#( love reading people's analyses )

[xxk3vonicaxx]

All the few people in the WNTTAK fandom out here with their Kevin Khatchadourian X reader fics while I'm over here likee:

(Now forgive while I ramble about this in the tagss)

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

When discussing or analyzing Dazai, one thing I hope you will keep in mind when reading anything I write about him is that from my perspective, he is always, always both.

What do I mean by this? Well, I find there tends to be a general split among people who hold the opinion that "he's a manipulator and will always be manipulative" and "he's doing his best to be good and helpful and live up to Oda's last wishes for him", of which, neither is completely right - because he is both. But even among the people who hold to this dual-nature interpretation, I find that his individual actions and motivations still tend to be thought of in a dichotomous manner - is it manipulative, or genuine?

Again, I think it's always both.

Dazai has a very pragmatic view on a lot of things - he is always looking for the usefulness of things and people so that the situation turns out in his favour. He's incredibly adept at this, and his prediction and placement and careful reveals are all manipulation tactics to get his allies and enemies doing exactly what he needs them to. I don't think anyone can contest this since we see it over and over in the series.

But that's not all there is to it. He's not solely manipulative and he does, to some extent, sympathize with others - I think there are several instances of this in the series, but I want to stress that this has been apparent since Chapter 1!

For context, Dazai is recalling what Atsushi said to him a few minutes earlier, but it's very interesting that it should be this specific part of the conversation. He could've flashed back to the part where Atsushi said he had nowhere to go; no money, no food - he is about to trick him into joining, after all, and this is the key piece he uses to basically force Atsushi into the Agency. But instead it's Atsushi's self-deprecation that catches his attention, and it really does, because even during the conversation, he turns to look at him after he says this with an odd expression.

You could say that this makes Atsushi easier to manipulate, if that's your angle, but that can't be solely it, because in the later conversation with Hirotsu, we know Dazai was planning to bring Atsushi into the Agency and set him up as one half of the new Double Black the moment he met him. The panel shown there is the riverbank, set much earlier in the day than this scene. He was already planning to pair him with Akutagawa since he figured out he was the tiger, so what's with this reaction?

Well. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.

He manipulated Atsushi into joining with the intention of utilizing him in his future plans. He also helped him and gave him a place to belong, and importantly, he likes this kid! It's both.

I think much of it might be that his brain just kinda works way too fast - he's such a natural at crafting these elaborate plots and seeing how things connect and gathering useful people like resources that it's practically automatic - though this is not a great means when you're trying to be a kinder person. There's an omake, I believe, that has him saying "I like using my head for justice", i.e. using these underhanded means to act for the better. Not great, but those are the kind of gifts he has. He's way more suited to exploitation, but is choosing to use these tactics to save people now, which is quite reminiscent of what he tells Kyouka. Kyouka's talents lie in killing people - when what you're good at isn't who you want to be, what do you do? Well, I expect you use what you have, even if it's not ideal.

Now, about the current situation with Sigma - I think he definitely likes him, and is intrigued by him and his situation. We did get a little thought bubble where the guy amusedly compares him to Atsushi, and you can't tell me he doesn't care about Atsushi (listen to the onsen drama cd, or read 55 Minutes if you somehow don't believe me). But also, it's undeniable that Sigma is in a very vulnerable position of being homeless and having had no one be genuinely kind to him before. His trust is very easy to earn, and with the latest chapter, Dazai has now saved his life multiple times. There is, as always, a practical purpose he needs him for. And I have to be somewhat amused because Dazai is quite literally telling Sigma everything he ever wanted and needed to hear. It's a brilliant means of quickly endearing himself to Sigma - but I don't think that's all it is.

Look. The most honest moments we get in this series from Dazai are, interestingly for an expert manipulator, when people are at their most vulnerable. In spite of every pointlessly cruel act he inflicted on Akutagawa, his first meeting with him was open and transparent; much like the orphanage director, it seems he thought this treatment would make him strong and adaptable (he's wrong but that's not the point of this). He cuts Kyouka off in irritation and says "don't give me that" when she implies that she would fail the entrance exam. He tells Atsushi it's normal to cry after losing a father figure and to feel however you feel, even if that person caused you nothing but incredible pain and cannot be forgiven. He refuses to entertain Sigma's assumptions that Dazai sees himself as a superior being to him.

Selective honesty can also be utilized to great effect; Mori does this, and undoubtedly it serves this purpose for Dazai too. But I want to stress that I do sincerely believe this is all still honesty from him. Manipulation, or genuine?

Both. It's both.

[wowitsverycool]

so fucking funny to put biblical symbolism in your danganronpa fangame

[tauruswiftie]

and i don't mean to be mean but i think some of you guys have gone too far in the hating stem direction and have lowkey lost the plot politically..... sorry but you cannot meaningfully analyze global economic trends and international trade if you don't understand how technology works. tell me quickly what's a microprocessor? where are the chips in your phones made? where are data centers located? what metals and materials are crucial to the engineering processes that power our world from cars to planes to fridges? can you tell me what maxwell's equations describe? do you know what a compiler is?

[amethystina]

Hi! I was re-reading Gravitational Pull and a strange line of thought crossed my mind. And for some reason I feel the need to share it with you.

So, I don't know why, but at the part where Yohan says "I'll set you free" my mind made the connection of "free" = "bird" = "Gaon" (cus his tattoo, yeah I know it's a Fenix but still) and that made me go back to the scene where we're shown Yohan's past in the drama for the first time, when he killed the bird. By cutting it off. And now that scene took another meaning in my head, because somehow, probably totally subconsciously, Yohan had set free the bird, free from the chaos that had been caused in the classroom since its arrival. And I feel like that's what Yohan was trying to do, maybe not so subconsciously now, with Gaon in that part of the fic. Setting him free by fully cutting him off from Yohan's world, which is, at the lightest, totally dangerous and chaotic.

Anyway, this probably doesn't make much sense and I'm just reading too much into it (and making it a lot more dramatic lol). Also English isn't my native language and that might make my point a bit lost.

However, I still wanted to share it with you! Thanks for your amazing work and I hope you're doing better <3

Hi there! I'm happy to hear that you're enjoying your re-read! And that it can spark new ideas and thoughts! 😄

As for Yo Han's intentions with Ga On in that fic, I can say that yes, he was trying to set Ga On free — but not from himself. Yo Han was trying to set Ga On free from the restraints that have been put on him by Soo Hyun and Professor Min. That's not to say that Yo Han lied about allowing Ga On to leave if he wanted to. Yo Han would have kept his word and never mentioned the kiss again if that had been Ga On's choice. But more so out of pride than consideration for Ga On. Yo Han would have been too offended by the rejection to mention it again 😆

But Yo Han doesn't actually want to let Ga On go at this point and he's not expecting Ga On to leave. So when Yo Han says "I'll set you free" he does so mainly because he's convinced that Ga On won't actually take him up on the offer. Yo Han might make it sound like he's uncertain, resigned to the fact that Ga On will choose Soo Hyun again, but he's lying.

You have to remember that Yo Han is a manipulative bastard and he was just handed extra ammunition given how affected Ga On was by that kiss. It may seem like Yo Han is being considerate, but he's not. He's acting, carefully nudging Ga On in the direction he wants him to go. The emotions underneath are honest, though. He would let Ga On go if that's what he chose. Because Yo Han is telling the truth when he says that he only wants affection that is freely given. And it would make him sad if Ga On left. But does he expect Ga On to do so?

No, he doesn't.

So, as always with Yo Han, there's an additional layer to what he's saying and doing. He's saying "I'll set you free," but he doesn't specify from what. And there are two ways to interpret that sentence. If Ga On chooses to leave, he'll be set free from Yo Han's influence — that one is simple and straightforward. But if Ga On chooses to stay, he'll be set free from the constraints and expectations of Soo Hyun, Professor Min, and society. Not immediately, obviously — it's a little more symbolic at this initial moment but it can't be denied that choosing to stay with Yo Han is to rebel quite dramatically. In more ways than one.

Yo Han will make sure of that.

So yes, it's about setting Ga On free, but Yo Han has no intention of letting Ga On go. That's not what he wants to set Ga On free from.

Yo Han wants to change Ga On — wants him to become something new and better.

(according to Yo Han's standards — which aren't the same as everyone else's, I should point out 🤣 )

And that's why I think Ga On's tattoo is pretty apt, since the journey he goes through during the drama is very much a rebirth. The Ga On of the first episode is so different from the Ga On of the last episode that they're practically different people — and not only because he's had his beliefs challenged and his world turned upside-down. And, in some ways, that can probably be viewed as him being set free.

I bet Yo Han sees it that way.

Anyhow!

Maybe I should stop dropping bombs like these about Yo Han's characterisation x'D Mainly because a lot of things are supposed to be left for interpretation and my intentions — and how I imagine Yo Han's thought process — aren't supposed to override my readers' theories. I don't want anyone to feel like they're reading my fics wrong or that they're not getting the "right" version of the story.

I always have a plan when I write — especially for Yo Han because that fucker needs to be several steps ahead of everyone else at all times — but I'm well aware that my plan doesn't always come across in my writing. It's not supposed to. Because Yo Han is an unreliable, manipulative bastard and, because of that, his underlying thoughts should remain hidden — which is why I so rarely choose to write his POV. And I imagine that can sometimes be frustrating when I then go ahead and explain what he's actually doing and it wasn't obvious in the text.

So, uh, idk. Sorry for not making Yo Han easier to read? 😅 But he's not supposed to be?

But, long story short: You're not wrong! Yo Han definitely wants to set Ga On free! But rather than sending him off into the light, Yo Han wants to cut off the shackles anchoring Ga On to it and drag him down into the darkest, deepest depths instead.

Because the Abyss is selfish, ruthless, and hungry.

[medilies]

Do you ever watch s3 and s4 and realise you're not enjoying it that much

[fishsfailureson]

Little Lystrosaurus

You’ve survived the apocalypse.

You’ve stepped out of your burrow,

And into a new world.

A desolate, unforgiving and empty planet.

The scars still remain.

The air is nearly unbreathable.

The plants have all died.

You will never reach the age of 14.

You may survive, 

But will you live?

Little Lystrosaurus, you are almost alone,

Surrounded by only your kind,

And a few other lucky souls.

The world should be yours.

But is it really?

Will your legacy be more than bones?

When your endling draws in their final breath,

What will we remember you for?

You survived the apocalypse.

The earth was all yours.

You were scarred, 

Your life was cut short,

And you never got the chance to heal.

I’m sorry, my friend,

I’ll miss you.

[fellator]

really when will they invent a father that doesn't suck

[sammysodatime]

transfem sam headcanons? <33

YAYYYY okay so if i'm being honest i don't have a ton of Specific headcanons fleshed out for her largely because, sad as it makes me, i can't imagine her actually coming out within the context of the show/how things play out (or rather, i can't imagine her STAYING out if she did). transfem sam, to me, is functionally canon in the sense that i know and perceive the truth but i'm not even sure if sam knows it herself, and if she does, i'm not sure if she'd ever be able to be open about it (think about that post that's like "i think i'm nonbinary but i have a job (saving the world) so i can't worry about that right now"). i actually make myself sad thinking about it. but a bitch can dream:

i feel like most people (from what i've seen) assume she'd have started putting the pieces together at stanford and i agree with that; finally having the ability to do some real personal introspection on her own means she'd be able to work on figuring out Who She Is outside the confines of hunting/family life

i tentatively headcanon her as bisexual, or maybe a bit closer to homoflexible. i also feel like she's probably not one for labels in that respect but that's My Take. technically not gender-related but related to queer sam interpretations

i do think she'd be pretty GNC. years of prioritizing function/utility over fashion probably doesn't wear off easily. i doubt she'd be super into dresses, but i could see her really fucking it up in a maxi skirt

i think jess would have been very supportive, whether sam was out prior to them getting together or afterwards. tallest and most stunning lesbian couple on campus etc. honestly this is probably one of the most important things to me regarding transfem sam because it has potential to mesh with canon AND it makes me feel warm and fuzzy to think about :')

i feel like this is kind of sparse, but again, most of my thoughts re: transfem sam are kind of limited by canon. more than anything she makes me a little sad.... but she's so very important to me. the way she interacts with women, the way she's treated by other characters/the narrative.... at some point it gets super easy to go from "this character is woman-coded" to "this character is just a woman"

[catinfroghat]

I started a literature course at the public library and there was the poshest women I've ever heard in my life there my eyes literally widened in disbelief at the way she was pronouncing some words omg...

[periwingreen]

nitro chiral works feel so human to me: the reoccurring concepts, the ideas with sometimes flawed execution, the self-indulgence, the fucked up sides of the characters and the horniness.

[fragmentedblade]

I called it, Ruan Mei is deranged and shady as hell

[lord-squiggletits]

I wish to love and appreciate idw optimus more too. But I also don’t want to read through the entirety of IDW 1.0. Can you please recommend me any specific issues/parts?

My best friend and fellow IDW Optimus lover made a post compiling all the comics with major story beats involving Optimus. Her list has a lot of the same things mine does, but also a lot more specific issues because she actually knows which specific issues of which series you can read specifically for ones focused on IDW Optimus. We don't agree on everything (I love some comics she dislikes and vice versa), but I would recommend her list simply because it's the most well-documented and thorough. Link I also have a lot of far less coherent but still genuine posts about IDW OP on my #idw op love tag.

As for specific parts I would recommend... since you don't want to read through all of IDW1, I'll go ahead and recommend you things based on in-universe chronological order rather than story release order, but if anything here interests you then I would recommend reading IDW1 in release order so that you get a better grasp of the story's context and how new lore was given out over time:

Chaos Theory and Police Action by James Roberts (The Transformers 2009 issues 22-23): I love love LOVE the way JRO writes Optimus talking to Megatron during the present day, it's very IDW-Optimus flavored because of how blunt, abrasive, and snappy Optimus is. There's a part in the comic where Megatron claims that he "knows [Optimus] better than anyone else," and he's right, but it's also true that Optimus knows Megatron well enough to see that he's bullshitting and it's very entertaining watching Optimus slowly lose his patience with him. I love the dialogue especially, no one (canon or fandom) has ever quite written the same IDW OP who's in this set of comics. It's also the most MegOP comic of all time because the sexual tension and the subliminal imagery of them doing BDSM together is unreal, plus it really captures their dynamic of two old soldiers who snap together with chemistry despite (or perhaps because of) being such long-time enemies. They just UNDERSTAND each other so well. Also, as a bonus point, Chaos Theory is where the pre-war lore for IDW1 began being published, so if you read Chaos Theory then the context for future pre-war lore makes a little more sense.

Shadowplay by James Roberts (More Than Meets the Eye issues 10-11): More pre-war lore that picks up where Chaos Theory/Police action left off. Important because it establishes a lot of IDW OP's character relationships, especially with "the Senator," Roller, and to a degree Ratchet and some minor side characters. I don't really know what to say about this besides it's just really fucking fun to read and features IDW OP getting to do cool shit like fight bad guys, investigate conspiracies, and do heists while also establishing one of his key character traits: being disastrously gay for suspicious men that he places entirely too much trust in to tell him what the right thing to do is.

Spotlight: Orion Pax by James Roberts: Okay, I'm really sorry for recommending JRO's stuff because it feels like favoritism and I don't even think JRO does the best version of IDW OP, it's just going in in-universe chronological order means that a lot of JRO stuff ends up first on the list. This one doesn't really have much of consequence in it and is honestly one of the weaker Spotlight issues, but like Shadowplay, it involves Orion Pax doing fun action shit and having way too much trust in a suspicious man (a new one from the suspicious man in Shadowplay).

The Autocracy Trilogy (Autocracy, Monstrosity, Primacy) by Chris Metzen: Oh my fucking god this is THE IDW Optimus to me, this trilogy is literally what made my ears perk up to even start liking IDW OP because it's what took me from "Optimus Prime, that's the guy who's the super awesome leader that everyone likes and is a paragron to everyone, yeah I know him" to "Oh.... holy shit this is such a good plot/worldbuilding, Optimus has so much CONFLICT and DRAMA with other people." It covers one of my favorite periods of the general Transformers formula, namely pre-war and early war plot events as conflicts come to a boiling point, there's political conflicts and personal conflicts, the planet is falling to shit and everyone is trying to escape and things are as depressing and scary as you would expect for a war that's literally about to consume a whole planet. I found the general plotlines to be gripping and intense (Autocracy is the weakest in this regard, but the writing gets better with each book) and I really like seeing how Optimus grapples with leadership. Especially the negative parts where people hate/fear him because of his association with Zeta's regime (the previous Prime, who Orion worked for), call his judgment into question, refuse his calls to action or waver in their faith in him, and so forth. I found it to be a really nuanced yet sympathetic view of IDW Optimus that made me fall in love with him. Because really, the thing that humanizes a character the most is making them flawed, and Autocracy trilogy Optimus is so incredibly flawed and conflicted. And also it shows him being shit on by other characters in a way that's well written in a plot that makes sense and doesn't feel like the entire plot is conspiring to shit all over him.

The Death of Optimus Prime by James Roberts and John Barber: This comic is basically the transition from phase 1 to phase 2, it establishes the branching plotlines of MTMTE and exRID, so this is another one of those comics that will help you understand IDW1 better if you want to read for more than just Optimus. Anyways, DoOP is great because it has a similar vibe to the Autocracy trilogy in that society is chaos and full of people who fucking hate Optimus' guts for the role he played in the war. You can also compare/contrast the way OP was before the war and early in the war versus the way he is after the war and see how much the war changed him (Chaos Theory also kind of is like this but it more shows bitchy Optimus specifically in his dynamic with Megatron). It also features a fair amount of Optimus Heroic Moments, Optimus Brooding, and Optimus being so fucking depressed he's literally sad when he wakes up and realizes he's not dead dude get some fucking therapy please I'm begging you--

Punishment by John Barber: This skips ahead quite a bit in the story but I think stands decently well on its own without having to understand the wider context. It's one of Barber's best-written stories and one of the only ones I've come back to reread for its own sake. It features Optimus trying to solve the murder-mystery of a bunch of Decepticons, featuring really cool plot conflicts like Optimus trying to navigate post-war society and the tensions that still linger from the Autobot-Decepticon war. I really like this one because it has that whole "not everyone loves OP and a lot of people hate him for justified reasons" thing that makes IDW OP a much more 3D character, PLUS it has some politics with the way Decepticons are treated post war. And I think it does really interesting things with Optimus in terms of showing how he DOES have this idealistic, merciful side that wants people to choose peace and letting go of vengeance, but of course it's not so easy to expect that of people after a 4 million year war. So when people inevitably choose violence, Optimus gets frustrated and angry and lashes out in a way that feels very real and understandable. It's a really good example of a comic that shows IDW OP in a nuanced way, showcasing both his virtues and flaws in a complicated situation that shows that there's no easy solution to these problems and no way for Optimus to escape without getting his hands dirty. Unlike future comics which involve OP being in complicated situations but instead the plot is super contrived and seems to overwhelmingly shit on OP without ever mentioning the very obvious ways that he could be defended, creating a story that's conceptually fascinating but incredibly mediocre in execution.

If I had to recommend any single one of these to read, I would recommend the Autocracy trilogy the most because it's literally the story that made me love IDW Optimus and made me realize "whoa, this guy is super nuanced and not what I expected of him." That's not to say that no other Optimi have depth and nuance, but I think the Autocracy trilogy was great for me personally as one of the first IDW1 comics I read. It struck a really good balance between "uh Optimus was part of some bad things that warrant being shit on" and "Optimus is struggling to overcome those bad associations he did, succeeding with some people and failing with others" and "Optimus is an optimist who has faith in others even when they don't have faith in themselves." Also, as a bonus, the Autocracy trilogy also features cunty murder-husband Megatron, an interesting character arc for Hot Rod, and the Dinobots as really interesting supporting characters (including their leader, Grimlock, having a cute veteran-rookie dynamic with Hot Rod that I wish we got more of).

[lionofstone]

at the end of the day, i’m a fan of silly little action movies. that’s just how it is

[im-just-a-dumb-gay]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. Get to know your mutuals and followers ^^

Fandoms (Transformers, FNAF, Sonic, etc)

Cute little things (rubber duckies, figures, etc)

Soft things (plushies, blankets)

People I care about (hanging out, games, movies)

Making stuff (draw, crochet, sing random tunes)

It's kinda hard to list 5 specific things so I did 5 categories. Hope that's alright.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

Hi! I've been on Tumblr for a little while and most of the time I've been searching for some interesting AA/TGAA analyses. And I want to say, I really like your opinions in particular! I like your takes on T&T and Iris in particular (she's such a good and underappreciated character), and your Homumiko ship bingo was really revealing and I still haven't recovered from it I don't know if this may be untimely, but I'd like to say it anyways :) have a good day

I saw this right as I got back home from work, and I just. Thank you so much!!!! I'm so glad my ranting and raving about the women I'm in love with has resonated with you, especially the hmmk (aka my Susato propaganda) one. That's lovely. Thank you so much for sending in such a sweet message. I hope you have a great day, too! 💞💘💞❤️💓💗💗💖💞❤️💓💕💖♥️💞❤️