#also a tangentially related thing:

[secretmellowblog]

@breadvidence recently wrote a great bit of Les Mis meta where they pointed out how Jean Valjean’s “compliments” to Javert in Montreuil-sur-Mer really are just..... conciliatory flattery, and don't reflect his real feelings about Javert at all. And that's a great point, and something I wish more people explored! Lines like "you are a good man and I esteem you" aren't Jean Valjean's earnest feelings towards Javert. Instead they’re examples of the way Jean Valjean often retreats into excessive deferential politeness to authority as a survival strategy. As I mentioned in another recent post— Jean Valjean is a genuinely kind person, but he’s also someone who often has literally no choice but to act overly polite to authorities/the police, because if he’s not polite enough they might start to find him suspicious. If he doesn't lick their boots enough, they might start investigating him. He's instinctively deferential out of fear of violence. He's flattering out of fear. He's polite "at gunpoint." He's polite to cops the way you're polite to an armed police officer who pulls you over.

And Jean Valjean's polite tranquil behavior towards Javert during Javert's "resignation"— saying things like “you are a good man and I esteem you, I want you to keep your job” and etc etc— is later explicitly confirmed to be at least somewhat of a calculated tactical decision Jean Valjean made out of terror:

He was carried away, at first, by the instinct of self-preservation; he rallied all his ideas in haste, stifled his emotions, took into consideration Javert’s presence, that great danger, postponed all decision with the firmness of terror, shook off thought as to what he had to do, and resumed his calmness as a warrior picks up his buckler.

I love the phrase "he resumed his calmness as a warrior picks up his buckler"-- it's such a great way of summarizing how Jean Valjean's ability to have polite conversations even when he's breaking down internally has been such a useful defense mechanism for him. I also love the contrast between the excessively polite way Jean Valjean talks to Javert when he’s acting out of terror/self-preservation….vs the more honest way he talks about Javert when he’s alone during Tempest in a Skull:

“That Javert, who has been annoying me so long; that terrible instinct which seemed to have divined me, which had divined me—good God! and which followed me everywhere; that frightful hunting-dog, always making a point at me, is thrown off the scent, engaged elsewhere, absolutely turned from the trail: henceforth he is satisfied; he will leave me in peace; he has his Jean Valjean. Who knows? it is even probable that he will wish to leave town! And all this has been brought about without any aid from me, and I count for nothing in it!”

It's just extremely funny. The contrast between “you are a good man and I esteem you” vs “that Javert, who has been annoying me so long” <3 The contrast between “you are an honest man” vs “that frightful hunting dog” <3 The contrast between “I want you to keep your job” vs Jean Valjean fantasizing enthusiastically about how hopefully Javert will leave town and never ever annoy him again. <3

It makes the “Punish Me, Monsieur le Maire” stuff even funnier. Jean Valjean is dissociating out of panic and saying whatever polite platitudes he thinks will flatter Javert....but those polite platitudes keep making Javert spiral further into long-winded deranged rants about how he dESPISES this kindness and it enRAGES him, as Jean Valjean just sits there very politely & quietly losing his mind. It’s peak comedy really.

I feel like Jean Valjean’s deeply weird thing with Javert often gets flattened in different directions, when people interpret it. Either Jean Valjean is an all-forgiving all-loving angel who thinks Javert did nothing wrong, and all of his flattery is sincere expressions of admiration—- or Jean Valjean is (like in the BBC version) the kind of violent pitiless person who would angrily order Javert to kill himself. It's rare for writers to get anything resembling the hilariously baffling ambiguous Weirdness of his relationship with Javert in the book. I think it's because adaptations often don't grasp the idea that a genuinely kind compassionate character can also (underneath it all) still be deeply tormented, broken, and angry-- and that their anger doesn't mean they're any less kind, or any less capable of pity and mercy.

[sunsetsands]

Season's Greason's to all who celeason's

[mellosdrawings]

Hey~ Welcome to "Mello thinks too much about Jamil at 5am coz they can't sleep!"

Today's subject: Pride!

I've just been obsessing over it for a while and had a random enlightening last night.

So NRC is a school full of prideful students who know they're hot stuff, right? Aside from maybe Trey and Cater who are more mild mannered and don't boast much like others, and maybe Rook who is more interested in others than himself, Pride is the one sin that is common amongst all the characters.

Jamil's case is pretty singular though, especially amongst the overblotted gang. Because while others' pride usually comes from knowing they're hot shit, Jamil's is a defense mechanism against the fact that he's nothing.

Yes I'll be especially harsh against Jamil, but that's kind of the truth.

Riddle is one of the greatest mages of his generation because of all the work he's done since he was basically born, he knows he's hot stuff.

Leona is just... OP. Canonically the cleverest in all NRC, OP powers, the one guy even Idia doesn't understand why he overblotted in the first place, he's even royalty. Like, if it weren't for his bro he'd have everything. Leona might be self depreciating a bunch, he still knows he's hot stuff and his pride comes from that.

Vil is both powerful and one of the biggest stars worldwide. He's the same as Leona, while he has his moments of self hatred his pride does stem from just being that bitch.

Will it surprise you if I also call Idia prideful? Sure, he's meek and introverted and has too much anxiety for his own good, but he did get his Housewarden position because he thought he was better at the job than others. He knows he's a technomancy genius and one hell of a gamer. What little pride he shows comes from those talents.

And Malleus, well, he's just the devs darling so he's even more OP than Leona.

I purposefully skipped Azul because I think his case is more similar to Jamil's than to the others.

Azul and Jamil's pride are artificial. It's here as a defense mechanism, either to be perceived as better than he thinks he is (for Azul), or to convince himself than he is more than what he actually is (for Jamil).

Sure, Jamil is clever and pretty strong and has lots of qualities. But 1. He's far from the genius he thinks he is. And 2. As soon as people point out he's a fake he immediately goes into depression mode.

Book 6 was a very insightful moment for both Jamil and Azul. They both get paired with people who (not so) accidentally chip away at their pride until they have to face the fact that they are just not as great as they think.

And that's where Azul and Jamil differ.

Because Azul knows he's "not that great". Or at least, he thinks he's inferior to others. That's why people he considers above him punching down on him hurts so much (plus the obvious bullying trauma he's got).

Jamil genuinely thought he was better than everybody else until Book 6, where Leona knocked him down a peg. He convinced himself through inflated and artifical pride that he was more competent than his peers. And the second he realized that wasn't the case, he started flipping back and forth between self depreciating and trying to inflate his own pride again. As a defense mechanism.

Because for someone who's always been pushed down to take the least amount of space possible, for someone who's always known he had the possibility to be/do better but was never given the occasion to shine, admitting that he's mid hurts.

He needs to make himself useful and show off to Leona, not just because it's a reflex ingrained in him since forever or because of the repercussions that could befall him should he let royalty get hurt under his watch, but also because he needs to reassure himself that he is something.

Because he's been nothing his whole life.

And that hurts.

That's why it was so hard for Leona to get through to him, while Riddle and Azul managed to work together midway through their descent into Tartarus. Because for Jamil to accept criticism and help, he'd first need to drop his pride. And he just can't do that.

Even by the end of their descent, Jamil still found a way to twist Leona's preaching in his favor. Even then he still managed to put his pride up to reassure himself. He has more potential to grow than others, sure. That's a first step in accepting his mediocrity, but that's also very validating for his pride. He might not be the best now, but just you wait-

And that's why Jamil was all talk and no show before that point. Because unlike the others, his pride is artificial. He has nothing to back it up.

I'm sorry if I repeated myself a lot or didn't make much sense. I'm afraid me trying to explain my thought process tends to be stunted by the fact I don't have enough vocabulary to back it up :'D (And the fact that I'm writing all that while sleep deprived doesn't really help lol)

I usually tend to obsess over the 'sin' of Envy for Leona, Vil, and Jamil, coz it's one hell of a sin, the only that brings no pleasure whatsoever. And I just love watching characters make their own lives miserable over the pettiest things.

But damn is the subject of Pride interesting. I see most people, myself included, tend to tone down the Pride aspect of NRC when writing fanfics or drawing fanarts, even though it's one of the core points of the story.

And as said earlier, it's hard to make a character change and develop when Pride is in the way, so I totally understand why people downplay it for the sake of narrative.

Coz otherwise we'd only get tragedies.

And I love tragedies~

[hoofpeet]

you can tell me to hush but....i found out i am plural a week ago and several of your posts about dissociation really sound a lot like me. and really really identifying with my multiple sonas and Feeling Like Them before i realized why...idk. even if thats not your intention I really relate and its cool to see. maybe someone elses brain works similarly to mine.

I have seen a lot of plural folks relating to my dissociative. situation in the tags of those posts- which I haven't read into too much, but it's still nice to see a little comradery... It's always nice to visualize an experience so that someone potentially feels a little less weird- so I'm glad I can help a little regardless 👍

[vivrcard]

please recite Pete the cat and his 6 groovy buttons

PETE the CAT🐈‍⬛ put on his fa-vo-rite shirt with

four

big

( round )

ga-roovy buttons.

he loved his buttons so much he sang this song:

(🥁TCK TCK🥁) 🎵 my buttons! my buttons! my four groovy buttons! my buttons! my buttons! my fo–🎵 SPROING!

oh NO 😧 ! one of the buttons popped off and rolled away! how many buttons are left? three! 4️⃣ minus 1️⃣ equals 3️⃣!

did pete cry 😿? ❌goodness no❌! buttons come and buttons go 😸 . so he kept on singing his song:

(🥁TCK TCK🥁) 🎵 my buttons! my buttons! my three groovy buttons! my buttons! my buttons! my thr–🎵 SPROING!

oh NO 😧 ! one of the buttons popped off and rolled away! how many buttons are left? two! 3️⃣ minus 1️⃣ equals 2️⃣!

did pete cry 😿? ❌goodness no❌! buttons come and buttons go 😸 . so he kept on singing his song:

(🥁TCK TCK🥁) 🎵 my buttons! my buttons! my two groovy buttons! my buttons! my buttons! my tw– 🎵 SPROING!

oh NO 😧 ! one of the buttons popped off and rolled away! how many buttons are left? one! 2️⃣ minus 1️⃣ equals 1️⃣!

did pete cry 😿? ❌goodness no❌! buttons come and buttons go 😸 . so he kept on singing his song:

(🥁TCK TCK🥁) 🎵 my button! my button! my one groovy button! my button! my button! my on–🎵 SPROING!

oh NO 😧 ! one of the buttons popped off and rolled away! how many buttons are left? zero! 1️⃣ minus 1️⃣ equals zero!

did pete cry 😿? ❌goodness no❌! buttons come and buttons go 😸 .

pete the cat looked down at his buttonless shirt and you know what he saw? HIS BELLY BUTTON! so he sang this song:

(🥁TCK TCK🥁) 🎵 my button! my button! still have my belly button! my button! my button! still have my belly button!🎵

i guess🤔 this simply goes to show that stuff will come. and stuff will go 😌 but we keep. on. singing.

[dragon-spaghetti]

Need to study how the sonic cast are drawn in idw cause MAN,, goals

[theviolenttomboy]

Today on, huh, interesting, PokeSpe is listed as a shonen manga, not a kodomo, at least on Kindle, and is ranked alongside other shonen manga series.

I wonder how the other CoroCoro manga are listed.

[wundrousarts]

Hii what's one chapter of any of the books that leaves you in awe no matter how many times you read it?? Mine's Courage Square from Hollowpox lol

Hmmm. I imagine things very vividly so I think there’s several moments that I love a lot. That Courage Square moment included but also the destruction of the Museum in Wundersmith and Israfel singing to the dying people.

I would say, maybe skipping the border control section (sorry Phil fans), that I love the ending of Chapter 4 and the beginning of Chapter 5 in Nevermoor. Morrigan and Jupiter escaping from the fast-paced chase on the dark Eventide night to the slow Morningtide arrival as the sun just starts to rise is just so wonderful and cinematic. I love everything about it. Here’s to hoping the movie keeps that whole moment and transition!

[docterzerocare]

A combination of watching mogswamps flatworld series from the start and seeing a fic on ao3 called This Isnt The Flat World by TheoSpooderBoi, which has a really cool premise and looks like it'll explore the isolation of living in a flatworld for 11 years, has got the brain microwave in overdrive.

Taking the idea that mog was alone for 11 years roughly, surviving in a flat expanse of a world and truely thinking of the implications. Like he was 15 at the start and also mans was primarily eating rotten flesh by ep 17 (thats as far as ive gotten so far, so probably farther too). It took him a good few episodes to finally make a wheat farm lol he was not eating well. Which bring up a pretty wholesome idea where the villagers started to trade him food like cookies n stuff (ep 16 or 17 i think is when he mentioned it) but ye.

With him living through the 1.3 update where villager trading became a thing, in my head thats when he started to learn how to talk with villagers (which is a concept brought up in the fic mentioned above and makes me crazy). Im so excited to get to the episode he meets wandy t lmao.

Do you see my vision, the implications man the implications

[kiwinatorwaffles]

the hate towards amber in the invincible tv show is wild honestly because other than that one line (the one where she reveals she knew mark was a superhero) that was a slight fumble on the part of the show runners, she’s actually really excellent and excels at her narrative role compared to her comic counterpart who is just kind of there to be a placeholder date before mark gets with eve.

i admit that line was kinda poorly set up and could’ve been written better (like maybe her instead saying “ugh i expected it but that doesn’t excuse the way you treat me”) but like. Really? did that negate every single thing her character stood for prior to this point? how amber is actually really good for putting up with his bullshit for so long even after he flaked out on dinner with her parents? how she put mark in his place for thinking he could get away with neglecting his relationships just because he’s a hero? how it showed that he’s acting just like how nolan treats debbie? did One single line, said during a moment of anger and frustration, change all of that?

her character is a great parallel between mark and his dad in s1 and is even better in s2 at showing how mark physically can’t live a normal life no matter how much he wants to. like we know amber isn’t endgame and that’s what hurts a lot. they want to be normal college kids going through their awkward teen years together but i guess that one slightly weak line of dialogue made her character “terrible” and “ruin mark.” also even setting aside the myriad of… Other biases, a lot of people just seem to forget the fact that she’s a teenage girl sooooooooooo

(also i’m thinking about this one comment i saw on youtube where someone was like “i didn’t watch that scene initially so i didn’t understand the hate but after i watched it i hate her as well” and. seriously. are you being so serious right now.)

anyway i’m an amber defender to my death she’s amazing in the show and deserves nice things. if you are a video analyst who actually sees her as a normal character instead of calling her “the other woman” you immediately gain my respect

[pucellerie]

on the down low i still believe i have people/someone watching my online activity through a 24/7 live feed of my screen that they have of all my devices

[sysig]

Evil Time is great :) (Patreon)

[bumblingbabooshka]

Do you have a number in mind? [Patreon | Commissions]

[fromtheseventhhell]

She was the night wolf. But only when she dreamed. (The Blind Girl, ADWD) "The hour of the wolf. The blackest part of night, when all the world's asleep." (The Kingbreaker, ADWD)

Thinking thoughts...It's the longest, darkest hour of the night, Arya is the Night Wolf + Dark Heart, it's the time when "the world's asleep" and Arya wargs into Nymeria and the leader of a giant pack of wolves while sleeping, and it's likely she'll reunite with Nymeria right before the long night...

[arowizards]

when brennan said hundreds of needle-sharp transparent teeth he did that for alex ward and ME. <3

[itzphynix]

Hey, anyone got any not pokemon suggestions for games? I adored Cassette Beasts, & I'm eyeballing Beastieball & Dokimon, rn. Doesn't have to be modern, & doesn't have to be indie -- those are just currently in my head.