#And half of them are ':) peanut'

[marstonsboy]

on the topic of that time sixteen-year-old jack marston got mauled by a grizzly bear: he definitely retained some scars from that, right? when john finds him, he’s covered in a decent amount of blood, and he has visible scratches on his face.

his character model doesn’t reflect that he almost died to a full grown bear after the event. maybe rockstar didn’t know how to do this in 2010, i don’t know, but i always assumed he got some nasty scars from it. because, i reiterate, he was a scrawny sixteen-year-old that almost died to a Massive Grizzly Bear.

plus, with the fact that he almost definitely would have died right there if not for the plot armor of being haunted by the narrative (doomed to become the playable character in the de facto epilogue), i have to imagine there’s no way he walked out of that alive without any very obvious signs of injury.

this would also lend to the fact that he can get very easily mistaken for john multiple times by strangers. there’s this one stranger who tells him “you look younger,” as if the only obvious discrepancy here is jack being about twenty years younger than john, not the absence of those vicious scars he got from the wolves.

something something cinematic parallels. i don’t know. this is just something that bugs me a lot in the back of my mind.

[multiversal-pudding]

...A thought I have that I can't help but like the shape of is the idea of Wally not even really knowing why he is the way he is himself

He doesn't know why he's alive (should he not be? why are you alive, then?). He doesn't know why he can do the things he can do- that's not to say he's stupid or anything like that, he's a little odd but he acts with intention even if the consequences might not be things he fully expected or truly gets the full scope of- (he never meant to hurt anyone, he really doesn't mean any harm!)

All he knows is that he loves his friends very dearly, that something very, very bad may or may not happen or be happening, and that he needs You to Listen.

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

soo hi everyone!! i'm back on my bully essay/meta/something writing!! sort of. i did this.

anyways anyone who's been on this page for some time know how from time to time i have insistently mentioned the parallels between lola and peanut, right?

welp! that was a joke but the time has finally come!! a super-pretentious essay just for the fun of it!! (and also bc i haven't been writing actually argumentative texts in like months perhaps a year, so. yikes, i really need to practice again)

word count: 2.2k WOAH. IM SORRY

i, in my corner, with my monstrous needs. — susan sontag, as consciousness is harnessed to flesh

take this quote both as a title and an anticipation of what is to come. the essay will be distributed analyzing first the dependence of each of them on johnny, to then draw comparisons. i'll make sure to steer as away from headcanons as possible, sticking closely to the source text. obviously, some things' interpretation might be ambiguous, but, you know. your usual occupation hazard.

also, a disclaimer before we start: while they are psychologically complex and there is always a mimetic intention in developing them, these are fictional characters, and, as such, their primary function is to be vessels for different themes, questions and so forth. therefore, i will prioritize meaning and themes over moral implications and similar elements.

i. peanut

for how much i can adore talking about him, the way peanut depends on johnny is very much on the nose; worn on his sleeve, even. in 11:11 minutes of voice lines, he mentions johnny 30 times.

many interpret this as the caricature of a boy crush, but i have reasons to believe it is much less cute than that.

the problem is that, really, more than trying to identify specific situations... peanut seems to rely on johnny for a significant part of what he does. when he does good at dodgeball:

Look at me, Johnny, look at me!

almost like a child calling for his parent's attention to be praised. he calls johnny's name when he's going through hardships, when he's scared or when he's sad.

more than someone he just loves, johnny is a point of reference. whenever there's something going on, whenever he does or has to do something, his first thought goes to johnny; vice versa, what johnny asks of him is his priority.

I gotta tell Johnny! No time. I gotta see Johnny now. Gotta help Johnny. What can I do next to please Johnny? I mean Lola! I mean…

(this also goes in a "negative" direction, envy being the other side of the medal to adoration. especially because, in some way, this reliance on johnny might be felt by him as emasculating, and, being johnny his model of masculinity, adding it to the napoleon complex thing, it's not hard to guess why it can be so unpleasant. we can see this manifest through some of the things he expresses in regards to lola- not as much an interest he has towards her, but the interest he wishes to have from her- which are a bit more different than it might seem at a first glance. but this is a mouseketool we'll need later. still:

Last time I saw her, Lola made eyes at me, not Johnny!

do we really need this part? heh. i'm not sure, but it's always good to point out)

(also, just because, for the purpose of this analysis, it might be useful to specify: while these sentiments are very much implied in peanut's canon quotes, we have no evidence in canon in what measure they are reciprocated by johnny. the fandom has universally agreed that johnny also views peanut as his Best Friend In The World; while in some measure, they must be at least a bit close, i think it is even safe to say, given the caricaturist nature of bully's characterizations, that johnny holds peanut in less consideration that peanut deludes himself into believing. quoting another post of mine, the kids who show some level of obsession towards their leader mention him on average ten or less times (gord mentions derby eight times, parker six times, kirby mentions ted five times). the leaders don't usually make names at all, that much is true; however, peanut mentions johnny 30 times, and, even in front of this proportion, johnny mentions peanut 0 times. just to make that clear)

overall, what undeniably shines through his voice lines is a feeling of general inadequacy, whether about his height, or his strength in front of a bigger adversary. the audios in which he tries to show off range from being disingenuous, to straight up improbable.

crossing what we have until now said, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that he really tries to make up, to fill this empty feeling of inadequacy by taking pride in his role as johnny's second in command.

while i am a big fan of bully's characteristic of having left much content out of the main game, leaving the gamers to dig it up for themselves, i do believe that scrapping some of the stuff that was prepared for peanut is a loss. we have a number of voice lines coming from chapter 3, in which it was heavily implied how important peanut's role as johnny's right hand man was.

for example, much like... all other seconds in command, really, he was to be followed and then fought in the rumble, before you could get to johnny, with the specific duty to cover his back. even his very first scene, the opening cutscene of chapter 3, i believe, is not to be underestimated. most of the other people, as far as i recall, call you when they need it in person; johnny, however, sends peanut. making him, de facto, an extension of himself, almost.

again, you choose the motivation. what is important, from a narrative point of view, is that peanut clings to johnny through these acts of service, almost making it the foundation of his personhood.

basically, he makes it so that, if he can't be of help to johnny, his whole self is fundamentally annihilated, giving himself completely to johnny.

ii. lola

with lola, reading between the lines gets a bit more difficult; first of all, because lola is much less transparent than peanut, her insincerity being a supporting beam of the whole chapter 3. secondly, whether she was done dirty by the creators or not, it is undoubted that being the perspective that of a teenage boy (namely, jimmy, but we certainly, as viewers, are brought to sympathize more with johnny than with lola) with all the prejudices it can bring with itself.

however, it doesn't mean that there isn't anything to work with- quite the contrary, actually. the issue with lola is that there is a certain amount of layers to get through before gaining a satisfying perception of her as a character. still, we're here to try our best, aren't we!

even behind the muddiness of her intentions and the manipulation she shows herself a master at, it is clear from the second we first meet her that what she does is in function of johnny.

to get through this mess with order, we'll start from an easy, measurable numeric information: lola mentions johnny in her audio files 19 times. which, we're assessed, IS a considerable amount.

we have extensively talked about the way her cheating patterns are a strategy not to succumb to the passive role of the girl in the heteronormative, patriarchal prototypical couple (there's a post here breaking down a lot of this stuff, if any of you is interested!!), so, instead of this, i want to focus on what lies beneath that behavior.

ultimately, the whole point is that lola expects and wants johnny to fight for her. whether is it because she feels taken for granted, or just because he can't perceive it if not through grandiose gestures like the rumble- your interpretation will work; she wants to see johnny fighting nail and teeth not to lose her, she wants him to show her that he wants her.

she's all about that attention, and she knows exactly what and how to do to get it. and i think this is especially clear when you compare the moments in which she knows there's no advantage she could go for; when she has understood that jimmy won't fall for her manipulation, when algie and chad leave her unsatisfied, when norton openly accuses her and antagonizes her - she loses her temper, lets go of that sweetened and/or flirtatious voice tone, abandons that specific kind of gesturing. she doesn't care anymore about obtaining something. she was actually angry, and she was actually upset that johnny had disappeared.

in some of her audios, she references johnny with some amount of fondness, as well:

Johnny and I were on the best date ever.

(there is also a voice line in which she says "He told me he likes me because of my personality. Isn't that sweet?"; due to it being a general chatter and not exclusive to one chapter, i assume it is relatively safe to assume she is quoting johnny. however, as i said at the beginning, we're trying to stay as close to canon material as possible, so, do your thing- and i'm open to arguments!!)

a considerable amount of audio files, however (which will lead us to our final point) is about her... calling for help for johnny, or stating, confidently, that he will come save her, or avenge her later.

Someone get Johnny! Johnny's gonna get you for this. Johnny is gonna kill you!

but wait... i have some sense of déjà vu...

You're gonna be sorry when Johnny finds out!

iii. two faces of the same medal

if i had to pick an effective image for a metaphor, i'd say that the thing about lola and peanut is that they are both dogs looking for someone to take their leash; we’re talking here about an exclusive relationship with someone they can rely totally on, someone we’ll call the Other (with a capital o, distinguished from just other. yes it is unnecessarily complicated i’m sorry).

for what my professor would call accidents of history, it happened that both of them found that Other in johnny.

each of them attempts at creating an exclusive relationship with the Other, one foolproof and fundamentally… perfect. perfect in the way that everything works like oiled gears, in the way that every next move is predictable, in the way that any accident will not break the created equilibrium. (even if, in the general sense of the term, lola and johnny's relationship is everything but perfect, it is in the connotation that we have established here. lola is aware that, no matter what she does, johnny will come back around. hell, the very thing that she does is aimed at keeping that balance; specifically, keeping him a bit on the edge, pushing him into a corner where he has to actively make an effort to keep her close.)

they both hide something they are ashamed of, regulating not only their actions and reactions but their very way of existing in the world, in order to keep that gear working, in order to remain in johnny's hand. lola hides that craving for a genuine and stable affection, dissimulating it with the cheating and the fatuous physical demonstrations of closeness; peanut hides his sense of inadequacy and complex of inferiority, by being the tough and reliable second in command.

basically, what they mean to achieve is a sense of security, the safety of not really being the one to lead but, at the same time, finding a purpose, other than a shield from the outside world that they are not willing to concede themselves to. like a... symbiotic relationship?? i was going to say parasitic, but, yknow. the Other does get some advantages, which are, respectively, peanut's acts of service and lola's capacity to boost johnny's pride.

now, of course, johnny is not aware of either of their play. which makes it even better, since, as we already said, both of their approach to the relationship needs some degree of insincerity.

like, i don't deny that johnny might be a good friend, or a loyal one. but he is an oblivious, prideful fuck who can't see past his own nose; he's got a tendency to make it all about himself - which of course goes perfectly with what we said about both peanut and lola making the Other their center, taking up, in a certain way, a passive role in the relationship.

this way, both of them aim at creating with johnny a relationship that is, in a way, codependant and conditional, in which the do ut des (their respective "service" ↔ johnny's guarantee of stability) creates the foundation of the very relationship.

this, of course, brings up the problem of exclusivity; on which, however, i prefer not to delve into too much, as this would bring us to the topic of their antagonism which... isn't really what i wanted to go for, at least not here. (it would risk bringing us a bit too close to my subjective interpretation and too far away from the canon, which i PROMISED i wouldn't do. however, someday i might elaborate on that??? idk , please do lmk if someone's interested around here)

i will, however, show you a diagram (it looks like a triangle- i guess it is, but it is VERY important that it is a pyramid, with a top and a larger foundation) and a quote, to wrap this up bc i think it is already WAY too long and ramble-y lmao. let me know what you think anyway, my ask box is always open <3

it almost feels like a joke to play out a part when you are not the starring role in someone else's heart you know i'd rather walk alone (i'd rather walk alone) than play a supporting role if i can't get the starring role -- starring role, marina and the diamonds

[dinokiwii]

lazily colored them real quick,,, most of their story takes place pre rescas!

jefferem goes by he/him and benry goes by he/xe

I've gotta write down their headcanons/story it's all in my head atm...but they're really close. despite giving each other black eyes all the time that is. I'll put some more fun facts in the tags :> I'm so glad there's people enjoying them

[shrimpfossil]

Okay I’m about to say something that may be read controversially. I am not trying to start shit.

I feel like when we shit on Trump voters, we should not use “cares more about gas and the price of eggs” as a pejorative.

I voted for Kamala. I stand by voting for Kamala, I think that’s what everyone should have done.

I have also been to the food bank pretty regularly in the past year.

I can tell you that the rising cost of living, being unable to afford food, being unable to afford gas when that’s potentially your way to get to work, daycare, buy groceries, the doctor- the United States as a whole has shit public transport if they have any at all- all of that Is Very Very Real.

That’s not a reason to vote for Trump, fuck the man, he’s a monster in every single respect.

But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a lot of poor people voted for him because he told them he’d make it easier for them to feed their families.

He won’t. Because he sucks.

But I am never, never going to shit on someone for buying what a grifter told them would make it easier for them to eat.

I still think they shouldn’t have voted for him.

But, and I’m being a little unfair here, I think a lot of people would stop saying that people chose the price of eggs over human rights if they’d ever had an empty table.

[that-jack-kline-bestie]

so fucking upset. i looked up what's considered concerning weight loss and got a statistic. i looked up the same question but specified teens and i got a bunch of articles about how to lose weight. what the fuck

[soruset]

I feel like Rody had bought glow in the dark star stickers for Lala and Roro and it’s on the ceiling. Along with Rody when he can would get piercings. Also he seems the type to be allergic peanuts — muddiedredshoes (cause it’s a side blog but yeah :D!!)

SCREAMS THERE'S A YAPPER IN MY ASKS /POS

also yeah star and moon and sun ones,,, KLSJREFDKJ i used to have some in my old house with all my cousins and they still have them i think he'd arrange them like they do (circular, moon and sun together at the middle then stars everyhwere)

piercings defo but itd take him a while i think bcs imo he'd like.. he'd still wanna blend into society . even a little for his siblings sakes

peanuts?? sure (i hate peanuts)

[rottingoranges]

felt bad made peanut butter cookies feel less bad and now I have peanut butter cookies

hacked the system

[impossible-rat-babies]

puppets bunker and ddos attacks have never been so much fun

[bobmckenzie]

I FOUND A BUNCH OF CONTENT I'VE NEVER SEEEN BEFORE AND I'M SUCH A MESS RN 🧍‍♀️ COULD HE BE ANY CUTER.......... HELLO HI WHY ARE YOUR EYES THAT PRETTY

also um... i will be ur new years date pls... 😔😔😔

[blackmoldmp3]

went months without eating an apple and i just had one with breakfast and i feel soooo good. when an apple is good its great

[afternoonteawithme]

[drivingthesehillsaway]

allergies are literally legally classified as a disability under the ADA in the united states.

an allergic reaction is a medical event and can potentially be a medical emergency that requires medication and/or hospitalization. the amount of work that goes into managing a food allergy is unfathomable for those not affected by it. and the lack of education about food allergies is ridiculous.

My hot take is that actually food allergies are a disability and more people need to realize that. The amount of research people with food allergies have to do when they want to go visit places but arent sure if they’ll have access to any food there is insane. Allergy friendly food is almost ALWAYS incredibly expensive in stores bc of all those fucking fad diets that like yoga instructors and middle age soccer moms make popular. And on top of the price, it is so hard to FIND! Almost evrry grocery store ive been to has a tiny ass allergy section that is almost always near empty. Plus what about people who don’t have the money to pay 10$ for a loaf of bread? You go to starbucks and non-dairy milks are like 70 cents extra? People are definitely out there buying and eating stuff that is destroying their digestive systems because they have no other choice. I am begging people to stop pretending that catering to people’s food allergies is elitist and not worth is. We need to make these options openly available.

[mothmanns]

i think im going to do cookie and candy boxes for xmas again this year! have done them for a few years now but was too uhhhhhhhhhhh bad. to do them. last year. excited but already tired lmao. no fuckin freezer space in this house!! would like to do most of my doughs ahead of time. HOWEVER

[milo-is-rambling]

Guy confusing nicotine withdrawls with a break thru in his art block has shaking hands and is pacing his bedroom saying shit like “no it’s like, I see it, I can feel it. It’s in me it needs to get out. I can feel it can’t you see it? Are you seeing it? Can’t you see? It’s beautiful.” to his pets

[link-lonk]

Autism is all fun and games until your brother confuses his salted carmel peanut butter milkshake for your extra dark chocolate one and now you have to try your hardest not to have a meltdown over it