Quark - Blog Posts
Space station full of nosy buggers.
so i just finished season 2 of DS9 for the first time and i have so many thoughts about quark and his relationships with the crew; specifically ben, kira, jadzia, and odo. throughout the season, we see quark either trying to connect to these four — albeit in his own grating way — or proving his worth to them after a major fuck-up. (this is the case for jadzia specifically; he inadvertently put her on danger in invasive procedures [2x03] risked his own life trying to save her. we see them hanging out in playing god [2x17], so we know they’re cool and that jadzia forgave him. this should go without mentioning jadzia sticking up for the ferengi more than once throughout the season, specifically to kira, and insisting there’s more to them than their money grubbing ways.)
with ben, quark attempts to connection with him over a drink in second sight [2x09], only for ben to turn him down — presumably because he has too much on his mind and quark is quark, but the way the camera lingers on our favourite bartender, we can see how the rejection ate at him. the rejection sensitivity is dialled up even further in shadowplay [2x16] when quark attempts to get playful with kira, only to be told she utterly despises him for collaborating with the cardassians during the occupation — forcing him to realize that their snark isn’t a game and that she legitimately doesn’t like him, to the point where he says (verbatim) that he wishes he hadn’t brought it up. this comes up again in the jem’hadar [2x26] when he mentions to odo that kira specifically doesn’t like him, showing how much he internalized that conversation and ruminates over it even with the passage of time — and that’s still not all!
in the collaborator [2x24], there’s a specific exchange between odo, kira, and quark that’s very relevant to the theme of quark feeling rejected and isolated by the crew. transcribing it doesn’t quite do it justice, so i’ll just link the scene itself:
TL;DR: these two show up and quark immediately gets defensive and nervous. given his interactions with odo on a regular basis + kira’s recent (and completely understandable) anger, he figures them confronting him together probably spells out trouble for him. and unfortunately, in typical odo fashion, he doesn’t exactly make him feel any better:
quark: you want something from me, don’t you?
kira: how’d you guess?
odo: it’s simple. we’ve been here more than a minute, and we haven’t insulted him, threatened him, or arrested him.
quark: exactly. so what is it?
quark values odo’s opinion a lot. and while i’m sure odo was just playing around and being sarcastic, this is the last thing quark needed to hear in that moment and solidifies in his mind that he’s only of any value to the others when he’s useful, which ultimately culminates in this confrontation with ben after they’ve been captured by the jem’hadar:
i’ve seen this clip before, but it was only last night, after having seen season 2 to completion, that i finally had the full context for it — specifically, for quark’s emotions, and why he went on his little tirade. he isn’t angry at ben specifically; he’s angry at the entire DS9 crew for (in his mind) treating him like an annoyance that’s only worth speaking to when he gives them something in return. i believe he brings up his species as a whole rather than Just Himself for two reasons: 1, it gives him a roundabout way to express his outrage without getting too vulnerable, and 2, he is attempting to rationalize why he’s faced with the indifference and the animosity that he is. chalking it down to speciesism helps him rationalize why this is happening, but the alternative is also pretty devastating: that they just don’t like him as an individual.
but here’s the kicker: they DO like quark! ben lets him come along on the camping trip despite his wishes to spend time with jake and only jake. he engages in conversation with him, feeds him, and is pretty damn amiable towards him despite quark’s incessant complaining. he defends quark to eris when she expresses annoyance over him. meanwhile, odo specifically joins the rescue mission to make sure quark gets home safe (in his own words!!!) and even tells kira she’d miss quark if anything were to happen to him — they ALL would — and she agrees!
the tragedy is that all of these things are discussed when quark is out of earshot (no pun intended) or just not paying enough attention. but despite his growing disillusionment with them, quark is willing to resort to violence (something he’d really rather avoid) to protect his friends; first demonstrated in invasive procedures and then coming full circle when he lethally shoots a jem’hadar trying to hurt ben, who returns the favour by making sure quark isn’t left behind despite eris’ insistence. and this time, quark IS around to hear that someone cares about him; not just anyone, but the station’s commander, which certainly gives him the validation he’s been craving all season long.
while i can’t find the clip, i think quark’s little monologue to the gloomy morn at the beginning of the episode describes it best; he isn’t just their bartender, he’s their confidant and their friend — or desperately wants to be. unfortunately, his learned / cultural behaviours, impulsivity, and selfish tendencies (as demonstrated when he abandons morn to scurry after his boytoy, aka odo) drive a wedge between him and the people he’s come to want the approval of so badly… and despite his glaring flaws and their often flippant treatment of him, they manage to like him anyway. big ears just needs to listen better, it seems — or maybe his friends need to make their affections a little more obvious.
i just. man. it’s such a subtle arc, one you probably don’t notice unless you’ve been watching a bunch of episodes consecutively like i have (not to mention my, ahem, keen eye on a certain ferengi…), but it’s so satisfying. they didn’t have to do all that for him and they did. this show and its attention to character detail is incredible and i can’t wait to see what else it has in store for me. 🖤
Odo’s morality
I was talking with @weaver0fwords about why it is that Odo never acknowledges Quark’s more good deeds, like the food/supply smuggling he did for Bajorans during Terok Nor, or why Odo, someone who is concerned more with justice than law, strongly disapproves when (for example) Quark arms the Maquis and similar groups. It’s very likely (given Odo’s close monitoring of Quark) that Odo knew about Quark’s smuggling during the occupation and yet he never mentions or acknowledges it at any point in the show, and when you do have Odo finding out about Quark’s illegal activities that seem to be for a good cause, he’s usually annoyed/disapproving in a way that indicates that he still very much has a low opinion of Quark. This got me thinking about how I think Quark’s morality has been very influential on Odo and that Odo and Quark have a kind of symbiotic relationship when it comes to moral action. There’s less evidence of it in canon, but I also think Kira had a similar influence on Odo’s morality. Both Quark and Kira through their contrast with Odo’s values help define for Odo what he is willing and not willing to do.
This is one of my favorite topics so I decided to expound a bit more on what I think Odo’s morality is as depicted in the show, and how I think Quark and Kira shaped that morality.
Keep reading
EXPLAIN THIS IMAGE? WHAT? WELL - I think baby harnesses are hilarious. AND ADORABLE? BUT MOSTLY HILARIOUS.
also as previously explained I like the idea of Odo being a super gung-ho dad. Odo brings this baby around EVERYWHERE. It makes everyone kind of uncomfortable. What do you want me to do, leave it playing around the bizarre vaguely sexual jungle gym that occupies most of my room??? HMPH
Quark is wondering if the baby harness is a harness or an extension of Odo’s terrifying goobody. Quark is wondering if the baby is A PLOY TO RUIN HIM FINANCIALLY.
and Morn’s there because I just realized I’ve never bothered drawing him before. WHICH IS CRIMINAL, BECAUSE MORN IS FUN TO DRAW
i love you and your ridiculous puffy musclesuit, Morn
Knickknacks sold at Quark’s gift shop
Keychains in the shape of the station
Pictures of the wormhole with Sisko’s (forged) signature
Socks patterned with Cardassian voles
T-shirts that say “I went to DS9 and all I got was this lousy shirt”
Emissary bobble-heads with Sisko’s (forged) signature
Fried tube grubs
Freeze-dried gagh (Worf does NOT approve)
T-shirts that say “I went to DS9 and all I got was a vision from the Prophets”
Culturally insensitive replicas of Bajoran earrings, but with DS9-shaped ornaments
Glittery postcards of the wormhole with Sisko’s (forged) signature
Containers of goop labeled as “Changeling Tears” (it’s just cornstarch and water)
T-shirts that say “I went to Terok Nor and all I got was aggressively corrected on its new name by a Bajoran Resistance veteran”
Trading cards of the senior staff (Nog secretly collects these)
T-shirts that say “I went to DS9 and all I got was my back blown out by this sexy beast” with a picture of Morn
Baseballs with Sisko’s (real) signature
Textposts from everyone’s favourite space station😽
some fake screenshots from the deep space nine dating sim that lives in my brain
You ever think about those DS9 episodes where everyone's aboard the Defiant fighting an intergalactic space battle, and meanwhile back at the station it must be like:
Rewatching ds9 means understanding that Odo and Julian are two sides of the same coin. Of freaks. What you mean you two are chasing the two most infamous criminals of the station. Aren't YOU the chief of security and YOU the chief of the medical staff?
Also neither of them want to change Garak or Quark to be better. Like Odo isn't all "I know you can be better and be rehabilitated into society" NO he LIKES to chase and stalk Quark around the station. And Julian isn't better. He is like "omg you were a spy?? And you are exiled??" *twirls his hair* "Have you heard about James Bond?? In fact a have this holo program..."
Freaks the both of them that's why they are my favorites
Edit: as a lot of you pointed out YES they both have madical trauma and father issues and they have been experimented on. We should look into this like what are the odds.
ive been told to add a disclaimer to this post that i have only seen the first two garak episodes so far but when bashir randomly mentioned him in shadowplay this was all i could think of
DS9 dump
Love when a DS9 episode is too serious and dramatic to have Quark in it but they're contractually obligated to pay him for the episode so Quark and Odo have one scene where they do a little vaudeville skit about the A plot. We interrupt this allegory for the Nuremburg trials to bring you Statler and Waldorf in space.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine // S06E14: One Little Ship
The thing that really gets me about Quark and Odo is that they’re not each other’s Most Important Person. Odo has Kira and Quark has Rom (though he’d never admit it). Only, Odo isn’t Kira’s Most Important, and Quark hardly ever actually shows Rom how much he cares— those relationships are uneven.
Quark and Odo’s dynamic is equal. They both spend at least half their time everyday trying to outsmart the other, and unlike their other relationships, this one is mutually balanced. They push and pull; ironically, they’re always on the same page, even if that page is (playing at) being rivals on different sides of the law. Quark understands Odo more than anyone else on the station, even Kira or Worf or anyone else who Odo would actually acknowledge as a friend. They may not be each other’s number one but they are each other’s second most important person in the world and it’s so entertaining to watch them pretend otherwise.
My favorite thing about Body Parts (s4e24) is that Garak was obviously never going to kill Quark. He just decides to spend an afternoon in the holosuites demonstrating his terrifying skills for kicks. Then he solemnly promises Quark that he will definitely kill him very soon –
And you never see him again in that episode. He just goes to the Replimat and orders a spice pudding and eats it while reading poetry or something.
quark in the hooouuse
some more linework-focused stuff for u. love graphic style lines. perfect for comics.
coloring is so stupid hard bros. balancing a color palette with balancing the values with managing the overall composition including light and shadow and themes and aesthetics and stylistic choices and brush techniques and
why do all that when gradient map is right there #digital art
doodling in a more cartoony style hrmmm. yuppp Wahoo
