#Pennies for your thoughts

[penny00dreadful]

Chronic pain, post-demobats, mostly cane user but occasional wheelchair user Eddie who will often answer nosy strangers with a salacious wink and a sultry "my husband" when they ask what happened.

Steve can almost always be heard shouting from a distance "STOP TELLING PEOPLE I PUT YOU IN THE WHEELCHAIR, EDWARD!"

[charmac]

I wrote about Charlie and Dennis' paralleled childhood sexual abuse, and how their opposing trauma responses keep them from seeing themselves while they stay stuck in their own cycles of abuse.

// The content under the read more is an in-depth script analysis highlighting and discussing childhood sexual abuse and trauma response. Please read with caution or scroll past this post if these topics are known to affect and/or trigger you. //

Because Sunny walks an extremely fine line between sensitive, if not traumatic, character work and dark comedy, I've found that, in reading the scripts, the trauma being written is always much more blatant. You have to work a little harder to pick up on the underlying intent when watching the episodes (though the more and more we learn about the characters, the more the intent becomes clear), but the scripted versions of these scenes are solid evidence that the clear intent of these storylines is to reveal that these characters have extremely repressed childhood trauma, in-turn explaining to the audience why they have such fucked-up ideas of (and relationships with) love and sex. To put it more blatantly: the purpose of giving and revealing the childhood trauma these characters have is purposeful (if not needed), explaining why they are the predators that they are, and allows us to at least understand where their often psychopathic actions and rationales come from.

The fact that Charlie and Dennis were both sexually abused as children is all but obvious to the audience (and every other member of the Gang), but the extent to which these plots are intended to act as character work as opposed cheap-shot rape jokes is often lost on the casual viewer. In my opinion, the disconnect is not for lack of clear intention in the writing, but by the nature of the show being what it is.

It’s very clearly still there, easy enough to catch if you’re standing more than ankle-deep in the waters, but because Sunny is a dark comedy, it’s unfortunately easy to uncomfortably laugh past a rape joke if you don’t care to look deeper than the surface. Taking a look at the scripts helps paint a clearer picture, making it easier to point out, walk through and explore the CSA lore developed for both Charlie and Dennis, how they parallel and oppose each other, and how this trauma relates to their own predatory behaviours. 

An obvious starting point is Charlie Got Molested, which is, on the surface, an episode in which we learn that Charlie wasn't molested. What is changed from the script to the episode is this first line from Charlie, right at the very end of the episode, on his family’s response to his alleged molestation:

(Charlie's aired line is instead "Now everybody thinks that I've been molested. So, in a way, my life is ruined.")

Whether written with a specific intent at the time or not, this episode sets the stage (literally, lol) for a later building 'reveal' that (1) Charlie was molested as a child, and (2) his Uncle Jack is very much a pedophile, not just a perv (which is hinted at in the actual episode, both in dialogue and visuals), because the next time the show features a plot with Charlie and molestation (Sweet Dee's Dating notwithstanding, though important to mention, as it’s further evidence of the idea that there was clearly a thread being woven early on), it’s via the form of a play.

Charlie wrote The Nightman Cometh as a play about love, which was turned into a 'legible' play by Artemis, in which the Gang all "misinterpreted" his original intent and believed it to be about a child being raped. Charlie gets mad, because he doesn't see it, doesn't believe it, and instead believes everyone is destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let this idea go.

The script for The Nightman Cometh (which, I’d like to point out, RCG chose to make publicly available to everyone) has an alternate ending to the rehearsal of the bed scene between The Boy and The Nightman:

(The aired version shows Charlie more-comedically angry at Mac and Dennis by raising his level of frustration, physically with his hands. The mention of the Nightman taking The Boy face-to-face is never addressed in the aired episode, yet it does take place that way in the actual play scene following the rehearsal featuring doggy-style humping.)

What's heavily implied in the episode (and basically explicitly stated in the script), is that the Gang are not misinterpreting Charlie's art; the play is quite literally built around the idea that a child is attempting to communicate his rape, and Dennis is telling him that’s what it is. Charlie can't accept that, because this is a play about his life, he believes he’s created a play about love, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

(And, following this, the audience can put the two and two together: Charlie’s clearly repressed CSA and the fact that his Uncle is a pedophile. In every.single.physical.interaction Charlie and Uncle Jack have, in every appearance he makes following Season 4, the fact that Uncle Jack is the Nightman is clear.)

Rolling back a little, it’s interesting that Dennis is the one to be audibly confused by (and frustrated with) the fact that Charlie can't understand his play is a rape play, because it's so very obvious to Dennis. Yet, 7 years later, he's in Charlie's exact shoes.

Because in Dee Makes a Smut Film, Dennis' plot almost directly parallels Charlie’s from The Nightman Cometh:

Dennis wrote his Erotic Memoirs as a tale of his sexual conquests, the first of his encounters turned into a 'film' by Dee, in which Dee "misinterpreted" what happened between Dennis and the Librarian as him being raped as a teen. Dennis gets mad, because he doesn't see how it could possibly be rape, doesn't believe a guy can be raped, and instead believes Dee and Grieco are destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let the idea go.

(In the aired episode, Dennis does not avoid using the word rape, and instead insists you cannot rape a guy, and that he was willing.)

Just like Charlie, Dennis refuses to accept that the people who are acting out his writing at face-value are telling him straight up that it looks like, and most-likey is, rape. Dennis can't accept that, because this is a film about his life, it's about his first sexual conquest, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

This goes one-step further when Dee airs the 'film' for the rest of the Gang:

(The aired version of the video does not show anything from filming, and only shows a slideshow of photos from when Dennis was a teen, overlay text claiming he was raped, and a photo of Klinsky repeating 'hoser' over and over.)

Dennis goes on a spiel and reiterates that he was not raped. The rest of the Gang are not convinced.

And at this point, Charlie and Dennis probably should relate to each other, or at the very least intentionally give each other a pass/miss whenever the topic of childhood sexual abuse emerges, but instead they continue to have no issue believing and pointing out that the other was raped while continuing to deny their own trauma. 

In PTSDee, this paralleled-refusal is made clear. Very clear. In the script, it's even clearer:

(In the aired scene, Dennis' line is clearly cut after he mentions Charlie's mom, and it picks up with Charlie's line at "the father thing")

They see it so clearly in each other, but don't see themselves mirrored—and there's no doubt that's intentional. Because while they were both sexually abused as children, their current relationships with love and sex (as portrayed from basically episode one) are opposing, and the circumstances of their individual rape and immediate repression are extremely illustrative as to why they behave the way they do:

Charlie's trauma response is typical of pre-pubescent, forced rape. Not mature enough to even recognise what happened to him (as Uncle Jack's abuse was likely his first exposure to sexual acts), he regresses and represses, subsequently developing a repulsion toward sex into his adult life (in Season 5, Mac and Charlie Write a Movie, there's a deleted scene that makes it evident that he's disgusted by and avoidant of sex decades later), and, clearly by the depictions in The Nightman Cometh play and the lyrics of Nightman in Sweet Dee’s Dating, believing that the harassment he faced was love. 

For the run of the show, Charlie’s interest in love and sex is almost exclusively highlighted by his relentless pursuit of the Waitress. In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Charlie is depicted as a sexual harasser, unable to recognize that disinterest, avoidance, the word "no," and stalking that leads to legal action to restrain him from the person he's pursuing is inappropriate and predatory.

While his CSA results in a repulsion toward sex (in most instances), Charlie clearly associates the concept of love with the early harassment he faced, brought on him in his own home by a "loved one," he truly believes that his own relentless pursuit will end up buying him love. Charlie is stuck in an abstinent cycle (at least, until Dennis’ Double Life) of his own abuse.

Dennis' trauma response is typical of coercive rape and grooming. He was old enough to believe that sex is something that should be seen as cool, and therefore obsesses and brags about his experience(s), resulting in his hypersexuality. In Season 5, The D.E.N.N.I.S. System, it's firmly established that Dennis' pursuit of women is something outside of genuine attraction; in fact, it's almost devoid of it. Clearly by the plot of PTSDee, he sees a woman’s sexuality as a weapon he needs to fight against. 

For the run of the show, Dennis' interest in sex is deeply entwined with the fact that he gets off on having power over his "sexual conquests". In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Dennis is depicted as a date rapist, having an aversion to recognising (if not an inability to understand) consent, he pursues sex exclusively for his own physical pleasure, with little care for the other party, getting off on the knowledge that he’s orchestrated the situation he’s in.

While his CSA results in an obsession with sex, Dennis clearly does not associate the concept of love with the act, truly believing that sex is used to overpower someone, most enjoyable when obtained via coercion, exactly as his virginity was taken from him. Dennis is stuck in a loveless cycle of his own abuse.

Charlie and Dennis meet after their own traumas; their clearly disordered relationships with love and sex is how they've always known the other to be. When there are hints of the other's abuse, they're able to easy recognise what it is, for they sense the paralleled familiarity of their own CSA—yet their polar opposite trauma responses result in an inability to reflect:

To Dennis, Charlie was clearly raped, and Charlie fears sex and Dennis loves sex, so he can't have been raped; To Charlie, Dennis was clearly raped, and Dennis doesn't pursue love and Charlie loves the Waitress, so he can't have been raped.

Their reflections being mirrored causes them to harp on the other's trauma and keeps them from being able to truly recognise their own abuse. Call the other out and deny what’s shot back, stuff it down and continue spiralling in their own cycle of abuse.

[cinamun]

Nuevo Corazón, 8:28pm

[bunnithechubs]

Episode 9 pt 2 - Second Elimination

Unfortunately the time has come again for two more contestants to go home. The six sims brought to the elimination were determined by number of points earned through challenges and friendship/relationship scores. In no particular order those sims were:

Adriel Nunez by @simsmoonie

Blaze Viper by @aniraklova

Darius King by @rasoyas

Jamison Peck by @squeezesublime

Jain Cooley by @invisiblequeen

Luca Palladio by @costalcowplant

The tops of this week were: Adriel and Darius. Are we surprised? Our girl adores them both. Adriel sort of took a back seat this week but still managed to beat everyone else in house one. Whereas Darius… we all know why he’s here. Penny is still hoping he says something about her confession but he’s keeping her on her toes. He likes seeing her nervous.

Jamison ended up being safe this week. He made a lot of progress from last week but if he wants to stay in this competition he’s gotta do better. Hopefully he takes that to heart for next week or else he might find himself in the bottom.

By a surprise, Blaze was also considered safe this week. Penny debated eliminating him but she thought about giving him once last chance. Hopefully he doesn’t blow it next week!

That brings us to the eliminated contestants- Jain and Luca. Penny had the lowest scores with each of those sims across both houses. Luca really dug himself a ditch by rejecting all her flirty interactions and Jain just couldn’t stand out from all the men. They were great guys and I loved having them in the competition. Penny hopes they find love out there!

You didn’t think that was the end did you? Raiden decided to say 🖕production and went out to confront Penny about the gym situation. Penny was surprised that he did that and low key she found it super attractive. The two of them hatched it out (somewhat) but unfortunately production didn’t get to film it in time. Just know that Penny was being a MAJOR brat about it all.

Annnnnnd that’s what you missed on GLEE!!

[shishuri]

I honestly think Lakan's character design is smart.

Lakan's character design was made to be sus AF. When he was introduced, either in the manga or in the anime, the first thing you would have thought was "this guy looks sleazy", or there is an immediate reaction of, "i hate this guy". Because he has a generic design for an actual sleazy, character, you know that character in any anime that with one look, you know he is the bad guy. It also adds that Maomao's response to hearing that he is nearby or she could possibly meet him was with wary or fear, in case of the anime, that one jumpscare scene of angry Maomao.

And then we finally get to see him in action, he presented himself as this drunkard high official that seems like he would take advantage of anyone and everyone, he would take the woman he is infatuated with, with force. He invokes hate and disgust, it is fueling the 'hate bonfire'. we would never root for this guy, we hoped that he would never get Maomao ever.

And then we get the chapter Balsam and wood sorrel, Lakan and Fengxian's history, we got slapped so hard with their reality, and all that hate bonfire got immediately doused in one swoop. He was the opposite of everything we saw him as the audience.

He never forced himself upon Fengxian, he loved and respected her too much for that.

He wanted to marry her, it was against his will to just up and leave her after they had their first night.

Finding out that Fengxian was gone broke him.

She was the only person he could see her face and she was gone.

And then he met Maomao, he sees her face too, he described her as like a Wood Sorrel, the nail polish Fengxian used, this was their child and all he wanted was to be with her and raise her.

After all that the biggest gut punch for us the audience is when he was about to choose the Courtesan to redeem, without getting Maomao's hidden message. Meimei bless her heart, she was also inlove with him but she still led him to Fengxian, after all those years and all the damage to her face due to Syphilis, he still recognizes her voice and her face, she was still the most beautiful person he has ever met.

We the audience judged him right away from the moment we met him, but all along we were so wrong in a way. He is just a doting father to his children and loves his wife no matter what.

If this doesn't invoke the iconic

You need to check if you still have a heart 😂

He is admittedly sleazy when it comes to his job as a strategist,but that's besides the point cause that's his job lol..

[azertyrobaz]

River Cartwright in "Penny for your Thoughts", Slow Horses (Season 4 - Episode 3)

[taco-drinking-bleach]

So like, we don't really know who Yanqing's birth parents are, or really his past, but we do know about the more recent stuff. We know that he is a child with a love for swords and amazing skill. With people not knowing he is young He may have master things that may take others centuries. That scares me more then it makes me excited. As we know him having to fight his father is hinted at many times as well as the *jesters to the wall of proof* (Mara, past corruption, history rhymes, Abundance theory). This makes me thing that he might have to fight him much sooner then anyone would like. Yanqing's whole world so far has been his job, Even being in the military at such a young age. Seeing what he can do, I would want to prove myself to, seeing what he has gone through I would want to be an adult. If everyone saw me as such except the one I truly wish would see me as so (Jing Yuan). He IS a child after all with the strengths that others can only dream of. What all this rant so far means is that, Yanqing might have kill Jing Yuan before he will be able to put himself together after. Everyone will be hard on him because the public thinks he is way older. His world will shatter because his job, his life, his father, and his knowledge of the world will shift drastically. He is able physically, although emotionally and mentally he is strong (the Hheliobi event where he got into a mental battle about his self worth). Maybe weaker, not because he isn't capable, but because everyone has there problems, but we all have an anchor. Wither its a person, an object, a memory, or the future that we crave, if we lose our anchor we can suffer. a lot. Yanqing's story build up is a little scary ngl

[chronicsyd]

Yk no one talks about this, but it’s more likely that Caitlyn was awake and just off in the dark when Jinx pulled the “I made her a snack” thing on Vi. Not being able to say or do anything knowing that Vi thought Jinx had killed her.

[honmyoseagull]

Namor.

Painted celluloid by Gene Colan. Source here.

[kilianromero]

A Penny for your Thoughts

[mantequillamcwhoremick]

A penny for your thoughts on the Dikinbaus episode? 👀👀👀

Omg okay so I definitely have to rewatch it like 10082927 times but just to go off of my late night 'delirious from excitement' watch, I am absolutely ECSTATIC at the way the episode treated Butters and gave him a well deserved win.

Butters has evolved a lot over the course of the show, he used to be a 100% naïve and innocent boy who was absolutely clueless about everything mature or terrible going on around him and it was always a very hopeful thing for me to watch him keep going and loving life despite how much the world tore him down on all ends. In a way, watching old seasons makes me miss the old Butters, but if Butters had just stayed the same for the next 20 seasons, he would hardly feel like a real/three dimensional person as he does now.

The changes and mood swings he's gone through, as well as the resilience he's started to build up were weird to watch at first (*COUGH* s20) but then they've started making more and more sense, especially taking into account the Post COVID special and the two wildly different paths his life could go.

That all being said, Dikinbaus was an absolutely satisfying cathartic episode as a Butters enthusiast, because he's just finally embracing things he's genuinely good at and demanding justice from someone who's arguably taken advantage of him the most in the entire show: Cartman.

It's kind of like Butters' version of Wendy's "Breast Cancer Show Ever" episode, where she's often been disrespected in a sexist way by him and no one (no teachers/adults) ever really did something, so she took matters into her own hands. Cartman is always screwing Butters over by letting him take the fall for his schemes, making Butters spend money on his behalf, and Butters has let him get away with it for so long, and so have Butters' parents (and everyone else but I especially blame the adults bc yknow).

This makes Dikinbaus kind of a kickstarter for Butters' "Fuck you, Eric!" moment at the end of Post COVID: The Return of COVID, which is nice to see because in the "Worldwide Privacy Tour" episode earlier in the season, Butters' behavior (after his parents sent him to rework his "brand") reminded me much more of Vic Chaos. It's nice to see these two versions of Butters' future reflect in present episodes, and I'm excited to see more of it in future episodes.

I've been rambling about Butters only but tbh I found the Kenman dynamic in this episode hilarious too. It makes me kind of mourn the respect Butters had for Kenny though, bc I'm sure that after this episode it must've significantly gone down, but honestly I was just happy to see Kenny have some fun even if it was at Butters' expense. Let him be a dumb immature kid fr

The only issue I had with the episode for now is the commentary on mental health days at work and the underlying "today's youth is sensitive and too lazy to work" message, which lacked nuance and just kinda felt like old people complaining. It would've been okay if they'd kept it only to Cartman, kinda like the "there's queer people, and then there's Mr Garrison" thing, but they brought Kenny & other kids into that narrative too so it made me feel a little eh about the commentary. But oh well

Sorry anon, you gave me a penny and I'm throwing a whole thesis on you but I still thank you a lot for asking and letting me ramble. Kisses to you :>>

[penny00dreadful]

Eddie Munson has never had any chill when it comes to pickup lines.

"Nice belt. It would look so much better around my neck."

He managed to nab Steve with that one.

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: How is Eri able to forgive him, to look at him like he’s a hero, when he failed her so badly for so long? If he had been stronger, faster, better with his quirk, he would have been able to get her out of their faster, save her right when she first ran into him instead of so much later. Sir Nighteye was right about him not deserving— Problem Child? comes Aizawa-sensei’s voice. He sounds tired and a bit irritated, as always, but beneath that there’s a layer of sheer incredulity. Problem Child? his voice comes again. This time Izuku finally recognizes where it’s coming from— his own head. He can feel a sharp, painful jolt of panic physically stabbing through his chest, and he can’t help but bite back an emphatic shit. Or: While visiting Eri at the hospital following her rescue from the Shie Hassaikai, Izuku and Aizawa-sensei both run into a nurse with a telepathy based quirk, and Izuku finds himself in a telepathic bond with his teacher. This is... somewhat worrying, considering how many secrets Izuku needs to keep.

Author: cassiopeia721

[xovera-toz]

Timeloop that resets every time someone's responsibility is evaded. The brothers have to go about figuring it out on their own

First loop: Greg can't find the correct name for his frog, it all restarts once they fall asleep in the hospital.

Second loop: Wirt blows out the lantern instead of the Woodsman- instant retake.

Third loop: the Woodsman protects the children from the Beast. Best intentions, but protecting Greg is Wirt's job.

Fourth loop: at this point Wirt goes full speedrunner and stomps out into the woods to find the Beast himself. Doesn't go well.

So on and so forth

[crayolacolor]

HEY. so i made this poll once before, but accidentally left out a very important option. so here it is again!! for the funsies!!

[sleepyistinky]

The fact that Geto, if he had been given the chance to meet Itadori, would've adored the teenager so much, ruined me. He may be a little wary at first. Itadori is known as Sukuna's vessel, after all. But once he got to see how sweet and compassionate Itadori was, he would've felt the same warmth in his chest that he gets from Nanako and Mimiko. Geto would look at Itadori and see glimpses of himself in the boy. The all-consuming love he feels for sorcerers, and he would understand.

He would understand Yuuji. Yuuji, the sweet boy who wants nothing more than to save people, no matter how shallow their relationship is with him. Yuuji, who consumed a gross, wrinkly, mummified finger just to save a boy he had just met even while knowing practically nothing about the Jujutsu World. He knows all too well that Yuuji must've gagged at the aftertaste once the adrenaline wore down, he knows it on a personal level. Yuuji, who just had to get the one in the million chance of becoming The King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna's, vessel. And somehow, someway, not be consumed entirely by the terrible thing's lust for blood and destruction, by the thirst for human flesh and blood.

Suguru would take one look at Itadori and think, "I'm so sorry. I want to save you. I want to keep you safe, protect you. Protect you in the way someone should've protected me. God, Satoru. Please do something this time. Don't look at this young sorcerer's pain, worry, and then do nothing. Not again." And suddenly, Itadori Yuuji isn't just Sukuna's Vessel. Or The Child Chosen by The Sparks. Or The Tiger of West Junior High. Yuuji is a sweet, teenage boy. Yuuji, who loves to wear hoodies no matter how hot it is outside. Yuuji, who watches really corny things like the Human Earthworm movies. Yuuji, who would travel through heaven, purgatory, hell, and back for his friends and teachers. Suguru knows he won't be able to save Yuuji. But he'll be damned if he doesn't try.

Art by makoto03_724 on twt (correct me if I'm wrong). ALSO, THIS ISN'T A SHIP POST! IF YOU SHIP THEM GET OUT 🤬