#Bc he hates thinking about it and he hates how it makes him feel!! It's part of why he struggles to interact

[fangsup-cobrastyle]

Text version for anyone who needs it:

i still don’t feel like this is real… people your age, your peers, the ones you shared so much time and experience with aren’t supposed to just suddenly leave your life forever…but i suppose permanence isn’t really a concept humans are meant to understand.

i’ve spent the past few days thinking about Bob a lot and the person i knew him to be. These are some of the things that stuck out:

BC Bryar was a lot of things. An enigma of sorts because he often inhabited both ends of any spectrum at the same time. He was my friend and my bandmate, but he was also like a stranger to me for most of my life. We lived together for a while, on and off the road… but after the band we would go months on end without any type of contact, until i texted him a “happy birthday!” or out of nowhere he would hit me asking how old the kids were these days or check in on how my dad was feeling. Sometimes we’d trade a meme or photos of lego builds we had done, but then someone would leave the other on read and an indeterminate radio silence would follow. In the meantime i’d hear rumblings of what he might be up to or some shit he’d stirred up online, but that wasn’t ever the person i was acquainted with.��

Bob was incredibly talented and he knew it, confident enough in his abilities to convince us that he was the right drummer for our band without us actually ever hearing him play drums. However, over the years i found him to be incredibly self conscious and introverted whenever he felt placed outside of his comfort zone. Bob was eccentric as fuck and funny as hell. He could be mean and troll you so hard that it would cut you in half, but if you ever really needed something he would be the first one there to give you whatever he had if it would help you out in some way or put a smile on your face. Although thumbing his nose and pissing people off was always a favorite pastime and something he didn’t ever grow out of…(i guess if you find you do something well, you tend to stick to it.)

Bob often got fixated on things to a point of obsession and he liked to make things difficult. In a strange way i think he found some comfort in it. His drumming was clean, always precise and unique, but i remember while on tour for the black parade he got bored, and so as a game he decided to position all of his drums flat so that there were no angles pointing toward him. In turn making it more uncomfortable to play and ultimately injuring his wrists. As far as i know he refused to ever go back to a more comfortable position… but this was also around the time Bob refused to wear any kind of footwear other than walmart slippers because he preferred comfort over any kind of style.

BC Bryar was at times the one i related to the most in the band because his humor was dark as fuck just like mine and we could laugh over our collective negativity without ever worrying we might offend one another. We even had this plan to get semi matching tattoos that would say:

Bob/Frank Hates _________. and then we could fill them in with something different in marker each day when we undoubtedly found a new thing that got on our nerves. There were also times when i think Bob disliked me immensely, and wished he could kick me out of the band. Maybe some days he would have written my name in sharpie on the blank space of that tattoo.

Bob really didn’t like the company of people all that much, but he loved animals. i’m quite convinced he would have been happy to watch the world burn if he could be promised not a single dog or cat would be harmed in the process. At one point while we were working and living out in LA Bob and a few friends got scammed by a dog trainer and one of his dogs was killed in the process. It was a real shady story and Bob was devastated. It really wrecked him emotionally and i don’t think he was ever the same again. Things really went south with him and the band following that incident, he just couldn’t keep it together anymore, his sadness, anger and distrust were too much to handle and took over all aspects. I remember telling him, please just come to me with stuff first. You can talk to me about whatever shit is bothering you without a filter and together we can come up with a way to either fix the situation or figure out a plan on how to discuss this with everyone else… But ultimately it was a bandaid that didn’t hold, the damage was done and Bob was too far gone. Eventually I was the one that had to tell him he was out of the band. He isolated himself by design pretty soon after that. I tried to see him a few times over the years, but he politely made it impossible. I don’t think i ever got to tell him i was sorry, i don’t know if it would have mattered… but i do wish like hell I finished the text conversation we had back in September.

I hope you found some peace, BC.

I’m glad the universe let me know you for a while. xofrnk

frankieromustdie: Rest in Peace BC, 🖤 xofrnk

[Dec 3, 2024]

[epickiya722]

Ok, i think there was a bit of a misunderstanding here? Katsuki apparentely was talking abt recruiting Izuku as a sidekick since that was the topic of conversation i think, and Izuku refused bc he is already a teacher. Kirishima makes fun of them both for being dense dumbasses.

I think ppl were upset bc they thought Katsuki was inviting him to run the agency together instead of just working there.

Still, Katsuki mentioning how he hasn't accepted no interns bc none of them meet his Deku standards, and looking so tired after Izuku refused is still pretty painful to look at ngl. And the thought that they considered mentioning it in canon just to say "it ain't happening" is also kinda painful.

I thought that Katsuki was doing just that, asking Izuku to be an intern/sidekick there which is why I was confused that some were acting as if Izuku pulled the meanest glare to Katsuki and went "No, I hate you, I despise you, I curse you till the end of time".

This is why we WAIT before jumping to conclusions and cursing someone's existence.

Like, he turned down being an employee at an agency. Which I'm sure Izuku would have done to anybody else in their class had they offered the same.

I still don't have a recollection of Izuku and Katsuki ever mentioning running an agency together though. The most I remember is them wanting to be heroes together when they were kids. I do feel like the "running an agency together" aspect is fanon.

By the time Izuku and Katsuki were old enough to even though what an agency was their relationship was still rocky.

As sad as it is, I don't think Izuku deserves to be bashed for it by the fandom. He isn't the only dumbass here.

That was just sprung up on him and yeah, Izuku would want to continue being a teacher. Interning at an agency would be extra work for him. How he's even managing as a teacher and a Pro Hero?!

(Looks at Present Mic having about 50 occupations.)

Also, maybe just me, but I felt like that was something Katsuki could have asked in private.

I don't know... it was just something simple, but still giving how the scene is seemingly framed, that felt like had Kirishima not have been there, that could have been a conversation for Katsuki and Izuku to have instead of "hey, about you work at the agency" "no".

And wait, ain't no way Katsuki is really turning down interns because they're not Deku standards? No, Katsuki, honey... listen... there can only be one Izuku 'Deku' Midoriya. I adore him, you adore him. But... how can interns ever be up to Deku's level... IF YOU DON'T GIVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW AND LEARN?!

He is such a disaster...

Just a thought though, it would have been so funny if on a later date, Katsuki tries asking him again and Izuku just goes "no" but that time Katsuki is just like "WHY?! YOU'LL HAVE YOUR OWN WORK SPACE AND THESE BENEFITS AND..." He goes on and on and then Izuku is like "Kacchan, try asking me again but in a different way".

And at first Katsuki doesn't get it until much later and then asks "would you like to run the agency with me" and Izuku says yes and that whole time Izuku knew Katsuki wouldn't settle for Izuku just working under him as an intern, but couldn't bring himself to ask Izuku to be his partner. So Izuku had to give him that push.

[cat-in-the-desert]

Hold on okay I’m making a post about this

I’m just gonna more or less copy-past what I sent in discord

but

I’ve got a theory abt the whole invisibility thing tying into watcher/canary lore

He’s not the canary anymore bc he’s mastered the ability to go unseen by Them this season.

But he’s always had the ability. He’s just gotten better at it.

They’ve actually been targeting him, making him the canary, BECAUSE of that power. They wanted to give him less time to realize or use it. They hate those They can’t control.

Let me tie it into last life.

Last life was his second season; he knew how bad the first one went and didn’t wanna go through it again. He didn’t want to be targeted and out first again. So he tried to go unseen; maybe using powers he didn’t realize he had. Got overlooked by his whole team, never got a life when he started with two, no one even realized that bc they overlooked him. They didn’t even realize they were overlooking him until he acted out, confused on why even his allies weren’t helping him. They just… forgot he was there, and he didn’t realize he was causing it

Double Life, he didn’t use his power, bc he had tango and he didn’t want to be overlooked or invisible. He had a great time with his rancher, but the watchers were able to target him and cause very unlucky deaths

Limited, he was still figuring things out. Maybe he started to catch onto it when it came to Grian’s afk session, idk, you could probably do something with that. But he also didn’t really use the power much, resigned to his fate

Secret life he started testing it out again, mostly as a yellow. He wanted to be able to watch people without them noticing him, and the power started to get activated slightly. Watchers were already pulled thin with fighting the listeners; him unknowingly activating his power allowed him to slip through the cracks completely as things started going down

They were quick to rectify that.

But this season? He knows what’s going on. He knows how to use his power to hide from Them without hiding from his friends. Maybe he learned in Real Life, where Their eyes didn’t track him and everyone could mess around with their abilities without Their interference. Either way, he knows, now. He can start to *do* something about it. He can hide from them (and occasionally slip in a prayer or two, so they don’t get too suspicious of his absence. Oh, he’s still there. They’re listening to his prayers like, he thinks he can convince Them to leave him alone; how cute. Meanwhile he’s hiding in plain sight, distracting Them with prayers that are just an act)

And this session gives him invisibility and it just feels right, and Jimmy realizes just how useful it is to not be Watched.

[blamemma]

today i'm just overwhelmingly sad tbh, more than i have been since singapore. bc if stories are to believed, checo is about to leave and liam is next in line. nothing he has done has justified him getting the red bull seat and even despite that, daniel still has no in. and idk what happened there obviously but no matter how DONE daniel was, he really really wanted that seat and this has to be awful for him. i hate it here.

yeah, i'm right with you. i think a lot of people have found peace in the idea that they don't want daniel in that red bull seat anyway because red bull have shown their true colours, however he performed he would have been scrutinised, the cars becoming a midfield car anyway etc etc. and i'm happy for those people, because i do not know peace, that does not lie inside me at all. if ur of that opinion, i don't understand it, but i respect it.

you can laugh at this situation today really and go well, that's it. but fuck me i can't laugh. it makes me want to genuinely cry. it makes me want to scream and fucking shout because daniel never did anything wrong. he waited, and he performed, and he dragged that tractor to places it never should have gone. do i think daniel would have got points in qatar yesterday? no. but that's the point. that car is arse, especially in the straights, the strategy team just roll the dice and hope something sticks, and their shoving upgrades on that car that have done nothing miraculous for it. it was a losing battle in that car, but sometimes, daniel won. liam and yuki have done nothing more and nothing less. but what you would have had in daniel is a reliable pair of hands who would have performed well and wanted very similar things from max, in a year (2025) where the battle is going to be sO tight and that car needs to be perfect to be able to fight. i think the influx of rookies heading into f1 next year has made red bull feel safer. they think that they can put liam in that red bull because oh mercedes will have a rookie and lewis and charles will take points out of each other and mclaren will mclaren. they think they'll be safe. but they won't be.

this will forever be baffling to me. this will forever fucking suck. for as long as daniel stays silent (and i'm not saying we're owed anything blah blah blah, i'm just saying that his silence isn't conducive to any answers emerging) then it's always going to be a mountain of what if's and what could have been's and what went wrong. where did it all change. where did it go wrong.

i simply care too much to be able to forget about that seat. if i got a formula 1 breaking notification tomorrow that announced daniel for that seat i'd shed my first happy tears in months and i'd feel no shame about it. it was his dream. it's where he wanted to end his career. bottas, zhou, magnussen and idk maybe even fucking sergio if he gets his head out his arse, are all going to get respectful and warranted goodbyes next week. my guy had blake and fucking kym illman stalking him out the paddock. that's never going to feel conducive to peace for me. that's never going to feel okay for me. and if blondie does get that seat. that's going to be an even bigger kick in the teeth.

[theangelbabies]

𝑹𝑨𝑭𝑬 𝑪𝑨𝑴𝑬𝑹𝑶𝑵 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 Pouge!𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑾𝑯𝑶 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑬𝑺 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 ‘OPIUM’ 𝑺𝑻𝒀𝑳𝑬

a/n : sorry for my absence, send me some requests pls casue im kinda out of ideas. Pls don’t come for me for calling opium a style i know it’s not but i don’t think it’s really avant garde style so idk how to call it but im absolutely here for this lol🤓🤓 HAHAHAHAHA love yalll =(^.^)=！！

- Overall dressing in this style in OBX is really challenging since this style is about black, fur and mostly covering clothes and Outer Banks is making it difficult for it’s weather…

- Firstly Rafe is really impressed that you can handle this weather wearing fur boots, dressed all in black

- He actually loves your fur boots 😕😕🤞

- The first time you both talk about your style, hes shocked that you are a fashion maven AND THAT MOST OF YOUR CLOTHES ARE DESIGNER SINCE YOURE A POUGE

- You tell him that the designer clothes are thrifted or bought on vinted

- you expect Rafe to gross out since most of the clothes in the thrift stores were used and worn before but he surprised you when he said that it’s impressive that you can find such clothes and not spend insane amounts of money

- even tho he admires you for having the patience and strength to go thrifting, he never goes with you😭😭

- Rafe love your style but love your music taste even moooooore

- i think Rafe listens to more like ScHoolboy Q, old Ye and Travis but when you introduce him to rappers like ken carson, carti and overall the opium label or like lucki, molly santana etc. he falls in love with it ESPECIALLY WITN CARTI THAT MAN LISTENS TO HIM 24/7 FROM NOW ON

- he would love osamason and hate nettspends music lol

- you told him all about beef between lone and lucki, he laughed sm at lone at that vid where he was begging

- GOING BACK TO STYLEEE

- i feel like sometimes he would steal your balenci glasses lol

- RAFE GOES FERAL AND I MEAN LIKE an instant turn on for him is when you wear the “WET” yeezy tank top with nothing underneath it (just to tease him😉) or with a black lacy bra

- he would buy you your first ricks the fluffy pink ones for like an anniversary or your birthday

- loves to see you in anything that has lace in it or is just lacy (ESPECIALLY IN BLACK)

- hates when you whine abt being hot when be told you to wear for once something light while you’re literally in big pants, black shapewear bodysuit from skims, some sort of shoes like new rocks, covered in tons of jewellery especially necklaces and belts

- Rafe loves to see your chain swingin to the flo oo ooorrr 😛😛

- loves spoiling your fashion obsessed ass 💜

- he really think that this style suits you and your character really well HE WOULD NEVER CHANGE NUN ABT IT💜 (mostly bc he can steal clothes from u)

THATS ITTT!! i know its not the best but i need to get back into writing again to write better 😭😭 for now thank u all for reading, peace and love u all!!

[watchingwisteria]

listen there really was just something about how in the book, snow’s 3-page descent from hesitant lover boy to deluded mfer happens entirely in his mind. lucy gray gives him no indication whatsoever that she suspects him, that she’s going to leave or betray him. he’s just sitting quietly in the cabin waiting for her to return when that seed of calculated suspicion, which he has needed to survive the capitol, takes a hold of him and chokes the life out of any goodness left inside him. it really drives home your terror as a reader that “oh my god did he kill her? did she escape? what happened to her? why would he even think that?” in a way that when the movie had to adjust for visualization it lost some of that holy shit this guy has lost it emphasis.

[teh-inggris]

pvp civ nation...... this aint much but pls take my contribution for this series bc im going insane i love hate this man so much get him out of my head

[fridgrave2-0]

hehe ghost-turbo haunting felix au

turbo is connected to the last piece of his code in the whole arcade - a trophy he gifted to felix in mid 80s as a symbol of him genuinely caring about their relationships on par with being the best racer. felix also gave him one of his medals and both kept their gifts next to other rewards, but when roadblasters and turbotime were unplugged, the medal was gone with everything else

now, after burning in cola-lava turbo is basically dead, but scraps of his code still were intertwined with the trophy (after all, it was his first winner's cup, but felix never knew about it), giving turbo an opportunity to exist as a shadow incapable of interacting with anything and anyone besides felix, who kept the trophy even after the roadblasters incident

also I went crazy in tags, feel free to check them out

[bunnyboy-juice]

NO MORE ASSOCIATING THINGS WITH FEMMES ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE PINK!HYPERFEM FEMMES ARE GREAT AND I LOVE YOU CAMPY FEMMES WHO EMBODY PINK BUT ALSO JESUS CHRIST CAN YOU GUYS NOT GO MORE THAN ONE DAY W/O TRYING TO SHOEHORN FEMMES INTO BEING ONLY PINK UWU BABIES. I AM FEMME AS IN GRASS AS IN DIRT AS IN TREE BARK AS IN WEEDS SPROUTING THROUGH THE SIDEWALK CEMENT. FEMME AS IN GENDER NONCONFORMITY AS IN FUCK YOU MY FEMININITY IS WHAT *I* SAY IT IS. FEMME AS IN DEPTH AND DARKNESS AND WARMTH AND TERROR. FEMME AS IN CAVES. FEMME AS IN LIGHTNING. FEMME AS IN AN AMALGAMATION OF TRAITS THAT I HAVE DECIDED ARE FEMININE REGARDLESS OF WHAT SOCIETY SAYS. FUCK IS IT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!???

[necrotic-nephilim]

jealousy really is the driving force of DamiTim as a ship. love that for them. love how Tim has the Robin mantle ripped away from him and he has to suffer the jealousy of watching Dick and Damian bond. how possessive over Dick Tim can be, to have him stolen by Dick.

even more so though, is the jealousy from Damian. how on earth do you cope when you finally get to be Robin, a role you've convinced is your birthright, and no one really likes you? every prefers the Robin who came before you? Dick regularly reminds you that he can always go and call Tim back when you act out? like the complex Damian has over Tim is unreal. Tim, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had everything handed to him his whole life. he never had to struggle or fight for his place like Damian did. Damian has spent his whole life fighting and proving himself, and yet he can't ever seem to truly claw the mantle of Robin away from Tim. even when Tim lets it go, becomes Red Robin, they seem to share it. Tim can slip back into the role of Robin whenever someone like Dick or Bruce need him to, because *he's* the Robin who they need. he's the Robin who was able to find Bruce. he's the Robin that Ra's wants an heir out of. he's the Robin who even Jason respects. in Damian's eyes, everything Damian has fought tooth and nail for, was handed to Tim.

so of course he's going to react to Tim with violence and aggression, especially after finding out Tim has contingency plans for him. no matter how much Damian proves himself, he's never going to be enough, especially not to Tim. and so his deep refusal to see Tim as family, to acknowledge Tim's legacy is all driven by such an angry jealousy. Tim understands aspects of Bruce's legacy that Damian doesn't, like the need to sweet talk and play nice with the elites of Gotham, even if they're corrupt. they exemplify different aspects of Robin, and the aspects that Tim exemplifies are the aspects that Damian knows he'll never fully understand and therefore holds such a deep contempt for. he wants to fight criminals, not play nice with politicians. Tim understands the side of Gotham that's utterly foreign to Damian. if anything, he represents that side of Gotham, to Damian. a pretty little rich boy who's nothing but a know-it-all and not a real son of Bruce. he can't be a Wayne. he can't be Damian's family.

and all of that angry jealousy leading to unhealthy obsession turned a weird, angry crush from Damian is just my bread and butter. that is how DamiTim should be. to me. Damian obsessed over hating Tim Drake so much he accidentally ends up sort of in love with him and that only makes Damian angrier. because he can't prove everyone right by *also* liking Tim. he can't let Ra's win like that, because frankly why wouldn't Ra's be delighted by Damian and Tim getting together. and it builds and builds with angry passive aggression towards Tim that culminates in angry hate-fucking-that's-not-just-driven-by-hate. love and hate are always viewed as opposites in shipping and i think they're the same intense passion just in different directions. and for the best ships, they're very intertwined. what is DamiTim is not the peak of that. "i put so much of myself into hating you i had no choice but to fall in love with you somewhere along the way" core. love that bleeds into hate and hate that bleeds into love. "you make me so angry i regularly passively try to kill you but not with any real effort because who would i obsess over if you were actually gone" core. murder attempts as a form of courting. contingency plans to take each other out as a love language. they're unwell.

[robbyykeene]

Anyway I wish this show was actually bold enough to give Miguel an arc exploring his feelings of entitlement over the captaincy spot. Throughout the show Johnny has repeatedly told Miguel that Robby is a lost cause but hey, It’s okay because he has Miguel now. That Miguel’s his champion, his Number One Boy. So how could Miguel not feel at least somewhat entitled to the captain spot? How could he not feel insecure about his place in Johnny’s life with Robby not just back in the picture, but now literally taking the number one spot? When Johnny has repeatedly put into both kids heads that when it comes to his love and attention its one vs. the other, how could there be no lingering feelings of resentment and jealousy?

[unfortunatelyilikebnha]

Thinking about the KaeyaJeanDiluc friendship where they grew up together and they were CLOSE & sure maybe Jean felt like Diluc & Kaeya were closer since they were brothers & sure maybe Kaeya felt like he had to keep secrets from the two of them bc they would never understand but they were like. A trio! A team!

& then Diluc’s 18th birthday comes around and everything goes to shit and Diluc LEAVES so they’re no longer KaeyaJeanDiluc but just Kaeya & Jean & in some ways Kaeya and Jean get closer because of it but there’s also a pronounced DISTANCE where Jean doesn’t know how to reach Kaeya anymore & Kaeya is even more determined not to tell Jean anything & they both lose themselves in their duties to Mondstadt while also missing Diluc and ALSO, despite everything, offering each other unconditional support

& then Diluc comes BACK & in addition to Kaeya & Jean there’s the shaky reestablishment of Jean & Diluc and Diluc & Kaeya but it’s not THE SAME. they’re no longer KaeyaJeanDiluc; Jean & Kaeya are knights and Diluc will never be a knight again & they all changed while Diluc was away & none of them know how to talk to each other anymore AND YET there’s still an undercurrent of trust!! Not fully, especially between Kaeya & Diluc, but Diluc still calls on Jean during the archon quest, trusting that she will keep their secrets even though as the acting grandmaster she should probably not. Jean says in her about Diluc voiceline that she understands why Diluc hates the knights & is working hard to make them an organization he can trust again. Kaeya covers for Diluc’s darknight hero escapades & fondly reminisces about their childhood in front of him. Diluc invited Kaeya to dinner at the winery & (afaik) never told anyone about Kaeya’s origins. Kaeya tells the traveler that they need to give Jean their full support and planned a birthday party for her. Jean left Kaeya in charge of Mondstadt when she went to the golden apple archipelago! On some level they recognize that their goals still align!! There’s still trust and love there but there’s also this gap between them that none of them know how to cross and I just!!!

[raticalshoez]

i'm having hyperfixation drought so i did what i did best and created a crossover episode

[triglycercule]

horror has KR dust can't be affected by KR unless it's by another version of himself. horror's (somehow) still a judge dust wants repentance for his wrongdoings,,,, someone must see where i'm going with this

i just wanna imagine like if dust ever feels like he's doing something wrong (like having thoughts about gaining LV again or something,,,,) he'll just ask horror to give him like. a quick little punch. hit him with a bone fragment because he needs to feel his sins crawling on his back from a true judge,,,,

and then horror's more than happy to do it 😁😁😁 he winds that shit up before he bitch slaps dust :33 oh you need to be judged DONT WORRY DUST horror is a totally impartial judge that totally won't find your situation both ridiculous and entertaining 😁😁

[makotonaegiunderstander]

something I’ve been thinking abt is how many people think Makoto is immune to despair. I don’t think he is. I think becoming the ultimate Hope was BECAUSE he felt despair. He wouldn’t have fully reached that point without Junko. Makoto becoming such a beacon was his last attempt to avoid completely falling and it wasn’t because he didn’t feel despair, it was because he was too damn stubborn to allow everything to go to waste and he refused to sacrifice his beliefs for someone else’s. His inner monologue tells me he DID experience the same new low the other suvivors did in the final trial, but at the point where he had the choice to give up and die, he looked at the others and he looked at Junko and he couldn’t allow it to happen, not out of self preservation, but because the idea that Junko would have control over their lives made him FURIOUS. and that utter refusal to die kicked in, wether luck or otherwise, and he made the concious effort for one last push while something in him was breaking. He had to be broken in order for the Ultimate Hope to come through so aggressively, bc it could only exist in the face of the Ultimate Despair. He snapped the same way she did, but in the other direction. In what could have been his final moments he chose to embody everything Junko wasn’t, and every single optimistic and luck fueled ideal in him suddenly charged forward and pushed him. It was a combination of the final straw and a choice. Makoto isn’t immune to feeling despair, he’s just too stubborn to fall into it of his own volition. I think that’s why I like that scene in DR3 so much. People were SO SHOCKED Makoto actually fell for the tape, that he actually became despair for a moment. I saw people getting mad or disappointed, saying it was pathetic and Makoto seemed to fall from some sort of pedestal for them. Honestly part of me wonders if that sort of mentality, which clearly people had in universe, affected Makoto a bit. Like he started to see himself as less of a person, subconsciously. Prompting him to take more risks, less self preservation, act way more bold. It seems he has to be reminded a lot not to put himself in danger by his friends, to not do something too reckless. All over the place I would see in regards to that scene either this frivolous ‘oh this was just angst drama with no meaning behind it’ or ‘he can do better than that. he’s so weak’ or ‘come on, there’s no way he’d fall into despair, he’s the Ultimate Hope!’ This kind of mentality, which was kind of ironic considering Ryota was there the entire time saying the same thing and treating Makoto the same way. Like Makoto was superhuman. Like Makoto didn’t feel despair the same way ‘normal people’ did. In a way that was also how Munakata saw Makoto. Makoto stopped being a PERSON to the world when he became Ultimate Hope, he became a concept, a belief system, much the same way Junko ascended beyond herself. But the difference is that treating Makoto that way is the opposite of the reason Makoto became such a representative for hope. He wasn’t doing something no one else could. He was doing something everyone had the chance to, he just… was a little more optimistic, a little more stubborn, a little more ‘gung-ho’ about things. He just took the lead where no one else did, where no one else knew they even COULD in the face of Junko’s unstoppable force. She had overcome the biggest threats and obstacles in the world, what could one person do? And the answer Makoto found was, anything. Everything. It doesn’t all rest on Makoto, he’s just the one that was inspired to try to do what seemed like the impossible. But as evidenced by the change in his friends after that trial, it’s clearly not something only Makoto is capable of. The others pulled out of despair thanks to Makoto, but it was their choice to do so.

“But… this world is so huge, and we’re so small. What can we do…? No, we can probably do anything. Yeah! We can do anything!”

[unordinary-diary]

Blyke and John: Parallel Characters

I’ve written multiple entries about this,

[x] [x] [x]

But I’m back to make a comprehensive analysis about the glaring similarities between these two. I’ll try not to repeat myself here.

‼️SPOILER WARNING for the whole series‼️ but this mostly focuses on the story before John’s suspension.

Firstly, this scene:

ch. 121

This conversation takes place near the beginning of the Joker arc. It’s after John targets Zeke, after he targets Juni, and the day before he goes after Seraphina’s kidnappers. The timing is important.

“If someone hit your best friend, would you let it slide?”

That question is supposed to remind us what John does to people who hurt Seraphina: hunting them down and sending them to the hospital. Blyke shooting a destructive beam really close to John was an example of a trait they share: they both blow up violently when people mistreat their friends.

John’s downward spiral carries strong themes of hypocrisy. He’s angry at the world, he’s angry at himself, and as a coping mechanism, he chooses to believe that everyone else is as bad as he is. That means that most of the traits he hates others for are the same things he hates about himself. In this scene, Blyke is unintentionally calling out this hypocrisy: “What I did is no different from what you do”.

But Blyke’s just trying to connect with John here, he has no idea what John’s been doing. And John, of course, doesn’t give a shit about what Blyke has to say. This line was here for the audience to notice.

They’re both so similar, but their similarity immediately causes tension between them because, well, John was on the wrong end of Blyke’s protectiveness.

I really love the way this was written— there are so many flashbacks to this scene, but they remember it differently. John remembers the part that hurt him— he’d describe it as “the time that jackass shot a beam at me”. Blyke remembers the part that hurt him, or rather, hurt Remi: “the time that jackass hit Remi for no reason”.

Blyke and John are both hotheaded characters with strong ideals. They’re similar enough that Seraphina points it out:

(ch. 80)

As Blyke grows as a character, he becomes more like John: sticking up for low tiers and speaking out against the injustice in the world. But while Blyke is doing that more, John is going in the opposite direction, until they are fully opposed to each other.

Speaking of Blyke’s character arc, it took me a few rereads to actually understand what part of him changed. His kindness, selflessness, bravery— all of those things were there from the start. Blyke’s character arc was about becoming more aware of his surroundings, and how his carelessness can harm others. Blyke was never malicious, but after X-Rei and integrating more with the school, he becomes aware of people suffering around him and how he unintentionally contributes to it. He becomes less reckless, privy to the flaws in the system he grew up not questioning, and uses his power more responsibly. He even comes up with a more controlled way to wield his ability. The part of Blyke that changes is his maturity.

Part of John’s character arc is also about being careful. It’s not as close of a parallel as other things are, but one of the things that John works on during his redemption arc is holding back. Both of them learn self-control throughout the series, and for John, that means acting early before his emotions spiral out of hand.

Adding onto my first point about the two of them wanting to protect their friends— the fact that they can’t do that makes them both angry and desperate. For most of the story, the “block” that prevents John from protecting Seraphina is in his head. It’s his own trauma that holds him back. The block that prevents Blyke from protecting his friends is, guess what? Also John’s trauma! Parallels abound.

Another thing I noticed in Episode 80 is this:

Notice that when Seraphina says “I’d take that over strength any day,” John is looking at the camera. He’s avoiding Sera’s gaze. Seraphina is saying she prefers honesty over strength. John is very strong, and very dishonest, but Seraphina thinks the opposite because John is so dishonest. John appears to be reflecting on this disconnect.

In relation to this analysis, Seraphina is actually pointing out a major difference between Blyke and John. Beyond that, she’s praising Blyke’s traits, (less strong but very open) above John’s traits, (strong as fuck but a liar with his pants on fire). Furthermore, John really cares what Seraphina thinks of him. Knowing that she would think less of him is the main reason why he spent so much time and effort preventing her from catching his lies.

This leads into my main point here: Blyke is the “goody-two-shoes” version of John. Or, more accurately, the person that John wants to be. Blyke has a clean track record and doesn’t really get into trouble. He is respected and left alone by the school without being hated and feared, he de-escalates conflicts without taking things too far, he doesn’t lose control, he’s someone Seraphina thinks highly of, hell, even his grades are better! Blyke represents everything that John wants to be, and the person that he could have been if he’d gone down a different path.

But, crucially, John is also what Blyke wants to be. Well, not wholly, but his ability? His strength? It’s one of the things John hates about himself, but Blyke wants that strength so desperately that he risks his life for it over and over again.

They’re both desperate to be like each other, even when they hate each other the most. Neither of them have any idea how alike they already are.

I don’t know what Season 3 holds in store for us, but I do hope that John realizes that Blyke embodies who he wants to be, because mutual jealousy would be a very interesting dynamic to explore in my opinion. I also hope that it ends up being something they can bond over, by helping each other accomplish their personal goals. (Blyke being another helper in John’s character arc, and John helping Blyke train.)

A side note: John beat up Blyke four separate times. That’s more than any other character, which is interesting because John’s main rival is supposed to be Arlo. For reference, John has beaten Arlo twice, three times if you count the time when Seraphina intervened, and he only beat him unconscious once. But John beat Blyke to the point of passing out all four times, the worst of which being a shot clean through his chest. (shoulder? Unclear. S1 finale).

It’s odd, isn’t it? Out of everyone, Blyke is the one who John physically hurt the most. John’s only grudge against him is an old memory from episode 33, of an event that didn’t actually harm him. John’s grudge against Arlo is much more serious and again— that’s his main rival. So why is it that he’s so much more violent towards Blyke?

The problem here is that I’ve been thinking about these fights as “John picking on Blyke”. And that’s… kind of true? But while Blyke didn’t start any of these fights, they were all consensual in a way. He didn’t seek to fight John, nor was he ever happy about fighting John, but he was always a willing participant.

(138, 153, 206, & 211)

In three out of these four fights, John didn’t even expect to be fighting Blyke going into it. This is significant because while Arlo is John’s main rival, John absolutely fills that role for Blyke. Blyke’s own agency is what leads to most of these events. The reason, narratively speaking, why they fight so much is not for John’s character, but for Blyke.

For John, his reason for fighting Blyke so much is not narrative but moreso symbolic. John is angry at everyone and everything, but ultimately the person he hates the most is himself. It’s only fitting that the character most like him would bear the brunt of his wrath.

As John is having his positive character arc (suspension and post-suspension), he is becoming more like Blyke, and the two of them reach a point where they’re even more similar than they were at the start of the series.

In the Rowden amusement park, John does start to realize how similar they are:

(249)

Additionally, I want to draw your attention to the parallels between this scene:

Blyke and John’s argument in chapter 249

(which the image limit won’t let me add, scroll until you see red hair.)

And this scene:

Argument in ch. 121 (it’s at the beginning)

Two sides of the same coin.

Furthermore, in the S2 finale, Blyke is shown being taken to Keon. There is an implication that by Season 3, Blyke and John will share Keon-related trauma as well. Despite my pessimistic predictions, I do hope that this is a similarity that can bring them together rather than tear them apart.