Jaden’s had so little experience having friends she hasn’t learned to be picky yet U_U
Unfortunately re: Patreon, I was asked to remove pages from my website by patreon, or have my page shut down. This all happened last year – almost a year ago now. I made a post about it here for more details.
Blaire ruining everything, once again… Well I’d love to support you in the future. I’ll keep an eye out for next time you’re selling paper copies of LB!
rustyhearts
Thank you! I’m hoping to release the first volume and a run of the second volume this year!
This both broke my heart and amazed me. The former cause poor Jaden, she’s just vibing and relieved to have new friends. The latter being astounded by how fantastic you are with side profiles!
omg the inner dialogue…the bladen shippers r feasting 2nite!!!
(obligatory disclaimer that the commenter knows how toxic bladen would be and itll never be canon etcetc. Its all in good fun)
You’re allowed to have good fun, breastie I promise. My breastie Arbustorum on tumblr is a big Bladen fan if you ever looking for someone to discuss it eith.
I STG that kills me. I have been friendless in my child and young hood and seeing that scene made me remember all the “fake” friends being “interested” in my hobbies just to laugh at my back or think wrong. Jaden and Riley reserve better than Blaire being an ally.
Really speaks to Blaire’s concept of Allyship,no? So focused on being the best ~trans ally~ she completely disregards the thoughts and feelings of women who are supposed to be her friends (and girlfriend) 💔
But she wouldn’t even consider this being malicious. She’s being helpful. Supportive. Facilitating a validating environment for Jaden (and Riley) to ~discover her true identity~.
Jaden is so cute 😭 I hope we get a little sequence of Faith and Jaden watching the cartoon together! Cartoons are harmless when gendies aren’t projecting their weird fantasies onto them.
Understandable! Blaire has said conflicting things about what she thinks of Riley.
I’m going to be exploring this a bit more in an uncoming chapter so I dont want to give away too much. But I would revisist (specifically in this order) CH9P8➡️CH9P6➡️CH11P12➡️CH11P24 to get a better idea of the chronological order of Blaire’s stance on Riley.
You might notice she says very different things when with Riley VS when not.
gosh, once again i think of how easy everything would have been to Riley if only she had talked to Jaden from her corner. because like yeah, Blair’s game is clear and all, but no one is barring Riley from doing “her own research”.
it’s just sad that despite having a girlfriend and a friend, Riley still doesn’t approach any of them about any issue that bothers her. Jaden’s reaction to Blair’s move is sad because we’ve been shown her past, but Riley too seems immensely lonely despite being surrounded by people.
Rusty, I have a question for you: do you plan on ever showing some of Blaires backstory sometime in the future or is it more wise to not expect it?
I guess after reading the comments I kinda got curious if we ever get to see what circumstances brought her to the point where she entangled herself with gender ideology.
But if it doesn’t bare enough relevance to the plot, I would be fine without, Blaires actions speak enough as is.
I do have some Blaire backstory planned. I’m not entirely sure where to put it just yet. But I have given it some thought and it does paint a better picture of how she came to gender activism.
damn yall update FAST! the green star shifter in the back is a butch lesbian i know this in my heart cmon please canonize this
Also. About Rileys nose. I wasnt trying to shit on your art style, I was trying to say it’s a little sad to see her proportions like that! I thought TERFS were all against eurocentric beauty standards, but they’re cropping up in your art a lot lmao.
First Thrusday of every month I post bonus page – but at all other times it’s weekly on a Monday. 💪
The green one is male. The only two female characters are the blue and yellow one. It’s a very obvious send-up of how often children’s cartoons provide no variation in female characters. That and applying human sexism to non-human characters. Here it’s make-up and eyelashes. Here are some other examples of where the male characters get to be anthropromorphised animals, but tbe female characters look much more human despite being the same/similar animal:
Chip&Dale Rescue Rangers – Giget the mouse VS rodent men.
Crash Bandicoot – Crash his sister Coco and his first-game girlfriend Tauna.
Chipmunks VS Chipettes from both the 80’s (there’s so many panty shots in that movie 🤮) and their more recent 2010’s movies.
LoonyTunes. Daffy VS his girlfriend, Bugs VS Lola. Breasts on a duck. And hair. 😱😱
Donkey Kong VS CandyKong 💀
And of course Dragon from Shrek being revealed as female because.. she is wearing lipstick 🤯😡🤯😡🤯 <-- me going batty.
Re noses: again.
You’re just don’t know enough about the argument you’re ATTEMPTING to make to warrant me dignifying it. You’ve clearly heard it elsewhere and didn’t takeaway anything other than Europeancentric = nose small = bad.
Plus you’re using “TERF” unironically, Miss Girl. Big L. If you want to have a discussion about Radical Feminist beliefs, the first step is to not a widespread misnomer that misrepresents it through a fundamental misunderstanding of what radical feminism even is.
oh my bad <33333333 I was drawing a parallel to steven universe which someone mentioned earlier. Bismuth and Ruby, yk. I hate that shit in cartoons as well but tbh some of that was a bisexual awakening as a youth. Thanks for finding all those pictures though. It's funny (not really) how the man-gendered features on male characters are just as prominent (dorito body shape, thick eyebrows)…. and then female body parts are constantly sexualised, and women aren't allowed to have traditionally masculine/male-associated feautures. But you know that.
RE: the NOSES: girl i am just sayin. i like her flat nose a lot! it was more prominent in a couple of other pages, and if you're taking your art in a different direction well then ok! but i am confused as to what kind of "argument" you think i'm trying to make? i just liked how her face looked before! a lot! I get that you don't have a model but the chibi-ifying of her face is just i dont KNOW how to explain. Yeah she has a baby face i get it but she's losing a distinct feature of hers thats typically East Asian and man i dunno. Airbrushed to be more "palatable". I have no idea. Parents here pinch the bridges of their babies' noses to shape the cartilage so they'll grow to be higher. Just makes me sad.
Your stylistic choices don't exist in a vacum.
But whatever man its your art.
And i'm a huge Jaden enjoyer!! but my partners are still my number one loves forever!!
its really irritating how non human female characters are shoved into femininity, though at least it does definitely show which design is by a woman and which is by a man.
i know it’s not exactly an example, but the 2005 movie “robots” similarly does this making the female robots have curves and asses, while the male robots have varying designs. the only gnc female is the villain, voiced by jim broadbent – a man.
the ratchet and clank games also have every female character with big ass curves save the plus sized ones, for… obvious reasons -_-
Been wondering for a bit since you had that red bubble sticker where Riley, Jaden and Blaire were called the main trio, but do you consider Blaire a tritagonist (if that’s a word)?
I guess reading Lease Bound I always assumed it would be a romance oriented affair with two main characters and some commentary the modern politics and reality of being a lesbian. But the comic developed to be a lot more widely scoped and have more social commentary than I anticipated back when I first came across it, so I was wondering how you viewed Blaire’s place in the story.
Not trying to poke for spoilers but more just wondering about how big her relevance will be in the narrative, if that makes sense.
I don’t consider Blaire a protagonist no, she’s definitely an antagonist. The sticker title was just about coming up with a snappy way to group Riley, Jaden and Blaire together, honestly.
Seeing as they’re the three most prominent characters, “Main Trio” felt like it suited most to me.
Blaire was originally created as a means to keep me from getting Riley and Jaden together too quickly. A brick in the slow-burn wall, if you will.
In her earliest iterations she fit much more into a villain type role. A bad-ex archetype. She wasn’t ideologically opposed to Riley, she was just flakey with arriving on time, and put Riley down a lot in backhanded ways.
Once I began writing more of her scenes (I rough drafted 9/
-10 chapters before drawing anything), I got the idea to bring her into the AGP storyline by making her a genderist herself – and thus creating conflict not just between her and Riley but also her and Jaden.
This allowed me to get her away from the “obvious breakup fodder” character she started as, and flesh her out into a more complex character. The toxic side of unquestioned allyship.
For a while she actually KNEW the AGpgang personally – like in earlier scripts. They were in a group chat together and that was going to be a reveal. But I scrapped that idea because I was moving away from the AGPgang appearing again and developing my “Male Character Policy” 😂.
The QT Collective women have come to replace that connection to a broader “trans community”. I’m definitely more partial to them 🤣
Without spoiling too much, I will say Blaire’s story won’t be ending at a split from Riley.
Ahhh thanks for the explanation. Thats really interesting about how her character developed. I’m glad that Blaire was made a bit more likeable and complex rather than just kind of a snotty ex. I think tying her into the AGP storyline was really good for story cohesion and an interesting move, though I’m thankful we don’t actually have to see the og AGPgang again. I think the QT collective are interesting and diverse in their dysfunction and I’m interested to see how all that develops as well as what the flash point is going to be between Riley, Jaden and Blaire. Thanks for answering my question!
38 thoughts on “CH11P27”
AnotherLonelyLez
Well this is just heartbreaking for Jaden. Girl just needs some friends 🙁
Also I can’t find your Patreon and I’d love to contribute to it. Is it listed somewhere I’m missing?
rustyhearts
Jaden’s had so little experience having friends she hasn’t learned to be picky yet U_U
Unfortunately re: Patreon, I was asked to remove pages from my website by patreon, or have my page shut down. This all happened last year – almost a year ago now. I made a post about it here for more details.
AnotherLonelyLez
Blaire ruining everything, once again… Well I’d love to support you in the future. I’ll keep an eye out for next time you’re selling paper copies of LB!
rustyhearts
Thank you! I’m hoping to release the first volume and a run of the second volume this year!
idk
Poor Jaden 😢
J
This both broke my heart and amazed me. The former cause poor Jaden, she’s just vibing and relieved to have new friends. The latter being astounded by how fantastic you are with side profiles!
rustyhearts
Thank you! I love drawing profiles 🥰🥰 (sorry about the heartbreak tho 😞😞)
HorseBlaire
neigh
Valerie
As a almost friendless person, my heart is officialy broken. Poor Jaden 😭😭😭
rustyhearts
💔💔💔💔
Minka
omg the inner dialogue…the bladen shippers r feasting 2nite!!!
(obligatory disclaimer that the commenter knows how toxic bladen would be and itll never be canon etcetc. Its all in good fun)
rustyhearts
You’re allowed to have good fun, breastie I promise. My breastie Arbustorum on tumblr is a big Bladen fan if you ever looking for someone to discuss it eith.
becca
Can we get an Oof in the chat
Blaire's Wife
Such a nice page, I love the contrast between Blaire’s intentions and Jaden’s perception of– hey did she just turn into a horse?
rustyhearts
C
A child immediately recognising the tv show blaire likes is spot on, lmao
Nonnie
I STG that kills me. I have been friendless in my child and young hood and seeing that scene made me remember all the “fake” friends being “interested” in my hobbies just to laugh at my back or think wrong. Jaden and Riley reserve better than Blaire being an ally.
rustyhearts
Really speaks to Blaire’s concept of Allyship,no? So focused on being the best ~trans ally~ she completely disregards the thoughts and feelings of women who are supposed to be her friends (and girlfriend) 💔
But she wouldn’t even consider this being malicious. She’s being helpful. Supportive. Facilitating a validating environment for Jaden (and Riley) to ~discover her true identity~.
anonymoo
Jaden is so cute 😭 I hope we get a little sequence of Faith and Jaden watching the cartoon together! Cartoons are harmless when gendies aren’t projecting their weird fantasies onto them.
rustyhearts
That would be very cute! I think you’re going to like next Monday’s page 💜
Gazelle
Ow ow ow ow
Nonnie
i forgot if you answered this before but does Blaire see Riley as a girl who needs to get over her “trauma” related to femininity, or as a trans man?
rustyhearts
Understandable! Blaire has said conflicting things about what she thinks of Riley.
I’m going to be exploring this a bit more in an uncoming chapter so I dont want to give away too much. But I would revisist (specifically in this order)
CH9P8➡️CH9P6➡️CH11P12➡️CH11P24 to get a better idea of the chronological order of Blaire’s stance on Riley.
You might notice she says very different things when with Riley VS when not.
Lurch
Ooh this one hit hard. The desire for a stable friendship and the niceness with a hidden-agenda… too relatable Rusty!
rustyhearts
I am glad to hear it, but also 💔😔
Crypty
Dropping this at the start of pride month 😭 jail for rusty!!! Jail for 10 to 15 years!!!!
rustyhearts
:(( can’t make more leasebound in there tho!
Kat
gosh, once again i think of how easy everything would have been to Riley if only she had talked to Jaden from her corner. because like yeah, Blair’s game is clear and all, but no one is barring Riley from doing “her own research”.
it’s just sad that despite having a girlfriend and a friend, Riley still doesn’t approach any of them about any issue that bothers her. Jaden’s reaction to Blair’s move is sad because we’ve been shown her past, but Riley too seems immensely lonely despite being surrounded by people.
DiscountSmirnoff
Rusty, I have a question for you: do you plan on ever showing some of Blaires backstory sometime in the future or is it more wise to not expect it?
I guess after reading the comments I kinda got curious if we ever get to see what circumstances brought her to the point where she entangled herself with gender ideology.
But if it doesn’t bare enough relevance to the plot, I would be fine without, Blaires actions speak enough as is.
rustyhearts
I do have some Blaire backstory planned. I’m not entirely sure where to put it just yet. But I have given it some thought and it does paint a better picture of how she came to gender activism.
Miss Girl
damn yall update FAST! the green star shifter in the back is a butch lesbian i know this in my heart cmon please canonize this
Also. About Rileys nose. I wasnt trying to shit on your art style, I was trying to say it’s a little sad to see her proportions like that! I thought TERFS were all against eurocentric beauty standards, but they’re cropping up in your art a lot lmao.
GOD jadens so HOT whn shes flustered whew
rustyhearts
First Thrusday of every month I post bonus page – but at all other times it’s weekly on a Monday. 💪
The green one is male. The only two female characters are the blue and yellow one. It’s a very obvious send-up of how often children’s cartoons provide no variation in female characters. That and applying human sexism to non-human characters. Here it’s make-up and eyelashes. Here are some other examples of where the male characters get to be anthropromorphised animals, but tbe female characters look much more human despite being the same/similar animal:
Chip&Dale Rescue Rangers – Giget the mouse VS rodent men.
Crash Bandicoot – Crash his sister Coco and his first-game girlfriend Tauna.
Chipmunks VS Chipettes from both the 80’s (there’s so many panty shots in that movie 🤮) and their more recent 2010’s movies.
LoonyTunes. Daffy VS his girlfriend, Bugs VS Lola. Breasts on a duck. And hair. 😱😱
Donkey Kong VS CandyKong 💀
And of course Dragon from Shrek being revealed as female because.. she is wearing lipstick 🤯😡🤯😡🤯 <-- me going batty.
Re noses: again.
You’re just don’t know enough about the argument you’re ATTEMPTING to make to warrant me dignifying it. You’ve clearly heard it elsewhere and didn’t takeaway anything other than Europeancentric = nose small = bad.
Plus you’re using “TERF” unironically, Miss Girl. Big L. If you want to have a discussion about Radical Feminist beliefs, the first step is to not a widespread misnomer that misrepresents it through a fundamental misunderstanding of what radical feminism even is.
Always glad to see another Jaden-Enjoyer tho!
Miss Girl
oh my bad <33333333 I was drawing a parallel to steven universe which someone mentioned earlier. Bismuth and Ruby, yk. I hate that shit in cartoons as well but tbh some of that was a bisexual awakening as a youth. Thanks for finding all those pictures though. It's funny (not really) how the man-gendered features on male characters are just as prominent (dorito body shape, thick eyebrows)…. and then female body parts are constantly sexualised, and women aren't allowed to have traditionally masculine/male-associated feautures. But you know that.
RE: the NOSES: girl i am just sayin. i like her flat nose a lot! it was more prominent in a couple of other pages, and if you're taking your art in a different direction well then ok! but i am confused as to what kind of "argument" you think i'm trying to make? i just liked how her face looked before! a lot! I get that you don't have a model but the chibi-ifying of her face is just i dont KNOW how to explain. Yeah she has a baby face i get it but she's losing a distinct feature of hers thats typically East Asian and man i dunno. Airbrushed to be more "palatable". I have no idea. Parents here pinch the bridges of their babies' noses to shape the cartilage so they'll grow to be higher. Just makes me sad.
Your stylistic choices don't exist in a vacum.
But whatever man its your art.
And i'm a huge Jaden enjoyer!! but my partners are still my number one loves forever!!
disgruntledfemale
its really irritating how non human female characters are shoved into femininity, though at least it does definitely show which design is by a woman and which is by a man.
i know it’s not exactly an example, but the 2005 movie “robots” similarly does this making the female robots have curves and asses, while the male robots have varying designs. the only gnc female is the villain, voiced by jim broadbent – a man.
the ratchet and clank games also have every female character with big ass curves save the plus sized ones, for… obvious reasons -_-
horny men and sexism are the same. end both.
rustyhearts
Even the fucking robots >:/
Freqfem
Been wondering for a bit since you had that red bubble sticker where Riley, Jaden and Blaire were called the main trio, but do you consider Blaire a tritagonist (if that’s a word)?
I guess reading Lease Bound I always assumed it would be a romance oriented affair with two main characters and some commentary the modern politics and reality of being a lesbian. But the comic developed to be a lot more widely scoped and have more social commentary than I anticipated back when I first came across it, so I was wondering how you viewed Blaire’s place in the story.
Not trying to poke for spoilers but more just wondering about how big her relevance will be in the narrative, if that makes sense.
rustyhearts
I don’t consider Blaire a protagonist no, she’s definitely an antagonist. The sticker title was just about coming up with a snappy way to group Riley, Jaden and Blaire together, honestly.
Seeing as they’re the three most prominent characters, “Main Trio” felt like it suited most to me.
Blaire was originally created as a means to keep me from getting Riley and Jaden together too quickly. A brick in the slow-burn wall, if you will.
In her earliest iterations she fit much more into a villain type role. A bad-ex archetype. She wasn’t ideologically opposed to Riley, she was just flakey with arriving on time, and put Riley down a lot in backhanded ways.
Once I began writing more of her scenes (I rough drafted 9/
-10 chapters before drawing anything), I got the idea to bring her into the AGP storyline by making her a genderist herself – and thus creating conflict not just between her and Riley but also her and Jaden.
This allowed me to get her away from the “obvious breakup fodder” character she started as, and flesh her out into a more complex character. The toxic side of unquestioned allyship.
For a while she actually KNEW the AGpgang personally – like in earlier scripts. They were in a group chat together and that was going to be a reveal. But I scrapped that idea because I was moving away from the AGPgang appearing again and developing my “Male Character Policy” 😂.
The QT Collective women have come to replace that connection to a broader “trans community”. I’m definitely more partial to them 🤣
Without spoiling too much, I will say Blaire’s story won’t be ending at a split from Riley.
Freqfem
Ahhh thanks for the explanation. Thats really interesting about how her character developed. I’m glad that Blaire was made a bit more likeable and complex rather than just kind of a snotty ex. I think tying her into the AGP storyline was really good for story cohesion and an interesting move, though I’m thankful we don’t actually have to see the og AGPgang again. I think the QT collective are interesting and diverse in their dysfunction and I’m interested to see how all that develops as well as what the flash point is going to be between Riley, Jaden and Blaire. Thanks for answering my question!
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