#a conclusion abt this case and i want them to have the information and i also just want them to know where i'm coming from when i say i'm o

[ronanlynchbf]

see too many ppl still defending jdepp or running with the "mutual abuse" angle so here's a video presenting basically all the (publicly available btw! for anyone to be able to look up!) information on this case. Let it be known if you still support jdepp i am assuming you have never done a grain of research into this in your life and just ran with public opinion and misinformation

[tanadrin]

I would love to hear the rant about social media doomerism and conspiracy

I’m on my phone right now but the summary version is something like:

Humans are bad at integrating information into their worldview accurately bc of various cognitive biases

Social media incentivizes us seeking out content that excites fear or anger or irritation

Social media thus causes us to form negative impressions of the world bc it mediates so much information consumption and discourse these days

This general negative affective impression is subject to high confirmation bias and ppl in general are really bad at divorcing an affective impression of a thing from their dispassionate reasoning abt a thing

(Bc one of the functions of an affective impression is to “cache” our conclusions about a topic to save time and effort later)

(In general if you are a cynic and pessimist you can fall prey to these biases w/o social media but I think social media makes more ppl susceptible to them)

People don’t want to be dupes so they seek refuge in cynicism. We treat cynicism as wise or worldly when in fact cynicism makes you a dupe and an easy mark for grifters. Cynicism and low trust foster conspiracism, paranoia, and antisocial politics

(This is why so many congenitally contrarian folks seem to flit effortlessly between the far left and far right; it’s not horseshoe theory, they’ve just cooked their brains on this stuff)

This is a world where populist anti-social politicians like Trump and the AfD thrive, bc they will lie about how everything is terrible and people will nod along, bc it explains why their social media is full of awful stories of, like, immigrants eating pets and shit

But it doesn’t just have to be insane lies only a moron could believe. It can be any impression about a fact in the world that it is difficult to personally check and which is vulnerable to being swayed by anecdote

This is how we get a word where people think crime rates are higher than they’ve ever been when in fact crime is falling

Or child predators lurk around every corner when in fact children are safer than ever

Or the American economy is in a recession when in fact it’s doing historically well by just about every available metric (now with full employment AND low inflation!)

Because in a big world even where things are in general good and getting better you can always produce infinite individual examples of shitty things and pipe those in a steady stream into people’s eyeballs, and then point to that and leverage people’s low trust attitudes and their cynicism which tells them they are smarter than the experts and go “statistics is just a fancy way to lie! The world is secretly terrible! Every bad thing is even worse than you thought and every good thing is a lie!”

(Nevermind the whole phenomenon where anything that is complicated or that someone does not themselves understand gets treated like it’s actually secret and a conspiracy.)

And here I know I have to include some disclaimer about how this is not to discount individual cases of suffering or struggle, which are real, or that there are indeed some really awful things happening in the world right now, which there are, but you know what?

I’m tired of doing that. People with reading comprehension operating in good faith ought to be able to deduce that general statements do not obviate particular exceptions, and people who cling to their doomerism as a kind of emotional life raft do not generally argue with me in good faith.

Sometimes doomerism is a load-bearing pillar of their politics, which I think is dumb—I think you can be a leftist or a progressive without being a doomer! In fact I think doomerism is antithetical to useful politics!

Sometimes they are just depressed and treatment-resistant. Sometimes they are just angry misanthropes who want to feel justified in their misanthropy. Some doomers are themselves in bad circumstances and feeling hopeless about that—to them I am enormously sympathetic. Though a lot of doomers will admit they personally are doing OK—this does not seem to be most doomers.

But I think in general cynicism and doomerism and a worldview dominated by a general nebulous air of Everything Is Awful and by abstract nouns with threatening auras is not conducive to wisdom or understanding or useful politics or leading a happy and fulfilling life.

[bestworstcase]

anyways. enough spitballing

i was so right abt fun parent tai

YANG: Do you… wonder why he’s not here? With everybody else? I know Qrow said he’s on assignment, but what’s more important than here? RUBY: Maybe we don’t have the full picture. YANG: I don’t know. Some things you just need to be there for.

first. there are two possibilities: if qrow knows what this “assignment” is, he hasn’t filled in his nieces and the old guard backslid HARD after team rwby fell—the exclusion of ren and nora from the secret meeting in B1 also points in that direction, so it feels quite plausible; on the other hand, if raven knows where tai is and what he’s doing, it seems strange that ruby and yang would not also know, unless the girls haven’t asked her about summer at all (in which case i’d believe that they’re just not really on speaking terms).

like if raven had a conversation with ruby about summer, i can’t see her hiding ‘the full picture’ with regard to tai if she knew about it, even if qrow wanted her to. maiden of knowledge, begrudging oz his secrets, and all.

on the other hand. if the girls know everything qrow does, that would imply that tai’s “assignment” is either an ozpin secret (and oz hasn’t been keeping his promise to be honest, which feels incongruous with him actively fighting his curse now) or a taiyang secret, in which case i am one hundred percent sure it isn’t to do with the crown of choice.

“maybe we don’t have the full picture,” says ruby, thinking about what the blacksmith showed her and what the blacksmith said. that’s the big lesson she learned in the tree, not to jump to conclusions on incomplete information. so that narratively links tai’s mysterious “assignment” to summer’s mysterious “last mission,” which was a “summer secret.” if tai stayed behind in vale to deal with a taiyang secret that not even oz knows about… it’s summer. lol. it can only be summer. if it were the crown, oz would know because ozpin would have given him that assignment in the first place; if it were defending people hiding in mountain glenn, there’s no reason for it to be secret.

but if he knows summer is alive and well and with salem, and he’s trying to, i don’t know, turn her against salem (or ‘save’ her)… well. maybe we don’t have the full picture indeed.

second. oouuugh the weight of what yang doesn’t say. back in v4 she forced herself to put on the prosthetic before she was ready and white-knuckled her way back to functional so she could go find ruby because her dad said he hadn’t gone after ruby because he had “some stuff to look after” at home, and yang thought he meant her; that the only reason he wasn’t out there with ruby was because he had to be here with her.

so she removed herself from the situation—left to find ruby herself—and tai… stayed at home. it’s been months, now. atlas fell and everyone is regrouping in vacuo, trying to prepare for an attack they know will come sooner or later, except tai, who is “on assignment.” what’s more important than here? what’s more important than being here with both his daughters, at the end of the world? if qrow knows, what’s so important that he has to keep them in the dark? if qrow doesn’t know, then it can’t reasonably be to do with the relic at beacon—which is the only thing that could arguably be more important than joining the vacuo coalition.

“some things you just need to be there for,” says yang. my dad just kind of… shut down. and then dad was always busy with school and ruby couldn’t even talk yet; i had to pick up the pieces. i had to keep things together, alone. ruby starts to reminisce about coming to this place with tai when they were kids, and it’s a fond memory for yang too…but one undercut with all of this. the outings were fun—they slowly increased from once a month treats to twice-a-week because ruby got so excited—(ruby is over the moon when she sees the boba shop; yang spends half the walk there second-guessing herself and downplaying the surprise; both reactions speak to their experiences of these outings in childhood)—and why isn’t he here now? why is it, once again, yang trying to pick up the pieces alone while he’s busy with something else more important?—and this time it isn’t even that he’s going to work to put food on the table and make sure bills get paid, he’s just “on assignment” doing… something. that qrow either won’t tell or doesn’t know.

and that feeling is what incites her to talk to ruby about her own failings, and the first thing she says is i don’t need an explanation, because she doesn’t want to make ruby’s crisis about herself but also because she’s about to apologize for not being attentive enough or present enough or aware enough to Be There when ruby needed her.

which is not untrue (surprise! parentified children don’t make good parents for their two-years-younger siblings!) but also. back in v5 when she confronted raven, yang compared herself to raven (you’ll give me the relic and run because you’re afraid of salem; i’m afraid of salem too but i’ll be here waiting for her when she comes after me).

and that’s what yang is doing here with tai (he was physically there and provided for their needs and took them on fun outings sure, but he wasn’t there, when yang looks back on her childhood what she remembers is a sense of overwhelming responsibility and isolation because her dad wasn’t present, and now he’s not even here; she let ruby down in a similar way, being around without really seeing what ruby was going through, but she sees now how she failed and knows what she needs to do to make up for it and she will, she promises, she already is.)

[venmotif]

I was thinking abt kohaku. bc rereading dark nights passing, except in eng they translated it to something stupid like awakened night patrollers. but thats not important

warning: this gets long

kohaku thinks he's a bad person, but he's really not - I actually find his moral compass incredibly strong given the circumstances he was born into and lives with. he's thoughtful and incredibly introspective, so he's done a lot of thinking in order to reconcile with the undeniable fact that what he and his family do is shady and considered immoral by society. and the conclusion that kohaku comes to is incredibly self sacrificing but honestly very noble. he mentions repeatedly that he'd rather have his hands stained, and have to live with the guilt of doing terrible things, if it meant that the greater parts of society could walk with clean consciences. he talks extensively abt how important doing things for the good of society is, even at the expense of the individual; while it can be called unfair that he's been born into circumstances like this that force him to be the one to do dirty things and he can lament that fact, he recognizes it as his duty, and he's dedicated to carrying it out to his utmost in order to protect the people he loves

kohaku recognzies that his actions are terrible, but commits to the ideal that society can be a better, cleaner place at the expense of himself. he mentions dreaming about a day when people like him and madara are no longer needed. kohaku sees himself as disposable, and just a necessary tool for society to use to handle the things no one else wants to touch, and then to be thrown away

when he and madara are collecting information about gfk, madara mentions how ibara always leaves himself an out of any situation, and that kohaku should think about doing the same - if their plan to eliminate gfk failed, he could pin the blame on madara and say madara threatened him. kohaku denies this vehemently.

he understands that his responsibility is undesirable, but he commits to it and does not think, ever, about shirking it in order to save himself. "don't be a fool. don't be like rinne - I never intend to pass my sins on to someone else," he tells madara(ch9). in fact, kohaku seems baffled and probably a bit annoyed in this case(madara loves egging him) that anyone would want to protect him, because he's already dismissed himself as expendable

he mentions madara, rinne and tsukasa as people who are "foolish" enough to care about kohaku's wellbeing, despite knowing what he does. he loves aira and cares about him deeply, and the same is true in reverse, but he tries to keep this part of himself hidden from aira in order to preserve aira's idealism towards idols, since he knows how much aira loves them

kohaku seems to think that if he told aira the truth, aira would no longer love him, for shattering his worldview, but almost certainly aira would care for him all the same - aira already knows what he did as crazy:b, after all, even if afterwards a bunch of blame was shifted around so crazy:b wasn't technically at fault. aira talks to leo while double face are gearing up for their job and expresses concern for kohaku because he mentioned that he had "shady work" and he'd distanced himself from aira shortly after - but after talking to leo, aira comes to the understanding that kohaku's distancing himself in order to protect aira, a person important to him. the funny thing is aira can't believe that kohaku cared about him that much - he thought his deep affection for kohaku only went one way(like an idiot. a loveable one though)

the thing is kohaku cannot fundamentally understand why people would want to care about him as himself, flaws and dirty work and all. he fails to realize that even with his dirty work as a factor, he has an incredibly strong moral character and cares deeply for other people, both generally as a greater society and specifically the people he loves. in fact, because of how he dismisses himself, he dedicates all his energy to improving the world for others, and his self esteem keeps himself from recognizing why other people would want to do the same for him

it's because you're a good person, kohaku. very lovable, murder and all

[rollercoasterwords]

Ok so i just read ur post about criticizing fics about being unnecessary and about how u should just not criticize fanfics because it’s a hobby and not ur personal perfect story. While I completely agree with u and also think u should just leave authors alone and read what u like and skip what u don’t, I just wanted to ask: so in cases like ATYD where (as far as I’ve been informed it was corrected before I read it) there used to be like harmful racist Roma stereotypes. And in a case like this what do u do? Do u still just skip the hat u don’t like it do u inform the author about what u found maybe not wrong but like misleading or sth.? I’m honestly just curious about how to deal with situations like this cause I honestly don’t know.

so, i actually just recently answered that question abt atyd here and i also talk in this post abt what i personally think is the best way to address instances where ur concerned a fic might be genuinely perpetuating harmful stereotypes.

but. basically. if u come across something that seems like a harmful stereotype in a fic, and you are genuinely very worried that it could perpetuate misconceptions, the best approach is probably going to be reaching out to the fic writer directly and privately and politely explaining your concern. in most cases, the person is probably just misinformed and not intentionally trying to perpetuate anything harmful. however, u should keep in mind that you don't personally know who wrote this, what experiences they might have, or what groups they might be a part of, and u should be open to any response u might receive from the writer. it's possible that something u view as a harmful stereotype is something that another person views as important representation.

if the writer doesn't respond or u can't reach them, for whatever reason, u have 2 options.

1 - accept that a single individual posting fanfiction on the internet may have some internalized biases they need to work through, and may have made some misinformed decisions in their writing, and just....move on. in the grand scheme of things, even the most atrocious portrayal in a fanfic is not going to be egregiously harmful irl.

2 - if u are really, really concerned and can't sleep at night because ur worrying that random people might find and read this fic and not have the critical thought to draw their own conclusions + understandings abt it, then. sure. make a post. explain that this one aspect of x fic may be misinformed or misrepresented, and request that anyone who interacts with the fic educate themselves using sources outside this one fic to learn abt the community being misrepresented. don't try to "cancel" the fic or yell at people for reading it at all--that isn't productive, and it isn't going to encourage people to actually educate themselves.

at the end of the day, fanfiction, just like any form of literature or art, will sometimes be biased or misinformed. but we should be approaching fanfiction as a community space that exists outside any consumer economy. that means giving the fic writers u are in community with the benefit of the doubt that they either had a good reason for writing the way they did, or they're simply a bit misinformed and would be open to educating themselves. and it means giving the other fic readers u are in community with the benefit of the doubt that they are just as capable of critical thought as u are, and they aren't simply going to absorb every stereotype they come across uncritically. we should start by assuming the best in each other, not the worst.

[daz4i]

Not to be a toxic skk shipper on main but PLEASEEE EXPLAIN THE SKK CLASSPECTS IM BEGGING

sure thing! :D I'm on mobile so it may not be the most organized thing tho hehe sorry.

so lemme start with the aspects:

from the start i knew dazai had to be void. i think the emptiness that doesn't leave him is a defining thing abt him, and i think his current self would be happy to utilize it to help, somehow, if he could. void is also about secrets and hidden information, mystery and uncertainty, which dazai is quite full of, I'd say, both inside and out. he seems to be comfortable in that element tbh

chuuya's aspect was smth i considered for a bit; the other options i thought of were rage (bc that's quite literally how arahabaki works, chaos and destruction) or time, an aspect that means you're gonna witness a looooot of death and lose most people close to you. which. well. *motions towards sb*

however!!!! i went with blood, bc it's all about bonds, unity, pacts, and i think this is a big defining thing about chuuya - his loyalty, and his need for bonds and friendship. i think going by his personality and motivations is better than going by his powers (bc that's kinda boring) or backstory (bc that's soooo sad)

now, onto classes:

this time let's start with chuuya bc we're on a roll.

"A Heir is one who Changes/Manipulates their Aspect and through their Aspect. Also, may become their Aspect."

an heir of blood doesn't directly manipulate the people they have a bond with, rather inspiring them and leading them (which, as we've seen during cannibalism, chuuya can definitely do. also he wouldn't become an executive with people in his charge if he couldn't do this lol). in turn, they will become stronger from their bonds and feel more secure when they have people to rely on, which, given how chuuya stayed with the mafia all this time, i think it's safe to say that's the case with him hehe.

ok now it's dazai time

to put it simply. a seer sees the future lol (or rather, will invite knowledge, to put it more fancily). but it's through their aspect, somehow - for example, in the original comic, rose sees the best course of action to take (as her aspect is all about luck), and terezi sees all possible outcomes to a situation (and her aspect is about thoughts and decisions)

so, a seer of void will have knowledge of secrets and mysteries, and things others may not be aware of or want to bring to light. i think this is perfect for dazai tbh, and how he gets info in shady ways or figures things out due to his dark past

unlike other seers, a seer of void would do better with not knowing all the details, which, given how s5e11 went, it seems dazai is relatively comfortable with in his current state.

at the same time, a seer of void will not be satisfied with what they're told is the truth, and may be distrustful and try to figure out what's really going on (see: dazai's suspicion of ango during the dark era). in addition, they will have their own view of the world which. not to get into analysis through nlh and comparisons to yozo. BUT- *i get pulled off the stage by a large hooked cane*

also lemme copy a thing from a post i found and used as reference rn. "If the Seer of Void is not careful, they could become cynical and pessimistic - apathetic and dismissive." hmmm reminds me of the younger self of a certain someone (tbh this one's true abt all void players lol). also "They wouldn’t allow themself to remain under the oppressive boot of a leader, especially a leader who thinks they know what is best for the Seer of Void" HMMM REMINDS ME OF THE CONCLUSION TO A CERTAIN BACKSTORY LIGHT NOVEL

bonus for how that works for them as a team, so we can sort of get into the shipping part too:

so, a seer of void will be the planner. obviously. they will notice if something is Off about the situation, and figure out a way to get out of it if needed. they won't have a problem relying on their teammate(s), and these are great news when their teammate is an heir of blood who will bring out the best of that bond between them! heirs are particularly powerful, so being backed by a good planner who will cover their blind spots will make them a powerful duo 😌

hope you enjoyed and that this wasn't complete gibberish! 🫡 i am no expert in classpecting so this may not be the most accurate take ever but i did my best ✨️

[eyeknowmayhem]

ok so I think the biggest difference imo between the two is like. IDW’s was a crew that became a family over time, and MM was a family that became a crew. Which, ik is a very simplified way of looking at it but it informs a lot of the interpersonal dynamics and like, how their leaders (in this case, old hob and superfly) are treated.

Cuz like. Hob intentionally mutated 3 mutants 4 his “cause” - aka mutant army. In the case of the duo after the second attempt treats more like soldiers and team members rather than like. His kids. (Which gets complicated when you incorporate the fact that like… they acknowledge mondo as hob’s sorta not really son and then never bring it up again,) back to the point though. The rest were found over time and like- rescued in some way or another. And importantly enough with the exception of- Pete and Seymour/mutagen man they’re all trained or have some kind of specialized skill. Like driving, infiltration, super intelligence, being straight up invulnerable. Which, for an army/motley crew/freedom fighter group it’s all stuff you’re gonna need to liberate mutantkind or w/e

Compared to like, The very nonlinear and fractured creation, the MM crew were basically all they had, period. In the sense that since SF was the only one who was able to raise and provide for all 8 of them plus himself it’s way easier to lend itself as like. A family- considering how in a way that’s what they were created to be. Even if this iteration’s stockman didn’t live long enough to see it. Which- ok yeah they’re family and all but what does tht rlly mean? I mean I think. Imo it shows the most in the actual interpersonal dynamics.

Cuz like. For idw, hob Is the leader, there’s no doubt about it, but there’s differences. When his plans r too extreme, or he does something without everybody else’s say- he gets pushback! Most of the time the thing he wants to do happens anyway, but despite being the leader he’s not above being questioned. I do think there’s some level of respect, and eventually closeness he has for his teammates even if he still calls the shots. Which isn’t to say superfly doesn’t respect his crew, it’s more like. For the longest time they basically just listened to what he told them bc- superfly is just as stubborn and has the tendency to just go- my way, or the highway abt it. Doesn’t help they didn’t have any vision where there was other options to begin with for acceptance.

Not sure what the conclusion is here. Mostly just- no wonder the idw comics mutanimals went off the rails with betrayal and policing and infighting later on.

Been thinking abt the IDW mutanimals versus the ones in MM. maybe I’ll write up a quick n dirty study or something. Bc they’ve been living nonstop in my brain

[krossan]

So here is the THING...

People often wonder why Dan is my favorite character and the “built-in-character” I often create for him. Most of these questions came after one of my favorite mini-story-panel of Phantom grieving his sister’s grave. I’m refering to this one:

Comments like “why Phantom SHOULD be grieving his sister if he was the one who killed them in the first place?” Well, for this essay, I hope I can change your perception and mind of what truly happen but SPOILER: HE WASN’T THE ONE WHO KILLED THEM. What a shocker. Why I came up with that conclusion, you ask? Let’s dive in with some information given to us in the show and how MADDENING stories that involve time-traveling are.

For starters, I HATE TIME-TRAVEL. I feel like tiime travel is like a simple excuse to misdirect the reader into thinking “Oh, that happened so I shouldn’t think much from that.” TUE is backed up from that which is infuriating to me and how the episode developed itself doesn’t make too much sense. I’m going to leave a quote mention on the DP wikia of exaclty what im talking about:

THIS right here is one of the MOST MEGA FLAW of the show itself. Yes. We know the events that led to Dark Danny was Danny cheating on the C.A.T. and then the NB explosion happen. But DAN DIDN’T CAUSE THE EXPLOSION! Dan didn’t trap his family just to blew up. Dan was out of the equation!

Erase from your minds the fact that Dan was involved on Danny’s timeline for a second and rewind things a bit. It is impossible for Dan to caused that because DAN DID NOT EXIST YET. The events were just about to unfold. For us to follow Dan’s timeline, Danny had NEVER talked to VLAD abt it. He NEVER had any sort of GUIDANCE to prove that he cheating on the C.A.T. was the thing that caused all of it. As the quoted statement of the DP wikia says: maybe what transpire in the Nasty Burger was a COMPLETELY different event that let to one of the boilers to blow. What if- this particular event- maybe the observants send someone else to put a stop to Danny (this also bringing the fact why Clockwork-in a way-is mad at them and you can feel this hatred towards them. And of course as stated by himself, the observants can only see one outcome while Clockwork can see variables.) Now, imagine the loss Danny may have felt after that unprecedented explosion. He had nowhere to go... and so the rest of Dan’s story begins. The only reason why Dan traveled back in time was because he knew this “Danny” from this alternate timeline had guidance from Clockwork. He new that if he cheated, a catastrophy would occur and he would do ANYTHING to prevent it... that was the GUIDANCE Dan NEVER HAD. HE HAD TO WITNESS HIS LOVED ONES DIE.

DAN NEVER HAD THAT “SECOND CHANCE” CLOCKWORK GAVE TO DANNY. OF COURSE DAN WILL BE BLOODY MAD ABT IT. -“I LOST MY FAMILY SO YOU MUST SUFFER THE SAME WAY”

But the overall ending of the episode feels stupid. Like after Danny speaking to Vlad and Clockwork and HE HIMSELF witnessing what was the cause for his family to die... Even if Dan succeded (which may I remind you Dan DID win but Clockwork had to interviene/cheat)

WHY WOULD DANNY GO BACK TO VLAD, GET RID OF HIS HUMANITY... AND BOOM! Have yourself another Dan.

The reasonable explanation to this is, again the OUTCOME.

What if on this case, if everyhing happened the way it was Danny now wanted his ghost to be removed because of the potential risks Phantom had.

He may have became Dark Danny but maybe a different one. One different from the one we all know.

This is my ranting of putting myself on Dan’s shoes for a moment. I hate time traveling episodes just so that they can just “go with it and make a mess out of the story but hey... it’s a cartoon, kids are not going to question anything”. You probably say that I’m overthinking this whole situation but I was once a writer and it is too frustating to me this type of subjects are just not fully solved.

Now with all this, Can you look at the panels and its meaning the same way now? Can you look at Dan the same way?

[boypussydilf]

aw hey another relationships ask. how about sae and akechi? (platonically if thats not obvious,) vastly interested in hearing your opinion

OH MY GOD I HAD NOT EVEN CONSIDERED THEM. CAN WE TALK ABOUT SAE AND AKECHI IVE BEEN DYING TO TALK ABOUT SAE AND AKECHI “youre literally about to talk about them” I AM}!??!?!? SWEET!!!!! literally i saw i had an ask and i was like oh man I’ll probably have to save it for tomorrow and then i saw what it was and was Instantly restored to Full Health. my HP bar is massive and so is my brain. anyway this is once again gonna turn into kind of a big post so

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

SAE NIIJIMA. AND GORO AKECHI. HAVE. THE LITERAL FUNNIEST DYNAMIC OF ANY CHARACTERS IN ANY PIECE OF MEDIA, EVER.

They’re, like, coworkers, which is already incredible bc they’re like. a 27 year old woman and a 17 year old boy. i dont actually know how old sae is but you get the idea. can you imagine being sae and working so hard to earn a position & respect as a young female prosecutor and then theyre like. can you confer with this Teenage Prettyboy. shes so strong for not just walking out.

But It Gets Better. Every interaction they have is stellar. The very first time we see them interact, which is also The First Time We See Akechi, At All, is, god i dont remember the Actual conversation they have i only rememebe the end of it, the most important part: akechi trying to get sae to buy him sushi and looking so miserable and pathetic when she’s like “only the cheap stuff :/“. Fucking…. incredible. 10/10 introduction to their dynamic all on its own. I cannot remember if akechi ever asks her to get him sushi again in the game or if im recalling something that happened in the anime or a fanfic. but. god its so funny. akechi, AKECHI, trying to pester this adult woman he works with into treating him to food. and her refusing. its incredible i could talk in circles abt how good this is for years.

and then it gets even funnier bc of like. the scene where sae realizes that Her Laptop Has Been Tampered With, and she asks akechi if He did it because they had a Disagreement recently. sae thinks akechi is petty enough to like. illegally take important and classified case information from her computer. over some difference of opinion that like, i imagine we see in the game, but if we do its so Understated that ive never noticed it. and she goes Did you try to get revenge on me. you bitch. like its so so funny

AND IT STILL GETS FUNNIER. BECAUSE. makoto says like. she got the impression sae had more trust & respect for akechi than for her. Sae is like “this guy I work with can be annoying and full of himself but he’s genuinely smart and he gets the job done i respect that” and then the guy in question is A TEENAGE CELEBRITY.

I don’t think we ever get to see akechi talk about sae all that much but like. It seems like he does Genuinely Like Her. And also is constantly passive aggressive at her!

In conclusion i. They’re incredible. They’re coworkers, theyre enemies, theyre very good friends with deep respect and even a kind of admiration for each other, theyre one businesswoman and the weird as hell teenager she works with that she feels compelled to be nice to because she has a little sister his age.

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

Again yet another case of like. ^ All That is just like. Their actual canon interactions. I cant improve on that. The only way it can be made better is by having More of it. GOD I wish we got more of it. Oh also I think they talk shit about other people theyve both worked with together. With the utmost professionalism.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

theyre a combo of “GOD i want akechi to have friends. so bad” + “This is the funniest thing ive ever seen. in my life” i wish i was big brain enough to come up with something as riotously hilarious as their dynamic. the whole concept is so singularly unique. i dont know if that was even INTENTIONAL. its all There and it just gets skimmed over. just….. completely fascinating

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

*sobbing and blubbering* what if… goro akechi… had friends and people he cared about… even if he wont fully admit it or tries to avoid it… Like legit that’s. theyre. theyre like friends. i keep going to say They Get Along but they do not get along. but they are. friends. mostly in a Work Friends kind of way but still. & like. i think itsjust inevitable that as an Older Sibling sae will see people younger than her & feel Urge To Watch Over Them And Make Sure Theyre OK even without any like Personal Attachment. *sae voice* i guess i have to take care of this annoying fucking kid because NO ONE ELSE IS!!

of course agaun they also both just have Professional Respect for each other. as well.

favorite interaction they have in canon

AGAIN. THE ONES I LISTED @ THE BEGINNING. AKECHI TRYING TO MAKE SAE BUY HIM QUALITY SUSHI AND SAE ACCUSING HIM OF BEING EVEN MORE PETTY THAN HE IS. 10/10 SITUATIONS

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

ACTUALLY I HAVE NO IDEA. I JUST WANT TO SEE THEM INTERACT MORE FULL STOP. i think anything they did together would be funny

[pikahlua]

Hi I want to ask you abt something, katsuki said he knows deku the best, but if that’s the case then they would never had misunderstanding and katsuki would never think that deku look down on him, what do you think? Also personally I dont like how their solution is to have a fight with deku, while he was injured, tired mentally and physically

1. Katsuki says he knows Deku best as of chapter 319. A lot has changed between then and their initial misunderstanding. Katsuki has had time to reflect on their relationship and everything that's happened between them and come to new, better informed conclusions. The proof of his correctness is there when he accurately predicts exactly how Izuku will react when class 1-A shows up.

2. Bold of you to assume they intend to fight.

(I haven't had time to write up a new meta on chapter 319 just yet, but I suspect a subversion is afoot. A lot reminds me of the moment we thought Katsuki was gonna fight the elementary school children only to have it turn out very differently. Izuku right now just wants to run away. He's not looking to fight anyone to the point of proving his superiority. Class 1-A needs to catch him, slow him down, convince him not to leave--so I imagine they intend to remind him of what he's done for them and how he should be receptive to their reciprocation.)

[nexyra]

What is your take on rwby chara's mbti types? I think

Weiss - xSTJ, thought that she was ESTJ at first but ISTJ makes a lot of sense too.

Winter - ESTJ

Pyrrha - ESFJ

Emerald - ISFJ (I've seen some ppl type her as INFJ but I don't see how she is a Ni dom?)

Whitley - ENTJ? I'm honestly not sure abt that..

Adam - fucked up xNFJ, probably INFJ (seen him typed as xNTJ but his delusional thinking process imo screams unhealthy Ti and I think his manipulation of Blake and the WF is more Fe than Te

Qrow - was thinking ISTP but with the more recent volumes I'm really not sure..

Penny - ENFP

Ozpin - Uuuuuh INTP maybe?? But I've seen some people type him as INFJ. INFJ 5w6 would make sense as to why he might appear as an INTP but idk..

Bartholomew- ENTP

Jaune - no fucking idea honestly

Ironwood - ENTJ

Sun - Seen ppl type him as ENFP but I don't see any Ne at all..,,ESFP?

Yang - ESxP, maybe ESTP

Cinder - INTJ

Mercury - ISTP

Oscar - ISFJ

Ren - ISTx?

Hello anon ! I see my love for typology hasn't gone unnoticed 😂 Thank you so much for the ask !

I prefer enneagram over MBTI because I find it easier to type; so fair warning that I'm not an authority on MBTI-typing. But I do have have an ongoing RWBY typing that includes MBTI sooo... here goes !

(I'm putting my ennea typings along with it, but not explaining them on this post)

➸ RWBYJNPR

Ruby • xNFP 6w7 9w1 2w3?

I just can't decide between the two fors Ruby because... it kind of goes both way ??? Like Ruby definitely feels as INFP for the first half of the series; she's got a clear Fi > Ne preference... But then when she develops her Tert in V6 it's just... Te ? And she really doesn't show much Si actually she fits more the Si inf vibe in the form of forgetting about bad memories and her mom until people dig it up and she's like "nooo !" ?? So it looks like Te > Si but also Fi > Ne; conclusion idfk

Weiss • ISTJ 1w2 6w5 3w4 sp/so

Clear Fi tert rearing its head along with the 1 so I'm going with ISTJ; I also never really saw any Ne. Her type isn't too disagreed upon so tell me if you want a lenghtier explanation.

Blake • ISFP 6w5 9w8 4w3 (in some order)

Wooh this might get the anger of some (i have experience with the INFJ typers) but Blake goddamn REEKS of Fi. Less so recently but for the first seasons oh my god. She straights up catch you by the shirt and tells you "I'm doing the right thing"; and said right thing is so heavily dependant on her own subjectives values, which is why Blake can't reconcile with the current White Fang; because she doesn't have a strong Je vision of "what objectively works in the end", she only sees actions in terms of immediate right and wrong, and this b&w dichotomy stems from herself. What the WF is doing is wrong and the circumstances don't matter for judging the morality of their actions (of course I'm not talking about murder here bc that's pretty wrong ALL THE TIME but for example the stealing occuring in V1 bc of the WF is a better example)

Yang • ESXP 7w8 8w7 2w3

I'm sorry about that but I can't help you on that aspect anon, I still can't make up my mind about whether Yang has Fi or Ti. I have seen arguments for both, and i'm not the best at picking up on Ti so it's hard for me to tell.

Jaune • ESFJ 6w7 3w2 9w1

No strong opinions on his MBTI, it's kinda just based on vibes

Nora • ENFP 6w7 9w8 3w2

Textbook ENFP, not much to say here x))

Pyrrha • XXFJ 2w1 1w2 6?

In my list Pyrrha is currently written down as ISFJ but that's mostly based on the general consensus and me wanting to get rid of the XX. I don't actually have any convincing arguments to decide on Ni or Si, so I could go either way if someone else makes their case well. I feel like she's Fe aux more than dom, but even about that I could change my mind. Pyrrha didn't have that much screentime in the end :((

Ren • ISTJ? 9w1 5w4 4w5

Ironically I'm not sure about his type, kind of like you. I've mentionned I'm not very good at picking up on Ti right ? And Ren was a background character before V4 really. I had him written down as ISTP for a while but I've seen some convincing arguments for ISTJ so I might lean toward that actually but who knows. The thing I'm very confident about is his 5 fix = )

➸ Faunus bonus

Sun • ESFP 7w6 2w3 9w1 so/sx

I don't see any Ne at all either so I don't understand the ENFP typings...?? Maybe the 7 stereotypes ? Imo Sun is just a very good boy; certified ESFP 7 himbo; triple positive sunshine !

Ilia • Ti-Fe axis ?

Again, not enough screentime for me to make an educated guess. My only certainty is : not high Fi. It's the source of their conflicts. Blake confidence in absolute right & wrong, tracing lines in the sand between acceptable & unacceptable. Whereas Ilia can only shake her head and say "Because it works", or cry out "I don't know what else to do !"

Adam • 3w4 8w7 6w5

I honestly don't really have much of an opinion about Adam's MBTI, i'm sorry anon ;; I don't know enough about how he thinks

➸ Oz-related things and his circle

Ozpin • INFJ 5w4 2w1 1w9

I would personally call him an INFJ. I... never really got INTP vibes from him ? I don't see the Fe inf work out with his interactions : he's always rather at ease, he knows how to navigate around people... His focus inherently lies on doing what's best for the "group", the people, humanity. Fx functions are both concerned with ethics, in different ways, and I think Oz reflects that well. He IS concerned with the moral weight of his actions, but it's a more adaptable and unpersonnal concern than Fi people. He regards Ironwood's soul machines as something wrong, but can still agree to use it if the situations demand it for example. So... if the INFJ + 5 makes sense to you, well that's what I'm typing him personally. I also feel like Ni fits him more than Ne. Ozpin has a very linear way of planning, he does use his fair share of symbolism in every day conversation... Even when taking decisions, he... kind of cares about the meaning of things a lot ? It's hard to explain but like; the way he highlights the difference between an army and a guardian, and the emotionnal response it brings. I don't know it feels like there's some Ni vibes in there x)

Oscar • ISFJ 9w8 6w7 3w2

Oscar's type honestly isn't the one I would have the easiest time explaining in lenght but yea. It's mostly vibes; also just like Ozpin he doesn't seem to have a particularly Fi reasonning. And he feels more grounded, I don't really remember any Ni so... yay ?

Ironwood • ENFJ 6w5 1w2 3w4 (pre-Vol8); ENTJ (post-Vol8)

Might be weird if you think he was a dictator from the start, but I kind of entertained the idea of Ironwood being Fe dom ? From his very first interaction it was very clear that he was a Je dom to me; he's all about objective results; he doesn't give off the "internal framework" or "personnal values" vibe AT ALL; so it was more a matter of picking Te or Fe. He LOOKS super Te don't get me wrong; but he also has an enneagram tritype that is very common amongst XXTJs (and TJs stereotypes thus derive from it). And just like Oz, his focus at all time seemed to be the greater good and doing what's best for the people still. So I was like... Eh, a "harsh" ENFJ I think that's interesting ? Plus Fe ethics actually derive from their environment, kinda like "everyone agrees that Y is wrong", and if you consider that James is from Atlas... Well his way of thinking and ethics align pretty well with the military.

His character took a turn for the worse in V8 (whether too quick or not depends on who you ask) and past that point he's a clear ENTJ; but I feel like it was more debatable before that. Idk though I might be overthinking this in the hope of making more interesting combinations xD

Qrow • ISTP 4w3 6w7? 1w9? sp/sx

I don't really see anything else than ISTP for Qrow... But he's not a character I would want to find Ti arguments for either.

Raven • ENTJ Cp6w5 8w9 3w4

Most villains get called ENTJ at the first occasions tbh zlqfznhqzkf but I think it fits Raven for the most part actually...

➸ Atlas

Winter • ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w5

The whole Schnee family has the same enneagram tritype in different order/different wings, it's ridiculous I think she has a higher Te than Weiss, and Fi inf fits her more. She struggles more to reconcile with her emotions and the idea of a personal right/wrong than her little sis.

Penny • ENFP 4w3 6w7 9w1 sx/so

Perfect example of a healthy 4, she's a great friend a cutie pie. ... Sorry we were talking about MBTI x) Well again, textbook ENFP. Not much to debate here.

Whitley • 3w4 1w9 6w5?

Not enough material for me to guess a MBTI type correctly either, sorry... I could see some kind of xNTJ yea but it's really just vibes and not enough concrete.

➸ Antagonists and Extras

Cinder • 8w7 3w4 6w5

Never cared to guess her MBTI type. I hereby type her as insufferable qkfqskfq. More seriously, I don't really know sorry Anon :/

Emerald • 2w3 ?w? ?w?

I never got Fe vibes from her tbh, I just think she's a 2. And Fe as a function is very infused with 2 stereotypes. So yea. Like, she isn't even that worried about the morality of her actions or anything more than the other villains. She just cares more about her personal relationships and being loved, so she automatically looks much nicer, especially with 2 mechanisms of trying to make herself useful and needed. Also because she's surrounded by 8-ish people xD

Mercury • 8w9 7w8 ?w?

ISTP doesn't sound too farfeteched, but I never MBTI-typed him either, sorry.

+

Bartholomew Oobleck • xSxJ 5w4

The only vibe he gave me is Si somewhere because of all his talks about learning from the past and everything repeats itself and it's a mine of informations at Mountain Glen... That's really the only time I tried to put down anything for him, and it was Si + 5. He could be some kind of xNTP nerd too for sure, but that's more vibe and I couldn't make an actual argument for it.

[brawltogethernow]

a while back you said that you don’t think mj is cis, and that you have specific scenes informing that idea abt her.... do u mind if I ask what are the scenes? and what’s the gender diagnosis? 👀

I don’t have a concrete conclusion, just a vague impression and a habit of getting out my phone at five a.m. and texting my brother stuff like, “I feel like MJ would try out the label he/him lesbian but like, primarily on a personal Twitter account profile.” But yeah, she has two recurring traits that inform the bulk of this for me.

The first is her habit of inserting herself into traditionally masculine roles. I figure the writers were probably gunning for an exaggerated/comedic level of feminism. (It didn’t all age perfectly, but the other women of the cast were already written as feminist.) If you think speaking up for equal rights is cool, wait until you see...MJ try to singlehandedly destroy the gender binary? In practice you get this theme where MJ observes dubious male-coded behavior and then instead of going, “Stop doing that,” goes, “I am also going to do that.”

We see her take the reins of a date more than once on panel to literally go, “Wait, let’s do some very traditionally gendered date shit. And I am going to be the man.”

Physically taking Peter’s key to open his own door for him in ASM 136.

Playing out the ancient ritual of carrying his books for him in ASM 141. Both times she lampshades this as chauvinism and dramatizes the problematic subtext of how these are supposed to go down. In 1974 when these were published I’m pretty sure book carrying as a courting ritual was already considered a dated, cheesy trope living on only through media.

I wish guys pathologically trying to get the door had gone the same way, buuuut. Sigh. But personally, when dudes slow down our travel progress by stopping me and then making a big production of opening a door for me, I follow their lead by slowing us down even further and refusing to go through the door until after they’ve gone through, and when I’m with dudes who are not trying to do a gender at me I full stop don’t think about these behavioral habits unless a recent encounter has left me twitchy. But I don’t get a hit of gender euphoria from doing man shit, and MJ...might?

What other interpretation of this is there, really? Preemptively punishing Peter to get in ahead of it just in case he comes over weird and traditional on her, three in-universe years into their friendship? Nah, she’s literally just having fun with genderplay.

Also... Peter going along with it but very visibly not Getting it with a single bone in his body... RIP. Or not, because this read intensifies the ways MJ acts as a foil for Peter and Gwen by contrasting their traits.

Gwen’s way of addressing gender stereotypes, to have a point of contrast, were more along the lines of calling Peter a chauvinist when he tried to make decisions for her, and jabbingly cheerful reminders that she was a cute blonde girl and a science major.

The second trait is weaker evidence but still, like...noticeable? And less dismissable as a kink thing. That being MJ’s recurring tendency to parse emotionally complex situations happening to other people by zooming in on one of them and going, That one is the me of this situation and analyzing through that lens. Her pick is always a dude. If there are four women and one man, she’ll pick the man.

^literally recollecting her own sister’s divorce by her deadbeat husband, who if anything she should be comparing to their deadbeat father

SSM 96, ASM 259, ASM: Parallel Lives

This could just be the writers themselves overempathizing with men and discounting women! It’s definitely not deliberate. But also, there are lots of other women in this franchise, who don’t do this as far as I can think of. There are lots of women in these parts of MJ’s story who she is deliberately compared against, like, the Bechdel test is being passed.

And yet, most times I can recall where MJ compares herself to women are explicitly aversive, like how she’s terrified of ending up living a life like her mother’s.

Parallel Lives, incidentally, is wild, because it is simultaneously going “here’s how a man and woman met and got married👫” and dishing a condensed Mary Jane backstory that has every single “the one queer relative” marker. Young Mary Jane, inexplicably different from her family members in an ostracizing but decidedly stylish way, finds her mother and sister’s insistence she follow a normal path through life re: romance and relationships “suffocating” and generally existentially abhorrent. The only one willing to humor MJ is her unmarried aunt, though Anna's support is in the form of optimism about MJ’s potential within the expected romantic paradigm. Simultaneously MJ’s sister, whose trauma as a child of a bad marriage is identical to MJ’s, does hit all the life path checkmarks people expect to see from MJ. Okay. MJ’s main emotional conflict is literally: “A man: Is that my father, or is that me? (These are the only choices.)” ...Okay.

Bonus points granted for self-identifying by the gender-neutral nickname “MJ” over other nickname options that were available if she just wanted to ditch her uncool two-part first name. (Dubious for obvious reasons but we know her father calls her “Janey”, for example.)

Off in some other area of the great gender blob, MJ performs femininity with deliberate, studied exaggeration, and has clearly sampled what she likes from the chocolate box of womanhood and thrown out the rest. Citations: Literally every scene she is in from her introduction up until at least the 90′s Clone Saga.

What does any of this mean!? I dunno. Smells genderqueer tho.

[adellovesrowan]

Could you elaborate on the r!trio/r!rowan au. I have to admit that when I first heard of it I wasn’t the biggest fan but now 👀.

YEEEESS this is gonna be a bit long so👇🏿👇🏿 ( tw / cw: kidnapping, death, manipulation, emotional abuse )

personally for me the idea of r!rowan started when i was talking w my fellow rowan stans @wandsandrings and @immagrosscandy. at that point our main idea was that rowan faked abt being mc’s best friend. they were sent to diagon alley to specifically find and befriend mc, only to collect information abt them for r.

we discussed a lot of good and bad endings for this. an ending where rowan switched sides to be with mc, an ending where rowan made mc join r, an ending where mc and rowan end up on opposing sides until the end, an ending where either one dies, etc.

recently now @weirdcursedvaultkid and i have also been discussing an r!au, but slap in ben and merula and boom — the r!trio.

r saw this bright little witch with great potential. rowan was just a kid when r killed their family and took them away. r brainwashed rowan into thinking that it was rowan who killed their own family, that only r could see that as true potential in rowan, and that r was proud of what rowan did.

r saw this terrified little muggleborn with great potential. ben was just a kid when r found him alone and took him away. his magic wasnt easily controlled and it scared the coppers, so r took this advantage to manipulate ben into thinking he belonged in r — his family doesnt want him back and they could never be proud of his difference the way r could.

r saw this lonely little witch with great potential. merula was just a kid when r marched in her house and took her away. merula was probably the easiest to convince out of the three ( despite them all being little kids ). in r’s headquarters she felt validated and no one yelled death threats at her door. she felt like she can make someone proud. r took advantage of this.

basically their mission was to gather information on mc to submit back to r, to convince mc to join r mainly for their legilimens abilities ( tho i think there should b more reasons than just this ), and then dispose of mc in the end once they got to the final vault. their approaching method to a major part of mcs life was to pretend being their best friends ( in merulas case , rival / bully first ).

this can lead to various endings. an ending where the r!trio succeeds and kills mc in the end, an ending where all three switched sides, an ending where only two of them reformed and one stayed loyal ( this is kind of the one mella and i were going with ), an ending where all three stayed loyal but mc defeated them, an ending where the r!trio got mc to join them, etc. in conclusion, mc get fucked !!!! 🎉

thats basically it anon !! lamb, candy, and mella feel free to add in case i missed anything HDKSHDKS

[highendphasers]

a brief evaluation of near and mello’s dynamic within the story, because i wanna get some things cleared and organized in my head. this is probably gonna be a bit messy, so i apologize in advance. 

i’d like to start off at wammy’s. even though we’re given very little insight to how wammy’s actually behaved, we know a very important fact about mello’s life there - he was always second, no matter what he did. he needed to try when near didn’t. i think people misunderstand mello’s thought process here, and automatically jump to the conclusion that mello hates near himself. in my opinion, mello really only hates his status as number one, and hates how he’s better at practically anything he tried to do. this was a big factor in his growing inferiority complex that never left his mind and left him aching to be ahead of near. this wasn’t about near as a person, but rather, his struggle to being seen for what he’s good at himself and his ache to be better at something. let’s get that out of the way.

their actual relationship at wammy’s is pretty blurry. mello says that they never got along, and near gave off the impression that they were on pretty good terms and still talked about mello fondly over the years. i’m gonna go out on a limb and say that mello was coming from his rank perspective and near was coming from their interactions and the way they got along otherwise. near seems to know quite a lot about mello, which leads us to believe that they were around each other pretty often. i like to think that this, mixed with near’s attachment problems and mello’s general distaste towards wammy’s house and all inhabitants (AND mello’s habit of lying) makes their relationship as kids as competitive, with some complicated feelings about each other, but being in each others space more often than not. note: this does not exclude mello’s hatred towards being number two. he was still a dick to near abt that. it gets a bit more complicated after L’s death, and the years following. i stand firm by the fact that i don’t think mello ever hated or will hate near. near has never hated and will never hate mello. when mello might be a factor in the kira case, near doesn’t say all that much about it - simply “you always let your emotions get ahead of you”. near thinking fondly and rather kindly of mello over these years is proof enough to me that he still values him in his life and even trusts him more than he trusts the SPK. he pretty much let mello get a hold of valuable information and even come into their headquarters scot-free. they’re going towards the same goal, just with different passions and different ways of getting there. near’s ambition is directed through the SPK. mello’s ambition is fully within himself.  i think that they’re both manipulative in their own ways. near accepts the challenge of a race despite not thinking about it like one (his hair covering his eyes, which is always a telltale sign of a lie in manga). he uses mello behind the scenes to get more information which pisses mello ALL the way off because of his need to be his own person. mello regularly manipulates the people he needs to work around to get what he wants and i think this is one of the traits that they both share with L and also a reason why they would have no moral problems working as a team lol. mello’s feelings towards near have deepened and gotten way more torn apart especially after the explosion, because while mello pulled the trigger to set off the bombs, i have a small theory that mello at least partially blames near for cornering him (and blames the rest on himself for being so stupid as to even let him come close to backing him into such a dangerous wall). nonetheless, mello is pissed and angry and he Needs To See Near. and even when he sees him, he leaves with a smile from a promise of doing the thing they did most - compete against each other. they feed off each other, and that is SO important. they both want to go their own ways in life and that’s no question. they butt their personalities together often. nothing could convince the other something unless they REALLY put in the effort and dedicated themselves to it in a formative and healthy way (which, as we’ve seen, will take many years of therapy and more than one fight). they have so many contrasting traits, and completely different foundations, yet share core similarities. near knows he’s better and mello is desperate to be better. you can see bits of near in mello and bits of mello in near whether this came naturally or from them rubbing off on each other subconsciously. when near discovered the true way mello died, he put his head down in what i would like to think is grievance. mello didn’t have to give near any information, he didn’t have to threaten to shoot instead of put a bullet in his head the moment he walked in. he didn’t have to stay close to near. i think thats something a lot of people miss. in the end, they stayed close, metaphorically. they were two sides of the same coin. i think in the sense of meronia it wouldn’t make for a 100% healthy relationship, but a VERY interesting one. the need and want for each other despite them both knowing they could never live together or be with each other 100% of the time because they’re both stubborn and need different stimuli. stolen makeout sessions and complicated dislike that mixes with being hopelessly in love. mello goes back to near and near goes back to mello even though they know they shouldn’t and after years of growth and development (if mello lived) i think it would make for a pretty nice dynamic after plenty of nights spent together and then abandoned and arguments that formed new understandings and.... Yea. yea.  that’s my take for the night! i wanna add onto this later and maybe edit it and rerelease it but. we will see. i love near and i love mello and i think they want to kiss 100% of the time.

[ryanberga]

tbh i’d love to see ur paragraphs abt ryan & i’m sure other people would too,,,,,,post it?👀

ok *deep breath*

we all always joke about ryan being this dumb himbo jock archetype to shane’s academically-inclined strange man archetype which is funny as hell those jokes are funny and all in good fun but!! let’s not forget that ryan is actually not dumb at all!

let’s talk about ryan & shane’s dynamic and the whole boogara vs. shaniac thing. there’s a decent amount of people who see ryan saying “i believe in ghosts & demons & the supernatural & funny little conspiracy theories,” and then they see shane saying “all that is bullshit, i’m a skeptic & i believe in science,” and they jump to the conclusion that therefore, shane is smart and ryan is dumb, or shane is smarter than ryan, and that’s simply not true!! ryan’s belief system is inherently different from shane’s, but that does not mean he is stupid for it! shane is very outwardly and vocally interested in things like history and science, and i think that’s another reason people tend to fall into the belief that shane is smart and ryan is dumb, but, again: simply not true! just because ryan isn’t as interested in typical academic pursuits doesn’t mean he’s dumb, and i think it’s actually a very problematic mindset to equate someone’s intelligence with like the core subjects you learn in school.

ok, now let’s talk about bfu. let’s talk about how bfu was entirely ryan’s brain baby and how groundbreaking the format of it was. let’s talk about how no other supernatural or true crime shows presented its information the way that bfu does. let’s talk about how when bfu started, ryan did 100% of the work for it. he did the research, the writing, the editing, etc etc all on his own. let’s talk about how much work he put into it and how passionate he was about it. let’s talk about how the format is so smartly done & unique & original. let’s also talk about how no matter how much evidence shane presents that directly contrasts ryan’s theories, ryan stays true to himself and believes in what he believes in and refuses to be swayed. let’s talk about how even when shane blatantly dismisses ryan’s beliefs or insults him or teases him for his beliefs, ryan doesn’t budge. i also think it’s so impressive that ryan remains genuinely curious about these things and continues to believe in these things even when someone (who he cares about & respects!) is consistently telling him his beliefs are bullshit.

ok, now let’s talk about watcher. i’m not going to talk about how much courage it must have taken to leave buzzfeed to create a completely original company because that goes without saying, and it’s been talked about enough before. instead, i’m going to talk about spooky small talk specifically for a second. the fact that both steven and shane have said that spooky small talk is the biggest undertaking that any of them pursued for any of their shows is! pretty impressive! the amount of work that had to have gone into that show is really mindblowing to think about, to have to deal with the scare actors and all the noises and getting through the maze while asking questions and staying engaged with the interviewee. it’s a lot to deal with, and ryan does it fantastically, and he makes it look so effortless, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to create.

and then there’s here’s what you do, which i think is a good example of ryan showing that he’s very smart when it comes to emotions and self-care. very often in hwyd, he talks about emotions and self-care in ways that surprise me with how succinctly he’s able to put sort of complex thoughts into words. personally, i also think he gives some of the best and most thoughtful answers (when they’re actually giving serious answers and not talking about piss & shit, that is).

and just a couple more things about ryan i want to point out before i finish this off: no matter what ryan does, in everything he pursues, he seems to me to remain completely genuine to who he was at the start of this all, way back when he was still making videos with brent. he never changes his belief system, no matter what shane or anyone else says to him. he remains compassionate and unashamedly himself in all his pursuits. everything he does is imbued with so much fun. he wants to have fun, and he wants his audience to have fun along with him, and i think it‘s very evident that this is the case.

also, if you listen to ryan speak, like, in watcher weeklys or hwyd or whatever? it seems to me like he says everything with intention, and it seems like most things he says are pretty well thought out (again, when he’s not being purposefully silly). also! he has a great vocabulary! as an english major myself, i am often surprised by some of the words he throws out very casually in conversation!

and one last point, bringing it back to my first paragraph: just because he’s not as into things like history and science, he is still very well-versed in a lot of other things that speak to an inherent intelligence. first of all, it’s been established that he knows tons about true crime and conspiracies and supernatural stuff. he’s also very well-versed in pop culture, and more than just movies & tv shows! he’s spoken lots about books, and music, and podcasts, and video games! (and also don’t forget that he’s mentioned multiple times how he maintained i believe a 3.9 gpa throughout all of high school & college while also involving himself in sports & extracurriculars & a fraternity! gpa is bullshit, but that’s still pretty impressive if you ask me!) 

(edit: also!! the fact that both shane and steven said ryan was the one who was the most prepared in terms of banging out content should something like a pandemic occur before covid was even a thing!! let’s not sleep on that fact, wow!)

((edit pt. 2: also! my total bad for not appreciating his sense of humor! he’s such a funny guy! and so quick-witted! i think his sense of humor on its own is enough to demonstrate how very obviously Not Dumb he is!))

tl;dr: does ryan lean into the dumb jock archetype? sometimes, yes, i think he does. i think he thinks it’s funny to play dumb (and it is!). but is ryan actually dumb? no fuckin way! ryan is smart & talented & very hard-working & passionate & just an all-around great guy. put some respect on his name

[ranvwoop]

I've seen you talk abt it before but what's one-shot? You make it seem so cool, I'm very interested :]

AA thank u. Thank you for the opportunity to yell. It's so good. I am going to offer you a Spoiler Free OneShot Rundown BC it's,,, so good. I played it years ago, and like, it's still in my top games. I care them very much.

If you're a Ranboo Enjoyer tm I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're probably acquainted with Undertale/Deltarune! (If anyone isn't, go watch his playthrough somewhere on YouTube vod reuploads, it's super good!!). OneShot fans don't. Exactly like being compared too much to Undertale since Undertale was everywhere and immediately overshadowed everything and is not the end all be all of meta fiction and OneShot came first guys but— it's a good starting point.

So like, the whole thing with Undertale is that the game knows it's a game and knows that you're the player, and your character is just sort of a vessel for The Player, and Flowey is like. Aware of that. Or whatever. I can't actually remember how undertale went oopsies.

OneShot is that but dialed up to ten, so to speak! The player character is referred to as a god by the characters, with the main character as the messiah sent to save the world with your guidance to restore the sun to its place at the top of a very large tower, and then they can go home. You also will get attached to them, and have to make some hard choices regarding what's best for the world and what's best for your lil buddy and their new friends you meet on the way! But, there's an Entity that does not want you to succeed. (I'm not being cryptic, that's the name of the antagonist hehe.)

And like, it gets really meta. I'm honeslty kind of iffy if it's a good stream game, actually, considering it needs you to close the window a lot and plants things in funny places like your desktop screen or your files in some cases! As well as taking some information from your computer to give you a little scare. But... it's so so good it'd be so worth it.... as long as mister streamer man knows and can prepare for stuff..

There's also a free dlc route which gives a lot of backstory about what the entity is, how Niko got there, and how they know about you and just !!! AAAAA. It's a very spoiler heavy game. But almost all of the puzzles require a lot of thinking outside of the box and, well. Meta computer stuff.

And they're committed to the emotional pain, too. In the original release, if you closed the game and didn't finish it in one sitting, you'd get a message saying that you killed Niko when you opened up the game again. That was taken out of the final release, Niko can't die and you won't be penalized for closing the game other than confusing and upsetting Niko, but. It's sure designed to be played in One Shot. It's cruel. In a very very good way.

bonus points: Niko's adorable! (And nonbinary! rights!)

evidence: baby

bonus points 2: it's got robots and objectheads, both of which are pretty cool!

bonus points 3: the soundtrack is very cool!! some of the song titles have spoilers, but this one is Neat and Spoiler Free.

In conclusion, I think that a) this game deserves far more recognition. I have reccomended it personally to every one of my friends. They are tired of hearing about oneshot and b) streamer man playing it would be fun because he is a softie and it is some existential foolishness wrapped up in Emotional Attachments and Pretty Game. I would also reccomend anyone reading this to play it, just cause like... it's a good time. It's a really good time.