Icon Meme for Thalia!

[pslasher]

This is for thalialunacy, who picked these five icons for me to discuss - I'm sorry this is so late bb!  If you want me to pick 5 of your icons for you to discuss just say so in the comments.


Artist: Unknown.  I've been told that this one has been floating around the internet for some time and no one knows who made it.
The words are a quote from the book Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. It’s a BDSM reference to the fact that the submissive is not weak or helpless, that in fact it takes great strength to yield to a dom/me.  It's a viewpoint that I strongly espouse, but even still sometimes need to be reminded of.

The woman in the picture is named Phadre. She is a high paid prostitute and professional submissive. The tattoo on her back is symbolic of the “house” where she learned her trade.  The book is like a European Renaissance AU, with a combination of tech and lifestyle of the real time mixed with very unique worldbuilding and some magic - with some very hot porn throughout the series. Seriously, it’s like fanfic in hard-cover. It’s got many of my kinks, a strong female lead, beautiful romance, and an awesome plot to boot.  (Though I have seen people mention that the series squicks them hard, so reader beware.)


Artist: andieshep here
As you know, I have a thing for Kirk/Uhura/Spock.  Like, a BIG thing for them.  When posting my 3am fic I needed an icon, and this one just seemed to fit the bill to me.  I see the three of them being very... protective of each other, and I liked that the text implied that while the image was a little more casual.  I also feel quite strongly about them as a 'ship, so some of that possessiveness applies to me.  Plus, it's Chris, Zach and Zoe all cuddled up together (well, Chris is sort of in there) and so cute!  What's not to love?






Artist: xelaz_iconz here
I think this one is gorgeous for a few reasons.  A. The collar and leash - yum!  B. The look on the guy's face, or at least what you can see of it.  I imagine he's waiting and wanting, trusting.  C. The delicate font of the word sub.  It's soft and pretty, much like his features and expression.  I picked this one out of the set of four because I liked the focus on the collar, even though other icons show his expression better.  I jumped at this when I saw it because images of male submissives are pretty unusual outside of fandom. 

Xela makes some gorgeous icons.  Many of them are kinky or BDSM, explicitly sexual, and/or queer in nature.  Some are also gen in nature.  All of them are artistic.


Artist: absolutelybatty (I'm not sure where I found it anymore)
I've seen the scenes where Kirk is all beat to hell referred to as bruise porn, and that's a little how I think of them.  This icon falls into that category.  To me it's a weird mix of Chris looking good even bloody and getting the shit 'beat out of him' and the fact that Kirk keeps on coming back swinging, no matter what.  That combo is weirdly attractive to me.  (Some of my early Trek AOS reading was all about Kirk flinging himself off the edge constantly, and hopefully finding someone at the bottom to care for him)

It might also be a general whumpage thing.  I think many of the characters I ship look good with a little blood on 'em (Jim Kirk, John Sheppard, Dean Winchester, John McClane, Viggo and Dom from LotR, ect).  Uh, I'm not sure what that says about me, so I'm going to just leave it at that.


Artist: mouthsopen I think here, but the images aren't showing up for me right now so I can't be sure
Ahhhh, Karl, you GQMF, you.  Doesn't he just look it?  I like his hair and skinny tie, the black and white, his broody expression, and the fact that he's so nonchalantly doing something that's bad for you. 










Many of these are the first icons I uploaded and I'm reluctant to delete them to make more space, even though I don't use them much (I tend to forget to specify icons when commenting) and am pretty much out of space.  I just hate the idea of using a particular icon for a comment/post, and later on it being gone.  I've considered buying more icons (because there are SO MANY pretty icons to use!!  Especially for newer ships) but I don't need to be spending money on that.

I also think it's interesting that you picked out both of my BDSM icons.  Perhaps you would say that it's interesting that I have two BDSM icons out of fifteen, but that's just because I love BDSM and enjoy having icons to use when commenting on fic :D