#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

[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 👍

[aroaceleovaldez]

every once in awhile i go on a demigod powers deep dive, and then i remember Nico can canonically just. randomly lower temperature and i just throw everything back out the window.

[dragon-spaghetti]

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

[tj-crochets]

Okay I’ve been stuck on trying to make baby blankets for a while now and can’t get myself to just focus on the darn things, so time for a side quest! I had a layer cake of this precut fabric and I’m making two baby quilts from it

Well, I’m definitely making this one, and after this one I’ll see if I’m able to focus on baby blankets again or if my brain still has that invisible wall up between me and the task? So it might only be one of these baby quilts for now

[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.

[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

[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...

[emdotcom]

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.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

Thinking about darkners and religion... some interesting connections I made just now.

Angels, demons, gods, titans... we created them all to give some semblance of narrative to our own creation. But if darkners are created when objects and concepts in the light world are suffused with enough sentimentality, then who's to say the same can't happen to those supernatural harbingers if people come to believe in them strongly enough?

What if, by merely knowing of the Angel, by knowing of the Titans, the lightners begin to believe in them enough for them to come into existence - a sort-of white elephant situation, but with godlike beings of unfathomable power? Is this why Ralsei doesn't tell Kris and Susie of the Roaring at their first meeting, so that they wouldn't accidentally manifest it into being?

In this scenario, the mere knowledge of the Roaring becomes a deadly quicksand pit, where knowing manifests the Roaring, and through manifestation the Roaring is known, endlessly feeding upon the lightners' fears and anxieties, growing to infinite proportions until it swallows everything else, crushing it all under infinite darkness.

The Roaring is not just an apocalypse - it is the apocalypse. It is the very concept of apocalypse manifested through thought and belief. All stories must end, after all, and what is religion but a grand story we told ourselves about our place in the world? And how do most religions end? Armageddon.

Ignorance is bliss, and it's often best not to skip to the end of a tale before it has properly begun. Perhaps Ralsei knows this, and that's why he must withhold information from his friends - to protect them from the end of the story that they themselves will help to bring about.

Enjoy the garbled ramblings of a deranged fan who's thought way too much about this stuff.

[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

[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!

[markscherz]

The Fredericton Region Museum won't let anyone take a DNA sample of the Coleman frog to confirm its species, but do you have any theories on IDing it? 🤔🤔🤔

I'd guess you'd get an ID of Bos taurus, given that it's such bullshit.

[pynkhues]

One thing that helps with the wolf stuff is that they can use real-life wolf-dogs to film at least a lot of it, and then how they film it could remove the necessity for super realistic-looking cgi wolves.

Coincidentally, I was on the set of True Blood like 15 years ago and watched them film scenes with wolves for (I think?) the third season. They used real wolf-dog mixes that looked like wolves (it was eerie lol)--I was told they'll sometimes use full wolves that have been domesticated, but never for scenes where the wolves have to pretend-attack something because they don't want to trigger that aggression in a full wolf. But who knows if things have changed, that was a while ago.

(x)

! That's so fascinating, anon! Thank you for letting me know. It would definitely look better if they could use real-life wolf-dogs to film, so it'll be interesting to see if that's the direction they go down.