#and i want to do that to him just bc. hes conflicted on it

[gem-de-lune]

Daily Vibe Check 11/30

Rii7e (Collective)

3 of Pentacles + The Sun [Temperance + King of Swords]

There is some general positivity here. It seems they may be preparing something together right now, or rather are seeing something in a new positive light together as a team. They are all on the same page completely and totally. Generally, this is good, but it speaks more about recent developments than their actual mood collectively.

With Temp and the King, i asked if there are any new developments, and yes there may be. The members are still taking a diplomatic and balanced approach to this because that will be best received by the company and in their best favor. But it looks like communications have opened up. They must be careful not to be too emotional in these communications, or they will just be shut out again. The company has made it clear that how they feel explicitly does not take priority, and it just prolongs the process of any discussions. They are having more clear minded talks like this, and they seem to be going well-ish.

Anton

4 of Pentacles + [5 of Wands + Ace of Swords + 3 of Swords]

Anton is struggling with what we discussed above. He seems to want to say a lot but cannot bc he can't keep himself in check. His only way of keeping himself in check is shutting up. With the 5, Ace, and 3, he goes into depth from his perspective, which is unique, I think. He is rather irritated and feels stifled- does not feel good that how he feels is nothing but a hinderance and conflict instigator. He may have been scolded or told off for saying something recently that was deemed too emotional and not thinking about the company or monetary factors. Just like he is viewed as very naiive and he is frustrated that he cannot communicate things well. Of all members he is the most angered or rather bothered by the way things are going- not because it is going badly, but because he can't contribute as much without starting a whole thing. He takes it personally. He needs to work of communicating effectively for him to be heard.

SM

4 of Wands + King of Pentacles

The vibe is "cleanup". This is about covering all your bases for an inspection. Stabilizing, ruling, and preserving structure. This is less abt how they are feeling and more about the situation in regards to Seunghan. We know they are in talks, so here it seems they are first and foremost thinking abt the stability of things and the potential of growth and prosperity over a prolonged period of time. They may have a priority to do this, and therefore they must foster this feeling in Riize and their fandom when proceeding or it will not work. They are aware of this. I would not say they are waking up more- bc they are mainly concerned abt profits. But they are bouncing ideas around, and the people on Riize's side are doing their best to advocate.

Current outlook/Timeline

Death Reversed + Strength

As we know, I hate timelines and do them sparingly. This is a timeline either for his return or for a significant development in our favor like an announcement of sorts.... 3 stands out. 3 weeks or 30 days actually.

As for the outcome in relation to this- this is saying that an unfavorable ending CAN be resisted. There may be an instance within the next 30 days that is going to test us very strongly. Like this may be really unsavory at FIRST, but we HAVE to push through it. It reminds me abt what I said regarding the ministry a few days ago. Like some things will seem irrelevant or even bad to us- but they will actually be a catalyst to victory. Be SMART and be STRONG through the end of the year, guys.

Bottom of the deck

10 of Wands

It is going to get heavy for a minute. But we are doing all of this for a reason. Sacrificing money, time, and emotional expenditure on this. We need to be careful to remember why we are boycotting and advocating, and understand that it will never be easy and free of the stress. The only release will come from a victory that will ONLY happen with people NOT giving up. It does not matter how many people we have so long as we are all in ts for the endgame.

Final Notes:

Heed these words- there is a storm coming and some of yall will drop like flies. When that happens I need you to come here and be reminded that NOTHING ends until YOU. GIVE. UP. No one can tell you to stop fighting- only you. We are not simply boycotting bc we want Seunghan in Riize. We are fighting for his free will to choose what he wants, and the same for Riize. Until those things are clearly communicated and given to them, we need to continue. Stop being deterred by SM and others. Stopping is YOUR choice. And stopping = 100% losing. Choosing to 100% fail when you can see things through and get a better grade is dumb. Get up. Stay up.

[milliesbattleaxe]

more Mastermind analysis, while I think its infuriating I don't think its a mischaracterisation that Bee and Ozzie didn't say anything, bc:

They don't know the full situations. Even if Ozzie knows more, there's a lot of things neither of them know.

While they're outspoken and call people out, in this case, "standing up for what is right" would require them to put in question all of Hell's hierarchy, and Satan's right to pass this ruling in any measure.

The punishment of Stolas may be a "flick on the wrist" but not for these two. Hell is based on power, love these people we deem unworthy and you might lose it all.

While Andrealphus is lying about Blitzø's motifs, both him and Stolas always knew they were breaking Demon Law with this. What's illegal here is Blitzø's use of the grimoire/Stolas relinquishing of the grimoire. This is the entire reason why Stolas asked Ozzie for a crystal.

For Ozzie specifically, to admit he did this would be implicating himself and making him an accomplice.

Them singing "he is the law" implies Satan actually does have a right to pass on the judgements, what he was just lying about was being higher ranked than Lucifer. Furthermore, and like I already said, to question him is to question their own place and neither of them are willing to give it up. They benefit from it, they like benefiting from it. It's Stolas specifically the one who has a problem with Hell's Hierarchies, because he doesn't want to rule, he wants to know things.

This is purposeful in Stolas, as he's Blitzø's mirror and foil. Stolas doesn't want power, he wants to know things, and his entire character arc revolves around "is the power I have worth sacrificing my personhood? my true self?" Bee and Ozzie do not feel trapped in the system like Stolas does, they ENACT the system.

This doesn't make them "bad characters" this is not Oliver Cromwell's decree on the immorality of plays and theatre. This makes them compelling characters who might have conflicts with their own partners, LIKE IT SHOULD BE. Stolitz has always been canon, regardless of their status of together or not, they are their respective love interests, and their relationship is one of the most important components of the narrative. Therefore they have to have something that sets them apart from other couples in their situation, and its this. Bee and Ozzie may be dating Vortex and Fizz, and they love them I do not doubt this, but their relationships aren't challenges to the order in hell. Not really, not even if Ozzie fights Mammon about it.

If you also watch Hazbin, remember that Hell's hierarchy does not like being challenged and this is exactly why they don't take Charlie seriously. Because she is disputing their idea of "power" (both Heaven and Hell's tbh). Even Lucifer hates being challenged, despite being the "og rebel". The only person who can question him is Charlie, no one else can.

Like, think about it. Bee provides things, she is the great provider, Ozzie is a fair boss if a temperamental one who their employees know not to fuck around with, and does a lot of things for Fizz. But that's it. Not once it has been implied they're willing to go (metaphorically, existentially) where their partners come from. Stolas has. Stolas has been trying to know Blitzø in his entirety BEFORE Full Moon. He was doing it like ass, but he was.

Another thing is neither Bee nor Ozzie try to bring their partners to their level. They rule alone, they do not share their power. Stolas did, because while Stolas knows its illegal, he probably does not see it as wrong. And it makes sense given what we know of him and his realm. His realm is knowledge, he doesn't like knowledge because of power, he likes bc he just likes to learn things. He was like this BEFORE he knew what his role in the family was. Paimon even looks at him weird for knowing things and saying them aloud as if "sharing" his power by mentioning it near their butler. Stolas doesn't want to get in trouble but if he loves Blitzø why wouldn't he a) try to learn him exactly as he is (see All 2 U) and b) share ALL that he has with him. why wouldn't he give him ALL that he has.

If they decide to lean on this and show what conflicts it causes, and I think it will given how they're pulling Stella and Striker together, I am rubbing my hands eagerly to see where it goes. And also to see how Ozzie and Bee react and start acting, because there's still two entire seasons to see where they go as characters, their stories aren't yet done

[nkyslover]

OOPS! I'M DOOMED...

whoops, looks like you caught yourself in quite the situation! when your homeroom teacher pairs you up with satoru gojo, your one and only; academic rival, for a project, your conflicted. as satoru himself would say, "sorry honey, the world doesn't work like rainbows and sunshines."

mara's notes! — back with another lame fic, i genuinely might have writers block or something because my ideas are non existing atp😭 send help yall PLEASE and i hope u guys enjoy it!!

"satoru gojo and y/n y/l/n, you both will be together for the project time."

you couldn't stop your eyes from widening as you froze in your seat.

satoru gojo!?

what the hell did your homeroom teacher think she was doing? pairing two people who absolutely despised each other, together for a project!?

your sure she knew. how could she not? you two are the only ones who compete in competitions that involve alot of debating, in another word, arguing?

or how you both would start to argue about how to pronounce different vowels in japanese, and how he'd ask you questions you didn't have the answer to when you'd be doing a presentation?

it was pure hatred.

"class will be dismissed in 5 minutes, until then, please pair up with your partner and discuss." your teacher smiled, before diverting her question to her book, scribbling notes on it. chairs started to move, and you start to frown. how are you gonna survive?

she stops, glancing up. "also, there will be a total of 6 times you will have to meet up. its a must, and you must complete these 6 meet ups to make sure you haven't missed anything."

your done for.

"get back here!"

god he was fast.

but that was all you could hear. okay, you may or may not be sprinting or running for your life away from the tall white haired boy who was chasing after you.

"leave me alone!" you cried, shoes hitting the ground as you turn the corner, huffing and puffing as you hope he leaves you be.

"why are you running!?" he yelled, turning the corner after you and following you down the hallway of the big academy. you manage to not bump into anybody as you dodge the crowd. "because your chasing me!" you screamed, as other students gave you both knowing looks. it was probably normal, then again.

"fuck— stop running! really, i'm not gonna stop until you stop!"

you turn another corner into a more secluded hallway, and then you trip, foot slipping as you yelp loudly, bag falling out of your hand as you fall forward, if it wasn't for a pair of arms slipping around your waist, you definitely would have face planted!

but then again, that's how you ended up in an empty study room in the library. satoru gojo had dragged you there, and he was too strong to even protest against anyways. poor you!

"i want to go home." you mutter, dropping your pen on the page full of notes that you just written. "after this, we have 5 more meetings to make so just keep writing or we won't get anything done now."

you frown.

"stop looking at me like that." he lifts his head, eyes meeting yours as he narrows his eyes as a silent threat, you don't hesitate to pick up your pen and keep your head down. "bully." you mindlessly mutter under my breath.

he's gonna act like that didn't tug a small smile at his mouth, yeah.

a few days later, you think your more than halfway through your project. wait, you think? maybe it's because you've been telling satoru off for being lazy when he's the one telling you off, and oh, we can't forget! you may or may not have caught him staring at you. you blink, and suddenly his eyes are on the book, which is odd. are you going insane? maybe it's the air of his dorm room.

okay, you might have been spending time in his dorm. he might have been feeding you snacks, and you both might have been bonding.

that sounds like a crime.

you also have his number now! he sends weird messages, did i mention?

gojo: sugs told me u have a date???

gojo: btw u need to cancel it bc we need to study some extra contents on the project

you: wait what??? but we've finished the project

gojo: i told u we need to study

gojo: get ur ass in my room before i drag u

you: i can't cancel the date it's a date gojo

gojo: too bad too sad, im waiting

matter of fact, he did have to drag you. and you actually didn't mean to blank the guy you had a date with but it wasn't your fault. somehow his contact disappeared from your phone. you didn't have a lock on your phone, but at the same time you didn't suspect anybody.

that makes you more unlucky.

now, your labelled as "satoru gojo's girlfriend" but how the hell did this even happen? maybe you didn't even realise when you started to fall in love with him, gaze meeting with his, hands accidentally touching when you'd walk together, and the butterflies in the pit of your stomach when he brushed a strand of hair behind your ear when it got in your face.

whatever, young love, as they say!

[hyperions-light]

ssssshhhhh this is a reference post for future me bc I have 12 billion ideas a day and my brain is filled with bees + some wasps

- The Lore did not change in VG at all, what in the world is everyone talking about

- It’s all one blood magic ritual, guys, trust me

- Solas, Bellara, and the arrogance of self-blame

- the one about how I never want to revisit the mage-Templar conflict ever again

- My fucking husband Zevran Arainai and why we’ll probably never see him again =(

- Just a list of references in this game to the past ones, since everyone keeps saying it’s ’not a real DA game’

- Another, more helpful list of all the NPCs whose dialogue will change if you bring specific companions to them

- Posting things I love about Bellara, because she’s not getting enough adoration

- Posting things I love about Harding, since she isn’t either

- Posting about Taash + their arc, since people don’t like it

- Posting about how I love the stuff Rook can say to Solas in the ending because I’m obsessed with the last 10-ish min of the game

- Posting about all the ways the game characterizes Rook, since people are mad about that too

-Posting about Emmrich’s arc and how like… it’s fun but really it’s also very serious and thematically relevant

- Posting about how Veilguard confronts and deals with death

- Posting about Neve in a more coherent way lol (after I try saving Minrathous)

- Spite and the Ossuary, since people hate that too I guess

- Posting abt how BW games have almost always just offered the illusion of carrying choices over and I’m glad they stopped lying about it (NOTIFS OFF)

- The Crows in VG (notifs off again)

- Countering some specific complaints about the LoF w/ regards to how they relate to Isabela (notifs REALLY off)

- Do I seriously need to discuss Isseya a third time

- something about how Davrin is like… he’s like good Ghilan’nain or something… he cares about them… idk

- What’s going on with Rook de Riva and Vi (after I finish this playthrough)

- those elven pantomime mask mementos… fascinating

- Paragon Wintersbreath?????

- love how normal everyone in Minrathous is

- Confused about the anger towards [im redacting this] when Dorian codex, Viper, etc, + other games never discussed anyway??

- How specific criticisms of DAI clearly shaped this game and it’s funny bc now everyone is mad that they listened to the criticisms (only if I’m feeling confrontational)

[salt216000]

man. that prev rain world post has just got me thinkin abt my ultrakill sisyphus ancient

his name is one boulder, one thousand steps. and he just. he loves life, man. he loves the endurance and the struggle. but that doesnt necessarily mean that he wishes he could go back from ascension, even if it was a process that was not of his own volition in Global AU specifically.

bc he knows that he spent every second of his life doing something that he felt was Purposeful to him. that doesnt mean it was always important in the grander scheme of things, but he endured, and that process of Trying was significant To Him.

[choccy-milky]

sometimes you gotta lure your overly-studious ravenclaw gf into spending time with you 🥰 📚 ( from 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall' by Kat_12739 on ao3, GO READ IT!!! the first story is about seb falling sick and still pushing himself/not admitting he's sick until he ends up in the hospital, the second story is about the birth of seb and clora's daughter and seb's reaction to clora almost dying in childbirth, and the third is about dealing with a fussy newborn lewis😭🥹THEY'RE SO GOOD AND SWEET AND SOMEWHAT SAD (not to mention beautifully written) so go check it out!!💖💖 )

[bacchuschucklefuck]

space sweepers but they're delivery people and are at no point on screen through the entire movie

[silverwhittlingknife]

hi Silver! o/ because that fanart made me wonder - would you happen to know when/where Dick's stuffed elephant plush Zitka turns up in the comics?

GREETINGS CAM <3333 THAT ART WAS SO CUTE

Yeah, I think your instincts are right - it's a truly adorable bit of transformative fandom, but I'm 95% percent sure it's not comics canon. Barbara has canon plushies, but I don't think anyone else does.

I got kinda invested in the investigation (it's hard to prove a negative!) and I ended up typing out an entire History of Elinore/Zitka, so, uh, if you're curious, meet me below the cut for:

Where does Elinore / Zitka - the animal - appear in comics?

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

Where does Elinore / Zitka appear in comics?

We're gonna go in chronological order!

Dick's circus elephant friend was first created for practical reasons: in Batman 436, Marv Wolfman does a big expanded flashback to Dick's circus backstory as a way to subtly show us Tim before officially introducing him (so that we can have a technically-solvable mystery-of-Tim's-identity in LPoD). In this comic, there's an elephant named Elinore who loves Dick:

Aww. Such a cute elephant!

Batman 436 comes out in August 1989. New Titans 60 comes out a few months later, in November, and guess what? When Dick visits the circus, he is suddenly surprised by an unexpected blast from the past! It turns out that even though it's been years, Elinore still remembers him!

Here's the part where Elinore remembers Dick:

SUCH a cute elephant. I love her.

(Guess who else still remembers Dick even though it was so long ago. Guess which other character is about to be an unexpected blast from the past. Guess which character Elinore is directly paralleling guess guess guess sorry everything is about Dick and Tim in my mind but I can focus I swear)

Four years later, in 1993, Batman: The Animated Series retells Dick's origin story. They like and keep Wolfman's elephant, but they change her name to Zitka:

Wolfman doesn't return to the elephant beyond those two appearances, and a few years down the line, New Titans gets cancelled and Wolfman's not writing Dick anymore anyway. So the animal gets abandoned for a while, until Devin Grayson, a fan of both Wolfman and B:tAS, revives the Wolfman-era Titans team in JLA/Titans and then the ongoing series Titans 1999.

Grayson then brings back the elephant in a flashback to Dick's past in Titans 16 (Jun 2000), where she imports the B:tAS name. Sometimes I'm skeptical of TV-to-comics imports, but honestly, I endorse this one. You lose the alliteration, which is a shame, but IMO Zitka is a better elephant name than Elinore.

Here's Dick with the newly-christened Zitka in Titans 16:

Grayson also briefly references the elephant in Gotham Knights 20 and - in a final angsty callback - in Nightwing 88 (Feb 2004), where Zitka tries futilely to comfort Dick in the midst of his trauma conga line:

... And... honestly, I think that's it for comic appearances? The two Wolfman comics plus the three Grayson comics.

Both Wolfman and Grayson are writing multiple titles - Batman, New Titans, Titans, Gotham Knights, and Nightwing between the two of them, spanning a big chunk of Dick's post-Crisis canon - and both writers use the elephant for heartwarming moments of nostalgia, which means if you're doing a post-Crisis readthrough for Dick, Elinore/Zitka feels memorable. But I don't think she actually shows up that much.

For post-2011, I am not as well-informed - throwing this out to the dash? anyone know? - but I feel like Zitka the heartwarming symbol of Dick's heartwarming circus past is, uh, thematically very at odds with the Court of Owls evil!circus vibes, so my instinct is that this story element was almost certainly dropped in the reboot.

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

In WFA, yes; in main comics continuity, no. Technically, I have not read every comic ever published, so I could be wrong!! But I don't think so.

Below, find my rambling reasoning on the tonal vibes of pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, and post-2011, and why this particular story element doesn't seem right to me for the first two.

Pre-Crisis (...okay, mostly the Silver Age): stuffed animal, yes or no?

tl;dr no, requires too much background knowledge on the part of the reader, plus the elephant wasn't a thing until later

Elinore doesn't get created until post-Crisis, but also just generally, pre-Crisis callbacks are more along the lines of this reference in Batman 129 (published in 1960), where, wow, Batman and Robin are hunting jewel thieves - and it turns out Robin recognized this strongman! BUT HOW?!

The comic goes on to recap Dick's entire origin story in flashback, on the assumption that you may not know it.

(BTW, if you'd like to know more about Haly's Circus throughout the years, nightwingology has a great post here summarizing a lot of fun plotlines and characters!)

Basically: Silver Age comics are very self-consciously episodic and kid-friendly; they're not generally gonna do overly-elaborate callbacks because they don't know what comics their kid readers may have randomly picked up or remember.

By the time of post-Crisis, comic books were being written for an adult audience buying from the direct market, i.e. readers who are collecting whole runs & don't need or want Dick's origin story to be recapped to us in full every time it's referenced. That's why in post-Crisis, we get stuff like "hey, neat, this particular soda brand is getting mentioned in several different books!!" or "in order to understand this story arc, buy SIXTEEN DIFFERENT COMICS in FIVE DIFFERENT RUNS and read them ALL ACCORDING TO A NUMBERED ORDER and also you better be following the individual plotlines and recognize these five minor characters who we don't bother to introduce!! Good luck!!" But the elaborate post-Crisis plotlines - and subtler worldbuilding like a stuffed animal callback to Dick's backstory - don't make a lot of story sense UNLESS you're imagining your readers as completionist adult fans.

So IMO a stuffed animal wouldn't be a pre-Crisis thing unless it was The Episodic Story Of the Week, and I don't think a stuffed animal is action-adventure-y enough for the fast-paced storytelling of the Silver Age. (Unless it, like, came to life and tried to eat you or something.)

Post-Crisis: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr: no, Dick's a manly tough guy, he's not gonna have a stuffed animal, that'd be lame, like something Tim might do

Part of the edgy grimdark adult vibes in 80s/90s comics is that some characters who used to be kinda silly & goofy & lighthearted - like Batman and Robin - get reimagined as Serious and Angsty and Edgy in a Tough Cool Manly Brooding Way. This massively affects characterization for Bruce, Dick, and Bruce and Dick's relationship.

(I obviously love this change & love the tense Bruce-and-Dick interactions, but plenty of fans of the earlier fluffy comics really disliked the edgy retcons of Miller / Wolfman / Starlin / et al.)

The upshot is that post-Crisis is a period when you could have a recurring reference like a stuffed elephant, but you wouldn't have a stuffed elephant, not for Dick. I think a toy like that would be too cutesy / childish / effeminate to give a male character in post-Crisis, unless you were poking fun at him.

Now, you could probably let Tim have a stuffed animal, because Tim is sometimes cool but also sometimes a tryhard loser who is faking being cool and not entirely pulling it off (see e.g. the Robin comic where he practices tough-guy faces in the mirror, or the Teen Titans comic where Conner discovers his cringy Enya CD, or when he's fanboying over Connor and it's awkward, etc etc.). A stuffed animal would be deeply embarrassing, and you'd have to be careful to compensate by having Tim do something cool afterward - but Tim's character concept allows for "he's kind of a loser sometimes."

But Dick isn't!! In post-Crisis, Dick's a tough / impressive / "cool guy" character, the kind of guy anyone would want to be, even in the flashbacks where he's Robin, and even in the stories where he's more lighthearted than angsty. It'd be kinda lame for Dick to have a stuffed elephant, so he wouldn't. I feel like Dick would be more likely to poke fun at it if someone had one, like when he's making fun of Wally for liking the Hardy Boys. Dick could have a Batman action figure, at most, and if he had one he would have it ironically.

Basically: in post-Crisis, a male character hugging a stuffed elephant feels more likely to be a punchline to me, not something poignant. (Even with Tim, Tim could have an embarrassing stuffed animal, but he couldn't hug it when sad - that's too far. Maybe Booster Gold might do this. Probably he wouldn't, but spiritually, he would. Sorry Booster ilu! <3)

Instead, Dick instinctively deals with his inner turmoil like the TORTURED ACTION HERO he is: by punching things and brooding and yelling and joining the mob and sleeping on rooftops and going on obsessive secret missions and acquiring Angsty Stubble!! Just like Batman!

(Technically I don't know if Bruce ever joined the mob but you know he would.)

Anyway as you know this is my favorite continuity and I am poking fun affectionately, but uh, yeah sdfsfdsfs. No stuffed animals.

Post-2011 / Infinite Frontier / Wayne Family Adventures: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr it's in WFA! Probably not anywhere else, but it could be.

Post-2011 stuff tends to be cutesier overall, most of all in the current Infinite Frontier era. So I don't feel like this would be tonally out-of-line with IF comics. Taylor tends to go for more meme-y references rather than fanfic references, though.

So the obvious best fit is WFA, which is aiming for a rough approximation of Silver Age family-friendly vibes - wholesome, episodic plots, Teaching Good Moral Lessons For The Youth, etc. - plus lots of Easter eggs for fanfic readers and some comic references.

And look, here we are:

Aww.

Whew - that's everything I could find!

Anyway as you can probably tell, I LOVE the elephant, so this was a very entertaining rabbit hole to go down, thank you <3

[casualavocados]

I'll let you go after I'm through. Don't go too far. …Why did you do it? I don't know what you're talking about.

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 9

[fujii-draws]

OKAY! Chatot rant in tags below! Read at your own discretion.

[mcytegg]

WDYMMMMM PANGI LOANED DERAP 3 HEARTS,, PUTTING HIMSELF ON 4. thats crazy im :')

[weirdmageddon]

sorry for liking davejade in 2023 btw its in a cool way though

[choccy-milky]

(ominis is already on his family's plan but he's there to annoy seb anyway)

[bitchthefuck1]

you know what, I actually will talk about this because it's bothering me. The issue with focussing so heavily on syd and carmy's potential for a romantic relationship isn't that there's something inherently unintellectual about romance or whatever, it's that a lot of people seem incapable of doing that without immediately flattening the story and ignoring or intentionally misreading any and all nuance for the sake of that romance. Every scene suddenly becomes about how it impacts their relationship, every analysis is done through a romantic lens, every frame or line of dialogue becomes about finding some easter egg or hint that "proves" these people should start dating. Their dynamic is absolutely a fundamental part of this show, but if you can only see it as a will-they-won't-they, you miss so much of what the story is actually trying to say with these two.

There are good versions of this story where their relationship is romantic and there are good versions of this story where it isn't, but as soon as you decide them being together is "the point," you lose the ability to actually judge the story for what it is, not what you want it to be.

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

I wanna know ur Fontaine msq criticisms 👁️👁️👂I’m all ears

I'm not sure if you wanted me to talk about this secretly or publicly but! Here I go!

The TLDR: Fontaine MSQ aestheticised prison, poverty, child abuse, the justice system/court and didn't properly address any of it.

More:

Focalors/Furina has way too much of a sympathetic angle for a dictator who's lets people drown with her inaction.

Neuvillette feels Bad for sentencing some people to death/prison, but that's it. He's one of the most powerful people in Fontaine. If he felt like there are systemic injustices, I.E sending an abused Child to prison, he should be the first person to DO something about it, not just cry and be sad so the audience can be like aw, that's complex character writing isn't it? No it's not! And guilt doesn't absolve you!!!!!!! (These are stuff we deal with in OTCOJ read my fic now /j)

Meropide has children in it, both Sentenced there (Wriothesley) and BORN THERE (Lanoire), and this is just a quirk of the place. Not only that, Meropide accepts prisoners of all genders and crimes. There are abusers and abuse victims in one place. Do you know how bad that is? How much potential for crimes to happen in a place like that— oh wait, Meropide isn't under Fontaine's jurisdiction. If you are assaulted as an inmate it literally means nothing to the court.

Wriothesley had no qualifications when he took over. Depending on how long he lived on the streets, how old he was when he killed his parents, how old he was when he was first taken in by the orphanage, etc, the man might never have more than 4–5 years of formal education. Sigewinne probably had to teach him how to write reports. And do Meropide's spreadsheets. Edit because I forgot to elaborate on this one: This isn't a point brought up anywhere, which is bad, because when poverty and incarceration robs you of a proper education (and the rights to vote in many places too, too, by the way), it reduces your prospects for jobs, reduces many people's ability to get a home etc etc. Wriothesley was just, narratively, Given his position.

Meropide is an industrialized prison, and they portray this as a good thing. Prisoners are paid in coupons for their labour, and this is also portrayed as a good thing.

The One-Meal-A-Day reform was something Paimon gushed about being so great of a perk, that people might want to go to jail for food (could be interesting and reflective of systemic poverty if MHY had brains, but they don't, so I was just Pissed because essentially all Paimon wanted to say was "Prison isn't so bad, but still don't go to prison guys! Prison labour is really hard!"). By the way, in most real-world prisons they are obligated to feed you three meals a day. Because that's how much food a human needs. MHY went with one meal just so they can say "if you want to eat more, you have to work." And then the welfare meal is a goddamn gacha. So imagine you're a starving child who's too weak to work in the fucking robot assembly line, and you wander up for your first meal in 24 hours, only to luck in with a shit one. I'd kill myself.

They wrote Wriothesley, who's a victim of the system, into a guy who's say shit like "I'm the Duke I can do whatever I want" for a cool moment where he choke-slams an inmate (I know he was a bad guy. But also, in copaganda when cops are violent/disregarding protocols, they are always only portrayed to do that against bad guys, so what does our critical thinking tells us about this one?) They wrote Wriothesley, who was an inmate of a prison so bad, so notorious that it is the literal boogeyman of Fontaine, that has a legal (???) fighting pit, with an administrator who abuses his position to be unreasonable, to willingly stay in the place and become an Administrator who would choke-slam an inmate while saying a cool line about how he has the power to do whatever he wants. They wrote him, the guy who had to be fed on the streets by melusines, to think one-meal-a-day was a good enough reform (while he spends god-knows how much on his boat). This wasn't a victim-turns-into-abuser narrative either, they want all this to be seen as positive character growth.

And then, the final kicker is, they gloss over his entire abuse. You can only read about these shit in his profile, which most people don't because they don't Have Him or doesn't care to unlock it/read it online, and they jammed his entire backstory into a flaccid info-dump at the end of his character story quest. This man isn't Allowed to feel abused and neglected and show any reaction to it within the narrative of Fontaine itself, because if they actually Gave Weight to what happened to him, they'd have to confront THE FUCKING JUSTICE SYSTEM they had NO PLANS on criticising. I don't think they ever explicitly said the fucking Crime-Theatre nonsense was Bad either.

I could go on, but this is already so long. But yeah, I hope this gave you an idea.

[marchsage]

i had the delightful opportunity to draw green's birthday banner for specord!!! happy birthdayyyy to the guy of all time :3!!!