they started out delivering things in their sleepy little german town. decided they wanted something more fastpaced. moved to a bigger city. and then a bigger one. and then a bigger one and then finally tokyo
made it their mission to be the Best bike courier in the city and by a lot of standards they are
they love challenges. they love doing things they are bad at. they love competing against themself. they listen to upbeat music all the time and navigate based on things like "turn left at the apartment building with the broken gutter"
iggy you and i have discussed this in lofi. but i interpret "can't lose" as essentially a very long anxiety attack
because like, the lift are bad. and özlem is having fun and hanging out and then one day a bard ump says, are you really okay with this? losing and losing and failing? aren't you supposed to be the best? is this really how you want to live your life?
and özlem thinks and thinks and can't stop thinking about it , it's eating them alive, so at the end of the game they leave for baltimore. and they keep leaving.
eventually they make it to the magic, the flowers, the sunbeams. the cream of the crop. these teams that gently say hey, you look tired. hey, are you sure you want this? hey, what's going to be enough?
the sunbeams win. özlem stays.
misc other stuff: özlem is a turkish-german hijabi muslim woman, they had a flirtationship with tiana takahashi (irm that is a former bmx biker), they just turned 50 and are very proud of that, and they are afraid of big dogs
caleb and isaac 47 (something something bird joke)
47 - feather-light kisses (hehehe)
"You're not gonna break me, cariño."
Isaac pulled back from their jaw. He'd been brushing his lips against it over the sofa back for lack of something better to do. "I know," he said, running a hand back over his head. "I just... I don't..."
Caleb gave them a sad smile. They were laid up on a couch in the Firehouse rec room, resting following the game. That itself was foreign - magic and stamina had always been enough to keep them upright before. "I think you might be more freaked out by this peanut thing than I am."
A laugh escaped out of him. "Maybe." He'd spent the entirety of Caleb's first game post-reaction pacing. "I just..." Ike sighed. "I don't like seeing you like this. I feel like I can't do anything."
"You got me ice for my elbows," they said softly.
Ike dropped his gaze. "That's not enough."
"That's plenty," Caleb said firmly. "Now come sit." They moved their legs, motioning to the seat next to them on the couch. Once Isaac was down, Caleb shifted back, draping their legs over him. "There," they said, pleased. "Now we both have to relax."
Isaac fought a smile, moving a hand to rub absentmindedly at one of their ankles.
well i try to draw professionally a lot but its hard unless im feeling really motivated. i think just letting go and drawing whatever you want can be as rewarding as doing studies
30. What inspires you to not just make art, but to be a better artist?
other artists!! and i really work hard on getting better for myself, making art is so satisfying and the pursuit to be better at it is honestly like a primal urge lol
nagomi md + #15 from the spots to kiss prompt (if the inspiration strikes you)
15. a kiss on the jawline
“How long do you think you’ll stay?” Lehua asked. There’s a forced sort of casualness to it, like there isn’t much riding on it. She doesn’t even flinch as she said it, curled up into Nagomi’s side as they sit together on the porch swing.
Nagomi has never been one for that type of question, so they take their time with the answer. It was luck that a blessing brought them to Hawai’i, back to Lehua and York. Hades was good, this was better, and there are no guarantees that it’ll last the rest of the year, let alone any longer than that.
But she’s here. The Forbidden Book is open, people are dying, and Nagomi Mcdaniel is in Hawai’i.
“As long as I can,” they say at last. It’s not an answer. Lehua has to know that.
But Lehua doesn’t waver, doesn’t accuse, doesn’t say anything like that. Instead she leans over to press a kiss to the side of Nagomi’s jaw, lips brushing against the exposed bone. “Good,” Lehua says, and the wonderful thing about Lehua is that Nagomi knows she means it.
haiii uhm. idk if anyone has asked this but what are some of your favorite character costumes/outfits :O
iggy i love and adore you and i love this question. hold on, i have to dig up some images.
okay. i dug up some images. so many, in fact, that i hit image limit on this post and had to trim some things down. let's go through it.
we're gonna just go ahead and start out with dinah lance, the light of my life. this whole post won't be sorted by character, but she's the one i have the most images of, so she gets her own section.
i know people really, really love the short-haired, less effeminate dinah we get in grell's 80s run. i'll get to her! but i'm going to start by saying that her looks in the green lantern/green arrow run are all-time. please consider, if you will, the most fashionable lady in the room:
(i can't include the house robe from snowbirds, but know that i spiritually do count it as part of this post. i hold it near and dear. for now, these two looks will do.)
her long black hair. her little white vest. the statement necklace for her date with ollie. and look, i would include ollie here too, because his outfits in this run are PEAK seventies dad energy, but i don't have the space and i like dinah more, so you get these.
then comes the 80s, when dinah is in her element. short black hair, noir vibes, wearing graphic tees for things like "seattle slugfest." (in longbow hunters, at least.)
she gets some cute looks in grell's run, obviously, but i'm partial to this little skirt and sleeveless denim button-up because it's so very unlike her. she was putting in the work to look cute, and i appreciate it. oliver, meanwhile, looks like fred from scooby doo.
the 1991 run is important because of her extremely high heeled boots with the BIG cuffs around the calves. i miss the cuffs. i wish they would return to me. but the actual panels i think about the most from this run are when she cuts her fishnet stockings and uses them to tie her hair back.
wh. who. i want to know which people in the writer's room decided that was a feasible option. i just want to talk. i can't imagine a less stable hairstyle to go karate-chop some yacht pirates. come on now. but also, she even ties them in a bow? i love her so much. what the fuck is happening.
she has a lot of good looks in birds of prey (1999), honestly, but none of the artists have EVER IN THEIR LIFE seen a woman's chest. not a one. i'm going to go ahead and stick to the two things i love: the fringed leather jacket (iconic) and the long-pants jumpsuit that they did instead of the fishnets.
i don't know WHY they got rid of the fishnets, honestly, but i like this turtleneck situation and the yellow accents. also her communicator necklace on full display <3 she also usually wears a motor jacket OVER the jumpsuit. slay!
(it's maybe a little sacrilegious to like the long pants costume, given that she is so well-known for the bodysuit and fishnets. but to be fair, even when they cut the legs off this suit, she still isn't wearing the stockings. her legs are naked. 0/10 what the HELL.)
sean izaakse deserves his own post and i would not be able to pick out a limited number of panels from his work on green arrow (2023) but i will say i love dinah's new costume, i love the texture on her jacket, and i love that she gets to have the little canary logo on the chest now.
i assume this was more of a birds of prey (2023) design and not izaakse's personal design, but i love how he draws her hair, and she's so short compared to everyone, and overall she just looks good. zero complaints here.
(actually, i do have a few complaints, they just aren't about dinah. one, lian's eyes should be brown. two, ollie should have KEPT HIS HORRIBLE MANBUN, THAT'S MY DAD. and three, mia's cape should still be yellow on the outside. otherwise, the art in this run is perfect.)
speaking of mia.
the art of green arrow (2001) is not like. my favorite art style ever in terms of aesthetics. but hester really, really sets the tone for a lot of these characters through his design choices. particularly mia, which makes a lot of sense given this is her introduction and he did a lot of the initial work with her character.
the thought put into her costuming. she's wearing baggy clothes to contrast with what she wore before she moved in with ollie, she has the hair up in a messy ponytail, etc etc. this mia is everything to me. and i love ollie, too. he looks like a cartoon dad from a nickelodeon show. which is exactly who he is, to me.
we're gonna detour from dc and into marvel for just a second but don't worry we'll come right back. i was really excited when kelly thompson and leo romero were announced for birds of prey (2023) because i really liked their work on hawkeye (2016). it's such a good style for kate bishop, in particular; it feels very youthful and the style just suits her. this is The Kate Bishop, to me, outside of the 2012 run.
(i also really, really like the way dinah is drawn in birds of prey (2023). she's small, she's compact, she looks like someone who's been doing gymnastics and karate her whole life. i could also fit her in my pocket! perfect!!!!)
but yeah okay i mentioned it so i also need to shout out hawkeye 2012. this comic's aesthetics were so fucking on point, and it is one of my favorite ones i've ever edited because it has such an INTENTIONAL color palette and use of graphics like the arrows and bullseyes.
like i know everyone talks about how good this run is but that's because it is LITERALLY that fucking good. the writing. the art. the characterization. ugh. life-changing.
anyway that's enough marvel (for now). back to my hovel. dc.
spiritworld (2023) was so fun. the art is so intentionally drawing on manga and i loved it from the first issue. you can feel the love put into the character design and the color work, and xanthe's cool bomber jacket and undercut is SO essential. this is the nonbinary rep we deserve.
shoutout to cass's look in this comic, too. i LOVE this costume for her. it moves in such a fun and exciting way when she's flipping around and moving through the air, it has a new silhouette, AND it STILL has the bat on the chest. perfect. everything to me. never change.
that being said, i DO have a favorite cass look, and it's these specific panels from batgirl (2000). the style in most of that comic is great, it's super funky and fun, but these were the panels i saw that ended up solidifying in my brain as "oh, that's cass."
also from batgirl (2000) though, i love the funky design choices because they give us things like PEAK takes on stephanie brown's spoiler costume. she's just a fucking blob to me. look at her.
steph has a lot of fun looks, to me, but my favorite will always be the era in like, issues 110-112 of robin (1993), where they gave her a bob cut and big :pleading: emoji eyes.
i do wish she'd had freckles at this time. i know they were a later addition, but i like them. they add character.
unrelated to AAAANY of that, i need to talk about poison ivy (2022). this run is stuuuuuunning. i've only pulled panels of pamela here because i LOVE the way her freak body horror is done, as well as the way her hair is drawn, but the scenery and the textures of this comic as a whole are insane.
even when the story isn't grabbing me, the art does. it's beautiful, it's unlike any other comic i'm reading right now, and it is one of the first comics i ever looked at that made me go, oh fuck, that's an ART piece. ykwim.
HOWEVER. if we're talking about comics that are just. art. through and through. there are a couple others i need to mention.
supergirl: woman of tomorrow is stunning. the colorwork, the hair texture, the EXPRESSIVENESS of the FACES. ugh. this comic made me cry, yeah, but it also made me stroke the pages lovingly because of the beautifully rendered colors.
i love that kara doesn't always look Pretty. i love that she gets bloody, and beat up, and she looks tired and sad and sick sometimes. i love that it is so beautiful and also you can see genuine hurt on kara's face. ugh. UGH. this comic!!!!
now for the indie shit lol. die (2020) is sooooo lovely. stephanie hans is ordinarily a cover artist, but she jumped onto this project to do pages, and my GOD is it beautiful. the character design, the colors, the expressions. it feels like a PAINTING and i want to EAT it.
there's a lot of body horror and gruesome stuff in here. but like, somehow, even that manages to look pretty? i love the painterly textures. i love how the tone influences the colors. it's all just stunning. i need to go reread this one right now, actually.
annnnnnnd! last one, i promise! it's time for THE FORGED (2023).
i love this comic. everyone in it is a lesbian with an atypical body type, half of them are wearing bondage gear, and it's all set in a space sci-fi setting with more lore than you can shake a stick at.
and on TOP of all of THAT. LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL THE COLORS ARE.
there are a few honorable mentions i don't have room to include images of, so i'm gonna go off and list them now:
the wild west arc of exiles (2012) in that very painterly style
the scenery and background work in wonder woman: the hiketeia
the INCREDIBLY clean lines and sharp colorwork of dan mora in world's finest (2023)
the super sketchy and rough pencil-esque art in the back half of green arrow/black canary (especially mia! i love her!)
i am sorry but i enjoy the very sharp style of batgirls (2022). i don't necessarily endorse the writing or the story of the run, but i think the shapes are good. sorry. take me out back, i know.
young justice (1998) also has very cute cartoony art!! i haven't read much of it yet, but every time i see it, it makes me smile. which is the point, i think?
OKAY. PHEW. do you regret asking me yet, gobby. did you get what you came for. am i welcome to come yell at you about the forged (2023) and die (2020) until the day we both shed this mortal coil and depart for the great beyond.
that's it ily mwah thank you for the best question i've ever been asked <3333
lehua absolutely has a dragon deck - i personally think she'd go with an armed dragon deck (shoutout to my best friend armed dragon lv3 i think that lil dude is so cute). i like to think that lehua is like, not a pro duelist and not an excellent strategist but she works really well under pressure which means that she's fabulously good at dueling, by non-pro standards
(as a side note i think that nagomi md probably has either a warrior or beast-warrior type of deck - i'm not getting in too deep but my knee jerk instinct is ancient warriors. they for sure run a beatdown deck which is super duper focused on battle damage)
as a kid york probably has a less focused dragon deck, but i'd like to think that a fun equivalent to the gunblade bat blessing is a very powerful deck upgrade, so i'm going to take a page out of gx and say that york has crystal beasts. this is a high honor i fucking love the crystal beasts
this is a fun split-the-difference between lehua and nagomi: crystal beasts get support from ultimate crystal, which includes rainbow dragon and a couple other dragons, and also they're beasts which is a link to nagomi's beast-warrior sitch
ANYWAYS jesse of gx fame uses crystal beasts and then becomes evil, so pods york uses the advanced crystal beasts, which are similar but darker
he lands in canada and it is here that i bestow my second high honor on york: a water deck! (i had a legendary ocean deck as a teen i fucking loved that thing) i think specifically he would use an atlantean deck which focuses on using a lot of low-level water monsters
and then, of course, he gets incinerated and comes back with a fire deck. i'm thinking a volcanic deck - it focuses both on large amounts of damage and on totally fucking decimating your opponent's side of the field so that they don't have any cards to work with. it is a ruthless and angry strategy and it just feels like a good fit
i cant read numbers so tell me about a fic that sold me on a niche irm :O
12. a fic that sold me on a niche irm
oh god there are so many of these. ok. i don't know if this is even an irm or just a take on a player without much "canon" lore. but. paopuleaf's "earthbound" about lenix ren's pregame rituals and the efforts to keep the hall closed is really, really fun. sometimes people take the pgrs as an intrinsic character trait and sometimes they ignore them (i've done both), but i love the way that atticus ties this whole thing into ambush and in-game events. it rules. i love it sm.
