#abed nadir thought

[hanasnx]

MINORS DNI 18+

ABED NADIR makes you think he’s hitting on you by asking you to star in his movie with a thousand sex scenes. In his mind, he’s studying the art of love-making on camera; in your mind, he’s creating an excuse so the both of you can get up close and personal without inhibitions. He’s like a different person when it’s rolling, talking to you in a different tone of voice, grabbing at you like he needs you. You’re sure it’s not artificial. Right up until he says, “Cut.”

[jim-bones-spock]

I want to write a big essay on community season 6 and how deeply meta it is and how Jeff and Abed, as usual, perfectly mirror each other.

Jeff is slowly realizing he’s truly in a tv show and freaking out about it because it’s season 6 and most of his original friends are gone and he’s stuck in the show (“Even Pierce got to die!” and “I’m gonna be the last one here!” “But Abed… Six seasons and a movie?”)

Abed is slowly detaching himself from the show, having accepted that change is sometimes a good thing and stepping into “real life” (leaving for university - “Jeff, I know it comforts you to see the world through that meta lense, but this is reality”)

How Frankie represents the studios wanting a less goofy show, transforming Greendale into a more respectable school (tv show) and slowly chipping away what made Community truly weird and only when they “save” Greendale is when they end the series because it’s not our Community anymore.

It’s Community, sure, but through season 6 they keep asking to tone down the bits and the bizarre stuff (shutting down paintball, because they’re just not that kind of school anymore). The Dean being treated like a baby (which he is. Babygirl Dean) and being removed from his position of authority meaning we are not in charge anymore. Frankie, beautiful, headstrong Frankie is, a new era has come.

And that’s okay. Almost everyone left. Britta, the Dean… Everyone is happy. People grow and change and that’s okay. After school ends, you don’t keep in touch with everyone. You lose track of people who saw you grow, saw you become a better person. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re still that good person.

You still drive your friends to the airport and hug your first friend you made almost seven years ago twice before you watch him leave for a better future.

Everybody moves on.

Even Pierce got to die.

[march32nd]

can't stop thinking abt this post from user @werewolfenthusiast

so all morning I have just been coming up with more and more examples I can't help it

"jeff's not a good person!! he literally describes himself as an 'exceptional narcissist'!!" yeah. this is nbc community. you know the bad person show

"britta's not a good person!! she says she's a feminist but she doesn't even vote!!" yeah. this is nbc community. you know the bad person show

"troy's not a good person!! look what he said about his best friend in pillows and blankets!!" yeah. this is nbc community. you know the bad person show

"abed's not a good person!! look what he said about his best friend in pillows and blankets!!" yeah. this is nbc community. yk the bad person show

"shirley's not a good person!! she tried to secretly baptize annie when she found out she was jewish!!" yeah. this is community. yk the bad person show

"pierce's not a good person!!"y. tinbcc. yktbps

"the dean's not a good person!! he's just a caricature of the predatory gay stereotype!!" y. tinbcc. yktbps

"señor chang's not a good person!! he's a power-hungry dictator who committed felony kidnapping!!" y. tinbcc. yktbps.

"hickey's not a good person!! he chained someone to a filing cabinet indefinitely over an accidental spill!!" y tinbcc yktbps

"duncan's not a good person!! he manipulated his therapeutic and personal relationships just to sleep with britta!!" y tinbcc yktbps

"frankie's not a good person!! she can't even help herself from being cruel to the dean when she tries to!!" ytinbccyktbps

"elroy's not a good person!! he made weird anatomically correct models of annie and britta!!" ytinbccyktbps

[r3medialch8os]

abed, along with portraying many other niche aspects of being an autistic individual, is one of the only characters i’ve ever seen accurately represent what it’s like to feel genuine anger and wish misfortune upon people who harbor incorrect opinions about movies or tv shows. i get it man. i really do.

[gfbillpotts]

if i had a nickel for everytime donald glover played a lovable, heart-on-his sleeve, social butterfly who is insecure about his intellect and masculinity and is fiercely protective of his significant other who has a social disorder that makes them seem weird/distant to other people i would have two nickels which isnt a lot but its great that its happened twice

[courageisneverforgotten]

"Well, I've only talked to her once while she was borrowing a pencil, but her name is Britta, she's 28, birthday in October, she has two older brothers and one of them works with children who have a disorder I might want to look up. Oh, and she thinks she's going to flunk tomorrow's test so she really needs to focus and she's sorry if it makes her seem cold."

[admiral-bennetts-aide-de-camp]

a lot of people talk about abed comparing troy to comfort TV, but not enough people talk about the implication of how, by saying that, abed positions himself as a parasocial fan

[litrallytyrus]

lowkey i could write pages about the way troy says “i love you” to abed in epidemiology. the shift in his tone. the pause before he says it. the way his eyes fucking soften. like omg this gay ass bitch was being serious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[defectivegembrain]

It's about the reciprocal acceptance of a shared reality, no matter how weird it gets

Like if wearing magical friendship hats helps us heal our friendship, then that's what we're doing, but you need the internal consistency of remembering where they were left

If you're in a stop motion Christmas land then so am I

If you say we swapped bodies then we did, and nothing will break this reality until we swap back

If you see lava so do I

If we're clones and that's how you get through this, it's also how I get through my own fears

I will literally tell my celebrity idol that I'm a clone without the slightest hint of embarrassment, because it might not be objectively real, but it's our shared reality and we will keep sharing it even when we're apart

Physical distance will never stop us being in it together

Pretending or delusional or something in between, I will meet you where you are forever

[transorbitalperegrine]

there's no way abed hasn't watched (and enjoyed) fight club, so flat 303 group costume!

anyway version for when troy's properly got over the toxic masculinity below:

[craigularory-joe]

Day 15

[conanssummerchild]

[tiredandoptimistic]

Fresh off a rewatch of Geothermal Escapism and feeling emotions (this turned into an overlong Troy Barnes analysis post and I'm inviting you on the journey)

The thing that really sticks with me, especially when you consider the rest of season five (and also the show as a whole), is how truly I'm convinced that Troy did need to go on that voyage. He went from a guy who wore his letterman jacket to college and bragged about being prom king, to somebody who was unapologetically himself and content with being judged for it. Despite all this growth, Troy still wasn't his own person; not entirely.

I keep thinking about the bit in Repilot, where Jeff argues that Troy's life was ruined by Greendale because he now revolves entirely around "another man." Putting aside the blatant homophobia, Jeff is kinda right. When asked what he's doing with his life, Troy excitedly talks about what Abed is up to. Now, there's nothing wrong with being supportive and it's clear that Troy feels content with putting Abed's goals first, but it is concerning when you think in context of his arc. In season three, there was the pillow and blanket war as an extension of Troy's frustration with always being the sidekick. Even though they work through a lot of their issues and have an honest discussion about how Abed never saw Troy as lesser, there's still clearly some level of fear that one day he will. We see this in season four, during Inspecticon, when Troy is genuinely afraid that Abed will leave him for someone who (in Troy's mind) is a better match for his intellect. Once again Abed proves that he wouldn't want anybody else, but that's not the end of it. By the start of season five it's great that Troy is comfortable playing support to Abed's goals, but he still hasn't fully resolved the base issues. Yes, he's confident in his worth as a supporter rather than a leader, but he's still never figured out who he is alone.

Looking back at Troy's season one characterization, it's clear that his main struggle as a person is not knowing who he is or what he wants. He defines himself entirely as a quarterback and prom king, even when it's clear that nobody else actually takes that seriously. Even Annie, who knew Troy as the untouchable king of the popular kids and is seriously crushing on him (in a comphet way but that's another post), sees his jock identity as something that's holding him back. In the pilot, Troy has a chat with Jeff about his letterman jacket; expressing how insecure all the jokes make him. It's clear from this that he has no confidence in his own identity. He wears the letterman jacket because he's Troy The Quarterback, doesn't know how to handle that being seen as a bad thing, and goes to Jeff for advice because he needs someone else to tell him what version of himself to become. Whatever choice Troy makes for how to dress, it's about finding the quickest way to balance likeability with the illusion of his own convictions. Like Jeff tells him, "either way, it's for them."

Throughout season one, Troy struggles with his own identity through his friendships with the entire study group, most notably Abed. Despite his meathead persona, Troy's silly side starts to come out in the very second episode, when he and Abed do their iconic Spanish rap during the end card. After that, we see their friendship gradually develop through these short comedic bits. During this time, in "Football, Feminism, and You," we see Troy caught in a conflict between Jeff (who wants him to go back to football) and Annie (who wants him to become more academic). In the end, Jeff and Annie both feel bad for trying to warp Troy to fit thier ideals, and Troy settles on playing football purely because he enjoys the game. After that, Troy and Abed's friendship finally comes out of the end cards and into the show itself. The example I wanna talk about is "Environmental Science," when Troy is once again forced to choose between what he wants to do and how he wants to be seen. At the start of the episode, he embarrases himself in front of his science class by freaking out from fear of Fievel the rat. For the rest of the episode, Troy is unwilling to commit to helping Abed find Fievel by singing their romantic duet because he's already admitted weakness and that highlights his insecurities. He's been getting more comfortable goofing off with Abed, but suddenly he feels all the ways in which his expressions of his actual personality have opened him up to ridicule. Of course the episode ends with Troy joining Abed in their duet to save Fievel, and he even faces his fear of touching the rat to get him back to his cage. From that point onwards, Troy and Abed's friendship is more or less firmly established. I could go into all the ups and downs, but this post is long as hell already and I've still got more to say.

During seasons two and three, Troy almost entirely gives up the tough guy act and accepts that he's a big softie who thinks Abed is the coolest guy in the world for being so unapologetically himself at all times. He's always denied his interests for the sake of appearing likeable and tough, so meeting Abed and seeing that it's possible to be happy and loved a weirdo who never pretends to be anything else is kinda groundbreaking for him. He still has his ups and downs (like when he ditches their matching costumes for the sake of attracting girls in "Epidemiology"), but for the most part he's found a comfortable new role as Abed's Best Friend. Hell, during Shirley's wedding in "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts," Troy is the one who decides it's not worth trying to be normal when they can be themselves. In "Early 21st Century Romanticism," Troy gives up a date with a girl (something he supposedly really wants) because she won't accept Abed's weirdness. What I'm getting at here is that Troy has given up his high school identity and adopted a new one, but that brings with it some of the same old problems.

By the time season five rolls around, Troy is not an individual. He is one half of a pair: TroyandAbed. This isn't an inherently bad thing; we are a communal species and it's normal and healthy to embrace the fact that you can't function independantly of others. The problem is that he transitioned so smoothly from Prom King Troy to Abed's Best Friend Troy that he never had time in the middle as just Troy. It's wonderful that Abed helped Troy discover one way to express himself and be genuinely happy, but he still only really learned how to do that on Abed's terms. The only thing we see Troy do without Abed is build a blanket fort, which is still fundamentally about Abed. He also dates Britta, but that feels more like Troy trying to prove that he can have an adult relationship and Britta trying to prove that she can stay with a guy who isn't the fucking worst (I love you Britta but your taste in men is rancid). It's clear that both of them are more in love with the idea of a stable relationship than with each other. For their entire relationship Troy is more invested in Abed and Britta is fine with that. He may be sleeping in a separate bedroom, but he's still living in the blanket fort, y'know?

This brings me back to Pierce's will, and his final gift to Troy; a chance to become his own man. Pierce may have the worst opinions on everything, but I still think this opportunity is what Troy needed at that point in his life. He finally gets a chance to explore everything the world has to offer, entirely detached from other people who can warp his opinions. Troy is a mirror, he reflects what's around him. He needs some time on his own to figure out what it is he really wants for himself. Plus, getting to dock in places all over the world gives Troy the chance to be whoever he wants without fear of meeting expectations. He can do anything, try anything; comfortable in the knowledge that he's not impressing anyone. And, at the end, he is able to look back on everything he's experienced and decide once and for all what his happiness looks like. I choose to believe that it's going home to Abed, fully informed of the alternatives and aware that playing support doesn't mean giving up your own identity.

[transgendercastiel]

Community AU where instead of choosing Troy after the valentines dance Mariah says she needs to go on a “real date” with them both before she makes a choice so they end up setting up a date in a restaurant or something. (I’m thinking pulp fiction my dinner with Abed restaurant)

They plan everything out and it’s all very casual and they both make it clear that they wouldn’t get jealous or resentful if the other person “wins”. They even wear the grey suits from Shirley’s wedding and do a romantic movie marathons in preparation.

and then they go to the restaurant at the planned time and wait for a few hours but Mariah never shows…

so basically they decide that they’re already there and the reservation has already been payed for so they might as well just eat there I guess? It’s not a date or anything and they both even act like they’re just waiting for Mariah to get there even though they both know that isn’t happening. They both had a really nice time and Troy realises a couple of days later that they basically just went out. Together. And he freaks out when he knows he had a really nice time, better than all the dates he’s had with women, wait are the movie nights they do basically dates as well etc.

and so knowing this Troy makes a plan to ask abed if they could go out with Mariah again (assuming that she won’t show up so basically they can just go on a date no homo style). Troy asks abed to reach out to Mariah and see if she’s up for it and Abed (who has had a similar level of realisation) doesn’t ask her at all and just tells Troy she said yes so that he can pretend they’re on a date basically. I’m thinking this goes on for a while (like they’re “inviting” Mariah to stuff weeks after this all goes down) and they are both having the same thought pattern of “oh shit he’s gonna notice she’s not turning up soon and then we’ll have to go back to not pretending we’re in a relationship”. and they’re not even that happy with the situation because Troy thinks Abed is genuinely asking Mariah out every time and is only doing these things on the off chance she’ll show up and Abed thinks Troy’s gonna find out any day now that he’s not actually talking to Mariah and he’s pretty sure she left the school like a month ago.

[kelongt]

i'm sorry but like-

[superbluebirdgirl]

Being an autistic person who loves Abed and relates to him but also thinks there's a lot about the show's treatment of him that really hasn't aged well feels lonely because I feel like I'd get hated on for it.