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unordinary-diary · 1 month

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Blyke and John: Parallel Characters

I’ve written multiple entries about this,

[x] [x] [x]

But I’m back to make a comprehensive analysis about the glaring similarities between these two. I’ll try not to repeat myself here.

‼️SPOILER WARNING for the whole series‼️ but this mostly focuses on the story before John’s suspension.

Firstly, this scene:

ch. 121

This conversation takes place near the beginning of the Joker arc. It’s after John targets Zeke, after he targets Juni, and the day before he goes after Seraphina’s kidnappers. The timing is important.

“If someone hit your best friend, would you let it slide?”

That question is supposed to remind us what John does to people who hurt Seraphina: hunting them down and sending them to the hospital. Blyke shooting a destructive beam really close to John was an example of a trait they share: they both blow up violently when people mistreat their friends.

John’s downward spiral carries strong themes of hypocrisy. He’s angry at the world, he’s angry at himself, and as a coping mechanism, he chooses to believe that everyone else is as bad as he is. That means that most of the traits he hates others for are the same things he hates about himself. In this scene, Blyke is unintentionally calling out this hypocrisy: “What I did is no different from what you do”.

But Blyke’s just trying to connect with John here, he has no idea what John’s been doing. And John, of course, doesn’t give a shit about what Blyke has to say. This line was here for the audience to notice.

They’re both so similar, but their similarity immediately causes tension between them because, well, John was on the wrong end of Blyke’s protectiveness.

I really love the way this was written— there are so many flashbacks to this scene, but they remember it differently. John remembers the part that hurt him— he’d describe it as “the time that jackass shot a beam at me”. Blyke remembers the part that hurt him, or rather, hurt Remi: “the time that jackass hit Remi for no reason”.

Blyke and John are both hotheaded characters with strong ideals. They’re similar enough that Seraphina points it out:

(ch. 80)

As Blyke grows as a character, he becomes more like John: sticking up for low tiers and speaking out against the injustice in the world. But while Blyke is doing that more, John is going in the opposite direction, until they are fully opposed to each other.

Speaking of Blyke’s character arc, it took me a few rereads to actually understand what part of him changed. His kindness, selflessness, bravery— all of those things were there from the start. Blyke’s character arc was about becoming more aware of his surroundings, and how his carelessness can harm others. Blyke was never malicious, but after X-Rei and integrating more with the school, he becomes aware of people suffering around him and how he unintentionally contributes to it. He becomes less reckless, privy to the flaws in the system he grew up not questioning, and uses his power more responsibly. He even comes up with a more controlled way to wield his ability. The part of Blyke that changes is his maturity.

Part of John’s character arc is also about being careful. It’s not as close of a parallel as other things are, but one of the things that John works on during his redemption arc is holding back. Both of them learn self-control throughout the series, and for John, that means acting early before his emotions spiral out of hand.

Adding onto my first point about the two of them wanting to protect their friends— the fact that they can’t do that makes them both angry and desperate. For most of the story, the “block” that prevents John from protecting Seraphina is in his head. It’s his own trauma that holds him back. The block that prevents Blyke from protecting his friends is, guess what? Also John’s trauma! Parallels abound.

Another thing I noticed in Episode 80 is this:

Notice that when Seraphina says “I’d take that over strength any day,” John is looking at the camera. He’s avoiding Sera’s gaze. Seraphina is saying she prefers honesty over strength. John is very strong, and very dishonest, but Seraphina thinks the opposite because John is so dishonest. John appears to be reflecting on this disconnect.

In relation to this analysis, Seraphina is actually pointing out a major difference between Blyke and John. Beyond that, she’s praising Blyke’s traits, (less strong but very open) above John’s traits, (strong as fuck but a liar with his pants on fire). Furthermore, John really cares what Seraphina thinks of him. Knowing that she would think less of him is the main reason why he spent so much time and effort preventing her from catching his lies.

This leads into my main point here: Blyke is the “goody-two-shoes” version of John. Or, more accurately, the person that John wants to be. Blyke has a clean track record and doesn’t really get into trouble. He is respected and left alone by the school without being hated and feared, he de-escalates conflicts without taking things too far, he doesn’t lose control, he’s someone Seraphina thinks highly of, hell, even his grades are better! Blyke represents everything that John wants to be, and the person that he could have been if he’d gone down a different path.

But, crucially, John is also what Blyke wants to be. Well, not wholly, but his ability? His strength? It’s one of the things John hates about himself, but Blyke wants that strength so desperately that he risks his life for it over and over again.

They’re both desperate to be like each other, even when they hate each other the most. Neither of them have any idea how alike they already are.

I don’t know what Season 3 holds in store for us, but I do hope that John realizes that Blyke embodies who he wants to be, because mutual jealousy would be a very interesting dynamic to explore in my opinion. I also hope that it ends up being something they can bond over, by helping each other accomplish their personal goals. (Blyke being another helper in John’s character arc, and John helping Blyke train.)

A side note: John beat up Blyke four separate times. That’s more than any other character, which is interesting because John’s main rival is supposed to be Arlo. For reference, John has beaten Arlo twice, three times if you count the time when Seraphina intervened, and he only beat him unconscious once. But John beat Blyke to the point of passing out all four times, the worst of which being a shot clean through his chest. (shoulder? Unclear. S1 finale).

It’s odd, isn’t it? Out of everyone, Blyke is the one who John physically hurt the most. John’s only grudge against him is an old memory from episode 33, of an event that didn’t actually harm him. John’s grudge against Arlo is much more serious and again— that’s his main rival. So why is it that he’s so much more violent towards Blyke?

The problem here is that I’ve been thinking about these fights as “John picking on Blyke”. And that’s… kind of true? But while Blyke didn’t start any of these fights, they were all consensual in a way. He didn’t seek to fight John, nor was he ever happy about fighting John, but he was always a willing participant.

(138, 153, 206, & 211)

In three out of these four fights, John didn’t even expect to be fighting Blyke going into it. This is significant because while Arlo is John’s main rival, John absolutely fills that role for Blyke. Blyke’s own agency is what leads to most of these events. The reason, narratively speaking, why they fight so much is not for John’s character, but for Blyke.

For John, his reason for fighting Blyke so much is not narrative but moreso symbolic. John is angry at everyone and everything, but ultimately the person he hates the most is himself. It’s only fitting that the character most like him would bear the brunt of his wrath.

As John is having his positive character arc (suspension and post-suspension), he is becoming more like Blyke, and the two of them reach a point where they’re even more similar than they were at the start of the series.

In the Rowden amusement park, John does start to realize how similar they are:

(249)

Additionally, I want to draw your attention to the parallels between this scene:

Blyke and John’s argument in chapter 249

(which the image limit won’t let me add, scroll until you see red hair.)

And this scene:

Argument in ch. 121 (it’s at the beginning)

Two sides of the same coin.

Furthermore, in the S2 finale, Blyke is shown being taken to Keon. There is an implication that by Season 3, Blyke and John will share Keon-related trauma as well. Despite my pessimistic predictions, I do hope that this is a similarity that can bring them together rather than tear them apart.

#unordinary #I had another point that i had to cut #because it was about the john slaps remi scene #and how like blyke knew he wasn’t gonna miss and hit john by accident but john doesn’t necessarily know that #and that john assumes the worst (blyke was aiming for his head) bc he’s mad #and blyke also assumes the worst (that john hit remi for no reason). But when i was looking for screenshots to back it up #and i was looking for the one panel where john referred to blyke as “that idiotic redhead who tried to blow my brains out”#as proof of john assuming the worst #But then i found it and it doesn’t even say what i thought it said #it says “THREATENED to blow my brains out”#Smh john didn’t even assume the worst. He knew it was jyst a threatening shot even thogh he was mad #And then my whole thing kinda falls apart because blyke assuming the worst is actually just the logical conclusion since he can’t read mind #Like how was he gonna know john was having trauma issues #Yargh okay so i think i cut all the parts that don’t really make sense but it’s late so this is a low quality proofread #Gonna be honest this is NOT structured very well #Theres more to be said about john hating other people for the same reasons he hates himself #and I didn’t quite hit it #but it’s lateeeeeee #something about how Blyke is so similar to john but lacks most of what John hates about himself so John projects his insecurities—#back onto him anyway #Something about in ch 249 when he says something something “because I couldn’t cope with the fact that you guys weren’t actually bad people #Yeah idk im too tired to get into it #blyke unordinary #john unordinary #oh also has something to do with when john says “i may have deserved those classes but they sure as hell don’t” about keon #i think that’s significant #analysis #i have a bad feeling that someone in my notes is gonna purposely misinterpret my “goody two shoes” blyke statement ngl #”did you say that blyke is perfect and john is evil”#like something like that

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gilliontidestriderchampionoftheu · 3 months

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its funny how the only thing from the undersea that gill seems to be unable to let go of is the idea that he has to be the hero

#my post #like i know i know its his whole identity #but i mean #he met 2 humans on the surface. people hed been told his whole life were evil and cruel.#but he immediately trusted them and went 'oh huh these guys are nice! guess the elders were wrong'#and im 99% sure being gay is NOT a thing/allowed in the undersea. but he reads about his grandpa and hangs out w jay and meets all kinds of #people and goes 'huh. okay!'#and when chip becomes undead- the thing gills been training to kill without hesitation all along- he goes 'this doesnt change anything' and #continues right along being his friend.#like hes so willing to move on from EVERYTHING else #except this #anyways i have to go to work now aaaaaaaaaaaa

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ratatatastic · 1 month

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"Have you ever seen [Barkov] fall? Has he ever fallen? He's never fallen his entire career!" "Uh—It's, uh, funny and I don't know if he'll care that I say this, but he's got those—he doesn't like the blades that you can snap in and out quickly. So when he needs to get his skates done in the middle of a game, he's gotta fully take off his skates, get 'em sharpened and retie them up—which is like one of the few guys in the league, I think, that still do that. So sometimes he'll have absolutely no edge, and he'll just find a way to, like, compensate and get through it—which is incredible." "That kind-of sucks though 'cuz that's like a bad dream to have. You're waiting on something else, like—even if the trainers just like snapped it back in or whatever, like maybe they had something different they can put in there. He probably wouldn't even know!" "[...] this guy's particular. He knows his game and he's goddamn good at it! And we don't say a word so!" "'Barky, we need you out there for the face off! There's two seconds left!'" "That's what I mean! He'll compensate and he'll still look better than all of us! Like if any of us had no edge like that, we'd be screwed, right? And he goes out there and does the Barky things that he does. We're all grateful for it! He's been getting me paid for 10 years now, so."

The Cam & Strick Podcast | 7.30.24 (x)

loving my captain face... absolutely smitten with the man hes spent a decade with despite still not being invited to his house... thats love babey oh hes absolutely swinging and kicking his feet

THE LITTLE SMILE HE MAKES AFTER HE GOES "hes been getting me paid for 10 years now so 😃"

#aaron ekblad #aleksander barkov #florida panthers #“one of the few guys in the league that still do that” the way i blurted out SIBNEY like i was on jeopardy and i if i didnt buzz in id die #everything leads back to him...#the amount of shifts hes missed because of his skates lmao and it just gets more egregious as time passes on #because everyones switched to interchangeable blades so yeah old man i love ya but this season i did go AGAIN. AGAIN?? AFUCKINGGAIN???#anyways congrats to these 2 princesses refusing to change with the times #may their indomitable presence forever remain untouched by father clock #ekky praising sasha. fork found in kitchen #sasha being “particular” oh im sure he is have you seen him #everytime the finns bring up his anything relating to his intense hockeyisms...#yeah particular is a word for it #not to use my friends codeword but is he you know a virgo #“he goes out there and does the barky things that he does” to be so in love with sasha its a beautiful thing #“hes been getting me paid for 10 years now so” OH SHUT IT YOU #YOU ARE ALSO GOOD AT HOCKEY I DONT WANNA FUCKIN HEAR IT RN #ekkys face in a permanent half smirk talking about sasha...okay #bless whatever these two have #to many more years and counting 🍻 (bill zito i will hunt you for sport if you dont extend this man this season)

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ef-1 · 4 months

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#girlhood!!!!! girlhood amirite???!#feel free to reblog but unrelated tags ahead:#unrelated vent tags but like i cannot explain the acid trip of being in my international law class #and mentioning anything about palestine and that fucking CRACKHEAD bitch !!!everytime!!! turns to me and says:#“as a white south african how do you feel about the treatment of white farmers” girl im gonna fucking kill you #this genuinely keeps unearthing a biblical anger in me. i mean my mother is just a wicked person but my dad really let me grow up #without a tradition. being without a tradition is about the most dreadful thing my dad ever did to me thanks you FUCK!#i cant reconcile my identity with anything. caught somewhere between the way that bitch knows how much i hate afrikaans #exclusively speaking to me in afrikaans and my dad who taught me nothing. okay then !!! anyway like obvi not thinking abt having kids at 22 #but definitely sure now that im not having kids ever because this corrosive resentment rears its head in mundane moments #bc its always just under the surface #anyway wONT ANYONE THINK ABOUT THE POOR WHITE FARMERS!!!!!!!!!!#lol.

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jmkho · 1 year

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Introducing Jake! Poke his jummy to make him speak!

#gvf #greta van fleet #jake gvf #jake kiszka #greta van fleet art #greta van art #gvf art #doodles #lmaoo yeah im gonna try my best to do everyone looooool #the phrases lol god #i hear the relaxing one in my head daily LOL #anyway I hope he’s okay!!!!!1 #i wonna poke him jummmmmymymymmymymymy #ignore so many things the dragons for one lmaooooo wtf #number two the terrible drawing of baby #BUT I HAD TO GIVE HER THET WORN PAINT WORK OR ELSE IT ISN'T HER #and sword #she had to be here for sure #LMAONAT THE BONUS ITEM I SHOULD HAVE ADDED AN EYE PATCH FOR SHITS N GIGGLES

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rearranging-deck-chairs · 2 months

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#this question brought to you by: me writing 'thats all she ever seems to be in this body' and then going 'wait no wait no thats not right'#like. okay. if i say. she wants his body. im clearly talking abt two different..........physicalities lets say #she wants his body bc its unlike hers #but thats sort of like comparable to if yuo met future you and theyve been on hormones for years like #you want their body but thats still one and the same body you get me #or even just like. when youre 50 and you wish you had your 20 yo body or smth like that #you know what i mean?#its the same body it just changed #but if i phrase a phrase like 'in this body'. then it seems im separating them out #like this body is smth different from previous regenerations body #which. id ont think it is. i think its all the same body #but anyway. not sure what the exact difference here is that im putting my finger on #or Not putting my finger on #sticking my fingers IN #might just be semantics #but like. dont semantics matter sometimes #when words mean things #who knows #anyway swapping out 'body' in that initial sentence i wrote with 'regeneration' baaareeelyyy seems to solve the problem too #like i can get away with it. but its cheating. im not REALLY getting away with it #im still i think almost making the same claim i dont believe in re the bodies #anyway #can literally solve the problem by replacing 'body' in that sentence with 'lately'#fairly sure that fixes it #but not 100%

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pikkish · 3 months

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For as much as I love Doom, I think we can all agree that modern Doom's writing is a bit of a dumpster fire of questionable choices and TAG especially so. So,

I'm gonna play Dark Ages when it comes out, and probably even enjoy it, too, but boy, do I have next to no faith that they're not gonna somehow totally screw over the story they themselves already established...

#doom #doom the dark ages #im a very serious person taking this very seriously i swear #personally my biggest fear is that theyre gonna forget that the whole reason dg does what he does is #to protect people. man cares abt civilians. would and literally has gone through hell to try to keep em safe.#scared theyre gonna lean too far into him being the big bad angry murder machine and hurt people just bc he can #they do establish in eternal's codexes that he was. Not Okay when he first got to argent dnur #mentally unstable and unable to tell the sentinels apart from demons iirc #so if they have a bit near the beginning where he accidentally hurts someone just bc hes like. hallucinating or something #that would be acceptable and even narratively consistent #but if he does anything more aggressive toward a civilian than like. the phobos base cutscene in eternal.#i will be So Upset.#anyway preemptive friendly reminder that you can criticize thing you like. its ok to point out somethings flaws even while youre enjoying i #and this is like 98% just meant to be goofy.#......gee i sure hope i don't end up going 'told you so' later once the game comes out......

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theejael · 7 months

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something something ah shit here we go again

#if there was one thing i knew the netflix atla was gonna do #it was gonna reignite atla's dumbass ship wars #i ship zutara and i have for over a decade #but kataang is canon even if i dont think it should have been #why are kataang shippers still petty to zutara shippers 😭#like you have canon?? im pretty sure a lot of us are okay with that??#dont even get me started on people calling it a colinizer ship again #as a woc of a colonized culture #kindly stfu #people: oh zuko has the best redemption arc in fiction but dont you dare ship zutara or else #anyway #this also isn't welcoming to aang bashing #aang bashing is illegal and i will find your ass #aang bashing ≠ saying aang has flaws btw #he was 12 he's gonna act 12 #zutara #kataang #not anti kataang but pro zutara

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skitskatdacat63 · 6 months

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Prince Jenson of Somerset

+ process & lore

Yayyyyy omg finally have drawn portraits of the four main characters!!!! I'll show the process of Jenson's first and then them all four together. Though it's a shame the Seb/Fernando ones are older, I think it's hopefully obvious how much I've improved since November?

Look at him in all his handsome, princely glory 🥹 It's funny, I'm always happy with the second sketch and initial lineart, and then I start coloring it and I absolutely hate it, and it takes a significant amount of time into the painting for me to like it again. And then I reach a certain point and I'm in love with it again. Ugh though I gotta say, I love drawing the curls, it's just so 18th century, but at the same point, man I always will love my original lineart for the hair the best ah. Also yes I absolutely had to give him a big ass hat with feathers, he really is that kinda guy to me. I originally drew a bicorne and then realized that those don't really exist until basically almost a century later oops, so tricorne it is!!

Okay now omg look at them all together 🥹

Haha wow I have improved a lot! Just like the Seb/Fernando ones, Mark and Jense's were meant to be put together. I think there's a lot of inherent characterization in their poses that highlight the difference between them. Mark is looking up, very wistful, looking up to greater people, greater things. Jenson's head is tilted down, almost looking at the viewer, he is very satisfied with his role and revels in it, he's here to slay!

Okay, yes, lore, characterization, sorry that it is so far down on the post!!

Jense would probably be the fan favorite if this AU was an actual book or show or something. He's the guy you randomly find while browsing Wikipedia and you're like, woah this guy is so cool??? Unlike Sebmarknando, he doesn't really have the same level of angst, he's kinda just chilling. He's a bit harder to write a lore post about, because he's basically that character who is always magically around the corner, ready to witness some crazy thing and just breeze past it.

He is less linked to Seb than people like Mark and Fernando, because he's basically just his personal minister of transportation(read: horse fucker), so he avoids a lot of the relationship complications and drama, but that isn't to say he's completely uninvolved. He really likes Seb, and loves to hang around with him and serve him, but he's not as beholden to him. He's who everyone goes to air their grievances or to get away from the others, and he's very happy with this role. He's generally willing to play any side in an argument, but does tend to have a pretty big soft spot for Seb overall(Seb also gives him cuteness aggression, and he wants to bite him. Especially when Seb puffs himself up and acts super bratty when he gets offended at not being seen as a proper ruler.)

He's royalty from other kingdom, but pledged his loyalty to Seb's kingdom when he was quite young and has served him(his father first) ever since. He started off somewhat low in the military, rose to a pretty high rank, was a renowed war hero, and then ended up retiring pretty early to tend to Seb's horses. That's an oversimplification, but yeah. He liked the military life, was very good at it, but decided he had done enough, and wanted to be involved in more direct service, albeit more laid back. As I mentioned in Mark's post, Mark *really* doesn't understand his choice to do this, because if Mark had been in Jense's position, he can't ever imagine being able to let all that go and living the quiet life.

He is the palace whore, everyone has been with him honestly. It'll be like, some man walks into his bedroom, only to see Jenson in bed with his wife, but instead of being angry, he's like "wow you couldn't even wait for me??" He's just very carefree, and happy to just slut around and tend to Seb's horses.

I think he definitely still advises Seb, and would go to battle if truly need be, but generally seems to be living in a different world than the weird psychosexual homoerotic political drama that the others seem to be living in. But as I said, it's not like he doesn't contribute to it! He loves to goad Fernando, and constantly plays devil's advocate in "debates" between Fernando and Seb. He's also obviously the one that keep "accidentally" locking them in rooms and forgetting where the key is.

Sorry if this isn't very explanatory, I hope it gives a general idea to the type of character he is???? As always, let me know if you have any questions! I kinda struggled on what to write here because I'm finishing this at almost 8 am 😭 so I'm not sure if it's great or not. But basically you need to know: horse fucker who is generally breezy and carefree but also can be a bit of a menace to society every once in a while.

#YAYAAAAAAA PRETTY HAPPY WITH THIS ONE!!!!#lmfao tho not 100% sure about the lore notes because i wrote this at like 8 am #hope its understandable 😭 and that you love jense as much I do #hes probably the funniest character in the AU #and like if it wasn't centered on seb/nando he would be the favorite #hes just often there as my kinda reaction character #tho both he and Mark are reaction characters but on opposite sides of the scale and they play off each other #jenson walks into a room where sebnando are psychosexually glaring at each other from across the room #and hes like hmmm how can i make this worse #and mark is the type to walk into the room. see whats going on. and briskly walk away #so jense absolutely loves to tease him w this kinda thing and just make any situation 100x worse(aka funnier)#well funnier for him probably not the other people involved #but its okay bcs they love him. hes jense!!! who wouldn't love him!! hes our favorite guy!! our jense!!!#I just love to imagine he gets all the sides of the gossip and is like hmm yes yes interesting #but doesnt use it for scheming or evil but rather just to tease and be annoying and make everyone blush :)#okay well anyways wow im not really discussing the art itslef sorry!!!@#I think he looks so handsome pretty in this 🥺#hes pretty difficult to draw but i think it came together when i gave him freckles tbh #i hope he gives off carefree but seductive but laidback prince 🙏🙏#f1 #formula 1 #jenson button #catie.art.#boy king au #*not sure about his title officially yet. i mean hes from somerset but yeah idk its okay

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