#Just themes

[spencer-is-dead]

Autism themes in SxF

I’ll preface this by saying that this is my interpretation of the source material. I am by no means trying to start wars, this is my own personal opinion, and you’re entitled to your own. This is just how I see it.

I’m autistic. And there’s never really been a good representation of people like me in media. You get two types of autistic representation in films or shows: the super genius and the ‘low functioning’ non verbal autistic. The representation is kinda shitty, and I can’t list off the top of my head autistic characters I’ve actually felt represented any of us well. So, usually, we have to turn to headcanons. Finding small hints and qualities in characters that you can see in yourself. Personally, I’ve always headcanoned Yor as autistic, as I can relate to her want for normalcy. 

I was talking with a friend today about chapter 86 of the manga, and he was like “you know, he [Loid] sounds Autistic.” And in my head I was like “I dunno, maybe?”. Then, when I started to explain it:

“So yeah he relaxes around her because he knows he can be himself…and yeah you’re right that sounds autistic.”

So today I’m going to discuss the autistic undertones of Spy x Family. So strap in because you are going to here an autistic rant from a mentally ill kid, and there is no end in sight. 

So, part of Yor’s character motivation is wanting normalcy, like in Chapter two. Her seeing all the ‘normal’ people, wanting to be like them. And in chapter 65, Yor continues with wondering what normal really is, wondering if she’ll ever be normal. Normalcy is a major theme in the series, the story often wondering what normal families really are. I’ve often felt like I’m not normal, like I’ll never be normal, and I’ve always really related to Yor on that. 

Another theme is the sort of ‘putting on a show’ sort of thing. The Forgers are always putting on a show in public, pretending to be the perfect happy family, while underneath they’re a sham. Lying to the audience that is the world is, like, total autism vibes. 

And, yeah, Chapter 86 honestly feels like an autism metaphor of sorts. We often forget that Twilight is also a mask, hiding [REDACTED] behind it. When Loid is with Yor, he (subconsciously) feels like he can be himself, let bits of [REDACTED] leak through his facade. Beneath the layers of spy-ness, he’s still a human being with feelings and shit and Idk man this rant kinda got away from me. 

So, yeah, thanks for coming to my ted talk. I am so sorry.

[britcision]

Oh shit it’s time the Marcille rant has been activated I am so sorry OP

Marcille’s actually not more easily grossed out or dramatic than her male party members; Chilchuck will freak out right along side her, and louder if she’s not being sufficiently dramatic

(It’s great they split the load of telling the others to fuck off - and he will freak out on her when Marcille is also being a nasty little freak

It’s usually noticeably one or the other of them kicking off at a time, and when they kick off in unison they’re both at about the same energy

Marcille is notably enthusiastic about the kraken, Chilchuck freaks and refuses mimic and merman, Marcille’s only objection to the mandrakes is that they’re harvesting them wrong, Chilchuck has eaten treasure bugs multiple times)

She only looks dramatic because the other two main characters are Laios and Senshi, who are almost always actively disturbing literally everyone around them

But Senshi freaks out over things Marcille finds perfectly normal pretty often, and Marcille is actually one of the most willing to do things she initially reacts against; she comes around really quickly on all of the monster food, while Laios and Senshi both take longer or flat out refuse to accept things they don’t like

It took an entire episode and having to kill a longtime companion for Senshi to agree to wash his hair, and he literally did Marcille’s “nope” dance from the first floor about it

Laios’ abject contempt for Marcille’s familiars is only assuaged when he gets to eat them, despite Marcille’s final design objectively being better than his

Marcille objects to each new monster as an entirely new crossing of a boundary because they are. It’s a different thing that she has always assumed cannot be food every single time - she and Chilchuck are always conceding “okay maybe this one thing” and promptly being handed yet another the next day

Meanwhile Senshi has been having the same grump about magic the entire time, and has even conceded multiple times that yeah, his impressions aren’t accurate… but he’ll butt against the same problem the next time Marcille’s magic is helpful, with the exact same dramatics

Chilchuck and Marcille and especially their reactions to the monster food actually provide a really important function in the story that is about to become a lot more clear in the future episodes of the anime - they’re the baseline gauge for the audience to see Laios and Senshi through

Marcille and Chilchuck are the normal ones, and their reactions are actually pretty mild, even when either one of them freaks out and refuses to even look at something

Namari literally takes her first bowl of kelpie soup as a punishment from her former party for abandoning them because it’s such a dire and terrible thing, but she’ll do it because she believes she deserves to be punished - the transformation of her perception after tasting it is masterfully done

Every other party our heroes are about to run into are going to draw the same lines as the Tances; refusing to even participate and heavily judging our heroes, and occasionally declaring them threats against humanity

Some will eventually be persuaded or agree for their own reasons (and yeah you cannot call Marcille dramatic with Kabru in the same room semi-regularly having to fight down murderous impulses - they literally have matching meltdowns at the end, although Kabru’s gets less sympathy)

As far as everyone else in-world is concerned, Marcille and Chilchuck are also fucking weirdos for agreeing to eat monsters at all, especially with so little complaint

Marcille is a fully intentional subversion of the ick-girl trope (but yeah she gets the full dance because she’s Italian) - she’ll put her foot down and say no at first, but always comes around mostly on her own when she smells the cooking, and will usually ask for a piece

And she’s certainly not shy about getting messy or doing the work; she renders fat to make her own soap, dismembers a dragon and rebuilds three skeletons, and will continue to stick her hands, feet, and head anywhere they need to go for the rest of the show

Her objection to the frog suits isn’t even wearing the still wet and bloody skins of a creature freshly dead; they don’t even know it’s going to work, and if you look at her face, she’s not swayed by “you’ll look cute”. She is not interested in being told it’s cute, and freaks out when they can’t remove it because Falin will see her like this, not because she’s glued in with frog blood on every inch of her body

(Note: the fear is not that Falin will think it’s gross, like eating the monsters Marcille’s fear is that Falin will be super into it. And she is.)

Her interests are actually the darkest and most deviant; ancient magic is literally illegal and carries penalties like lifetime imprisonment or forced labour, while eating monsters is just kinda gross - animewise Chilchuck still has not finished freaking out about what Marcille did

(It’s going to be an ongoing theme)

It’s actually what first caught my interest about the series because I had the exact same moment of disappointment as OP, and then we got to the second episode of “no look you have to pull the mandrakes PROPERLY” and I started catching the subversions

Marcille’s not a delicate girl - she wants to wash and is the one to tell Chilchuck and Senshi “where are you even going I can do it fully dressed”

She was heavily under-utilized for the first chunk of the series, but it is explained in world; she’s going to be the most important when they get down deeper and they’re going to need her and her magic at full strength, because none of them can do the things she can

Laios, Senshi, and Chilchuck don’t really have a cap on their abilities beyond just being able to physically move. Marcille also has to watch her mana, which means letting Laios and Senshi do most of the physical fighting and work on the baby floors

(The Chilchuck combat rant is a whole ‘nother thing for another time)

(This wizard also learned every single spell she’s used in the dungeon overnight and yeah she stuck with Fireball, Water Walking, and Cursed Necromancy, she didn’t take any lower level combat spells)

The anime’s finally getting into Marcille’s darker parts and I’m living for it; she refuses to go back to the surface even completely out of mana, and takes the lead herself on drinking the undine so she can continue

She’s a student of the dark arts, literally says “magic has no morality” (oh wizard hubris my other beloved trope), and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants - even accept the consequences

Next to Namari, Marcille’s a bit of a girly girl, but even that has in-world explanations; doing your hair is actually an important part of magical preparation, and it’s the most effort Marcille puts into anything girly - all the boys cook and sew more often than she does, although she’ll muck in with all the messy chores

All four of our main characters are very clear archetypes, both of class and character tropes, and they’re all subversions

The dwarf who doesn’t care about metal (but somehow reforged adamantium into a wok?)

The sly little rogue who started a union and just wants to retire

The big muscly fighter who is a major nerd and uses his brain more than his muscles

The Team Girl who doesn’t want to eat monsters, but is hella down to go neck deep in necromancy

Marcille’s freak outs stand out more because we expect to see them as part of the trope she is designed to play into, and, yeah, because she is very expressive and Italian and does typical anime overreactions

And it is so goddamn adorable when Senshi and Chilchuck are the ones freaking out, especially when it gets to the point of her “nope” dance

The dramatics are contagious

you start watching dungeon meshi and you see how marcille acts and it's like "great... another show where the girl character is fussy and dramatic and easily grossed out compared to her male counterparts :///" and then you continue watching and meet other female characters who are not at all like that and it's like "ah, she's not like that because she's a girl, she's like that because she's italian"

[brawnie]

*grabbing mlm shippers by the shoulders* guys nobody needs to be the twink. nobody needs to be the sub. nobody needs to be the femboy. they can both be big fat hairy men who bask in each others masculinity or they can both be unspeakable monstrous creatures with inhuman genitalia it’s okay I’m holding your hand. Let me show you the way

[forgetbeam]

why do i keep seeing whole videos on advice for artfight from “veterans” or whatever. here’s all the advice you need:

you don’t need to draw every day

you don’t need to fully render every drawing, sketches still count and the person receiving it will still love it

you don’t need a fully polished ref sheet for every single character, having a basic one or even just a colour palette along with whatever other art you’ve done works fine in most cases

you don’t need to draw a fully rendered piece every single day do not burn yourself out or injure yourself for funny little internet points good lord

boom done there’s your 15 minute video

[baristabomb]

...weird amount of dunmeshi fans have been saying being a caretaker in a relationship is the worst thing ever..marcille must want to killl everyone soo bad because doing things for people suuuucks sooo muchh

it's an act of love, not just a job i promise. we all want someone who's willing to take care of us in some way, just like how senshi shows care for others by cooking for them :'|

[bereft-of-frogs]

There’s that post that’s like ‘everyone should get into a tiny niche fandom at least once’ fully agree, that was really fun -- but I would like to add that everyone should get into a fandom where their opinions run counter to major fanon because it really teaches you about sticking to your guns and trusting your interpretation of the text without having to rely on peer validation

because WHAT are people talking about sometimes

[fatedtime]

the immense psychological damage I have taken seeing multiple people claim wholeheartedly that Marcille barely tolerates Laios, much less likes him. I’m sorry but even if you’re anime only did you MISS the scene where she frantically was checking for his heartbeat or

[hawberries]

dungeon stack!

[chloesimaginationthings]

The true meaning behind FNAF princess quest

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The squad of all time has arrived on scene.

[ash-and-starlight]

humble contribution

[bixels]

End-of-Splatoon thoughts.

Thinking about how since the very start, Splatoon has had a feature where players can draw and post artwork and spot them as graffiti on walls or billboards. Or how the weapons have always been paint brushes and rollers and ballpoint pens. Since its inception, Splatoon has been dedicated to engaging its players with the act of creation and creative expression, showing them how their art can build communities and (literally) change the world.

Thinking about finding golden human-made music discs buried underground for thousands of years, and a grand finale music festival. About the Voyager Golden Records. About those human handprints etched into concrete in Alterna. Did those human artists know it would end like this? First a fiery death and then, eventually, a worldwide celebration of music to represent our shared past, present, and future. Did they know that their songs, insignificant in the face of extinction, would one day become the solution that will save the next dominant life-form from the same fate?

Thinking about how eerily similar the Octarian domes are to Alterna. About how close Inklings and Octolings were to repeating the same mistakes as humans. But their doomed fates were undone not by some miracle technology or military power or a rocket, but by music.

Thinking about how humans wiped themselves out with war, and our parting gifts were liquid crystals that somehow paired with the DNA of primeval inklings and somehow infused them with our memories and culture and a Song. And 12,000 years in the future, that same Song will end a war.

Thinking about how art and music and punk culture and rock & roll and friendly competition and petty arguments and water guns aren’t uniquely human concepts, but the fundamental qualities of intelligent life. An inheritable spirit that can cross evolutionary bounds.

Thinking about the theme of Splatoon, that art and music and fun will not die with the human race. That every piece of art we create is a seed we sow for future generations to reap. That our legacy is ingrained into the crust of the earth. That long after we’re gone, the oceans will remember, and they’ll pick up where we left off.

Thinking about how Splatoon says that the essence of humanity ���– the thing that will outlive us –– isn't war or prejudice or destruction or greed, it's a song.

[talesfromthecrypts]

I get so frustrated by "yeah make vampires scary again" stuff every time a vampire movie has a "monster" vampire (Nosferatu, Voyage of the Demeter, etc). It reeks of an attitude that thinks all horror is about something being ugly and horrifying on the outside. If you can't see the horror in Interview With the Vampire, or a Jean Rollin film, or The Hunger, or Carmilla, or the vampire sections of Baldur's Gate because they are attractive that is absolutely an issue on your end. There is such a rich well of themes to dig into with horror and vampires, especially where sex and romance are concerned, but people are so desperate to separate romance and horror. The despair of being frozen as a child even while your mind matures, the loneliness of an eternity alone, the terror of eternal hunger that can't be sated, the awful seduction by something beautiful but monstrous. Trying to turn vampires into just any other monster doesn't make them more horrifying, its just a more kind of overt horror that can only be done so many times and is often covered better by other monsters.

[qweenofurheart]

the first two photos were later sold to a local newspaper and the last one was posted on dick grayson’s instagram with the caption “opps want to see me fall 💪🏋️‍♂️”

[counting-stars-gayly]

MEDUSA WASN’T A MONSTER BECAUSE SHE HAD SNAKES FOR HAIR BUT BECAUSE SHE HURT PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T DESERVE IT LET’S FUCKING GOOOOOOOO

[escapistcatontheinternet]

i love the extras of dungeon meshi in how it fleshes out the world because they make it so much more evident how race affects every part of the story while avoiding the zootopia racism problem. like obv a main theme of the story is like, humanity and desire, 'to eat is to live', etc, but since the majority of it takes place in the dungeon isolated from society and thru the lens of laios, the racial aspects play out more like shadows on a wall for most of the story.

then in the extras we get comics like this

which at a glance fleshes out the racial aspects via a character explaining the racial rules of universe - humans have x amount of bones, while orcs and kobolds have more. however, if u take it less straightforwardly, it points out how the concept of 'human' is a constructed concept in the world. the fact that there are different categories of human in different parts of the world based off of what types of humanoids occur there is already a demonstration of this. in response, the bones explanation seems to kabru and the characters as an objective way of measuring humans vs nonhumans.

but obv, when the culture was deciding what humanoids were humans and nonhumans, they weren't blindly analyzing skeletons and then deciding. just visually, one can glean that orcs and kobolds look less like the ingroup of tallmen, elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. the bones explanation appears as a justification for that immediate prejudice under a scientific guise - I'm sure that one could come up with the same number of physical differences between a gnome and an elf that they would find between a tallman and an orc. it sounds a lot better to say 'well, an orc has 230 bones while a human has 206' then 'well, an orc looks ewwww yucky yucky to me while a human looks normal'.

and what i like abt the comic is that the characters take the explanation at face value for the most part. when a contradiction is brought up in the oni, kabru can neatly slot them into the predetermined number of bones framework. bc that's kinda how it works irl - there r cultural prejudices that we can posthumously justify, and if we find something outside of it, we can twist it to fit into our predetermined binary. however, since the reader does not live in a world where there are orcs and kobolds to be prejudiced against, we can see that flaw in the cultural logic. when the party encounters the orcs, the number of bones has no bearing on their humanity. They r shown to be cliquish and distrusting of outsiders, but not any more than the elves are later in the story.

tldr dungeon meshi worldbuilding is so good