#I personally think he's the equivalent of 14

[dunmeshistash]

Hi, I'm a new fan of dunmeshi. I'm confused about Thistle's age.

Older fans are confused too don't worry

From the posts I've seen trying to calculate his age (including my own) he's anywhere between 65 to 80 years old, which is the equivalent to roughly 14 to 16 years old in tallmen.

All we know is that he's most likely younger than Pattadol (who is 82) based on this

Elf earmuffs are seen as something for "children and young people" Pattadol and Marcille have "Just ok" while Thistle has a "ok" so he's visibly younger than them.

Ofc now he's over a thousand years old now, but he seems to have stopped aging after entering the dungeon both physically and mentally based on how he acts.

[knittinglizards]

for some reason i have not got any of haley's meaner 0-2 heart dialogue after divorcing/memory-wiping her. vestigial character growth?

[ramibow]

This is me casually rewriting Obey Me’s plot, don't mind me.

Manic Ramblings™ below:

This is mostly about their ages and their time during The Great Celestial War. I've got more but I don't want this post to be longer than it already is.

In canon they are all adults and Levi was even a navy general but I cannot for the life of me imagine that so I’m throwing it out.

Obey Me also doesn’t have canon ages for any of the brothers, and I’m not certain if they’ve confirmed their age order. People often reference their rankings (Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor), but that is the order of how powerful they are, which is why Satan is #4 instead of #7.

Here are the ages I’m giving them during The Great Celestial War (in angel years): Lucifer (18), Mammon (15), Asmodeus (14), Leviathan (12), Beelzebub (8), Belphegor (8), Satan (0/5)*

I think in canon Leviathan would be older than Asmodeus, but I decided to cast him deeper into the pits of middle child hell (also I wanted Mammon and Asmodeus to be closer in age as a part of my personal agenda.)

*Since Lucifer had a Zeus moment and popped Satan from his noggin, I imagined him as being the equivalent of 5 when he was “born” during the Celestial War. Let’s say it was five angel years of built up rage culminating into a person. 

That being said, Lucifer would be the only one that directly fights in the war. Mammon wanted to fight by his side but Lucifer would not let that happen (and god help you if you defied the man). Instead, Mammon is in charge of keeping his siblings safe since they’re basically traitors/fugitives.

Plus, since Lucifer is fighting a war, he doesn't have a lot of time to see his brothers. This is the first time they've been separated from him for a long period of time, so it's been hard for them. They wonder if Lucifer will get killed and the angels that used to be their friends will imprison them (or worse). Paranoia and fear constantly loom over them. The Celestial Realm is all they've ever known, and they don't feel safe there anymore.

Escaping the Celestial Realm is a task in and of itself. I imagine teleportation magic as being something extremely complex and thus requiring a spellbook to perform (so you don’t end up halfway through a wall or something). The brothers did not have that, thus, they spent most of the war hiding out in the outskirts of the Celestial Realm.

Satan appears near the end of the war. Lucifer did not tell his brothers how/where Satan came from (this will come back later for plot-related stuff). Since Satan is the embodiment of wrath, living with him took some adjusting. 

Asmo made it his mission to help domesticate his feral brother with Mammon’s help, of course.

Levi was terrified of Satan, but Satan was curious about him. I like to imagine that Levi sparked Satan’s interest in reading because I think that would be cute. 

Belphegor and Satan would fight a lot when they first met (I imagine Beel, Belphie and Satan as the trifecta of “children most likely to bite you”). Over time they would grow to enjoy each other’s company.

So, yeah. This AU is just going to be "thing I want to change/things I think would be kinda cool + plot". I want to post more stuff but drawing a comic is difficult so I had to settle for this instead.

If you're interested in seeing more I'm going to put any future Lore™ under OM Eden AU for convenience.

[bibibbon]

MHA mustard deserved better

Mustard is a character that many of us forget but surprisingly his character really stuck to me for some reason.

Mustard is around 13-14 years old and was part of the training camp attack. His quirk is known as gas and looks very similar to midnight it also has a very similar effect to midnight's. I think that it's such a shame that his story was never explored and that we never got much of what happend to him. We don't even see him in the final arc. All we are told is that mustard is captured by the police after the attack and is then imprisoned to never seen him again.

I think that if MHA wanted to truly and properly redeem villains or explore the idea why villains became the way they are we should of gotten more exploration when it came to mustard. You can easily assume that mustard probably had a horrible life that drove him to villainy because how is it that you become a villain and don't have enough of anything to change out of your middle school uniform. How is it that a 13-14 year old knows how to wield a gun and there are so many more questions like how was mustard treated?

Personally I would have it so that we are shown more about mustard. How did he end up where he is? How did shigaraki even allow him to join? Did he somehow stumble or was in the wrong place at the wrong time and just got swept by the crowd? Who taught him how to wield a gun? And so many other questions to build his character. Mustard felt like an empty character with wasted potential. From the little amount of screentime we can tell that he acts like a child and is a bit annoying like a middle schooler would be but he definitely acts,fights and does so many more things above his age. I personally would be more interested in a tiny arc to explore how society failed mustard. Why is his name mustard anyway? He is one of the only characters who we don't know his real name so does that mean mustard could of been a name a bully gave him?

For some reason thinking about the character of mustard distinctly reminds me of middle school Izuku midoriya. They seem ironically similar in a way��‍♀️.

Also can we talk about how after he gets captured nothing really happens. Like where does mustard go? He is too young to go to prison so does MHA have something equivalent to a delinquent center or juvenile detention? Do they just let mustard rot in jail? Does mustard have a family that tried to fight his case? Did the family get any backlash (like toga's family)? So many questions to think about. Was there or could of there been a rehabilitation programme out up for mustard. Like mustard is young and shows a lot of signs that say "society failed me" or something similar so was there or could of there been something similar to that.

I personally think we should of gotten some mustard and midnight interactions. They have similar quirks with similar effects one became a hero the other a villain they don't have many differences I wonder if midnight struggled with her quirk I wonder how she would interact with mustard.

[ticklystuff]

Day 14: High

a/n: ler!cyno, lee!tighnari — from the lovelytickletober list!

———

It was supposed to be a brownie.

It should've been a brownie.

But it wasn't just a brownie, as Cyno was now realizing, his body sprawled out uselessly on the bed, limbs heavy where they lay. Each arm and leg were akin to tree trunks, hardly working physical appendages that took the greatest amount of effort to shift even an inch. He curled his fingers and wiggled his toes, as if to ensure that his limbs were indeed still functioning pieces of his body.

"You good?"

The sound of the other voice triggered a delayed reaction and Cyno found himself lolling his head to meet the source, the effort involved equivalent to rolling a boulder along a rocky path. Sitting beside him at the edge of a bed was a foxian that he was sure he met before.... Wait, yes, this was the one that helped him into this very bed.. What was his name again?

The fox tilted his head inquisitively, his dark green hair swaying with his movements. "This is your first time, isn't it?"

Cyno blinked in response, processing the question in pieces. "First time?" God, his eyes felt so dry.

"You know, like," the fox moved his hands as he explained, "you've never had an edible before? Those brownies weren't just brownies, you know?"

Ah, so Cyno was correct.. those were definitely not just brownies.

"I don't know, you can always tell when someone's never been high before," the fox rambled on. "You were way out of it when I saw you."

And he was right; in fact, Cyno had never been to party till tonight. There was no reason for him to do so, of course, as he preferred spending his off-time from studying at home, or playing boardgames with friends, but curiosity had taken hold of him and just this once, he allowed himself to take the invite. And when someone brought out the brownies, well.. he couldn't help himself to what he thought was just ordinary party snacks.

"It's okay, though," the fox continued, "everyone reacts differently. How are you feeling?"

In all honesty, Cyno could feel everything. Not just the fibers of the blanket surrounding his body, but even his own thoughts passing his brain, the gentle drizzle of rain outside, as if it were personally falling over his own body, the sounds of people's chatter outside the room seemingly close, or the warm air permeating his skin, lifting a fuzzy feeling through his body.

His head lolled back to the fox and breathed a heavy sigh. "I feel.. nice."

"Good, good," the fox nodded. "Would you like me to keep you company, or would you prefer I step out?"

And as the fox spoke, something in particular caught Cyno's eyes. The way they flopped around, twitching in place, there was something just endearing about the fox's ears. They looked so soft....

"Sorry, I have a request," Cyno spoke dryly, unsure of what he was thinking just now.

"Oh, hm?" his ears perked up, drawing Cyno's attention back to them. "Did you need water? Or maybe some food? I can grab you something."

"No, no," Cyno mumbled slowly, his brain leaping for it, "can I.. pet your ears?"

The fox looked taken aback, as if Cyno offended him in the worst way. "W-What?"

"You don't have to," Cyno yawned, stretching his limbs, before flopping back down.

"You know, you can't just go around asking people stuff like that."

"Oh."

"But," the fox sighed, folding his arms as he paused, "fine, fine, go ahead."

Cyno smiled the biggest dopey smile as the fox reluctantly granted his wish, reaching a heavy limb out as the other lowered his head just within arms reach. And, oh, maybe it was the drugs, he couldn't tell, but his assumptions were confirmed true, feeling the fine fur under his fingers. He started to wonder if they were even real, as they could be described as soft velvet, lavish to the touch that felt exquisite under his hand."

"H-Hey, be careful!" the fox stifled his words, clearly holding something back, doing his best not too wiggle too much. "I-It tihihickles!"

And Cyno, he couldn't help himself. Not only was the feeling of the smooth fur stimulating to his brain, but the fox's laughter added to this. It carried a pleasant tone, breathy laughter filling the room that was music to Cyno's ears, hitting all the right notes. With one final pat, Cyno withdrew his hand, giving the floppy ears and their owner a break.

"Satisfied?" the fox grumbled, rubbing his ears with the tips of his fingers.

"Yeah," Cyno nodded contently, relaxing back into the mattress with a small grin crossing his face.

"Well, I'm going to go grab you some water," the fox stood up, "but I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay," Cyno nodded to his words, eyes heavy, but still fixated on those ears. "Uhm, what was your name again?"

The other turned back to him, tilting his head. "It's Tighnari and you're Cyno, yeah?"

"I already told you?"

"Yeah," Tighnari scoffed, "and I already told you too."

"Oh," Cyno yawned, his eyes blinking drowsily. "Nice to meet you.. Tighnari."

"Nice to meet you too."

[mostlybuddingthoughts]

Me letting go of 2023 negativity looks like this: I, personally, did not enjoy how Madhouse's anime adaptation did the Ring Scene in Frieren.

Spoilers for episode 14 of the anime, and the equivalent manga chapters they were based from.

Fundamentally I think it comes down to this shot.

Himmel drops to one knee, and Frieren looks… Shocked? Surprised? Either way, it's a much more dramatic expression than I was expecting. Than the one I read in the manga.

Frieren constantly has this detached air in her flashbacks. We know this, and we know why: she hasn't yet realised that these people are important, and hasn't begun to make the conscious effort to learn about and open up to them.

So why does the anime choose to emphasise Frieren's expression? We should know Frieren's expression. In doing so, it seems to imply that it this expression is a deviation from the norm. That this affected her in a way beyond normal.

But it didn't. Like all other flashbacks, she never realised the beauty of it except in retrospect. Which is why I do think Frieren looking at the Ring after Himmel's death was an excellent addition by the anime.

(incidentally, I do like the subsequent shot of her face which DOES emphasise her confusion)

No, like all other flashbacks, this isn't necessarily about Frieren, but about Himmel. And above all other chapters, I think this chapter gave us a glimpse beneath Himmel's normal charisma. At the heartbreak he carries inside.

I think this panel single-handedly was the reason for why this chapter was the most popular chapter in recent polls.

This manga always has these smiles I love. People always say the characters only have one expression, but I don't think that's true.

The smiles all have such different feelings to them.

And this one is paiiinnnnn.

You can see how cruel he finds the situation. That Frieren would pick a gift so close to his desires whilst being entirely oblivious. His brow, raised just so, is an amused wince. His smile, so flat and drawn out, lingers in irony.

I've seen videos where people made the same comparison.

(if someone could help me find the video, I'll add a link. I've found YouTube's history to be very finicky, and I can't find it)

But despite the universe mocking him, Himmel puts it to the side. In the manga, I feel you can understand his intentions even more. To accept that Frieren doesn't understand, and probably won't ever reciprocate his intentions, but he can still indulge in the fantasy, selfishly, just for a bit.

I've always liked how Frieren looked here. Politely curious, I've described it to others before. She knows something is happening, but no idea what or why she should really care.

While this shot is fine, I do somehow feel the emphasis is once again going to Frieren. But again, I feel like this isn't about Frieren. Frieren is entirely passive in this scene (that's why it's paiiiinnn). It's about Himmel and what he chose to do with the ring, because it shows what he felt about it and her.

Anyway, the anime adaptation is beautiful and a 10/10, but I think this is the first time I've seen the anime stumbling in adapting its source material. A pity is was with the most popular manga chapter.

I could not be happier or more surprised that this anime is becoming so popular in the mainstream. No better successor to Fullmetal Alchemist at the top of MAL.

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Guys I just read through the original Avatar way of water and I can't be normal about it and neither can you so lets get into it...

(Apologies for the bad quality btw. I was taking pictures with my phone of my tv.)

For starters Na'vi age faster than humans in the og script!

It says point blank in the script that Spider is 14

And it says this about Neteyam and Lo'ak

They're the equivalent of a 13 and 14 year old not they are 13 and 14. Coupled with the fact that in this version of the script Spider was five during the original war and he's only 14 himself in this script then if my math is mathing it's only been NINE YEARS since the og movie. In human years Neteyam and Lo'ak are 9 and 8 years old! That is crazy!

Speaking of crazy we get some interesting lessons on Na'vi anatomy

They birth chrysalis! Like mammals can be born still in their amniotic sac but a chrysalis?! Like a bug?!

and then..

Like the chrysalis just unfurls after the mother breaks tsalnu. That is so wild.

And then..

Like we already knew Kiri's "father" was eywa but a genetic clone of Grace? and we learn this in the first act of the movie?! Wild.

Also this conversation...

Like I'm shookith why👏🏽was👏🏽 this👏🏽 not👏🏽 in 👏🏽the👏🏽 movie! This seems pretty important not only for the plot i.e where Toruk is but also developing Jake as a character.

Anyway here's some little things that had me gobsmacked for better or worse.

First...

If my jaw was on the floor from the not dad i'm your commander line (after which Spider tells Lo'ak it could have been a lot worse and I'm like how?) then my jaw hit earth's core from Jake completely blaming Neteyam's death on Lo'ak. Like I know he's grieving but good god that's your son! who just watched his brother die! And you don't even know what happened! You just found them like that! Like...COME ON!

Second...

Lo'ak is really mean to Tuk. I didn't screenshot it but also there was a line from when Tuk tagged along at the beginning of the movie and Spider joked "well if she gets eaten it's not our fault." and Lo'ak said "that's what I'm saying" and as a youngest child I took that personally.

I have no commentary this was just really funny

Third

Ao'nung's name was orginally Nu'ung and I find that interesting.

Forth

I gasped. I'd get smacked if I talked to my mom like this. Like they don't seem to have a good relationship in this version because earlier Kiri calls Grace her real mom not her bio mom or even just her other mom. And Kiri also really wanted to know who her real dad is. I'm just glad they changed this angle because adoptive parents are real parents and the actual movie does a good job of showing that.

Fifth

This is right after Kiri's seizure. I think this should have been in the movie. A criticism I've heard about Jake is what a dumb move it was to call for help when Ronal was right there. This shows what a quick panicked decision that actual was and while it's still not smart it is understandable.

Sixth

Neytiri having P.T.S.D

and finally

yeah I think the only reason they cut this is because they knew we'd all be SOBBING to hard to actually pay attention to the end of the movie.

Anyway that's my general thoughts on this and I'd love to know what you think. 💙

[randomfoggytiger]

The X-Files: the Madonna-Whore Complex

(Credit to @cecilysass, whose comment got these thoughts going.)

I have a theory.

In the fandom, the Madonna-whore complex is often attributed to Chris Carter's handling of Dana Scully. And, while I didn't give it much weight at first, going through his old interviews gave me pause.

THE CHRIS CARTER ANGLE

From 1993 to 1998 (where I stopped reading), Chris repeatedly stated that Mulder and Scully were (are) both sides of himself: “I’m equal parts of both characters,” says their creator. “I’m a skeptic like Scully, but I’m also ready to be enraptured, like Mulder.” Mulder represented his want to believe (and inner darkness-- which he doesn't outright state... but doesn't dissuade others from thinking, either) and Scully represented his skepticism with the paranormal or faith. A lot of his personal details leaked through into their lives-- Hegel Place, California childhood, a sunflower seed habit-- and his personal philosophy-- “Trusting people, generally, is bad,” he says with a slight smile-- became the backbone of the show. He used interesting turns of phrase when discussing his characters' names: "I grew up in L.A. where Vin Scully was the voice of God. Dana is just a nice soft woman’s name I like" and Carter gave The X-Files’ Mulder his mother’s maiden name.... And, as we all know, the repeating 10/13 and 11/21 are his (and Mulder's) birthday and his wife's birthday, respectively.

It could be as simple as a showrunner incorporating himself into his work... or it can make a lot of sense regarding Mulder and Scully's sexual misadventures.

Does this point to Chris Carter being a "puritan", shunning all sexual allusion? He seemed to be willing to hint at more-- letting Tea Leoni suggest a naked Gillian be cheek to cheek with David Duchovny, and teasingly gazing at David's deleted rear shot-- and was even persuaded to leave in the Millennium and Existence kisses (not to mention writing or cosigning the I Want to Believe "scratchy beard" scene.) But does a little lip-locking or a little nudity knock down the "never-nude" angle?

Ultimately, I think speculations on CC's "quirks" are fruitless: unless the man himself sits down and gives a clearer "yes" or "no", it would be equivalent to shooting blanks in the dark. Besides, the parallels don't need to be directly tied to his personal life to inform the decisions of (and for) his characters.

The parallels, though, can't be denied.

MADONNA-WHORE, SCULLY-MULDER

To draw back to the main point: both Scully and Mulder had complicated sexual hang-ups.

Scully wasn't "allowed" to definitively have sex with Ed Jerse while Mulder was only "allowed" sex under duress. Scully was "allowed" to go on normal dates while Mulder was only "allowed" porn fantasies (Chinga, Kill Switch, First Person Shooter) and an on-call phone sex operator. Scully was "allowed" past healthy relationships (except for the one Gillian created, ahem ahem) while Mulder wasn't "allowed" to have anything resembling joy or stability in his past.

All this to say: I think Mulder and Scully are two sides of the Madonna-whore complex: Scully is the Madonna, Mulder is the whore.

It makes sense, too: Scully followed the rules and was "too smart" to get entangled with people who degraded or hurt her-- which made her a little inhuman (according to Morgan, Wong, and Gillian.) Mulder too easily blurred professional lines-- which made him easily seduced by those who intended to harm him. Phoebe Green-- as written by CC-- mentioned Mulder's illicit past activities to draw him back in; and Never Again-- as vetoed by CC-- kept an element of denial about Scully and Jerse's bedroom activities.

(Scully herself was compared to the Virgin Mary once in canon-- though it was not, it appears, Chris Carter who gunned for the imagery; nor was it the writers' and director's intent to be anything other than a metaphor that was "on-theme" for the seasonal episode:

March 14, 1998

Q #16 – Hi, my name is Deborah. Two of my favorite episodes from this season are “Christmas Carol” and “Emily” and I found myself in some heated discussions with other fans who felt Scully was turned into a mere victim, that the religious iconography was heavy handed, being beaten over the head with the Virgin Mary / Scully kind of thing. None of which I agree with. I wondered if you could talk a little about the religious iconography in those two episodes and how you work that kind of thing in and was it as self-conscious as everyone else thinks it is?

FS – ...When we began again, we also took the Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, as our lead. So suddenly the story came together very fast and actually was one of the most satisfying to write for the three of us.

The use of the manger at the very beginning of “Christmas Carol” was deliberate. The idea of a “virgin birth” was conscious. I think the one image in that two parter that people really felt was heavy handed or was laying onto Scully as Virgin Mary idea was at the end of “Emily” there is a very slow dissolve to the stained glass and that was an image that the director chose to use because it was there on the set that day and all of us liked it. But I don’t think that we meant to suggest that she was anyway equivalent to the Virgin Mary and simply thought that, you know, it was a Christmas story and those parallels deepened the story we were telling.

Still.)

The Madonna-whore/Scully-Mulder complex explains a lot a lot a lot about their complicated sex lives.

If that be the case (whether consciously or subconsciously), it makes sense why Chris Carter only wrote a kiss for them after the world didn't end. Biblical mythology and fate were always his favorite tools, after all.

A RUN DOWN

The Jersey Devil-- written by Chris Carter-- is the first episode to tackle the boundaries of this theoretical complex.

Mulder introduces the theme with a porn magazine, at work.

Scully has to drive back to a birthday party, and Mulder immediately balks over the idea of her on a possible date.

Scully considers "a life", agrees to go out with Rob to a perfectly respectable establishment, and dances around the topic uncomfortably with Mulder later.

Mulder wants her to cancel-- not out of romantic jealousy, but because their working relationship might be hindered if her interests were divided elsewhere.

"Unlike you, Mulder, I would like to have a life"/"I have a life" brazenly slaps that motif down; and Scully on her respectable date, Mulder drawing nude jersey devil women at work, Mulder forming a charmed connection with a wild woman, Mulder getting peeved over Rob's call, and Scully leaving Rob for a place by Mulder's side continues to nail it home.

Mulder lunges for the lurid, the alluring, the impossible, with nothing but empty promises and unfulfilled expectations to show for his efforts. That pattern holds for romantic-- Fire, 3, War of the Coprophages, Syzygy (to a degree), The Field Where I Died, Kill Switch, Amor Fati, First Person Shooter-- and platonic-- Deep Throat, Krycek, CSM, Diana Fowley, sundry allies in-between-- relationships. "You think he [Deep Throat] does this because he gets off on it?" he challenges Scully, stunned when she responds, "No. I think he does it because you do."

Scully strides expectantly towards the normal, the stable, the predictable; and leaves all unsavory entanglements before they besmirch her dignity or self-worth (including the unconsummated romance with Daniel Waterston, according to Gillian Anderson.) Ed Jerse is an outlier, a symptom of how out-of-control Scully felt her life had become-- a rebellion against her expected or self-imposed or self-inflicted Madonna pedestal. "Hard to imagine, this day and age, someone having sex with a perfect stranger" plays well with the medical concern of the AIDS epidemic and her distaste for losing control completely in the throes of passion.

When the Gender Bender detective states, "Guy blew an artery-- must be some roll-in-the-hay", Scully is immediately annoyed while Mulder is immediately intrigued (and amused.)

CONCLUSION

I rest my case, Your Honor.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 49

Senshi sits in a ring of mushrooms that bathe him in light and obscure the truth. A griffin comes from the darkness of the unknown and is forcing him to face the truth of what happened in his past.

There are so many little things in this chapter that explain some of Senshi's habits. He was part of a mining expedition that went disastrously, and the first mistake was they didn't stop to prepare and supply themselves, hence why Senshi insists on making sure he's supplied.

I really want to know how old everyone is. Chilchuck is 29 and Laios is younger than that. Senshi was 36 in the flashback and he looked physically equivalent to a 15-year-old. Now he looks like he's somewhere between 40-50 in IRL years so I guess he's probably somewhere around 100-120 assuming dwarfs age proportionally to Tallmen.

I mean, he wasn't lying about how long he's lived in the dungeon. But saying you've lived in the dungeon for over ten years paints a very different picture than if he'd said he's lived there for over 70 years.

Everything Senshi keeps seems to be a keepsake from this expedition. My eyes widened when I saw the heirloom shields that would be made into his cooking pot.

Senshi said his pot was a family heirloom from generations back so this probably means his companions were all from the same clan.

A lot of Gillan's personality rubbed off on Senshi. In particular, Senshi's burning desire to feed Chilchuck and Marcille because he thinks they're growing children is the exact same attitude Gillan had for him.

I had to double-check who assigned Chilchuck as mapmaker on the fifth floor and was disappointed that it wasn't Senshi. Chilchuck offered to do it himself.

And while it might not be the same outfit, Senshi's normal attire is mostly the same as Gillan's. He's wearing the same type of arm bracers and skirt.

THE HORSE'S NAME WAS ANNE!?!

He named the kelpie after the horse he was forced to butcher and eat? So then, what was going through Senshi's mind during chapter 14? Did he want to prepare the kelpie alone so he could think about Anne and accept that she was dead and why they killed her?

Even if it might be taxonomically true, calling orcs demi-humans feels like an insult. They have intellectual capabilities on-par with the human races. I'm gonna stick to the whole "history written by the winners" idea until proven otherwise.

Senshi was terrified of what the meat might have been even from the moment Gillan presented it to him.

Senshi's lucky the orcs were so cordial to him. You'd think they would have just killed him on the spot since his party had been stealing from them. But no, they were willing to forgive his party's trespasses (Probably helped by how Senshi himself wasn't involved and everyone who was is dead) and they were willing to teach him how to live in the dungeon.

Senshi's information might have helped the orcs move further up the dungeon, and he's probably known that tribe for several orc generations at this point.

So Senshi's interest in dungeon cuisine is deeper than just wanting to eat monsters. Deep down, he wants to know whether or not Gillan served him dwarf meat that day. Each time he ate a monster, Senshi recalled the taste of that meat and maybe hoped it would taste the same. But facing a griffin would be the moment where he would know for sure.

I kind of feel like Laios DID pick up on the implications in Senshi's story, but he thinks Senshi should find out the truth if it's bothering him so much. Laios is bothered by Senshi being too scared to find out even though he wants to know. It's kind of an offshoot of his thought process in chapter 15. Why is Senshi letting his feelings get in the way of finding out what something tastes like?

Everyone is asking themselves if Senshi really ate griffin meat. But Laios is the only one who isn't thinking that if the answer is no, then it was dwarf meat. He's instead thinking that it means Senshi ate something else.

When Chilchuck tried explaining things to Laios, I think Laios's shock wasn't him realizing that Brigan dealt that blow to Gillan, but him finally having the information needed to reject that the monster was a griffin.

I think Laios believed that Gillan was telling the truth the whole time. He was still going through with feeding Senshi the griffin meat though mainly to confirm that the monster wasn't a griffin in the first place. And it's the moment where Laios looks at the mushrooms that the remaining dots connect in his brain.

He's reading the mushroom guidebook from MMT1 here.

This is one of these moments where I feel kind of cheated because we the audience don't have the same available information as the party does. I didn't know that hippogriffs are monsters you can find on the sixth floor and I didn't know what changeling mushrooms are. So I couldn't have realized the griffin was actually a transformed hippogriff until Laios revealed that.

Izutsumi didn't join the group hug, but look at her. She's happy for Senshi.

If the dungeon reacts to desires, then maybe the reason Laios has been so successful exploring the dungeon is because he doesn't have really desire wealth or fame. He just wants to encounter and learn about monsters, and that's not really asking much from the dungeon.

I remember how in chapter 39, Chilchuck mentioned how they spent a long time trying to find their way back up from the fifth floor, but they almost instantly found a way down to the sixth floor when they decided to keep going. Maybe that's part of the dungeon baring its fangs at them. They killed one of its strongest monsters. And the dungeon's response is to react negatively to their desire to leave but positively to their desire to keep going.

And maybe that's why the dungeon was so aggressive to Kabru. He desires to conquer it so the dungeon sees him as an ultimate threat that must be eliminated.

How did no one notice the changeling circle after they had a whole conversation about it? Are they all stupid? Whatever happens next, I'll have no sympathy cause they should have known better.

back

[cosmerelists]

Cosmere Characters: Would They Be Fun To Take A Road Trip With?

[Main spoiler is for Way of Kings! Oddly enough. Some spoilers for Stormlight as a whole.]

You're planning a road trip, and you want to bring a Cosmere character with you! You know, as one does. But would the following Cosmere characters actually be a good road trip buddy?

1. Dalinar: Yes

Dalinar's whole dang philosophy is that it's the journey that matters. He'd be stopping at interesting roadside attractions, enjoying good food, watching sunsets, and generally enjoying the trip. What a great person to have on your road trip with you!

2. Adolin: Yes

We saw road-trip-Adolin in Shadesmar--he's great! Organized, interested in making sure everyone is doing well, good conversationalist. You'll have a great time.

3. Kaladin: Depends

To be fair it was a stressful situation, but when Kaladin and Shallan "road tripped" through the chasms, he basically just marched off with his long Alethi legs and left her to scramble along behind him. I feel like that's equivalent to, like, being really particular about the radio or something. Plus, he totally thinks he knows the way and ain't asking for directions. On the other hand, if Kaladin has warmed up to you, then I think he'd be an okay travel buddy. He'll definitely pull you out of the flaming wreckage when the trip inevitably turns into some sort of dramatic life-or-death situation, at least!

4. Vasher: No

You're like, "Oh look! That town has the country's largest cow statue! Wanna stop and take a look?" and he's like, "No." It's the first time he's spoken in 45 minutes.

5. Tress: Yes

By the of her book, Tress is all about adventure and she's a literal delight to everyone on the ship. Plus, if your tire got flat or something, Tress would absolutely learn how to change a tire on the fly and get you back on the road.

6. Teft: No

Teft will fight to his dying breath to protect you, but I do not think he'd be fun to sit in the car with for eight hours a day. He'd be a grumbler, I think.

7. Kabsal: Yes

He'd bring amazing car snacks, potentially homemade ones. He seemed like a good conversationalist too. Now it's true, he might try to assassinate you or inconveniently fall in love with you--or both!--but, like, the rest of the road trip will be lots of fun.

8. Navani: Depends on the type of road trip

Navani would, I think, make for a very organized road trip buddy. If you're trying to get somewhere on a time table, Navani would be great. You WILL be up at 8:00am and you WILL get to your destination on time and in one piece. But if you're hoping to, like, chill out and enjoy the scenery casually, then maybe not so much.

9. Elend: No

Elend is great 'n' all, but has a plan of his ever worked out in his life? There's gonna be a huge traffic jam caused by, like, political sabotage or something. And all of his books on tape are about philosophy, too.

10. Mare: Yes

She's definitely a "cow! cow!" type person, I think.

11. Eshonai: Hell yeah

Eshonai loves to travel and is delighted to meet new people. She's going to get chatting with some fruit vendor and the next thing you know, you've both been invited to dinner and are about to have the absolute best homecooked meal of your life.

12. Raoden: Yes

I feel like Raoden is very likable and cares a lot about how the people around him are doing. He'd make sure you had a good time and would be very thoughtful.

13. Lirin: Depends on whether Hesina is coming too

I feel like on his own, Lirin would be a very...stressed road trip buddy. Concerned about the speed limit, about not being too unhealthy, about doing the road trip right. But if Hesina were there, I think he'd be able to chill out a lot more. Because Hesina would want the trip to be fun, and I think Lirin would let it be fun with her around.

14. Lezian: Hell no

The FIRST person who cuts him off in traffic is gonna spark so much road rage in Lezian. Now you're weaving erratically through traffic in pursuit of that truck he's mad at, and you're only like 30 minutes into the trip.

15. Raboniel: Well...

At first she was like, "I am the driver here. You will address me only as the Lady of Roads and will know your place" and you were like, "Wow. This is going to be the worst trip of my life." But by the end, the two of you are singing together and crying for some reason, and now you think she might be your soulmate.

So...50/50?

[noxcheshire]

I’ve been kinda thinking this for a while because I know the dpxdc fandom likes thin as a bean and shouldn’t be capable of lifting Superman so easily, buff as a Viking, and as small but so much curves like his mom, Danny Fenton/Phantom.

And I love them all. For various reasons.

But I just thought about something really hard for a second.

Danny died at 14.

He died being small, and young. He became ecto-contaminated in a way so much more different from Vlad who had been blasted in the face by the smallest portion of ecto-portal that infected and corrupted into his skin.

This is in comparison to Danny who literally had a dimension rip open on top and inside of him.

To me, Vlad basically got the equivalent of a mini bomb exploding in his face and came out of it with severe third degree burns that translated into Ghost Acne.

And then we look at it again from their Ghost’s.

Danny’s ghost is that of a 14 year old boy who died in a cold portal in his parents basement.

Vlad who got blasted in college, was a twig and yet his ghost form is buff and aged just like his aged human body.

If he ‘died’ when he got hit by the mini-portal than his ghost would mimic the form he died in.

But he isn’t.

Instead we get Two different spectrums of a ghostly appearance for two halfa’s.

Ghosts who are meant to form as how they had been during the time of their death. Ghosts who will always be at their core the person they died as, the identity of those last seconds before death took them.

That’s the point of ghosts.

The only time it changes is if there are external third factors.

Such as Aragon’s Necklace. Or being able to use something of the living to ‘change shape’ as the Lunch Lady, or stretch yourself into a giant like Walker, and the greatest exception being Amorpho who HAS no identity to begin with. More than likely a thought that was made but never given anything further, and thus his jealousy with identity. Either that or he died never making a solid identity that could carry on into death, thus making him faceless because he didn’t even know who he truly was at that time of death.

Even Spectra is different! She’s more of a poltergeist-demon than an actual Ghost from the way she does things and even from how she looks in ghost form.

So with that, who is actually Human-Ghost and who just happens to be Ghost adjacent enough to get powers?

Danny is a real Halfa and Vlad is just mimicking one.

Now for the Dan, evil-phantom, of the fandom.

Dan is just BUFF.

He’s an adult. He GREW.

But it wasn’t due to Danny.

It was due to whatever he took from Vlad/Plasmius.

To me, Plasmius was just the ecto that resided in Vlad. All that anger and resentment that gave birth to itself from Vlad’s own anger at what he went through with the mini-portal. It was ecto that was residing in him, ecto from the Infinite Realms itself that was made INTO an idea and then given form.

Ecto that lived, Venom-style, in Vlad.

An idea that grew up with Vlad BECAUSE Vlad was growing up himself. He wasn’t thinking of himself as that scrawny college student anymore. He was becoming an adult so of course the ecto would mimic that idea of Vlad and make Plasmius older too.

Plasmius was a fairy tale that Vlad made up, and that’s why Dan was able to rip that part out of Vlad like it was it’s own true ghost. But it wasn’t, and so it collapsed without its person to control it. At least until Dan dove into the ecto and took the ideas that were there and intertwined himself with it.

Those YEARS of ideas isn’t so easily brushed away either, and even less so when Danny and Vlad had believed that Plasmius was Vlad’s ghost, a halfa just like Danny. So of course Dan would believe in the idea that he took/ate Vlad’s ghost. And that idea would spread because ecto is just another form of power and vitality. So of course that ecto should change Dan.

And then it did.

It changed his colors first and then eventually his physical form.

Thus we have Buff older Dan.

Now back to Danny.

With all that, this means that Phantom is never going to age.

Because Danny did die that day. He died, and only came back because the dimensional rip of ecto from the Infinite Realms tied his ghost neatly into his human body. The human body that just died.

He isn’t alive, his ghost that is tied to the body is simply puppeteering it. And as the Infinite Realms is literally all of time and space throughout every single multiverse in existence, it’s not too far of a shot to say that it could snatch that very moment, that heartbeat Danny craves restlessly, the heartbeat just before he truly died entirely.

Danny is a moment in time.

So his ghost will never age. And neither will his body.

Basically, Danny is forever an eternal 14 year old twig and he will be so very mad about it.

[sgiandubh]

This what I mean 👇🏻

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/3518505943900484/

Dear (returning) Bitchy Anon,

I wrote this answer yesterday, but I am posting it today, because I did not want to give you any satisfaction. Your coming back in here proves there is not an ounce of humanity left in you: just a #silly obsession for an actress who does not even know or care you exist. I promise you she doesn't. Confidently so.

But then, onwards to your 'evidence'.

You thought you would give me the creeps on Christmas Day with a controversial picture allegedly taken at the Weinstein (yes, that Weinstein!) and Netflix Golden Globes afterparty, on January 8, 2017?

No, seriously now: you actually did?

Crikey. As we say in Romanian (and yes, it is very rude, but also dementedly funny): mi se umple fundul de lacrimi/my arse is in tears. Perhaps the equivalent of I don't give a flying fuck, btw.

If you did read me before posting your laughable shite, and I think you did, you should know by now how I usually work, at least for those things I choose to make public (the rest is none of your business, I am afraid). You found this pic on Pinterest, originating from a Tumblr blog: @clairebeauchampfan. Since this person started blogging one year later than the moment this picture was taken, she probably found it chez Contemplating Outlander. You know, that pseudo-social scientist-cum-shrink, who thinks people are machines and adds a shitload of footnotes to her rantings, because she truly believes it makes her biased crap more credible (it doesn't, and this comes from an academic researcher: it is legit pathetic). So Claire Beauchamp Fan shared it and forgive me, but I did not bother finding her post, I just looked for her source (*urv's fetish):

This took me to CO's really nasty blog and you could have spared me that ordeal, Anon: it's literally akin to severe constipation. And then, onwards to Instagram:

A further search revealed she was wearing a Romanian designer (Maria Lucia Hohan) dress and Amrapali earrings. And then, I read the comments on that Insta post. Maybe you'd read them too, they are enlightening - for someone who's 'been around since 2015', people are rather confused about his real status in her life, don't you think?

But Internet is really forever, no matter how you try to hide your trash, Anon. Here is a copy of O'Callaghan's post which was, indeed, deleted: maybe *urv was too insistent? It wouldn't surprise me:

She should have won the Golden Globe in 2017, that's true. And it was S, not McIdiot, the one who told the Internet she should have won all those prizes, if memory serves. How odd McIdiot is never mentioned in that particular post (y'all would have paraded it for YEARS, if it were so) - but household staff, no matter how promoted, never really is. And before you screech, tell all the damn truth Anon, and put this pic in its right context:

How odd the 'successful music producer and entrepreneur' (he is not successful, nor a music producer and much less an entrepreneur) was not tagged, by someone who is active in the industry, who clearly knows C and who attended that Golden Globes gala!

Just a last word on that pic. C was obviously smiling and talking animatedly with O'Callaghan and then McIdiot (who looks malnourished - but hey, humble beginnings, eh?) got dragged in the middle, for the convenient pic. I sometimes wonder what kind of social life you people have and sadly, I have to say - next to 0, for some of you. I never fuck the dozens of men with whom I do have similar 'just because' pics, interrupting my conversation in the middle of an event.

Also, check this very warm & fuzzy pic with one prominent member of her own, personal and very, very gay Circle of Trust. Because I am sorry, but what straight man wears lipstick, as McIdiot clearly does (and no, it's not because they were smooching in the lavatories, what are you, 14?):

She looks happy, doesn't she?

I mean: really, honey. Get a Real Life and stop trying to persuade me with ye olde Pinterest pics you clearly are completely clueless about, ok?

And before you open your mouth to vomit CO's trash again, please carefully do your homework about McIdiot. But as carefully as I did. Then you can talk, share your interesting findings. Merry Christmas and....

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Goro Akechi

have you seen this man. the fandom doesn't seem to grasp that he can have a "good" goal but still go about it absolutely the wrong way. he's not baby but he's not evil incarnate either, he's just 18. being 18 is just like that

People who are like "he's an irredeemable psychopath who became a serial killer just because he has daddy issues" piss me off. People who are like "he's the only person who ACTUALLY cares about the Protagonist and all of the Protagonist's other friends are fakes and users" piss me off even more. He's a foil for the entire main cast. He has faced all of their traumas with none of the support. He believes that he's responsible for his mother's suicide, and that he's unlovable. He was abandoned by everyone. He made some bad decisions when he was like 14, and his abusive father manipulated him into being a hitman. He lies all the damn time, so you can't really tell when he's being genuine or not. He's a double agent who befriends you and then tries to kill you, believes that he's succeeded, and shows absolutely no remorse. He dies to save your life (and then gets sorta resurrected and then dies again to literally save the world). It's complicated! He's complicated!

Loki

hes just like that

He is not the Norse equivalent of the Devil! People keep trying to fit Norse mythology into a Christian mindset and that's NOT RIGHT!! Loki is complex. They're mischievous and some things are bad and some things are good and sometimes they are just a chaotic being that has sex with a horse.

I just think it’s funny that someone submitted this already, and I kind of want to see where that goes

[the-nado-hunter]

Random Hetalia character head cannons/hc histories and characterizations that float in my brain but I’ve never written down - starting with England, America and Germany since I’ve thought about them the most lol:

England:

- Was the reverse of Alfred where he actually physically and emotionally aged much slower than most nations. He was barely not a teenager when he first took in Alfred (and his other “kids” by extension) when he was not at all ready/had even fully matured himself.

- I have a hc that nations who “get too big” (meaning the territory under their name grows) they kind of lose themselves and get less distinct and coherent in their motivations and sometimes don’t feel themselves at all, too many voices in their head so to speak. Unfortunately Arthur “lost it” during a pivotal part of his relationship with his family, hence all his strained relationships.

- Once he took on those responsibilities he suddenly jumped in physical age a bit. So while Alfred sees him as being SO much older (calling him an old man) his time in the nation equivalence of life stages was uneven and all over the place.

- it wouldn’t be until the 60s/70s/80s that Arthur had the time and ability to “make up for lost time” hence his musical and punk phases. He finds himself in some ways.., also likely dissolves into addiction problems at the same time.

- In the modern era he still has many anger issues but he’s a lot more calm and sure of himself, however he’s got a built up emotional wall and a whole lot of hidden self hatred that’s going to take a long long time to resolve, and he isn’t quite there yet and tends to lash out and push people away rather than deal with things.

America:

- He was very sheltered by Arthur at first, he was kept out of almost everything for most of his early life. If Arthur wasn’t present (which he often wasn’t due to the two having vastly different understandings of the passing of time) there were people hired and cycled out to take care of him. He can’t help himself though, even if he’s being treated like a sheltered little prince he wants to go run free in the fields and get into shit. He’s basically a Disney princess in his early life is what I’m saying lol.

- reality hits him like a ton of bricks when he’s roughly looking/acting about 14-15. He realizes likely through being exposed to other nations starting to come in and managing to slip out to talk to people just how much has been hidden from him and the resentment grows. And he starts REALLY growing even faster.

- Despite all that he went full on into a “fight” coping mechanism and never stopped. He put on a “mask” at one point in his life and it hasn’t come off. He’s never really deeply dealt with anything so he progressively seems more and more obtuse and seemingly arrogant to overcompensate for not wanting to face any sort of pain.

- He’s deeply deeply lonely and desperately wants closeness and to open up- yet at the same time the idea of seeming “weak” or “vulnerable” is terrifying to him. Him and Arthur are more similar than they would like to admit with how they mask and push people away despite really REALLY needing love and closeness.

Germany:

- it depends on if you accept the “Germany is HRE” theory or not, but either way I tend to think they at least have the same body but might be different entities or ‘spirits’ so to speak. That being said I imagine Ludwig specifically not only was “born” into a body that was preexisting and therefore already past a decent part of childhood, I imagine that his body was at first incredibly weak, frail, and he was very sickly for quite some time.

- I’ve written a fic about this, but I personally hc Ludwig from about 6-15 years old in appearance being almost completely unable to walk and needing braces and assistance to get around. His brother obviously loves and cares about him, but Ludwig couldn’t help but feel frustrated and like a burden. He really does look up to his big brother and is worried about being weak and reliant on others for the rest of his life.

- Ludwig GETS his strength, and as soon as he’s able to walk on his on he becomes obsessed with being as strong and capable as he possibly can be. He wants to never have to rely on anyone again, feeling an odd sense of guilt for needing so much help.

- he’s, in the end… kind of socially inept. Gilbert isn’t exactly the pinnacle of a socialized man himself - So despite being mostly independent and capable he doesn’t really understand social situations, or how to understand himself and others. Feliciano is both jarring and someone I think he becomes interested in him because Feli is capable in something he never has been and really is teaching him a lot.

- Unfortunately Ludwig had in face overcompensated for his past feelings of being a burden he’s taken so much on and has become such a protector that he’s almost unable to set boundaries and say no to requests to take on extra work- malicious or not.

- we already know Ludwig tends to explode and bark directions at people, to me it’s always been a clear sign of how much stress he’s under- but he winds up just appearing scary and he once again takes on more responsibilities and feelings of “something must be wrong with me”.

- i think many in the fandom have joked about it but Ludwig to me is SO repressed and SO gay it’s not even funny

-I would expect poor Ludwig to hit a breaking point and have a nervous breakdown eventually, which I do want to write at some point, just gotta not procrastinate lol

[addrianastarflower]

I’m once again thinking so hard about how different Atsushi is in beast vs canon and how that can be manipulated

I have an AU where he grew up in the mafia before being dumped into the orphanage at age 12 (or 14, depending on the fic) and I think it just makes for a very interesting take on his personality

Because atsushi can be cruel. He’s generally selfless in canon yes, but not all the time and beast clearly shows how a different upbringing would have fundamentally changed the way he views society and the value of a human life

Perhaps in another world, he would have still gone to the agency after the orphanage but he could have also retained some of his own cruelty. That’s not to say that the agency wouldn’t disapprove or try to encourage him to be better, but I think with how big a theme Nature vs Nurture is in the series, a lot more could be explored with how cruel he could become before he is deemed “too cruel”

No one in the agency is inherently perfect and they all have their own deeply rooted flaws but I think it also makes a good comparison of Atsushi in that context to Dazai - How different could they become with a very similar childhood and how much does the difference of time and separation actually matter? Could he have become Dazai’s own equivalent or would he have had his very own breed of cruel?

I honestly don’t know but it’s fun to think about

I’d love to hear anyone else’s take on this

[batsplat]

casey if you want the showers-

https://www.tumblr.com/kingofthering/766887733130084352/sounds-fantastic

random thought: maybe being a part of a structure like the academy might have fixed teenage casey stoner……

(x) he's getting in the shower, he's enjoying the sausage, he's having it all

and oh hm this is SUCH an interesting idea that had never occurred to me. with the academy, I often think about how valentino himself never ever would have joined it... just this implicitly subservient position to another rider, any restraints placed on individualism, losing the ability to define himself to the same extent... I do actually think valentino would be pretty good at team sports, like it's not a loner mentality that would be the dealbreaker - it's just that specifically the academy vibe would not have been for him

with casey... I mean, yeah, maybe? yeah, I reckon you're right. that could have worked miracles for casey. the closest he got was being one of alberto puig's kids for a while (hence the 27 to dani's 26), but obviously that was a very different vibe. this is how puig is being described in 2006 (x):

Puig is a very powerful figure in the paddock, running teams in the lower classes, as well as the MotoGP Academy, widely acknowledged as the best route into premier class racing for young riders. His influence is hard to exaggerate, and when you add in his forceful personality, known for attempting to silence those who criticize his riders, this makes him a potentially disruptive figure in any team. He is, like so many people involved at the very highest levels of professional sport, utterly driven, and people who are so driven often find it difficult to keep a sense of perspective. Alberto Puig is concerned with only one thing: that the riders he coaches should win. Nothing else matters. In a sense, this is totally understandable: He is paid to nurture young talent to produce winning riders, and he is remarkably good at his job. But his focus and his drive rubs off on his protégés, and can turn them into single-minded, dour automatons, concerned only with their own performance, and little else.

not very valentino, is it. like you do probably want an actual academy-esque structure where the kids within it actually get the chance to... y'know. bond. care about each other. no puig

and while puig did play a critical role in casey's career, that's still a connection that had more or less fizzled out by the time casey gets to motogp. so obviously no real equivalent in casey's career. and... I mean, yeah, surely it would have changed a lot. it always comes back to the same few things with casey, doesn't it. casey, who was bullied at school, who was frequently made an outsider even in the australian motorcycling community until he was eventually pushed out of the country entirely... the impact of this hypothetical academy structure does depend a bit on when it would GET to casey - because by the age vr46 typically steps in, a lot of casey's formative experiences have already happened to him. he doesn't get a racing licence from the AJRRA (the australian road racing association controlled mainly by parents of kids casey had been beating most of his life). he has to leave the country. they leave his sister behind. they depend on the charity of others in england. his family is 100% financially dependent on his racing success. every opportunity feels like it could be his last. like... this is stuff that's kind of set by the time he's 14-15. the contrast between his childhood and valentino's is discussed in this post:

and yeah, obviously a lot of that stuff would have already happened. then again, having somebody step in when he was... what, maybe 16-17-ish? and give him some job + financial security... I mean in blunt terms, I know this ask was probably more thinking about the community aspect - but you cannot understate the importance that these practical elements would have had for casey. and yes, there's the more emotional element of... finally being let into a club, of having someone fight your corner, of knowing you've got this structure looking out for you. of handling your contract negotiations - casey also talks about how he and his father frequently just felt like they didn't GET the paddock politics; the insider/outsider dynamic is so foundational to his experience in the sport. all these unspoken rules casey just didn't know... having someone there who DOES know and is looking out for you and can take care of everything bar the riding would have made such a difference

and my god, yeah, there's the community aspect. so much of casey's time in the sport is defined by how deeply, deeply lonely he was. the childhood friendships he'd had either get left behind or are eroded by competitive tensions. he never gets close to another premier class rider, doesn't get particularly close to his team either. in 2009, he said his only friend in the paddock was his wife. and... y'know, while I have no doubt the paddock could feel like a pretty hostile place, I also reckon it would've been a good thing for someone to force casey out of his shell a little bit. like, I get not getting close to your direct competitors, I doubt I'd be massively different, but maintaining that level of distance from basically everyone you travel with most of the year feels... not ideal. at least befriend some of the mechanics my man. looking at some of the canonical vr46 academy riders - naming no names, but I can also easily imagine them in the loner category if the academy hadn't picked them up. and at least THEY could still fall back on childhood friends and acquaintances if they hadn't had the academy, more so than a bloke who moved to a different continent aged fourteen. casey needed some friends!! and maybe just an occasional reminder that not the whole world is out to get him

so YEAH I do agree an academy-esque structure would've made a MASSIVE difference... to the extent that it's almost tough to imagine that version of casey. it does make you realise just how foundational all of this angst feels to casey, in a sad way. what does he even look like without his isolation... you might wonder whether that change would take a bit of his edge away - it's just undeniable that he got a lot of motivation and drive out of his oppositional dynamic with the rest of the world. he wanted to show everyone that they were wrong about him... the rejection by the club back home in australia made him angry, the rejection of teams in motogp made him angry... and well, his circumstances did make him desperate. they made him hungry. it's what he talks about here, isn't it, the feeling that some young riders just aren't taking their riding seriously enough, contrasting it to how he knew he had to take every single opportunity he was given. valentino vs casey about young riders (2009//2013):

(remember that the question valentino got explicitly referred back to an earlier answer about casey - "serious and sad" is kinda his characterisation of casey specifically)

then again. saying this pain was necessary to casey's success would be needlessly myopic, casey has plenty of drive even without piling on the horrors when he was 16-20, give the kid some friends y'know. you can still be plenty neurotic within an academy, you can still cultivate a persecution complex, look at pecco. also, y'know, obviously sports success isn't worth miserable children and never will be. and I suspect casey himself has softened a bit from the stance expressed in his autobiography - I've been thinking again about that podcast interview he gave earlier this year that takes a more explicitly critical view on how his parents forced their dream on him

speaking of, another big benefit of the academy is in outsourcing the role of enforcing discipline so that it's no longer the parents doing it, which again just feels considerably healthier. casey basically says as much in his autobiography:

though, again, I wouldn't call puig a particularly helpful influence either, and jorge's experience with amatriain should be enough evidence that it doesn't take a parent to establish an unhealthy (and even abusive) dynamic. obviously, the assumption here is that you drop casey in a vr46-esque academy - for all his sins, the academy valentino set up in no way resembles how these other 'talent spotters' manage their charges. it's just... it's a safety net, isn't it, in every sense. financially, job security-wise, socially... obviously it's always going to be performance-dependent, yes, but that bit's never going to be an issue for any version of casey

so, yeah. maybe not 'fix' casey exactly, but it would've changed so much for him... it does feel like it would've been an unambiguously positive presence in his life. no, it wouldn't just erase all his issues with the sport - but if he could've found a place within an academy structure like that, he would've been a lot happier for it. probably could've loved the sport more than he did. certainly would've felt a lot less alone