This Is Correct. The Reason Studios Are Pumping Out Stuff That Feels Repetitive, Safe, And Always Tied

Heehee

Also, what if Crosshair did the uneven pupils thing that birds do when one eye is in the light and the other is in shadow

When Discord discussions create hilarious imagery…

Blurred name just in case

And now I find myself in need of art showing Hunter’s eyes doing this!

Everyone say hello to dragon grandpa!! I’ve really missed drawing and thinking about my Gorn Trek OC :)

The Gorn have been done dirty in the new Trek shows. The concept of Star Trek, at its most basic, has always been to teach tolerance by example. Every time there has been a “villain” species, we are unequivocally shown that they are neither a monolith, nor are they evil.

The Klingons may be proud and brutal, but they also have a rich culture, and by learning to understand them and treating them with the dignity they seek (and perhaps deserve in many cases) they can be passionate allies and friends.

The cardassians tend towards corruption and their culture encourages oppression of others. They conquer, pillage, and kill, but through the actions of individuals, we see that the Cardassians are a people broken by their own systems, not a people innately morally evil. And the actions of those individuals within their corrupt institutions have helped many who suffered under Cardassian tyranny, even if only a little.

The Ferengi are another example of a people trapped by their own systems. Their culture encourages greed, overindulgence and profit while avoiding all the consequences possible. But once more, individuals within this system are shown to be more moderate, or become more moderate, and this begins improving the state of their empire. They are capable of change, and that change is being influenced to become more equal, less destructive, and more cooperative without promise of reward.

There are no true evil species in Star Trek’s prime timeline (unless they come from the mirror universe, and even that is debatable). So… what the hell happened to the Gorn???

The only thing we knew about them from their first appearance was that they wanted to defend their space from invasion by aliens, and they were stubborn about it to the point of being unreasonable. We also learned that at least their captain was a brutal and dangerous warrior who seemed to enjoy the challenge of fighting Kirk man to man. How is that any different from the Klingons, whose species started out as literal space terrorists in TOS, but were later developed into a rich and beautiful warrior culture? The basic premise has the potential to build a narrative of a people who have spent the last centuries defending their space from the Klingon Empire’s expansion, having to fight tooth and nail against the galaxy’s most formidable species. Of course they’re paranoid and reactive when another civilization comes barging into their territory! They must be ruthless if they want to survive in this galaxy. And their story could be about their xenophobic culture slowly adapting to the climate of the kinder galaxy that the Federation has created, and learning to be allies with an enemy whom they have demonized for literal centuries. That would be an extremely poignant and topical story for us in the modern political climate. Especially in America!

Why were the Gorn turned into irredeemable monsters? Because it’s easier. Because producers and film companies no longer trust their audiences with nuance. Because a political message about compassion for an enemy that we’ve feared for centuries undermines the narrative that the US government and media have spent centuries crafting about the Middle East. Because tolerance for anyone is not welcome in our current political climate, and I’m not just talking about tolerance for those who lean towards liberal ideology. I mean tolerance for everyone.

I try not to get political on this blog, because it’s about art. It’s supposed to be fun and sometimes educational. But Star Trek is very dear to my heart, and seeing it being funded, written, and directed in ways that betray its essential nature hurts. It hurts in a way I don’t really know how to express. And I needed to vent.

Anyway, the Gorn will always be one of my favorite concepts from TOS. I love them, and you can pry the original idea of them from my cold, dead fingers, Paramount.

I’ve missed drawing Klingons too 🥺

The Kiners made that one post about the Bad Batch playing cards and it's been living in my head rent-free since, so...

Details:

We're going to pretend that Tech and Wrecker don't have sharper lineart than the other two, because I don't know how to fix it without redoing the lines completely and I do NOT have the energy for that

Wrecker's winning! Crosshair is helping. Mostly.

I didn't know what cards look like in the GFFA, so I made them blue, because, well, everything else is.

Cross has scratches on his face because he's a little menace that gets himself into fights before Hunter can stop him

I want to squish Wrecker's cheeks

Tech is eyeballing Cross because they had an argument about whether something was in the rules (spoiler alert: it probably wasn't)

This took me about 15 hours, I'm going to go and sleep, enjoy

Taglist (click here to be added): @donut1642 @padawancat97 @oh-three @inquisitorius-sin-bin @lil-kyloben

I’m… not sure I’ll survive.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the man to death, but I’m a timid lil artist who likes sweets and working with pet fish. I’m really not his type 😅

Stolen from twitter bc I need to see everyone's answers

Worked on a portrait of my barbarian and his baby in the Journey to Ragnarok campaign me and my friends are playing! His name is Iver, and his baby’s name is Ebbe, and he will bring the world to it’s knees if it will make the world safe for his little bear cub <3

bite bite bite

This made me giggle XD

do you enjoy not having ration bars anymore?

Being on the run from the Empire... it's not easy to get a full meal. So there's still plenty of ration bars. These ones are yellow though, so it's a bit different.

Teddy bears for the Captain

Price's just jealous he doesn't have a pair