#IF IT WASN'T FOR THE BRAINWASHING.

[nellasbookplanet]

I do think that referring to Essek as irredeemable for regretting his actions only because he was caught and risked losing his friends is both kind of reductive to him as a character and a misunderstanding of the concept of redemption arcs in media.

A person generally isn't changed because you sit them down and hand them a bunch of political theory to read. They change because their circumstances and relationships do. It's like that guy who was deradicalized because he got a bunch of shrimp and started to care for them. It’s our relationships that change us, because they give us not a logical but an emotional reason to do so.

Caleb explicitly says "these people will change you" (or something along that line; I don’t remember the exact quote). Essek, before the m9, didn’t genuinely care about anyone. The people who would die if a war started because of his actions were irrelevant and abstract to him. Caleb, similarly, also started c2 not really caring about others. He had no interest in taking on Ikithon or the Assembly to save others from going through what he did, too preoccupied with his own trauma and his own goals to care. In that sense, he started the campaign in a similar place as Essek post ep. 97: regretful, but too busy wallowing in his own self-loathing to productively do anything to prevent future harm due to his previous actions.

Being with the m9, being reminded of the importance of other people and realizing that they’re capable of caring for them, is what changes Caleb and Essek both. Of course Essek starts out more concerned with losing the nein than with strangers killed in a war. They’re his starting step, the opening through which he realizes that the people hurt by his actions are real, that he cares, that he has the ability to, if not undo his harm, help stop furthering of it.

[arkashas]

head slapping moment when i realise that the way alana and margot's dressing styles begin changing to reflect the other in s3 is about how they're "blurring" as well.

in the commentary bryan fuller said margot's choice in fashion was a form of self protection from a life of trauma - high collars, spikes, harsh outlines and updos. while the alana in s1 who was still emotionally open and gentle, preferred to wear wrap dresses.

alana begins to dress like margot after her traumatic ordeal in mizumono and becomes more ruthless and self involved, and margot begins to dress like alana because she doesn't feel she has to be on guard at all times - she's found someone who she can share her burdens with.

[psychicdisaster]

Why is TDLOSK so... sad? I am taking physical damage from the last few arcs.

[13reasonstoeatthatcake]

I really want to know how Lilith Sorrengail feels about trying her best to get her youngest daughter away from whatever it was that her dad supposedly found in the Archives after Brennan 'died', just to get said daughter even more involved with the tyrrish rebellion two: electric boogaloo.

[mob-choir]

au where reigen succumbs to the hypnosis a little sooner but the shock of mob taking his jacket off to reveal the monkey shirt underneath is what snaps him out of it. i’m just saying. teru said a strong emotion can overcome the brainwashing and. well.

i’m not sure if this reaction is conveying disgust, terror or disbelief (probably all three) but whatever emotion that is, there sure is A Lot of it

[secretweather]

cw: softcore, blasphemy/hierophilia/religion kink, mental changes, brainwashing/hypno

God i know when people usually think of religious corruption kink they think of a religious person who loses their faith which is good but i really love is when a non-believer is corrupted into religion.

You were just an atheist aimlessly wandering through life with no purpose, but then you met a priest. You and he would always end up debating about religion. You knew you were right, but he could talk circles around you, couldn't he? However, no matter how ruthlessly he would destroy what you thought were foolproof arguments, he would still use the same soft, honey-tongued tone. Always kind and polite, but he was one of those people who you couldn't just help but to love the way they speak. Charismatic and mesmerizing, but never forceful. A calming, trance like effect would come over you and for the first time in forever you would feel at peace.

You started attending mass just to hear him speak. Of course he would always pick you out of the crowd and, after mass, talk to you for hours on end about faith and you, you would do nothing but just listen to his sweet voice. It wasn't long before those suggestive words seeped into your brain and took root. Your budding beliefs were new and fragile, but he took the time to tend to the garden of your mind. To water and nurture the very seeds he planted deep into the recesses of your very soul. Those seeds turned to saplings which turned into branches that reached up to the sky in worship and a sturdy trunk of unwavering conviction that even the sharpest axes would struggle to cut down.

You desired more than to be a fervent parishioner now, you desperately wanted to become one of the same cloth he was. You yearned to bask in the ecstasy of worship like he does. Your mind was filled with nothing but the good faith which you wanted, no, needed to spread to the dissenters as you had once been. He changed you fundamentally and now it was your turn to sow seeds as he taught you to, as he always meant you to.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

[pentacass]

i need to know what went thru viconia's mind when, after she'd spent 40 years brainwashing and training a stolen selunite child, shadowheart pops up one day with the same hairstyle as (a popular depiction of) selune

[meownotgood]

I think aki realizes he never actually had feelings for makima when he notices that every time he's around you, his heart beats faster, every time he sees you smile or laugh or when you grab his hands he feels his face get impossibly hot and he starts sweating and uselessly stumbling over his own words. he keeps staying up late at night after you've left staring at the ceiling because his heart is pounding too much to allow him to sleep, and this has never happened to him, these are all feelings he's never ever felt before. he gets choked up at just the thought of you.

[grahamcarmen]

i kinda wished gray was angry at carmen instead of relieved just for yknow angst and stuff like at the jail when he was like "how did u know i was here" and shes like "all in good time gray" i wish he was like "its graham. whos gray?" cuz lol yea idk if this makes sense i suck at typing

Alright i might go off on a tangent so like feel free to clarify if its too far off base from intent

But i am personally actually ok with the angst on Gray’s side being saved for later, there are so many angsty moments already stuffed in there

->the fight being draining and difficult and ultimately a failure to keep them off him

->the parallel to gray disappearing from sight because of the cleaners

-> gray still getting pain pang and helping carmen where he can

->carmen desperately trying as many keys as she can when the robot finally comes

->carmen screaming for gray after he screamed for her

Like…phew thats alot happening and i think that it would get lost in the fray

Side note:

-> him taking the info that ACME finds carmen shady and she decided to work with him and actually wondering who gray is especially because she came to find him…hmm fun

-> gray watching all those civilian gets mistaken as spy movies and going ahhhh.ha.

BUT on the sentiment of gray being angry and not just relieved.

He does start to say it’s graham before he’s interrupted. And he has always been exasperatedly trying to put it aside to try and just be with her in the moment

Like…askjdnfdaksjf look at this face

Relief is not the only emotion here

And it does come to its breakpoint

because well  [the point is she’s lying to him.- bugs life voice]

And what a breakpoint it is because Carmen is not allowed to pretend that the person in front of her doesn’t have a thing to say about who she was protecting* 

So its not angst denied but angst delayed if that makes sense and the himalaya caper puts it into more focus than the jail could

Like  “alas why did he not simply look into her yearny eyes and make a decent life choice for once” aside [which is so fun to say]...

but the thing is …it's something that i do think gray gets to be mad about at that moment [not that he isn’t making a terrible life choice on the side but-]

…she lied to him by omission and flat out. And only came to rescue a fake version of him as far as he’s concerned. A fake version it seems she was pretending even further with by calling him gray and not graham.

….

GAH THIS IS WHY I DON’T GET WHY YOU GUYS THINK BLANKET LETTING CARMEN HAVE ZERO REVISIONS ON HOW SHE SEES HIM IS OK

And no just enemy who !had his chance at the cotillion you! doesn’t work as the final verdict either >:0

 [you're making the carmen sad and that has literally never worked plus carmen is just wrong for this on some level]

They’re so messy dude…like there’s so much to unravel and him being firm but straightforward about it is at least picks at this issue good enough for the moment…oof…was a lot like …oogh

But necessary. Gray is a person who actually has a reaction to this ya know [or character i mean- same thing].

His anger tends to be overshadowed by a lot else is all…[T.T multiple mistakes in a row babeyyyyyyyyyy] + his own prioritizing when it comes to his own emotions

And to make matters worse….OMFG THEY STILL LIKE EACH OTHER THEY’RE STILL SO MUCH MORE SAD INSTEAD OF MAD ABOUT IT ALL AND WANT TO BE TOGETHER AND ALL THE LIES BEING UNVEILED JUST MAKES THE TRUTH MUCH MORE NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT OMGGGGGGG GRRAH WHY ARE YOU 2 BEING SQUISHY CRIMES HAVE BEEN COMMITED!

They just need to tone down the nonsense…be even more honest with each other …they be wild out here…ya’ll can do it with time i believe in ye, even if that will mean more tough conversations with each other, i think they like each other enough

But yes. Him mad at it DOES make good angst. ..and tbh not even for just that moment…because …

[cookinary]

Totally Spies is so much more fucked up than I originally remembered and I fucking love it

So anyway, they most likely have ptsd from some of their missions because while they live in a cartoon world, I still love me some good long-lasting psychological trauma

Some more details under the cut if you're curious!

Mitch takes Jerry's place in this AU! He's chill and he loves his kids very much, and if any villain were to seriously hurt them, he'd chase them to the end of the Earth to make them pay

While the siblings (only in this AU of course) are based on Sam, Clover and Alex, they aren't a one on one perfect equivalent

Ophelia is the only one who doesn't wear makeup while Pedro and Denny are into it, but with more subtle things like eyeliner and nail polish

Of course they all fight in heels uwu

They're all homo, all the homo everywhere (which makes Mandy very confused when it comes to picking a rival to fight with over the new cutest boy in school)

[minothtime]

You don't GET IT mythra was reawakened against her will to a world she no longer knew and had to watch as every single person she once knew was either dead, experimented on, or chaned irrevocably!! She ended up creating bonds only for them to almost be snapped away once she got captured!! She had to watch mikhail and jin die and brighid and aegeon have no memory of her at all!! she saw a decrepit minoth having lived an entire 500 years still immortalizing her and addam as well as he knew !!!! she kept seeing glimmers of hope only for them to be crushed again and again!!!! mikhail is somehow still alive but he hates her and can't even properly talk to her !!!! she had to see the consequences of her creating pyra multiple times !!! she thinks lora died because she wasn't there !!! she thinks haze was preyed on by amalthus because she wasn't there !!!!! gramps and her are the only characters to not be horrified at jin's mercy kill at temperantia !!!! mythra suffered from intense trauma not long after awakening and she hasn't processed any of it and she's still seeing everything she sought to forget !!!! SHE WAS FORCED OUT !!! VANDHAM STILL DIED BEFORE AND SHE COULD HAVE MAYBE AVOIDED IT BUT SHE WAS NOT READY TO FACE THE WORLD AGAIN!!!!! SHE NEEDED TIME SHE DIDN'T HAVE SHE KEPT RETREATING BECAUSE SHE WASN'T READY SHE KEPT PEEKING OUT BECAUSE SHE STILL CRAVED INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND THE COMFORT SHE NEVER GOT !!!!! RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

[geddy-leesbian]

at long last, I present my headcanon about Luis's education/career timeline + why he kept working for Umbrella while knowing how fucked all of it was

First off there's enough 16 and younger high up Umbrella scientists that it's easy to just accept that shit in the RE world is just Like That and a 12 year old Luis rocking up to enroll in university just makes sense within the logic of the world, but my personal headcanon is way more expansive than that. I like to imagine him actually going to a school operated by Umbrella. The Umbrella boarding school in the Arklay Mountains was shut down, but I headcanon that it wasn't the only one. Umbrella having boarding schools for child prodigies just makes perfect sense- I mean just read a file about the Executive Training School. 

Going after/investing in younger kids is a logical thing to do because they're so much easier to manipulate and brainwash into being exactly what Umbrella wants. 

And since Umbrella Europe had that rivalry where they were always trying to compete with their sister branch, I can imagine them seeing what happened to the Executive Training School as an opportunity: Umbrella US fucked up the concept, so they can outdo them by simply running their own competently, without it completely falling apart.

Now you're probably thinking there's a hole in my headcanon, the fact that Hunnigan's report mentions Luis enrolling in university and working for Umbrella after graduating. 

My counterpoint is that Umbrella is sketchy as fuck. The whole "James Marcus being a crazy person and performing fucked up experiments on his own students" shit show happened when Luis was just a toddler. So I like to think that inspired them to get a little more cautious when it came to their fucked up child prodigy shenanigans, in time for them to have a solid system worked out by the time Luis is orphaned. And by that I mean they'd find a university to bribe into giving them cover. A new child prodigy graduates from the Umbrella school, Umbrella coughs up some cash, and suddenly that kid attended a university they never actually stepped foot in, and has a diploma with no direct ties to Umbrella. They 100% had the resources and pull to swing some type of arrangement like that. 

And Luis is literally the most perfect target for a school like this. He's not just young, he's from an extremely isolated place, making him even easier to manipulate. He also has nothing. They can single him out and crack the whip and push him harder than any of his peers, and he'll just accept it, because what else can he do?

It's Umbrella, or the streets for him.

And I think he probably caught on to the fact that he had made a deal with the devil pretty quickly after starting on the Nemesis Project, but he had made his bed and had to lie in it. Because even after he graduates/becomes a legal adult, they have him completely locked in. There's literally no paper trail or anything official supporting the fact that he's a person who exists. The only thing is the university records Umbrella paid for. Umbrella can hand over some chump change and make those go away too. He wouldn't even be able to start from scratch without a degree, because they could go after him for fraud too. Claim he showed them his degree when they hired him, but discovered it must have been a fake, because the university has no records of him. Who would the courts side with, the kid without a birth certificate, or the pharmaceutical giant that can afford an army of lawyers? It's probably not enough to be all that life ruining, but threats don't necessarily have to be true to work. With Luis's unique life, he's most likely going to be scared of any threat like that, he just doesn't have any experience or context to help him get a grip and really think about it, he's just scared shitless at the thought of going to prison.

And ending this with a point that's independent of my other headcanons in the post and can work on its own. When discussing why Luis stayed for years, we can't forget about Rockfort Island.

On the island, there is also a prison camp and an airport. The prison camp especially, represents an especially dark side of Umbrella. Potential industrial saboteurs and traitors to Umbrella are captured and sent there to be used as human guinea pigs in biological experiments. Once inside, prisoners are held there indefinitely.

(emphasis mine)

I think the common assumption is that Luis fucked off back to Valdelobos because of Raccoon City and being afraid of governments/law enforcement coming after Umbrella, but I really think it was actually Umbrella he was running from. Umbrella would have seemed untouchable at this point, they had the blessing of the government to do what they did in Raccoon City, I doubt anyone there genuinely thought there would ever be legal consequences for any of that. Legal consequences were maybe a far-off possibility that wasn't guaranteed, while Umbrella was very much a real, present, active danger.

But if he got to a point where he couldn't handle the guilt of what he was doing anymore, his options were to disappear completely, or risk being captured and taken to a concentration camp. (Even just resigning normally, without taking any actions against Umbrella, would leave him terrified. A well-liked rising star like him just suddenly resigning, and offering no explanation, likely would have seemed suspicious, and given that Rockfort inmates were a resource for experiments, I can't imagine the bar for what makes someone a "traitor to Umbrella" is very high.)

[totaleclipse573]

My brain popped out an idea in a daydream where all three doom bros are villains but its contradictory bc. They were all sort of villains at first kind of. The idea that came to my brain felt more like "they were redeemed but somehow are now villains for real" and now I like the idea so much that I MUST find a way for it to make sense

[novelconcepts]

more and more it's feeling like we just...don't have room for people trying anymore. it's all or nothing; get it right the first time, or be crucified by a jury you can never fully see or convince. and this isn't new, isn't born of current events. it's become more and more prevalent over the last ten years thanks to social media putting every little thought on blast, but i'd put money on the idea that it's actually been brewing much longer than that. and, for me, it goes beyond being tiring or upsetting. it feels bleak. it feels downright fucking broken that we're all so busy trying not to condone anything remotely problematic that we don't leave room for good faith learning. watching people trying to suss out their own identity--something literally ONLY they can fully understand or explain--be vilified for trying to fit words around their own experience sucks. watching people misunderstand something and try to apologize for it later, only to be told they should have known all along, sucks. seeing people who once held truly toxic beliefs actually grow and learn and apologize and still be told to fuck themselves as if they're a lost cause--it sucks. just. does that not fill you with despair for the state of things? does that not break something in you, to think that if you one day don't understand something, or misuse a word, or grapple with complicated feelings, it will forever stain you in the eyes of perfect strangers?

dude the world is fucked, and we all see it, but like. it doesn't feel like it helps to be so goddamn reactive. it doesn't feel like it helps anyone to demand perfection out the gate. it's exhausting. there are enough people out there who don't want to learn, who aren't trying, who actively revel in cruelty. looking for malice in every little fuck-up from people who seem to be genuinely striving to live their lives with kindness strikes me as lending strength to an army that already glories in suffering. and makes the world look more fucked than ever. and i really don't know that that energy is what we need when there's already so much to set right.

maybe it's just me. maybe this last decade just shattered something in me. but i really, really hate the idea--reject the idea, frankly--that people can't learn and change and grow. that people can't be better than a bad day or a failure of understanding. i reject the idea that people are something to be thrown out because they fucked up. it just seems...yeah. bleak. really fuckin' bleak.

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Hi, on your last art (which was amazing) I noticed that Ander has a mark on his neck. Can you tell us what it is?

That's a serial number! The Sahota in this comic is another clone :)