#I enjoy the between episodes speculation and silly theories writings (obviously)

[faceofpoe]

I'm not really a fix-it fic writer but fuuuuck so much unrealized potential...

But I also kind of wrestled some Tech & Crosshair closure from my last (canon compliant!) story and perhaps should leave it at that and my Crosshair & Tech solidly AU meditation fic.

[mbtiofwhys]

How Ni and Ne (don't) binge watch

Premise

MBTI is a serious topic for us mods and we always put our best effort writing articles for this blog. However, we also find entertaining to write in a more light way about how MBTI shows off in real life. This article is one of those: we won’t discuss deeply about theory, but we’ll rather talk about our experiences with binging works of various media, be them books, videogames or tv shows. We love typing fictional characters since we also love works of fiction. Listening to other high Ni and Ne users we found an interesting correlation between those two function and media consumption, especially regarding the topic of binging. So, this isn’t hard science, it's simply a light reflection that 200% comes from our experiences. That being said, we hope this article will be relatable and intriguing. 

Ni dom and binge

INFJ mod here. This may sound counterintuitive, but even if Ni is known to be a function about searching for deeper meanings, discarding options and focusing on the few remaining, I approach works of fictions with a “multitasking” method. What do I mean? Well, I’m not the kind of person who will just sit down and watch an entire season of a tv show, even if it’s the best I ever seen (there are few exception to this rule, works like Persona 5 Royal which I heavily binged. With no regrets). I simply prefer to watch a little amount of episodes, or read few chapters of a book, for example, and then stop, thus having time to reflect on what I saw or read. I just need time to process all of the data and feelings, otherwise I’ll just hit the wall of information overload.

Even if they’re just my attempt to find a correlation between high Ni and all those aspects, I’d like to talk about what the causes of this behaviours may be, with a MBTi perspective.

Binging may be hard for Ni users since they need time to analyze things, putting them in their abstract subjective system. This means, in other words, that the higher the level of complexity is, the longer will be the time needed to absorb it. For example, I can read mindlessly a novel for a mere entertaining value, but if I really like it I’ll just take my time to enjoy the journey, reflecting and talking about my feelings and first impressions to my friends (this is my auxiliary Fe showing, I know).

Ni operates by discarding elements, thus Ni users may reach a point where they simply prefer to stop. This process allows them to elaborate those information, be them characters, facts or emotions (based on personal preferences, for example feelers may tend toward the emotional aspect and T users toward puzzles, mysteries, logical consistency). As I stated above, if I absorb too much data and feelings I’ll just freeze, submerged by the information overload. With works of fiction, I have an underlying fear of missing important aspects of it and the more I read, watch or play, the more I’ll need time to stop and see how all the new things make sense, be them theories, feelings, or simply understanding what’s going on. Even while I’m actively reading/watching/playing I process all the informations as a way to put them into perspective, constantly elaborating them in the back of my mind.

Another personal consideration is: high Ni implies low Se. Low Se may find binging as a form of overstimulation. Moreover Se, in lower positions, requires little stimuli, allowing Ni users to organize the environment (rationally or emotionally through Te or Fe), since high Ni users are J and need a certain amount of control over the environment (Te or Fe) and their feelings or internal logic (Fi or Ti) .

Finally, I think there’s a tendency in high Ni user to consume multiple media, but in small amounts. This isn’t supported by hard evidences, it��s just a trend I noticed talking to friends about the subject. Ni users may prefer to approach different media rather than a single one, splitting their attention and energies through them. So, this is the opposite of binging. Personally, except for few works of fiction which I blindly burned with my passion, I usually switch from a medium to another, a sort of “media multitasking” as a way to “cool down” from one by simultaneously approach another one and still being engaged.

Ne dom and binge

ENFP mod here. I fear I’ll have to repeat the same premise as INFJ mod: This may sound counterintuitive, but even if Ne is known to be a function that works with multitasking and jumps from one topic to the other very quickly, I tend to approach works of fiction by shamelessly binging one and proceeding to be obsessed with it for months (or years.)

This happens especially for the works that end up being my favorites once I finish them - paired with the fact that I usually go through them again at least a second time after I’m finished. It almost feels like that if I’m not binging, I’m not interested/invested enough to care. I binge so much, in fact, that I’ve come to distinguish the ‘soft binge’ from the ‘hard binge’ - where ‘soft’ means a 12 episodes anime in 2-4 days and ‘hard’ means 145 hours of Persona 5 Royal in 3 weeks.

So, how might this work?

Firstly, Ne dom needs stimuli. Constantly. The more, the better. Because external stimuli means more prompts from something that isn’t one’s mind, which causes further reflection, connections and a ton of brainstorming. Ne can connect dots scaringly quickly, and even though proper reflection is appreciated to deepen the subject, connections are often made on the spot. I think it’s very difficult for me to reach a point of information overload - it usually happens with very complex topics and study subjects, for which I need to take a break and write things down into diagrams and lists in order to make proper sense of what I learned. But even in the case of works with heavy and intricate worldbuilding/plot (e.g. Stein’s;Gate, but I’m a sucker for time travel fiction so whichever is fine) I rarely stop watching if something doesn’t add up - I usually understand it later on, or wait for everything to end and search on the internet or talk about it with friends. My only time off is the one between OP/ED (which I NEVER skip and my friends hate me for that.) In that time, I disconnect my brain for 1 minute and 20-ish seconds to recharge.

Ne dom doesn’t have the patience to wait. If it wants answers, it wants them now. Binging is great because it offers both stimuli, questions and answers in a short amount of time. Also, (but maybe this is more of an F thing and for Ti aux might be different) I’m not one to make theories and speculations over fictional works - I might do that, but later, once I’m finished. While I’m enjoying a work, I’m usually so involved that all the theorising is limited to hunches and intuitions. Proper theorising needs time, needs one to stop and reflect on one’s knowledge in order to find hidden meanings and try to predict the outcome. I don’t have the patience to do that. I’m not interested in doing that - I want to know what’s going on, period. The few times I happened to reflect and speculate on a work of fiction were when I watched/read/played the thing simultaneously with some friends and talked to them about it constantly.

Which brings us to: discussing with people. Knowing a work means you’re able to discuss it with others, read reviews and watch video essays and analysis, of course Ne dom wants to devour it as quickly as possible. I literally watched the whole Evangelion (and I mean: the anime, EoE and the 3 rebuilds) in two weeks in order to finally enjoy those sweet, sweet video essays and parody and abridged YouTube wouldn’t stop to suggest me. This may sound silly, but searching discussion topics of the works I went through -even the ones I disliked- is very important to me, because listening to other people’s opinions and prompts is a way to further feed my Ne with different perspectives, viewpoints, things I might have missed while binging.

The problem: the quicker the binge, the more it’s difficult for me to remember details about plot, characters etc that, yet minor, can be important or interesting. Which is kind of the main struggle of having low Si: you know something, but you don’t remember everything you’d need precisely. You can’t pinpoint the scene where a thing happened, you feel you might have already seen a detail but you can’t recollect when and in what circumstances, and the list goes on. And this doesn’t stop once you’ve finished, obviously - it can only get worse. Typing the main Persona 5 cast was such a pain that, during my second playthrough of vanilla P5, I literally had to open a document and write down every single line or detail or plot point that could’ve helped me later. Otherwise, the situation would be: “damn, I know [character] said something alongside the line of [thing that could help me with typing] but I can’t remember what exactly! Let’s spend hours on YT watching walkthrough in order to find by chance the exact scene I’m thinking about.” This may also be why I periodically feel the need to go through my favourite works again: I may know them by heart, but there will always be things that I missed.

[artpoint420]

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE SOUL-KILLING CRIMINAL INSANITY OF MR.KRUPP

Dav Pilky he might hide under the guise of being a children’s writer, but don’t let him fool you. He is a creative genius, and he the universe he set up in his Captian Underpants books, movie, and show (where he made sure he was part of the writing) is one of the most intriguing my INTP Brain has ever come across. I know that I shouldn’t overthink these things, but my Asperger's wont let me, so over this next however how long, I will be putting out theories on each of the main characters of this silly, potty-humor riddled franchises in order to expose ALL the dark implications Dav Pilky left in his strokes of imaginative brilliance.

Mr Benjamin “Benny” Krupp, the main antagonist.  The cruel, cold-hearted principal deadset on expelling the thorns in his side, George and Harold. However, at least in the Netflix show, he is one of the most complex yet unhinged characters I’ve ever seen in children’s animation. Having had his creativity and childlike purity sucked out of him as a child by his emotionally (and possibly physically abusive) mother, who willing brought produce to throw at him.  This fiasco at the 4th grade talent show broke him, and made him the cruel principal we all know and loathe. 

However, since he still turned mean, it is entirely possible he was just born mean. 

Just like inside out he has multiple Krupp's in his head, and while George and Harold ( I will get to this!) also do this, Krupp seems to have even more splits, again, on top of being split between cu and krupp. While I don't want to copy and paste the theorizer's partrick theory (watching his video will probably help you understand what I'm saying better), there's no telling how many personalities are inside of him. Each of his personalities seem to be paired with one of his obsessions.  What I’m most interested in is his underlying psychology and the constant switching between the personalities.

(while I’m editing this, I was re-watching episode 11, and realized he references beatniks, which could help when establishing the time periods he or his mother lived in)

Gluttony- guacamole (and other various high-calorie food)  George and Harold being expelled- Cranky Krupp Etc. But one thing is VERY clear, Mr Krupp in the books is an absolute SOCIOPATH, even doing or allowing things to inadvertantly get George and Harold KILLED.  As a matter the fact, I speculate that the only reason he didn't directly kill them himself was because it would expel him from his position as principal and get him in prison- and prison is the one thing he hates more than George and Harold. 

In some instances, he can come up with master plans to expel George and Harold and other times he's too dumb to know where his keys are even when they are in his hands. However, I don't think this version of Krupp is a sociopath, simply a hurt and deeply lonely person who, still inexcusably, wants to hurt others, in an attempt to understand his own traumas and gain a sense of control that was stripped away from him. However, there are multiple moments where it almost, ALMOST seems like he wants to be friends with George and Harold. (Beause seriously, who wouldn't want to be friends with them, their tree house has grape soda dispensers and CABLE.)  Let's face it, he not only reads but STANS their comics and their pranks. He obsesses over them nearly nonstop, whether out of intense hatred or fufilling his role as a principal. Speaking of which, I thoroughly believe that him being the principal, for better or for worse, is, inevitably the one roll he will always come crawling back to. If he's ever done something truly intellegent, it's when he basically said, that the is the hot hair for their water ballon.  It gets to a point to when Future Melvin and Melvin fire him, he completely loses it and ends up in the middle of the woods screaming at two gerbils, absolutely believing they are George and Harold.  His sanity hinges on George and Harold's presence, without them he has no one.  He absolutely adores their freedom, individuality, and creativity, How a neglectful and phycologically abusive man like him is able to continually gain George and Harold's sympathy is, quite frankly, disgusting and a textbook example of manipulation, but since season 3 ends with them on okay terms. Based on his past behavior and trailers for the Choice-o-rama, I doubt that will last for long, and I am forced to believe his maniac behavior in the choice-o-rama trailers was due to a personality switches. In the episode where he traveled off to find the fountain of hair, he recognizes only George and Harold by name, strange.  He takes the entire group with him and doesn't show a hint of his usual cranky self.  Afterall, he was no longer in a position of power anymore and- that's it. Power is the key here. Whenever he's not in a position of power, he becomes unhinged and even more compulsive, spending his entire life savings just to get his hair back.  Speaking of his hairloss it's obviously due to stress but it is just another example of his obsessive personality. In season 3, there is a moment where he is taking to a toilet plunger with his toupee on it like it's his therapist. While this served both as a joke and an attempt to keep his backstory relevant, it is yet another moment of a schitzophrenic breakdown on the his part. ALso don't forget, the moment when he snapped his own fingers and didn't transform. This could be one of three things: a mistake, proof that he can't turn him self-into CU unlike his other iterations, or that he does, indeed, have some sort of subconscious free will of when he turns into CU. This all feeds into the theory that Krupp not only reads but enjoys the CU comics, so much so that he wanted to be Captain Underpants, thus allowing himself to fall prey to George and Harold's hypnotism.  How else would he be able to mimic him so perfectly, his catch phrases, his behavior, his inflections, all nailed to a tee.  One rule of hypnotism is that you can't hypnotize someone who is not willing to be hypnotized, and you can't hypnotize someone to mimic something they are unfamiliar with. There are reasons to believe their personalities are merging, that there is a possibility that one of the personalities inside of his head, who is, indeed the personality of CU, is trying to break free and take control.  However, that should be a separate theory on his own. Summary: His crimes (throughout all three franchises) Child abuse, child neglect Harassment Blackmailing Unlawful discipline Stalking Purposeful Endangerment of children Animal cruelty (implied) Arson (implied; all as Mr. Krupp) Indirect assault (as Captain Underpants)

What's my diagnosis? Disassociative Multiple Personality disorder spawned by abuse, suplemented with multiple obsessive compusions and moments of PTSD induced schitzophrenia.   Since this is a rough draft, I am open to suggestions, edits, and examples.