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hadesknockedupintheunderworld · 10 months ago

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For funsies I'm just going to go point by point and talk about it a bit

Cause why not, you know?

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1. Tails always follows Sonic wherever he goes. Why else would he do that unless he got feelings for the hog?

So I know what you all were thinking.

"But op! That's not definitive proof of anything! There are many reasons he could be following him, especially if he's a fan or admires him."

And you wouldn't necessarily be wrong, but I'd like to elaborate on this point a bit.

I'll start out by saying that Tails doesn't simply "follow Sonic around everywhere", at least in a way that makes one think of the little kid at school who always follows this older kid around when they're there, or a younger sibling who follows their older sibling around wherever they go.

Sonic didn't know Tails before he started following him or have any kind of relationship with him. Tails knew of Sonic and admired him as his hero, but context clues from the classic games and their manuals lend the implication that Sonic is a bit of a loner. Yes, he's a hero, but he travels alone and doesn't necessarily seem to have personal relationships with anyone.

So if we combine context from the jp Sonic 2 manual, the new sonic 2 cutscene from Sonic Origins, and the backstory of Tails Sonic recounts in Sonic Prime, Tails was one of many innocents saved by Sonic. And so even if Tails knew of him before, now Tails personally considered Sonic as his hero that he looks up to (as an aside, I'd like to point to the early Archie comics as well, where there are multiple lines out of Tails' mouth about Sonic calling him "My hero!").

And so Tails began to follow his hero around. But...it wasn't just some casual following Sonic around everywhere. He quite literally followed Sonic everywhere he went, no matter how fast Sonic ran or flew in his plane or how far he went. Aside from being one of many people Sonic saved, Sonic had no particular connection to Tails, and yet Tails persistently followed him (in the eng manual's story he learned to fly faster so he could catch up to Sonic, even when Sonic would try to leave him behind). Tails followed Sonic long enough that Sonic, a hedgehog who couldn't boast so many friends at this time, began to worry about his well-being. And in the jp Sonic 2 manual, Sonic didn't really even take Tails with him at the start of Sonic 2 so much as Tails decided he *had* to be by Sonic's side.

(Here is a collection of the different manuals from sonic 2, their stories and bios, as well as a fan translation of stuff from the jp manual, and here another recount of the story can be found)

Even if Sonic is fairly unconcerned about this in the Sonic 2 manual (aside from the implication that Sonic started watching out for Tails out of the corner of his eyes), I don't really think this can be considered "normal behavior". Again, Sonic isn't just some older kid at school or one of Tails' siblings here. Tails just started following around a hedgehog he likes and admires and wants to be like, and he chooses to follow him into danger simply because "I need to be by his side".

But that's not really all I want to point out. Funnily enough, there just so happens to be another main Sonic character who Sonic saved, who considered Sonic their hero, who stalked followed him around, who decided on their own that they had to be by Sonic's side, and would later become a friend of his.

Amy Rose!

Now, as this reblog isn't meant to be too long, I'm not going to throw out all my Amy/Tails parallel proof out here, but I will share some.

If you would kindly take a look at the Sonic CD manual in JP (translation can be found here), you will notice that before Sonic Adventure released, both Tails and Amy were canonically 8 years old. And while Tails followed Sonic around, admiring Sonic as his hero, Amy fancied Sonic her hero as well. Where Tails in the JP manual decided he needed to be by Sonic's side, Amy (after CD at the very least) decided she needed to be Sonic's girlfriend.

(This also extends to the Archie Sonic comics funnily enough. Before the Sonic Adventure adaptation, both Tails and Amy were depicted as about the same age (with Tails a little older), they both are characters in the earlier comics who tend to believe in Sonic when no one else does (whether it's about him doing something bad or being presumed dead), and they both go around calling him their hero. In fact, in their Sonic CD adaptation in issue 25, both Amy and Tails are captured by Robotnik, and when Sonic defeats the original Metal Sonic, they both proclaim that Sonic is their hero (with Amy saying it with hearts in her eyes).)

And finally, I'd bid you to watch Tailstube #4. Which, I can really only describe as Amy/Tails parallel central when it comes to their relationships to Sonic. Right after Amy's introduction, Tails pauses before calling the two of them "Sonic experts". And to strengthen my earlier point about Amy considering Sonic as a hero, Amy goes on to talk about how at the beginning of CD (also showing a new clip from Sonic Origins), her fortune cards predicted that she'd meet her hero at Never Lake (to which Sonic arrived to save her from Metal Sonic). Sonic had canonically saved both her and Tails at one point, and they both considered him their hero.

In any case, to close this part up. My assertion is that across Sonic media (and within game canon), there are a surprising number of direct parallels regarding Amy and Tails and their feelings for or relationship to Sonic. And if we can consider Amy trying to improve herself and become stronger and following her hero around so she can be with him to be romantic, then I think it's a valid reading for Tails too. Neither of them are all that subtle or normal in their following of him or particular obsession of him (an obsession that's possibly even more explicit for Tails in the Sonic movie universe, where used to watch Sonic live all the time before meeting him). So maybe Tails followed Sonic around all the time because he admired his hero, because he wanted to be like his hero, and because he wanted to be with his hero. Perhaps he did have a puppy crush on the hog!

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2. Tails theme song is about how much he is madly in love with Sonic and how he sits in his chair thinking about him

I have actually been waiting for an excuse to break down the lyrics of Tails' theme (Sonic Adventure version here but I'd actually suggest listening to the SA2 ver here) from the Adventure titles, and so I suppose the time is now!

So what I don't think I can overstate is that Tails' desires for the future, his wishes to become stronger, his wishes to be cooler, all of these are sort of hopelessly entertwined with Sonic. He wants to be cool like Sonic. In the JP manual, his personality as it is explicitly comes about because of his desire to be like him. So even if he ultimately cannot be Sonic or even if he becomes his own type of hero, a lot of who he is as a hero/person and his goals are connected to Sonic.

I should make clear right now that I'm not saying everything about Tails revolves around Sonic. (Just like Riku kh in relation to Sora kh) I think it's very clear that Tails has interests and possibly even friends outside of him. Not every bit of him revolves around Sonic, but that doesn't mean he isn't connected to him.

Tails' love of machinery/technology or fascination in different fields of study—none of these were derived from Sonic. His interest in mechanics/machines/technology specifically came about before he initially became interested in Sonic. However, it's hard to ignore that he derived his personality from trying to be like Sonic, he wants to be cool like Sonic, he admires Sonic, he follows Sonic around, he wants to be a hero like him, etc etc

Okay, with that out of the way, the lyrics. These lyrics, in a way, exemplify how connected Sonic is to the way of life and the goals Tails has chosen.

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"When all alone in my chair/I just go about wishing/Wanna be strong/Really wanna be trusted aah"

When the song begins, it seems as if he's lamenting his position. He mentions that he wants to be strong and trusted (For what?), and this beginning part with the "Aah" gets across...how emotional he is about this (frustrated perhaps). Is it that because he's always with Sonic or because he's not as prominent a figure as him, people don't trust him as they do Sonic? Is it that he feels that he cannot prove himself as things are? And the comment about being strong... Is it that he generally wants to be stronger, or is it that he's afraid he's not strong enough to continue to be with Sonic?

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"When all alone in my bed/I just go about yearning/Wanna be cool/I also wanna be like him"

Now, this part fits pretty much with what we know about Tails. We know he wants to be cool, that he admires Sonic, that he wants to be like him. But there are two things I want to point out.

First, the word choice of "yearning" here is very interesting. As I said earlier, Tails' goals and ambitions, they seem to be hopelessly connected to Sonic. This leads into my second point. Second, the clear separation between "I want to be cool" and "I also wanna be like him". It would be easy enough to say that Tails wants to be cool like Sonic or that he wants to be cool and wants to be like that, but the "I also" very much separates these two points. Though we know from evidence (namely the jp manuals) that Tails wants to be cool and specifically looks to Sonic for the inspiration on how to become this (trying to be like him), it's interesting that these lyrics specifically state that he wants to be like him the way they do. Like, yes Tails wants to be cool, but it almost suggests that he'd want to "be cool" no matter where he looked to inspiration on finally "being cool", and so "I also want to be like [Sonic]" seems to suggest that he wants to be cool in general, but he also wants to be like Sonic.

Essentially what I'm getting at is that his wanting to be cool is not necessarily because of Sonic, but he does want to be like Sonic (which may imply he wants to be cool specifically in the way Sonic is). And when you pair up Tails "yearning" about the kind of fox he wants to be, and that "yearning" centering thoughts of Sonic, well

You understand op's comment about how the song is about how Tails sits in his chair thinking about Sonic, right? Even if you disagree with "madly in love with", it's very clear just how highly Tails thinks of Sonic, how when he's all alone yearning, he thinks of Sonic when he thinks of his ideal self. Sonic is connected with his ideal self and future (in terms of how and who he wants to be), and yet he also yearns thinking of him.

And perhaps kinda gay to yearn while thinking about your best friend

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"But that's not something/I can do so easily/This is not simply my way/My own style/Gotta get ahold of my life"

Now, this portion actually presents a great deal of awareness from Tails. He wants to be cool. He yearns when he's in bed, thinking about Sonic, how he wants to be like him.

But he recognizes the futility of it. It's not so easy to simply be like Sonic, especially because he is not him and is not exactly like him. No matter how much he thinks or yearns, being exactly like Sonic does not fit him. Sonic's style is not his style, and (based on the "Gotta get ahold of my life") I interpret this portion as Tails coming to the unfortunate realization that just letting things be as they are now, trying to be exactly as Sonic is in all its futility, is keeping him stagnant. Ironically, he cannot grow or be a hero like Sonic as long as he simply tags along and only plays backup or simple support. He cannot grow by trying to be like Sonic in ways he can never be. He has to get ahold of his life and figure out how to move forward instead of letting things stay just as they are (and clearly, given the earlier lines, the way things are now frustrates him".

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"I wanna fly high/So I can reach the/Highest of all the heavens/Somebody will be/Waiting for me so/I've got to fly higher"

Now, this section is also highly interesting to me. Tails wants to fly high, he wants to (figuratively) reach the highest of all the heavens, he wants to be strong, he wants to be trusted. And while I think he does want this for himself at least partially for the sake of having these things and growing, the second half of this part might imply another reason that he wants to fly so high.

"Somebody will be waiting for me"

"Somebody"? Who is this somebody? He has to fly higher, reach the highest of the heavens, better himself, become stronger, because there's somebody already there waiting for him?

Well, given that earlier in the song the lyrics never confirm outright who "he" is, but we can safely infer that "he" is Sonic based on context clues and prior knowledge of Tails, I believe that this "somebody" is also Sonic.

While you could read it as him just saying that there are people out there waiting for him to save him, this place where somebody (singular) will be waiting for him is where the "highest of all the heavens" is. He has to fly higher to reach the highest of the heavens, and he has to fly higher because someone is waiting for him. And so, to me, if someone is waiting for him, in the highest of all the heavens that he wishes to fly high enough to reach (a place that seems to be a metaphor for the place he wants to be, the point he wants to grow to, where he will reach a version of his best self), then that person must be Sonic. Sonic is someone he greatly admires, someone who's trusted and revered as a hero, someone who is cool. Sonic is someone he wishes to be like, easily someone who (to Tails) has already reached the highest of the heavens of his own merit.

And so, I move, that not only does Tails want to be strong and cool and become his ideal self for the sake of it, but he wants to "reach the highest of the heavens" so he can continue to be with Sonic—so he can be with Sonic as an equal, someone who ultimately is on his level as a partner, as two people who are better together, rather than someone who simply tags along or plays backup or simple support.

Ultimately, I think he wants to become his own person and ideal self for his own sake, and so he can rightfully be by Sonic's side.

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"When all alone in my sleep/I just go about dreaming/I see myself there/Having the same adventure/If I just follow you/I will never see the light/Now is the time to find my way/Through this life/Trying so hard to be strong/I've gotta keep going/Everything is a brand new challenge for me and/I will believe/believe in myself/This is the only way for me"

So when he's alone and he's dreaming, he's dreaming about the same adventure. Is it a dream of an adventure he wishes for, or is it a sign of stagnation—that the adventure as it is is always the same?

I think "If I just follow you/I will never see the light" is a bit more clear/pointed, though. As I went over before, things will never get better or change if they stay the way they are. If he simply continues to follow Sonic, he will never "see the light" (or, perhaps, reach "all the heavens"). So he has to keep pushing, keep trying, keep bettering himself and following his own path, because he cannot grow if he is confining himself only to following Sonic and dreaming of being like him. Ironically, I think he's come to this conclusion partially because he cannot be who he wants to be or a real asset to Sonic (or on the same level as him) simply following him, but by forging his own path and being his own hero, he can see the light, reach the heavens, be like Sonic without being exactly like him.

I apologize for repeating myself, I just feel as if these lyrics are clear to me about what Tails wants for his life and what he wants his relationship with Sonic to look like. He recognizes what he needs to do to feel good about himself, to become his best self/achieve his goals, and how he can truly stand by Sonic's side rather than simply follow him around.

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"Many friends help me out/In return I help them/Certain things I can do/And there are things that only I can do/No one's alone/I wanna fly high/So I can reach the/Highest of all the heavens/Somebody will be/Waiting for me so/I've got to fly higher"

There are things only he can do

So I listened to this song and looked at the lyrics again just to type up this sort of breakdown. The first time I listened to it, this line did not stand out to me the same way it does now.

And if you don't know why (understandable for the record), it's because the JP localization of Tails' part of the story in Frontiers specifically centers on this idea of him "doing the things only I can do". As he despairs about whether Sonic needs him, about how he just follows around and Sonic has to be there to save him, about how he can't just be like Sonic, Sonic confesses that he admires Tails for being able to do what he can't. And so then, Tails realizes that there are things only he can do. Not being able to be exactly like Sonic and do the things he can do is not a detriment, because he can pick up Sonic's slack. He can save the people only he can save. Quite literally, with their different styles and abilities, the two of them fill each other's gaps, they make up where the other falters. Working together, they can help a lot of people!

And so "there are things only I can do" is inspiring, because he doesn't need to be like Sonic to be a hero. He doesn't need to be exactly like Sonic to be his ideal self. And by working to strengthen his own skills and abilities and focusing on doing the things only he can do, he can be an asset to Sonic.

Not just an asset, but an equal in his own right!

(By the way, here is a fan translation of JP Frontiers I would highly suggest watching—if not just to see how they localized all the scenes and story between Sonic and Tails. Where Eng has Tails center on the idea that he must separate from Sonic and go on a journey to become his own hero, JP has Sonic and Tails recognize the feats he's already accomplished, and they balance Tails' wish to continue to be at Sonic's side and be needed with the concept that all he really needs to do to ease his frustration and grow is to shift his focus. He doesn't need to leave Sonic or do more journeying outside of him. He's already done that. In JP Frontiers, he simply just needs to realize how he can be an asset and be an equal without having to be exactly like Sonic, and I personally feel that this fits Tails' arc better. But anyways, I digress)

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So, as the song comes to a close, and we leave off on Tails' wish to fly high to reach the highest of the heavens, where someone is waiting for him, what is this song about?

"Believe in Myself"

The title itself is definitely part of it. To progress to where he wants to be, to improve, he has to believe in himself. He has to believe that he can do it, even if it's hard. He has to believe that he's capable of reaching his goals.

I think this theme song is about how Tails is frustrated with the way things are now, about him recognizing that he must forge his own path if he wishes to move forward from here and become his ideal self, about how he must persevere and believe in his ability to reach his goals and live up to his ambitions, and about how he must focus on being himself and doing the things only he can do so he can stand by Sonic's side as an equal, not a follower.

So, in conclusion, I think there's a fair bit of ammo if you want to read this as gay. And while I'd personally elaborate more on op's statement, I also believe that Tails' character theme makes clear just how important Sonic is to Tails (and how much he lives in his head rent free just to yearn while thinking about him or by wanting to stand upon his pedestal with him).

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3. Sonic flees from Amy's advances but has no problem being followed around by Tails

Guys if anyone is actually reading this far down, I need you to know the amount of restraint it took during part 1 not to go on an entire tangent about how Sonic treats Amy and Tails' "advances" (so to speak) differently. And probably the only reason I did as well as I did was because I needed to actually have stuff to talk about for this point.

Now, earlier for statement 1 I went over just how similar Amy and Tails' backstories are and some of the existing parallels between them (down to them originally being depicted as the same age).

In general, Sonic pretty much has one or two reactions to people who like him. (Depending occasionally on how obsessed they are) He tends to either categorize strangers who like him as fans or as people looking to date him. For the former, he welcomes the praise and attention, sometimes even goading them on, and for the latter he gets percievably uncomfortable. For the latter, he tends to run away from those advances, or look visibly uncomfortable when he is the object of that person's affection.

And Tails, in a way, is the only exception. For years, Amy was characterized as a girl who chased/followed Sonic around as his "self proclaimed girlfriend" (that phrase specifically I've seen from magazines promoting Sonic CD), so there's pretty much an abundance of moments where across Sonic media where Amy hugs Sonic suddenly and he visibly looks uncomfortable and/or like he's just taking it so as not to be rude. And with the fact that Amy does eventually become solidified as a member of his friend group and there are pieces of Sonic media (such as Eng Frontiers, IDW Sonic, and Sonic Prime) where Amy's feelings are still clearly there without necessarily being forced upon Sonic, personally it's hard not to read the situation as Sonic and Amy growing closer as friends the less she imposes her feelings onto him.

Tails on the other hand. In the JP manual, Sonic's first reaction to Tails following him was "he can do whatever he wants". Even if there was a time where he would try to leave him in the dust (as in the Eng manual), Tails didn't become less obvious about his intentions. He would continue to follow Sonic, learning to fly fast enough to catch up so he could still do so (in the eng manual). So by all rights, Tails never really let up on his pursuing of Sonic and did whatever he could to keep following him, and he followed Sonic around long enough that Sonic started to watch out for him at the same time as he pretended he didn't care about Tails. Then in the JP manual, he pretty much just so happened to be there when the events of Sonic 2 began, and decided on his own that he just had to be at Sonic's side during this event. After that point, the implication really is that Sonic allowed his little fanboy to stick around, and that they grew a relationship over the time they spent together.

In short, Tails pursued his hero no matter what it took, inserted himself by his side, and Sonic let him. He fought by Sonic's side and improved his plane, the Tornado with his mechanical prowess, and Sonic presumably decided to keep Tails as his companion (Sonic hedgehog. Famous loner at this point). And given the classic timeline, he takes Tails on as a friend and sidekick despite everything right after CD and after Amy starts pursuing him.

While I do think the situation has to be a bit more nuanced, the truth remains that both of them obviously pursued him and tried to insert themselves at Sonic's side, and only one of them grew on Sonic as they pursued him and succeeded in their plight.

And it wasn't Amy.

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4. Their bond is literally the Unbreakable Bond. What more proof do you need?

So, in case you guys didn't know, the name "Unbreakable Bond" comes from Sonic Advance 3. In that game, there's a mechanic where you can choose to fight as two of the Sonic cast members. The 4 actual team names I could find in the game are as follows (and they do have sprites with different poses and expressions for each):

Unbreakable Bond

Lovely Couple

Fighting Buddies

Team Jubilee

(I feel like it's worth noting that the Tails/Sonic pairing out of the pairings that have actual team names is the only one where Sonic seems particularly happy or enthused about this team up)

"Unbreakable Bond" is a very strong name, though. I do agree with op on their "What more proof do you need?" statement, because seriously. No matter how you interpret Sonic and Tails' relationship, this name for them implies that theirs is perhaps the strongest relationship Sonic has (if not the strongest in general). Their bond is so strong and they are so close that it is unbreakable. No other pairing I know of here can boast that kind of proof.

No matter what happens to them or how their relationship develops over time, their bond is now unbreakable.

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5. They spoon each other in the Russian bar in the 2nd sonic movie. Brothers don't do that

While, no, spooning isn't necessarily something siblings or friends can't or wouldn't do with each other, I rest my case. This scene is still gay regardless.

If you've seen any of my posts, you know that this scene was such...the way it is, that both my mom and I were seeing romantic subtext. Before I was a Sonic fan. While I was under the impression (via the fans) that Sonic and Tails were supposed to be treated as siblings by Sega.

The entire beginning of the scene after the dance battle, it instantly reminds me of one of those heartfelt scenes under the stars—where the main character and their love interest have gone through a major bonding event, and now they're having a heart to heart as their feelings practically emanate from them.

In this film, "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could _____" becomes a minor catchphrase of Tails'. He clearly admires Sonic a lot, and getting to experience events with the hedgehog he's been watching on livestream for a while has been an enjoyable experience for him.

And as Sonic and Tails lay there on the bar, hands over their hearts/chests, Sonic goes on to tell Tails to stick with him, that the world is a scary place, but he knows everything about Earth. Tails sits up, then.

"Do you really mean that?"

And then, when Sonic seems to misunderstand, Tails sits up higher, smiles, holds a hand over his heart, and clarifies that he meant about being Sonic's pal.

In this moment, I don't believe it's a stretch in any sense of the word to say that Tails' dreams are coming true (though he likely never thought this would happen, he still watched every one of Sonic’s moments after the baseball field in movie 1—his triumphs, his failures, his most casual moments, and his most intimate or domestic—he admired Sonic, and Sonic showed him that being himself was not a bad thing—that "weirdos" like himself can even become heroes, so he likely wished deep down that he could be with his hero for real). When Sonic answers "Of course, buddy", confirming that he considers Tails as his pal, Tails gets so happy that he hugs him out of the blue.

Sonic, though he grabs Tails to move him off of him, doesn't seem to think any less of Tails for that outburst. And Tails' body language and expression instantly get more emotional, leading into him explaining how he grew up and how much Sonic means to him.

Tails turns away from Sonic when he says "Growing up, I-I didn't have any friends. Everyone in my village thought my two Tails were weird."

Then, once Sonic says "Hey. I know that feeling." Tails turns back to him, smiling once more.

"But then I saw you—the fastest creature in the galaxy. You were weird too. But you were a legend. That made me think, maybe being weird isn't so bad." Then, Tails looks at Sonic again, pulling his hand over his heart. "You inspired me. To leave my village. To find you and help you in your mission."

And Sonic's reaction to all of this? He smiles too. Tails' words seem to touch his heart in this moment. He says, softly, "I'm really glad you're here, Tails."

And Tails smiles at him softly too. "I'm really glad I'm here too, Sonic." An even fonder look appears on Tails' face as he turns away from Sonic, and he hops off the bar, head lowered and expression angled away from Sonic, even as the hedgehog follows him over to the fireplace.

But that's not the end of the scene and its heartfelt moments, no.

As the camera turns to Sonic, and he begins rambling off about how tomorrow will progress their mission, he soon cuts off. We see two shots of a fond smile from Sonic (the first being the moment he sees Tails lying down, presumably already asleep by the fireplace, and the second being when the camera cuts back to Sonic after cutting to Tails.) And that smile is ever present on Sonic's face as he puts the blanket he was holding over Tails and starts to lie down beside him.

Though the two do not face each other as they lie down, their backs are mere inches apart (despite the fact there's an entire room to lie down in), and Tails' tails emerge from under the blanket to cover Sonic as a blanket. In this moment, despite facing away from each other, they are clearly connected in this moment, both physically —with Tails covered by the blanket Sonic offered, and Sonic covered by the fox's own fluffy twin tails—and emotionally.

I know in my very soul that if Sonic and Tails in this moment were a human guy and girl, this would be the major scene that the audience learns that the two have romantic feelings for each other and want to be together. And really, this textually is a scene where the audience learns that these two want to stick together and be together on Earth and as pals.

And I maintain that if this scene was supposed to be textually "so brothers" or about Tails getting the older brother he always wanted like people claim, then it would have been made textually clear. There was nothing stopping the creators of this movie from having Tails say outright that Sonic is like the older brother he never had, or from them having Sonic confess that Tails is like the younger brother he's never had (in this case, if Tails is hesitant to be hasty in labeling their relationship out loud). And yet, not only did they direct this scene as more reminiscent of classic scenes between a main character and their love interest, but they explicitly have the two label their relationship as pals.

Tell me again how this scene can't be interpreted as having any sort of romantic subtext? (Or at least, subtext with a non-sibling-like interpretation?)

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6. Just look at the way tails looks at sonic

Yeah, guys, look at him

(From Sonic Movie 2)

(From Archie Sonic Issue #25)

(From Archie Sonic Issue #166)

(From Archie Sonic Issue #167)

(From Sonic Universe Issue #8)

(From Sonic Boom Issue #1)

(This image depicts Nine the Fox from Sonic Prime Episode 1)

(This image depicts Nine the Fox from Sonic Prime Episode 3)

(This gif depicts Nine the Fox from Sonic Prime Season 2 Episode 7)

(From Sonic Prime Season 3 Episode 7)

ㅤ(From Sonic Boom Episode 1)

(From Sonic Frontiers)

(From Sonic Colors: Rise of the Wisps)

(From Sonic Colors)

(From the Sonic OVA)

(From IDW Sonic Issue #56)

(From Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure)

(From Fang the Hunter Issue #4)

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7. Sonic is always crashing at Tails' place

To make my main points for this one, I would like to once again refer to Tailstube #4, to refer to the IDW comics, and to refer to an early episode of Sonic Boom the series.

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In Tailstube #4, Cream poses the question asking where Sonic lives. Amy responds by saying that she doesn't think Sonic has a home. She says she thinks Sonic just travels the world non-stop and camps out whenever he needs to take a break. To this, Tails confesses that Sonic crashes at his lab sometimes. Amy then elaborates on this, saying that Tails maintains Sonic's plane, keeps his door open for him, and bets that Tails even keeps his kitchen stocked in anticipation. Tails confirms this, showing an image of official art where the two of them are in a kitchen together as Tails makes chili dogs, and saying "Let's just say all those cans of chili and packages of hotdogs aren't for me" as he smiles. Amy responds to this statement by giggling.

(This Tailstube could have easily confirmed that Sonic crashes at all his friends' places, but rather it implies that when he chooses to crash at a friends' place, he chooses Tails. Not only does this imply a deep level of trust and a real bond between Sonic and Tails, but Amy's words about just how Tails treats the idea of Sonic crashing over seems to imply that it's only natural that Sonic would choose to crash at Tails' place since Tails thinks of him, opens his doors to him, and cares for him)

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Now for IDW Sonic.

First, after issue #15 where Sonic gets infected by the metal virus, we see him in issue #16 in Tails' lab when Tangle comes to visit, as Tails is running tests on him. While this is more of an interpretation than anything, it is possible to read here that enough time has passed that Sonic logically may have crashed at Tails' place. If not though, it still says a lot that Sonic went to Tails first after contracting the virus, and the real change in his expression between this issues. Namely, he's afraid at the end of Issue #15, but at the beginning of #16 he's fairly optimistic. While Tails is still concerned for him and not quite comfortable with Tangle just walking in through the front door, Sonic is smiling and quips that he may have even cured himself as Tails explains that Sonic sort of ran the virus into remission.

Next is issues #33 and #45. We never see Sonic with a house, and (fitting with Tailstube #4) Idw Sonic does seem to camp out wherever while he's adventuring (which we see him do quite a lot during the metal virus arc, as he is explicitly on the run and also trying not to infect anyone). However, during an explicit period where Sonic is not adventuring or on a mission, we see him camping outside of Tails' house at the beginning of issue #33, and we see him at Tails' place at the beginning of issue #45. With Tails' place being where Sonic is shown to be during a period of rest (without mission or adventuring to be had), I don't think it's a stretch to interpret this as Sonic hanging largely with Tails post metal virus when he doesn't have anywhere to be. And at the beginning of issue #45 specifically, Tails mentions that Sonic promised to play games with him during the weekend, and as Tails pulls Sonic into his house by the hand, Sonic tells Amy that he's booked. Especially since Sonic has no particular home, I believe there's an implication to be found here that Sonic crashes at Tails' place and hangs out with him during this weekend in the comic at the very minimum. Their level of comfortability with each other doing something like that too implies that Sonic and Tails are no stranger to doing these types of things (specifically, Sonic crashing at Tails' place overnight so they can hang out together).

Then, in issue #49, Sonic explicitly stays at Tails house overnight, crashing on his couch. When motobug starts attacking in the middle of the night, Tails even comes into the living room ready to complain about Sonic waking him up.

And finally, in issue #64, after Silver is kicked from the diamond cutters, Sonic and Blaze (who were on their world traveling journey), come across him. While this issue doesn't necessarily imply that Sonic crashes at Tails' place all the time, it does fit with the admission in Tailstube #4 that Tails keeps his kitchen stocked for Sonic. Before Blaze and Sonic see Silver, Blaze comments that the lunches he got for Tails and Amy are getting cold, which Sonic responds to by going off about one of Tails' gizmos that heats food up perfectly. Then, this interaction occurs, in which Sonic talks up his and Tails' relationship and how they're partners who cover each other's blind spots and make sure they don't miss meals.

(From IDW Sonic Issue #64)

And frankly, just as an addition, probably easier to make sure the other doesn't miss any meals if Sonic and Tails stick around each other or Sonic stays at Tails' place when he's not out and about, right?

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And finally, Sonic Boom. I should preface this by saying I haven't seen a lot of episodes of Boom so far, but what I do know is that it's confirmed at some point or another that Sonic lives in a shack. He has a home in Boom, and there is a later episode centered around him having to briefly be roommates with Tails and it not turning out well.

However, in Sonic Boom Episode 2 (titled: Can an evil genius crash on your couch for a few weeks?), Sonic is already crashing at Tails' place before Eggman wakes Sonic up by knocking on the door. To clarify, while Sonic does stay in Tails' house with Tails while Eggman is crashing there during the duration of the episode, as the episode starts out with both Sonic and Tails sleeping on Tails' couch, Sonic textually is already crashing at Tails' house before Eggman is involved at all. And as I was not aware by this episode that Sonic had a separate home or an actual one, there was nothing keeping me at that time from assuming that Sonic crashed at Tails' place often or lived with him as a roommate.

My last piece of evidence is actually fron Archie's Sonic Boom comic in Issue #6. This scene occurs after the team is invited to Eggman's Grand Prix.

(From Archie Sonic Boom Issue #6)

As everyone walks in different directions, planning to sleep the night before the race, Sonic and Tails walk together in the same direction. Pretty good implication Sonic crashed at Tails' house here I'd say.

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And there it ends.

I'd like to give a special thanks to op for posting the original post and continuing to post despite the backlash. It was brave to do so, even if a post like this all in all is normal for fans of ships to make and should not have received such backlash (but nevertheless does due to the state of this fandom and fandom in general). And for all those who read this far, I wanted to say thank you and that I hope you enjoyed what I had to say or got something out of it 😊💖

I do love me an excuse to talk about Sontails both in a fanon and in a canonical subtext manner 💙💛

Reasons why Sonic and tails are gay for each other

Tails always follows Sonic everywhere he goes. Why else would he do that unless he got feelings for the hog?

Tails theme song is about how much he is madly in love with sonic and how he sits in his chair thinking about him

Sonic flees from Amy's advances but has no problem being followed around by Tails

Their bond is literally the Unbreakable Bond. What more proof do you need?

They spoon each other in the Russian bar in the 2nd sonic movie. Brothers don't do that

Just look at the way tails looks at sonic

Sonic is always crashing at Tails' place

#sontails #unbreakable bond #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #tails the fox #sonic movie 2 #idw sonic comics #archie sonic comics #sonic ova #Sonic boom #Tailstube #sonic prime #sonic colors #sonic the hedgehog 2 #Sonic frontiers #credits for all images are listed under the image rather than being tagged here #long post #For the Tails looking at Sonic images I tried to get a variety (and I couldn't pass up shoving Nine in people's faces)#But ultimately I pulled from my realm of screenshots and went until I hit the photo limit #Unfortunately I just don't have a lot of game screenshots at this time and most of them aren't great quality...#essay time #i just be ramblin #Ultimately though I enjoyed making this post and getting to brainrot over sontails #It's given me an excuse to talk about some things I've been wanting to #And given all the antis reactions to this post I also thought it would be funny to back up op's statements with actual analysis/proof

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badgalsasuke · 5 months ago

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My thoughts on the Naruto ending

So I had said I was gonna post about my feelings and thoughts regarding the Naruto finale that might contain a few hot takes for some people, so here it is.

THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG POST.

The Naruto ending is universally disliked, there's not doubt in that. Veteran SNS shippers don't like it because Naruto and Sasuke end up with women they don't love and aren't attracted to, and believe Naruto and Sasuke could've end up "single" with no ships confirmed; younger SNS shippers that weren't there when Naruto was still coming out believe they should've ended up together even though that could have not been plausible due to the manga industry quite conservative practices. Het!shippers on the other hand, believe the ending is bad for two different reasons: the first being that some believe that Narusaku and Sasukarin would've made more sense than SS and NH (some say just Narusaku and Sasuke should've stayed single); the second being that although they like SS and NH and the potential they believe these ships have "but wasn't explored further", Kishimoto can't write romance so he messed up both ships, making them bland and barely romantic.

Another reason why the ending is disliked for non-shipping reasons and mostly by Sasuke stans, is that even though in the couple chapters before the 700th one Naruto and Sasuke talk about changing the shinobi system, we see in Boruto that the system has not been changed at all and instead Naruto and Sasuke are reinforcing it despite all the oppression and suffering they were put through it in its name. We even see Itachi, the man who committed genocide being lauded as a hero for his actions and zero reflection on Konoha as a genocidal State. Oh and the Hyuga clan still practices slavery.

So here I come to say the following: Naruto's ending makes sense.

Now before y'all tear me to pieces let me explain myself. The first time I read the finale I thought it was stupid, one reason being that the ships make no sense no matter the angle you try to look at them and the other reason being that Sasuke was now working for the same State that murdered his clan with Naruto now as the head of that same State and making no changes to the Shinobi system (not a very good look on him, right?), so I thought for many years that the ending sucked.

Then The Last, Boruto and Sasuke Retsuden came out and all I could think was "woah this is all really shit from the butt".

But then one day when I was thinking about the manga as a whole, mostly because I was starting to realize that Kishimoto was being intentional in his writing of Naruto and Sasuke's romantic bond and it wasn't accidental like most of the fandom thinks, I just started connecting dots and trying to make sense of the whole story and seeing how the ending fitted into that. I'm someone that whenever it comes to literary analysis and criticism always tries to think about what was the author intention before I label something as bad because it wasn't my personal preference how something was written.

And that's how I realized what there was theme to the Naruto ending is. It's all about conformity.

Now, don't get me wrong the Naruto ending still has flaws, two big ones in my opinion, which I'll point out further down the post, but what I want to do is show you the forest because I feel the fandom is mostly focused on a couple of trees when it comes to the finale. I want you to see the thread of events Kishimoto created and how he was trying to keep it as in character as possible.

So first things first. If you've read Kishimoto interviews over the years then you would know what was the ending he had envisioned: chapter 698. He talks about how he wanted Naruto and Sasuke to have their final fight, make ammends and change the shinobi system together. He achieved two out those three things he intended.

In a quite controversial interview that most of the fandom likes to ignore, Kishimoto stated that he had no emotional attachement to Naruto and Hinata as a couple and it was Studio Pierrot who had pitched the whole thing about The Last movie. He also states that he decided to make NH endgame after Shippuden had started and he had also considered Narusaku as well, but then in another interview that came later he started saying he had intended to make NH canon since the very beginning. He was constantly contradicting himself in these interviews over the years. Kishimoto has also expressed his distate for SS and Sakura's character in general in different interviews.

So what I personally believe is that Kishimoto's editorial, Shueisha, made him change his statements because saying he had no plans for NH and it was Studio Pierrot idea was quite damaging to the franchise (no wonder the interview got kinda buried too, lol).

I think the biggest challenge for Kishimoto was giving the editorial, the studio and most of the fandom the het!ships they wanted without compromising as much the characters the story of his manga revolves around, Naruto and Sasuke.

So we get to ch. 699 where I believe Kishimoto is laying the ground for the finale we ended up getting.

In ch. 698 it seemed like Naruto and Sasuke had been able to resolve their issues and been able to talk about their feelings for each other. Something Sasuke repeats in ch. 699, a chapter entirely narrated by him. However right at the end of ch. 699 we get what seems to be a regression of what we had seen in the previous chapter.

It is implied that Naruto and Sasuke had an argument off-screen hence why Sasuke thought Naruto would not come to see him and bid him farewell before his atonement journey. What was the argument about is never really explained, some fans speculate Naruto was upset about Sasuke going on an atonement journey considering Naruto had pleaded for Sasuke to not be imprisoned and saw no reason for Sasuke to go on a redemption trip. I personally believe it had something to do with Naruto failing to come to terms with his feelings for Sasuke because, as we see right away, Naruto gives Sasuke back his headband and Sasuke says he'll keep it until they have their real fight which is interesting, to say the least, because didn't we just see their real fight the literal prior chapter? basically, we're being told Naruto and Sasuke haven't been able to truly talk about their feelings and put into words what their relationship really is about hence why Sasuke keeps the headband. As long as Sasuke has the headband, it will mean Naruto hasn't been able to truly accept what he feels for Sasuke. In essence, ch. 699 is Kishimoto retconning ch. 698 to give way to what comes later.

After chapter 700 came out we started getting so much content, both filler and canon, that tries to explain how we got there. Let's start with The Last, the movie that tries to explain how the heck Naruto ended up with Hinata.

The Last is sort of a hybrid, it's written for the most part by Studio Pierrot employees who had the idea in the first place and Kishimoto corrected a few things here and there and is also what for me, makes the ending flawed for one big reason: Naruto's character assassination.

Naruto is a shonen manga that's more focused and concerned on it's emotional battles and communicates it to the audience through it's physical battles rather than the powerscaling stuff Naruto dudebros would have you thinking the manga is actually about. So this means that Naruto, its main character, spends the entire manga learning about his feelings and putting them into words. That's what his story is mainly about; learning to love and to be loved.

The Last undoes this in the stupidest way possible. To give Naruto an excuse on why he always ignored Hinata they intend to make the audience believe it's because "Naruto doesn't know what love is" by writing Naruto not being able to differentiate between loving someone and liking ramen. This is absolute nuts. We know that Naruto understands what is love, what is not love and that love doesn't come out of nowhere, we see that when Sakura fake confesses to Naruto, he's able to spot right away she's not being genuine because he understands those three things. So this is the first flaw of the Naruto ending for me.

The second flaw is the dismissal of Kurama and Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki. I find the most embarrasing thing about The Last to be that they had to put Naruto through a genjutsu so he could hallucinate "memories of Hinata being there for him but he was too dumb to notice" but it's even worse once you remember that Naruto canonically should not be able to be put through a genjutsu in the first place. Studio Pierrot had to break rules of Kishimoto's universe in order to give NH some mediocre development and to me this will always be the worst part of the finale. If you can't make a ship work within the universe rules, then why make it a thing at all?

Some people didn't like that Hinata is totally useless in the movie, but for me this is not a flaw, as it is entirely in character with who she is in the manga. Making her a mary sue out of nowhere on the other hand, would be a flaw of the story.

Now that I've talked about what I think are the flaws of the Naruto ending, let's talk about the things that work in The Last (and I believe is where Kishimoto put his input) to make the finale make sense. The first one being that Sakura is the one that pushes Naruto to be with Hinata. In the manga we see several times Sakura is insecure about Naruto and Sasuke's bond and being jealous of Naruto's spot in Sasuke's heart. Even Hinata is baffled by Sakura wanting to help her and asks her why she's doing all that because she knows they're not friends. We then see Sakura think about Sasuke (who's also conviniently excluded from the movie) and simply say "we, girls, should support each other", she wants Naruto out of the picture so she can have Sasuke for herself and she succeeded. It's also important to note that once Sakura got what she wanted she no longer pretended to be a friend of Hinata, she didn't even kept close contact with Naruto either as we see in Naruto Gaiden, Sarada and Naruto don't know each other like that at all, if Sakura was being a genuine friend to Hinata and Naruto, she would've kept her family close to Naruto's but she didn't.

One more thing that I find works about The Last is that Naruto doesn't passionately fall in love with Hinata, but instead is constantly guilt-tripped into liking her, which is more true to his character. You have a man already struggling to accept his sexuality, who also has his deceased mother's expectation of marrying a girl and on top of that is a pathological people pleaser, of course he's gonna marry the first girl that tells him she loves him. It makes sense this all happened while Sasuke was not in the village. Naruto panicked about his sexual identity and rushed to marry an "acceptable woman" in the eyes of the people whose approval he craves, as we see in the special chapter Kishimoto wrote that came out after The Last: the villagers fawning over Konoha's hero dating the Hyuga heiress.

Likewise, Sasuke not attending Naruto's wedding helps the ending not be as contrived or out of character of them. Kishimoto never wrote anything on why Sasuke skipped the wedding as far as I can recall, but in the episodes that Studio Pierrot made dedicated to Naruto's wedding we see a Sasuke completely absent and detached from the event, something Naruto dudebros use to dunk on him because that made him a terrible friend from their perspective, but as usual they're not paying attention to the full narrative Kishimoto is creating here.

Making Sasuke be happy for Naruto and attend his wedding and give him a gift and all that crap, would've made het!shippers and Naruto dudebros happy but it would be at the expense of his character and the story Kishimoto was writing. Remember, Sasuke had kept the headband all these time until he could have his real fight with Naruto, meaning he was waiting for Naruto to be honest about his feelings for him, so him not attending Naruto's wedding is a way to communicate to the audience (at least the part that's paying attention) that Sasuke is heartbroken by the news.

I believe this is why Kishimoto designed adult Sasuke the way he did and makes him dress the way he does as an adult. All black and depressing. I also believe that Sasuke will stop dressing that way the minute he and Naruto have their real fight, if they ever have it, that is.

Additionally, Kishimoto nailed making NH canon before SS would be canon. Naruto, as I stated before, is the one that struggles with his identity and feelings for Sasuke and the one that has the expectations to marry a woman so it makes sense that he would be the one to marry a woman first. SS becoming canon first wouldn't make sense because not only is Sasuke more outspoken about his contempt for Sakura, whereas Naruto remains polite and neutral to Hinata's feelings, but Sasuke also has no reason to be with Sakura if Naruto is still available, in fact, Kishimoto making Sakura be the one to chase Sasuke after Naruto's wedding because Sasuke never came back, as we see it stated in Naruto Gaiden ch. 10, is also in character for both Sasuke and Sakura, instead of writing it the other way around like SS shippers wished, y'know their whole thing about Sasuke coming back to the village for Sakura and apologizing to her because he didn't realize how much he actually loved her because he was trapped in the darkness blah blah blah (I think this is what happens in filler novel Sasuke shinden lol).

If Naruto is not available, then Sasuke is in a very emotionally vulnerable position and Sakura took advantage of that. You see the narrative Kishimoto is creating here? There's a thread to follow on why stuff happened they way it did.

Now, I mentioned before that the theme of the Naruto finale was conformity. Here's where I explain how:

The first thing is Naruto's physical appearance. Kishimoto liked to draw a young Naruto all punk and grunge. He even had already made a design of adult Naruto where Naruto looks, well, cool and HOT.

Yet, for the actual finale he gave us an ugly Naruto, but also a Naruto that looks tired and exhausted. How does this tie with the conformity theme? when Naruto was young he used to go against the rules, defy expectations people had of him, tell authorities to fuck off. Like, when he was told to give up on Sasuke when he was 12, Naruto responded "If giving up on Sasuke makes me wise, I'd rather be fool my entire life", this man was a rebel. But as an adult we see him become the head of State that continues to reproduce the status quo that had once oppressed him. Naruto turned apathetic, his appearance reflects his attitude.

And this is consistent with the narrative Kishimoto's been crafting. Just in the same way Naruto conformed to society's expectation when he married a woman he doesn't love and barely knows, he also conformed and succumbed to the shinobi world status quo. It would *make zero sense* for Naruto to revolutionize the shinobi world while married to princess slaver Hinata Hyuga, that'd be an oxymoron, completely contradictory narrative wise. Certainly, Naruto always struggled to find an ideology, to put it in some way, when it came to Konoha and its ninjas practices and had a messed up perception of its villagers (see: the whole Dark Naruto mini plot) but he still wanted to change the shinobi world WITH SASUKE by his side, once the story established they don't end up together and Sasuke isn't by his side, Naruto doesn't care anymore.

This is why I don't find strange that Kishimoto wrote Naruto oversleeping in the eve of his name day as Hokage, a day Naruto had once dreamt about when he was a child. The spark is gone.

But the spark isn't just gone for Naruto, it's also gone for Kishimoto. Naruto didn't even attend his name day because he was knocked out by Himawari. This is Kishimoto being petty. He spent 15 years writing a story where the goal was to see Naruto become Hokage and he knew how anticipated this moment was and he still went and ruined it for the fans anyway. Naruto dudebros were furious about this, but not once did they stop to wonder about the implications of this, what it said about Kishimoto's relationship with his work if it had gotten to the point he went and "fucked it up".

Naruto cared about the state of the world before he became indifferent to it. This is why when Sasuke stans complain about Naruto not actually caring about Sasuke's trauma but can never really explain why Naruto is like that as an adult. They try to pretend Naruto never cared but this is a lie, kid and teenage Naruto was compassionate to Sasuke's trauma and pain even if he didn't always managed it in the best way possible. So, I always feel like they're missing this particular piece of the puzzle: if Naruto can't be his true self then he cannot change the world and neither can Sasuke.

Because the same thing occurs to Sasuke. One blog once posted that Sasuke not caring about his child is out of character, but Sasuke not caring about Sakura's child is very much in character and I feel that sums up Kishimoto's writing of both adult Sasuke and Naruto. This passiveness you wouldn't imagine from their younger selves, takes a hold of them once they become adults and gradually "get in line" to be a part of the real world. Sasuke doesn't care about his child because he had her with a woman he doesn't even like or respect. Sasuke is stuck in time still holding onto that headband, hoping he and Naruto will one day have their real battle.

Sasuke uses the forehead poke, a gesture he always hated, on his wife and child because he, just like his brother to him, wants to distance himself from them. Sasuke now serves the same village that plotted the mass murder of his clan and family because why not? his brother is lauded as a hero for killing his entire clan after all. Sasuke too, has conformed.

I actually wonder if this is in some way linked to modern Japanese culture. Japanese culture and society are deeply conformist with everybody is always trying to fulfill roles imposed in them, always trying to achieve what is expected of them. It could also be about how adulthood sucks the passion and hopes out of the youth (Kishimoto started writing Naruto when he was 24 and finished when he was in his forties). And of course, the closeting of queer people leading miserable lives as pretenders.

If Sasuke is meant to end up with Sakura and Naruto is meant to end up with Hinata then Kishimoto cannot make them happy marriages and give them happy families, he also cannot keep Naruto and Sasuke as revolutionary outcasts that stand up against the status quo, that fanservice would be out of character and out of theme.

This is what I mean when I say the ending makes sense, once you see the finale is all about conformity the thread of events becomes understandable and more heartbreaking too. You don't have to like it, but I do think we have to understand where is Kishimoto coming from when he wrote it the way he did.

The Naruto fandom wanted black and grey from Kishimoto and that's exactly what Kishimoto gave them, black and grey.

EDIT: I've written more on how the conformity theme starts to become present in the series as far back as in Neji's death, check it out HERE

#my thoughts on this fuckass ending #narusasu #sasunaru #anti sasusaku #anti naruhina #anti naruto ending #I guess #sns meta

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woodbrook-wanderer · 3 months ago

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Bits + Bits: A meta discussion on Sam's gender

Hello! This post by @spyjam24 has been itching me for quite a while, and while I could just include this in a post about Sam and in general the queercoding of the BTTWNS world, this seems important enough to talk about on its own. Sam being a woman while presenting masculinely is another point of discussion in my future Nigel analysis.

BEAR HEIRARCHIES:

Being solitary creatures, bears have a simplistic social structure where mature dominant males are at the top, and sub-adults and cubs remain at the bottom. Male bears assert dominance by marking their area with their scent and challenge other males to gain right to food sources or an area. Larger bears roar to scare away younger bears who aren't as strong. While bears are not territorial and learn to co-exist with each other in safe distances, even congregating in places with abundant food supply (streams, coasts, etc.), the male dominance ensures that all the given needs (food, water, shelter, and mates) are streamlined towards them. Females do not have much say in the matter. Although they are tolerant and can live within the territories of dominant males, refusing advances for mating results in injury or even death.

Female bears are most associated with rearing young and defending their cubs when male bears threaten to kill their children in order to get the mother to mate with him. Females do not go out of their way to kill or challenge other females.

Single females and subadults are almost always submissive to mature males but have a loose hierarchy within their own group.

RE-IMAGINING BTTWNS WITH A MALE PROTAGONIST:

Knowing this, how would BTTWNS play out if Sam was a man? The most prominent selling point fans and comic news outlets use to drive eyes towards the comic is its similarities to the TV show Dexter. Similar logline, similar plot, close enough characters. I have not watched the show in its entirety yet but with the knowledge I've gotten through friends and social media osmosis, it's about a mild-tempered investigator who's a serial killer by night. I have heard from a friend that one of the main storylines in the series is a string of murders happens and it is done to impress the titular character.

Sound familiar?

However, coming from a fan of Beneath The Trees and did not read under the advertising of it being "Dexter but Richard Scarry!", I believe it largely undersells and underestimates the message and themes. It also seems to disregard the importance of Samantha being a woman but also being a butch. Her gender presentation is extremely important as to how and why she kills in the first place.

But let's play this hypothetically. Sam is a man. He owns a hardware shop and is well liked in his community. He's the only bear in town. He's secretly a serial killer and goes out to the city to pick and choose his victim. Sure, it sounds similar enough, but why would he still kill in the first place when he knows he's at the top of the food chain or the social hierarchy in Woodbrook in the lenses of the anthropomorphic animal world? More importantly, if he was a man, why would anyone be brave enough to challenge him by becoming the local serial killer?

Nigel challenges Sam because she is a woman.

Caging The Idea:

Of course Beneath The Trees could work alone if Sam was a man but that would take away a lot of the gravity in the implied horror of the series.

First and foremost, Nigel is a stalker. He follows Sam around and obsessively takes photos of her to collect. God knows what he's doing with those photos, but his obsession with her extends beyond the images and into imitation. Aside from becoming a serial killer himself, he tries dressing and acting similarly in Issue 4 where he confesses to the crime in an attempt to become her equal.

But that's the thing though. He doesn't view her as an equal. He's excited at the idea of her masculinity and imitates what he can learn from the violence that comes with it. She isn't as competent because she is a woman and he needs to assert himself under the guise of assisting her or "doing it together".

He throws a fit when he is rejected, similarly to how certain men feel entitled to a woman or a partner and violently attacks her (although in this case indirectly by framing Charlie's murder on her and creeping into her subconscious in the nightmare).

He fights for dominance he knows she can't naturally have because that's how nature is, correct? Females will always be submissive to males and rejection results in injury or even death.

Now imagine all of this if Sam was a man. It does not feel twice as horrifying as it actually is in its plainest form.

Nigel is a predator as we know it in the modern sociological context, and he confidently does this by exerting the violence that comes with masculinity which he ironically learnt from a woman.

WHY DO YOU KILL?:

It's simple. Nigel kills to assert his dominance.

Sam kills to emotionally regulate, but also kills to assert dominance.

Sam is seen to revere wild bears as she sees herself as a bear (she is, but moreso in the sense she is not "human" or social like the other animal folk in Woodbrook) and chooses to be one with what she loves. Her fascination and kinship with the strength and the power they hold in nature is why she chooses to present, dress, and act butch. However, we do see in gaps and moments that she is aware of how powerless she actually is if she was a bear and if she were to be a person. There's the pressure to be good. There's the social pressure that comes with being a woman. There's the expectations of her gender and the exploitation men will have over her in either situation.

And so she kills. She has no young to defend. She's not interested in love, or raising a family or being social so she'll act like a male bear because that is the closest she'll ever get to having power over anyone.

And that power will be challenged in the Spring.

Yes. It's important that Sam is a woman. Don't undersell BTTWNS as a Dexter spinoff.

#please ask to tag as i discuss gender based violence in this #Addition: this is kind of similar to when Anthy stabs Utena and tells her she cannot be a prince because she is a girl #beneath the trees where nobody sees #bttwns #file: character analysis #file: bits + bits #file: analysis #file: relationships #samantha #nigel

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plinko-mori · 2 years ago

Note

I personally think Mori isn't too «I will control everything» because he trusts the Port Mafia (at some point that I'm too lazy to explain right now) and he knows his people are responsible

But his view “end justifies the means” kinda helps the mafia to not get punished???? Lol

Fic I just read: Mori is overworking Chuuya!!!!! Because he’s evil!!!!!!!!

My brain: No no no, wrong! Chuuya is overworking himself and Mori is begging him to take a break. Mori is trying to trick Chuuya into taking it easy and Chuuya is ready to bite him for it

Mori is very laissez-faire in his leading role, sure he got his own agenda and plots stuff still and all that but most of the time when something happens we learn it was someone else's own doing and he just, did nothing to stop or punish it.

Akutagawa infiltrated the Mobi Dick, against orders, and Mori just shrugged it off because it worked out in the end. Ace captured Fyodor on his own and loudly announced he wanted to talk to him himself, Kouyou got instantly suspicious and Mori just let him be to see if Ace was any good. Kouyou tried to get Kyouka back on her own and ended up getting captured, conspiring with Dazai, and only coming back much later, but Mori shrugged it off too. We also have many instances of Dazai going off to do his own plan (against Verlaine, during the Dragon's Head Conflict, in Dead Apple) and Mori just following along like it's nothing. And just look at Verlaine being sad in his basement still being promoted to executive for, what, being a good teacher?

He is simply not that controlling. He probably just lists what needs done in meetings and lets his people pick their own assignments and lets them delegate those tasks (VERY important when in a leading position btw) too. He wants results and doesn't care much how it happens, or what his people do on their own time. He takes recommendations, he lets people do their own thing. This is what we were shown of their meetings!!

Anyway. Mori overworking anyone would be a sign that everyone is in big trouble and overworked. Gotta be efficient and optimal! Executives alert and healthy much more optimal.

#mori: *tries to control something that HE KNOWS it can get out of hand*#the port mafia: *has their limits and actually does things good but not in the best way*#mori: *sighs tiredly but happily knowing that with them things won't get out of hand*#i love how mori is soooo «hmmm let's see how things will go... and if anything happens i'll now how to deal with the disaster»#right yumeno???? /hj #anyways saying things that have to be done and people choosing what to do... it sounds very mori to me #i can see him do recommendations too like «you would probably like this but would you actually do it?»#port mafia don't fear mori at all... they are just scared how what he's willing to do #if mori was TOO controlling (without limits(?) the pm wouldn't be that calm around him #they would be traumatized... but they aren't #poor tachi he's from other organization and still has to fit in the pm as the true member he is but whatever #let's ignore the fact analyzing that man (mori) is my hobby AND I HAVE A WHOLE BLOG JUST FOR IT #bsd mori #bsd mori analysis

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krems-chair · 5 months ago

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I've been thinking a lot today about how easily people condemn Solas for making the choices he did or for so regularly refusing the help and love his friends or a romanced Lavellan extended to him and how that's a very easy thing to do from behind a screen in a fictional game where you are able to (with very few exceptions) curate a world in which your allies are loyal and your decisions will go the way you'd like them to.

And yeah, it's a game and that's kind of the point, but if I were to look at it a little more deeply (and who am I kidding, I got back on this website exclusively to process the aftermath of Veilguard) I'd say that there's so much to be found in wondering if the protagonists in any of the other games would have fared better in similar conditions.

Apparently I can't stop making long posts, so buckle in.

What would Morrigan have become in a world where the Warden never stumbled upon her cottage with Flemeth, if she never got the chance to see more of the world and decide what she wanted out of it? With just her mother (who, coincidentally in this Solas-y discussion is also kind of Mythal) and no support, who is to say what she would have unleashed upon the Korcari Wilds one day when the confines of her cage became too much?

What about Leliana? She, too, suffered at the hands of a very controlling abuser who tried to convince her that one lifestyle was all that her future held. What do we think she would have become if not for a chance meeting in Lothering with someone who could help her face down the woman that molded her?

Fenris, a character MANY people are just fine with was incredibly ready to kill a mage on sight if need be, no questions asked. Where do we think his story goes if he doesn't have someone in his corner early on enough in the game? If he doesn't get caught by Danarius, he's almost certainly going to end up on a murder spree, and he doesn't even have Justice whispering in his head to do it.

Cullen. Just all of him. It's an absolute miracle he hasn't snapped by the time you encounter him in Inquistion, and even then you get the benefit of intervening at a critical point in his story several times over.

Almost every other character could face this analysis and I think we'd reach a result that suggests perhaps the only thing keeping them lovable is your playable character's investment in their well-being.

Enter Solas. We don't meet him when he's twenty to thirty something and on the precipice of falling down a dark path. He's been there for literal millennia already, and with the exception of one close friend he's been alone. And not even Felassan is enough because of the years Mythal had prior to that friendship to make Solas exactly who she needed him to be.

I've had shit friends before that aren't just good at isolating people, they're naturals. I barely made it through high school with my mental health in place (in fact, looking back, it almost certainly wasn't). When you think you've got a true friend and they need something of you, it's so easy to blindly follow them because you think your love is enough to mark someone's soul as trustworthy. Solas doesn't learn that lesson until it's too late, and even when he does he can't turn back: the spirit that was once Wisdom has been exposed to several of the worst ancient elves to ever exist and now he has to stand his ground rather than let it all fall, because that is what Pride would dictate. Admitting that the person you gave your love and labor and time to is a monster is hard. And he was alone.

Give me Morrigan after centuries with her mother. Show me Leliana after the years have become a blur and the only voice whispering in her ear is Marjolaine's. Show me the innocent mages that don't make it through if all Fenris has for years and years and years are the scars Danaris left him and the means to make more. Show me Cullen if he stays in a chain of command under a Knight Commander who knows exactly what he fears and holds it over his head for so long he forgets what it was like to be an excited kid begging the templars for training because he just wants to keep people safe.

We get companions in these games who are broken by the time they're twenty. Solas has spent thousands of years in servitude to a cause of a woman he believed to be his only friend. He doesn't know who he is without her influence, anymore, only exists physically in the first place because she asked it of him and then asked again and again and again. He doesn't have a witty band of merry fools to pull him out of that cycle. He has Felassan, but he has him during war after war after war in the hopes of freeing others from the very situation that torments him.

Trauma from war affects everyone touched by it, nevermind the fact that Solas is actively responsible for saving the lives of thousands and feels each life like a weight around his neck because maybe he can save them like he cannot save himself. We should always be worried about the people trying to do the most good. Who is looking out for them? Why are they so determined to help others? Could it be that it's something they wish others had done for them?

Solas certainly feels comradery with Felassan from working together to free slaves from the very people he helped put in power because Mythal told him it would be okay only to leave him with the pieces, but even the Solas that Felassan knows has been turned into an attack dog shying away from the touch of the very person it desires to be near above all others by the time their relationship forms.

The fact that Solas is able to try and show the Inquisitor who he is at all is a miracle as far as I'm concerned, a sign of a peaceful spirit of Wisdom who loves knowledge for the sake of it finally sensing that there might be a chance to embrace its nature again.

Yeah, if you give him what he has come to expect from people with power, if you let near-absolute power over the masses corrupt you, he's going to bristle and try to shut your inquisitor down.

But if you show him even the smallest bit of kindness? If you treat him like the starving wolf he talks about and feed him instead of fighting him? God, it shatters his entire existence.

It's called a cycle of abuse for a reason. Finding friendship, finding the love of your long-ass life can be the first step in realizing there's better out there. But the time it takes to learn that? When you're too weary to even reach out for help in the first place and afraid of every kind word or gesture because you've never known such tenderness (on a platonic OR romantic level, both matter so so much) before?

Part of the compelling tragedy of Solas is that it's almost Orpheus-like how he knows what he has been made into and still cannot stop himself from yearning for more, from turning around to see if just this once something has changed. You can't convince me that he hasn't spent years hoping that someone will hear the legend of the Dread Wolf and see it for what it is, a leash the Evanuris created for Mythal's whipping boy to ensure that even if he ever escapes them, the people he fought to save will hate him. And I cannot blame him for the shock and terror that consumes him when he realizes someone finally has.

You give me any of dragon age companions after the amount of time Solas spent under Mythal's thumb without your character's intervention and you tell me how that looks.

You tell me if they're able to change at the first sign of something that feels too good to be true.

And then, I want you to tell me they're any less worthy of trying to save, especially when you know how good their best can be.

Solas might be hard for some fans to love, but it's only because he serves as the perfect representation of the beast we are all capable of becoming when the love that sustains us, assuming we receive any at all, is laced with poison.

The journey out of that place, out of a literal prison of regret, is brutal, and I'm thrilled that even with the many things about Veilguard I'm still struggling with, we have the chance to let Solas try again with the help of those who love him not because he never fell down, but because they believe in the beauty of a future where he gets back up again.

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woso-dreamzzz · 10 months ago

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Practice II

Hardersson x Teen!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: You practice with your mums

You are a keeper.

You've been a keeper since you were a child. You were always going to be a keeper, deep down. One day, you are going to be the greatest keeper in the world. One day, you might even be the greatest keeper in history.

But right now, you are not.

You are just a girl in her backyard with inflatable people blocking your view of Pernille and her wicked shot.

She chips it over your line and you jump up to meet it.

Pernille and Magda aren't keepers. They have never been keepers. They will never be keepers.

But they're trying, for you.

They're trying to think like keepers.

"Do you think you organised them right?" Magda asks from the side," Your defenders?"

Today has been tactical training.

You'd seen keepers organising their lines at games before. You'd seen keepers throughout your childhood yell out orders before.

You'd never really been a yeller though. You weren't confrontational. You weren't loud. You weren't a leader.

"Well...I got the ball?"

Magda nods. "Okay. Let's run it again."

Pernille goes to take her kick again but squares the ball to Magda waiting in your empty middle. She shots in one touch and you scramble from where you thought the ball was coming from to get a brief glove on it.

Her shot is hard and fast but you manage to just graze it with your hand and roll it to the side.

"And now you've conceded a corner," Pernille says.

"Well," You pant, still laying on the ground," I couldn't exactly grab it."

"You need to trust your wall and be ready for the shot to come from elsewhere. Nine times out of ten, they'll send in a cross rather than a shot," Pernille continues," You need to be ready."

You're pretty sure your shoulder is bruised from the amount of times you've had to go to the ground with a ball.

Pernille used to pull back the power of her shots when you had a kick around but now she doesn't. All gloves are off and a few times you've felt a little winded after gathering one of her strikes.

But you wanted this so you're going to take advantage and repeat it again and again until you think you're ready.

Magda has been helping you with your tactics and it's with her that you find yourself now, staring out as Pernille waits to take a penalty.

"Half of it is guesswork," Magda says into your ear, standing behind you so you can both stare at your Momma," But when you're in a team, there'll have been analysis and things but right now, I want you to study the way she's moving. I want you to look at her run up and the way she's positioned herself. Some of it's subconscious. She doesn't even notice it but you have to."

You nod.

Pernille takes her penalty.

You go the right way and save it.

"Good," Magda says," But make sure you wait as long as possible. She's studying you like you're studying her. If you give an indication of what way you're going then they'll go the opposite direction.

You groan. "And everyone does this?"

"Not everyone," Pernille laughs," Only the good players."

You huff, pushing off the ground. "Alright. Let's go again."

You're hot and sweaty when practice for the day is finally over and fall face first onto the sofa.

"Hey." Magda swats you with a tea towel. "Shower, please. I don't need that sweat all over my new cushions."

"Leave me here to die," You reply, remaining where you are.

Magda's hands are on you, trying to roll you off but you go rigid in an effort to delay her. You lock up all your muscles and go stiff as a board and Magda has to bite back her own laughter at how stubborn you're being all of a sudden.

"Come on!" She says," Off! Get off!"

"No," You reply with a small laugh," If I move I'll get cramp."

"You'll got cramp because you've gone all stiff. Go and shower!" She tries to rock your body around but you refuse to even give her an inch to work with.

"No!"

Finally, she rolls you off and you flop onto your back on the carpet.

"I'm telling Momma!" You're up like a shot, running up the stairs.

Magda laughs after you. "I thought that if you moved, you'd get cramp!"

#woso x reader #hardersson x reader #pernille harder x reader #pernille harder #magdalena eriksson x reader #magdalena eriksson #woso community #woso imagine #woso fanfics #woso #the big adventures universe

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twilightcitysky · 2 years ago

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Everything Is Meant (long S2 analysis, part 3)

Part one

Part two

There's SO MUCH excellent meta out there right now, and I'm going to try not to reinvent the wheel too much, but I want to keep going with tying the episodes/ elements up together because on first watch it wasn't entirely clear how everything fit. I also strongly recommend a rewatch, no matter what you felt about the ending... if you need to stop it 10 minutes early, do that, but you pick up so much more the second time around.

So: Maggie and Nina. I spent most of my first watch wondering why we were bothering with them, honestly. Later in the season Nina, and then Maggie and Nina, gave Crowley some insightful advice, but their actual relationship didn't progress despite all the meddling, and the amount of emotional investment BOTH Aziraphale and Crowley had in making them get together was frankly strange.

I started thinking in terms of mirror couples, since that was such a big deal in S1 and that's clearly what they were set up to be, but I made the mistake that all of us made on first watch: that Nina was Crowley and Maggie was Aziraphale. It still wasn't really coming together.

Then I put the psych hat back on and started to think about displacement. Displacement is a defense mechanism, and it consists of satisfying an impulse (usually an unconscious one) with a substitute object. At the beginning of the season, Aziraphale and Crowley aren't really in a good place, and I think on some level they know that. Aziraphale is trying to SHOW Crowley that he wants to take the next step through all the casual touches and phone calls and inviting him in, and feeling frustrated because Crowley doesn't seem to be taking the bait. (I absolutely think that Aziraphale tried to get Crowley to stay with him at the bookshop instead of living in his CAR, and Crowley said no. That's a whole other meta.) Meanwhile, Crowley, I think, is waiting for a Grand Gesture. Where did he go, as soon as Aziraphale brought up trying to get two humans to fall in love? Romantic tropes. Getting caught in the rain under an awning. A dramatic kiss that opens someone's eyes. That's the sort of thing he's always done, right? Big rescues, impassioned pleas on the street, fancy dinners, "give you a lift anywhere you want to go". He's defensive and guarded and unlikely to let someone in unless he's CERTAIN he won't be rejected, and Aziraphale's approaches are just too... quiet. No one's fault, they just don't speak the same language.

Then, they're handed the opportunity to make two humans fall in love, and they're both All In immediately. Look at Crowley's face when he summons the rainstorm. This is HUGE for him. Why? Because of displacement. Look at Aziraphale arranging the ball and being borderline deranged about it. They're both desperate to demonstrate what they think it takes for two people to move past their misunderstandings and fall in love. They can't do it for each other because the stakes are too high, and if either of them shows their cards unequivocally the vulnerability feels life-shattering. They're codependent and terrified of rejection and also, importantly, have no idea what they're doing when it comes to love. "Saw it in a film", Crowley says. Aziraphale's read about it in books. But they have zero practical experience.

Instead of learning to communicate, they try to say what they want to say through the medium of Maggie and Nina, up to and including the questionable moral decision to exert control over people's actions and thoughts during the ball. If I can just make this come out right, they both think, then things between us will be alright too. It HAS to come out right. They're attempting to gain some control over their own lives, over something that feels so overwhelming and shattering they can't look directly at it.

It doesn't come out right. Nina's relationship falls apart, but that doesn't mean she's in love with Maggie. While Crowley's stress-cleaning the bookshop to the music that played when Aziraphale got his books back in 1941 (just fuck me up David Arnold), they come in and tell him so. "I don't understand", says Crowley. Because it should have worked. Why didn't it work?

They tell him, of course. "You need to talk to each other. Say what you're really thinking." But here's the thing about communication: you have to learn it. You need to get the hang of expressing your feelings without blaming your partner, and separating intent from impact, and staying away from getting defensive and lashing out. No one has ever taught Aziraphale and Crowley how to do this. It's like Maggie and Nina put Crowley in front of a loom and asked him to recreate the Bayeux Tapestry. He doesn't have the skills; he's always going to get it wrong, even if he tries his hardest.

And he does try. But that's where Maggie and Nina the mirror couple, rather than Maggie and Nina the displacement relationship or Maggie and Nina the Greek chorus, come in. Aziraphale, as Nina, has just ended an incredibly toxic, invasive relationship with Heaven. A relationship that invaded every facet of his life, isolated him, and prevented him from being close to anyone else. "Rebound mess," Nina says. Aziraphale is a rebound mess. He's transferred the responsibility for his emotional wellness to Crowley. Crowley is the person he calls when he's in trouble, or (and this is key) when he wants to report a clever/ good thing he's done, or when he's bored. (At no point did Crowley reference Aziraphale calling him for a solicitous reason-- another problem.) Crowley is meant to take care of him. He forgets, I think, that Crowley is a person with his own wants and needs, just like Maggie and Nina are people with their own wants and needs who don't appreciate being messed with. (I think things would have been much different had Aziraphale BEEN THERE for Maggie and Nina's talk with Crowley, but he wasn't.)

And Maggie-as-Crowley? Lonely. Behind on rent, at risk of being evicted (it's important to note that Aziraphale saves Maggie from losing her record shop, as he couldn't save Crowley from losing his flat). Pining. Awkward. Revolving around Nina like a planet, to the extent that we don't get much of an impression of her otherwise. They realize, there at the end, that they both need to round themselves out before jumping into a relationship. Aziraphale and Crowley need that too. They need to take time apart and learn to be healthy on their own. Unfortunately they don't have the skills to get to that conclusion in a healthy way, so it all explodes in their faces and everything falls apart.

Aziraphale tries to teach Nina and Maggie to dance as a substitute for communication. Nina and Maggie try to teach Crowley communication as a substitute for the dance they've been doing around each other. That's the reason they're a part of the plot: they exist to demonstrate the way Aziraphale and Crowley might have succeeded in forging a better dynamic. Sadly, the boys' dance is too practiced and they got sucked right back into it.

It's okay, I think, that Nina and Maggie's storyline never really went anywhere. It wasn't supposed to. It's an allegory, not something that needs to stand alone.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens season 2 #gos2 #good omens season two #crowley #aziraphale #maggie #nina #defense mechanisms #the psychology of good omens #everything is meant #ineffable husbands

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nymphbroadcast · 5 months ago

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Can we get the octa trio with a fluttershy reader please? I just Love her!!!!

Octavinelle x MC! Like Fluttershy

⊹Synopsis ⊹ೃ 🌊⋆The Octavinelle boys with an MC! or Yuu like Fluttershy.

⊹Relationship ⊹ೃ 🌊⋆ Fall in love / free of interpretation.

⊹FEM! MC/Yuu/Reader ⊹ೃ⋆

⊹Clarifications: my Little Pony Fluttershy pony ver!

⊹Fluttershy's Analysis ⊹ೃ 🌊⋆

• Fluttershy is the living representation of kindness, her personality is introverted but not asocial, since she enjoys spending time with her friends, she is gentle with her acquaintances and friends, although she prefers the company of animals since due to the bullying she suffered from young, his consolation was the company of butterflies and other animals. At that moment she discovered her talent for handling animals and beasts of all kinds. Despite her shy and calm personality, Fluttershy is also a person with a strong character, not necessarily aggressive but firm in her ideals and, if necessary, protecting her friends... Fluttershy does not judge by appearances and always tries to find a second chance for those seeking redemption. Although she can also be insecure and doubtful and carry a lot of guilt on herself, she´s very talented in her 'work' with her animals, maybe like a Vet in the series. Unlike Twilight, Fluttershy is not from an aristocratic family, but she is not from a poor family either since it is mentioned that her father worked in a cloud factory and for his part he has a large house in the most natural areas of Ponyville. And the others seem to go to only her for advice regarding their pets, Fluttershy is a balance between peace and chaos.

Azul Ashengrotto

🐙 Cute butterfly... You get on Azul's nerves, you know? You must be doing it on purpose.

🐙 At first, Azul, without knowing you, begins to feel nervous, you are too kind, you do things for others and you don't even receive a payment, you must be dangerous, that is his conclusion.

🐙 Since no one has ever been genuinely nice to Azul, Azul has a hard time getting used to how selfless you seem to be.

🐙 You're so gentle, even while he's trying to manipulate you with the Dorm Ramshakle, Azul was genuinely expecting you to yell and insult him, you're full of surprises, aren't you? - Chapter 3

🐙 Although he must admit that he underestimated you... You're smart, strong and you have limits... That itself only makes him panic, you're like a dolphin, cute and seemingly friendly, but you can be genuinely scary sometimes. – Chapter 3

🐙 Luckily for him, you're the embodiment of kindness (Literally) and even after he tried to steal Ramshakle from you, manipulate you, and almost kill you in his Overblot, you're still kind and understanding to him, Azul almost genuinely feels like he's gonna crying. – Chapter 3

🐙 After all... Azul begins to feel more and more desirous of your kindness and genuine affection, looking for a way to see you and feel your genuine affection.

🐙 Azul genuinely wonders how you are so transparent, he has seen you talk more to animals than to people, you are shy and anxious, how do you do it? He needs the advice.

🐙 But, Azul begins to grow fonder of you every time he sees you, he is glad that despite everything, you were able to forgive him and continue to be so kind and gentle with him. Who knows, maybe it's a deeper affection than Azul believes, maybe even genuine love.

Jade Leech

🍄 Jade finds you adorable, you don't really like socializing or being the center of attention and yet, one way or another, you always end up doing it.

🍄 For Jade it is also funny how your kindness often works against you, since you don't want to hurt other people's feelings you usually resist your displeasure and end up helping (even if it is something you don't like, fear or feel disgusted by) and maybe Jade sometimes (almost always) takes advantage of this.

🍄 You are good with common animals and since you arrived at Twisted Wonderland you decided to study about the fauna there, so it is certain that you know a lot about the Tweels and Azul species, but don't use it against them, okay? They are just "innocent" guys.

🍄 That is something neutral for Jade, on the one hand you understand his behavior and his needs, on the other you can use it against him despite your kindness, although we all know how sadistic he can be, so he probably provokes you on purpose to see your reaction.

🍄 Something else to highlight is that Jade loves it when you lose control, you are so kind and shy almost all the time... Until someone breaks that way of yours, you scream and look harshly at whoever provoked you regardless of whether you are being the center of attention, which normally would make you panic. You can see this guy smilling with pleasure in the corner.

🍄 It's something unusual, but Jade tends to be more real with you, you don't judge him by his... Curious likes... For mushrooms, you even give him advice since you usually deal with animals that eat all kinds of plants and he thanks you... In its own way, but he does it.

🍄 Just like his twin Floyd, Jade finds you adorable, your natural but well-groomed appearance and adorable embarrassed expressions make this eel boy burst with you into a tight hug that could almost be mistaken as Floyd.

🍄 We would like to fool ourselves a little, but Jade is Jade, he takes advantage of your kindness a little to help him do his homework and your company. What can he say in his defense? That he likes your company... Which isn't a lie, actually.

🍄 For the same reason, Jade starts to develop that 'protective instinct' towards you, you are too kind and shy in his eyes that he should protect you, come on, the whole NRC is afraid of Tweels, so you have your cute eel boy as your personal bodyguard... Or something more, maybe...

🍄 Of course, maybe he mentally compare you to a pretty butterfly or a shrimp, just like Floyd does.

Floyd Leech

🏀 Are you two Discord and Fluttershy in this universe???

🏀 Well, in a way yes, you two are chaos (Floyd) and peace (you) in NRC.

🏀 We all know that Floyd has a similar way of being to Discord, rarely being serious and actually in great danger when he is...

🏀 You, on the other hand, prefer discreet and simple, here are two options: he calls you 'shrimpy' because you are easily scared by everything except real pests, or because you are shy.

🏀 Floyd loves to make fun of you, scaring you and chasing you, God help him be careful because you have patience and I don't think it's a good experience for him to receive 'the look'...

🏀 You seem adorable to him, squeezable and very tender, your big gentle eyes make his heart race and he can't help but fawn over you, pinch your cheeks or hug you for a long time.

🏀 Just like in the series, no one believes that you two are really friends, especially knowing Floyd's adventures, you are too good to even be his friend! Floyd is bothered, but as soon as you tell him that you like being with Because they are very different, he is immediately happy.

🏀 He likes to see you take care of the animals, it's funny how you keep Grimm like a spoiled baby knowing he's a beast! However, be careful if you interact too much with any brunette other than him... He may be jealous... In a strange way, obviously.

🏀 As an animal whisperer, you love that he's a merman! You insist a lot on seeing his mer form and he gladly shows it to you, you both spend a lot of time just playing in the water and having fun!

🏀 Eventually the two of you would become very fond of each other, Floyd is happy that you are his true friend, one who doesn't care if he is chaotic and different, you love him just the way he is and he loves you too...

Nymph's Note:

I'm loving these MLP requests since it's my favorite cartoon for a long time, I remind you again to read my rules in the post pinned to my profile for your requests!

I hope you enjoyed!

Remember to tune in, end of this broadcast!

Octavinelle Dorm x MC! Like Fluttershy Done!

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aethelwyneleigh27 · 1 year ago

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Toothache

How does one go "You're Too Sweet For Me" to "My Baby's Sweet As Can Be"?

Synopsis: Simon Riley finds himself stuck in a situation, growing feelings for his roommate who's so annoyingly caring, domestic, sweet and too good for him. What happens when he let's himself indulge in the sweetness rather than cage himself in the bitter life he's been told is the only one he's deserving of and the only life he's known?

Apologies to this mess of a lyricfic, I couldn't help it even though this was supposed to be a relationship analysis..

MEN WRITTEN BY ANA HUANG ARE GONNA BE THE DEATH OF ME. Alright back to our original programmed schedule with Hozier. ALSO SURPRISE! THIS CONTAINS 3 HOZIER SONGS as an apology for not posting these past two weeks due to me enjoying holidays, reading, prom dress picking and wanting to stab myself because of life, there's the added bonus 👀

My CoD Masterlist

My Simon Riley x You Playlist

Also reader in this one had a lot of characterization, she's me fr, so AFAB?Reader, Fem!Reader, Short!Reader, Reader is VERY feminine with fashion, soft-girl-sunshine!Reader and Chubby?Reader. Y'all have no idea how hard it is to write without a personality and physical intimacy in romance, I tried but failed 😭

Warnings and Disclaimers: Mentions and details on sexual content ahead (is this considered smut? Idk anymore). Not detailed smut but vivid memories of sexual intercourse (especially the dialogue) with Simon. Again, this is a safe account for all ages because I'm not a MDNI acc, you are responsible for your own media consumption. DO NOT GO ON MY DMS, INBOX OR REPLY TO MY CONTENT TO TELL ME YOUR AGE. I don't need to know that and let's strive to not make each other uncomfortable. Mentions of questioning of religion or rather belief on afterlife??

Pink, bold and italic: Lyrics

Italic: recalling past events

Little snippet of an image of how I imagined he'd hold you, courtesy of the one and only @ave661

"It can't be said I'm an early bird, it's 10 o'clock before I say a word. Baby, I can never tell, how do you sleep so well?"

Simon Riley was never a man to live the life he was taught to in the military, it was out of habit for him to not leave his room until around noon. Then there was you, his roommate, he didn't exactly calculate how much it would affect his personal life to save money through rent by willingly letting someone within the same living space.

He'd find himself with not even a wink of sleep, hearing your footsteps through the thin walls, hearing the lock on the windows outside click open.

"You kept telling me to live right, to go to bed before the daylight. But then you wake up from the sunrise."

He'd always hear you, quite frankly it was like nagging on the constant.

"Simon you shouldn't do that, you'll hurt yourself"

"Simon please go get some rest"

"Simon.."

He'd swear he'd rip his own ears out every time his name falls from your lips from how sweet and chirpy it sounded and yet deafening silence would consume him whenever you aren't around.

"You don't gotta pretended, Baby, now and then. Don't you just wanna wake up dark as a lake? Smellin' lika bonfire, lost in the haze?"

Something about you makes it so tempting for Simon to give in, I mean it would be a one time thing, wouldn't it? So soft, so pliant, he set himself up for an addiction. It wasn't healthy, he knew this, he'd convince himself of the fact that he would end up hurting you.

Just too different, it repeated like a mantra in his head. He was bitter, brooding and didn't find any sense of pleasure in living. Why'd you think he has the job he chose? It's all he knew, till you skip your way into his life, giving him the sweetness he was deprived of.

"If you're drunk on life babe, I think it's great. But while in this world, I think I'll take my whiskey neat"

Drowning himself in alcohol, a trait Simon promised himself he wouldn't ever do when he was young, setting his glass down with a small thud from the wooden table. But what would the kid version of him know about life. He didn't have healthier options of coping with what seems to be his dilemma.

But then there you were, sweet little thing coming home at the late hour in that skimpy dress of yours. Revealing too much to the eyes of those who wish to have you for themselves with just one look. Where did you go that night?

"My coffee black in my bed at three, you're too sweet for me"

Desperately trying to keep himself awake and at bay from his thoughts of you. Drowning himself in now two cups of straight black coffee to help him focus.

It was odd, you got used to the scent, was strong with a lack of sweetness but it calmed you down knowing he was around.

How he'd corrupt you, he wanted to shatter that rose tinted glasses of yours to save you from himself because being with him would change you. Selfish but he doesn't want that, you were utter perfection..

Simon further delved into his feelings, what the fuck was wrong with him?

"I aim low. I aim true, and the ground's where I go. I work late where I'm free from the phone and the job gets done"

Grumbling, Simon walks back into the apartment in the middle of the night. You heard a thud, you come out of your bedroom, yawing from you incomplete sleep.

"Si..? Are you hurt? What happened?" You asked in a soft tone, careful not to agitate someone would could possibly be pissed off.

Simon stays silent, glaring at you as his eyes was only thing visible because of his balaclava. Your soft gaze intimidated him, because why would he feel that squeeze in his heart?

"But you worry some, I know but who wants to live forever, babe? You treat your mouth as if it's Heaven's gate. The rest of you like you're the TSA, I wish I could go along Babe, don't get me wrong..."

The only thing Simon heard was a sigh from you and nothing more, you walk up to him, each footstep feeling louder than that last.

Something Simon didn't expect you to do was wrap you arms around his waist, tiny thing you are that your head only goes up to his chest. Your body against his, basking in the warmth in contrast to the cold weather he had to deal with coming home.

"You know you're bright as the morning, as soft as the rain, pretty as a vine, as sweet as a grape. If you can sit in a barrel maybe I'll wait, until that day.."

You took care of him that night, to his reluctance and stubbornness. Despite refusing, he had no choice, he wouldn't want a soft thing like you on his ear the whole night till he agrees. You were persuasive in your own irritating way.

Sitting on the edge of the tub of the warm bath he's in, washcloth in hand. Touch was so gentle, why was it so soft? Why's it so warm? "It's the water you fucking idiot" his subconscious screaming at him. In denial.

Why is his heart beating so fast..? He wants to stab it to stop the feeling..

"I'd rather take my whiskey neat, my coffee black and my bed at three. You're too sweet for me"

Using both your hands this time around, one gently holding his chin with your fingers while the other wiping away at the eyeblack he had. Every scar on his face felt the graze of your finger.

The slow blinks, your eyes on his. Before any conscious thoughts consume Simon, he lifts his arms from the warm water and wraps them around you.

Your nightgown was now damp but you couldn't care less, now with the man you were pinning over, foreheads against the other.

"Si.." you softly whisper. That nickname will be the death of him, you'll be the death of him. He crashes his lips on yours, not wanting to let go till you both were panting. You were too fucking sweet, your lips, your skin, everything. He wanted a taste and he got it...

"My lover's got humor, she's the giggle at a funeral. Knows everybody's disapproval, I should've worshiped her sooner"

Another sleepless night wasn't uncommon for someone like Simon.. however this aching feeling wasn't, he doesn't know where it's from or what it's about. Not until he heard you in the kitchen, letting out a giggle even though you knew better.

"If the Heavens ever did speak, She's the last true mouthpiece. Every Sunday's getting more bleak. A fresh poison each week "We were born sick"

That sweet fucking voice, like the angels speaking to him themselves. "Oh- I'm sorry Si, did I wake you up?" You asked, turning around to the sound of his footsteps.

That tiny nightdress of yours, a reminder of the night you spent together, that morning you slept in his bed.

Lashes beautifully displayed on the delicate skin of your under eyes. Soft noises while your chest was peacefully moving up and down with every breath.

"She tells me, "Worship in the bedroom". The only Heaven I'll be sent to, is when I'm alone with you I was born sick, but I love it Command me to be well. A, Amen, Amen, Amen"

"Simon.. Ahh~" you moan out softly, your body writhing underneath him. It felt hot, sweaty despite the well ventilated room, so intimate from something that was supposed to be the farthest thing from domestic.

"Shhh, you can take it sunshine.. You don't want the neighbors to hear us, do you?" Simon whispers, callous hand covering your mouth with as little pressure possible, you whimper at his words.

Closing your eyes to lose yourself in the pleasure you've never felt before. Your body being worshiped with gentle hands and soft kisses that leave marks by the very same man who kept distancing himself from you, now he'd stop at nothing for your pleasure.

"Take me to church, I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife, offer me that deathless death. Good God, let me give you my life."

"Simon.. no more–" you whined. Scratching his back hard enough to leave marks without being aware, he'd always imagine what those pretty pink nails could do to him.

"Just one more, please sunshine.. you remember our safe word right?" Simon asks for you to nod softly, you didn't have energy to take anymore. "I told you I'll make you feel good, didn't I? So be a good girl for me and take it, hmm?"

Your eyes roll back at his praise, your legs shake with one after another wave of pleasure running through your body. This man was starved.. insatiable.. who would be able to resist such a request? Not you.

"If I'm a pagan of the good times, my lover's the sunlight to keep the Goddess on my side. She demands a sacrifice, drain the whole sea, get something shiny"

It took everything in Simon not to worship the ground you walked on that night, he wasn't trying very hard, was he? Because always.. at the end of the night, you're in his bed, his mind, his life.

Was it really a sin? To want something you don't deserve? Simon stayed up that whole night, not a wink of sleep while thinking of whether this arrangement should continue. Every bone and organ in his body telling him to be selfish, take what was something that wasn't his to take.

"Something meaty for the main course, that's a fine looking high horse. What you got in the stable? We've a lot of starving faithful that looks tasty, that looks plenty, this is hungry work"

Simon's gaze, never faltering on your sleeping figure that he refuses to go anywhere but his own arms. He tries to close his eye to compose himself, free himself from the emotions you emit from him.

His efforts were to no use, all he saw was the image of you, sweetly smiling, those doe eye staring right through his soul.

"No masters or kings when the ritual begins. There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin In the madness, in the soil of that sad earthly scene. Only then I am human, only then I am clean"

You were getting too close for your own good, Simon knew that, he'll be damned if he let's himself hurt you. So he does what any stupid man would do, avoid you like the plague. Did it mean nothing? Were you just some fling, never to be talked about again?

Fuck you Simon Riley, he made you feel loved in bed like no man ever has or ever will, completely ruining your chance of ever thinking of anything else and that was just a hook-up session? Maybe this one time you can let yourself be delusional, was there really something more? Only one way to find out.

"Oh, oh, Amen, Amen, Amen, Take me to church, I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife, offer me that deathless death. Good God, let me give you my life"

You caught him, fucking finally, after days of waiting and trying to get him at the perfect time. "Si.." you whispered softly, you didn't know where to start. He took a quick glance at you before looking back at what he was doing.

"Simon Riley, don't fucking ignore me. Not after everything that happened those nights" You said, it was stern but he needed to hear it. It made him stop, think about what had happened.

Before he could generate a response, "Why?" You asked. It was a vague question, why was he ignoring you? Why does he feel this way? Why does he love you yet refuse to act on it?

"Take me to church, I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife, offer me that deathless death. Good God, let me give you my life.."

"You don't deserve a man like me, you deserve one who is like you, optimistic, sweet, fucking beautiful and alive.. A man who's not damaged, scarred, has blood on his hands and haunted by his past. A man who's not afraid to show his love for you. A man who won't put his burdens on your shoulders and a man who will take care of you instead of the other way around. That's what you deserve and I can't give that"

Everything felt like it came to a stop, were you hearing that right?

"You have no idea how much you contradict yourself, Si. How are you so sure that you haven't given those things to me already? You might not be like me but "like me" isn't what I want.. I want you, every flaw, every beautiful scar. Not once before your silent treatment have you hurt me, it's frustrating yes, but you are worthy of that. Every struggle, frustration and mistake, every bit of your love is worth all of that. I want you to see that Si, your actual true worth rather than what some psychotic fucker decided to torture you with"

"Boys, workin' on empty. Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat? I just think about my baby, I'm so full of love I could barely eat"

"Si?"

"Yes, Sunshine?"

"I love you" You whispered after smothering him in a plethora of kisses. Never has anything made Simon melt more in his life than his wife say that. Doesn't matter how long it's been, how much the both of you have been through or how much frustration the both of you were going through..

It will always stay the same, the feeling those three words give him, like the first time, every moment feels that way. Familiar, finally.. Home.

"There's nothing sweeter than my baby I'd never want once from the cherry tree. 'Cause my baby's sweet as can be, she give me toothaches just from kissin' me"

He always thought about how unfaithfulness was such a struggle between some people, he thought about how good he has it constantly, reflecting back on what he used to have to how now this is something he never thought he'd have or deserve.

"When my time comes around, lay me gently in the cold, dark earth. No grave can hold my body down, I'll crawl home to her"

When a man finds himself in the verge of embracing death's arms, what causes the struggle? What causes him to fight that pain, to keep on going? Not once has this crossed Ghost's mind.

No. He's not Ghost, he's Simon. Your Simon.

And you're expecting your Simon home, fuck everything else, he'll give the biggest "fuck you" to death itself and crawl home to you because he'll be damned and he'll experience everything he has in his life over and over again just to hold you again.

"Boys, when my baby found me I was three days on a drunken sin, I woke with her walls around me. Nothin' in her room but an empty crib and I was burnin' up a fever I didn't care much how long I lived, but I swear I thought I dreamed her. She never asked me once about the wrong I did."

It should matter, the amount of blood on his hands. Not once did you judge him for it, what the fuck was wrong with you? Giving a monster such as him a bath like he was some innocent stray kitten, although this time around it was far more messy. The dried blood caked underneath his finger nails.

Flashing him a tired smile while you wiped off the blood that made the water in the tub a hue of brownish-red. Taking your hand in his, his lips brushing against your knuckles. The way you looked at him was enough to make him cry.

"When my time comes around, lay me gently in the cold, dark earth. No grave can hold my body down, I'll crawl home to her"

"Fucking get up" Simon repeats to himself, "She needs you, she loves you" despite how many times he's convinced himself you didn't due to the voice of his father in his head, it felt like a knife twisting in his heart imagining how it would be for you without him.

How much you cried the night he came home a day later, you told him yourself, practically sobbing while clutching your aching chest and him with your other arm how you weren't ready for Price to show up at your doorsteps holding Simon's belongings.

He won't let that happen.. he can't...

"My babe would never fret none, about what my hands and my body done. If the Lord don't forgive me, I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me"

Simon knew it, no one would ever love him like you do. No one would show him the same acceptance, devotion, care, concern and love. It wasn't healthy to be so attached dependently to someone in love.

He couldn't help it, it felt so right, everything with you did. Never a judgmental one, at least towards him. Always first to hold him, the first to ever take away the heavy guilt that weighed his heart and shoulders down after he'd done something he knows he'll go to hell for, if it's even real

"When I was kissing on my baby and she put her love down soft and sweet In the low lamplight I was free. Heaven and hell were words to me"

Every inch was kissed, not a part wasn't worshiped. "So fuckin' beautiful, so sweet. All for me, hmm?" Simon mumbled against your skin, suckling on the soft sweetness that he so claims. All hickeys, no bruises.

Fuck, he'd not just survive but thrive on just you. No other sustenance, your supple thighs he adores to cover in purple, your neck, your lips and your skin that he often compares to sugar syrup in his head.

"When my time comes around, lay me gently in the cold, dark earth. No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her"

The question was, was it worth it to live an eternity of lifetimes filled with suffer to be with you in at least once? The only answer to ever graze Simon Riley's lips was the word "yes", the day that changes is the day that he'd be the biggest bull-shiter the world has ever known.

Simon opened the door to your shared home, "Daddy!" A loud squeal wakes him up from his dread of what he's seen on the field.

"How's my little sunshine been? 'Ave you been good to your momma while I was gone?" Simon asked, carrying the little girl in his arms.

"Yes! Momma said we'd go to the park tomorrow as a reward for me helping out!" Little one saying it so proudly, Simon couldn't help but smile, beaming with pride as his little girl grows up to be what he recognizes as a good person.

"Simon..? You're finally home, I missed you so much" You said, peeking out the laundry room. You walked out, quick to give him a peck on the lips.

"I love you Si.."

"I love you too Sunshine"

Also this is a very long fic.. I expect long feedback.. @connorsui 👀

Does this make sense? Idk anymore it's like almost midnight and I'm running on a few hours of sleep. GOD MY PROM DRESS LOOKS SO GOOD, I CAN'T WAIT.

Taglist: @wishesforyou @puff0o0 @simping4konig @simp4konig @blingblong55 @azereus @rustic-guitar-notes @shadofireshinobi @thelightdjinnofpalestine @09maruchan @anonymuslydumb @skeletalgoats @icarustypicalfall @ghosts-cyphera @fawnchives @connorsui @capuccino192 @miss-gms-and-the-rotten-womb @celestialhole @the-second-sage @starryylies @everlastingmoonlightsworld @keiva1000 @iexiam @drewsmusee @konigceo

Trying out new dividers as well by @anitalenia

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juststandingthere · 6 months ago

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ISTG this game is making me insane, brainrot strong enough for me to make my first analysis post

One thing i love about the narrative is how distorted the characters, relationships and events are from jimmy's pov. Most posts discussing this focus on Anya, and it makes sense bc she's probably the biggest victim of this. She's seen as less than a person, she's an incompetent nurse, she has a meek personality, she'll let anyone(jimmy) step over her and she still follows his orders, despite everything he has done to her. We obviously see, from curly's pov, that she's simply too terrified of her abuser to act any other way, and when she's not with him she's way more confident and competent.

I haven't seen as many people talking about how this "distortion" affects Swansea and Daisuke as well, including the relationship they have with each other.

We see, in the first Curly section, that Swansea is a great mentor to Daisuke (one might even say they have a father-son/uncle-nephew relationship). He takes his time to teach him not just the basics, but also how to do his job as safely as possible. He lets him take notes, he himself writes stuff down for him to remember and even lets him doodle on those notes! Sure he is harsh with him, but he clearly cares about him and wants him to be safe.

And in return Daisuke looks up to him and has great respect for him, as both a mechanic and a man, while he also makes some jokingly offensive comments towards the older man, showing the close bond they have formed.

But that's not what we see when we play as Jimmy.

In his pov we don't see them interacting much, when they do we either see Swansea insulting Daisuke for no apparent reason or, in one occasion, we see him leading the kid down a "bad path" wanting to teach him how to "drink like a man".

When they aren't interacting tho, we do see hints of their actual relationship: Swansea asking where the kid is when he is "partying" in the lounge, confirming that he does not, in fact, hate spending time with him; him looking desperately for something, *anything*, that could help Daisuke with his suffering after he's injured; how whenever Jimmy tries to bring up to Daisuke how "badly" Swansea treats him, or how he "lied" to them about the utility room, Daisuke immediately shuts him down, because he knows what he's saying is completely wrong (i'm pretty sure those are the only times he doubts something Jimmy says), showing once again the trust and respect he has for his mentor.

(this part is kinda speculative but i think it makes sense)

There are two other times where we see them interacting, where we actually see how much Swansea cares for the kid, and coincidentally, neither of them is seen through Jimmy's eyes, but from a third person pov: what Swansea says right before they knock him out with the drink, about how he resents the people that let Daisuke, someone with his whole life ahead of him, with so much optimism and joy, board the ship for a job that would inevitably leave him "mangled" and "smarter in a worse way" (i could make a whole other essay on this part but i won't), and what he says right before mercy killing him. In that scene specifically, as the camera pans out in the corridor as Swansea raises his axe, ready to take the final swing, Jimmy doesn't see the hesitation in his body language, the way his body tenses, the way he comforts the kid, telling him to close his eyes, the heavy breaths (crying?maybe?) right after the act. He only sees the older man as a monster that would take away an innocent life that jimmy would have been able to fix had he been given the time to fucking think.

Hell, now that i think about it, Swansea's final monologue, where we find out that he is in fact a good man who tried his best to better himself, who simply wanted to protect the kid and give him "a chance off this goddamn rock"(implying that the Cryopod was meant for Daisuke all along) is also shown in third person!

A few other things i found interesting:

1-The missing pieces between what happened to Daisuke in the vent and when Swansea started attacking Jimmy. There's a cut from when Daisuke screams to when he's laying on (Swansea's) bed, bloody and in pain; from when Jimmy uses the mouthwash to disinfect him (which only causes him to suffer more) and two hours later; from after the talk the two men have and the moment Jimmy decides to go find the gun, the axe gone from Daisuke's face. What happened in those missing scenes? Was Swansea the one who helped the kid onto his bed, trying to make him as comfortable as possible? Did he try to comfort him, to distract him, and ease his pain as well as he could? What was his reaction when he had to take back the axe off the face of the young man he had started seeing as his own kid, whose life he had hoped he could save but that he ultimately had to take with his own hands?

I personally think those parts are blocked out of Jimmy's mind, as he couldn't fit them in his own narrative, where he was the hero, Swansea the villain and Daisuke the innocent, young man whose life he tried his best to protect from this "monster" that was now going to come after him.

2-Swansea attacking Jimmy with the axe, especially the cemetery scene, and how it can be interpreted in different ways.

We, the viewers, knowing everything that happened, will see it as a desperate man, Swansea, trying to avenge the lives that had been lost on that ship because of Jimmy (wether directly or not), with Daisuke's death being the last straw. But i don't think that's how Jimmy saw it. He saw swansea as a crazed, mad man, a ruthless killer, coming for him after taking an innocent life, Daisuke's photo and mausoleum as a reminder for Jimmy of what the older man had done, and a justification for what he was about to do.

(not to talk about the implication that the fight against swansea was not as intense as we saw it, only confirming the idea that jimmy was looking for a justification for shooting him)

#anyways most off this is probably me overthinking stuff that was probably not intended #but i have been hyperfixated on this for the whole day #so i needed to write this down #mouthwashing #jimmy mouthwashing #daisuke mouthwashing #swansea mouthwashing #jimmy when i catch you jimmy #also there are things to be said about how jimmy sees Curly as well but i'm nnot brainrotted on him enough to actually analyze that #anyways: daisuke is infantilized by jimmy and seen as someone to be protected #swansea is seen as the one he needs to protect the kid from #not realizing he was the monster all along #(or most likely realizing it but not accepting it)

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haru-dipthong · 5 months ago

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Fansub Release + Analysis of Utena Ep 14

This is a big one!!

My fansub release posts aren't usually like this, but this episode is so jam packed with stuff I want to talk about that I had to write my translation notes as a series of essays. It's longer than usual so strap in!

First, a word on “The Mikage Seminar”

I’ve always found the translation “the Mikage Seminar” very strange. In English, a seminar is an event — a lecture. Yet “the Mikage Seminar” is discussed as though it’s not a recurring lecture, but a society or a school of therapy, or a cult (like scientology). In fact I did a bit of reading about scientology to try and find an alternative translation, and discovered that the origins of scientology, namely a set of ideas and practices called Dianetics, bears a lot of similarities to “the Mikage Seminar”. Both involve a type of therapy where one person looks into their mind and talks to an “auditor”.

The auditor coaxes the preclear to recall as much as possible. — Wikipedia

This in particular stood out to me! Mikage often says 「深く。もっと深く」 during his interviews (”Deeper. Dig deeper.”).

The Japanese word ゼミナール doesn’t actually come from the English “seminar” but the German “Seminar” (capitalised). According to Wikipedia, in Germany, and often in Japan, Seminar/ゼミナール is used to refer to a university course that includes a thesis project. So ゼミナール refers to a course of learning, rather than a talk or lecture. And it would make a lot of sense to call a system like Dianetics a “course”. Almost like a “course” of medicine — a “course” of psychological practices that you can join but never complete.

So it would make sense to translate it as “the Mikage Course”. But “course” has more meanings in English than just this, and in the context of a university this makes it sound more like a mundane teaching course. So I tried some other words: the Mikage Sessions, the Mikage Method, Mikage Psychotherapy, Mikage Therapy, the Mikage Movement. None seemed quite right. Until I remembered this post. ゼミナール is a foreign word in Japanese, why not find a foreign word for the translation? And so I settled on this:

The Mikage Seminarium, AKA The Society of the Black Rose…

Seminarium is Latin, and is where both the German and English derive seminar from. Its original meaning is “seed plot”, but it’s also just the Polish word for seminar. I really like how the Latin makes its meaning ambiguous — it kind of sounds like a location, kind of sounds like a society, and kind of sounds like a learning course. Because it is all of these things.

Anthy: では、香苗さん。失礼します。 Kanae: ね、あたしの事、お姉さんって呼んでいいのよ。もうすぐわたしはあなたの本当のお姉さんになるんだから。

A more literal translation:

Anthy: Thank you for having us, Kanae-san. Kanae: Please… you can just call me “sister”. I’m going to be your real sister soon enough anyway.

The translation I ended up going with:

Anthy: Thank you for having us, Miss Ohtori. Kanae: Please... you can just call me Kanae. We're going to be family soon. There's no need for the formalities.

Japanese honorifics strike again!

In English, sisters-in-law don’t ask to be called “sister”. That would be super weird in most scenarios, and this scene is trying to evoke a particular familiar feeling of closing a distance gap in a relationship. The audience is meant to relate. Changing how Anthy addresses Kanae was pivotal to this scene working properly.

わかりました。あなたは世界を革命するしかないでしょ。

I understand. Your only choice is to force the world to change around you.

This line is translated as “Your only choice is to revolutionise the world” by basically every other translation. The reason is clear — the Japanese is the same as when Utena pulls the sword out of Anthy, or when any of the other characters talk about “revolutionising the world”. However, in this context, I don’t like it. The nuance of the English phrase is quite different to the Japanese phrase. In English, it’s often used to describe new commercial products: “This new device will revolutionise the world!” It comes with an implied “for the better”, but has used to describe technological developments so unexciting that it can also feel hollow. When the student council talk of revolutionising the world, they sound like revolutionaries — the context makes it work. But in this context, it comes out of nowhere and doesn’t have any of that fervour, which makes it sound hollow and flaccid when it should sound sinister and manipulative.

I think a pervading throughline for all the Black Rose duelists is that they see their problems as caused by other people, with themselves being blameless. Rather than change how they approach their situation, Mikage tells them they’re in the right.

Your behaviour will set you down a path. If that path leads to your goals, well done! However, if your path does not lead to your goals, there’s only two ways you can achieve them.

The first is to change your behaviour so that it does align with your goals. The second, impossible way, is for the rest of the world to change such that your current path DOES end up leading to your goals. This second way is not possible in the real world. But it is possible in Utena.

Also I’ll just leave this here: “around you” → “revolve” → “revolution” 👀

Kanae tried to build a relationship with Anthy in a passive, non-confrontational, extremely Japanese way — the way she has been taught to behave, the “proper” way, a mechanical following of the social scripts. We don’t see a lot of their relationship, but the way she behaved and spoke of behaving towards Anthy is very very similar to the way my Japanese grandmother has behaved towards my and my brother’s partners.

It was unthinkable to her to change this pattern of behaviour. Her only choice was to change Anthy, change the rest of the world, so that her behaviour would lead to the outcomes she wants. You could describe this forceful bending of reality to be “revolutionising the world”.

この黒薔薇のある限り、私はこれから嘘の私を演じなくて住む。

As long as I have this Black Rose, I'm free from the lie I was living before.

Besides gender, growing up, and resisting change (which exist as separate themes but also all intertwine as one), another major theme present in Utena is the self and subjective reality. The self is explored within those first major three themes, but also in terms of how the self dictates reality with the Black Rose duellists.

Black Rose Kanae says that her past self was a lie.

It reminds me of all the times when I’ve been going through a personal trial and I’ve looked back on my past self and thought “How naive I was. I understand things better now.” And then after a while I realise I was wrong, and my first self was more right. And then later still, maybe I re-realise that the second self was more right! And so on! The reality of truth (or to use Kanae’s language, “lies”) is so subjective.

Who dictates knowledge production? Who decides what is true; what is valid knowledge? This is a question of sociology - and at the moment that answer is "science does, kinda". But science and academic systems are supported by capitalist structures and tainted by capitalistic incentives — needing to be published in a journal, issues of replicability, the barrier to entry into academia in the first place, etc, etc. In the future we may find our current way of organising knowledge to be archaic and primitive in the same way we look back at medieval scholars.

But what about organising self-knowledge? Knowledge where the only one who can really decide what is true is yourself. And the only one that can decide what yourself even IS is yourself. I feel like I have looked back on my old ways of conceptualising myself many times (not even counting the gender-based revelations) and thought it primitive and archaic, and NOW I truly understand who I am and how to think of myself and how my thoughts interact with my other thoughts. But I have no doubt that I’ll look back on this current self of mine and reject their way of thinking too.

After their heart is replaced by the Black Rose, the duellists themselves frame this change as a moment of self realisation, of clarity. Once the rose is inside them, they wake up from themselves, like I have countless times. Kanae says herself, “This is the true me.” Honestly, I don’t doubt it. I think that version of Kanae was her true self at that moment, given the things influencing her. Being brainwashed doesn’t make you less of a person, or less yourself. It just makes you organise your reality differently.

心を凍結させて作っただけの間に合わせのデュエリストでは、彼女は破れないな。

We won't be able to defeat her by simply freezing someone's heart and forcing them to duel.

Anya and I discussed this in depth. I originally translated 心 as “mind”, because that was the first thing that popped into my head and I thought that was the simple part of the translation. However, Anya pointed out that it didn’t make sense with the themes of self and subjective reality, and I strongly agreed, so I changed it to “heart” instead.

Anya suggested “conscious mind” instead of “heart” but I think heart is more accurate. 心 (kokoro) can mean heart or mind in Japanese (I find it interesting that those two things are portrayed as opposites in English), and that kanji is found in the word for biological heart, 心臓 (shinzou). When they say of the Black Rose "This is your new heart" they use 心臓. They also say "Your new 命 (life/lifeforce)" which I translated as soul since it sounded more hardcore and because "your new life" is a set phrase in English meaning a new chapter in your life rather than your life force. I think the idea is that they're freezing the duellists' ability to love and feel empathy, which in my opinion is necessary for them to commit to the unbelievably selfish act of revolutionising/reconstructing/bending the entire structure of the world for their own convenience.

A very special thanks to @dontbe-lasanya for being there to talk through all these themes and ideas. I'm incredibly proud of this episode's translation and I wouldn't have been able to do it without them.

If you want to see more analysis like this, let me know! And also follow this blog to see episodes of the fansub as they're released. You can find all episodes released so far here:

Rose divider taken from this post

#revolutionary girl utena #rgu #shoujo kakumei utena #sku #utena #media analysis #utena analysis #translation #japanese #japanese language #langblr #official blog post #utena fansub

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 16 hours ago

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I feel like Unparalleled Aeons and Far Out songs stands out to me is how both members were given equal screen time (Given they are two). Because I guess the issues with the songs is how they have small amount of time for some. Well I don't blame some not just the number of members but also how some of them aren't professional singers like

Notice how the rest of the songs, the way housewarden sings like being the main singer (make sense on who is twisted version they are) the rest being like back-singers but still have some good solos. Meanwhile, the way Idia and Kalim sings doesn't feel like Jamil and Ortho are back-up singers nor them being main singers but like partners with equal parts. When I listened to the other songs, I can't tell who's who while the Ignihyde and Scarabia I can tell.

I don't hate the songs, but you can't help but notice that makes it interesting. Overall, I love all songs that have their motifs, themes, and lyrics. It's kinda sad these songs couldn't be use in modern Disney that much.

[My personal ranking(s) of the dorm songs here!]

I definitely feel like Far-Out and Unparalleled Aeons had the most evenly distributed lyrics of all the songs. As you said, maybe it was more challenging for the composer to balance larger groups, or maybe the composer was limited in how he could write the songs due to some VAs being less skilled with singing. However, I also have to wonder how much of this was intentional??

These are dorm songs, right? And the VAs are singing in character. So to me, it feels like the songs are storytelling too, telling us about the dynamics of the group through their performances.

Looking back on it, the two most balanced songs belong to the dorms where its members are the most deeply intertwined with one another. Kalim and Jamil are locked into a toxic codependent relationship due to their families' history. Kalim relies on Jamil to do practically everything for him, while Jamil is stuck in a servant position he wants to break free from and always forced to play second-fiddle to Kalim. Idia is constantly haunted by Ortho's death, and Ortho plays a huge role in providing support for his older brother's mental faculties (encouraging him to get out of his room and mingle with peers). Ortho is very reliant on Idia for much of his own identity and presence at NRC (prior to book 6), only allowed to be there because he was registered as Idia's + Idia provided tech support for the school. Idia also designed many new forms (gears) for Ortho.

Many of the songs are structured to feature the dorm leader--which I'd argue is thematically appropriate, as I will soon get into. I have a pretty bad ear too, but I was surprised at how many of the voices I could distinguish. The card soldiers, Silver and Sebek, and Epel and Vil were the only ones I couldn't quite make out. There was enough variation for me to tell the others apart, especially Savanaclaw (no way would I mistake Ruggie for Jack or even Leona for Jack).

Every song not only has its own genre, but also its own vibes. I like that Twst can be its own thing and not necessarily kowtow to Disney's more traditional musical roots. I personally wouldn't want these to be incorporated into modern Disney film or TV productions. When Disney tries to do this, it ends up sounding so tonally dissonant or mismatched with the rest of their OST(s). ... Anyway, here's a very brief analysis of each song's arrangement + some lyrics and how they're divided up-- (MVs not taken into consideration; I unfortunately don't have the time to analyze every frame and how it lines up with the lyrics.)

Heartslabyul's Obedience is interesting in that it is very symmetrical with its vocal pairings. Cater and Trey sing with one another while Ace and Deuce sing with one another. The third years are deliberately paired with each other, while the first years are deliberately paired with each other. Trey and Cater, the original loyalists, have lines about "[playing] your cards right" and how their ruler is looking righteous and smug. Meanwhile Ace and Deuce, the rebels, sing about not being "caught" by their dorm leader's gaze. It's not until the second half of the song where they mix things up (Deuce with Trey, Ace with Cater), but it's still very predictable with the blends (always a third year with a first year). Trey and Deuce, the more level-headed duo, bring up setting the table, while Cater and Deuce, being more of the "hide your true feelings"/"avoid responsibilities" duo, "[hide] behind a smile" and warn to not "get caught with your tongue sticking out". This goes along with the song's theme of following the rules to a T; all the card soldiers are in place! You can even say that the song starting off with the rhythm of a military band indicates the song coming up will be regimented and structured. The only part I would say outright "breaks" this rule is when Adeuce sing with Riddle (around the middle of the song?) but in a way, that also makes sense given that those first years rebelled against Riddle in book 1, but eventually come around in book 7 to become his supporters. Then they of course all chant together for the English portions ("Yes, your Majesty!", "My pleasure, my Queen!", "As you wish, my Queen!") where they express their devotion to the Queen, indicating that these phrases are something "[the Queen wants] to hear". (Riddle chants with them too, to show respect for the rules.)

I think the true chaos of the song comes in the second half. Trey and Cater mention running through a maze and how the Queen's righteousness breaks at that moment, then Adeuce elaborate it scatters like cards. Riddle remarks how this--the twisting maze--"[hides] the true colors of [his] heart". This parallels how there was an elaborate chase through the rose maze in the depths of Riddle's book 7 dream, obscuring his loneliness.

You definitely get the vibes that although everyone has their little solo, Adeuce, Cater, and Trey are there to support their dorm leader. Riddle gets about the same amount of lyrics as the others, but his parts are more embellished and have more vocal flair to them. The lines specifically assigned to Riddle also feel like he's the Queen welcoming you to his territory full of his followers ("This is the path to the Queen's rose garden", "The cards are lined up and awaiting their (next) orders", etc.). The lines assigned to the card soldiers seem intentionally designed--as if the cards are reminding you of the rules so you don't upset the Queen.

DIADEM is reflective of the relationships between its dorm members too, but the relationships are very different than Heartslabyul's. The song begins with Jack singing, followed by a line in which he and Leona sing together. Then Ruggie has a solo line, which is also followed by a line in which Leona joins him. It's only AFTER Leona has already shared lines with Jack and Ruggie that he belts out his own solo, which stresses that they will continue to roar, no matter how many times it takes for their message to be heard. This gives the impression that he swooped in to support Jack and Ruggie with their own parts, just like a benevolent king or mentor figure/senpai might do for his people or mentees/juniors. This is also what Leona essentially does for his dorm in book 2. Then once Leona makes his own declaration, they're all able to sing together, united as one. It's like he uplifted Jack and Ruggie to join his rebellion.

There's an interesting part in the chorus where Ruggie and Jack break away to sing (without Leona) about fate and laughing through the hard times which. Has some heartbreaking implications when you consider that Leona expressed as late as book 6 (and is strongly implied in his book 7 dream as well) that he sees hope in others, but not himself. So??? Him NOT joining Jack and Ruggie in singing about laughing through difficult times seems pessimistic. Around the middle of DIADEM, Leona shouts out commands ("howl" and "roar", respectively), each of which is punctuated by Ruggie and Jack joining him with the English phrases "BEAT DOWN" and "DO MORE". These come off like a leader rallying his allies, and those allies responding with chants for their cause. This is especially the case because right after we get Ruggie declaring that his blood is boiling (ie he's pumped now) and he's eager to destroy a future that has already been decided for him. Then Jack enters, saying that he, too, wants to tear down an unjust world. There is NO Leona in this part, it's ONLY Jack and Ruggie, who have been newly emboldened by his words. The song really highlights how much the juniors are motivated by their strong leader.

In Heartslabyul's song, you get the sense that everyone else exists to prop up the Queen/Riddle and try to keep each other out of trouble by reciting the rules. In Savanaclaw's song, you can see how Leona encourages his dorm members and they react by taking to the words that lift their spirits. Both dorms' members are showing deference to their dorm leaders, but in different ways.

Entanglement opens with Jade imploring the listener to spill their secrets to him. Then Floyd comes in, continuing the charade. Azul takes over from there. This framing makes me think of Octavinelle's usual schemes--that is to say, the twins advertising Azul's "services" and then finally introducing us to him, this supposed "wish granter" (a procedure described to us in book 2). The order of the characters' presentation slots in nicely with this: we start with the more polite and unassuming twin luring us in. Once Jade has set the bait, Floyd, the more conspicuous brother, feels safe to step in and really talk up what Jade laid out in the beginning. Only after both twins are pitched Azul does Azul actually show up to make his offer. Jade and Floyd make up the majority of the chorus, singing together to coerce the listener into making a decision, even framing it like the decision is being made exclusively based on YOUR free will ("It's all up to you"), when really, it's not. Azul shockingly says very little solo in the chorus, only "Now, go on, we're all ears", before the twins join him and they urge you to share your wish with them.

The latter half of the song gives Poor Unfortunate Souls energy; it features Azul telling the listener they won't find a better bargain than this, then Jade saying they're drowning in their own desires and finally Floyd putting on the pressure to close this deal. Azul then mentions paying a price and how his rules are reasonable, which is very similar to how Ursula demands her a toll be paid (how it isn't "asking for much", etc.). The twins also very characteristically warn you what will happen if the contract is broken ("punishment", "squeezing", "no escape"), like the potential consequences if Ariel cannot get the kiss of true love from Eric. Overall, Entanglement reads as the extended experience of you being roped into a Bad Deal.

Far-Out opens with Kalim (the dorm leader), with Jamil (the vice) following. This pattern of Kalim first, Jamil second (which reflects their dynamic in general) also occurs when they speak English in the song; Kalim gets his verse about the magic carpet first, Jamil gets his verse about treasure later. The dual nature of Kalim and Jamil is also made apparent here: Kalim is allowed to fly "whenever [he] wants", while Jamil is only allowed to "dream" about "treasure whenever [he] wants". When the two sing together, this duality persists: "good and evil intertwine", "[falling] into a sea of ecstasy", the part where they list several people of different social standing, etc. The one time when Jamil sings before Kalim is at the beginning of the second verse, before Kalim mentions a scarab flying in front of him. This comes off as if Jamil is leading the way for his dorm leader, like some puppetmaster dangling his puppet and tugging it along by the strings. I think it's very telling that Kalim's opening line is about describing the scorching heat of their homeland but Jamil's opening line is about... TEMPTATION??? Hilariously on-the-nose, seeing as how Jamil is the one with the literal mind control UM and he describes a serpent in the night with sharp eyes in the lyrics to Far-Out (literally describing himself). Meanwhile, Kalim's UM chant seems to be referenced, as he talks about singing and dancing. Both Scarabia boys sing about "giving in" together, but as the song goes on, the framing of the lyrics makes it clear they're "giving in" to different things. For Kalim, it's "the heat" (a stand-in for Jamil's mind control), which is made apparent by Jamil immediately saying "indulge in this feeling until it takes over" and Kalim later says he is "captivated by the heat". For Jamil, it's "treasure", something he repeatedly indicates as wanting to take throughout the song. For example, Kalim sings about endless riches, and then Jamil has a solo line where he says "if you desire it, take as much as you want"--and his dream in book 7 shows him taking all that was once the Asims'. They're both venturing to a metaphorical oasis to seek relief, but seem to be distracted by things along the way ("heat", "treasure", etc.).

Kalim mentions a golden scarab crossing his eyes in one line, and while this is an obvious Aladdin reference, it also makes me think of Jade's one golden eye interrogating him in book 4; this would be another time in which Kalim is taken advantage of by others. First by Jamil, then by Jade. At the very end, Kalim sings about undoing shackles (most likely referring to Jamil's) while Jamil sings about a party (of which Kalim throws many of) that will eventually exhaust. The other Scarabia character is at the forefront of each boy's mind, and it is also where their respective desires (friendship for Kalim, freedom for Jamil) derive.

La Volonté is French for "will" or "willpower", which is a huge theme in the song. Unlike the other songs so far (which open with a solo or duet), La Volonté begins with all members of Pomefiore singing about their "one and only wish", and how they intend to immortalize their beauty. This is fascinating in that all three of them have very different personal goals (Epel wants to be strong, Vil wants to be seen as a "hero", Rook wants to pursue beauty), but they sing in unison anyway, because this validates all of their goals as being "beautiful".

Rook, the most secretive of the trio, mentions a heart locked away in a box, then Vil joins him in speaking of a truth entering his ear--like in book 5, when Rook convinces Vil to go with the more unconventional picks for the VDC/SDC auditions. In one of Epel's solos, he tells of sweet poison dyed in crimson, which is wording that is very close to his UM name. When Vil joins him, they sing, "A little more, a little more...", which makes me think of how Vil intends to "perfect" Epel into a weapon to use against Neige in book 5. The fact that Rook sings about their goal "[being] within reach" is ironic, given that it's ultimately his vote that decides NRC's loss.

Though this song starts off with the Pomefiore boys together, this is definitely one of those songs that centers the dorm leader over the others. There are many parts where it's just Rook and Epel singing ("Let all freeze", "[...] grant eternal slumber", etc.) and Vil joining in later or getting a solo after them. The first "waltz upon white snow" invokes the image of Vil standing over the cold body of his fallen rival Neige, but later on Rook and Epel join in singing about this. I wonder if that's an intentional callback to book 7, when they delved into Vil's dream and found Neige... dying. It's Vil singing somberly about all the hands that seek to pull him down (all his haters, all the people who assume he is as evil as the villains he plays), not knowing "the worth of a true star" (ie himself). It's Vil issuing the order for your breath to still (as if your breath has been stolen away by him; this is also the beginning to Epel's UM chant). And, most importantly, it's Vil vocalizing to end the song--a song which, need I remind you, started off with ALL of Pomefiore singing. Now Epel and Rook have stepped back, allowing Vil, the "true star", to command the stage.

Oftentimes fans—and even the Twst characters themselves—will compare Riddle and Vil on the basis of strictness. This also holds true for the compositions of Obedience and La Volonté. Both songs have their respective queens front and center, but La Volonté is definitely moreso than Obedience. Maybe it’s Vil’s celebrity status that has him commanding the spotlight? It could also be that Rook and Epel are simply more inited under a common front (“beauty”) whereas the card soldiers are more selfish and follow Riddle’s rules as a means to avoid punishment for themselves rather than truly subscribing to his strictness.

Unparalleled Aeons has Ortho starting us off, and it's framed kind of like the middle of an argument between the Shroud brothers?? He seems to be addressing Idia, asking if he will shut himself away again, only for Idia to respond that "[he's] just one soul" and that "[he's] the problem". The fact that the song begins with Ortho and not Idia--the dorm leader--makes me think it's symbolic of many of Idia's social problems "originating" with the original Ortho's death. This would go well with the theme of persisting despair in the early verse. In any case, they continue to have this back-and-forth, with Idia stating that he has known dreams are hollow for a long time (likely a reference to his backstory and how he's destined to be Director of S.T.Y.X. one day, whether he wants to be or not). The two later on talk about sulking in the Underworld, which is something Idia notes is a common trait between him, his father, and his grandmother--previous or current heads of S.T.Y.X., and what awaits him too.

The chorus has both Shrouds singing, and it is very much structured around the book 6 disaster in which they attempt to open the gate to the Underworld, unleash Phantoms upon the world. They reference their "happy end" and Cerberus's engine revving up--perhaps to call attention to Phantom!Ortho, the third "head" and sibling to the Shroud brothers. Idia sings about how his loneliness spawned into genius (could he mean how his grief led him to invent a new Ortho?) too. In another verse, the Shrouds declare they will "rearrange the cosmos" and Ortho jeers about heroes that arrive too late to stop them. They're almost gleeful in the "whirlpool of {swirling) souls", full of despair and chaos as they finally realize their shared dream. Hilariously, Idia and Ortho shout "FEVER TIME", a special state that grants temporary advantages in games--indicating that, at least to the Shroud brothers, they see this all as one big game.

At one point, Ortho has a solo line about how a happy ending with tears is crueler than being forever alone. Is he talking about bittersweet endings here? Does this not describe book 6's conclusion--an ending in which Idia is forced to say good-bye to one brother, while also embracing another brother? Idia gets his own line about having all of the cheats and going at full throttle, which paints the image in my head of him putting together that cheat tool and delivering the weapons + armor to Silver and Sebek via magiwheel in book 7. Ortho's solo line in the chorus mentions entertaining trials and tribulations, which I think calls back to book 6, when he tested each of our little groups with mini games. Unparalleled Aeons is simply packed full of internet lingo and gaming slang, all being weaponized to taunt the listener.

The Shrouds lament about how they've been "forsaken by [...] Fate", then make reference to the Fates cutting a Thread of Life, sending them crashing towards "The End". They also later call to attention knowledge of past, present, and future, which are concepts associated with the Fates too. The cut life might be the original Ortho's death, or it could be Phantom!Ortho finally moving on, and thus Idia pushing past his grief. The chorus wraps up with Idia whispering "Welcome to the Underworld"--very fitting, seeing as I recall him uttering a similar line when welcoming the OB boys to S.T.Y.X. HQ (the domain he will rule in the future) for the first time.

Unlike Far-Out, which has an insidious vibe due to the clashing nature of Kalim and Jamil’s parts, Unparalleled Aeons allows Idia and Ortho to be on the same page. It really feels like a Final Boss and his top-ranked henchman scheming together to destroy the heroes.

Capricious Calamity is technically another song which centers the dorm leader, but not in the same way that La Volonté does. In La Volonté, Vil has many solos, whereas in Capricious Calamity, Malleus is the subject of the song, the one being praised and worshipped (using archaic terminology). Given that Diasomnia seems to be a cult of personality around Malleus, this direction makes sense--and the choice to open with Sebek, THE Malleus fanboy, singing about his master's radiance shining brightly in the night, also makes sense. Sebek also closes off the second verse, declaring "unending tribute" to Malleus.

The first verse slowly evolves with a new character added per line. First there's only Sebek, but then it becomes Sebek and Silver together. It gives the vibes of wandering into an old castle and running into the ruler's guards who are evaluating you before you may be graced with their lord's presence. Lilia (the eldest and most experienced of them all) then gets a brief solo before making way for Malleus. It feels like Lilia showed up to announce their prince's arrival, and how all should make way for him. And of course the first thing Malleus says is that he "knows not of celebration"... This is followed up by Silver mentioning that Malleus "wishes for a miracle" (to be invited/included). Then Silver, Sebek, and Lilia speak of this as a transgression which warrants judgment. Again, Lilia concludes this verse with the line about judgment, which harkens back to earlier, when he seemingly "announced" Malleus.

Malleus leads the chorus once Lilia has summoned him. He calls himself an omen that comes with the lightning (his signature), then his dorm members chant that all shall kneel before his green light. Disembodied voices join in, echoing that the listener should give their entire being to the thorns. It paints the image of loyal knights kneeling before their king and beckoning others to do the same in order to quell his rage. This is also the note that Capricious Calamity concludes on, which just further drives the message home.

Silver starts the second verse, noting Malleus reflected in the dark skies. (Sebek begins the first verse, and Silver he second; the two youngest in Diasomnia are also the "start"--the start of, perhaps, a future where fae and humans can live in peace together.) When Sebek joins Silver, they sing about how Malleus, even at his lowest, burns brightly. These phrases paired together, said by the first two of Diasomnia to "awaken" in book 7, make me think of them staring up in horror as Malleus's draconic form takes to the skies. They're terrified and in awe of his might. There's a part where Malleus and Lilia share a line, commenting on a commotion and the cries of the weak ringing out. These two, the strongest in Diasomnia, remarking on this... It calls to mind their battle within Lilia's dream, or even Lilia intervening when Malleus (as a dragon) intends to strike Silver and Sebek down.

At the very end, Malleus announced another omen, this time harkened by spreading thorns rather than lightning... thorns, like the very ones he summons to drag us all into a deep, deep slumber--the trap he sprung in book 7. I think it's telling that it's Silver that joins Malleus in song before the entire dorm sings together. This duo sings about an aurora that is overtaken by the abyss. Is this meant to be a reference to Silver and Malleus's final confrontation, and how Silver refused to slay Malleus at the crucial moment?

It’s really interesting to compare this song to DIADEM, the two performances featuring a prince. In Capricious Calamity, Malleus is propped up by his dorm members—but in DIADEM, Leona is the one propping up his dorm members. This really speaks to (and feeds into) the idea that Malleus and Leona are opposites of one another. A prince worshipped by his people and promised the throne. but still left lonely and emotionally unfulfilled… versus a prince scorned by his people and forbidden from having the crown for himself, yet he’s surrounded by people who look up to him and trust him to lead them… OTL

#if you wanted me to do a line-by-line breakdown + analysis of each song's lyrics 🤡 sorry but this post isn't it #I'm just talking generally about the arrangements #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst #disney twst #notes from the writing raven #heartslabyul #savanaclaw #octavinelle #scarabia #pomefiore #ignihyde #diasomnia #twst analysis #twisted wonderland analysis #twst character analysis #twisted wonderland character analysis #Neige LeBlanche #book 1 spoilers #book 2 spoilers #book 3 spoilers #book 4 spoilers #book 5 spoilers #book 7 spoilers #book 6 spoilers #unrelated but a friend had a theory that jade is the younger twin bc the first years lead the songs #in scarabia kalim is the younger one + non-OB boy so he leads #and in octa azul is technically youngest but he's dorm leader so he cannot open...#so friend theorized that jade who leads entanglement is the younger one of the twins

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writingquestionsanswered · 10 months ago

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Hi, I'm quite new to writing and would like to start writing fanfiction as practice, but I find it hard to keep my writing in character. Do you have any recommendations for that? I've tried keeping like notes of how they act, but I'm unable to keep track of them.

Fan-Fiction: Keeping Canon Characters in Character

If you're struggling to keep a canon character in character, it's very likely you're just not familiar enough with the character to write them yet. This can be remedied easily by consuming the canon material--particularly when the character in question is heavily featured--and, if it's a TV, movie, or video game character, you can look for character tribute videos on YouTube, which often highlight the key elements of the character.

Other things you can do: make sure you know their backstory and understand how it influences who they are and how they behave, make sure you're familiar with their "voice," or in other words how their personality comes out in the things they say and think. Make sure you know their strengths and flaws and highlight them accordingly. Keep in mind what motivates the character and what life goals they're striving toward, as these often affect character behavior.

Some exercises you can do: find an "about me" questionnaire and fill it out as if you were the character. Try doing a little role playing and answer the questionnaire questions out loud as though you were being interviewed. Write a detailed analysis of the character as though you were analyzing them as someone potentially thinking of hiring them for an important job. Look at a favorite moment from canon involving the character, then write it in first-person POV from the character's POV. What do they think about the moment? What do they feel in the moment? What internal emotional cues do they feel? Alternatively, try writing a few diary entries from their perspective, detailing canon events, or expanding on moments that aren't canon but could be.

Happy writing!

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calebs-anchor · 1 month ago

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Caleb Character Analysis part 1: The Ever Experiments

(This is mostly lifted from a video I posted on tiktok, with some slight changes/clarifications)

The first and most important thing to keep in mind here is that, according to his anecdote 'Pathless Realm', Caleb has suffered from dissociative amnesia throughout his life. I'm obviously not a psychologist, but based on some light research this basically seems to mean that he has mentally blocked out a lot of the traumatic memories of what happened during the experiments, so while he is definitely aware of them he doesn't remember exactly what happened.

This isn't the same as MC, who loses all or most of her memories every time she is killed and resurrected, but it's worth noting they both have issues with their memories & remembering the details of their trauma, and neither can give us the full picture of what happened in their childhoods.

We can also make note that Caleb was recorded to be 9-10 years old while the experiments were happening. This adds an interesting layer to the fact that Caleb constantly tries to take blows for MC and endures trauma so that she doesn't have to. Throughout all of this he was barely less of a child than MC was, but because he is the slightest bit older (and also because it seems that Josephine often left her under his care growing up while she was working) he sees himself as responsible for her wellbeing. This, in some sense, causes Caleb to see himself as older and more mature than he actually is. He was forced to become a caretaker/guardian figure and take on a lot of adult responsibilities at a very young age, which is why he's also so averse to showing vulnerability like we see in 'Hidden Waves'. He feels that if he can't be the mature, unwavering "pillar of strength" that he thinks MC needs him to be, he is failing to be good enough to protect the person he loves the most.

Now let's get into the actual contents of the experiments. We already know what happened to MC from World Underneath, but for anyone needing a refresher she was used for the Aether Core in her heart and her Resonance Evol, and was repeatedly killed so that the researchers could observe her coming back to life with the intention of using her to unlock the secret to immortality. However, things aren't quite as clear cut for Caleb. The only main sources we have are from his first trailer, which says that "They are the optimal weapon for destroying one another" and a few passages from his anecdote, such as:

"He knows he's always been good at destroying delicate things. The people behind the observation window say that the test subject will become a force comparable to a black hole given time. Not even light could escape it."

From these sources we can gather that Caleb was also used for his Evol with the aim of creating black holes (something we know he is able to do as of 'Homecoming Wings') and that he and MC were made to be able to counter each other, likely as a safeguard. Since they were both extremely powerful, the idea of them being optimal for destroying each other perhaps suggests that they were designed so that if MC's power became too dangerous Caleb could be used to destroy her and vice versa.

We can also gather that Caleb was labelled/labels himself as inherently destructive and dangerous. This seems to have had a long term effect on his self image, as the line from his anecdote establishes that this is something "he knows" and believes to be true, affecting the way that he sees himself especially in comparison to MC. I have a video going slightly more into this on my tiktok page, but essentially Caleb seems to see himself as inherently destructive and bad, while MC is an embodiment of goodness and warmth: the "black hole" that even light can't escape VS the "Unicorn" that brings eternal life. This is potentially why he takes on the role of protecting MC so intensely, as he thinks he deserves the suffering more than she does and is willing to take abuse on her behalf to protect her.

It becomes even more interesting if we consider the religious themes of their storyline with all the references to Adam & Eve, paradise and sin. Caleb views himself as inherently "sinful", just like the original sin described in the Bible that all humans are born with because of Adam & Eve. The only way to cleanse oneself of original sin is to submit to God, the embodiment of goodness and purity, and so Caleb, in a way, submits himself to MC. We have seen how highly he thinks of her, as he frequently describes her as "the best of the best", says that he thinks the world doesn't deserve her, and on multiple occasions comments that he thinks that anything that stands against her shouldn't exist or should disappear.

In short Caleb doesn't just love MC, he reveres her in a way that borders on religious and is willing to devote himself entirely to her service. That's why even from a young age he has taken on the role of protecting & serving MC, giving her almost anything she asks for, doing almost anything she wants, and making sure that no matter what she always feels like she is safe and happy and that he will always be there for her. I think he feels that by doing this, he is atoning for his "original sin" of simply existing as himself. He feels that if he can adequately "serve" MC, if someone as good and pure and warm as her can love or even just approve of him, it can make up for all of his feelings of guilt and sin and destructiveness. She is his salvation.

This is already a lot on his shoulders, but if we go back to the experiments I think there is one more thing at the source of Caleb's guilt, one big example of his destructiveness that serves as the main reason he sees himself the way he does: the Chronorift Catastrophe.

As we've already established, Caleb's Evol is capable of creating black holes/wormholes, so it's not unreasonable to think that he could have been used to open the Deepspace Tunnel (intentionally or not). However this would take a lot of power, more than I think a 9 year old boy would be able to achieve, unless we consider the fact that MC may have used Resonance to boost his power to the necessary level (and likely killing herself in the process). This then is their shared sin, like the sin shared between Adam & Eve when they both bit the apple, and it's one that neither seems to remember due to their respective memory loss issues. If this is the case, it gives us yet another reason for Caleb's inherent feelings of guilt: whether he knows it or not, he was directly responsible for the event that almost destroyed humanity and caused MC, the person he cherishes most, some of her deepest lasting traumas. It's yet another thing he feels the need to make up for by protecting her.

It's also how they both manage to escape the labs before later reuniting at the shelter (although I have seen speculation that the "shelter" actually was the experiment facility and that Caleb is lying to MC about it, but I'm not sure whether I agree with this based on what we've seen). When they do reunite MC doesn't remember who Caleb is, marking just one of many times that he has to reintroduce himself to her. This is another one of the "duties" he takes on for her, promising to always be there to remind her who they both are and swearing to be by her side forever. I think this is another reason that Caleb is so obsessed with having MC by his side: not just because that's what he promised her, but because he's afraid that if he's not there to remind her who he is she might one day forget him forever.

He also chooses never to remind MC of what happened to them during the experiments, or at least what he remembers of it himself. The reasoning of this is obvious, Caleb doesn't want her to be upset or in any way traumatised by it, so if there's a way to let her forget all about it he'll let her. However, I think it's significant that from a young age he chooses to take on this burden by himself for the both of them, as this will become a running them as I cover more of his cards & storylines.

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