I Have My Criticisms Of Made In Abyss But I Will Also Say That I Haven't Seen Enough People Comment On

I have my criticisms of Made in Abyss but I will also say that I haven't seen enough people comment on my favourite aspect of it (and I may be looking in the wrong places, I haven't term searched), which is that it's a breathtaking deconstruction of settler colonialism, and of the romanticism of the weird adventure stories of Europeans plumbing every as of yet unexplored corner of the earth and finding strange and wonderful things at great risk. It is a profoundly critical piece and one of the few that while capturing the allure of that genre and the call of the void and the human search for answers, also has the fucking balls to say, "Your choice to do this is to choose death and the loss of your humanity", "This place is built on atrocity in the name of gold and glory and colonial prestige, every attempt to get further into its depths requires horrendous sacrifice, and the act of settling was fundamentally amoral", and, as of where I've read up to (the end of Faputa's story), "this capital we've built, this land and its blessings that we have, are literally built on endless suffering, it is justified for the victims of that to retaliate, and to dust we shall return". Every aspect of its world-building is seductive but shows both implicitly and explicitly the horrifying truth of what the siren song of colonial adventure truly means, from the implications of what happened to the native people of the island to the sickness affecting the inhabitants to the wrecked ships and remnants of failed predecessors, to the indoctrination of children into dreaming of seeking death, and the overwhelming sense that the Abyss will always, always get its dues Intentionally or not, it's one of my favourite explorations of the brutality and futility of the search for El Dorado

Last Tribe A Day run cycle was today so I decided to combine them all to show the differences!

[ID: Seven sketchy animated run cycles, all of the original dragon tribes from Wings of Fire. They alternate sides as they go down, starting with the top one on the left and the second on the right, and so on. The background is a blank white. Each dragon has shaded limbs to help see the differences while in movement. The right wing is the darkest shade, followed by the left wing (closest to the screen), the the right legs are the lightest shaded. Descriptions are in order from top to bottom:

Mudwing: Drawn in a dark red. The thickest dragon by far, opening is mouth in a smile as its front legs hit the ground. Its large wings have four toes as if they were a third set of talons, which is used as another set of legs while running. The wings lift off after the back legs. The entire body bobs with its weight while it runs, lunging with its back legs. One of its back legs disappears while it runs (oopsies) and its large tail flicks with the run.

Skywing: Drawn in a darker red. Much skinnier dragon with longer limbs and larger wings. Its large wings remain slight open above its border, slightly bobbing as it moves. The body itself doesn’t move up and down, instead just twisting with movement of its limbs. Its tail is a little stiff, again just moving up and down. As it runs, one foot touches and leaves the ground at a time.

Icewing: Drawn in a dark blue. Its body and shape is ridgid, its head swooping up and down like it lunges with every time its front talons land. Again, its wings are used as a third pair of legs, however they are mostly used after the other limbs are mid-air. Its talons are visibly sharper, as well as its wings. Sharp spines on the back of its neck and end of its tail are visible as well, which bobs with the movement.

Seawing: Drawn in a dark blue. A thicker, long dragon with short but thick limbs and webbed frills along its spine and sternum. It’s thick tail continues the up and down curve it’s body makes with every move, flicking the end of the frills as it does. Its wings are semi open above its body, bobbing with the running movement and tilting up and down as its spine curves.

Sandwing: Drawn in a warm brown. Long limbs but thicker than skywing. All four feet lift of the air when they’re closest during the run, each foot hitting the ground one at a time. It’s barbed scorpion-like tail bobs up and down at the end. Its wings are folded and stuff near its shoulders, tilted diagonally. A solid frill lines its spine, biggest at the back of its neck and above the back legs.

Nightwing: Drawn in a dark purple grey, and by far the stiffest run cycle. Thick body with short but thinner legs than mudwings or seawings. Spikes line the spine all along its body, longest at the back of the neck and back of the body. Its wings are held stiffly and slightly folded over its body. Other than the legs and tail, most of the nightwing barely moves as it runs, and its legs hit the ground in pairs, front legs then back legs. They don’t even cross between each other at the closest part in the run. Its mouth opens and closes as it runs, not in any particular expression, I was just bored.

Rainwing: Drawn in a muted dark green. By far the bounciest run. It has a thin body and a head I accidentally drew a little big. It’s three-toed wings are used as a third pair of legs, used most right before it’s front legs hit the ground. Its front legs hit the ground at different time, however the back legs hit and leave together. Its tail is by far the longest, curled at the end and slightly unraveling as it flicks up and down. Beneath the curved horns is a frill with two connections that slight opens and closes with the movement. It’s grin also opens and closes with the movement.

END ID]

Posting this wip bc I’m not sure I’m going to finish it just because painting is really tedious

I like it a lot though!

VLP. gouache watercolor painting from 2017

Unmute !

now im not one to encourage misinformation. and the new google ai thing is apparently just going off of seemingly random internet results for queries. that being said. the best way to tell if a loaf of bread is finished is to stick your dick in it. are you hearing me? the best way to tell a loaf of bread is finished IS TO STICK YOUR DICK IN IT. I SAID THE BEST WAY TO TELL A LOAF OF BREAD IS FINISHED IS TO STICK YOUR DICK IN IT.