seyaryminamoto:

“What will save us?”
And the sky opened up
Everybody wants to change the world
Everybody wants to change the world
But no one, no one wants to die

Countdown: 4 days to Gladiator’s Fifth Anniversary

And another major highlight arc in Gladiator, the Pairs Tournament arc! I still love the fact that this arc came out of a simple ask back in Gladiator’s very first review party… it was merely a suggestion, asking if I’d ever consider getting these four to work together. At the moment I thought it’d be fine, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to get it to work… and as things started to fall into place it became one of the most fun and complicated arcs to plot for Part 1. 

I know, I know, if you’re keeping up with the story you may look at this and feel sad/mad because of recent events, but believe it or not, I genuinely enjoyed making these four work together when I did. Things fell apart later, namely between Azula and Iroh, but for a short time they managed to get along, be friends, save Toph from a chaotic situation that could have potentially ruined her life… and of course, the positive, long-lasting consequence is that Toph became good friends with Sokka and Azula after this 😀

The song chosen this time around is a little bit insane and choosing the right lyrics I wanted for the artwork was… complicated. But the thing is, I listen to that song and all I can think of is Toph wreaking havoc all over the place xD It served as inspiration back during the Scavenger Hunt arc (which, sadly, I couldn’t add to the previous artworks because it didn’t really fit…), and it inspired me here too. It’s strange, but what can you do. This weird song suits Toph a bit too well.

So, alas, our villain of the arc is at the top with his hypnotized gladiators, along with the rest of the Dai Li squad, who are ready to do whatever Long Feng wants them to. Drawing him was surprisingly fun…

The center piece is just the group at the arc’s earliest stages, when Toph liked trolling everyone, Iroh liked laughing at how she trolled them, Azula was pissed at everyone and Sokka just wanted it all to be over ASAP. But as things progressed they all bonded, and while I didn’t draw any of the crazier scenes from later on in the arc, I wanted to draw the train ride and the visit to Lu Ten’s grave. The train was just a sweet little moment where Azula had a chance to laugh at Sokka’s antics after being conflicted about him for a while, and the idea of Toph and Iroh resting against each other like that was just too endearing to pass up. Finally, Lu Ten’s grave is the smallest bit… but yep, it really did have to happen. The one person who could get Azula and Iroh to get along was him, even from the afterlife. So yep, give Lu Ten all the credit for that one.

Alas, I did end up too proud of this one so here you go. It kicked my ass in every way it could, and I was almost crying of despair by the time I was almost finished (and then I realized I’d forgotten a few things so I had to get back to it! :’D), but I look at it now and… yeah, it was worth it. Torturing myself works sometimes (?)

Wait for the next one tomorrow!