Beanie level: Contract girlfriend

Kingdom: Asin of the North
It probably would’ve helped if I remembered anything lore wise from Season 2 other than that some people should’ve got hypothermia and the previously mentioned samurai decapitation scene (which, @hebang, I am so sorry, but I can’t remember what episode it is in, or I would tell you. I may go looking for it later just for you though.)
But! Zombie Tigers! … with middling CGI. And Vincenzo is clearly descended from Asin.



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    It is a very well-made movie in my book though I always try to stay away from zombies as much as possible.

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      Ever since season 1, I’ve always thought this is a well made series. The lighting alone speaks so much. Even their title intro. When I saw it again last night, I was in awe of how detailed that was.

      Story wise, I was disappointed with it. For some reason, I was expecting an epic origin story. But, there wasn’t anything epic or original about it. The typical sageuk trope. That

      I am curious to know if the Jurchens will be part of future seasons, though. Or if they will continue to expand the universe. They’ve got something going there. And I hope the quality will remain top notch.

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        Kingdom’s production value is second to none and I’m always in awe from the set down to little costume details.

        All these are evident in Ashin but I find her story hasn’t been told well cinematically despite the compelling materials. The final scene couldn’t make up for the rather flat treatment beforehand.

        Nonetheless, the Ashin story lays a much stronger context for the whole series to go into Season 3.

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        I have one question: why do they like to use so dim light? Do they want to create that eerie effect? I guess so, but I could see almost nothing! 😂

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          I actually questioned my tv quality: Is my tv a good quality one because I can’t see anything in this scene???

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          🤣🤣🤣

          Yep, for effects of course. Cinematically and story wise. The flickering of candles at someone’s face looks amazing on screen.

          I like to believe it’s also to capture the reality of those times. There really is not much light during those times.

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            I also thought that it was true to reality at that time as well. Still, I kept asking myself why can’t I see anything? lol

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            I wasn’t gonna ask, but might as well. Hihi!

            Is your TV Samsung? Coz, it’s probably a PPL. It’s saying it’s time for you to buy a new TV without telling you to buy a new TV. 😃

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            🤣🤣🤣

            My TV is already a Samsung!

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        Oh my gosh I was gone for not even one day 😂
        cc: @epyc2010, @mmmmm, @drawde2000, @shach

        I mean the backstory was kind of original… how many sageuks do you know that have revenge bio warfare in them… πŸ˜› πŸ˜› πŸ˜›

        Personally, I have been, and get increasingly more so, over Kingdom as a series narratively since season 2. The historical uniqueness of it being set in Joseon lost its hook, the moments of ill logic and irrationality increased (as they inevitably always do in zombie dramas), and they started to over-complicate the lore.
        But because redfox and I predicted its existence over 4 years ago, and 2 days before it was officially first announced, I have a weird attachment to it as a series that I can’t let go of just yet. It’s part of my own drama watching Lore now, id est I don’t watch it to really get anything out of it.

        I didn’t find it especially difficult to see what was going on, but I did have to download it rather than just catch it on a streaming service, and also Arthdal set the bar REALLY low for me as far as bad lighting editing goes… *ahem*.
        As PYC said, the Kingdom series always has outstanding production, but the best part of the show for me is still and remains the opening credits sequence. Lmao.

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          Agreed – that acupunctured body is quite an opener LOL.

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          Ha, I never miss opening sequence, it’s so stunning. I love anything supernatural so my bar is really low, as long as there will be new season of Kingdom I will watch it (but I watched every season of Supernatural so when I say that my bar is really low, I mean it;))

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    I wish they wouldn’t be so hellbent on waiting for “shocking” ending so the middle dragged like sageuk palace scheming

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In a weird kdrama drought that isn’t actually a drought, but finally decided to start Special Labour Inspector Jo and got unreasonably excited at this boy’s like 5 seconds of screen time in episode one. 😂
I can’t watch KEM for you or WDH, hun, but we’ll make up for it somehow.









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Super random, but
Anyone else ever lucid dreamt a nightmare and forced yourself to wake up.
And the waking up felt almost exactly like this scene?
Like cutting or snapping a string, and then falling backwards and upwards at the same time.
Or is that just me… And maybe this drama writer.

Also behold, phasing CGI real Elvish rope.






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Omo omo he’s back!!!!! My one true love!!! Again! Third time’s a charm. That’s it; he’s officially part of the team.
Best recurring cameo of the year, tied with skinship-hand-holding-plot-devices, methinks.






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*Possibly* more cut up about this than … the other one tbh… *sits and twiddles her thumbs till everyone else has finished Bossam*
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    Done! Of course he was too noble to live 😞
    I think I’m the most cut up because I didn’t get to see Yi Cheom’s head roll. Talk about the guy who should have died.

    *runs off to reread history about Gwanghae*

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    Who turns their back on evil Lee? I guess the same person who thinks they can enter him into a gentleman’s agreement without his consent. My version with Dae Yeop going on a murderous rampage would’ve been much more satisfying.

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      Except that DY would not be DY if he had it him to kill the man he thought of as his father for virtually all his life. A rampage with VP Lee being beheaded just like DW’s father, ending with DY in a temple would have been more satisfying in many ways.

      BUT as long as he is alive, he would be the focus of coup attempts due to his birth.

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    I have a question for my favorite assassin/Queen and @wishfultoki. Is there any significance to the position that Dae Yeop died in (sitting rigidly upright)? The deaths of my Stabby OTP™ were similar.

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      Not that I know of. Perhaps simply for dramatic effect? I can’t find anything about it having any particular traditional significance or symbolism in death. It’s not exactly an easy thing to google either.

      That being said, in general kneeling is a sign of submission or deference, and obviously bowing in kneeling in Korea is part of their every day culture, as a sign of respect, and society, how they sit.

      You could suppose then that kneeling in death could symbolise some kind of submission on DY’s part to his Adoptive Father’s final authority, even in death unable to escape that filial duty that also lead to his death, but I also feel like this MIGHT be reading too much into the text, despite how well it works.

      What was the context of the Stabby Bromance and their kneeling in death?

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        One of the Stabby OTP was kneeling with the other leaning back against him (so they kind of died in a kneeling almost back hug, like any good OTP). One died protecting the other, and the other died to protect his people.

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    Of course, you knew he wasn’t going to be alive at the end, right?

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      Oh it was inevitable. This one just actually kind of moved me instead of me just rolling my eyes.

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        Agree. The only part that had me twitching was the use of guns to kill him. I mean if you are going up against a master swordsman would you send a bunch of sword-fodder or would you stand off with a brace of muskets and shoot him? Especially since the musket troops were already mobilized and at the scene? Oh well. Anyway reminded me of the death of the master swords man in The Seven Samurai.

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*splutters* Mate, that is not DKFHJGSKL that is not Queenstown.
… I’m starting to think this is set in an alternate universe.
#RacketBoys3



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I hate to be that person (I don’t actually, I am that person on a regular basis) but 1) there are no extant species of brown bear living in South Korea and 2) if you are going to make a CGI bear the very least you could do would be to make it an Asiatic Black Bear. I mean, does this LOOK like a Moon Bear to you?









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“That weird song”… You mean the song all of Korea was playing non stop for like 4 months? You mean that song? lol
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2021 Mid-Year Drama Challenge
Oh boy this is going to be depressing.

Best 2021 Drama (so far)
… *sighs* *dons her queen of salt crown*
I have started 21 dramas this year and have been supremely unsatisfied with 95% of them. 85% if you include a couple that ultimately didn’t fully deliver but I remember fondly anyway.

Best drama. Best… what is Best: Unless it goes off the rails in the last 8 episodes, I’m mildly surprised I’m actually saying this but Bossam: Steal the Fate is a very well done sageuk. It is however, a very sageuky sageuk, and a very sageuk watchers sageuk, if that makes sense, so niche audience… and it takes a while to get up to steam.
Otherwise the only other one I haven’t really been disappointed in in some major way is Here’s My Plan, which was good but hasn’t stuck with me like others of its kind. So…

Favourite: … the first half of my SUFBB rewatch… does that count?
I really want to say Sell Your Haunted House, despite its flaws and imperfect ending, but I’m not sure I can because it didn’t leave me feeling WHOLE despite everything it did well.
For pure crack, and shits and giggles, then So I married an Anti Fan, but that’s the Hwayugi, 9 Tails category of favourites, not the good drama one.
For lost potential, then Run On.
So overall, I’m gonna say I don’t have one.

Best Scene from your favourite drama:
Since I don’t really have a favourite … just a random list of scenes I enjoyed in no order, and with no respect to my overall thoughts of the actual drama:
Pigs Blood, Purple Suit, and others, Vincenzo
Helmet Ramen, Anti Fan
Bathhouse hug, SYHH
Every single time Jang Nara unsheathed her hairpins to stab a ghost lmao.
Jingoo crying in the BE finale, Beyond Evil
LSG not being in his own show for the entire pilot episode jk
Ki Seon Gyeom curled up in a ball on his bed #depressed, Run On

Favourite OTP
I can’t even say HotxHot anymore lol

Favourite OST
Bossam, Vincenzo, or Beyond Evil.

Drama(s) you dropped
The Newbie herself Doom, Mouse, Dark Hole, Undercover if I don’t finish it, You are my hero (cdrama), Oh Master!, River Where the Moon Rises, Sunbae Don’t Put on that Lipstick, Lovestruck in the City… I shitposted the first episode only of Sisyphus so I guess that too.

Drama you hate-watched (and finished)
Frakking everything. No, just kidding. Mostly.

Drama many loved but you didn’t
HAHAHAHAHA *whispers* Vincenzo also Beyond Evil apparently… :]
Doom, but that’s the boring answer.

Drama you loved but most didn’t
I can’t even say I LOOOVED any of them.

Drama you’ve rewatched this year
I started a rewatch of Shut Up Flower Boy Band, When We Were Young 2018 and Secret Lyfe of My Secretary, got half way through all of them, and only expect to finish the SUFBB rewatch.

Last Drama you finished
Just finished Sell Your Haunted House like half an hour ago upon writing this.

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    Here’s My Plan – sequence where our Anti-Candy Candy pickpockets smartphones, fences them, and hires a thug to beat up the bully who beat up her (not then) boy friend.

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    I thought you had liked Beyond Evil (like, not loving but not hating?), I guess I must have been wrong.

    And just think of hot and hot up to episode 16.

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      I liked BE at the beginning but by the time it ended I was watching it on 2x speed and was left very underwhelmed and mostly unimpressed by it overall, which in comparison to most people who watched it after it won a lot of awards, I think means it can go into the category of “others loved and you didn’t”. I’ve seen a lot of people gushing over it since then 😅😅
      I didn’t hate it like I hate every other Jingoo drama I’ve watched (poor Jingoo lmao) but I didn’t get much out of it either.

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Lol. No, it’s not.
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    Viki subbed β€˜vain love is still love’ 🙃

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      Still not true.

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        Vain in the hopeless sense. Is a hopeless love still love? I would hope so, at least in some cases.

        ν—›λœ is the Actual Korean term.

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          When she said ‘false hope is still hope’ and then followed it up with ‘false love is still love’ I then spent a good ten minutes pondering it and couldn’t decide if I agreed. I think my biggest issue is that false hope is hope where a) you believe that what you are hoping for will eventuate and b) it never will. If you equate this with love, then you verge on an obsession: a continued action of love despite the other person’s disinterest. And we can indeed have a debate on whether that is love at all.

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            Would you differentiate between false * and vain/hopeless *? Perhaps I am seeing a difference where there is none.

            Vain/hopeless hope/love of mine is space travel good enough to get my ass off this planet permanently to live elsewhere – an idea. Is it not hope/love simply because I have zero expectation of it happening?

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          Naver Dictionary translates ν—›λ˜λ‹€ as
          1.
          vain; fruitless; empty
          Being fruitless or without any substance.
          2.
          baseless; absurd; nonsensical
          Being too groundless and nonsensical to be trusted

          I think any love if it reaches either of these points is a perverted version of love, and therefore ceases to be love at all.

          I am not going to write yet another essay on the Four Loves in respect to a Subpar Kdrama, but by definition True Love (not true love in the romantic fairytale sense but true love as in that which is truly love) cannot be hopeless; then it would not be [truly] love.

          The show has not defined properly defined what love is, or where it comes from, and whenever it tries it contradicts itself, just like with everything else it says or does.

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            No need for another essay, I seem to recall reading your earlier comments, and looking up a few things. While I may not be the ΓΌber nerd that some are, there is a streak of nerd-ness in me like an6 good tool.

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          I would differentiate between what seems hopeless versus what is hopeless – I’ve been meditating on the word’s meaning being, “awaiting with expectation” lately myself, as I’ve tried to understand what makes this action so enticing.

          Like the space travel that you desire, even though the specific circumstances itself are unlikely to occur, I think the hope for it is speaking to a broader “why” of desiring a new, better life, and a good that is worth chasing after – To hope to live permanently elsewhere is a hope that I share, because this place is tiring to the bones, and home sounds much better.

          So home, specifically, could come through space travel to a different planet, but it could happen in another way, too – I don’t have the vision to know how, exactly, but I take courage from the knowledge that my vision is limited compared to all that is around, so circumstances may not be so bleak as I see them through mine eyes.

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    No.

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    If you’re going to screenshot every piece of dialogue that’s nonsense in this show, it’s a full time job

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Frakking side characters of Doom existing in a completely different show. Like mate I\’m here for Lee Soo Hyuk\’s first proper leading role, what are you watching for.

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    the Elf was kind of a lead in Valid Love (which I really liked because damn, hot carpenter).

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      I didn’t like the end of Valid Love but it was my favourite LSH’s role! He was really good and looked pretty hot as a carpenter!

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    My husband is in your camp. It’s crazy his different the tone and everything is in the second story. I want him to get the girl here. But I want a better girl. His voice is so swoony, I’m melted by the end of each scene.

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    Lee Soo Hyuk just talking. He can read his shopping list and I wouldn’t care about any other thing.
    I just hope he gets the girl…

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    Lee Soo Hyuk is sexy!

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    Rooting for LSH to get the girl.
    Like everyone else who commented, he has such a dreamy voice (his good looks does not hurt too). 😉

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    I literally cackled reading this.
    Dear Queen of Hate-Watching, these were my thoughts exactly!!!

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    EXACTLY! The only thing I’m invested in is him. (And potentially the brotherhood of the three guys)

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Oh HEEYYY it came back! Is it gonna stick around for more than half a show this time? Probably not. *maybe I should just give it a personality and add it to my Team*
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    Sic I kind of embarrassed to ask this. I loved BEOND EVIL and the metallic blue Camaro that Yeo Jin-goo drove was fantastic.
    For the life of me I can’t remember why it disappeared and suddenly YJG was driving some big black SUV type vehicle.
    Did he perhaps total it in some chase? My memory is lousy.

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      *BEYOND

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      You memory didn’t fail you; because it didn’t disappear for any in show reason.
      They just stopped using it after the half way mark. It was a Drama Fashion Crime- like how dramas change the hairstyle of their female leads half way for no reason- they did the same thing with his beautiful blue car *cries*. The Audacity.

      The SUV was still a Camaro but black SUVs in dramas? So cliche. So boring. Give me back the Camaro SS dammit!!!!!
      So I’m hoping we’ll at least see it again in Gumiho! I’m not counting my chickens alas.

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Unfrakkingbelievable. Three Kdramas airing at the same time, *all* with Skinship-Hand Holding-Healing Inducing-Plot Devices?????!!!? Three??? Dramaland, I know you love your tropes but wtf.

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VINCENZO ARRIVEDERCI SH🌽TPOST:

Here entails the contents of the Royal Letter:

…

β€œDear Carrot Boy,

Thanks for the suit.

You didn’t actually give it to me, but seeing as how I’ve already stolen your horse, and considering you only wore it once, and ergo Magic Horse and I have deemed you unworthy of it, I figured you wouldn’t miss it if I commandeered it

In exchange I have sent you some items that I think will be most helpful in completing your sadly lacking utility belt.

Also, I am adopting Kwak Dong Yeon; I think he’ll be safer with me. He says to send his regards to “Vinnie Hyung”.

Addio!

Yours in Christ,

Sicarius,
HRH, Queen of Melonia

PS. If you don’t invite us to the Carrot Wedding (to Carrot Girl), Magic Horse will never speak to you again; he dyed his mane especially, with a very expensive VFX dye, and he doesn’t want to waste it.β€œ

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    The drawings are superb Sic! Wow, I’m impressed!

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    This drawing is fantastic!

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    What’s with the lamb? Seems like I missed something…

    The Inzaghi sword cane is perfect!

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      She really wants to tell you, but she can’t right now because it’s Top Secret Information regarding Complicated Melonia Lore reasons.
      I told her she should just induct you to the Inner Court and that will solve all the problems, but she hasn’t got back to me yet.

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    Oh my heavens, you’ve outdone yourself! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

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    Wow love your references! It looks like you had a lot of fun drawing this <3

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    Too good sic.

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He can’t; he’s a clinical pyromaniac.












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*laughs* *laughs harder*






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*mentally lists all the ways in which the ending of Vinnie19 could\’ve should\’ve gone differently*; this is Kill It when it needs to be John Wick lmao *smh*

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    Kill It?!!! Oh, good grief.

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      Remember how in Kill It the lead like left all his secret doors open and walked into a blatant trap with no escape plan?
      Or the Fire Extinguisher Window incident in Lookout?

      The outcome was not as bad for our Vinnie, but he still should’ve brought a gun and the whole situation would’ve been avoided, which just makes any emotional fallout of the scene not as impactful as it should be. Just like so much of the rest of this show. Which is really not as good as everyone makes it out to be, even if that is a controversial opinion, and if Chief Kim and Fiery Priest are on par with this I don’t really think I want to watch them.

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        (…. psssst pssst hey @hebang… I need help.
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        Specifically in coming up with a fun but mocking way of sending Vinnie off in a drawing. I was going to draw the scene where Scissors Man kisses his hand- but it’s me kissing his hand and he’s in a Corn Salad costume but for some reason I think that gives him and his show too much credit somehow… also the anatomy positioning is a bitch.
        Yes I know, me blanking on silly things to draw, happens to the best of us)

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          Not having seen the last few episodes, I’m at a disadvantage….

          Vincenzo at a student’s desk, head hanging in shame as Sic the Assassin critiques his maneuvers as his entourage watches in various states of emotion? (Hmm this probably doesn’t fit a static picture…)

          Or

          Something to do with his pyromania…
          V with his lighter being spritzed by the Queen? Water was my first thought…
          Or may be spritzed with gasoline?
          Or being out classed by the Queen with a flame thrower?
          What would your various avatars have to β€œsay” to V about his pyromania?

          Or

          Something to bring your commentary to life…
          V and the Queen, riding giant pigeons dive bombing the writer?
          Or, I had this vision of the script being taken apart, page by page, and the β€œbad” parts being used to produce paper cuts on the writer, while the β€œgood” pages are used to bandage the cuts? Or something …

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            Oooooh lots of very interesting and good ideas.
            I was trying to think of something to do with fire also, given my own shitposting history of pyromania.
            I thought about gifting him a box of matches, for example.
            Alternatively I could draw me giving him a gun and lessons on tactics *ahem*

            If it helps- in the last episode- Taec dies by having a screw inch into his chest 5mm every 5min, complete with a carrion crow heralding his last breath, and the Lawyer Lady gets her toenails ripped out and then she is doused in gasoline and set on fire, whilst her Zumba music plays, id est- she dances to her death.

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          In the Pyromania collection of the Queen is

          A statue of V in Italian Renaissance style with a crown of literal flames, friend to pigeons and decorated by them in return. In his right hand, a lit custom Zippo lighter, in his left hand, a left handed screw. The base has a frieze of V’s comedic triumphs.

          Except… if you look at the eyes, you can see that it is V himself, not just a statue…

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Oh my gosh he really does just have an endless supply of custom lighters.
Why have we been been exempt from seeing the special editions on the left in action though.



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