I'm just so goddamn tired

It's always like this with fandoms, I know. They're a double-edged sword

And to be fair the people who are all like "current One Piece sucks, pre-ts is the only good part" are also incredibly annoying

But yeah, I'm just not in the mood for all the negativity from ANY direction right now tbh. Call me overly sensitive if you like, because I guess that's exactly what I am. But it's not that I'm unwilling to recognise that the series has flaws, or that Oda himself has flaws, obviously it does and obviously he does. It's just exhausting how the fandom seems to be flooded with negativity towards the series itself when I still love it and still want to enjoy it. It makes me wonder why all these people are even here.

And I'm not looking for this stuff! I'm in fact doing my best to avoid it! But at this point I feel like nowhere is safe to just enjoy the series in peace, except with my irl friend who is a baby fan and still catching up

Maybe I should take a break from the fandom myself tbh. It's probably just not worth it anymore

I mean I think some of the overly negative people are the ones who should take a break from the series as a whole because they're clearly burnt out or something (which is fine, it's a long ass series) but it's not like I can make them

(Sorry for all the ranting lately, I've been in a mood clearly)