“I Am Not Trapped In The Wrong Body; I Am Trapped In A World That Makes Very Little Space For Bodies

The thing about the 'Ugliest King' title and All The Ensuing Conversations that occur as a result, is that it works in the wn because we, the readers, have Absolutely No Idea what Kim Dokja looks like. Yes, there's the picture on the description page of the cover, but wn readers are trained to ignore those. Cover art is guidance for a character but when most of the cast will never wind up being pictured, you draw your grasp of their appearance based on description in-book and how the other characters describe their looks.

Even without KDJ's famous soliloquy in JTTW about YJH's appearance, we know that he's handsome and fit. We know that HSY is pretty but most of the time she has her face pulled into exaggerated expressions that make you instantly forget that. We know what kind of clothes the characters wear, whether other people think they're attractive, and how they're perceived generally. So, what does the reader get told about Kim Dokja?

Kim Dokja describes himself as average. He used to take bathroom selfies, but he's not particularly good looking. And the book plays into that! He's assigned 'Ugliest King' and it's partly a joke but partly to tell us something. Kim Dokja isn't your stereotypical secretly-handsome MC. As the book unfolds, we learn that there's a reason why people think he's ugly, but even beyond that specific metatextual one, there's more. We learn that towards the end of the novel, he's become more tanned and healthy-looking. We're told that at the beginning of the novel, his skin was pasty from a lack of sunlight. He was skinny from a diet of what he could afford at the corner store. He likely had dark circles from staying up late. These are all things that help us to develop a picture of Kim Dokja as a person. Even beyond that, the question of whether Kim Dokja is actually ugly was a debate that I miss having, mostly because I think SS were trying to show that you don't need to be handsome to be loved.

There's a lot that I don't agree with the webtoon team on, and I won't go into that here, but I would argue that possibly the worst thing they did for ORV was make Kim Dokja look like every other secretly-handsome MC. How can the reader grapple with him being given the ugliest king title when they can plainly see in every chapter that he's been drawn with bishie sparkles in the horniest way possible? It breaks immersion and squanders the value of the discussion to be had by its inclusion in the novel.

Tldr; kdj should be drawn swagless assless and looking like a mess.

my pieces for @kagehinabigbang based off of @icylancet's wonderful fic!

That nonsexual intimacy of just being in each other's spaces, of gravitating towards each other, always subconsciously reaching out to each other. Finding comfort and satisfaction in being close to each other, breathing each other in, existing together.

“What if I write it and it’s bad-”

WHAT IF YOU WRITE IT AND ITS GOOD? WHAT IF YOU WRITE IT AND ITS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANTED? WHAT THEN????

Tokyo daylight

The Coffin of TWST

(I’m sorry for my bastardazation of their style- I just thought it was so cute 😭)

Ahhh this has got to be my highest effort spoof- I told myself I’d just draw my faves in the style but no- I present to you coffined Ramshackle

[Ramble]

Okay… but talking more about the actual worldbuilding of TCOAAL? THERE’S MUCH POTENTIAL AS A DYSTOPIA! We got corrupt government, capitalism, cults, and demons! So much to dig into-

If I were to make an actual AU… I think it’d be interesting if it plays out as episode one. The setting of the apartment alone already has enough ideas to work with- Yuu, who was supposed to be visiting, gets quarantined into the apartment as others are convinced they have the parasite. Will the rest of the TWST cast be neighbours or guards? Both would be neat. (Grim’s just an entity a nearby cultist summoned that is demanding Yuu to give him their room for a shelter-)

Imo in order to finish your writing project you need to be unhealthily obsessed with your characters to a point where you question your sanity

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