hashtagloveloses

[hashtagloveloses]

If we could have everyone's attention!!!

We are so excited to reveal our stunning cover!!

Created by the amazing @raepliica!!

[hashtagloveloses]

Dollar General keeps their bathrooms locked up like the Hope Diamond AND they’re nasty. It’s crazy. You’ve been driving for hours. You’re in the middle of mulefucking central Virginia. You come to a crossroads and there’s a Dollar General. You park. You go in. Nobody in the fucking parking lot. Somebody’s baby standing in the middle of gum aisle staring at you first thing. You’re there about to piss yourself, politely and quietly asking the cashier “May I please have the bathroom key?” while she fights with her baby daddy’s new girlfriend and then when she finally gives you the bathroom key and you go in there, it’s dark, it’s mysteriously wet, there is blood on the toilet seat, no hand soap, no paper towels, 3 sheets of 1 ply toilet paper on the roll, broken mirror, broken sink. You have the most unsatisfying piss of all time. You leave the bathroom and genuinely contemplate cracking open a bottle of hand sanitizer on the shelf. You’re trying to decide if you should buy something out of sheer politeness. While you’re standing there in the lip balm section, that baby from earlier runs full force at you, smacks into your leg and ricochets off, starts sobbing and his mom comes down the aisle glaring like YOU did it. You go to checkout with your stupid $4 hat and your chapstick and there’s a guy at the only till paying for 27 frozen dinners using only dimes.

[hashtagloveloses]

i drew him cuter than he deserves but its ok i still love him

[hashtagloveloses]

Pre-menstrual depression is always depicted as like "He He! I had a box of icecream bars and cried while watching the Titanic!" But in reality, it's more like, "I'm standing the edge of an abyss. There is nothing good inside of me, I'm filled with rage and desperation."

It's crazy that being told how to deal with that is never a part of anyone's menstrual sex education.

[hashtagloveloses]

third child akechi

[hashtagloveloses]

i finally finished the p5r real ending and JOKER SEES THE GHOST OF AKECHI ON THE PLATFORM THE SAME WAY SHINJI SEES THE GHOST OF KAWORU IN THE EVA REBUILDS ENDING?!!! IM ENDING IT ALL (can someone make a comparison gifset PLEASE)

[hashtagloveloses]

I should have known they would be the end of the other when they made impossible promises in that skull shaped hole

[hashtagloveloses]

this is so fucking funny. akechi double texts me to meet up just because he REALLY wants to tell me how much he fucking despises my guts

[hashtagloveloses]

my sister put beabadoobee on in the car the other day and thus this was born

[hashtagloveloses]

Everyone shut up it's her day

[hashtagloveloses]

i think about them a normal amount

[hashtagloveloses]

the joker/crow showtime is so homoerotic... like what do you mean you and your super hot enemy who isn't your enemy bounce off of each other's skills in order to deal a mass amount of damage in a dance-like technique??? and then joker yelling crow and he finishes the attack like COME ON!!! JUST KISS!!!!!

[hashtagloveloses]

3rd semester in a nutshell

[hashtagloveloses]

Third semester Mementos convo but it goes like this

[hashtagloveloses]

Okay, so, I need to talk about the relationship between Persona 5's ending and Persona 5 royal's ending, because I think it isn't discussed enough how one puts into question the themes of the other and in doing so it elevates everything that came before.

Spoilers are coming, you've been warned.

The main thing that's given me an outlet to think about this is a few quotes from the Phantom Thieves when they're in the Velvet Room after being Thanos-snapped by Yaldabaoth. Specifically these quotes:

Ann: "I... I never want anyone to have to go through what I did!"

Yusuke: "Just as art is meant to break boundaries, people should be saved even if they frown upon it. I won't allow the justice I believe in to be shaken any further!"

Ryuji: "We're doin' this to make sure people don't go through the same crap we did. It doesn't matter if they think we're just or not. We gotta do what we believe in!"

Futaba: "I can't let people suffer like this, even if I don't know them personally"

They mention some core ideas: 1. They want to prevent people's suffering because of the suffering they've felt. 2. They must do this regardless of if people want it, because they think it's the right thing to do. 3. Their justice is worth fighting for by virtue of being what they believe in.

Does this seem familiar? Maybe makes you think of a certain therapist who shows up in Royal?

I think Takuto Maruki serves a decent amount of purposes narratively and thematically, but one of the most genius things about him is that he serves as a foil to both the Phantom Thieves and Akechi, and in being that foil, he is, deep down, following the principles that the Phantom Thieves fought for - In the end, it was largely Joker who inspired him to fight for his reality.

Maruki fights for a reality where suffering straight up doesn't exist, because he doesn't want anyone to feel the suffering he's had to endure. Maruki wants the Phantom Thieves and Akechi to never feel suffering anymore, regardless of their stance on the matter. He is "saving" them regardless of their wishes, and will fight them to keep the reality he wants. He thinks the world is unfair, so his "justice" is to make a perfect world for everyone - and that's what makes it worth fighting for, because that's what he believes.

Maruki's rationale to fight against the Phantom Thieves and Akechi is (partly) the same reasoning that the Phantom Thieves use to regain their motivation to fight the Holy Grail/Yaldabaoth.

So, narratively, Maruki serves as a mirror that's telling things not to be told for the Phantom Thieves to look into and to see the ugly parts of their own way of acting. Can they really fight Maruki, knowing that he is just acting how they did?

I see people sometimes refusing Maruki's reality because it "wouldn't actually work" or "it's imperfect". But as far as I'm aware, it's imperfect because it hasn't been completed yet - I think the game is a lot more interesting under the pretense that Maruki truly has the power to erase all suffering, once his reality is complete, past the deadline. I also see the argument, and even the game uses it, that Maruki's world "isn't reality". But did we listen well to Morgana's speech before he disappeared in the Yaldabaoth arc? The world itself is made up of cognition, reality is born from the points of view of everyone. Maruki *can* change reality, and the real question of the game is not about the logistics or "ontological dignity" of his reality, but rather - Do you want a world where all your wishes are granted and no suffering exists?

In the end, the game shows the Phantom Thieves that "sticking to their justice" will make them fight against people with similar ideals as theirs. It's funny, in a way, how Akechi was the one fully willing to fight Maruki from the start. His rebellion has always been more individualistic in nature than the Phantom Thieves' - he wanted revenge for himself, then redemption for himself and now he wants a reality where he isn't under anyone's control anymore. To him, Shido's country, Yaldabaoth's ruin and Maruki's world are all the same - Maruki just has a nicer, more therapy-speaky way of presenting his proposal, and sees people as his equals rather than as insolent masses, but his goal is the same. They're all worlds that shackle you for the "greater good". And in the end, Maruki, and Royal, force the P5 gang to become more like Akechi - to value their individuality in the face of the public's "justice".

To fight for what you believe in you will face people with the same determination as you. They will be your equals in many, many ways. In the end, you can only stick to your guns and hope that what you believe in is worth more than what they believe in.

I have a lot more to write about these topics but I'll leave it there. Maybe about the relationship between Maruki's reality and individuality next? That could be fun ^^

Btw - Special thanks to @thedaythatwas for inspiring me to write up stuff about Persona 5 Royal!

[hashtagloveloses]

happy 11/20

[hashtagloveloses]

tell me i'm wrong