"It happened that, as I was watching some of the little people bathing in a shallow, one of them was seized with cramp and began drifting downstream. The main current ran rather swiftly, but not too strongly for even a moderate swimmer. It will give you an idea, therefore, of the strange deficiency in these creatures, when I tell you that none made the slightest attempt to rescue the weakly crying little thing which was drowning before their eyes. When I realised this, I hurriedly slipped off my clothes, and, wading in at a point lower down, I caught the poor mite and drew her safe to land."
Chapter VIII "Explanation", The Time Machine
Well, like with the Conan piece, this was also another digital illustration I did for Illustration class this year. And honestly, I've learned a lot about inking, lighting and model references in that class.
This artwork, I feel very proud and accomplished with because of all the hours I put into this.
so, i've finally read hg wells' the time machine! pt 3
previous part
6 weena... weena. god. the time traveller saves her from drowning while her own people completely ignored that, then she develops a fascination with him, gifts him with a special garland, overall constantly puts flowers in his pockets as she decides thats what the pockets are made for, and follows him literally everywhere (with a small exception of morlocks' factories) which ultimately gets her killed. first, THIS. IS EXACTLY WHAT SHAPED THAWNE'S IDEA OF A DEFINITELY SUCCESSFUL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP START. THIS IS EXACTLY WHY HE MAKES THE DECISION TO CAUSE DANGER TO PEOPLE'S LIVES SO THEY SEE HIM AS THEIR HERO WHEN HE SAVES THEM AND HE GETS THIS EXACT ADMIRATION. second.. barry in thawne's mind IS that exact savior from the past who carries long forgotten morals and hope. nobody cared about him and his struggles in his own time, just like none of eloi gave a fuck about weena drowning, so naturally the devotion and following everywhere. because weena feels safe with the time traveller and knows that he would protect her while no one else would. because barry is the only comfort source for thawne, bringing him the same feeling of security and hope through every struggle and mistreatment in his life, even though he hasnt actually met him. yeah i cannot even begin to imagine how many times he daydreamed something like that with barry. and the fact that one day He appears in 25th century for real?? and it goes THAT wrong in the end?? and then in rs when he goes to 21st century and just follows barry around and suddenly witnesses everysecondisagift scene, which gets him as a fan 'killed' too?? sidenote: the entire relationship, as much as it can even be said about eloi and their perception and intellegence (it is explicitly stated countless times by the time traveller that they are literally children in that way (and even more often when talking about weena), even when he gets to know them better beyond the sun pointing, whatever the FUCK movie authors thought and saw in the book, i presume fucking nothing, making weena his full on love interest is beyond any of my understanding), so reads as queerplatonic. the time traveller overall also reads to me as aroace rep, having only one single love of his life - the time itself. ALSO. I BELIEVE IT IS ENTIRELY FUCKING POSSIBLE HE DIDNT GET WEENA'S GENDER RIGHT TO BEGIN WITH BECAUSE THERE IS NO CLEAR GENDER DISTINCTION IN ELOI'S APPEARANCE OR VOICE AND JUST ASSUMED ITS FEMALE BECAUSE OF THE HAND KISSING THING AS QUEER RELATIONSHIPS ARE SO VERY STIGMATIZED AND BARELY ACKNOWLEDGED IN HIS TIME THE IDEA NEVER CROSSES HIS MIND. time traveller's unreliable and inevitably biased narration my beloved!!
and THIS, THIS SEGMENT, IN PARTICULAR, IS EXACTLY WHERE THAWNE GOT HIS IDEA OF WHAT TRUE ATTACHMENT AND LOVE AND DEVOTION LOOKS LIKE. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. THE ENTIRE DESCRIPTION IS LITERALLY WHAT HE DREAMS OF HAVING WITH BARRY AND SO DESPERATELY TRIES TO ACHIEVE IN REALITY. THE EXACT HOPE THAT BARRY WOULD SEE IN THE END, REALIZE EVERYTHING ABOUT HIS OWN ACTIONS HARMING THAWNE AND HOW MUCH THEY BOTH MEAN TO EACH OTHER AND ALL THE REASONS WHY, JUST LIKE THE TIME TRAVELLER ADMITS TO DOING HERE. AND ALL BECAUSE HE THINKS THIS IS WHAT SHAPED BARRY TOO!!!! BRB, KILLING MYSELF.
7. THERE IS A FUCKING 8028 CENTURY MUSEUM HE FINDS ANOTHER BOX OF MATCHES IN, YALL. I WAS NOT KIDDING WHEN I SAID LITERAL PROPHECY OF EOBARD THAWNE. and if you want to, you can even stretch this one out to the jurassic league death lmao
8 this scene is SO very dear to me. first of all, according to this, THAWNE'S COSPLAY IN RS IS MORE BOOK-ACCURATE THAN THE FUCKING 2002 MOVIE HIS OUTFIT IS MOSTLY BASED OFF, AND IN FACT MORE ACCURATE THAN BOTH OF THE MOVIES (with the small exception of thawne's futuristically merged boots and pants). BECAUSE IN THE SOURCE MATERIAL THE TIME TRAVELLER IS WEARING A FUCKING TAILCOAT.
AND THE WAY THAWNE PROBABLY CONSIDERED WHICH ADAPTATION AND DESIGN WOULD BE KNOWN TO BARRY THE MOST?? THE WAY HE MUST HAVE EXPECTED BARRY TO SEE AND APPRECIATE THE BOOK ACCURACY BUT AT THAT ALSO MADE IT HARDER TO RECOGNIZE RIGHT AWAY WITH REPLACING HARTDEGEN'S JACKET/COAT AND MENTIONING ONLY THE TEACHER THEME BUT NOT THE TIME MACHINE IN ADDITION TO ALL OTHER PROBLEMS BARRY HAS ON HIS MIND WITH THE EVENTS OF RS?? i have officially finished my life. second oh my fucking god. the way this guy is written SO alive and silly and emotionally rich. hes definitely my blorbo even outside of all the parallels too. third. THE LAST FUCKING SENTENCE?? INSANE. MY ALL TIME FAVORITE LINE OF ANY MEDIA. ALSO AGAIN, HOW HAS THAWNE NEVER QUOTED THAT
9 playing with fire arent we. certified loser at that too
yeah GUESS WHO ELSE DID?? AND GUESS THE CONTEXT, GIVEN WHERE HE GETS THE IDEA OF THE BRILLIANT LIFE THREAT->RESQUE->PRAISE AND GRATITUDE SCHEME FROM?? AND GIVEN WHERE IT ACTUALLY LEADS HIM INSTEAD TOO, SINCE THE TIME TRAVELLER LOST WEENA IN THAT FOREST FIRE??
out of that, i am positively convinced that thawne had an nd fascination with matches because of this book. while living in a time they are likely pretty hard to find because they would be completely useless in everyday life with all the tech advancement for the past 4 centuries. probably asking for some on some of his birthdays too. and i can vividly see the accident above being set up using a match with a glowing face expression ('im just like barry AND like the time traveller. so what if that fire was accidental. mine also 'is'. ')
10 yeah. most amazing time, yall. definitely coming back for more!
(sigh. THAWNECORE with how he loves barry and being a speedster even through all the suffering of rejections fights and deaths. also obviously chronic loneliness theme and loss of idealized image of barry bc of everysecondisagift also CONTINUED POINT OF HOPE THAT BARRY SOMEDAY WILL REALIZE EVERYTHING AND HOW MUCH HE NEEDED THAWNE IN RETURN THE ENTIRE TIME AFTER LOSING HIM AND THROUGH ALL THE PAIN AND TORMENT HE CAUSED HIM AS REVERSE-FLASH. dear fucking god, we really can squint and see the completely fucked up cosmic timeless codependency thawne thinks he has with barry in this)
11 post-reset feverdream continuation foreshadowing too.... what DOESNT this fucking book have, at this point.
12 and then he proceeds to disappear forever (die.). pov usual tuesday at the flash museum in 25th century and ALSO barry dying in that one crisis.
i really have to wonder if thawne projected his own desire to save barry from the crisis onto. barry and the time traveller due to thinking he had the same obsession with him and hence the same tragedy of his death perception. while the time traveller is still at the same time thawne's literally_me.jpg thought obvious to barry by him at the very least after rs.
13 oh thawne DEFINITELY ate concrete repeatedly over that closing line in different phases of his fan life. i just know it.
also, thawne leaving flowers of his time to barry along with ruining his life as he stalks him and does his itwasmebarry things in the period when barry knows and is aware of that.. barry (initially) not seeing Why Exactly those flowers on his desk, in his pockets, at his doorstep, thinking its usual incomprehensible weirdness of thawne's crush..... grhgghrggrhrghhhh
overall. given all of the above. i confirm that 1 thawne and the time traveller have WAY more in common than the time traveller and barry and are in fact almost the same person. 2 thawne definitely thinks barry was as obsessed with the time traveller as he is obsessed with barry himself. HENCE. thinking he is exact barry's type in men. AFTER CONSCIOUSLY AND NOT SO MODELING HIMSELF AFTER THE TIME TRAVELLER OUT OF THAT. and at one point deciding that a part of their problem is that barry somehow cant see it, hence rs cosplay to make things even more obvious. 'i know every bit of your history and every corner of your mind, i AM everything you could possibly want. LOOK. EVERY SINGLE THING checks out. why cant YOU see that?' 3 if we take thawne=the time traveller thesis even further. IN A WAY, HES ALWAYS BEEN WITH BARRY, ON HIS MIND, IN HIS LIFE AS A MAIN CHARACTER OF ONE HIS FAVORITE BOOKS EVEN BEFORE ALL THE TIMELINE CHANGES AND STALKING. JUST LIKE BARRY HAS WITH THAWNE, ONLY NOT DIRECTLY. additionally, 4, FUCKING CW, where thawne takes identity of a dude with the last name wells who CANONICALLY AND DIRECTLY WAS BARRY'S ROLE MODEL AND INSPIRATION?? who they build a SPHERICAL TIME MACHINE, THE EXACT FORM ITS DESCRIBED IN THE NOVEL, at the end of s1?? yea kiIling myself. and we havent even touched the subject of the time machine movie adaptations yet. dear fucking god help me. long story short they are fucking horrible (both directing teams SO clearly read only the first 3-4 chapters, if any, and decided that was fucking enough to make the time machine movie. makes me wonder if there are any decent adaptations past 21st century till 25th, considering such luck. @ eo if you are reading this we SO need to talk. is the situation any better!! i need to know!!) but at the same time add so many more thawne parallels. including 60's time traveller's name george, implying he is hg wells himself referred to by his second name, since we're talking cw. and so much more to come and be highlighted in a proper movie review post(s). idk when, ive been writing this instead of the fucking paper i promised to send jan 8-12 for the past three days.
