#Analysis

[angstandhappiness]

I want to chew on their cheeks

people online talk so much about hating babies and kids but in "the meatspace" people LOVE babies. hang out with a baby and you will see so many people staring at you with big smiles and waving at you and going "that baby is SO cute" and generally being pleasant unprompted. the lady at the vietnamese place just now gave us like three extra soup spoons because my niece loves those spoons but kept dropping them on the floor and the lady kept giving us more with a massive smile on her face. on our walk today a bunch of construction guys waved and grinned at her the whole time we walked by, and when we passed by an elementary school a little girl said "your baby's really sweet!" babies are not balls of irritation and hatred they are beacons of joy and kindness actually and they bring out the best in strangers. whenever im out with her we have multiple positive interactions with strangers who are so happy to see her. or maybe it's just that my baby niece is the cutest most wonderful baby in the world :]

[missbehavior0u0]

See the thing about Eridan and Feferi is they are a bit like sharks and dolphins. One of them is a lovely little smiley creature that makes chittering noises and does tricks and is overall very anthropomorphizable, and the other is a big nasty biting thing that you wouldn’t want in your entourage. Meanwhile Feferi is a nice young lady with sentiments about social justice that appeal to Homestuck’s exclusively (as far as I know) non-Alternian audience and very adorable mannerisms, and the other one is Eridan.

But then expert scientists start taking a closer look at the two species and start to spot some discrepancies with the general idea of what they should be. It turns out dolphins do all kinds of nasty things (ie: premarital sex, stockbroking, pyromania) and sharks are actually big softies who wouldn’t hurt a fly when you aren’t dressed up as a seal or making sensationalist blockbuster movies about them.

Similarly, upon closer inspection you realize that maybe Feferi isn’t really all that nice or even necessarily respectful towards lowbloods (re: conversations with sollux, VrIska, Jade) and that Eridan, despite having adopted his worldview because it puts him in a socially acceptable position of power, might not buy into those ideas and isn’t quite so awful or as much of a lost cause as first impressions might have him seem (re: conversations with Karkat, Gamzee regarding Sollux, requests for faulty doomsday devices, etc).

So naturally you as the reader get very excited about all these developments and start wondering oh boy oh boy, where will the story push these characterizations next, given that it’s already managed to tell us so much with so little? Who will remain true to their ideology, and whose will crumble? And then Eridan goes and does that. Sad! Oh well, there’s other tools of a genocidal regime to unpack. Sometimes the shark really is just a big nasty biting thing, and there’s nothing sinister lurking beneath the dolphin’s adorable trick.

But you, understandably, are a little pissed off by all this. You were eager to see all the secret nice and nasty bits of these characters come to fruition, and as the reader you’ve been denied your delectable prize. Plus, it seems not everyone has caught on to how things could have gone. So in your analysis you push things a bit, maybe to bring them justice or to make things clearer. Dolphins are actually murderous rapists who delight in stealing candy from small children, while your average shark is on par with Mother Teresa. Feferi’s plans for societal rehabilitation were tantamount to genocide. Eridan Did Nothing Wrong. And so on.

However, it’s important to settle on a few things at the end of the day. Bits of nuance are usually intended to make characters more similar rather than push them further apart. It might be more helpful to see what those similarities are pointing to and analyze them on that basis. Eridan and Feferi are both troubled little soldiers of a fascist state positioned very close to its head. Similarly, when all’s said and done, sharks and dolphins are both large marine predators with very sharp teeth who humans would benefit from not getting close to.

[aakaneeee]

Love is presented in many ways throughout Alien Stage: For Mizi and Sua, it's codependent, romantic to a worrying extent. For Ivan and Till, it's one sided, unrequited, and painful.

And for Hyuna and Luka, it's a curse.

Not only a curse, but one that haunts them. Jacob once told Hyuna to "Forgive yourself", which, to her, was misplaced. She could have forgiven herself. It was Luka who she couldn't forgive. But, in the end, she couldn't fulfill the legacy. She couldn't forgive herself for loving Luka. She couldn't forgive Luka for killing who she loved. And so, what did she do? She passed on the legacy.

The words "Forgive yourself" didn't help her. They built who she was, but in the worst possible way. She couldn't take his words, because she didn't consider herself the culprit, but the one she resented.

She told this curse, "Forgive yourself" again. She told them to Luka, sentence that almost sounded mocking on her lips. She couldn't have died before because she had to keep moving forward, but now, the pressure wasn't on her shoulders anymore.

She loves Luka, of course she does. But she cannot possibly forgive him. She knows he doesn't realize the suffering he inflicts. It's ironic, he's so unbearably smart, solving puzzles in a matter of seconds, but he doesn't know how to take in the real world, and the feelings of the ones around him, the most important 'puzzle' of them all. So, she gives him the biggest dilemma of his life. It's harsh, cruel, messed up in every sense. It's the puzzle she knew he could never solve, because she herself, who knew humanity, couldn't. Hyuna knew Luka loved her more than himself. And Hyuna cared for Hyunwoo more than for herself. Luka killed Hyunwoo, and so, Hyuna repaid him with the same coin, an eye for an eye. With an act that is the ultimate sacrifice, and the ultimate revenge.

As I have said, Hyuna knew the love he had for her, beyond the limits of his own body. She must've known how much her act would destroy his world: a fate worse than death. Her kind tone, telling him to take as much time as he needs to solve the newfound question she has proposed in such an ugly way, appears almost taunting.

And the way she holds him in her arms, purposefully close, and looks into his eyes, makes it just so much more painful. And yet, when she speaks her soul, passes everything she was carrying on her shoulders, over to him, her face is hidden away, buried in his shoulder. She's free. She finally had her revenge. She can forgive him, and then herself, even though the price was destroying him, without building him up again. Leaving him like pieces of a puzzle that never got solved. She's been cruelly betrayed, and she, even more cruelly, fed him his own medicine.

Hyuna is haunted by both Hyunwoo and Luka, similar to how Mizi is haunted by Sua. Hyunwoo brings the horror aspect: the bloodied blouse and head, while Luka has the smile that Sua has in the imaginations. The two people she loved most: the one who couldn't forgive her because she didn't get to apologize, and the one she didn't forgive. It's all so incredibly complex: she hates and loves, she resents and adores. Hyuna can't pick anymore. We're shown that she's such an active person, sociable, loving, having a whole group of humans just like her, and yet, we're told that she thinks all of them are selfish, even if they seem altruistic. She doesn't trust them, it seems it's a facade. In this, Luka and Hyuna are similar, but divided by the fact he wants to conceal his emotions, and she wants to make them more visible.

This page, specifically, made me click MiziSua and HyuLuka together. They look scarily alike. The same lovey-dovey expression, versus the distressed one of the lover, even the slight glow that Luka has is similar. I think this is meant to show that they still depend on each other, despite the fact that Hyuna seems to resent him so much.

Hyuna says Luka doesn't know the meaning of love. That the only thing he's ever shown, the only thing he genuinely knows, is suffering, and that his abilities basically stop at inflicting the same. (At least, emotional ones.) This is a parallel to Ivan, in my opinion, who didn't know love either, but he liked the idea of it. Instead, Luka loved with everything he had, even though he had no idea what it truly was. His love is obsessive, and somehow, so impossibly innocent at the same time. Because in a way, he's still a child. When he sees Hyuna, he becomes immature again, his facade of control dissipating into thin air. He mocked Mizi for her inability, but he's even worse.

According to his ear monitor, his heart was beating out of his chest. He could hear his own erratic heartbeat. It's painful, how happy he was, how excited, to be in her arms again. And yet, despite the love, the embrace was just as much of revenge.

Ever since Wiege, we've seen Luka smile so much. Just for him to never truly smile again.

I am a fan of the gentleness that Hyuna treats young Luka with. She seems awfully attached to the image of that innocence she knew. But it's not like Mizi's idea of Sua, the perfect one. It's an image she can't bear seeing again. "I couldn't stand seeing myself on those posters, because I knew exactly the face the you'd have. Yes, I bet you were smiling ear to ear." We've only seen him like this for the first time, but to her, it was so familiar, even years apart, she still knew.

Another thing I have noticed is that Hyunwoo's grave is right infront of a tree, almost separated from the others, just the way Luka was sitting before Hyuna found him. Now, this time, Hyunwoo lost Hyuna, and he's forever forced to be lonely in the garden he'll never grow out of.

Hyuna wanted to give Luka a rubik's cube he wouldn't be able to solve, something difficult. A rubik's cube can represent human nature, who Luka seems to have mastered completely. But Hyuna finally manages to postpone him: the puzzle is herself.

And in the end, after Hyuna's body goes limp, he finally manages to take her in his arms. He promised that there, she'd be safe, but he didn't manage to keep her that way. And suddenly, the words "My Savior" from Ruler of my Heart are awfully true.

[artsyannierose]

Do you think it’s in-character for Sonic to like Amy back? I’m curious because some may think it’s not. I’d love to know your thoughts!

HELLO ANON IM GLAD YOU ASKED I HAVE AN EXCUSE TO RANT ABOUT SONIC’S CHARACTER BC I LOVE HIM A LOT AND I FEEL LIKE NO ONE REALLY WANTS TO THINK ABOUT HIM ON HIS OWN!!

short answer: absolutely BUT whether it’s in-character depends on the way his feelings are portrayed.

long answer: Have you ever wondered why everyone has their own personal love language? In this essay I will-

anyway

let’s take a step back and just overview sonic’s character a little bit:

(amy got him those…btw…)

Essentially, at his core, Sonic is a character who values his freedom and the freedom of others at his very core. His main drive to keep moving is motivated by his love for adventure and that thrill of adventure. Romance is never and will never be his top priority, it’ll always be adventure, so y’all gotta understand that first. But his friends come to a close second.

And that’s where the line between romance and friendship starts to blur a little bit. What do I mean by that?

Well let’s look at his relationship with Amy purely as a platonic relationship: Sonic and Amy are the best of friends.

Argue with the wall if you don’t agree idgaf

They hang out quite a bit more than Sonic does with other characters, and Amy is the closest non-sibling relationship that Sonic has. Tails is his little brother; yes they’re close and yes they hang out a lot, but again it’s a very sibling-like bond. That’s not necessarily a bad thing and I’m not dismissing it—I really, REALLY appreciate Tails and Sonic’s relationship. It’s very cute and a very mutual thing in my opinion. A lot of people might say that Sonic only inspires Tails while Tails provides gadgets and brainpower for Sonic, but that’s just not true. FOR ONE SONIC’S CANON IQ LEVEL IS LIKE 178 IF IIRC HE’S SMART GUYS. HE DOES NOT NEED TAILS TO BE HIS BRAIN. HE MADE HIS OWN FRICKING PLANE. But Tails is the person he can always rely on and pretty much talk to about anything. PRETTY much. But there’s also that small underlying role model that Sonic should be for Tails to some extent, because he is Tails’ older brother.

Knuckles is #2 out of Sonic’s closest friends, and his main role is being a rival/challenge to sonic without being a threat to him. They’re still extremely close friends who would die for each other after all. They bicker and Sonic does love to tease knuckles quite a bit since knux is so quick to get angry. But they still respect each other and know that they can rely on each other. Also lowkey they’re kinda the not-so-friendly homie relationship; if tails and sonic are wholesome homies, knux and sonic are the “we beat each other up /aff” homies

and then we have Amy. Sonic’s closest female friend. genuinely argue with the wall if you can’t see that. SONIC DOES NOT HATE AMY HE VALUES HER AS A FRIEND AND CLOSE COMRADE sorry i hate people who say sonic can’t stand amy are you guys THAT media illiterate

So Amy is the closest thing that Sonic has to a friend who is a complete equal to Sonic, and let me explain why I say that AMY is his equal, and not someone like Metal Sonic or Shadow.

First off, Amy is not in any way a rival to Sonic. Sure she’s been paired against him multiple times in Team Sonic vs Team Rose, but it’s all on friendly terms and sillies. Second, she’s the one of the ONLY character who shares the exact same thirst for adventure that Sonic does. Heck i’m pretty sure one of her opening lines in Sonic Adventure was something along the lines of “it’s so boring when Sonic’s not around.” She doesn‘t care much for a normal, mundane lifestyle anymore than Sonic does. yes she’s a little more grounded than Sonic is in general and likes doing stationary things like baking and gardening, but she still gets bored easily. Her idea of fun can consist of picking flowers or decimating badniks (i love her sm)

Lastly there’s no strings attached to her love for Sonic, she just loves him for who he is and who he inspires her to be. Her favorite thing about him is his free spirit, which heaven forbid she ever tie down. The second she expressed that to Sonic, he was IMMEDIATELY became much more comfortable around her, because he understood where she was coming from and what her true intentions were. After that he started hanging out with her way more often and he was also really comfortable with her in general (i’m talking specifically about the idw comics here). He can talk to her about just about any problem because she understands; she’s been with him much longer than most others. Bro she was introduced before Knuckles, technically speaking…and she’s gone through the same experiences and adventures that he has. The only thing that Tails has different from Amy in terms of being able to talk about problems is that in the past I feel like Sonic has wanted to protect Tails from certain things (though this seems to have changed in Frontiers with Tails’ whole thing being more independent and growing up) but he really doesn’t have to do that with Amy because he doesn’t have the same older sibling urges if ykwim.

tldr: amy’s sonic’s bestie that is most like him who’s also on equal footing with him

(rip tails in the bg)

Okay then, now let’s talk rOmAnCE

Sonic’s history in the romance department has been….messy to say the least. Always baffles me because Amy has been right there the whole time…

And it seems to me that each time Sonic is depicted in a steady, strong relationship, at least some part of his core character is sacrificed for that. I feel like this is especially evident in the Archie Comics, like, you mean to tell me Sonic willingly accepts becoming king and staying tied to a kingdom?? Like that’s not inherently wrong but that’s definitely not game Sonic—that is Archie Sonic AND THATS FINE. its just a different iteration of Sonic, like how movie Sonic is drastically different from game Sonic

yeah this?? i hate this. a lot. why was he such a ladies’ man in the pre-reboot archie comics 😭 ALSO DONT TELL HIM TO SLOW DOWN STOP THAT

DONT KILL ME HANG ON, I ACTUALLY LIKE REBOOT SONALLY. I THINK ITS VERY CUTE

this? this is adorable and feels like sonic⬆️

this?? sorry i cant take it seriously

im not talking about sonelise tyvm

And that’s why I don’t even like the idea of sonic really settling down with amy perse idk if that’s a hot take 🫣

he needs someone who’s willing to basically either drop everything and travel wherever he goes or be willing to tag along whenever needed even if they’re busy, and amy does that pretty well

Amy doesn’t mind following Sonic to the ends of the earth and to hell and back if needed. which sonic team knew exactly what they were doing crafting her character to fit sonic’s its literally a match made in heaven aksjfnhehgfrlsfnegraojvr

Anyways’s the big question:

Is it in character for Sonic to like Amy?

Well why don’t we look at a few examples where his feelings are either strongly hinted at or outright shown

Ima start with Frontiers cause it’s the most recent mainline content we have

I hope we all know about the (scrapped?) open-world voicelines…

”Wish we were sharing an umbrella Amy…”

…sir?? sonic?? sonic the hedgehog?????? WOULD YOU LIKE TO REPEAT THAT-

sonic is originally japanese. sharing an umbrella in japan means you’re a couple. i rest my case.

I REST MY CASE

do i. even have to elaborate.

thanks sonic for being so dense for 3 decades😒

so essentially that indicates that he HAS made up his mind now? and it’s pretty obvious as to what considering the way he treated her pretty much the entirety of Frontiers

mostly the thing with frontiers sonic is that all of this is to himeslf, like a soliloquy…more on that in a sec

~

We could talk about the IDW comics but most of that is a little too subtle for me to call really “returning the feelings” and im lowkey too lazy to go find the panels im thinking of so maybe i’ll do that some other time

however i’ll just leave this:

casual familiarity how i adore you (HE JUST GRABS HER NO SECOND THOUGHTS IM CRYING)

~

you think i was gonna make a long essay post on sonamy and not talk about sonic x?? did you?? DID YA???

*explodes*

HOW IS IT THAT THIS WAS LIKE IN 2003 AND WE STILL HAVENT GOTTEN A BETTER SONAMY MOMENT THAN THIS ITS TRULY TIMELESS…

BIG INHALE OKAY SO i think the major takeaways from this are

This is a private moment

Amy matters a LOT to Sonic

Sonic’s not one for words but rather actions

One, yeah, this is something that is special to Amy and Sonic, to the point where even the audience doesn’t know what he said to her because its muted (stellar choice in my opinion because it adds a lot more weight to them) but its pretty obvious that he either said “Aishiteru, Emi” or “Daisuki, Emi”, both of which mean “i love you Amy” on a pretty deep level. But the point is that its between them and between them only. Even later in season 3 when Amy talks about it, she’s deliberately cut off before she can repeat what Sonic said to her that day. Obviously this isn’t supposed to be public knowledge

Two, the context is that Sonic has literally been stuck on another planet for quite some time, and most people either gave up on him ever returning or thought he was dead. But not Amy. And guess what? The first place he goes to—he literally BEELINES there as Super Sonic—is straight to Amy’s house. He wanted to see her first and likely reassure him that he was okay because he knew that she’d be worried sick. Also I think he just missed her in general…

Three, he knows what a white (or lavender idc) rose means and deliberately chose that flower to give to her upon his return. And again with the muted words, his actions speak louder to us as an audience than a simple “i looooove you amyyy” and this is generally a common theme with Sonic, especially in Sonic X (probably the most accurate representation of Sonic outside the games).

btw this can be taken as platonic but man do i want to yap about it:

amy KNOWS sonic can’t swim and even in her barely conscious state she tells him to basically leave her for dead. HIS SAFETY IS STILL HER TOP PRIORITY. but does sonic listen? nahhh. there were literally hundreds of other people perfectly capable of rescuing amy but noooo he went in and dove after her because HIS top priority was HER safety

again, actions speak louder than words

also the whole thing how he didn’t just restring the bracelet she made him, no, her tied a new string to the original ones and went and got more shells?? that are found next to his biggest fear??? yeah that speaks volumes about how much he treasures that lil gift of hers

lastly its kind of small but i really appreciate how he just lets her hug him and reciprocates too? it’s very adorable

so more sonamy huggies for the soul <3

THE “AMES” GET ME EVERYTIME AAAAAAAAAAA

and actually sonic doesn’t really do physical intimacy that isn’t teasing, like remember when TAILS’ GIRLFRIEND JUST D I E D AND HE DIDNT HUG HIM (i have a bone to pick with sonic here)..

idk sonic is generally a not very emotional character; he can’t cry, he doesn’t get angry, he can’t blush, all these mandates indicating he keeps his emotions to himself

the largest range of emotions we see in sonic are whenever he’s with amy; confusion, fear, embarassment, flusteredness, etc.

~

most other iterations of sonic are some sort of au or canon divergent so i wont talk about those buuut lmk if i missed something im sure i did

SO. IN CONCLUSION.

what have we learned? (i sound like a teacher)

Sonic values freedom over everything

amy doesn’t want to take away Sonic’s freedom, she wants to join him

Sonic doesn’t mind Amy’s affection as long as she’s not overwhelming

sonic is pretty private when it comes to his feelings or intimate moments with amy or anything else really

and i have one final thing that i want to bring up to drive my point home that some people may not take as canon but hey it exists

well there you go! that’s sonic’s characterization. yes he likes amy but isn’t showy about it. that’s essentially what i’ve been building up to.

he’s not gonna go yell to the world that he loves his girlfriend sososososo much but like in private? hell yeah (though rn its more like they both know that amy loves sonic, duh, but they also both know that sonic likes amy and they’re just chilling with it, not quite dating but two friends that know they like each other)

And me personally? i like to see them as top notch battle couple with an hair tearing amount of romantic tension lol cause yeah thats my jammm

oh and then theres boom sonamy with the most amount of sexual tension ive ever seen between cartoon hedgehogs

So to answer your question directly: yes it’s in character for sonic to like amy as long as it’s mostly a private thing between him and her <3

my lang teacher wishes i could write with this much passion on my argumentative essays

ok bye thanks for coming to my ted talk have an absopositively splenderrific day 🙈

[angstandhappiness]

Neat

i'm losing my mind I cannot witness this alone. LOOK at dr phil's monstrosity of a mansion

[psicheanima]

Gregor Linguistic Analysis

Hello. I just finished Canto 1, so as I said, here are some things I found fun about the way Gregor speaks. I’ll do Rodya after Canto 2, and so on and so forth.

Do not mention any events after Canto 1 in the notes or tags of this post, thank you.

Gregor’s sentences are short to mid length, maintaining a natural, almost casual rhythm. His syntax is straightforward, avoiding complex subordinate clauses or elaborate phrasing. This reflects his laid-back and nonchalant attitude— his speech is efficient, unpretentious, and devoid of pretense. His words flow with a conversational ease, almost never rushed or clipped (despite his habit to drop subjects, compare him to someone like Ishmael, for example— he’s more warm), reinforcing his uncomplicated nature, which is something he really wants others to see— he wants to be a simple, regular man. He does not want to be seen as someone important.

He uses shortened constructions—such as omitting subject or auxiliary verbs—which gives his speech a relaxed, even offhand feel. In particular, when he talks about his past, he almost never talks proactively.

Fitting his casual speech and “action-oriented” past, Gregor also uses phrasal verbs in a casual context quite a bit. This also ties in with his tendency to downplay his personal struggles by speaking as if they were just ordinary events. When he does this, he also tends to pass the responsibility to his superiors, placing himself in the position of “but I’m just a guy, it’s (external thing).”. (His landlord, his manager).

Gregor is, however, quite the normal guy when it comes to how he speaks, so though there’s no much to say about his word choice outside of some strangely old-timey whimsical words every now and then (absolutely used to make him seem more warm, affable, and distinctively NOT like a strict military guy.) But there is quite a bit to say about what he “chooses” to say.

When talking about serious or painful things, he keeps it brief but adds this elliptical phrasing that lets the weight of his words sink in without outright stating it. He never spells out his emotions—his restraint makes the pain obvious without needing to say it. It’s less about what he says and more about what he holds back.

However, the most standout thing about the way Gregor speaks is the way he always subjugates himself whenever joking. Gregor himself says he does this.

However, his jokes about his arm will always hold more passive aggression and underlying hurt than his more elaborate, whimsical jokes about his previous military position— the topics that make him most upset.

He eases not only outright— but any potential hostility with humor. Consider the way he uses a mild, almost playful, word like “pest” to describe his condition—it reflects the level of detachment he’s employing in his suffering, a detachment that very much is the only thing helping him manage that suffering. He can’t open about how much discomfort it causes him, so fashions it as a palatable thing others can laugh at WITH him, instead of AGAINST him.

He believes people will always mock him, and even more importantly thinks there is something worth mocking about him, so this humor is always light hearted and easy to ignore. He does not challenge others cruelty towards him.

It’s not so big of a deal that people see him as something other if he’s not dangerous. He’s a monster, but just a small one. A pest. Insignificant.

In this same way he often uses rhetorical questions and double negatives to get his point across on this topic. For example, when he says the above, he’s highlighting the unpleasantness of his arm without directly addressing the actual discomfort it causes others. It’s his way of communicating subtly— avoiding bitterness or confrontation, trying to force himself into the “joke” of how revolting he is. Another way he does this is by referring to the other soldiers as “things”. Othering himself.

So despite his ease with small talk (being the first to introduce himself to us), his deeper emotions often surface in the spaces between words. He lets the quiet do the heavy lifting, as he is unwilling to say things plainly.

His distaste for status is reflected most simply in how he speaks to Dante.

“Manager Bud” → “Bud” softens authority. It reflects his preference for informal, cordial relationships rather than professional ones. The very concept of a work life similar to the military structure he knows is something he is absolutely terrified of. He does not like putting people higher or lower than him.

Gregor’s speech register is informal, with a blend of

- Working class pragmatism

- Older, slightly rustic quirks (usually one off words like “bugger”)

- Military lingo (in particular, he mentions “getting medals” a lot where others would say “rewarded”.)

In conclusion: He is someone who has been through a range of social settings but refuses to perform “proper” speech anymore in any effort to seem like a regular citizen, something he feels deeply he is not, and so he uses humor to feel as if he is “in” on the joke of how revolting he is.

[frankingsteinery]

incest in frankenstein is not always literal but often manifests through the merging of roles--for example, caroline makes elizabeth into an extension of herself, shaping her into a replacement maternal figure who then becomes victor's bride. caroline's actions suggest a deferred form of incestuous desire (particularly when considering victor's nightmare where elizabeth turns into caroline and he kisses her)--she does not act on it herself but instead uses elizabeth as an intermediary, crafting her in her own image and ensuring she remains within the family unit as both daughter, sister and wife. in doing so, elizabeth not only fulfills the role of wife to victor but also the role of wife to alphonse, as she becomes his quote "more than daughter." given this history, victor's act of creation becomes more than just a scientific endeavor--it is, in a sense, an unconscious repetition of the generation cycle of misplaced desire. victor talks about his creature during the creation process in ways that strongly resemble euphemisms for sexual transgression (as much as people who favor the creature-as-son interpretation don’t like to acknowledge this): he describes a night of feverish anticipation, bodily toil, and an act of creation or "birth" conducted in solitude, followed by overwhelming regret and self-loathing the moment he sees what hes done. there is, too, the same blurring of boundaries between victor and the creature that is a running theme within the rest of the frankensteins: creator and created, parent and child, self and other. victor's disgust at his creature, then, is twofold: he is repulsed by its monstrous form, yes, but he is also repulsed by what it represents--his own participation in perpetuating an ongoing legacy of psuedo-incest. when the creature demands a mate, this dynamic becomes more pronounced. the creature essentially asks victor to complete the incestuous cycle by providing him with a bride, a second creature formed in the same manner, what would technically be the creature's sister; victor's destruction of the female creature suggests an almost violent reaction to his own subconscious recognition of the pattern he is repeating. it is significant then that he chooses, though without realizing it, to break this cycle of abuse by refusing to comply to a marriage between siblings like his mother did to him and elizabeth.

[lime-bloods]

Watchmen, Issues #1-12; Homestuck, pp. 4167, 5585; Homestuck: Beyond Canon, p. 716

Naked White Jake is the fulfilment of something of an unspoken prophecy in Homestuck regarding a mustachio'd radioactive mutant. Like Manhattan, over the course of his life Jake's trousers have been shortening inevitably towards this point. But for Jake in particular, this development represents not Manhattan's increasing detachment from humanity, but rather an escalation of his ongoing objectification-as-woman. Specifically, I think the next chapter in Jake's story is to be an exploration of 'apotheosis' as a form of female objectification in fiction.

End of Evangelion (1997)

Beyond the superficially Manhattan, the most obvious cultural point of comparison for Jake's new form would seem to be the End of Evangelion's Rei Ayanami - colloquially dubbed the "Giant Naked Rei" by Evangelion commentators. The similarities are in more than just their pallid, luminescent, larger-than-life (be that figuratively or literally) and naked forms; pictured above, Rei caresses in her hands a meteorite which was at one time the birthplace of the human race and now acts as the womb toward which all human souls are drawn in order to be born again. The parallels to Jake's protection of the meteor in 8r8k - a meteorite from which the population of Earth C was born and toward which they seem to find themselves once more inescapably drawn - are obvious.

But it's not the literal events of the battle for the meteor that are necessarily most significant here; more relevant is what Rei represents as a cultural symbol. Rei's designated role throughout Evangelion is primarily as object, sexualised and maternalised both - sometimes simultaneously - and it is in her apotheosis as the Giant Naked Rei that this objectification reaches its logical extreme. Like Naked Jake - and in some ways like Doctor Manhattan, too - Naked Rei's transformation into Lilith places her at the furthest possible point from her own humanity, as a sheer force of nature. Within Evangelion's mythology, Lilith is essentially an artifact; she is called by female pronouns, but only on the technicality that she exists to facilitate this process of birthing and re-birthing. Within folklore, Lilith's role is hardly any more illustrious, an existence solely to submit to husband Adam's will and to mother his hundreds of children - but it's this lot in life that speaks particularly to Jake's own history of objectification.

(taking all that into account, the nurturing nature of Naked Jake's actions does strike me as worthy of comment. while all of Earth C appears subconsciously intent on claiming the meteor-egg at the center of the universe, Jake's actions are protective, even generative; I've commented already on how unintuitive it seems that his hope field causes angels to radiate outwards from the meteor when everything else is trying to impregnate it. he almost appears to go through the motions of performing acts which had previously belonged to the women on the battlefield: it's hard not to draw the link between his hope bubble and Jade's force field {which itself seems to call back to the "containment" dead Calliope set up for Earth C itself}, and the part he plays in Jade's revival had up until that point been solely the domain of Life-givers Jane and Meenah {who have their own long and complex relationships with motherhood}. Naked Jake's hope field is destructive, but only ever passively; his primary contribution to the battle's events is that of midwife.)

Doctor Who (2005), Series 1 Episode 13 "The Parting of the Ways"

A further point of comparison, which is less immediately apparent and has been far less widely discussed despite its broad cultural reach but I feel has equally significant potential ramifications, is to Doctor Who's Bad Wolf.

The gendered power dynamic between Doctor and companion is key to Doctor Who as a piece of art. By the very nature of the programme's structure she is disposable, interchangeable; and by the nature of the culture from which the story originates, the purpose of her existence teeters on the same precipice between emotional support and sex appeal that is usually occupied in our minds by the magician's assistant or the airline hostess. In reviving a 20th century concept for the 21st century it fell upon writers of modern sensibility to somehow make the programme's female deuteragonists just as 'special' as its male idol, and through the nadir of Doctor Who's relationship to gender politics (under self-proclaimed fetishist of "powerful, sexy women" Steven Moffat) this process came to be emblemised by the transformation of women with names into girls with titles. Following the example set by the prototypic "Girl in the Fireplace", "The Girl Who Waited" and "Impossible Girl" are stripped of human identity in order to sell their human identity: ascension to mythic status as the ultimate logical endpoint of the 'strong female character'.

Without delving too deep into all the nuances of Rose Tyler herself - who is just as worthy of being distinguished from the above examples as she is of being included among them, but this isn't quite the place for that essay - the Bad Wolf is easily identifiable as the genesis of Doctor Who's obsession with the (all-)powerful woman. Like Manhattan, Tyler is an ordinary human made unexpectedly omnipotent by exposure to exotic energy; but also like Manhattan, at least early in his life - and perhaps unlike the Giant Naked Rei - Tyler's actions as the Bad Wolf are still motivated by a recognisably human emotive impetus. Such it is that, even as-god, Tyler continues to be weighed down by the fetter of Doctor Who's intrinsically patriarchal dynamic: for a human (woman) to act above her station in such a way, by taking up the authority to control life and death which belongs traditionally to the Time Lords (gendered deliberately), could be not just her own undoing but the undoing of the whole (social) fabric of reality. The 'Bad Wolf' is referred to as if she/it is a separate entity from 'Rose Tyler' almost by necessity; a woman is 'allowed' to be a person or to be powerful, but never both simultaneously, because, crucially, a woman who is allowed to be a person makes mistakes.

Homestuck: Beyond Canon, p. 630

Jake's powers are - so like a woman, one might cynically add - intimately tied up in his emotions. A comparison perhaps more familiar to Homestuck's established repertoire of cultural touchstones would be the Jean Grey-Phoenix (two names which, very much like Rose Tyler and the Bad Wolf, have come over time to be used to refer to two distinct entities, out of fear for what it might mean for one human woman to wield such omnipotent power) of Christopher Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, whose transformation into cosmic force of nature goes hand-in-hand with her self-discovery as an independent, sexual woman. Significantly, Jake retreats into his own force-of-nature state seemingly in direct response to objectifying treatment. The hope field isn't just something he struggles to control; it manifests itself directly out of feelings of loss of control.

Though the explosion of energy that lays waste to Derse is the most dramatic manifestation of this retreat into hopelessness, Beyond Canon throws us hints at how these attacks can arise in less drastic, day-to-day scenarios: specifically, how Jake's "just wishing that [Tavros' nut allergy] would nix" causes it to disappear, completely by accident. Like Rose Tyler, Jake English is a character that the story has decided is simply too tiny-minded to comprehend the massive power he wields, and as a result he reacts to situations of misunderstanding and distress by simply warping the world into one that he does understand.

Beyond Canon, p. 716; Doctor Who, "The Parting of the Ways"

For the Bad Wolf, this shows itself in the resurrection of Jack Harkness. Gunned down only moments before, Tyler decides in her childish ignorance that he should be alive again, and the result is that Jack Harkness being alive becomes a fact of reality: just as Tavros will never experience another allergic reaction again, Jack is abandoned by the Doctor - who in all his patriarchal authority on the matters of life and death has decided his existence is a mistake - to live an eternity without ever knowing death.

Naturally we must then question the significance of Jake intervening in the same way in Jade's death. None of the same ambiguity surrounds Jade that has previously surrounded other victims of resurrection interference; having done little in the way of villainy, and being struck unceremoniously from afar by an unnamed gunman, there is little reason to believe Jade's death could have possibly been narratively significant enough to stick. So if the lack of clarity is not on our part, we have to assume it is on Jake's: what, then, are the possible repercussions of Jake bringing back from the brink of death someone whose circumstances he does not fully understand? If Rose's assessment is correct - that whether a god is deemed heroic or villainous depends on the internal judgement of their own complex and nuanced "moral grey matter" - what then are the potential ramifications of Jake praying that this moral grey matter be cured of what ills it?

What are the consequences of the apotheosis of the sex object?

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

usamericans, do you remember in the incredibles when syndrome made the robot go haywire just so he could swoop in and 'save the day'

[counting-stars-gayly]

i was today years old when i realized vi wasn’t the only one who felt like she chose wrong every time and lost everyone because of it, and caitlyn wasn’t the only one who said “you haven’t lost me, you don’t always choose wrong, and i’ve already forgiven all your past mistakes”

[mondo-tastic]

Did you know...

King Candy's eye colour changes throughout Wreck-It Ralph?

His eyes are brown when we first meet him, only darkening/changing to black dots for expression or comedic effect...

However...

After he reveals himself to be Turbo, his eyes take on a familiar shade of yellow...

[artist-issues]

I accidentally came across this while I was scrolling through the Star Wars tag

And I just thought how the hell you miss the point of the film so badly?!

Like I really hope this is some really unfunny joke or something. I saved loads of drafts trying to find ways to argue this point but in the end I just couldn’t be bothered wasting my time and deleted them. Chances are I’d be arguing with a brick wall and I don’t have the energy for that. So here I’m giving it to you to get your teeth into if you want

Well. I can/t see who posted it so they can’t defend their position, which I generally frown upon. But just to argue with the idea, not the person:

It sounds like this is the kind of post that’s made from the perspective of somebody who believes just punishment is the highest form of Good that can undo the effects of Bad. When actually, redemption is the highest form of Good that can undo the effects of Bad. Just punishment is just the next-best thing when redemption and forgiveness is impossible.

But here’s the thing—the only way a person can be redeemed is through the forgiveness of the party that has been wronged. And the only person who has a right to demand justice for wrongdoing is the person who, innocent themselves, was wronged.

Luke was uniquely situated to refuse to execute justice on Vader—because he’s his son. If anyone left alive by the end of Episode VI has suffered because of everything Anakin’s done as Vader, it’s Luke.

Orphaned not once, not even twice, but three times if you count the death of Obi Wan.

Homeless.

Separated from his only remaining family for their entire childhood.

His only friends and family have been tormented and endangered since the moment he met them.

He has been tormented and maimed.

The entire legacy he should have inherited, with all the advantages of teachers and learning in safety, are gone.

The whole world he’s growing up in has been shaped by fear from the literal moment of his own birth onward.

…And because of his heritage, he’s got the weight of the responsibility for the fate of the already-basically-ruined galaxy on his shoulders.

So if anyone’s got the right to judge Anakin for his choices, if anyone has the authority morally and legally to “press charges,” it’s Luke. The only person with more claim to that right would be Leia.

The fact that he chooses not to “press charges,” not to avenge, is the whole point of the series, like you said. Luke had the ability and the right to take control of the situation and choose how it ended. That would’ve given him total certainty about the end result. An illusion of “safety-at-last.”

But that’s the whole point of his character. To have the farm boy who’s always rushing off to the horizon and reaching to do more Do More DO MORE—STOP? And put his faith in something other than his own abilities? Give up his control of the situation, with a line that literally references who his father was?

And who was his father? Anakin Skywalker, a young hero who could never stop trying to control outcomes and bring about “certainty” through his own power!

To have Luke Skywalker extend mercy by throwing away control…to the same father who never could make the same choice when it was his time to be the hero?

Master-stroke of storytelling. But even more than that, it’s true. The person who made this comment needs to read A Tale of Two Cities. Or Genesis.

Punishing someone who has done so much wrong that they can never make it right again is justice, and it is good. But having the authority to make that call because you’re the one injured, and choosing to extend forgiveness and open the road to a clean slate for the offender, instead? That’s better.

It’s better because to make that decision heals. Luke can move on from the limb he’ll never grow back and the mom he never met and the aunt, uncle, and masters he’ll never see again. He can do that—it doesn’t have to be a scar on the tissue of his life. Because the way the “case file” of his “wrongs” ended was “I choose not to hold onto that hurt or press charges. I choose to let it go.” And therefore it can no longer hurt him.

Unlike the ravening packs in the French Revolution who wound up killing rich women and children who’d never personally hurt them because once you start deciding that vengeance or not even vengeance but “retributive justice” is the only thing that end your pain, the more the idea of “retributive justice” gets addictive. It promises to heal the hurt but all it really does is narrow your focus onto the hurt until you can’t even see the humans you’re hurting.

Anyway.

Besides, justice was still served. The Emperor was still defeated. The Empire was toppled. And Anakin, whose wrongdoings had already been manifesting punishment in his body and mind and spirit for years, also paid the ultimate price for everything he’d ever done. The truth is, (and Star Wars supports this) Anakin created his own punishment.

Padme died because he chose power over her, and his punishment was to live without her in the knowledge that he killed her. Can you imagine worse punishment for him?

Obi-Wan was Anakin’s longest and oldest friend, who loved and stood by him for most of his life, and he lost not only that friendship, but the trust and camaraderie and even respect of that relationship. And what did it get replaced with? Nothing. Emptiness.

The Jedi Council are gone, and in their place in Anakin’s life going forward? A sadistic old crone who is actively trying to get Vader’s son to kill him despite all his years of loyalty, and flunkies Vader can choke to death. No community.

Plus, he’s in a living nightmare prison of machinery and deformity for twenty years. What exactly could Luke do to him that would’ve been a more satisfying punishment?

This person seems to be making the comment out of a misguided sense of loss of characters like Padme, and suffering to characters like Obi Wan. I don’t think they’re taking the story as a whole. I think they really liked the world of the Prequels and really felt the tragedy of losing that version of the world. That’s my take.

[angstandhappiness]

HANDY

I think I just found the only reasonable exchange involving two people with opposing views on porn to ever exist on this website

[huggywuggysuppy]

Piggybacking off @applepixls hermitcraft economy post, what’s up with Pearl and Keralis’ surprisingly lucrative flowers and dyes shop?

Flowers and dyes are ideal for shops. They’re used a lot in building and material gathering, but are generally too tedious to make a proper farm for. For example, black dye commonly comes from squids, which are annoying to kill in bulk. Unlike Joel’s glow ink where he’s pretty much the only one using glow ink in enough bulk to buy — aside from Impulse and other redstoners who can make their own farms. Also, there’s a wide variety of product, to match the assortment of constant demand. False needs dye for her concrete shop, as do some of the glass collective. All builders love spore blossoms and most hermits haven’t bothered playing around with sniffers to have easy access to their flowers. Every hermit has at least one need from the flower and dyes shop.

Importantly, the shop has unique infrastructure only Pearl can take advantage of. Dye-duction is the stand out, being on the higher end of minigames, both in replayability but also quality like Oli’s custom soundtrack. Speaking of, Pearl’s drawn several other neighbors to her side of the shopping district. Along with Gem who was already there, Impulse and False directly themed off Pearl’s building — even including mini-games — for plant shops cohesion and Pearl’s own friendly relationships (soup group!) The greatest location benefit of all is Pearl building the secondary shopping district portal directly nextdoor. All these qualities bring in customers and keep the shop fresh in their minds.

The flower shop dodges many of the permit system downsides too. As applepixl described: its very difficult to build let alone stock so many shops singlehandedly. But the flower shop is a joint venture with Keralis and they very much split the work. She handles the operation and publicity/events (ex: Doc’s llama tour, eventual Peardle tournament,) while he supplies the wide array of products. Even being in opposite work hours helps: there’s always someone to catch if the store needs restocking. (Their efficiency is very similar to the Post Office — down to Pearl as the public-facing operative.) The flowers and dyes shop has steady demand, amplified by intentional infrastructure and management, which is sustained through a joint venture. If only they could split and use the well-earned profits!

[breadandlottery]

If the rules about splitting the prize and voting after each game had been in place in Season 1, how would Gi-hun have voted?

According to the recruiter, Gi-hun owed 415 million won total. At no point in season 2 was the per-person payout that high.

Players died a lot faster in season 1, so using those numbers but with the new rules, individual payouts would be:

126,865,671 after red light, green light

322,222,222 after dalgona

470,000,000 after "special game" (although idk if they'd vote after this)

1,040,000,000 after tug-of-war

2,750,000,000 after marble

15,000,000,000 final 3

Now. Gi-hun voted to leave the first time, when the rules were that you get no money, so all other things being equal, I think he's voting to leave after the first game in any scenario.

He only went back after:

Learning about the expensive medical care his mom needed

Trying other ways to get the money

So I think in deciding whether to accept the payout or not, Gi-hun would only consider the immediate medical need, and not his overall debt.

I don't know how much the medical care would cost in Korea. Here where I am, what his mom needed could easily be tens of thousands of dollars without insurance, or 10 thousand+ with insurance, depending on the insurance. I believe there is nationalized health insurance in Korea, but I'm sure there are things it doesn't cover (and it seems he canceled her secondary insurance).

When Gi-hun asks Jung-bae to lend him money, he asks for 3 million, so it's possible the care would not have been a huge expense (of course when you have nothing, even low-cost things are out of reach).

So even if Gi-hun started the games knowing he needed the money for his mom, I still think he would have voted to leave after the first game with the season 1 numbers, and possibly with the season 2 numbers. Definitely after the second game with season 2 numbers. Ultimately he wasn't risking his life to get out of debt, he was risking his life for his mom. Which, damn, now I'm sad.