#and that's all because their murder appears basic on the surface

[ludwigoat909]

(Alittle disclaimer that what I'm about to say is absolutely not directed towards anyone in particular, it is just something I saw a lot of times)

This is something I've noticed a while ago but never really dared to talk about this. But while the milgram fandom has been known to have a lot of cases where they would woobify characters or victimize them to make them more sympathetic. There's also this other side of the spectrum that I don't see anyone mentioned where people feel the need to have the characters be completely and utterly terrible people simply because a part of us tend to find these more palatable.

If this sounds like this is about Muu. It is not. Ironically, the reason Muu had so much hate is because of the way she herself was very much victimized at first, only to have "betrayed" her audience once her crying had stopped and became more comfortable to be who she truly was.

An exemple would be how there's this theory that the reason Yuno got into milgram wasn't because of abortion but because killed a man. While I don't have anything against the theory itself... I can't help but think that origins and reasons for why a lot of people choose to believe it is.... very strange. To me, it seems the reason this theory feels more like a cope out for people who simply hate the idea that her crime is just simply abortion. As if abortion is what makes her character less intresting. And I just find it so weird.

Another exemple of this is Mikoto. Mikoto went from this extremely popular character with so many theories to just "oh yeah he exist" and it sounds like I'm exagerating considering how he is still one of the most beloved characters in the series with an absurd amount of fanart but... when it comes to analysis it's just... good lord

It seemed like the moment Mikoto was confirmed to be a system, the interest for him amongst theorists just dropped dead. Back then, when we weren't too sure if he had DID or not, Mikoto was extremely popular character amongst theorists because of how cryptic his case and character were. Yet when he got confirmed to be a system, people completely gave up on him and really just chose to boil down his character to "shitty did murder trope" and never pushed far beyound (in fact, even before milgram confirmed it, people were still very against the theory that he was in fact a system, never mind how a lot of the people that pushed the theory were also system themselves). They ended up his case "boring" because he turned out to be just ""the good one"" who is being wrongfully blamed and then claimed that the only way he would be interesting is to ngl this is genuinely frustrating to watch. Especially when these are the same people who say they prefer John way more yet fail to even make analysis on him as well. It's almost like Mikoto had the opposite situation as Muu's were while Muu became more hated for not being as innocent as she was protrayed in her mv, in Mikoto's case case he became less loved because he turned out to be a lot more sympathetic then he was in his mv.

This is coming from someone who actually do believe Mikoto was the true murderer here and not John. Mikoto has never been "more boring". A lot of previous analysis of his character from t1 are still very much applicable to this day. He is still the man broken by Japanese collectivism. He is still very much the guy who feel like he needs to fit in to the point of breaking. Still the guy who was very dishonest about his true feelings. What y'all can't stand is that he is also not that oh so much more "intresting" silly funny guy who goes "hehe what do you mean a murderer you're so cruel warden-kun you wouldn't want too piss me off do you cause I could beat you with this bat! Not that I would actually do anything like that lololol *threatnening glare*", and never has been.

[darkblueboxs]

Glass Onion Spoilers - Foreshadowing and Among Us

I’ve seen a few posts dunking on glass onion for being “cringe” because of the Among Us scene and a few praising it for accurately reflecting the fact that this is all everyone was playing in 2020, but I haven’t seen anyone really talk about how brilliantly Among Us works as a foreshadowing/storytelling device.

On the surface - as the film itself points out! - the game is a neat little parallel of the island: one murderer hidden among us, with the objective being to find them out. But this comparison goes far deeper than the basic premise of the film.

Firstly, Benoit appears as the game’s imposter, and then, it is later revealed, is literally an imposter, arriving on the island uninvited under false pretences - one of the first major twists of the film spelled out to the audience in the opening act. And he isn’t alone - just as two imposters generally work together to deceive the other players, so Benoit and Helen work together to infiltrate the group. BUT, and this is the bit that really drives me wild, the endgame format of Among Us perfectly reflects the endgame of the film. The way to win Among Us isn’t necessarily a case of killing everyone or surviving every round - the way to win is by convincing your fellow players to believe you, and to vote accordingly.

During the trial Andi loses because the imposter - the billionaire impersonating a genius - convinces the other players that she should be voted out; she is as effectively thrown out of the airlock as she is the business, and then literally killed to protect the [fortune of] the “crew.”

But, Andi was not the imposter, and so the game continues.

The imposter kills again, and when Miles confesses to causing the lights to go out, this is another excellent hint - only the imposter can sabotage the lights!

Then, with all the characters assembled much like an “Emergency Meeting,” we reach the climax of the film: Miles burns the napkin evidence, and immediately the ensemble is back to the voting booth as Helen, like her sister, fights for the players’ support in voting out the imposter. Any Among Us player will recognise the infuriating feeling when you literally just saw them vent for the love of god you were all there vote them OFF- and that frustration - of speaking the truth and not being believed - is evident in this scene.

But these players don’t care about the truth; they care about surviving (ie staying rich), and so they will vote off an innocent person to placate the shark. Which is absolutely not how you win the game.

Then, then, the game’s final round: the imposter has lost his tools, is revealed for the useless fraud he is, and it’s when he has nothing left to offer the other players that one more vote is held - the characters literally raise their hands as they pledge their support to Helen, in part to give the appearance of swearing in upon the witness stand, but also in part to give the visual of a literal vote... such as that of an Among Us emergency meeting vote.

And it’s when Miles is finally, rightfully ejected that at last, the game is won.

Among Us is a game of social engineering, of lying and convincing others of your lies to prolong your survival, deception, and the malleability of truth. Presenting this game in the opening of the film is more than a gimmick or scene-setter: it illustrates the social structures at the heart of the story.

TLDR: Among Us foreshadows the film’s premise, but also plot twists, character choices, and significantly the film’s resolution by way of group vote.

[mixiury]

Character(s): Wanderer x GN Reader

Summary: Just him falling in love with you

A/N: Sorry for disappearing for two years, I actually forgot about this account XD. I had this on my drafts, so i thought of posting it while i cook something new. I also plan to come back to writing, so feel free to send me any requests :)

To live for centuries means to see people come and go, all of them different in small ways but overall the same when you see them in the big picture. As time goes by, everyone just becomes stains in the wall, amusing when they first appear, at least until the novelty turns boring and plain.

They are all going to be washed away by the time anyway. Why should he brother on finding out a meaning behind their existence if they never mean to stay?

That same mentality is one he has kept for many years, slowly losing interest in everyone who he crosses paths, only finding purpose in keeping around those who can be of use for him. But you? You are not useful at all. Actually, you are not even boring, like most of the other mortals he has met. No, you are straight annoying. Frustrating.

Frustrating your tone to speak; unable to hide his irritation every time he hears your voice, never afraid to say your thoughts aloud for others to listen and making it everyone's problem, echoing through the deepness of his mind as a haunting melody that he just can't seem to get rid of

Frustrating your sense of humor; the same one that makes him wonder if there is any braincells left inside that empty brain of yours, and the same one that causes so many pity laughs and smiles to those around you, wishing that he was the one hearing your jokes instead so he could tell you on the face how unfunny they are.

Frustrating your eyes; lighting up with enthusiasm everytime you talk about something you are passionate about. Blindly sharing that light and joy that only you are capable of creating with anyone interested, not even realizing how easily it can be extinguished if left within the reach of others.

Because it doesn't matter how many times he tries to come with a logical conclussion, Wanderer simply can't understand how someone so gullible and naive has survived until now; for everyone he knew who was fool enough to remain soft over the progression of time ended up murdered at the hands of the reality.

Everyone but you, apparently.

That's what he can't wrap his head around.

You, somehow, against all odds, have managed to stay true to yourself without letting others hands drown you and, at the same time, without falling into the cruelty of this world. Soft but steady. Sparkling but constant. Defying everything he knows and everything he believed to be an absolute truth, the puppet finds himself in an endless internal conflict over you.

You have took a shape and color in the wall of his life that he had yet to see.

It's stupid how complex humans can be. He could almost hear you laughing at him for not understanding somethingas basic as humanity. But you don't do it. You never do. And that makes it all more frustrating.

Unable to get the answers he search for, trying to guess your hand in this card game that you are not even aware you are playing. The different possibilities run through his mind as he attempts to figure out your next move, reading between the lines for any hints and hidden meanings.

Maybe it is all an act you are performing. Maybe there is more in the surface than he can see. Maybe you are hiding your true self behind a facede he has yet to uncover.

There has to be something. It must be.

However, all his conclusions quickly discarded the moment your hand lingers with his, just like a soft breeze in summer days, able of take away all his doubts with just one touch; strong enough to blew away each of the cards on the table, only for him to realize that there was never a winner in the first place, for it was never a competition but only a way to spend time with you.

And it's frustrating. It's frustrating how you can just tear down everything he took so many years to build; How all this time he spent analyzing your every move over and over was for nothing.

But somehow, now that he is in the other side of the conversation, listening to the same unfunny jokes he has heard before, instead of pointing out all their flaws as he once wished, everything on his mind is how he doesn't want you to ever stop speaking.

To think you are the only person able to shine like that. To make him feel like that.

[bloop-bl00p]

Alastor could have been Native American

Before anyone screams racism, removal of representation, or whatever I redirect you to my post about the Voodoo representation of the show.

→ HERE ←

First thing first, Alastor is not a Wendigo but his cannibalism aspect led to fans believing the contrary, a belief that was pushed further with him being a deer. Wendigoes aren’t related to deer at all, they mostly look like men who are visibly starved and all. The deer thing came from pop culture.

Now you’re gonna ask..

“You’re all for representing properly religion and culture why would you want him to be American Indian if he’s not a proper wendigo?”

He could be a skinwalker with small elements of wendigo.

Here’s a small rewrite

It’s not related to Hell’s Safe Haven, I’ll be doing something different, feel free to take the idea for your oc if you want. But remember, Always do research :)

Why a skinwalker? They are shamans who started as healers but broke taboos from the culture which involve using their ability for harm and curses. If you’re smart then you should see where I’m going with this.

Rather than being an “evil voodoo man” Alastor could have been a shaman who transgressed important rules and became a skinwalker, one of these taboos is murdering a close relative to align with darker powers which pretty much fits for Alastor. Obliviously, you don’t villainize the whole culture, you can still show that shamanism, when not perverted by skinwalkers, can do good. Alastor’s mother could have also been a shaman and went to Heaven.

He could still have been a serial killer, stalking and learning the routine of his victims before killing them. Then he could have died in the snow because hunters noticed his activities in the forest, thanks to their dogs smelling the putrid flesh of the bodies he was carrying around, and then he got shot. Or you can have it that he managed to escape but got lost and had to eat part of the corpse he managed to get with him, but he also had to use their skin to not try and protect himself from the cold in vain partially linking him to Wendigoes.

In Hell, he could have looked like a starved disturbing-looking deer, starved because of wendigos and deer because that’s the animals he favored the most to lure people. In terms of powers, he could have the ability to reproduce people's voices through electronics mainly using radios to do so. A cool detail could be that these voices sound slightly disturbing and fake.

He completely took a more charming and refined aesthetic once in Hell to appeal to and manipulate others more easily. Skinwalkers are described as carrying bones I guess that could help for a possible redesign. Since his appearance is quite scary he could wear a hat to hide his face.

The actual critic

This is really a surface-level thing, it's a first draft based on Wikipedia, but you can’t say that it’s not remotely much more cohesive than whatever Viv is doing with Alastor.

This is something that absolutely frustrates me with the Hellaverse, Viv has very surface-level concepts, and she doesn't do enough research to bring them to their potential. It happens with Voodoo, the Goetia, the Seven Deadly Sins, and the whole pantheon of biblical figures.

What she does is she takes these cool ideas and slaps them onto her oc without much thought.

Take an example with Andrealphus, he teaches math and geometry so one of my first thought is to give me space manipulation. This means he can basically change your location in an enclosed space, turn an entire room around, and twist it to his liking. With his knowledge of maths and geometry, he knows what to do specifically to make you land exactly where he wants which makes him extremely hard to fight inside a house, especially if it’s a big place.

He could also completely reshape the laws of geometry and physics, how funny would it be to see that he lives in a small house, not taking much place but then you go outside and discover it’s basically a whole castle? It’s generic but it makes sense and makes places for lots of interesting scenes for fights or just aesthetics.

Vivziepop chose to give him ice power, for some reason. I mean math isn’t really an attractive notion in terms of supernatural abilities but you can still do something interesting with it. Unless his castle is a geometrical wet dream, I don’t see a possible link between the two. It’s a matter of creativity and the willingness to do research to cultivate it, she doesn't have that.

If you just slap very specific labels (like voodoos) on a character without thinking about how it could work for them and affect the world around them (if voodoo works then the Lwas exists), then not only you are not doing your “job” as a writer but you are just doing it for the aesthetic. It’s not wrong to do if it’s mundane things like saying that one character knows how to speak Latin, but in some cases, you gonna have to be careful about what you write in your stories.

[dailyreverie]

Snowbound

A/N: Kicking off the holidays with a cute snowy moment with Poe ☺️❄️ I hope you all enjoy this, and all the stories that are coming!

1. Ice skating

Pairing: Poe Dameron x reader

Word count: 1.1K

Holiday prompts ⛄

You walked for what felt like ages, until you could swear your joints were frozen from your feet being buried under snow for so long. But Poe wouldn’t hear your complaints, dismissing them with his usual confident smile swearing you were close to the town you were supposed to reach for supplies.

“Remind me again, why you landed so far?” You complained as he helped you jump down a snow-covered rock. 

“This place is basically hidden under the trees. Besides, the last time I came here the weather was nothing like this, I was able to land closer.” Poe defended himself and his ‘no more than a 15-minute walk’ promise he gave before you left. Your landed right in front of him after you jumped, meeting eye-to-eye with him, his hand not leaving yours in the process not letting you slip onto the cold ground; still, you glared at him. “Don’t hold it against me.” He tried one last time.

“I won’t be able to if I freeze to death.” Ever the gentleman, Poe lifted your hand to his lips and gently kissed your knuckles. “Don’t try to charm me, flyboy.”

“I promise I’ll make it up to you.” In between his rosy cheeks, hidden under the hood of his puffy jacket, you saw that cheeky sparkle in his eyes that you’ve always loved.

“You better,” after a playful push of his shoulder, you kept on walking your never-ending trail of snow.

“I promise we are close now, and we’ll stay the night in the coziest inn I can find.” Your chuckle told him everything he needed: you were not mad, you were just cold. “We only need to reach the lake, surround it, and we’ll be no more than 5 minutes away.”

“And are you sure we are not lost? If there’s a lake nearby we should at least be able to see it, and no offense honey but- woah!” The next step you took made your foot slip, almost making you fall backward if it weren’t for Poe’s hands catching your back. “What the hell?!”

With cautious feet, Poe stepped and slid his foot on the ground. “This is the lake.”

As you and Poe stood there, recovering from the unexpected slip on the ice, the sudden appearance of BB-8 added a new layer of chaos to the situation. Poe's attempt to warn the droid about the icy surface was cut short as BB-8 rushed past you both, completely unprepared for the slippery terrain. “BB, watch out! Everything in front of us is-” Poe’s words died in his throat as the droid rolled past you, not slowing down a bit and clearly not expecting to slide around the ice. The droid began to let out high-pitched beeps, screaming in surprise into the cold air. The scene in front of you sent you both into a fit of laughter as the droid kept spinning around, doubling in laughter as BB tried (and failed) to stop his round body from whirling on the ice.

In the midst of it all, Poe found your hand, warmth meeting cold, and he pulled you onto the icy surface with mischievous intent. “Hey! What do you think you are doing?”

“Come on, let’s join Beebs.” His eyebrows did a swift up and down motion, almost convincing you. 

“No way, Poe! I’m not planning on breaking a leg!” You protested as he kept pulling, and much to your dismay, he managed to successfully pull you into the ice. “KRIFF, POE!” You exclaimed between laughter as you slid, Poe’s hands on your waist steading you as he pulled you, sliding himself backward not to miss any expression on your face.

As you reluctantly found yourself on the icy surface of the lake, Poe flashed you one of his famously mischievous grins. “Why do you look like you are about to murder me?”

You stared at him standing still as a rock, not risking moving and dramatically falling on your bottom. “Because I just might do it.” If it weren’t for the tremble on your legs, Poe would’ve been sure of your threat. It didn’t help you, though, that the second you tried to move away from him your feet began to wobble on the icy surface. Poe was quick to steady you with firm hands on your hips, but that didn’t stop him from erupting in laughter, loudly and with his head thrown back, his melodic laughs echoing around the snow-covered trees that framed the lake. “I will kill you, Dameron!”

“Come on, sweetheart! It’s not that hard,” Poe expertly slid to stand behind you, his chest against your back and his grip still tight on your waist; you knew that whatever happened next, he was not gonna let you fall. “One foot in front of the other, just like walking.” He encouraged you, pushing you softly as your feet began to move.

With Poe's guidance, you reluctantly began to take cautious steps on the ice, trying your best to maintain your balance. His warm presence behind you and the reassurance in his voice eased some of your tension, and soon he let you go and stood still to watch you gracefully slide across the ice.

“Told you! You are a natural!” Poe cheered, followed by a few beeps from BB who had finally managed to slow down to a soft spin. “You did not do it better, bud, you couldn’t even stop.”

“I’m way better than you, BB!” You couldn't help but smile at Poe’s infectious enthusiasm, and soon enough, you found yourself actually enjoying the unexpected detour from the mission. You couldn’t seem to remember the cold, your hurting joints, and the mountains of snow, right then, the only thing on your mind was enjoying this little moment Poe created out of nowhere for the two of you.

Poe joined you soon after, skating quickly to catch you by surprise. His hands landed on your hips as you squealed, even more so when he pushed you across the ice to test your abilities. “Oh, you’re in for it, Dameron!” you declared, a mischievous glint in your eyes as you skated back to him, challenging him to a race.

“The winner can have the shower first.” Poe grinned, the twinkle in his eyes matching the snowy landscape around you. 

“Or…” You stood dangerously close to him, your noses almost touching. “If I win, you won’t get to shower with me.” Poe’s eyes widened, he was sure your sultry tone alone would be enough to melt the ice - if he didn’t melted before. Before he knew it you were skating away, laughing at his shocked face.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Poe caught you and twirled you around on the ice, your laughter mingling with his as you both ran away from each other. The worries of the mission, the biting cold, and the challenges of the journey melted away; you always wondered how Poe did it, how he could make you forget everything that was wrong with such simple things. Turns out, his only mission these days was to see you smile.

🚀❄️⛄🚀❄️⛄🚀❄️⛄🚀❄️⛄🚀❄️⛄🚀❄️⛄🚀

Thanks for reading! Please reblog and comment if you enjoyed it!

[moonyasnow]

Just some Octatrio thoughts, about another post

Ok I don't usually do this but this one take about the Octatrio I scrolled past on my dash the other day has invaded my brain like a parasite and latched on and absolutely refuses to let go, so I just need to get it out of my system or it's gonna drive me crazy

I don't remember the OP's name, but if I remember correctly the post was basically about how, apparently(apologies in advance if I got something wrong or misrepresented the OP's words):

People who have soft, fluffy headcanons for Azul, Jade and Floyd are kids who had the jokes the characters were based on, such as:

Jade likes mountains apparently not because he just thinks nature is fascinating but it's supposed to be a joke for mountains being good places to dump bodies

The Leeches are implied to be a literal fish mafia

The Octatrio are dressed like American prohibition-era mobsters

Jade and Floyd want to eat Azul

fly over their heads.

And I just—

The only word I can think of to explain what I feel every time I remember it is 'baffled'. I mean absolutely 0 disrespect in any way, shape or form to the OP, but I am genuinely fascinated by how they could have come to those conclusions.

My first thought was 'no actually I'm pretty sure people get it' And there are people over the age of 18 who have fluffy headcanons about them too, you know?

My second is 'why can't it be both?' Like, why can't Jade genuinely find mountains and nature fascinating while having it on a more meta level also be a small joke about how mountains are good places for dumping bodies?

Why can't Floyd like Takoyaki while also NOT wanting to eat his best friend?

Why can't the Leeches be a mafia family while still having Jade and Floyd, who are literally still teenagers, be multidimensional characters who have priorities and like other things than just 'haha murder'?

Sure, those jokes and influences are there, but they are not the end-all-be-all of the characters? This just feels like a very one-dimensional way of looking at these characters.

And isn't TWST's entire thing that appearances can be deceiving? In a way I feel like Jade's love of mountains being viewed as 'oh he dumps bodies there because he's a scary ocean monster and has thus probably killed people before so of course that's why' is a very surface-level reading and understanding of him as a character— it just sounds like something some random student who has only seen him from afar and doesn't actually know him as a person would think.

And it's a similar thing with the Takoyaki. The surface-level reading would be 'if he likes eating Takoyaki, which has octopus in it, that must mean he wants to eat Azul too! Because Floyd is big and scary and has probably killed people before' To me it also sounds like something Ace or Grim might think before Book 3.

And, while I'm not gonna deny the Tweels have almost certainly murdered (or at least gotten close to it) people before, in a way it just feels kinda...idk, mean-spirited? To say, for example, that Jade can't just have nature be a thing he enjoys for its own merits, that he's not allowed to have that as just a thing he genuinely likes and there has to be some deeper, meta reason for why. Or that Floyd can't just enjoy Takoyaki and probably tease Azul with it but also not actually want to eat him because he likes him and wants him around. To me that kinda feels like sucking all the joy and interesting nuance out of a character, in a way.

And implying that the people who don't ascribe to the same view as you are kids also feels somewhat infantilizing? Like, it just comes off as saying that the people who disagree haven't thought about it hard enough or just aren't smart enough to get it, and I just feel like that's not a great stance to take in any kind of discussion. Quite a flimsy way of trying to discredit the opinions of those who disagree, too.

I am NOT trying to start any kind of 'drama' or 'attack OP' or anything like that; I'm genuinely very confused— I just feel like one of us, either OP or me, is misunderstanding something here

[imagionationstation]

I know you said you hadn’t watched much of the ‘03 series, but do you know about the SAINW arc? I imagine most people in fandom have regardless of their preferred era at this point lol.

If so, what are your thoughts on a ‘12 Donnie SAINW arc and how would he react when he got home?

YOU- gave this Ask to me forever ago.

I WROTE SOMETHING FOR IT. IT WAS REALLY LONG.

And Tumblr deleted it. I was a very angry human.

And when I get upset I ignore things until I get better. So I ignored your Ask until I forgot. But!! The recent shorts that I’ve been working on reminded me of this and so now I’m back to procrastinate them.

…I mean to fulfill my duties :)

(WHAT DOES TUMBLR HAVE AGAINST MY RANTS-)

Ahemmmm

I have as of this moment seen all of the ‘03 series! One binge to satisfy all my curiosities. But do not question me on things!!

I was very confused. A lot. During the series.

This binge was a long while ago. It happened, but the ‘03 boys didn’t really stick to me. I was all for Donny until the Nano episode where he tried to commit murder and I just couldn’t come back from that. /jk

*sniffles* Nano was just a little guy….

Anyhow~

Yes! I have seen the SAINW arc and I have many thoughts about one for the 2012 bois and how it would all work.

As I do not have time to explain everything, we’re going to do a summary with additional Wattpad screenshots for emphasis.

NOW THEN

The first question would need to be how does Donnie end up in another dimension/timeline?

Kraang. It’s always the KRAANG

Them and their dimensional abilities always getting in the way.

Donnie finds a mysterious device and takes it despite everyone telling him not to play with shiny things. Then he ends up having a very dramatic argument with his family. He locks himself in his lab, plays with the device in a heat of fury, and accidentally turns it on!

It explodes with light and knocks him unconscious.

And when he wakes up, he’s alone!

He’s alone and the lair’s been ransacked! He takes it well.

Well, since there’s no one in the lair- guess he’s going on a trip to find them! Only he leaves the sewers, and the surface is not much better. Crumbling buildings, demolished cars, no humans- is that a crystal tree- AND WHAT HORRIFIC CREATURE IS THAT-

He does not like the new decor. Or the Kraang army that spots him.

But he’s saved! By Mikey! Only he’s- um.

Not very happy to see him.

Mikey tries to leave. Donnie takes that well too.

But then it turns out Donnie’s a- teen?? And they’re quadruplets. Even Mikey knows that he shouldn’t be a child anymore. So Donnie tells him what happened! Mikey’s tune changes drastically at the news. Mostly because he’s helping protect the resistance and he can’t in good conscious abandon a scared kid on the streets.

So Mikey has no choice but to bring this needy child home with him to present to the resistance head of security!

Like everything else, that goes so well.

But Leo does not chop off his head, so it’s going better than anyone expected. Explanations are given, confusion is expressed by all parties, April appears somewhere in there and announces that Donnie is not a pathological liar, and Donnie wants his Raphie :(

So they send someone out to find him.

Yay! Raphie!

Oh no! They’re playing an intense round of “who can stab who first”!!

Turns out a Kraang-pocalypse is not good for family bonding. And this is basically how every interaction between them goes. With the current track record, you think Donnie wouldn’t be surprised, but he is. He reveals himself to prevent a blind man’s death.

And considering this is Raph, he’s ready for the worst.

Plot twist!! Raph is a weak pathetic softie so no one dies

Who would have guessed.

But yay! Group’s back together!

Things can only get better, right?

Right???

Well shoot. His brothers aren’t actually all that helpful.

So it all falls to Donnie to figure this out on his own.

And he does it without dwelling on the trauma around him as he tries to help the rebellion and without sinking into a depression about his uselessness, and definitely gets a solid amount of sleep every night without working relentlessly to fix literally everything.

And his brothers totally appreciate it. And don’t argue about literally everything and anything every time they’re in a room together.

And that stuff that never happens doesn’t weight heavily on him at all. Not in the slightest. He handles their blame games with maturity.

So anyway they get tired of his drama and emotional manipulation (oooooo, he’s just a baby! We’re mad at an innocent baby!!) and decide to help him (there are hugs, yes) do what he needs to do.

And we ALL know how that episode ends.

But Donnie manages to stay alive! And he goes home!!

The lair is intact but empty! And he reacts like anyone else would!

Only he didn’t bother to actually check anywhere and it turns out that Splinter was vibing in the dojo and heard his mental breakdown.

Embarrassing~

And the 1st story would end there.

The SECOND story (unwritten) would begin with Donnie now drinking tea. He’s comprehending that Splinter’s still alive- did I mention he was dead? Wait, it’s in a screenshot- and listening to him on the cheesephone, trying to convince himself that his brothers are simply out searching from him, just like they did when he went missing that fateful day in the alternate dimension.

Donnie can barely contain the urge to bolt and check.

The brothers come back, try to scold him for disappearing, but he’s too focused on how normal they look to care about how petty they’re being. Mikey, the only one who seems to notice that he’s one wrong word away from bawling, asks him what’s wrong.

That is, in fact, three very wrong words.

So now they have to deal with a blubbering brother who won’t stop apologizing without specifying why, whimpering about how they still have eyes and limbs (???), and practically has a heart attack when an uncomfy Raph tries to excuse himself from the situation.

And then they getting a closer look and- hold up- did he always have those scars? And bruises? And he was not that thin yesterday, was he? Jeez, why did he look like he hadn’t slept in days?

All good questions that their very unsound of mind brother can’t answer between pathetic sobs and desperate keens.

Needless to say, he has some serious separation anxiety for a long while. He keeps double-checking his reality, touching Mikey’s arm and looking for Kraang bots, and mentioning people that they’ve never heard of (who the heck is Mondo?). Not to mention how weird he is about the lair’s security and food rationing now.

Also there’s an impending invasion so he begins working nonstop, insisting that he can’t stop because he knows what happens when he’s not around to do what needs to be done, and then panicking when his brothers try to argue with him. (There’s a possible future where his brothers think the worst of him. Could they think that here? Could they be thinking it now? Do they hate him?)

Nothing he does feels right. Everything that happens seems wrong.

It takes a solid few chapters for him to learn to cope with this. The invasion doesn’t take place over the course of the story. It would probably be more of an epilogue (?) or OneShot (?).

So anyway. He probably has plenty of similar attributes, fears, and paranoias as 2003Donnie (at least in fanfiction).

Kinda wish I finished this. Ah, well.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Trimax Thoughts Vol. 4 Pt. 3

Alright. Bit of a heavier one for tonight. I want to talk Vash's relation to his own feelings of anger and how these tie into his suicidal thoughts, because it's tragically fascinating and I still can't really make heads or tails out of it - specifically in that I don't think anyone is a reliable narrator in this situation so I'm left a little lost as to who to believe.

(ID: A screenshot of four panels from Chapter 7 of Volume 4 of Trigun Maximum. A conversation between Hoppered and Vash takes place, in which Hoppered says "I bet you want to kill me too, right? Of course you do... You want to tear me limb from limb." A somewhat grainy image of Rem, smile visible but eyes hidden, is shown, before Vash replies, his eyes narrowed, "Yeah... I do..." End ID.)

Warning! I am going to be discussing Vash's no good, very bad mental health. It's nothing worse than what is obvious from a read of the manga but if you're not in the headspace for it, you might want to skip this one. I had a bit of trouble writing it, if I'm being honest.

Volume 4 basically solidified what had kept cropping up all throughout the manga - Vash is keeping himself going only through his goal of "settling the score" with Knives. On the next page, Vash says the following:

"That's why... you can go right ahead and kill me. But... before I give you that chance... before I let you bind me in chains, lock me up, and torture me to death... I will send Knives to hell!"

Yikes buddy. This has been a running bit of characterization all throughout the manga - Vash survives because he has to. He takes small moments of joy where he can, tries to smile even when he's not feeling it, looks on the bright side even when things seem hopeless, because that's the only way he can survive to do what he has to. <- There's nothing especially wrong with this. This is a coping mechanism and as far as his coping mechanisms go, it's not so bad at all. It's actually pretty good, all things considered.

Problem is, he also has to embody the ideal he strives for - that no one needs to die, that he will never kill. And herein lies the issue, because Vash already feels like a monster because of July. Any deviation from the peace loving pacifist image he tries so hard to maintain brings Vash's self-loathing to the surface.

Ex. Vash sees the moon his angel arm blew a hole in and goes from denying culpability for the destruction of July to hardly resisting and calling himself a murderer.

Ex. Vash expresses that he holds murderous sentiment towards Hoppered. He sees this as a justifiable reason for Hoppered to kill him.

Even the thought that he has or could still deviate from his promise made in Rem's memory causes him immense amounts of shame. Vash does not want to harm people. Is it out of love? Is it out of guilt? I think at this point, there's no separating them. Vash doesn't kill out of a mix of these two emotions that are so intertwined in his core they have become inextricable.

The thing is... Vash's driving emotion appears to actually be anger, specifically, anger against Knives. He wants to "settle the score", which is a pretty retributive mentality for someone trying to embody pacifism. In fact, that kind of motivation strongly clashes with that image in a way that imo cannot coexist. It's reasonable in his mind to take that stance against Knives, who is not one of the humans Rem died to save, but against humans, it's unacceptable. So, Vash represses his anger constantly.

A great example of this is watching the contrast between Vash fighting Leonof and Wolfwood fighting Ninelives. Wolfwood fights with his emotions on visceral display; he is loud and cocky and desperate and violent. Vash, on the flip side, is almost dangerously quiet and composed, to the point Wolfwood seems a bit disturbed by it - but it's all repression. He needs to stay focused, his motions are calculated to reduce harm even against the puppets, he's eerily silent and his facial expressions are controlled and muted for the most part; all methods that Vash uses to stay in control (<- this is important!).

Here's the thing. I don't know that I necessarily, fully believe that Vash wants to kill Hoppered. I don't know that I trust anyone's narration in this scene - first of all, Hoppered is mad projecting his animosity onto Vash because he needs to secure the image of Vash as unrepentant destroyer of July; if Vash isn't the demon he believes him to be, his quest for revenge was for nothing (well, sort of. Vash obviously did destroy the city, but the intent was not there - and the latter seems to be what Hoppered is banking his hatred on). Hoppered earlier accused Vash of enjoying the fight... which is pretty clearly not true, so that it was Hoppered who prompted Vash's admittance above is a little suspect. Second, we've seen what Vash looks like when actually violently angry.

(ID: Two separate images screenshotted from the Trigun manga. The first shows Vash raising his gun at a recently reborn Knives, angrily shouting the other's name. The second shows Vash having jammed the barrel of his gun into Monev's eye, clearly close to pulling the trigger. End ID.)

To me, I see little indication in the build up to this of Vash legitimately wanting to kill Hoppered. He had no desire to kill Rai-Dei after all, and that was after he knew the GHG were targeting Home. Hoppered is probably the most sympathetic of the GHG. Vash is also in a self-destructive mindset in this scene, having just called himself a murderer after seeing the damage done to the moon again.

Is he agreeing with Hoppered's projection because he wants Hoppered to continue to hate him enough to punish him for the deaths of all those people? (The image of Rem then becomes symbolic of his having already failed to uphold her sacrifice.) Or should I be taking his words at face value and he really does want to kill Hoppered? (In this case, the image of Rem is out of guilt for voicing something aloud that goes against his image of her.) Is it possible that a combination of his self-loathing in this scene and fear of himself has him agreeing with Hoppered out of resignation that despite his best efforts, he is doomed to destroy? (Like in fifth moon's "we were no good from the start". The image of Rem is thus the image of someone genuinely good and kind to him, an image he feels he cannot embody no matter how hard he tries.)

I find it very ambiguous honestly. Any interpretation is compelling from a character sense. Perhaps they all hold merit to some degree.

Regardless of how you interpret the line though, Vash is obviously angry, and for good reason - Hoppered, Midvalley and Zazie have taken Meryl. He's also likely afraid for her too - dude did jump out a window for like no practical purpose whatsoever before Zazie even finished talking. Like that's really sweet buddy but you accomplished absolutely nothing of use lol. Anyways. The point is, even if Vash was angry enough to want to kill Hoppered (and it would be for this reason, since nothing else would really warrant that), then that still wouldn't make Vash secretly evil and awful - first off, having a thought does not mean you will actually act on it, and second, what's the thing we keep getting shown and told, again and again?

Anyone will pick up a gun when their loved ones are threatened.

It's very natural to feel animosity for a person who may have harmed someone we care about. In that sense, Vash is behaving very human.

However, there's an extra layer here that complicates things. Vash has never been shy about his anger, but I think there is a bit of a progression of Vash kind of... tamping down on it faster, reeling it back in a little sooner after an initial flare of rage. ...Ever since Fifth Moon, actually. We also know that he has a strict training regimen, he does not miss a target, even blindfolded - Vash clearly maintains strong control over himself, all to mitigate the potential damage he could cause.

But then there's his Plant abilities. The angel arm. Something destructive he clearly does not understand, and has little if any control over (never mind that control was literally wrenched away from him but whatever). I don't think it's a stretch to say Vash is terrified of losing control.

Any human can feel hatred and anger and potentially cause moderate amounts of harm and damage, but these are likely to be targeted and can be more easily contained. Vash feels hatred and anger and has the capacity to level a city and blow a hole in a celestial body in the blink of an eye, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. That must be terrifying.

Because, see, the no-killing thing is out of respect for Rem, but Vash also strongly wants to, needs to believe that non-violent solutions are possible, that people are good, that anyone can change. Vash, out of some combination of love and guilt, does not actually want to harm anyone, but Vash is also a living gun just under the surface of his iron self-control. And being reminded of that deeply fucks him up, to the point he believes he is a danger by nature, incapable of living up to the standard of kindness he wants to put into the world, so even just the thought of wanting to inflict harm on another is enough to send him spiraling - because what if that is the point he loses his control? "I should never have been born" indeed...

It's interesting to me that Vash should call Wolfwood out on his lack of hope in a future for the world, when he so clearly has little if any hope in a future for himself. He allots himself no place in the world. Maybe you should allow yourself to heal a little, buddy. You have some people pretty close by who, in spite of it all, like you quite a lot...

[littleoddwriter]

Character Analysis: Cooper Abbott (Trap, 2024)

Hello there and welcome to me being painfully autistic (this is meant as a lighthearted joke; but also... yeah)! In order to get it out of my system, I wrote an in-depth character analysis on Cooper Abbott (played by Josh Hartnett) in the movie Trap (written, produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan). The analysis only focuses on specific points, because otherwise it'd be even longer and more convoluted than it already is. I will make separate posts about the other points I didn't have a chance to mention/analyse (like the relation of Lady Raven's songs to Cooper's emotional journey, technical aspects, acting choices, and pretty much entire scene analyses) eventually, though. This is by no means an "official" analysis, just something I wrote for fun because that's how my brain works and I really needed to get those thoughts out there. But if they spark a conversation, that'd make me very happy, too! Anyone who finds themselves reading this: I hope you enjoy my interpretations, and I'd love to hear your own thoughts if you wanted to share them! But always remember to be kind and respectful!

The points I covered in this analysis:

Surface level traits and facts about Cooper Abbott

Relationship with Riley (and Logan, by extent) In contrast: his wife Rachel

Motivations during the movie (escape, not getting caught, keeping his two lives separate and balanced) Also: motivations for killing (trauma)

Key Conflict + Epiphany: his love for his children and thus, the fear of getting caught

What does all this mean for Cooper as a character, and by extension, us, the viewer?

Disclaimer: In the section for his motivations for killing, I will be taking a look at the claim that he has OCD. I, myself, have OCD and am talking from personal experience and knowledge I gathered through subsequent research and therapy; but that doesn't mean I'm an expert or that you have to agree with my takes, just because I'm looking at it through a more personal lens. Speaking of, when I mention his trauma and abnormal psychology as cause for his murders, I by no means want to say that everyone like this is automatically prone to being a violent or dangerous person. That's not true whatsoever, please remember that. (Once again, I'm talking from experience here, as well.) This is merely an interpretation of a fictional character, who was written to be this way. Also, of course, take what I say with a grain of salt. This is just for fun and not meant to be on an academic level (hence the lack of sources because I was mostly talking from what I just know, and obviously the movie itself, such as interviews with Josh Hartnett and M. Night).

Anyway:

To start off, I want to talk about the most basic, certain facts about Cooper Abbott that we get throughout the movie. Who is he on the surface? How does he appear to others? What do we know about “the Butcher”?

On the surface, Cooper Abbott is a cisgender, white, middle-aged (estimated to be in his early forties) male of the middle class, who lives in the Philadelphian suburbs with his family, consisting of his wife Rachel, his young teenage daughter Riley, and his younger son Logan. Cooper is a firefighter, and most likely has been one for up to twenty years at that point, depending on when he started his training and if he went to college beforehand. He managed to create the ideal family life. He’s a very involved and good father, who deeply cares about his children’s wellbeing and happiness, and does anything he can to achieve that, like buying concert tickets to Lady Raven for Riley as a reward for her good grades, and coming along with her.

To others, he appears like the ideal husband and father, and regular citizen. He seems like a completely normal and functioning member of society with good values, a great family, and who works as a first responder in the fire department, which is a noble career to pursue. He generally presents as the perfect example of what the modern man of his status 'should' be. On top of that, he’s incredibly charming and easily makes people open up to him, want to keep him around, and reveal information to him that they wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) give up to other strangers like him. He appears like a friend; even when he’s just met the other person. He’s non-threatening and trustworthy, and also humble. He can be pushy, but backtracks enough with believable excuses and commonly used phrases to make the other person feel at ease and like he’s only a well-meaning person, clumsily and charmingly asking for help or information.

For example, when he asks Jamie about all the extra security at the venue, and later asks to come back to the storage room with him, where he swipes his keycard, all the while making friendly conversation and getting information he needs from Jamie that he shouldn’t even be able to get otherwise. But by letting Jamie witness his “good values” as a family by allowing the other girl to get the shirt first, so as to not start a fight, and telling him he works in the fire department, and helping him with the heavy box, he creates a bond of trust with the other man. In turn, Jamie willingly tells Cooper about the police and FBI presence, due to evidence that led them to believe a serial killer, the Butcher (Cooper), would be at the concert; and later, in the storage room, even going so far as to tell him his secret passcode for security, because Cooper is “on [their] side” by being a firefighter and evidently great father. Another example of that is how Cooper got Riley to be chosen to be the girl for “Dreamer Girl” to get on stage with Lady Raven and backstage later. To achieve that, Cooper talks to one of the spotter’s he sees around, humbly and a little clumsily telling him how grateful he and Riley are to be there, while revealing in a lie that she had just recovered from leukemia, and that all he wanted is for the Spotter to thank Lady Raven for them to put on such a great show and make Riley happy, after having felt “cursed” due to her sickness. All of that is an effective manipulation and a lie, which only Cooper knows, but clearly strikes a chord in the other man that leads to Riley being chosen without her ever finding out how or why.

Then, there is this side of Cooper that nobody knows is his. “The Butcher”, as the media refers to Cooper Abbott’s serial killing. According to the media, the Butcher had been actively pursued by the police and FBI for seven years at the time of the movie, and twelve victims had been found and linked to him, based on evidence. His victims, as far as we know, consist of people of various ages, genders, and ethnicities. The thing they apparently had in common was that they were all good, selfless people. A young father of a two-year old boy, taking care of his parents, while working as a teacher, and even being awarded as “most liked teacher”; and another young man, who is into sustainable agriculture. We are also told about a woman without further details, leading to the thought that his victims come from all backgrounds. The bodies were normally found out in the open, chopped into pieces with a meat cleaver, hence dubbing him “the Butcher”. In the psychological profile of the Butcher, it was determined that he possibly had maternal issues and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which is supported by Cooper hallucinating his mother, and evidently having been punished and severely traumatised by her growing up, such as his extreme need for control in every way. His abnormal psychology becomes more and more evident throughout the movie and will be discussed further down.

Now that the more basic facts are out of the way, I’d like to focus on the two key relationships we witness in the film. His relationship with his daughter Riley, and by extension his son Logan. And in contrast, his relationship with his wife Rachel.

The film starts with showing the audience what a great and secure relationship Cooper and Riley have as father and daughter. He lets her happily, and loudly, play her music in the car while singing along, albeit off-key, and encourages her. He calms her down when she’s stressed about being late to the concert, explains to her to not trust random sellers in front of the venue, and continuously tries to cheer her up and get her excited when she starts getting into her own head about things, and succeeds. We are also shown that he cares about her wellbeing beyond the present moment and that they have a trusting bond where they can talk about anything with each other, which is made evident when Riley opens up about her being left out and possibly picked on by girls at school. Cooper shows her compassion and understanding for her situation and feelings about it, and follows that up by making her laugh again and distracting her from it. As well as being emotionally close, Cooper is also physically affectionate toward Riley by often keeping a hand on her upper back or shoulder, and around her head, such as embracing her, and kissing the top of her head on several occasions, all of which she’s happy to receive and reciprocate, and sometimes even initiates herself, making it a mutually close and loving bond they share.

Throughout the movie, we often witness him showing interest in anything that concerns Riley, be that the slang words she uses, her wanting a tour shirt, and most importantly, her hoping to be picked for “Dreamer Girl”. And, of course, while the latter is merely a way for Cooper to find an escape when he feels cornered, by having been shown all of the previous interactions between them, it’s safe to say that he’d at least shown interest and hope for her to be chosen, regardless of his own predicament. Something that’s also mentioned a lot is Riley’s good grades and the concert being a reward for them, which shows that it’s important in their family to work for what they receive, and that said work will always be appreciated and celebrated, which is also later shown with the whole family eating a pie Rachel baked for the occasion. Generally, Cooper is constantly shown to be incredibly involved in his children’s lives and to care deeply about them and their entire being, such as raising them to be confident and independent people with good values.

In addition to how he is with Logan, it can be interpreted that it’s not much different from how he is with Riley, except maybe appropriate for his younger age. Around the house, we can see drawings done by the kids and family photos that underline this. And when they all sit together around the coffee table to eat the pie, Logan is seated at Cooper’s side with his dad’s arm around him, signifying an emotionally and physically close relationship between them, as well. In the end, when Cooper confronts Rachel and confesses how enraged he is, directing those feelings toward her, it amazes him that he’s only angry because he won’t get to see his children again, once more conveying to the audience how important the kids are to Cooper, and how close their relationship actually is. Even if that, to him, is a huge revelation, which will be explored further down.

In contrast, Cooper’s relationship with his wife Rachel looks a little different. While on the photos around the house, they look happy and close to one another; especially on a photo that was taken at their wedding, there is a clear shift away from that when we see them interact once Cooper and Riley arrive at home, along with Lady Raven. Rachel seems reserved and keeps her distance from Cooper. As we later find out, that might have very well been because her suspicions that he’s the Butcher were more or less confirmed when he returned home with Lady Raven, and had Riley tell her that “dad’s acting strange”. Lady Raven does, indeed, confirm it a few minutes later and tells her that “Cooper is the Butcher”.

The movie’s finale takes place at their home again, after Cooper managed to flee from the police and FBI multiple times, having to let go of Lady Raven for that. There, he sits down with Rachel and discusses with her that he figured out how the authorities even got wind of him being at the concert because he knew it couldn’t have been his own mistake, as he’s too meticulous about that, in order to keep his two lives separate. Rachel admits to following Cooper to one of his safe houses, planting a torn piece of the receipt for the concert ticket, and then leaving an anonymous tip for the police that the house might belong to the Butcher. She says she did it to either get them closer to Cooper or prove her wrong of her suspicions, as it dawned on her over time that perhaps he was this wanted serial killer she kept seeing on the news, because he was often away at night, brought home jewellery that he made up lies about where he got the items from, and smelled of cleaning fluid used at hospitals, rather than the one he would use at the fire department.

Throughout the entire conversation, it is evident that Rachel, while terrified, is also grieving. She just lost her husband and the picture perfect family life she had built with him over the years, and is now confronted with the thought that it had all been nothing but a lie for him. Cooper, on the other hand, doesn’t display such feelings at all. He doesn’t appear remorseful of using her this way, nor does he seem to grief what they had now that he knows it’s all gone because he’d been caught. Instead, he is angry, feeling betrayed, and perhaps even hating her for ruining everything for them all. After all, if it hadn’t been for her, nobody would have ever known about his presence at the concert, and none of the things that transpired would have happened at all. But as mentioned above, his anger is directed toward her for the fact that he’ll never see Riley and Logan again, not because he’d been caught or lost his wife along with his children. In fact, he planned on committing murder-suicide with her as revenge and to keep himself out of prison. All of these things point toward Rachel having never been more than a tool to Cooper to keep appearances as a normal citizen without a sinister side to him. He seemed to have never loved her at all; although, perhaps that was true at the beginning of their relationship for a little while. Even so, his love would have been different to what other people would feel, and it is also revealed that he seems to have never felt strongly before, which further supports that he was never actually in love with Rachel.

Since Cooper is the protagonist of the film, we follow him throughout, only ever experiencing anything from his perspective. And that brings me to my next point: his motivations.

The first aspect of this is pretty straightforward. The entire movie is about Cooper Abbott trying not to get caught by the authorities, thus escaping the concert without being detected, and also without ruining it for his daughter. He becomes increasingly desperate to achieve his goals and keep the balanced life he had worked so hard to build, but finds a dead end at every turn he makes, until the second half of the movie. He’s motivated by his need to keep Riley happy and in the dark, while wanting to stay completely undetected and get out of the venue. He can’t let the authorities even see him as a potential suspect, which is exactly why, after several failed attempts to escape, and managing to get backstage, but being faced with the threat of a police inspection, Cooper asks Lady Raven for a private talk, once more playing the card of Riley’s made-up leukemia recovery. Once he’s alone with Lady Raven, he works himself up to revealing his identity as the Butcher to her, showing her his current victim - Spencer, who is captured in a basement - and explaining to her that he can easily kill Spencer with carbon monoxide poisoning by releasing it from a small box in the basement with one push of a button on his phone. Thus, he effectively pressures Lady Raven into helping him and Riley out of the entire venue without going through the police inspections first, as they’ll ride with her in the limousine.

His motivation, after having been outed as the Butcher, is not to escape, necessarily, but to kill Lady Raven, his wife, and himself, putting an end to everything, now that he has no leverage anymore with Lady Raven having managed to have Spencer rescued, and the police and FBI knowing who he is, there’s no escape for him. 

This brings me to his motivation for killing. We know, on a surface level, that he’d been actively searched for his murders for seven years, and that twelve victims have been linked back to him, due to similar modus operandi and location (presumably, since we don’t know about other evidence linking the murders to one killer). We also learn how he chooses his victims when he tells Lady Raven that he felt “the urge” once he saw her behind the curtain at the concert, and explains to her that it’s almost an odd experience for him to feel that way, but that he thinks it’s when he “see[s] someone who thinks they’re whole”, which “can never be true” because “everyone’s in pieces”. This also explains what his victims had in common by being people too good to be true, so to speak. They were seemingly selfless, genuinely good and caring people that might have felt fulfilled with their role in life.

Later, we also find that Cooper is described as “profoundly different” by the FBI profiler, Dr. Grant, and that he’s never felt any deep emotions before or could build real connections to people, according to what Cooper implied about himself, at least. Thus, supporting the thought that when Cooper says, “everyone’s in pieces”, he’s mostly talking about himself and expecting everyone else to be the same way, because all his life he’d been taught that he’s missing something by not being like the majority of people. That leads to the connection to his mother in his motivation for killing.

Throughout the movie, we’re shown that Cooper hallucinates his mother as an elderly woman, implying that her memory is haunting him. With her being shown as an old lady, it could also be interpreted that she died of old age and that the image in Cooper’s mind is what she looked like when Cooper last saw her before her passing. This conclusion is mostly reached by the fact that, as far as we know, the murders only began seven years prior to the movie’s events, and it is often said that there are specific moments in somebody’s life that could trigger such things as killing. Supporting this is the fact that we’re told that Cooper had often been punished in his youth, presumably by his mother, whose love and approval he always longed for, which might have kept him somewhat grounded for most of his life. And thus, her death could have possibly triggered him to give into his urges because there’s no more love and approval to anticipate from his mother. We get a glimpse of that when Lady Raven attempts to deter Cooper from hurting her inside the car, as she pretends to talk to him in a way that his mother might have by speaking in a harsher tone and threatening punishment if he didn’t stop; but then she turns it around and attempts a level of empathy by calling him a “good boy” and saying that “[he] can choose to be good”. He doesn’t fall for it, knowing that she’s trying to get under his skin with things that the FBI had told her about him; but there is some truth in it.

This is especially implied when, at the end of the movie, Cooper is drugged with his own tranquillising powder and hallucinates his mother talking to him; although, as we find out, it’s actually Dr. Grant posing as his mother. She gets through to him by telling him that she’s proud of him for finally feeling such anger, and “not all of [him] is a monster”, and that “it’s good [he’s] stopping the monster”. This scene is also when he reveals that he “thought [he] was pretending, but [he] wasn’t” about his love for his children. So, his motivation for killing would be the trauma of having been constantly punished by his mother for being different and perhaps unruly, when all he ever wanted was her love and approval, only to never receive any; thus, resenting anyone that seemed to have it all together and needing to take it away from them by killing them. This is also represented in his crime scenes, where his victims are found chopped into pieces and scattered all over the location they’re found in, relating back to his comment that “everyone’s in pieces”. 

Something that should be mentioned here is that it is mentioned in the movie that the Butcher might suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by Lady Raven as she more or less parrots information she gathered from the FBI to subtly alert Cooper’s family to his true being, while pushing Cooper into revealing himself with those pointed remarks.

Throughout the movie, there are small moments that indicate that Cooper, indeed, suffers from OCD, which mostly presents as an extreme need for control. For example, we see him neatly fold his napkins at the stadium, fixing the towels at home, despite more pressing issues at hand, such as checking on his captive victim via camera, while he's at the concert, and often repeating that “[he’s] in control”, and only revealing his true feelings about his situation when he feels said control slip through his fingers. Only in such moments does his mask break, showing parts of his true self, until he doesn’t hide it anymore once it is out in the open anyway. His OCD is not a motivation for his killings, but it is evidently a component of his abnormal psychology that might have played into his mother’s abuse and his subsequent trauma and response; although he could have also developed his OCD as a result of his traumatic childhood.

In addition, the possibility that he has OCD at all is pretty likely due to aforementioned examples, but also how he finds comfort in planning the captivities and murders, just as much as the killing itself, as he confessed to Rachel. The obsessions and resulting compulsions in people with OCD are often linked back to a need for control and comfort, no matter the nature of the thoughts and urges. Obsessing over particular things is normally the distressing part and the compulsion is then something to soothe oneself and momentarily get rid of the obsessive thoughts and fears, thus finding comfort in them; even if the compulsions end up harmful to oneself or others in some way. On top of that, when Cooper feels himself losing the control he had over the situation with Lady Raven and his family, he can’t hold back his immediate reaction of distress and anger by banging on the closed bathroom door and not letting up; eventually going so far as yelling, “open the goddamn door”, uncaring of his children witnessing him in a state such as this, which should be extremely unusual for him. Everything is lost to him in that moment, and he’s caught up in the desperate need to gain back control, that his reaction is disproportionately intense, in comparison to his usual lack of emotional participation in what is happening around him or to him. When a person’s compulsive need for something cannot be fulfilled once triggered, it can lead to such great distress as was displayed with Cooper when Lady Raven was hiding in the bathroom with his phone, therefore creating more credibility to the claim that the Butcher/Cooper Abbott has OCD.

I’ve mentioned Cooper’s relationship with his children and his realisation that he’s capable of deeper feelings and connections a few times already, and now I’d like to take a closer look at that revelation and the conflict it created for Cooper throughout the entire film.

As stated above, Cooper’s youth consisted of being punished by his mother, not receiving the love, care and approval he needed and longed for, which later translated to a trauma response that led him to commit murders. Among all of that, there’s also that he never got a chance to develop normally as a child, which could very well be the reason for his lack of deep emotions and empathy, none of which he ever received or learned to have.

It can also be thought that because of how Cooper’s mother saw him and clearly conveyed this image to him, he had a distorted sense of who he was, fitting himself into the box he was forced into by his mother as a child and never finding a way out of it. Technically, once he grew up and made a life for himself, he could have realised that she wasn’t right about him; but instead, he was stuck in this specific image that he was convinced of and now believed to be entirely true about himself. This image that he was a monster, that he was incapable of love and real, deep connections to other people, and genuine feelings in general. All of it went so far that he had convinced himself that his fatherhood was nothing but a performance to keep cover. This entire time, he believed that when he showed love, care, and interest in his children and their lives, it was only pretense. It’s only during the movie’s events, when he’s confronted with the threat of losing his children to being found out as the Butcher, that he realises just how important they truly are to him, that it’s not all about having a cover, and that he genuinely feels affection for his kids.

This revelation, as amazing as it is for him at the end when everything is lost for him anyway, is also what creates the biggest conflict for him throughout the movie. Instead of just finding a way to escape undetected, no matter what or how, he constantly has to look out for Riley as well, make sure he doesn’t ruin the concert for her and drag her into this. And he has to stay close to her, which means that he can’t leave for long periods of time to figure a way out; even though he tries and eventually runs out of excuses and opportunities as Riley grows more concerned and therefore aware of his strange behaviour. In the end, he does manage to combine both interests by getting Riley to be chosen for “Dreamer Girl”, but it comes with unforeseen consequences when Lady Raven joins them at their home, and the movie’s finale takes place with Cooper being found out and having to escape custody several times.

To Rachel, he admits that his rage is “unfamiliar” to him, as he “never felt this before” and it makes him “feel out of control”; but the reason for it is “amazing” to him because it’s caused by the knowledge that he won’t see Riley and Logan grow up. And when Dr. Grant later poses as Cooper’s mother and tells him that she’s proud of him for feeling such anger, he also says, with pleasant surprise in his voice, “I thought I was pretending, but I wasn’t”, which implies that his lack of emotional involvement has been part of his conflict with his mother all his life, and that it’s reason for him to have believed that he was incapable of such; even when he clearly cared about his children. It never registered to him, until that specific night, that maybe his mother, and by extension Cooper himself, was wrong about him. 

What does all of this mean for Cooper Abbott as a character, though?

For one, he’s incredibly complex. There are many different layers to him that can be explored at length, and I still have only scratched the surface here. There’s this side of him that only he knows about, the Butcher, but also his childhood, which he probably never revealed to anyone before. At the same time, he’s a picture perfect family man, a firefighter, an unassuming citizen, and deep down, a hurt child that never had a chance to heal. And with that comes the fact that his complexity is merely part of being human; especially a grown adult with forty-plus years of experience. His character is an interesting one to take a closer look at because he poses questions that humans are naturally curious about and want answers to, but are also afraid of truly exploring those darker corners in depth. Cooper allows us to go there because he’s fictional and there’s no real harm done when looking into his murders, for example.

Cooper, at his core, is like an amalgamation of those serial killers whose names we all know, and who are usually described in ways that we witnessed Cooper to be in the movie; and that presents a challenge to the audience. We’re faced with a protagonist, who is a murderer, and a good father, and a traumatised child at heart; and we want him to get away, until we catch ourselves wanting that and remembering who he truly is. But is that all true? Is he truly only a monster? I think that, specifically, is what makes Cooper Abbott as a character so intriguing. He challenges our perception of murderers being those monsters, through and through; especially when we witness him being a great father. It forces us to look into that and wonder how that might relate back to our reality.

To wrap this up, what I think it means for Cooper as a character is that he’s human just like everyone else, uncomfortably so. He’s an exploration of the darkest shades a human has, but also shows the brightest lights we have to offer when it comes to human interaction; especially family. And it’s uncomfortable to witness how the dark and the light can go hand-in-hand like this, possibly without anyone else ever knowing.

[berrypass-de-murdler]

91. They Bill You Double for Dying

When I feel uncertain and anxious and then I see that people saw my stuff I feel much better immediately <3 <3

Because VALIDATION, my life force/jk

I'm happy to inform that ALL OF THE BOOK 1 CHARACTERS ARE DESIGNED

That's 68 characters total, from my very first Murdle drawing of Aureolin back in May to the Crystal Goddess, who was just finished yesterday.

On another note the Crystal Goddess is now my least favorite design and I find her worse than Sir Rulean. Fletch colored her but I drew this monstrosity and uh you have been warned.

Nuh

Why is she another fish woman

Why are there so many of those

My original idea in my head actually was a lot less horrifying but Fletch insisted that she needed these creepy lips and NSJFSDCKSDN I hate her :'D KAY AT LEAST SHE'S NOT IN THIS EPISODE MOVING ON

DON'T READ THE EPISODES UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE FIRST BOOK!!

Logico needs to do something he does not want to do.

He has to drive.

LOGICO: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT ANOTHER CAR!!! [mature sobbing]

He has to go to a new law firm, because he HAS to get out of this stupid contract. No more fucking around in Hollywood with his stupid boss and his stupid film crew - he’s not even PARTICIPATING in the movie. When he gets there (and kicks his rental car like a man), he sees the lobby, which is the size of an entire grocery store. That’s just the LOBBY!

LOGICO: Hahahaha, I can’t afford this. ???: LOOK MURDER! LOGICO: Fuck

Blaxton and Argyle followed him to the place!

LOGICO: WHAT DO YOU WANT?? BLAXTON: We knew you knew things, and we wanted them!! ARGYLE: Ay we want yer money.

Blackstone and Pine are also there.

PINE: [snort] Haven’t seen YOU in a while. BLAXTON: AND I JUST WANT TO FUCKING SIGN MY LIFE AWAY!!! LOGICO: All RIGHT, you already spoke.

BLAXTON: Get out of my life, I’m going to go drink coffee with that hot girl!!! I mean drink hot coffee, with the room-temperature girl - YOU UNDERSTAND!!!

Logi, fed up with the puppet man, gets statements.

PINE: Judicially, whoever had the antique- LOGICO: NO! Stop. Retry, but WITHOUT the character-relevant prefix. BLACKSTONE: I-I’ll give you my statement now and my bill later. LOGICO: Ohoho I am not paying you. BLACKSTONE: I’M SORRY MAN!! I’m just… I’m freaking out! Something just doesn’t feel right. I need… money??  LOGICO: Relax. It’s probably because this building is larger than is physically possible on the land surface available. 

Logi gets a really blunt email from Irratino and blushes anyway, because even his most basic words float like whipped cream.

LOGICO: [weird giggling]

But he figures out the truth!

LOGICO: AGENT ARGYLE! You weren’t following me, I was following you! You were here before I was, and you killed that random person! ARGYLE: HISSSSS!!! It wan’t a ‘RANDOM PERSON’! It was a LAWYER! I wanted another percentage point of a mutual client’s revenue. He disagreed. We negotiated, and long story short, he died. Is THAT A CRIME, YOU LITTLE BUSHHUGGER? PINE: [at a computer] You know what is a crime? I just sold your house on Zillow. ARGYLE: WHAT?!? PINE: Serves you right. You just got JUDGED!!! BLAXTON: WHAT JUDGED?? WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?!? BLACKSTONE: STOP… SCREAMING, YOU LITTLE PUPPET MAN!!

Blackstone tackles the puppet and fights with it stupidly. 

ARGYLE: I didn’t think my empty heart could feel depression, until I saw THAT.

The marshmallow man finally manages to rip the little blue guy from his roots. The ‘real’ Hack Blaxton appears to be… a clone of Blackstone? Wait a minute!

LOGICO: He murdered you! BLACKSTONE: I murdered you! How… how??? BLAXTON: I… I… 

The red-tied doppelganger picks himself off the ground.

BLAXTON: I didn’t really die. You were so controlling, so demanding, all the time… the only way I could get away from you was to pretend that you killed me. I just didn’t want to see you again. BLACKSTONE: Hacker… you… really felt like that? I… I don’t want you to think of me like that, I really thought… we were a good team… BLAXTON: I work here now, in Hollywood. I write movies. It’s… what I really want to do. BLACKSTONE: …It’s okay, man. I’m sorry I ever scared you off. I just… I can’t believe you’re alive. I…

They hug and cry. Pine clutches her heart. Logico does a long, withering sigh of confusion. 

LOGICO: I hate this contract… I want to die… why can’t lawyers… why can’t anyone… [LE GASP!!] WAIT! I know who can get me out of ANYTHING! 

He giggles and runs away like a penguin, with an idea in his circular head.

The end!

Yeah Hack Blaxton actually looks exactly like his twin bro, just shorter, with slightly different hair, and a red tie.

Some of the dumbest 'new lore' to come out of the cartoon! ...As if the puppet wasn't already problematic

But with all the designs finished, that means I can start book 2 as soon as the final episodes are published <3

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!

[jupiterswasphouse]

WASP REVIEW - VARIOUS (BUBSY)

[Image ID: Two screenshots of the wasp from Bubsy In Fractured Furry Tales /End IDs.]

Yep, you read that right, we're covering this bobcat bastard today, or at least, some of his adversaries. This may be a short one though, just a quick, mostly-visual analysis because, understandably, people aren't exactly out here doing a whole lot to document Bubsy enemies. Regardless, we do still have a few different bugs we can have a look at here!

Starting with what we've already seen here, the first wasp in this franchise, the one from Fractured Furry Tales! And honestly? It has that Bubsy stink on it but it looks mostly alright. Obviously, the head is inaccurate, the cone "nose", the teeth, and mammalian eyes are all absolutely wrong, and I have to say, the mid-gameplay sprite makes the presence of antennae unclear. But otherwise, in the above screenshot on the left, we can clearly see that this is based on some form of black and yellow species within the genus Polistes, possibly Polistes dominula, although the markings are not quite right, especially around the mesosoma. The leg count is right, although, the wing count is unclear (it looks like they only have two). The antennae are clearly present here, and they look alright apart from the color. They seem fairly straight apart from the "elbow" bend around the pedicel, which would be about accurate for a female paper wasp, which, surely this wasp would have to be, given the presence of a stinger.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, Charles J. Sharp | Image ID: A photo of a black and yellow European paper wasp, Polistes dominula, on a grey stone surface /End ID.]

One thing that I can take note of that's not more on the visual side of things is that these enemies seem to attack with extreme prejudice regardless of the presence of a hive as well as doing so without provocation, this is strange, as wasps will only attack when provoked or if alarmed in defense of the hive. Although I suppose one could say that the presence of Bubsy The Bobcat in their vicinity is enough provocation for anyone to get murderous (As evidenced by the behind the scenes stories of Bubsy's development). Speaking of their murderous intent, venom from a single wasp would not be enough to kill a cat, however, given that these wasps appear to be roughly two feet in length, assuming Bubsy is a similar size to a real bobcat, it may be possible that the dose administered by these giant Vespids would be enough to grievously injure the iconically beloathed platforming mascot.

However, these aren't the only Hymenopterans Bubsy has to deal with! Enter, first, the least documented enemy here, the Hornets from the critically just ok 2019 platformer Bubsy: Paws on Fire!

[Image ID: An image of the Hornets from Bubsy: Paws On Fire! /End ID.]

... Yeah this is the only image I can really find of them. Still, we can see these enemies only really have a basic resemblance to real hornets, with an almost reptilian head-shape (Gex, is that you?) with teeth, too-bright solid colors with no real markings to speak of, once again an alright pair of antennae (although not long enough), heads that are too big, red eyes with no ocelli, only two wings as opposed to the four they should have, and only four completely unsegmented legs. Things are not looking good for this depiction, it's almost funny (Providing humor, in a first for the Bubsy franchise).

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, Yasunori Koide | Image ID: An image of a black and orange Asian giant hornet on a white background /End ID.]

Well, we do have one more, from Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back! It's a bee this time. Although this one doesn't seem to have been specifically made for this game, it's allegedly an unused asset from Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams! Let's just have a look here an-

[Image ID: A render of the bee model from Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back /End ID.]

OH, GOD... Well, I do believe this one speaks for itself. If this review was just about this affront to nature of then we'd probably be looking at an automatic 0/10, however, the other foes faced by this fearsome feline shown here do a little bit of work to make up for it, although not enough to cleanse my soul of having witnessed it, so, with that said-

-

Overall: 4/10

-

Leave your wasp review suggestion in the replies, tags, or askbox!

[linkspooky]

Angel vs. The Disgraced One

Yuji’s conflict with Angel may be more than just a sign of him missing Nobara in the latest chapter, it may be set up for future conflict between Hana and Yuji and the curses sharing their body Angel and Sukuna. The foiling between a benevolent spirit like angel and a curse literally called “The Disgraced One” may be obvious, but there’s also a lot of foiling between Hana and Yuji too. 

1. Hana vs Yuji

Yuji’s primary character trait is disharmony. He more than anyone else represents Jung’s model of the divided personality, into conscious and unconscious or ego and the shadow. The ego is basically made up of everything in our mind we are aware of, that we control, the shadow is everything we are not aware of what is either suppressed, hidden, or beyond our control. 

Yuji’s literal shadow in the story is represented by Sukuna, they share the same face, the same body, but Sukuna exists as an entity entirely seperate from Yuji that Yuji is not aware of the thoughts or machinations of. The space Sukuna inhabits is even a chamber with water, water being a major symbol of the unconscious. 

Often in dreams, large bodies of water (oceans, lakes, pools) symbolize the unconscoius. As with bodies of water, we often see the surface, but cannot easily see into the depths. Also, the vastness of the ocean symbolizes the vastness of the unconsious mind. 

A person with a fully developed self is made aware of and has integrated their shadow fully into their ego. Jung argues someone who is not aware of that shadow will eventually end up either projecting it onto someone else, or losing control of themselves and becoming ruled by their shadow. Yuji is so unaware of his shadow, his shadow manifests in the story literally as an entity entirely seperate from him that is hostile to him. 

While some traits peculiar to the shadow can be recognized without too much difficulty as one's own personal qualities, in this case both insight and good will are unavailing because the cause of the emotion appears to lie, beyond all possibility of doubt, in the other person.

CARL JUNG, AION

He at several points in the story loses control of his body to Sukuna. Sukuna is an entity that is entirely unfathomable to Yuji, and even actively plotting against him. Over the course of the story Yuji becomes even more and more aware he has no hope of controlling Sukuna and the danger of Sukuna’s plans against him. 

Yuji is also far weaker than his shadow, in early chapters he more or less has a “battle at the center of his mind” with Sukuna and gets beheaded instantly. 

Sukuna is made up of things Yuji represses, such as another early on example, just before Yuji loses control to Sukuna in the cursed womb arc, Yuji experiences the fear of his own death he had been repressing. 

Sukuna causes death wherever he goes, massacres people in Shibuya, perverts Yuji’s idea of helping people. Yuji’s main goal throughout the series is to save people from unnatural deaths, whereas Sukuna’s basically a perversion of life, especially being a long dead sorcerer who refuses to die and resurrects himself slowly from the fingers left by his corpse. 

Sukuna is clearly tied to the primal, he’s surrounded by animal skulls in his subconscious realm, the only thing he values seems to be strength and might makes right. Yuji’s desire is to die surrounded by friends, whereas Sukuna’s on the extreme end of individualism. Sukuna is Yuji’s shadow entirely on a rampage, and every time he rampages he also perverts Yuji’s ideals.

Yuji’s stated conscious desire is to help people, when Sukuna takes control he makes Yuji into a murderer, responsible for the death of thousands. Yuji even believes he is to blame due to being too weak to reign in Sukuna. 

Yuji’s shadow self is so opposed to him that they are entirely seperate entities vying for control. Yuji’s relationship to his shadow is also defined by his complete inability to control it. Hana’s shadow on the other hand is bonded to her body just like Sukuna, grows a mouth on her face to communicate with her just like Sukuna. However, unlike Yuji and Sukuna they live in symbiosis with one another. It is against Angel’s philosophy to completely take over control from the original vessel’s owner. 

Hana is cooperating with her shadow self, and she represents the concept that the repressed shadow is not all negative qualities. A person with low self esteem for instance is someone who cannot see their positive qualities. You could say Hana represses her original self and identity, because she was quite literally no one before she bonded with angel. We don’t know the full story, but her origin was as more or less street trash an orphan abandoned to the world. She also hides her real self behind angel, and is content to play angelic savior instead. She gets full on embarassed when angel tries to reveal any personal details about herself. 

Yuji and Hana also share the stated desire of “help people”, though I would argue that Hana’s is a little more selfish. Her desire to help people isn’t really a moral one but rather to become a good enough person to stay by Megumi’s side. It’s more like Megumi’s “I selfishly choose who to save” then Yuji’s “let others die a natural death.” Though, they both have the desire to be surrounded by people, even if for Yuji he wants to die surrounded by others as was his grandfathers dying wish. Hana also directly states the more selfish aspect of her wishes when saving others, Yuji’s is more unstated. 

Yuji’s desire to help people die a natural death, also mirrors the goal Hana / Angel are working towards which is kill the reincarnated players who stole their vessels from the bodies original owner because that goes against god’s laws.

2. Angel and Sukuna

The first and most obvious is their attached titles, one is “angel” the other is “the disgraced one” In christian mythology this has heavily luciferian connotations. THe original myth of the morning star fallng from the heavens and becoming the devil apepars in isiah 14:12 and then Luke 10. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" interpreting the passage in Isaiah where the term “lucifer” and “morning star” emerges from as an allegory for Satan’s fall from heaven and gods graces. Fall from Grace = Disgraced one. 

There is also the John MIlton story “Paradise Lost” which popularized the image of Lucifer as a fallen angel who went against god and was therefore sentence to hell. Lucifer’s stated motivation in that plan is a desire for free will outside of god’s plan, it’s where the quote "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" comes from. 

Sukuna is just like lucifer a proponent of individualism and free will. To the point where he sees any cooperation at all as a weakness. The same way that Lucifer is a ruler of hell, Sukuna is referred to as the “King of Curses.” In comparison, Angel is clearly a reference to a biblical angel and shown has stated their desire is to follow “god’s laws” without clarifying who or what god is. Sukuna rules others, Angel is subservient and obedient to someone else. 

Sukuna is also a minor deity and cultural legend in japan. Angel is obviously inspired from western, christian mythology. Hana Kurusu’s last name is just “Cross.” Hana is the japanese spelling of the hebrew name “Hannah” meaning blessings and grace. Hana is a blessing, Sukuna is a curse. 

The earliest historical mention of the mythological Sukuna came from the Nihon Shoki, a document compiled by the Imperial family of Japan in 720, during the Nara period. This Sukuna shared much of the physical characteristics of his manga counterpart, including his two faces and four arms plus an additional pair of legs. He was said to have been at least three meters tall, and capable of wielding a bow, arrow, and swords with superhuman strength. The Nihon Shoki also labeled him as a rebel who refused to bow to the Imperial seat, casting him as a murderous dissident who killed thousands upon thousands, and was only stopped when the Emperor sent Shogun Takefurukuma no Mikoto to kill him. 

[...]

Yet the locals of Hida worship Sukuna not as a wrathful asura, but as a benevolent guardian. Far from the barbarity displayed by Jujutsu Kaisen's Ryomen Sukuna, the mythological Sukuna is said to have introduced Buddhism to Hida and built the ancient temple of Senkou-Ji. Some folk stories even say he slew an evil dragon and was one of the incarnations of the Boddhisatva of Mercy, Kannon.

 [Source]

Sukuna is actually referred to in some legends as a bodhivista, which could be the inspiration for him being called “the disgraced one” in Jujutsu Kaisen, one legend making him out to be a brutal tyrant, the other legend making him out to be a hero. There’s even a claim for why these legends are so different. 

A possible reason for this incongruency can be found in local legends. Allegedly, the Sukuna in the Nihon Shoki was either the name of the ruling figure or the ruling family of the lands around Hida, rather than a demonic bandit/walking disaster/sorcerer. However, when the Yamato Imperial Family invaded and took over the territory, they also spread a piece of propaganda claiming Sukuna was an evil specter who terrorized the people of Hida, further justifying their hostile takeover to the masses. Considering the Nihon Shoki was edited specifically by the emperor's family, the Yamato line would certainly have the motive and the means to depict Sukuna in the worst light possible. [Source]

Ironically in real life the legend of Sukuna was quite literally disgraced. There’s also depictions of a realm equivalent to “hell” in the budhist cosmology. Naraka, which translates to hell or purgatory are realms of extreme suffering. Being born into one is the result of karma as punishment for how one lived a past life. Sukuna’s fall to the “disgraced one” could be compared to that, as it mirrors Lucifer’s fall from heaven. Those in Narakas also have to endure suffering in order to be reborn in a high realm of the cycle. Sukuna similiarly already experienced one death in the past life, and his goal is to be reborn into a new life after being dead and sealed for 1,000 years. 

[mariacallous]

I was watching NFL football when the news appeared of a rifle poking through the bushes at the former president’s Florida golf course not far away from where Trump was playing golf. The Secret Service’s quick action averted a tragedy, and a suspect soon was detained.

But it didn’t take long before I saw posts on my social media sites saying, “are they just missing on purpose to stir up drama?” and alleging that Trump was “trying to get sympathy.” The shocking inference that the incident was staged reminded me of similar responses from liberal friends following the more serious Pennsylvania attempt where a shooter came within half an inch of landing a bullet in Trump’s head. The instant response on the part of some of those people was that the GOP nominee had engineered the shooting in order to increase support for his presidential bid.

Conservatives at that time also had their own conspiracy theories. They wondered out loud whether the Trump shooting was an inside job on the part of the Biden-led Secret Service to harm the leading opponent of the president’s then-reelection bid. The idea was that Biden was not doing well in the polls and law enforcement supporters intentionally let the suspect close enough to Trump in order to fire off several rounds in an effort to end that political problem.

Dating back to the John F. Kennedy shooting and beyond, assassination long has been a fertile ground for misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and wild conspiracy theories. Decades after the Kennedy murder, there remain wide-ranging theories that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, Fidel Castro was behind the assassination, the mob ordered it out of revenge for the administration’s tough actions against organized crime, and Lyndon Johnson somehow was behind the effort in order to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming president.

The persistence of false narratives around many assassination attempts shows the peculiar nature of our current political times. With its toxic combination of intense polarization, radicalization, social media frenzies, and easy dissemination of debunked theories with very little evidence, the contemporary period shows why misinformation and disinformation flourish in so many different areas and why false stories represent such a threat to democratic governance. When people have their own facts and there are wildly varying interpretations of social, economic, and political developments, it is difficult to make sense of new happenings and agree on what happened.

Without those basic ingredients, it is hard for leaders to bring people together and for individuals to see one another as sharing in a common enterprise. Instead, it is easy to divide people, pit groups against one another, and encourage people to seek scapegoats for things they don’t like. We see that clearly in the immigration area because as opposed to making meaningful efforts to address border security and long-term migration patterns, leaders blame the other side, claim immigrants are behind high crime rates, that they steal people’s cats and dogs to eat them and argue opponents are not to be trusted with the future of America.

Assassination attempts also generate wild and unsubstantiated claims because by their very nature, they are violent, shocking, and impactful events. America has prided itself on its long history of stable, democratic rules and peaceful transitions of power. Things such as the Civil War are seen as an aberration in our political history.

But we all know that beneath the surface of a supposedly peaceful country are mass shootings, violent episodes, and occasional efforts to alter the course of civic affairs through violence. Assassination is the ultimate disruption that does alter the course of history and makes people suspicious of one another. There is survey evidence that in addition to rising political mistrust in the United States, Americans no longer trust one another. Questions asking people whether they trust their neighbors show our declining confidence in one another. Adversaries know this and are quick to spread false narratives designed to intensify public passions and divide people from one another. If you can’t trust your neighbors, you can’t trust anyone.

In our new Brookings book, “Lies That Kill: A Citizen’s Guide to Disinformation,” Elaine Kamarck and I argue that even in a crazy time period with mass shootings and targeted violence, we are not doomed to live in a fact-free world where lies prevail and distort our civic discourse. We can start by encouraging people to bring common sense to their interpretations of political events. For example, would Donald Trump seriously hire a 20-year-old guy who was not a very good shooter to put a bullet within a whisker of his head? Would the Secret Service deliberately allow a killer close access to a presidential candidate in order to remove him as a political competitor? No reasonable person should believe either one of those things.

People need to learn how to evaluate digital sources, spot the telltale signs of foreign influence operations, distinguish partisan from nonpartisan material, and not fall for crazy theories. Unless we do those things, America will continue to be bedeviled by blatant lies and false narratives that turn people against one another. We will lurch from one event to another and be fearful that the other side will use the most nefarious techniques to impose its will on others. We need to tame the torrent of misinformation and disinformation to address our country’s many problems.

[thesporkidentity]

an incomplete list of texts i sent as i slowly lost my mind over the second book of rivers of london, because i fully intend to drag at least one more person into this pit with me. come read with me i promise you're gonna feel so good and normal over this book, come closer

wow okay peter remains the absolute horniest bastard ever. is he a tits or an ass man? yes

oh we are just getting the surface levels hints of nightingales MOUNTAIN of unresolved PTSD and i am very 🥺

you ever feel like a character was written specifically to appeal to you? i'm getting so many tantalizing hints and i KNOW he's going to destroy because he's catnip. he is bait specifically designed to hurt my feelings

also his description makes me think of lee pace or like, 90s/00s paul mcgann and that's just Very Good and i'm being deeply not normal about it

also nightingale reads as SO queer to me, and the potential in fic to explore what that means insofar as how he has navigated the changing landscape of queerness from 1900 to present day is so tantalizing. i don't care that the author says he's not, in this case the author is wrong lol

i must say, i do not care for simone. if we absolutely MUST have hetersexual nonsense in this book i would like beverly back please. she was cool and not a cheating homewrecking jazz groupie lol

still not impressed with simone. i mean, far be it from me to judge a woman's grieving process and all, but she doesn't seem very broken up over her within-the-week dead lover. i mean, i LOVE peter and all and he's hot shit, but immediately falling into bed with him? sus

in conclusion bring 👏 bev 👏 back 👏

also peter, buddy, WHAT ARE YOU DOING

he's a disaster so even though i'm screaming DON'T DO THAT i am unsurprised he is being led around by his dick by a beautiful woman throwing herself at him

but i just. i Don't Trust Her. she doesn't make sense, and i can't tell if this is a case of male author writing wish fulfillment and thus not giving the hot girl adequate motivation of her own

or whether i AM supposed to find it suspicious the way she basically doesn't mourn the man she homewrecked who died very suddenly and then IMMEDIATELY jumps into bed with the magic cop investigating his very probable murder

and i REALIZE the only way to find out is to keep reading, it's just frustrating that women are written poorly so often that, even if he's written good women before, i still have to debate with this is a subtle clue or just Male Author Syndrome

oh my god he finally twigs that this may be weird behavior. peter. bud.

at least he got it before trying to sneak her past folly wards?

side note: god lesley really got the short end of the stick. like, her face fell off, her teeth are a fucking mess, and she probably has brain damage. she got royally shafted

peter "i'm totally straight" grant, talking about how he wants to take a muscly guy by the shoulders and kiss his cheeks and making sure to mention how many phone numbers her got while canvasing the gay bar.

hmm sure, jan

look i KNOW peter is Incredibly Horny All The Time when near any attractive woman, but simone appears from NOWHERE half dressed while he's canvassing for the jazz vampire and he just skives off like that? while looking for a potential killer? that doesn't seem like him he's not that irresponsible. that smells like conspiracy and glamour and i don't trust herrrrrrr

like, peter was already horny wanting to motorboat mama thames (lol don't think i didn't catch that pun) last book. but this book has been a whole new level of horny, and peter may be distractible but not THAT distractible surely

another side note. i love molly and nightingale's weird friendship they've developed living basically with just each other for decades.

oh jesus that's fucked up

oh the severed head is talking

oh. oh no. it got worse

peter, darling, beloved, is now REALLY the time to be talking about how hot your boss is? like i appreciate your dedication to the thirst but time and place, bud

oh never mind i forgive you nightingale is so fucking cool, i get it, i love him

he's so good. the most tragic backstory and perfect stiff upper lip old fashioned english gentleman on the outside, and then just below the surface he's a daredevil and a bit of a bitch and he fucking CARES just SO MUCH and have i mentioned how much the casterbrook wall HURTS ME?? this was revealed in the last book but i just remembered it and it stabbed me again

okay i'm done

i feel like peter has miscalculated making a deal with his cousin to teach her if she aces latin. that's gonna come back to bite lol hope you like teaching too smart for their own good teenagers cuz that's gonna be your life now

"but sir, what do we do if you die??!" "well, that doesn't seem like it will be my problem at that point :)" he's such a bitch sometimes and i LOVE him, mother

ohhhhh. oh no. the pale lady looked like molly and now molly is obviously not okay after she died, that resemblance wasn't just coincidence she definitely knew her 😢

and this is the first person peter has killed, no matter how accidentally. and nightingale is back in the hospital with his chest infection. wow everyone is just having a terrible time right now

okay. i realize that as a memory for him this probably isn't a GOOD one, it's from the war and probably much scarier and MUCH more traumatizing than he makes it sound with his dry narration of it. but god. nightingale knocked out two TANKS. by himself. with his mind. fucking sexy lol

oh damn it why can't they just let me be horny about how powerful he is instead of immediately following it with the fact that he was rear guard and making emotional that it means he was the one trusted to watch over and protect the rest of his men while they retreated as that one final shield between them and enemy fire

hhhhhhhholy shit what did simone DO to mama grant???!!!!

she just bitch slapped her!

OH MY GOD SHE TRIED TO HOMEWRECK HIS PARENTS TOO???

she's PLAUSIBLY IMMORTAL???

fuck i was right she was sketchy as hell!!

she's a fucking jazz vampire and she's been glamouring and sucking him dry! buddy, get to dr walid STAT for a brain scan and make sure she's not turning you into cauliflower!

peter don't you make excuses for her you KNOW it's possible, stop lying about your mum and trying to make her feel better you need to take her in she's a m u r d e r e r

i mean, glamour yes i realize but god, frustrating

good lad peter, i see you fighting it 💪🏾

ohhhhhhhh. oh fuck. she didn't KNOW. she didn't know she was from the 40s and killing people. oh this is bad

nightingale, attempting to show concern: "that was not the most intelligent thing you've done" xD 10/10 nailed it buddy

umm, nightingale? this may not be the black and white moral situation you think it is to go in guns blazing...

it's both funny and little sad how militant both molly and dr walid are when nightingale is injured like. i do LOVE when the person who is SUPPOSEDLY in charge gets lovingly bullied, but it hurts because that's also probably the ONLY way to make him take care of himself is if they FORCE him. and peter's not any better, he's gonna need bullying too

i do love when they team up though. molly and nightingale ganging up against peter like. nightingale gets the special treatment and a hot cocoa from molly, but peter gets the dog's leash and smug little "i'm on bedrest :)" or nightingale foisting the rest of his kidney pie on peter while molly is out of the room then grabbing his empty plate back to pretend he ate it all himself when she returns xD

the cases are interesting and all, but i think it's the core characters that are really the standout of the novel and the reason i keep reading even while i'm asking myself things like, but WHY is she killing via vagina dentata instead of literally any other assassination method? i think it's also why simone stood out so much. she HAD no background that we were told (until now) aside from being sexy. which of course i now know was intentional

"this is your brain, which is not only clean and unsullied by thought..." i love dr walid. it probably says something about me that my favorite characters all have to be at least a little bit of a bitch

oh no i'm having feeeeeelings about both nightingale and peter trying to keep the other out of the vampire raid to shield them from the emotional effects of it, just from opposite ends. nightingale doesn't want peter to have the pain of ANOTHER death on his hands, this one purposeful as opposed to the accidental death of the pale lady, so he's trying to just cut him out of it. and then peter ALSO doesn't want NIGHTINGALE to have the weight of more deaths on his soul and wants to protect him from what he sees as the unfortunate necessity of having to off someone who isn't intentionally hurting someone but still may be too dangerous to live. nightingale trying to save peter from his bleeding heart and peter saving nightingale from his practicality overriding his morality 😭 i just love when characters try to take care of each other in mirrored ways

uh...uh oh peter...no i don't think those are the police OR nightingale's paratrooper buddies

okay the audiobook is fucking excellent though, his infomercial voice while extolling the virtues of doc martins is KILLING me

oh this posh wanker. "oh what is feeding on people but another form of exploitation, and we all know there's nothing wrong with exploiting workers, equality is morally bankrupt anyway" god i hate you already you're insufferable

like of COURSE a dining club oxford nose wipe would think that way. he thinks he's sooooo slick and original with his chimeras they're such exciting new COL crimes but it all just boils down the the exact same rich white bullshit mentality

he would hate it if he realized how dull and banal his villainy is once you strip back the shock value of the trappings. just another entitled prick who views people as things, fuck this dude

i'd be tempted to say the faceless man's signare smelling like pork was a dig at david cameron and piggate if i didn't know it was written a few years too early for that lol

peter: oh no nightingale is going to give me SUCH a bollocking nightingale, obviously so relieved he's alive: very much does NOT give him a bollocking and instead tells him how impressive it is that he didn't just immediately die against the faceless man

"for a terrifying moment i thought he was going to huge me, but fortunately we both remembered we were english just in time. still, it was a close call" 🤣🤣🤣

oh ouch peter. just use all his dead friends against him. effective but also, low blow

god he wants so badly for peter to be right, too, that they and HE doesn't have to kill anyone anymore, that how that it's not Just Him ALl Alone they might have the support structure for other options. oh no i want this to work so badly so that hope is validated, but i just know something is gonna go wrong

welp

i didn't like her but i didn't want her fuckin DEAD you know?

and now the ones left standing have to deal with the trauma and the fallout

oh lesley :( they're both trying so hard to be normal about it and they're such good friends 🥺

LESLEY DO MAGIC?

LESLEY JOIN TEAM FOLLY???!!

also don't think you've been sneaky there and that i haven't noticed SOME sort of thematic symmetry of lesley struggling with having lost her face involuntarily from magic, and the faceless man having voluntarily masked himself. involuntary vs voluntary loss of identity. i'm sure there will be more parallels in the next book but like. i see you. i see you setting up face themes with these two

hopefully with lesley regaining her face somehow and thus reclaiming identity while the faceless man is unmasked thus losing the identity he built for himself and revealing the true one he hid. maybe hopefully? i want good things for lesley and bad things for the faceless one.

[x-i-l-verify]

Okay, so while I may be shadowbanned on tumblr currently, I need to get this out there just for the record, because I have not seen a single other person in the Poppy Playtime community talking about this, and if it turns out any of my musings are right, I want to be able to point to this post and say I called it.

So. We know that the new character Dogday from the Smiling Critters line of toys will feature prominently in Chapter 3. In the accompanying cartoon show, he is described as the bright and energetic leader of the Critters, with a sun motif to contrast main antagonist Catnap’s moon motif.

However, the name "Dogday" is also a reference to “dog days,” which you might have heard in Florence + The Machine’s Dog Days Are Over. From this website right here:

“[The term “dog days” are a reference to] the Dog Star, Sirius. When it was closest to the Earth, all the animals would get languid and sleepy and when it moved away, they’d wake up. Sirius is the brightest star in Earth’s night sky. The term refers to the time when Sirius would appear in the sky just before the Sun which was believed to mark the beginning of the hottest days of the year somewhere in July. In other cases, this period was also associated with bad luck since the heat brought about thunderstorms and droughts.”

This potentially gives a ton of insight into where the devs might be taking Dogday’s character in chapter 3, and there are basically two different outcomes I can come up with right off the top of my head.

1) Dogday’s name is a clue as to his real nature. He is not an ally to the player, and even if he might not be working directly with Catnap, he will be hostile to the player. Catnap could have also possibly broken him due to the imprisonment and torture, and he might be doing Catnap’s bidding through direct or indirect control. Either way, he lives up to the original meaning of his name.

2) Dogday is a staunch ally to the player throughout the whole game, because his name is meant to be deeply ironic while also being a pun of a dog character being associated with the sun and daytime. It’s a similar way to how the name “Catnap” is both a pun and deeply ironic. A “catnap” is a brief, light sleep, like a power-nap. Catnap the character, however, puts people into long, deep sleeps. The character is also a cat associated with the moon and nighttime. So, with this logic, the meanings of their names fit the characters on the surface, but the deeper meanings are subverted.

Of the two theories, personally, I believe 2 is much more likely. Dogday has already been set up through context clues to be a foil for Catnap both thematically and narratively, and while yes, Mob Games could subvert that for shock value or because they have a different direction for the story to take in mind, I personally think it would be much more interesting if we had Dogday on our side during the entire chapter. For example, him “chasing” us through the Playcare in that brief clip in the trailer could easily be explained away by him simply following us around, like we’re escorting him somewhere. He doesn’t have to necessarily be chasing us down to murder us.

So yeah, them’s be my thoughts. Only time will tell if I’m right or not.

[quillyfied]

Alright, this is mostly a reaction post to Helluva Boss s2e8: Full Moon, but since I’ve watched the episode three times now and have been thinking about it for the better part of the day…more cerebral than a true reaction, I guess. And not chronological, either; this is divided into two sections, Plot and Feels. Please accept this wild spilling of my guts on this, my first episode since I found the show in February. (Obviously spoilers for Full Moon, but also for Hazbin Hotel.)

First things first: for anyone who hated the CHERUB/DHORKS plot this episode specifically because it distracted from the Stolitz trainwreck, you’re valid, but also, this is QUIET UNDERSTATED HUGE BACKGROUND PLOT CALLING, something that’s been building since s1e3: Spring Broken AT LEAST, and it’s MASSIVELY IMPORTANT, OKAY. I am losing my mind over all the foreshadowing and implications here, folks. And that little interaction between Collin and the rest of CHERUB, where they’re trying to justify their actions and he goes “I don’t think that’s how that works.” GET IT BC ACCORDING TO HAZBIN HOTEL NOBODY KNOWS HOW ANYONE GETS INTO HEAVEN. GET IT. GET IT.

ANYWAY.

My ongoing “IMP and Stolas are in deep legal shit” theory, which I need to condense into one post or tag or something to point at bc there’s too much evidence stacked up now to just summarize what I mean, gets not just more fodder in the form of DHORKS giving CHERUB mech suits that LOOK LIKE IMP, but Stolas outright saying Blitzo can now go about his business WITHOUT BREAKING DEMON LAW. We know that there’s a trial of sorts near the end of the season (or I’m guessing it’s at the end; I thought the fight sequence here was going to be during Mastermind so I’m already wrong on that count), we know Stolas appears to be in some real trouble, and now knowing that Blitzo and IMP are operating on Earth under Ozzie’s jurisdiction, there’s now more at stake for their shenanigans to drag Ozzie into some actual legal shit, not just general classist asshattery for dating an imp. From what we can tell from the trailer it seems like post-crystal IMP is at least trying to go more incognito, though all we have to go on is snapshots from Ghostfuckers, but IMP’s general indiscretion is going to backfire very badly on them, on Stolas, and now maybe even on Ozzie, and I am RABID FOR IT OKAY. CONSEQUENCES?? IN MY SILLY DARK MURDER COMEDY??? UNEXPECTED BUT PLEASE DO EXPLORE THEM.

Also, the sheer horror of DHORKS having a PRIEST ARMY?? The fact that they sent some kids through the portal, that they got EVISCERATED by EYED TENTACLES, and they AREN’T EVEN SURE HELL IS WHERE THEY WOUND UP?? JUST POUR THE FERTILIZER ON MY “ROO EXISTS ON A BOTTOM LEVEL OF REALITY SOMEWHERE AND IS GROWING MORE POWERFUL (PROBABLY THANKS TO THE EXTERMINATIONS)” THEORY, IT’S GROWING LIKE WEEDS. And beyond that, even if this scene doesn’t have more cosmic implications (it does look me in my eyes IT DOES), the basic surface-level plot issues that are going to come from a HUMAN ARMY looking to WIPE OUT HELL is bad enough. But this show isn’t Hazbin Hotel. The stakes aren’t going to wind up being that cosmic and fundamental to existence. If the priest army ever actually makes it to Hell, I’ll be very surprised. What will NOT surprise me is Blitzo facing consequences for his recklessness and everyone he dragged into it with him, because surprisingly real consequences for silly shenanigans has really started to become something I expect from this show as it grows, and I am being FED, alright. Also I’m going full Charlie Day with the corkboard now, I’m aware of that, but I need to get all of this out of the way so I can start to examine the blood spatter of my exploded heart thanks to Stolas and Blitzo.

Because Moxxie says that business is going well for them right now. IMP follows Blitzo to make sure he’s not going to fuck up their meal ticket. IMP is making a MESS of downtown Lust because CHERUBS ARE IN HELL. ANGELIC BEINGS ARE IN HELL. AND ALSO YEAH HOW IN HECK DOES CHERUB KNOW ABOUT EXORCISTS?? Thought they were supposed to be a secret in Heaven. So. Throws the timing of this into question, really. Unless Exorcists are a known category of angel, but their exact duties are unknown, which is likely tbh. But again ANGELS IN HELL AND NOT IN PRIDE GOING AFTER SINNERS, BUT IN LUST GOING AFTER HELLBORN. LIKE. THIS SEEMS LIKE A PRETTY BIG DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT ACTUALLY. Y’know. If it wasn’t just cherubs and imps and anybody actually cared outside of the massive property damage. The crystal is already registered to Blitzo at this point, even if he doesn’t have it yet…look I’m gonna be spinning my wheels about this for a while, let me have this.

(…why do they have Mothman in a demonic containment cell.)

(and something with a lot of tentacles)

(how many cryptids are in this place??? LET THEM OUT)

Now where in the several planes of reality did they get an extradimensional portal generator? Like, I know that of all things THIS is probably not gonna get explained and I’m okay with that, but I’m deeply curious about how they developed this technology. Still holding to my theory that Stolas’ summoning of himself might have had something to do with it, but for now it’s unclear.

Also the American-centrism of it all. The layers of fourth-wall sarcasm are STIFLING.

And Collin. I see your continued reluctance and horror. I hope you get your vindication. Though it is interesting that even though he’s clearly scared out of his mind, he does still manage to hurt Loona. He had a clear shot on Blitzo but hesitates. He is dragging his feet every inch he can muster in his Moxxie suit. He can’t even fly like the other two can. Collin is a sore thumb in about every way he can be during this episode. I want that payoff. I want it bad.

You know what else I want bad? An explanation of what Cherub Towne and Heaven in general is really like, if these dweebs don’t know what sex shops or a club is. Sex shop, I kinda get, given their and Vaggie’s reaction to BDMS gear, Heaven being prudish seems like a fair assumption to make. But. Heaven doesn’t have CLUBS? And Adam was OKAY WITH THAT?? Boggles the mind, I tell you. Boggles.

(…maybe it was just a budget issue but I do wonder at how none of the Cherubs had gold blood anywhere. Plenty of bruises, but Moxxie and Millie and Loona all got stabbed, shot, or bruised enough to show plenty of black blood. CHERUB got their asses kicked just as hard, but no gold blood? Could be time and budget issues. Could be…something else. I’ve got my eye on you, Helluva Boss.)

Because I think I’m more or less done now…and it’s time to get to the main event:

I have been purposely avoiding any footage or sound of the duet until this moment. And I am SO GLAD I DID, because When I See Him Tonight is a TREASURE, a MASTER CLASS in both recap and foreshadowing. Because it’s the summary of Everything Wrong Up Until This Point, and a blueprint for How It Will Go Wrong Shortly. Because, I want to point this out up front: nothing that happens in this episode between Blitzo and Stolas is a surprise. Nothing said, nothing done—none of this is a surprise. To us. The audience. The ones not just watching them both go through this, but chewing the plot down to the marrow for meaning, interpreting based on our understanding of the characters and world, extrapolating, iterating, writing so many of our own theories and fics about how this moment would go that the fact that it plays out pretty much true to the tone we were predicting makes it all the more satisfying. Or it does for me, anyway; let me not accidentally speak for more than just myself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s heartbreaking, but it’s such a RELIEF, honestly. It’s a necessary breaking down, burning away what wasn’t working and was actively hurting them both to start the hard work of rebuilding. THIS has been building since s1e1, THIS has been the emotional heart of the show, and watching it reach a breaking point is DELICIOUS.

The buildup is so perfect, too: Blitzo is having a good day. Blitzo NEVER has good days. Blitzo’s good days get dunked straight into the toilet, either because of his own actions or because the universe (or his subconscious) can’t let him have nice things. Juxtapose that with Stolas’ nerves, the knowing that he’s going to do something that will change the nature of their relationship, and while we know it’s necessary, Blitzo making the active choice to ignore the storm he can feel coming in favor of fixing it with sex (GREAT sex, mind, sex that he has every intention of making good for both of them; I want to stress very much that while Stolas and Blitzo are ill-equipped to talk to each other in emotionally vulnerable ways, their sexual compatibility appears to be solid as ever, so good for them)…it just makes Stolas’ anxiety (AND APPARENTLY NOT BEING ON HIS MEDS SOMEONE HELP THIS BIRD MAN) that much more sharp in comparison. It is a perfect teeing up of a golf shot that’s going straight through someone’s windows and causing thousands of dollars in property damage.

…and dear sweet Loona, who isn’t exactly wrong but isn’t exactly right either, pouring gasoline on this situation and activating Blitzo’s already-awakened anxiety about his and Stolas’ relationship is just. Mwah. Perfect. Cherry on top of this shit sundae. The last perfect condition to make this a supercell feels tornado. LET’S DO THIS.

(Side note but exactly how much money did Blitzo spend on his bag of tricks because YOWZA, does he go throwing around a sack about as big as the one he tossed down to his dad full of stolen stuff back in s2e1.)

HEY BLITZO AND FIZZ FRIENDSHIP HANG ON LET ME BASK. Especially at how effortlessly flirty and touchy they are with each other, that’s just a really nice touch for both of them (pun not intended). Also the fact that Blitzo is VERY CONFIDENT that Stolas is into the Dragon Driller 5000 raises some…questions. I will file them along with the questions I have about Stolas’ lack of reaction to getting his leg snapped and then stabbed in Western Energy.

(CLOACA MENTION)

Right off the bat the tension in this scene is unbearable. There’s the real-world tension of having waited for this moment for literal months. There’s the in-universe tension of Stolas being nervous about what he’s about to do. There’s the in-universe tension of Blitzo hoping things just go back to normal and being excited about that. There’s the dramatic irony of the audience knowing this is about to fall to shit and neither of these chuckleheads being fully aware of what exactly the other guy is about to do, compounding with the underlying cracks that they are BOTH feeling in their relationship and are BOTH very insecure about. But there’s a special sort of pain in seeing Blitzo so excited and trying so hard to get Stolas excited too and it just not working, because it’s the exact opposite of their usual dynamic. The script has flipped, for some reason.

For SOME reason. Ha. As if the miscommunication horse wasn’t galloping as fast as she could FROM THE START OF THE EPISODE.

I want to stress here that this mess of a situation that Blitzo and Stolas are in doesn’t have fault or blame in it. Or, rather, it’s a mutually-created tar pit of both of their mistakes and assumptions and hurts. They’re BOTH at fault, they are BOTH to blame, and in a way, neither of them are, either. This is the ugly truth of damage scraping damage: more often than not…it causes MORE damage. Blitzo and Stolas could be really good for each other, but they have to clear away the blockages first, and that can be really painful, especially when Blitzo’s self-hatred and Stolas’ self-hatred causes them both to misinterpret each other in the worst possible ways that reinforces those self-hatreds. The ways that this show hammers home how destructive self-hatred can be is COMING FOR MY ASS, OKAY. I FEEL SO STRONGLY ABOUT IT THAT I’M NOT SURE I CAN REALLY TALK ABOUT IT COHERENTLY.

Look, so many people are going to say it so much better, are going to analyze the ways that Stolas and Blitzo are talking past each other, but saying what they individually need to in order to start that necessary brush fire is what we all knew was coming. Stolitz isn’t going to get together this season, not with how much work they both need to put into themselves first. Blitzo has to want to be better for HIMSELF, not just for Stolas, not just for Loona, not just for all the friends he has and once had. Stolas has to learn who HE is, not as a parent or a husband or a lover, but as a person. The nuanced truth to “you can’t love someone until you love yourself” is “you accept the love you think you deserve,” and right now neither one of these poor bitches is in a place to accept the love they want to give each other. Blitzo isn’t even in a place to acknowledge that what HE feels is love, let alone that what STOLAS feels is love. He’s still in a world where his love spells disaster for everyone close to him. Reconciling with Fizz has started the hard work of dismantling that view of himself, but Blitzo isn’t ready yet, and he needs time to think and process. Stolas is so ready to begin his life at last that it doesn’t occur to him that Blitzo hasn’t been really hearing him or understanding his overtures and teasing (or that his overtures and teasing have often been classist AF, reinforcing Blitzo’s belief in Stolas’ view of him as a toy and not a person). I think given time, maybe what they’ve each been saying to each other in this scene will hit. But in the moment, oh my WORD it's a trash fire, the prophecy of the duet come to pass in glorious HD.

Side note to talk about how it looks like everything in Stolas’ house is covered, as if Stolas is leaving: HEY WTF??? Like on the one hand oh my LORD ABOVE, the parallels of Stolas covering himself up in portraits but leaving Via uncovered to Blitzo scribbling himself out of pictures. On the other hand, WHERE IS HE GOING?? Like. Drop cloths are used to keep the dust off of things when going on a trip, or leaving for a long time, or just not using that wing of the house anymore, but they’re walking through what is directly outside of Stolas’ room (and coming to stop at the very chandelier where they played as children, KILL ME). Why does it feel like Stolas was already leaving even before this rupture? Why is this teaming up with Loona’s observation that Stolas must be getting bored of Blitzo to punch me repeatedly in the gut? And does this have anything to do with the upcoming trial and what very much appears to be Andrealphus about to attack Blitzo and Stolas outside of his house? (I’m now doubting if it was Andrealphus’ house, or if he just froze over Stolas’ palace to take as his own, because the cobblestone pattern looks similar to what’s outside of Stolas’ place and Andrealphus’ Let It Go castle doesn’t appear to have the same in the brief shot we get of it I AM GOING INSANE.)

…I do love, though, how even though Blitzo is aggressive about it, he DOES want to keep talking it out, he just needs time to process. Stolas needs space to grieve, to be hurt without being seen. They’re both seeing it as the other guy just not taking them seriously, not wanting them around, how the FUCK can these two morons want the same thing but be so wrong about each other at the same time (I know, I know why, I watch the show, I’m just in despair right now). I don’t think Apology Tour is going to fix everything, not by a long shot, but if it can get these two to at least understand each other enough to realize that neither of them was actually being rejected…it’s a tall order, Viv, but I believe in your team. And this certainly explains why Stolas would have Bitch Supreme expressions at Blitzo approaching him after this, assuming Short Robe Stolas is in Apology Tour (I am on my hands and knees begging PLEASE); his feelings were mocked, the depths of his misconceptions were revealed, and his boundaries were pushed when he tried to escape. Though why Blitzo is coming for Stolas after this…can’t quite say, but it might have something to do with why IMP is on the run (unless that’s in early Ghostfuckers, which it could be, but hOW LONG IS THAT EPISODE GONNA BE, SAKES ALIVE). Because Blitzo was sexually rebuffed, given a consolation prize after being discarded, and subjected to way too much honesty without any time to prepare or process (or any immediate violence to keep his adrenaline up so he has no choice but to process, or whatever magic happened with Fizz), then dumped after spilling his vitriolic guts in an attempt to talk it out.

THEY. ARE. A. GOD. DAMNED. MESS.

And I am SO looking forward to the cleanup :P