My Favorite Tolkien Illustrations By Cor Blok In No Particular Order:

I've seen pieces from this extra comic before, but never read the full thing until today. And holy shit does it hammer home just how much the story is about class.

Multiple times, when food comes up in this comic, it’s also in context of money:

I've seen this last panel on the right brought up before in context of like, dungeon meshi's relationship with fat and eating, but in the full context of the comic it really hits how much adventuring directly consumes bodies for money.

As much as this has been part of the story the whole time, showcased as early chapters 19 and 20...

It never fully hit me before how often adventuring comes down to having no other way to make money but to throw yourself into death repeatedly. To be used, whether it’s by individual selfish people (like the resurrection group that is happy to try and get Kabru's group to kill each other to get extra gold from them in chapter 32), or by the greater cog of the Dungeon Economy in general.

Which, to be clear, is all too often how things work in the real world, too. So many jobs burn through the health and lives of workers. Dungeon Meshi just makes it literal in a new way: by making the healing and resurrection, a core part to the adventuring loop, directly use fat, muscle, and energy from the body being healed.

Imagine Amazon, but if you got injured at work, they could literally burn up some of your body to get you back to working sooner. And that was seen as an advantage of the job.

And then you have Laios, thinking about eating monsters:

Not just because he likes monsters a lot. But because it would help. He says something similar in the actual manga too, during the chapter discussing his dream with the Winged Lion

Laios wants to be able to make a home for Falin. He wants to give her a place where she never has to eat alone. And when he gets a party, he wants to give them a way to eat well. And when he runs a country, well…

He wants to ensure that everyone has enough to eat.

Food is political. Food ties into class, and money. What is deemed "proper" to eat, what is a luxury, what is crass… so much of it comes down to money.

Being judged for eating what's available, when what is “proper” isn't affordable, is already a thing that happens. People forced into work that consumes their energy is already a thing that happens.

Dungeon Meshi has a lot of fantastical elements, but boy is its examination of food and class very real.

I was having a lotr discussion with my friend about how much we'd last carrying the one ring, until I suddenly came up with a question. Does the ring's power increase with each bearer because it hold the darkness and corruption of each of them?

This not only would change the perspective of the story but actually give sense to a LOT of things. First of all:

The ring is sentient, it has a will of its own, and clearly willingly links itself to people and exerts its power, literally molding and manipulating their very minds, to the point were even once destroyed Frodo and Bilbo are still linked to it in some ways, with an old delirious Bilbo still asking about the ring. If the rings power lasts withing it's bearers after it's gone, why shouldn't the ring also keep the darkness and corruption those people suffered when carrying the ring, storing and fueling its power, making it stronger.

This would entail that Frodo isn't only carrying his burden, but that of Sauron, Isildur, Smeagle and Bilbo, making it and even more indescribable burden and ultimately impossible task. It also explains why he must be the sole ring-bearer something which Elrond and Galadriel stress, eventhough sharing the burden of the ring would've been a logical choice for most people (at least between the hobbit and elves who have a greater resistance). Since this would mean that the ring would be contaminated by each ones darkness making it even stronger and harder to carry.

It would also better explain how even Sam, after only carrying it for a few hours while he thought Frodo was dead, had trouble giving it back to Frodo. As a character Sam would at least resist as much as Frodo, and yet, in only a few hours he was already heavily influenced, because the ring would already be carrying Frodo's burden and darkness. When given back to Frodo it then became an even heavier burden for him, to the point were he couldn't stand. While this would be the expected after carrying the ring for a year, it could have also been influenced by Frodo now also carrying Sam's burden and darkness from thinking Frodo was dead and taking responsibility of the ring. Of course this just makes the "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you" moment even MORE impactful, they literally carry each other.

Anyway this convo ended up lasting from 10pm to 1am and led to thesis worth material that I need 7 business days to digest, but will soon put into actual comprehensible writing.

i sure fucking wish pharmaceutical companies weren’t permitted to bribe insurers into not covering their competitors’ more effective drugs! that sure would be cool! it would be especially fucking cool if i didn’t have to go for an infusion at the worst possible time, as colorado’s COVID-19 numbers skyrocket out of control and everyone continues to not take this seriously, just to ensure that i’m not stuck for ages without the drug that keeps my white blood cells from eating my brain

*~ Law ~*

riza hawkeye age 11: dearest diary mine. today i was tending the houseplants as one does, hoping as i do every day that my spells will finally work and the vines will come to life and i can place it next to father as he sleeps, and it shall strangle him, and he shall wake up dead, and i shall be free. free!

anyway. i was tending the plants with my ceramic watering can and i heard a knocking at the door, and i opened it to discover the most pathetic boy alive, perhaps. soaked right through with the rain but still perhaps 75 pounds at the most, dressed up like he’s off to church, or his uncle’s wedding. how disgraceful. his name is roy mustang, and i have decided i will NOT be his friend, no matter how he pleads. i have no need for meddlesome boys.

mr mustang, age 13, apparently from central (can you believe it, diary? a city boy, and a scandalous backstory to boot - raised in a brothel, diary! i wonder if he can sing!) came to ask father to teach him alchemy. i don’t see why, it’s a trivial pursuit much akin to the parlor tricks im sure he learned back home (got em again! i hope he knows how funny i am being right now, though he must never read you, diary)

i told him we are not kind to solicitors, and closed the door. father had to ruin my fun, of course, as is his mission in life i suppose. he came downstairs after only 20 minutes or so and let mr mustang in, and took the discussion of tutelage to his office. apparently he’s going to earn his keep in the coops and the garden, which is fine. maybe i can get some meat on city boy’s bones. foolish

roy, still shivering in his wet clothes from 4 hours ago, knocking timidly on the bathroom door: miss riza are you almost finished

my favs from Xing

So that's where they're getting all their designs

Well...

I was drawing Kid in drag queen look and now I'm playing with my art and doing another art from this...

I LOVE UNCONVENTIONAL ARTWORK I LOVE SHAKY LINES AND EXAGGERATED PROPORTIONS I LOVE CLASHING OR GRUNGY COLOR PALETTES I LOVE “WEIRD” SUBJECT MATTER I LOVE ART MADE FOR FUN I LOVE ART THAT HAS LOVE PUT INTO IT I LOVE ART. AND I LOVE ARTISTS