#Nico loves to knock him down a peg | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

iconoclast-infidels · 18 days ago

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"Maaaaaaayyybe." Nico just shook his head.

He watched Dmitry fiddle with the coins as tried to not intercept and reply till he'd completely finished.

But why did he ask? "Well, I don't know? I'm just trying to get a clear picture here. How cool you are when fuckers are bullshitting you, I guess. You know? A clear picture? Like if you were gunslinging clever quips and sassy remarks at every turn or if you were in silent, ignoring, all stealthy terminator, or fucking with their heads and having any fun with it at all? Trying to figure out if the high was in the kill, the chase, or the knocking them down a few pegs when you mentally took them out? Just curious. You're always doing this stuff, and I just don't really know what's going on, that's all. Just trying to learn."

Nico didn't always simply translate the words. He interpreted his partner's body language, tone, and more to point when he'd take moments to distract himself.

What Nico found though was Dmitry wasn't trying to be deceptive, not to him anyway. That was the beautiful thing about mental gymnastics. Most people didn't do it maliciously. They did it in order to feel better about themselves or even excuse someone they loved who let them down. But always people want to feel like they have good intentions. Nico could hear it in how he said the word satisfying.

He could hear not only the answer, but Dmitry judging himself. That's where Nico and he may agree to disagree. If Dmitry was judging himself on this, it was based on a morality that had nothing to do with the ethics Nico carried inside. Nico tried very hard his whole life not to judge himself on others' ethics. It didn't mean he always accomplished, but damn if he didn't always try to stay true to his own, what felt right in his gut.

Good intentions. Justice. Wrath. Revenge. Who had the right to judge, serve, and carry out those sentences? Those differing opinions were in Nico's very blood. He embodied it and couldn't help but explore all contrasts the moment he detected them. His father Murmur is a demon of philosophy. He teaches it as a demon. That's literally his spiritual gift. The manner in which Nico can't stop himself thinking from and that might be noted as either philosophical, or a person that plays devil's advocate, or always trying to figure out how things work at the core, pulling back for the bigger picture, it's part of his manifestation. It can seem a little contrary and gets under people's skin. But, with Nico he's never trying to be. He has to open up the cuckoo clock so to speak and figure out the design of contradiction. The same way another demon's might be pestilence, daddy issues, or stealing horses, or bunions. That little piece of Nico was always thinking three side conversations while his mouth spoke something completely different. He always had to get to the bottom of anything contradictory. The difference in Nico and his father was Nico didn't instantly feel the need to exploit it once he singled it out.

So, what he gathered from Dmitry was that at least on some teeny tiny level he regretted shooting his father so easily because that meant he never got the answer he keeps searching for in every kill ever since. He also maybe even wishes he would have done more to him because even though he was dead, and wanted him dead, it didn't feel over.

Why did it have to happen to him? Why did Daddy do this?

If he can answer it for someone else, then maybe he could fathom some kind of rational thinking around completely irrational behavior. It made sense to Nico. Dmitry wanted to understand evil. Nico knew right then there would never be an end to this because that was an answer Dmitry would never be satisfied with even if he got it because no matter what, it hurt him, an innocent. He sees the other victims as himself.

The deeper philosophies of such right now would be pointless because Nico saw these as greater evils. These weren't just hurt people doing bad things Dmitry was going after. These were people with evil behavior, original evil, not reactive abuse. Nico knew the difference. At least, he thought he did. Maybe that was up for debate?

Still, something about Dmitry's finger gun at his temple was heightening to his senses, erotic even. Nico couldn't help but start to grin and grin a little much considering the topic. It turned him on to think of being murdered by Dmitry. Those old fantasies of wanting to die injected straight back into his brain at full volume in the softest whisper.

Kink activated.

It took him a second to start breathing again. "Um...."

Dmitry started to describe a lot of torture techniques and normally no plan, like a wannabe disorganized Dexter. That's what Nico's mind brought to the forefront. It was his impulsivity that caused his loss of target this time. He didn't have the attack mapped like Dexter did ready to follow the rules of how to commit the perfect crime. That's what else was in Nico's head. Angel or not, he ran around in the same avatar, Dmitry's body basically being a vigilante serial killer. At some point the human world would catch up to that. Nico was wondering about body disposal. That was why he was asking about where Dmitry took his prey. Nico's mind was more on what evidence was Dmitry leaving behind? At what point was it going to catch up and affect Nico to where he'd have to walk through the veil and bust him out of prison? Get different aliases? Live in another country? He didn't care, but the details had always been a serious curiosity whether he'd been super respectful of not asking anyhow. He always just figured he'd deal with it as it came. He was very come what may in his head about Dmitry.

By the time Nico breathed again all he could manage though was a ditzy sounding Paris Hilton line, "That's so hot."

Sue him. An off the rails' avenging Dmitry was far hotter than a lecturing one or one whimpering in an alley. It was implanting a picture, okay? The sort of image Nico liked to keep for his spank bank.

Help? Distract?

"Maybe distracting is helping?" He suggested with a sudden hoist of his slim body. This booth was about to get tight. Good thing he was so lanky because he shifted to straddle over Dmitry. His legs were so tall though so even with his knees spread wide on either side of Dmitry's legs he still wasn't actually touching the other, attempting not to hurt his battered body. He shimmied off his leather jacket with a bit of a fuss because it nearly knocked over a drink a little close on the table behind him and rattled the plate as he moved it off his arm as a sleeve caught the edge of the cheese stick sauce. He'd set the jacket on the open right side of the booth just next to Dmitry, so it was still in his reach.

Then he bowed over and kissed that busted lip. "That jacket's a gift, baby. You may have given me a raincheck, but just so you know, all you have to do is put that jacket on your lap at any point and I'm right under this table taking your mind off this pain." There was a saucy mischief in his face that would hopefully tell Dmitry he wasn't playing. He meant every naughty word of that idea.

"Or you could keep telling me about tonight?" Nico would certainly come up with more to ask, but this was Dmitry's out. Nico was giving him a what do you need from me moment. An ear to vent to? Someone to sympathize or help be angry? What he noticed was Dmitry coming in with wanting to be distracted when the very conversation he promised to have started to get too real. Nico knew if he kept on too much it'd only make it more real. He was a tell it like is person, but he knew timing mattered. Did Dmitry really need that or want a distraction? Because Nico was on the case.

"If I say something, do I get to see something?" He joked, but nodded. "I'll let you know if anything."

Dmitry took the coins, stacking and unstacking them, rearranging them just to keep his hands busy while Nico asked his questions. He noticed how Nico kept touching him in some way or another and scooted closer so there was less space between the two of them. His own energy compounded with Nico's anxious worrying, and Dmitry found himself flagging Jeff down for refills and to order that cocktail he'd wanted earlier. Jeff did his job and promptly left the two alone again, not forgetting that they had asked for privacy.

"I know you can shoot without killing," he whispered, queuing Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi, followed by a few other songs from his usual 80s rotation. "You should teach me, or Nova can teach me, whatever," he ate another mozzarella stick, "but that's not the point. I know you can do that, it just wouldn't have been—" Satisfying. It wouldn't have been satisfying. It really was the heart of what Nico was asking, wasn't it? What were you after? What satisfies you? What went wrong? These were not easy questions to answer, though the answers themselves were simple. He looked at Nico's chilly-blue eyes, remembering that one poem:

I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

If there was one thing Dmitry knew how to do, other than love, it was to hate — despite his reluctance to admit it. Both emotions came from the same intense passion with which he viewed the world. They were simply flipsides. It wasn't that love and hate were opposites; he did not believe that. But love and hate were the same thing, approached differently. Dmitry knew, as quiet as he held onto it, how to hate. He knew how to deal in ice.

Still in a whisper, only for Nico to hear, and for Nico to hear it better, he continued. "Anyway, it depends." He kissed Nico with a giggle, emotions all over the place, erratic. "I didn't really think shit through, I think, I didn't, like, not like I shoulda done anyway, that's why— I'm really not sure what I thought I was gonna do but normally I'm a lot less like that about it, I mean the only reason you know is cause I told you and no one's caught me, I'm careful. Sometimes I talk to them, sometimes I don't bother, but if they realize they're in trouble, they always start saying shit. Why do you ask?"

Still, he didn't wait for an answer to that. "None of them ever answer why, like... The one question, and yeah I can think of any number of reasons, starting with they obviously like the fact that someone's suffering at their expense, but still, I don't... I don't get it. I guess I just wanna understand why. Some of them, I ask. Others, I don't even bother, not everyone's got useful answers and I don't always feel like talking to them anyway. I either get rid of them, or sometimes I just want— They deserve to suffer, they deserve every second of it. They deserve more than I'm willing to do, even I have lines I won't cross, even I have things I won't do, but they deserve what they get, and worse. Sometimes, I just. Shoot." He held a finger gun to Nico's temple, looking at him intensely and with his lips pulling into a grin. "That's how I killed my father."

He dropped the finger gun and looked around at the other tables, assessing how many people had come and gone since they'd arrived at Jeff's bar. Then he kept talking.

"Other times I make them beg. Take them away somewhere they can scream without being heard, somewhere they won't be found in this century, and take my sweet time. I like knives, but... I've tried different things. It's strange how much you can get away with before it's actually deadly. This one deserved something more like that, long and slow, and painful. I can't do it like this, though, it's gonna have to wait, and that's worse. I might have to just shoot him, after all."

He was angry. Nico's unspoken guess was right, too. Dmitry was avoiding retelling the words because the words had triggered the PTSD and that had been what caught him off-guard. It made his blood boil that something so simple could fuck shit up that bad. That's what he had been stewing about before calling Nico.

It was personal, too. The general idea he'd been conveying without saying it in such exact words was that it was personal, and it was revenge. He could give any number of excuses, and it could fulfill any number of purposes —even God-give ones, as Sammy had suggested previously— but ultimately, it was very personal. This was his way of getting the upper hand and trying to reclaim something he couldn't quite put a word to, something he'd felt had been forcefully ripped away from him and never returned. In speaking, he had said a lot of nothing, sparing details because he felt so intensely the actual emotions behind what he was trying to describe he'd do. Nico was right, Dmitry still had fight mode in his veins, and he wasn't able to filter much through that. He was also bitten by the intensity. Half of him wanted nothing more than to ditch the conversation and tend to the seemingly more urgent need for fucking Nico and expending all that energy that was keeping him uncomfortable with sitting still for so long. The other half wanted to screw it all, find the asshole that had gotten away, and make him pay. He was willing to die for it.

"So it depends. You could help me," he offered. "Or you could distract me. You're good at that too," he pointed out.

#nicoxdmitry

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mc-critical · 4 years ago

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What are your thoughts on Ibrahim? For me it went from indifference and dislike in season 1 to liking in season 2 and becoming my favorite male character in season 3 tbh. Actually the only good male character by season 3 (season 4 has many other options too). He is probably the most complex and well written character and I really sympathise with him. His arrogance was his downfall but if Suleyman wasn't such a bitch it wouldn't have been lol. He wasn't wrong in that imo. He was a slave, a fisherman's son but his intelligence and skill took him farther than anyone else and it's not wrong to be proud of such a feat. He deserved the pride more than just about anyone, even Suleyman. What I dislike the most about him is his treatment of Nigar after their relationship ended. She's my favorite character and although their relationship itself was my favorite in the whole show (other than Nurbanu and Selim) it ended really badly

Ibrahim is one of my most conflicting characters on the series: one time I feel like I don't get the appeal, especially not the stans in one Bulgarian forum, he doesn't elicit such a strong emotional reaction in me as he does in others, but then once he hits an incredibly strong arc and I begin to analyze his character and all its dimensions, I come to love him for what he is and realize how much effort has gone in conceiving and developing him. He's certainly the most well-written male character that isn't a sultan or a prince in the entire franchise. (the sultans aren't the brightest, but the bar is so high when it comes to their writing. There isn't any of them that is badly written. The princes are also well developed, but now that I think about it, Ibrahim surpasses some of them as well!) He's delightfully fleshed out with every detail; his actions, while morally ambiguous at times, are very understandable and you can clearly see the deeper, nuanced reasons why he does what he does. His arc was a sight to see from beginning to end and watching it reach its inevitable tragic conclusion was heartwrenching. At a point he became so important to the narrative, whether it was intentional or not, that the show (or actually, S03B in particular, because S04 was absolutely fantastic!) began to lowkey miss something without him. He had such a strong presence that couldn't be matched by anyone else after him.

[To be brutally honest though, I find his dynamic with Hürrem in terms of screentime to be kinda overrated. Not that it's bad or anything, quite the contrary - their chemistry was great, they were consistent and fun to watch, they had quite a few great scenes that were definetly more than Hürrem and Mahidevran's, I dare even say this is one of the most solid antagonistic dynamics of Hürrem's writing-wise, but I just find it sometimes gets way too much credit? It's weird, I know.]

The most interesting thing about him is, without a doubt, his fatal flaw that I... actually don't think is arrogance. It's not up for argument that Ibrahim can definetly come off as arrogant, but the arrogance is rather a manifestation of his fatal flaw, not his fatal flaw itself. I believe that it's precisely his inferiority complex that is the root of his vulnerabilities: as you said, he's been only a fisherman in Parga, and his background is both a source of memories where he can recall his more "innocent" days with his family and a tough spot for him where he is consistently reminded of something that is already in the past after all he has achieved. He did want to return to Parga, to see who he used to be one more time, but after that it's as if he never gets a chance to forget, to put it behind him. He pretends he has forgotten, but that consistent reminder of how he has started seems to be constantly haunting him to the point he begins to remind himself of it. It's not only people like Figani, Iskender Çelebi or the other members of the divan in early S01 that don't let him forget, it's as if he himself doesn't want to forget. It's undeniable that he had climbed up to heights he wouldn't dream of and the role of a grand vezier needed getting used to and to be dealt with with care. On one hand, we could argue that he reminds himself of Parga as a way to preserve his moral compass, in a way, to realize when and how he has screwed up or remind himself of the limitations of how far can he go, for Süleiman is his friend and companion who he wouldn't want to disappoint. But on the other hand, the more he rose in the hierarchy, the stronger became a wish for him to exceed these limitations placed upon him by everyone around. Süleiman is able to give him everything if he wishes, so why not let it happen? Then he's going to prove to everyone, prove to his inner demons, this sense of inferiority that he, in fact, can not only become the most politically adept grand vezier there is, but a person who has his own country within the country and can rule it with ease. The political arena ultimately becomes a target of his inner conflict where he projects more power than anyone else, is most influential and does the best in order to gain the goal, not only to gain SS's approval, but show that, yeah, he can do his best for the role he's put in, fixating on the Ottoman country he claims to be a ruler of and his apparently endless rights. It turns into a coping mechanism where he can escape his past and background and he gets so sucked in it that his self awareness becomes less and less. That's where his arrogance comes from and I feel that if he didn't possess that complex of his, he would've managed things way better and had more self control, as a result. He was a very good politician in the show, setting in motion many good strategies (his strategy gave them the Mohacs victory after all), having a strong, pragmatic mind and many innovative ideas and if he didn't try his hardest to convince himself he's worth something that isn't just the story of the fisherman in Parga, Hürrem wouldn't stand a chance against him.

This inferiority complex is the reason for his infidelity, too. He loves Hatice dearly and he never expected that she of all people would do the very thing he dreads the most. Her pulling rank on him came as such a shock for him that it seemed he would never forget or forgive. It put infinetly more salt to the wound, deeply hurting his ego and the self-esteem he was just beginning to gain. That's why he let himself in Nigar's hands for so long, for she would only want to please him, for that relationship would have no limitations whatsoever and wouldn't restrict Ibrahim in any way. It was something that was his, something the dynasty would never touch or learn about. I love Nigar and Ibrahim's relationship, too. Principally, I'm not a fan of love triangles at all, but that one is a notable exception for how wonderfully, but crushingly psychological it is. It wasn't added in only for the sake of the drama, it was set up for very long and it was like the characters actually got there through their own actions and they had to truly face that struggle to flesh out and evolve. But there wasn't genuine love there, not in Ibrahim's part. That was his biggest weakness speaking, causing the illusion of love, not the real feeling of it. He wanted to preserve this relationship as the fisherman in Parga, but to me, it felt like he showed something more similar to his own confident assertions of the power of a grand vezier than actual regard for Nigar's feelings. It all was a lie he wanted to believe, because of his ego's denial, and he believed it so much he told Nico that Nigar was the person he truly loved in E51. And when he did get out of the lie (the monologue in E57), see how he reacts differently in front of her now - he turns off every single try of hers to give him affection, he reacted very badly when he learned she was pregnant, it was as if he wanted her to wake up from the dream and move on, too? And due to his inner conflict that perpetuates his arrogance grew even more in S03, he got over Nigar, but not over her child. Esmanur's birth made him return to and enforced his old habits that made him consider that child as another piece of solace, something out of the dynasty, also only his, trying so desperately to have her live with him and Hatice. The infidelity and the way he treated Nigar after he realized the error of his ways are ones of the worst things Ibrahim did, along with Leo (now, I get he wanted to knock Hürrem down a peg, but that was admittedly much for me.) and while I understand why these events and interactions came to fruition, I can't justify him for them.

I agree that had Süleiman not given him as much power, his inferiority complex would be highly downplayed, at the very least. He underestimated the possible consequences of Ibrahim's rise and it really doesn't look like he knows him as much as he thinks he does. Whether he did it to test him (SS's lasting reminders that Ibrahim gets closer to death) or because he loves him dearly and wants to embrace his potential ("I want you to use that mind only for me!") or both, it's like he gave him both too much freedom and too many boundaries at once. I mean, I understand why SS executed Ibrahim: his affirmations, no matter their backstory and how metaphorical they are, pose a definite threat for a padişah and along with his growing paranoia of betrayal, he couldn't be sure how far he was going to go anymore. It's as if Ibrahim crossed every line, openly acting like he controls the padişah and his state in front of the fellow pashas, efendis and ambassadors and that couldn't be controlled anymore. It's as if he had done his best efforts to bring him down to earth, but since none of it was working, he decided to act accordingly. The many "failures" of Ibrahim have been piling up in the narrative in the span of 81 episodes and I get why SS would finally snap for what was the final straw. However, doing so much unprecedented stuff for a grand vezier was bound to bring disasters for the padişah due to the chance in his mind that he would try to question or prevail over him, hence Süleiman should've realized that it was only natural one would want more and more. And that happened with S03 Ibrahim - he fought more and more with his inner demons, hence wanting to have more and more to be validated by the others and by his own ego that perhaps wouldn't feel satisfied regardless.

While his fatal flaw underlines his complexity, it also gets complimented by his many positive qualities: his love for Hatice was very sweet in the beggining and after the Nigar plot, it turned out to be really genuine - their reconciliation was very telling in that aspect; his relationship and loyalty to Süleiman deserves respect, even though his inferiority complex came in the way, he still would never give him up and never once lost hope in his recovery when he was in his deathbed and while that may become up for debate in S03, he would never openly stand against him and would gladly try his best to please him; his bond with Mustafa is amazing, too - I love how he practically raised that kid and gave him sound advice as well as his mother; that said, his relationship with Mahidevran deserves more appreciation and it is one of the most reciprocal and understanding, soft and "carefee" dynamics of the show; I love his dedication to his family and how he loves them as much and remembers them with the same fondness as ever before. In short, when going in depth, this multifaceted character has so much to offer, like, wow!

Okay, when I first watched the show, there was that point where I felt Ibrahim overstayed his welcome and I even wanted for Hürrem to finish him already (heh, those were the days! 😅) but now when I've rewatched and reexamined MC many times, I see that despite of his few negative traits, everything about this character flows so well and so organically and it's one of the characters in the series that have aged really well with time in my eyes. And I respect him so much for that.

#magnificent century #ibrahim pasha #ask #illusorybeing

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carmichealroyals · 4 years ago

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UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, DAVEN COUNTRYSIDE, 10:01PM

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Dorothea: You showed up.

Natalie: Thea--

Dorothea: Honestly, I didn’t think you would. This is a nice surprise.

Natalie: Well… when it was such an enticing invitation, how could I refuse?

Dorothea: Yeah…

Natalie: So… you’re back in town for the summer?

Dorothea: Yeah. Monaca has been really nice.

Natalie: I haven’t had the chance to go yet, but I’m sure it is.

Dorothea: You’ve got the means. You should come visit sometime.

Natalie: Listen, Thea, I--

Dorothea: What about you? You’re going to UBrite, right?

Natalie: Yeah.

Dorothea: What are you doing there? English Literature, right?

Natalie: With a Sociology minor.

Dorothea: Sounds fun. You were always one to have your nose in a book.

Natalie: … did you really invite me here to… what, talk about school? Catch up like nothing happened between us?

Dorothea: I think that the message I left would have made it obvious what I wanted to talk to you about.

Natalie: It did. Thea, I… it was so good to hear your voice again. I listened to that message five times over before deciding to even come here tonight, and then a few more times after I decided -- how could I not come? You, apologizing? That was something I had to see happen.

Dorothea: I meant every word I said, Nat.

Natalie: ...about… about your feelings, too?

Dorothea: Especially that.

Natalie: …

Dorothea: Well?

Natalie: You have to realize the position I’m in.

Dorothea: Here we go again.

Natalie: Thea, my uncle is the King. I’m expected to play a certain part in all of this -- smile and wave, take on engagements with the rest of my aunts and uncles and cousins when I finish school, be this perfect Princess that I’m expected to be--

Dorothea: And there’s no room for me in that life. I remember what you said. God, how could I be so stupid?! I thought that…. I thought that if I came back and tried to talk to you again that we would be able to fix what had gone wrong, that we could… that we could be together. Properly, not have to sneak around anymore. But you haven’t changed your mind, clearly, so why even bother--

Natalie: Thea, wait, please! It was stupid of me to think there wasn’t a place for you before. I agree with you. And… there is a place for you in my life. I wasn’t sure how I felt about you now, but… but I do still love you, too. Against all odds.

Dorothea: Then come clean. Tell your family.

Natalie: It’s not that simple.

Dorothea: It isn’t simple for anyone, that doesn’t make it impossible.

Natalie: I’m still in the succession line--

Dorothea: But every time one of your older cousins has a kid, that knocks you down a peg. You live in a fancy house, you wear fancy clothes, you have status, but none of that matters if you can’t be yourself around them.

Natalie: I want to be with you, Thea, please, but you have to listen to me. I think I have a plan.

Dorothea: Does it involve you coming out?

Natalie: … in a way. Please, just listen to me, okay?

Natalie: I’m not ready to tell them. I’m not. I know that I’m bisexual, I know it in my heart, in every fiber of my being, but nobody knows. Not even my brothers. And nobody can know, not yet. I don’t know how my family is going to react, especially my Uncle. He got so mad when Auntie Diana started dating Uncle Nico and that was just his sister. If he found out I was gay… He has the power to kick me out. Fully. Not even Dad could stop him. This is uncharted territory, you have to understand that.

Natalie: So… I have to date someone. A boy, specifically. People are going to get suspicious, especially since my brother has a girlfriend now--

Dorothea: I fail to see where I factor into this, Nat.

Natalie: I’m going to date him publicly. Be seen around town with him, go to state occasions with him, that stuff. But Mom and Dad have told me I could move to Hareshire Cottage if I wanted. I’d be by myself. We could be by ourselves there, while you’re here for the summer and whenever you decide to come home. That can be our place, for us, where we can be together.

Dorothea: We’ll still be hiding.

Natalie: Just until I’m ready to tell them. And then we can be mobbed by the press all you want. I love you, Thea, but I don’t want you dragged into this mess with me.

Dorothea: And if he genuinely falls in love with you? If he wants to marry you?

Natalie: Marriage is not on my mind right now. I want to finish school first. But... if it does go for too long, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Dorothea: You’re sure this will work?

Natalie: No. It could go wrong at any turn. But it’s the only way we would get to be together, and I don’t want to go another day without you next to me.That much I’m sure of.

Dorothea: ...then I’m in. Let’s do it.

Natalie: I love you, Dorothea Driscoll.

Dorothea: You’d better if you’re going through all this trouble, Natalie Carmicheal.

#carmichealroyals #sims 4 #the sims 4 #the sims legacy #sims royalty #sims royal family #simblr #the sims 4 royalty #the sims 4 royal family #sims 4 royal family #sims 4 royalty #TS4 #ts4 legacy #ts4 royal #ts4 royalty #ts4 royal family #ts4 royal simblr #gen2

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breckstonevailskier · 1 year ago

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The whole thing with the Dora is one frustrating thing that I really didn’t like, because at most it makes the Dora seem just unreasonable killers and at least it makes them not very smart, because ultimately the fight helped Zemo escape, if the Dora’s mission was Zemo, letting him escape when he’s right there is a silly, and I like to think the Dora are far smarter than this. And somehow accidentally injuring or even possibly killing the new Captain America is just an international incident waiting to happen. None of this really portrays the Dora as the badass intelligent clever spies and protectors that they ought to be and have previously been portrayed as. It just feels like the creatives wanted a fight scene to knock down John for a few pegs and used the Dora to do it because everyone loves badass Dora being badass, without thinking about the actual narrative implications.

The Dora Millajes' behavior makes me think even more about how hypocritical Wakanda was to support the Accords. T'Chaka was preaching accountability, yet he's also got a secret spy network, the Dora clearly don't care about international borders, and one imagines he cared more about keeping his country's superior technology out of others' hands.

In the case of Wanda and Hulk with Johnnesberg, I can concede that she didn’t know exactly what would happen, however she is as responsible for what her powers would do as Nico was responsible for Lemar’s death. Ultimately she still set the Hulk off, that’s on her. I do not see Tony being the most at fault, he was trying to mitigate the situation just as Wanda was trying to in Lagos with the bomb. In both cases, the ones causing the situation to happen is at fault, the ones trying to mitigate it shouldn’t be to blame.

I think it's more about the degree to which blame should be directed at the mitigator vs. the one causing the situation. Like, in Lagos, the deaths are solely on Brock Rumlow as he chose to blow himself up rather than let Captain America arrest him. Neither Steve nor Wanda saw he had explosives on his vest he was going to detonate until a split second before he activated them. With Johannesburg, Wanda probably didn't intend for the Hulk to go on a rampage. I doubt she knew he could travel 300 miles in 3 minutes. And in all honesty, that should just be chalked up to the writers wanting an excuse for a Hulk rampage and wanting a prettier backdrop for it to happen in than a grassy field.

I don’t disagree that Steve not telling Tony about his parents’ death is similar to John not telling Lemar’s parents the truth, however, I think the issue of Steve keeping secrets is more of a problem to me is that Steve was the one who berated Tony for keeping secrets, so it makes Steve’s keeping secrets just seem worse and hypocritical. I don’t like it when characters berate another for doing something, and then goes and does that thing themselves, especially when in-universe no one really calls that out at all.

I don't think Steve's a hypocrite. Tony's secrets involved things that are happening right now in the moment (building Ultron, going behind the teams' backs regarding the Accords, etc.), while Steve's secret involved something that happened in the past, and which he only learned as something Zola told him to stall him and Natasha for time so they'd be hit by a missile. The bigger issue then is how Tony chose to react to it, and he chose revenge against someone who had no agency in the matter (Bucky). Honestly things would've been so much better had Tony been shot down by Vision in the airport battle instead of Rhodey, because the likely outcome if Rhodey was there instead of Tony is that he, Steve and Bucky would've captured Zemo, and then they make a pledge to hide the tape and keep it a secret from Tony because really, nothing is gained or lost by letting him continue to believe the lie that his parents died in a car accident.

I have a lot of thoughts tbh about the ways that the show mishandled the very presicient issues of racism. They muddled a lot of things and didn’t really know what they were trying to convey. This is the same show that want to address racial disparities but then also continued the trope of killing off a black character for a white character’s storyline. It’s a mess.

One could argue that a reason the MCU's attempts to tackle these kinds of issues tends to fall flat is because they're usually put there as an afterthought to flesh out the heroes and villains after deciding what characters they'll be using.

John Walker: a study in story framing, character archetype, established canon details, and audience manipulation

There’s been a ton of discourse surrounding the character of John Walker, everyone has a lot of opinions. But having read many articles, posts, tweets, and watched reaction channels and video essays, I have found a common theme among them: a fundamental misunderstanding of the character due to the story framing.

In fact, the character of John Walker that exists in fandom discussions is more of a projection of what people think he is and what people want him to stand in for rather than the actual canonically established character that exists in the story of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. This is why I have decided to write this post along with an episode-by-episode breakdown, because I think John Walker the character has been completely eclipsed by John Walker the symbol, lost underneath the iconography that he’s been associated with and not really given a fair look as an individual person.

I should make it clear upfront; it is not my intention with this to tell people how they should feel about a character. Whether you agree with my points or not doesn’t really matter. My hope is that this at the very least provides you with a different perspective on the character and his motivations. Maybe have you consider him in a new way.

So, let’s start from the beginning.

——————————–

EPISODE 1

Story framing is important, it effects our perspective as an audience, and it is deliberately controlled by the writers and filmmakers to manipulate certain emotions and impressions out of us. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier expertly does this from the very beginning by framing John Walker immediately as someone whom we should not want.

Because the music is mournful and ominous despite the celebratory occasion shown on TV.

Because Sarah is upset.

Because Sam has his fists clenched and is unhappy and suspicious, and then closes his eyes in upset.

Because when dialogues like this is delivered, the show is purposefully playing into real life iconography and feelings that already raises our hackles.

Because Sam retired the shield and the hero position, so when someone else seemingly carelessly and casually steps in waving like a propaganda piece with a gun on his hip, and a grey flag symbol that looks so close to the thin blue line flag used by cops, there is something unsettling to us even if we didn’t consciously pick up on it, we just know that it goes against what we want and what our main protagonist wants.

Because this strange person in a Cap costume winking looks like a jerk. We didn’t ask for this.

As it’s always said, first impressions are important. How someone first perceives you decides how someone might judge anything that you do. If someone thinks you’re an arrogant jerk, then anything you do will be colored by that impression and they will never think well of your intentions. But if their first impression of you is kind and caring, then any mistakes you made is automatically given leeway because your intentions would be well considered. And in one fell swoop, the show firmly planted into the minds of every single person watching that John Walker is an arrogant jerk espousing propaganda no one wants and everything he does is automatically suspect and questionable.

In fact, they even go the extra step to make that very clear by how the cast credits is used. Notice the difference between the image of Walker in Episode 1 and Episode 2-6?

The red mark over his eyes, blocking him from us, not only feels foreboding, it feels as if it’s warning us.

So, when I say that John Walker was from the beginning set up to fail, it’s because he was, the story intended for it to be. We have to hate, question, suspect, and think the worst of Walker in order for Sam’s eventual reclaiming of the shield to mean anything or have that emotional catharsis. Because nobody wants to see Sam take the shield from a nice dude, it would be bittersweet or even mean, but if the story tells us that this guy is someone we can dislike or hate right off the bat because there is something vaguely “bad” about him, then we would root for Sam to take that shield.

There is a reason we don’t get Walker’s perspective at all in his introduction. He’s just this stranger we’ve been programmed as an audience to hate. We are not treated to Walker waiting to go outside and feeling nervous, or Walker doubting himself or perhaps even not wanting to take up the shield at first when it was given to him. The purposeful lack of his perspective is done so we only feel the weight of emotions from the Wilsons being upset, because we must relate to the protagonists.

Walker is not the hero of this story, he’s not the protagonist of this story, if he was, then the story would have framed his unveiling as Captain America in a completely different way, and we would have been treated to a sympathetic look at what he was feeling about taking on the shield, we would have had an inside look at his mindset before he walked out there and looked into that camera and winked. But because we the audience lack that important context that was deliberately kept away from us, our views on Walker formed and solidified without it, and then we all stewed on those feelings for a whole week.

By the time Episode 2 rolled around to open with Walker’s perspective, the damage was already done, it was too late, because people had already made up their mind about what kind of a person he was, and even those who might have given him a chance was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The show had very clearly made sure that John Walker was always going to have an uphill battle in the eyes of the fans, however fairly or unfairly. And that deliberate and purposeful removal of his perspective and context would be the key to how the character will be misread. Because the reality is, Walker hasn’t even done anything wrong yet and people have already made assumptions just because of one wink, just because of his mere presence. There was no objective consideration that Walker winked because he understood having to put on a cheerful public facade, no consideration that he could have been told to play along nicely for the cameras and directed to look there and wink, no consideration that he didn’t ask for this job but was ordered to do so and is as much a “victim” of the government as Sam. Because the show had already used every trick in the book to make us feel bad and ominous about his presence, the audience would automatically assume the worst.

CLICK THIS LINK TO CONTINUE TO EPISODE TWO AND THE REST OF THIS 219 PAGES AND OVER 28K WORDS ANALYSIS

#mcu discussions #mcu meta

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topweeklyupdate · 6 years ago

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TØP Weekly Update #54: COVER ME (7/13/2018)

Finally, after months of solid drought, the barren wasteland known as the TØP fanbase has finally been blessed with rain. And not just a gentle sprinkle; it’s been a consistent heavy downpour, a veritable flood. Even before new music, this week gave us new content from the group every single day. There will probably be something new out by the time you’re done reading this. So let’s not waste any time! Here’s your week in Twenty One Pilots news.

This Week’s TØPics:

Your Band Is Back: Trench Coming This October

“Jumpsuit” and “Nico” Released

New Logo/Theming/Everything

Josh Speaks

And SO. MUCH. MORE.

Major News and Announcements:

This time last week, I was certain that we would be getting new music on the 6th because it was my birthday. Turns out, myself and many others in the Clique read a little too deeply into Clancy’s promise that “everything would be different” by morning. We did not receive new music on that date, which, for the record, was way earlier than most reports had pegged. The fanbase wanted music ASAP and interpreted the letter to fit that, and anyone who said the band lied about when music was coming was just not being honest with themselves.

Things were different starting last Friday. On the one-year anniversary of their departure, Twenty One Pilots directly reached out to their fans for the first time, not through the wide platform of social media, but with an email message to their mailing list.

The message only consisted of the subject line “ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?” and a gif of an opening yellow eye, with images fitting the iconography of the Dema site flashing under the eyelid. The Clique basically lost their minds at this direct contact, so much so that major publications like Billboard finally started to report on the long gestating speculation. Everyone was excited to see the eye open over the course of the day, bringing everything full circle and culminating (presumably) with new music.

That... didn’t happen. Rather, dmaorg.info was restored after being down for only a few hours, and this gif of torches was added onto the site. This indicated that Clancy had escaped Dema, and the Clique promptly set about assuming that the next day would mark the band’s full return. Further, the name of the gif, “they_ca_ntseeFCE300″, seemed to confirm what people would be speculating ever since Josh dyed his hair nearly two years ago: the next era’s color would be yellow (specifically, FCE300) to symbolize hope and light pushing back against the dark.

The next day brought with it another update from Clancy (and the general concession among the Clique to stop expecting new music every night and just go to bed). In one of my favorite bits of attention to detail so far, Clancy’s latest journal was messily handwritten on a scrap of paper, due to the fact that he had successfully escaped Dema and was now traveling through- big shock- a region called “Trench”. The writing itself is kinda rambly and generic (so I can relate), with Tyler Clancy marveling at how much he loves being in the trees being alone out in nature. That said, I do love that there is a definite story being presented, with Clancy experiencing changes, taking action, and going on a real journey through this world that Tyler’s created.

On the back of the paper, however, is something much more interesting: a blown-out image that, when reversed, revealed a dead body. That was creepy enough as is; far more creepy was the Clique’s CSI-level discovery that this ripped photo fit with several other dmaorg.info images in a giant puzzle. Who was this man? Was this a random poster that Clancy grabbed as he escaped, or are we supposed to take it as a metaphor? Was it a random citizen of Dema? A bishop? Clancy himself? Blurryface? So many questions.

Twenty One Pilots truly made their mainstream return on July 9th, when they posted a second video of a half-opened eye, not just for hardcore fans, but on all of their social media platforms. This return was accompanied by a total overhaul of the band’s general branding: a new yellow-and-black ||-// logo was revealed for the new era, while the old “silence” banners and even the website subscription box were covered up by bright yellow tape. Billboards featuring the logo on this yellow tape aesthetic sprang up in cities all around the world, from London to Toronto, Berlin to Melbourne, even an entire building in São Paolo. The boys were back.

On Tuesday, Twenty One Pilots again returned to social media to post a second video. The eye, now about 3/4 open, depicted even more of this medieval battle, now with the addition of the Watchers on the cliff throwing... something (rocks? rose petals?) into the air. Instead of generic white noise, this clip was scored by a muffled but still obviously crunchy bass line. As radio stations across the country began to tweet about a major alternative release coming Wednesday morning (with a few even mentioning they were from Columbus), we finally knew that we were going to be ok....

New Releases:

And then I was not okay.

Early Wednesday morning, Twenty One Pilots dropped two singles and announced the names and dates for the next album, Trench, and tour, Bandito. My prediction from last week was 100% correct, and you all may thank and validate me in the comments below like and subscribe. “Jumpsuit” is our main single with a full cinematic music video, while “Nico and the Niners” is the more lore-heavy low-key song for the fans. I’m going to pull back from fully going in on picking apart every sonic and thematic element of both songs and save that for (hopefully) a less busy week, but you know I gotta write about their first new music in two years. Cause that’s what I do: I write too much.

Guys, “Jumpsuit” is a straight-up banger. Featuring a killer driving bassline, some of Tyler’s most impassioned screams, and a truly devastating bridge, I have not tired of this song one bit in the last few days. It takes me on a complete emotional journey in just four minutes every time, and it does so mainly through its soundscape (there’s only the hook, three couplet verses, and that damn bridge). It’s so, so, so, so good, potentially (dare I say it) the best sonically arranged and produced song the band has ever released.

So... what’s “Jumpsuit” about? Well, a lot of things, but in a word: pressure. Again, the lyrics are super vague, I think deliberately so. Clearly the song is about the singer feeling pressured by others into taking a path that he does not want to travel down. That bridge, delivered in an eerie detached falsetto, shows Tyler pushing back even at his weakest point, stating that he will not submit to what others want him to do unless they “grab him by the throat, tie him down, and break his hands.” Certainly you can argue that this is about the music industry. The “breaking his hands” line is killer in that context, as it signifies that the industry can’t control him without taking away the things that makes him valuable to them in the first place, his artistic ability and freedom. You can also say that it’s just playing straight into the concept, with Clancy breaking away from the bishops’ control. But the deliberate vagueness of the lyrics means that the audience can apply the message- and the empowerment of that killer bassline- to whatever struggle they are facing. That’s pretty darn rad.

The music video, directed by “Heathens” and “Heavydirtysoul”’s Andrew Donoho, is sick. Tyler (looking extra fly in his new yellow hooded jumpsuit) attempts to flee from this creepy Red Riding Hood old dude on a white horse (Nico?) through what is certainly a Game of Thrones filming location while other figures in yellow duct tape jumpsuits look on from the cliffs above. Tyler is captured by the bishop, who “smears” him by putting the black Blurryface makeup on his neck. Tyler is freed briefly from the bishop’s control when the other yellow-clad figures throw yellow petals down on him, but he is chased down knocked out or killed. The others flee the scene, save for one very handsome looking drummer boy... Oh, and there’s a bunch of intercut clips of Tyler on the car from “Heavydirtysoul” for some reason.

Besides those “Heavydirtysoul” scenes, which truthfully don’t connect much to the story of the video beyond artificially welding it onto the end of the Blurryface Era, this is one of the band’s best videos yet. It totally fulfilled all of my expectations of a more epic scope for this era, from the gorgeous Iceland setting to the dope as hell costumes to the implication that the story might continue on from this point. And there are tons of little Easter eggs, from brief flashes of the nine bishops to possible cameos from the Josephs and Duns. We don’t really know for sure if Tyler is playing Clancy or if the red dude is Nico, but it will certainly be fun to continue to fill in the blanks as we move forward and (hopefully) hear more from Tyler directly.

“Nico and the Niners” is a weird track, but one that I still absolutely love. In some ways, it’s a more traditional tøp track, with some of the raggae elements found on Blurryface and a rap verse to fit all of Tyler’s lyrics in. But in other significant ways, it’s a totally different path for them. For starters, just look at that title: it’s very explicitly about this album’s concept from top to bottom, with Tyler singing about fleeing Dema and its bishops’ control and even heavily referencing “Jumpsuit”; there’s clearly going to be a great deal of thematic cohesion in this project. But there’s also just the general vibe of it: just as “Jumpsuit” was a heavier rock song than anything we’d yet seen from the band, "Nico” is way more laid back, its repeated references to being high and even its visualizer of assorted shrubbery making it a potential stoner anthem (whether that was Tyler’s intention or not). Regardless, the song is brimming with character and hooks, and it’s already grown on me significantly in just a few days.

Oh, and one more thing: this song lives up to its Dema-referencing title and content by being cryptic af. The track is littered with reversed audio in the instrumental bits, including the “we are banditos” snippet from dmaorg.info and another sample of someone who sounds a lot like Josh saying “We will leave Dema at true east, renounce Vialism [the bishops’ ruling philosophy, alluded to be Clancy in an earlier journal].” I swear, if all it takes for Tyler to make all this stuff is a year break, he should do this after every album.

With all that new music, the fact that we finally have a name for Album 5 almost got lost in the shuffle. Trench was a popular guess over the last few days thanks to dmaorg.info, but it’s good to finally know for sure. Graphic designer Brandon Rike from the Blurryface Era is back again, revealing a cover featuring a badass-looking vulture/falcon/whatever, some new logos (including the return of FPE!), and some more yellow tape that appears to be covering the names of the rest of the album’s songs. Not too much else to say at this point; we’ll just have to wait until some of that tape gets peeled off between now and October 5th.

Finally, let’s talk about the Bandito Tour. It bears mentioning that, amidst the otherwise overwhelmingly positive positive atmosphere of the band’s return, this tour name received the most general opposition from fans and non-fans alike. The fact that “bandito” was probably going to turn up in a lyric from two decidedly white dudes was already enough to put some folks on edge, but the idea of an entire tour of predominantly non-Hispanic tweens flooding arenas and calling themselves banditos was enough to turn a few people against the band. And look, I get it- I hear “bandito” and the first things I think of are John Wayne Westerns and Speedy Gonzalez, and I get why a lot of fans might feel uncomfortable with that. But, to be fair, the band hasn’t used any of those stereotypes and banditos is a word for outlaw used in a number of Romance languages. Perhaps most interestingly, there’s not yet any evidence that the word even appears in the album itself. So far, the only appearance of “bandito” is in a coded message on dmaorg.info and in reversed audio in “Nico”. If this does turn out to be a name meant to only make sense to the most hardcore of fans, it is almost redeemed (I mean, I still think the name is a little silly, but I’m already in presale).

So, with that out of the way, let’s actually talk about the tour itself. It will be an international arena tour- even if the band’s sound is not going in a pop direction, they still clearly feel confident that the Clique will show up wherever they go. The first show will be hosted in Nashville (their first arena concert in that market) on October 16, not even two weeks after the release of the full album. What a baller move, and much preferred to the Blurryface rollout where we didn’t hear most of the songs on the record until nearly two months after the album release and they didn’t play near me for even longer. The boys will tour the U.S. until November 21, even playing arenas in a few markets that they’ve never played large venues in before, and then hit up Australia and New Zealand in December.

The most objectively interesting leg will be in Europe from January through March. Not only will the band play their first arena shows in markets like Moscow, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Central Poland, and Manchester, they will return to markets like Dublin and Glasgow they’ve been absent from for years. Most exciting, Twenty One Pilots will play their first shows in Bologna and Stuttgart and venture into the countries of Ukraine, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal for the first time ever. Needless to say, the rabid fanbases of all of these regions are super excited, and I’m super excited for them!

Other Shenanigans:

While Tyler has continued to stay silent (much as he has since mid-Blurryface Era), Josh immediately jumped back on Twitter with a standard Josh joke and even resumed his morning workout Snapchats. On Thursday, Josh even called into BBC Radio One with Annie Mac to give a quick interview about the new era. He didn’t provide a ton of information, but it was just a delight to hear our kid’s voice again. A few tidbits of info:

Josh reported that he was calling from Trench, I hate him.

The sick bass riff on “Jumpsuit” was born from soundchecks toward the end of Emotional Roadshow. He says that, as a result, it sounds closest to the Blurryface sound, serving as a good transition into the new era. (If this is what he thinks is close to Blurryface on Trench, this album’s gonna be nutter butters.)

Both Josh and Tyler are really nervous about the elaborate rollout, both out of the usual fear that no one stuck around and out of wariness of severely disappointing people when they hear the actual music (so far, so good...)

Trench continues to have the “diverse” sound of the previous records and also was designed to be played live.

Josh also tuned into Apple Music’s Beats 1 for an interview with Hanuman Welch. This conversation was less about the new album and more about the “hiatus”. More tidbits:

The band views collaboration as a “sacred” thing, and while they’re not against it in the future, it has to be done in a context that makes sense and not merely for marketing purposes.

The band has never used the word hiatus because they’ve been working. They drew back from the spotlight to allow themselves some time to recharge, but also because they were worried of oversaturation (particularly after the Grammys pushed them into that next-level pop culture sphere). Rather than make a bunch of social media posts that didn’t mean anything just to stay relevant, the band decided to draw back, focus on music, and in the process “thin the weeds” of fans who weren’t the diehards.

For the last few albums, the music has come from a specific personal place the band was at while write, whether it be a spiritual journey with Vessel or tackling insecurities on Blurryface. Josh says the same remains true with Trench, but notes that there will be a little more fleshing out themes by working on a specific story with this one (he still says it’s not really a concept album, but ok).

Believe it or not, we are not done. While the boys were blazing a brave new path forward, another bit of content reminded us of where the band came from. Greg Wells, the producer who made Vessel the masterpiece it was, gave an hour-long interview to Billboard’s Pop Shop Podcast. He mainly speaks about getting started in the industry back in the 90s and working on the mega-blockbuster Greatest Showman soundtrack, but he does talk about Vessel for a bit approximately forty minutes into the interview. I won’t give the exact time-code, not because I’m lazy, but because the entire interview is worth listening to. Greg just seems like a rad dude. His laid-back nature and the seriousness he takes with his craft really shine through; he and Tyler must have gotten along just fine.

Community Spotlight:

The Clique took some heavy losses over the last year, as a great deal of old fans moved on to greener pastures. But that just left room for a whole host of new fans to rise to the occasion and help us get through that long drought. Today, I wanted to give a shout-out to GingerSheep and Stolen Potential, two Clique vloggers that have really kept the fanbase informed and uplifted and have been working their butts off reporting on the daily content. I know how long it takes me just to research and write one of these- I can’t imagine the work that then goes into filming and editing on top of that nearly every day. Hats off to you, good sirs. Make sure you all check out their channels if you haven’t already! But, you know, don’t stop reading these. I have bills to pay with all the Tumblr money I’m not making.

Well, that wasn’t too much, was it? If you made it all the way to the end, mad props. See you next week for a slightly tamer week (probably).

Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #tyler joseph #josh dun #trench #jumpsuit #bandito tour #nico and the niners #hiatus #dema #top weekly update

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