#because it is literally based on this line of thinking

[fablerenown]

I've had a couple people asking me if I've noticed my TikTok feed is different since the app came back, and I haven't noticed that because I fucking deleted the app off my phone when it went down.

I think of it this way: If someone told me my favorite restaurant was reopening thanks to the sponsorship of Nazis (specifically, the Nazis who HAD IT CLOSED IN THE FIRST PLACE), I would never fucking go there again. I don't care how good the food is; the fact that it's working with FUCKING NAZIS means I want nothing to do with it. I don't need it for work or as my only line of connection to people, so I'm not going back until they prove there's no fucking Nazis. I'll go literally anywhere else.

In fact, I feel like just being off TikTok and on more reading-based apps like Tumblr and BlueSky for a couple days has vastly improved my brain. I feel like my mental health is better, I'm more focused, and I'm more productive. It's obviously too soon to tell, but I feel like besides making videos for YouTube I don't know if I'd go back to an app like TikTok again. The only thing I'm still debating is whether or not to leave the accounts up, mostly so people can find me from there and as evidence for a video I want to make later about grey area plagiarism on short form apps like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for Jan behind the cut; “YJ packs up and gets pupped”. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“You are presenting, and you have chosen to do it in the base,” Red Tornado says. “Presumably you chose to do that because Project Cadmus lacked something you require for the process.” 

“I . . .” Kon hesitates again, biting the inside of his lip. “I just–I just didn’t wanna do it there, okay? That’s–s’all.” 

Red Tornado looks at him. Kon really wishes the guy had a scent that he could read. Or like–at least a fucking expression or something. Like just–literally anything, right now. 

“You appear to be nesting,” Red Tornado observes. “Are you an omega, then?” 

“. . . I guess,” Kon mumbles, swallowing roughly. And it feels–it feels weird, saying it to someone. Even after saying it to himself and the Super-Cycle already. 

Red Tornado can tell him what he thinks about him saying that to him, is the thing. And whatever he thinks, it’s not going to be what Kon thinks himself.

Like–obviously it’s not, yeah. 

“You are in possession of sufficient nesting material, then?” Red Tornado asks, and Kon tries not to bristle. It’s–it’s just a question, maybe. Probably. Not one he knows why Red Tornado’s asking, but–just a question. 

Unless it’s a trap, anyway. 

“I just–borrowed some stuff,” he says without saying anything about–about just what he’s really “borrowing”, and he maybe sounds a little bit too defensive about it, but . . . but that’s all he did, dammit. He didn’t do anything–bad or anything. “S’all. I’ll scent-scrub all the pheromones and shit off when I’m done, alright? I’m not messin’ anything up or anything, it’s fine.” 

They wouldn’t care, he tries to say, but he doesn’t know–he doesn’t actually know that. Doesn’t actually know if . . . if they’d care. If they’d–mind.

Would they be mad, if they found out he came to the base to present and then tracked down and took all their scents? Like–without asking, or . . . 

They’re not a pack. And the others all have packs. And in all their heads he’s just, like, the stupid bruiser teammate who’s only barely a friend that none of them trust to be in charge of the team even though he’s literally the only one who actually has been in charge of a team before and who they probably all think’s an alpha anyway and–and– 

“Yes,” Red Tornado says. “But is ‘some stuff’ sufficient for your nest?” 

“I . . .” Kon–falters, kinda, and maybe sinks in on himself a little again. Does–does it look that bad? He knows he didn’t get much stuff for it, but–but if it looks that bad . . . 

“Kathy prefers to layer her nests with multiple fabrics and cushioning,” Red Tornado says. “And Traya and her friends line theirs with plush toys when engaging in playing ‘house’ together. I am otherwise unfamiliar with the necessary components of their construction.” 

“. . . oh,” Kon realizes, and feels a little less–a little less embarrassed, at least. At least if Red Tornado doesn’t really know how it’s supposed to go either . . . well, he can’t think it looks that bad, if he doesn’t really know. Right? “Uh–I don’t . . . I dunno. I never . . . did it, before.” 

Red Tornado tilts his head. Kon represses a cringe, trying not to bristle. Well–he wasn’t presented before, so . . . so why would he have? 

“I was under the impression that most omega pups experience a compulsion to nest even before their presentation,” Red Tornado says. 

“Well, I didn’t,” Kon snaps at him, digging his fingers into Cassie’s folded-up shirt and–and not-really-on-purposely pinning it against his chest. 

Hugging it against his . . . against his . . . 

He’d just–he’d just . . . thought about it, a couple times. But he . . . he hadn’t felt any stupid compulsions or . . . 

Kon thinks about how many times he’d thought about nesting, and how many times he’d thrown all his blankets in the corner and made himself sleep on a half-stripped bed and nothing else, and how many times he’d thrown every blanket he could find on his bed and slept under them all at once, and how he’d always . . . always folded his jacket into a pillow, when he was . . . when he was . . . sleeping somewhere else, like on the road or on shoots or in the field or . . . 

He thinks about how many times he’d wanted to . . . wanted to watch one of those nesting videos, but–hadn’t. 

Then he thinks about crying, maybe. 

“I thought I was gonna be an alpha,” he croaks, trying to figure out if–if this makes him a bad omega after all, or–or something. If he didn’t . . . didn’t nest before, or . . . “I thought I . . . thought I . . .”

I thought I HAD to be an alpha, Kon doesn’t say, but it’s all he can think.

[brattypagansub]

Kate Laswell has a lot to deal with being the team mom of a bunch of military aged males. Enough that she deserves hazard pay.

Has walked in on Soap and literally every member of 141

The first time she saw Simon’s face Kate asked who Price snuck into base this time. Then actually had a blood chill moment when the man smiled and spoke.

Had to settle a bet on who Soap likes more

Commented that at least Soap has the legs and glutes to pull off the TikTok leggings

Saved Simon from a bat that managed to get into the base

Was forced against her will to hear Price and Simon flirt with each other on comms. While Simon annoyed the ever loving hell out of Price.

Nearly got whiplash when Simon told Soap to keep it tactical and acted annoyed. Because bitch you literally recited pick up lines for an hour to Price. The hell do you mean keep it tactical?

Listens to Simon beg Soap to keep talking over comms when they hear a loud noise. And her heart starts to break until they hear. His annoyed grumble and Kate nearly yelled at him to not scare her like that.

Joins Simon in hoping Soap never stops talking on comms because he’s unintentionally hilarious.

Spars with Gaz because he doesn’t hold back

Watched Simon MacGyver a fix for his comms then around Johnny act like he needs to type one letter at a time

Listened to Simon recite the sacred text of the book of Clapilations around Price. Then when he’s around Johnny lets the man think he doesn’t know what an innuendo is.

[transmutationisms]

like there is a (usually subconscious) perception among medical professionals that any degree of patient self advocacy is a threat to their expert status & simultaneously in psychiatry specifically it's ultra important that everyone toe the line because these aren't diagnoses that you can like physically document even.

hgkgj3m i was diagnosed by a psychiatrist with "cluster b" in the psych emergency for patient self advocacy and not backing down on seeing a pain specialist after years of jumping through hoops to no avail... also said the opioid epidemic was a result of gross medical neglect in overprescribing and was now resulting in gross medical neglect the other way w underprescribing

diagnosed with Extra Not A Disorder, i think they literally couldnt decide which "this person is manipulative and sinister" disorder to give me, for undermining their expert status and that of doctors everywhere by not accepting being patronised and pathologised (tried to blame it on hrt, Maybe i would Change My Mind™) and suggesting doctors could be responsible for causing harm ^_^

this patient thinks she knows so much and is better than Me she must be a narcissist... but shes manipulating me she must be evil hysterical woman... but she's icky trans so maybe she's a sociopath (male coded)... but she's making such a big deal out of this maybe she's histrionic... eh it's not like these disorders have quantifiable symptoms lets just say it's the whole category

alright so i generally think this isn't an issue of overprescribing per se (i think drugs should all be legalised and available lol) but one of lying about the risks—whether or not someone 'needs' opioids for a broken ankle, they do need to be told that opioids have addiction potential, and that is information that the sacklers were massaging out of their trial data and that doctors in turn were not telling their patients, even after it was very obvious to anyone doing followups that the risk existed. & like i say this as someone who did start doing opioids because they were around the house lol. i don't think the answer here is that doctors magically become able to determine with pinpoint accuracy who actually 'needs' the drugs—there is no way to eliminate human error from that process, for one, and anyway i think people should be able to make their own decisions on substance use in general. but you have to be doing that with actual full information. but i do certainly agree the underprescribing is an issue—this has always been a problem for people with chronic pain/illness, and media coverage of the 'opioid epidemic' (scare quotes bc i think the epidemic framing is a bad one) has certainly made this worse.

anyway though. this is funny cause i initially got shuttled to psychiatry because i was trying to get my chronic fatigue diagnosed, and i definitely think asking for pills was a factor in the psych deciding i was bpd or hpd or bipolar or whatever he even said lol. you always have to do this little song and dance with them where you showed up to the office of the prescribing professional but now you have to pretend you're not looking for a prescription becsuse if you want it too much that's Bad obviously. and then because PDs in particular and psych diagnoses in general are vibes based, it's literally just the psych announcing in medicalese that they don't like you. if you look at the criteria for some of the PDs they even explicitly include points for how the patient 'makes' the doctor feel akajaksajs like literally i diagnose you with im doing transmisogyny to you

[pigswithwings]

okay 1 person asked for this so im talking about mirage now, specifically going to try and discuss her name. so the base definition of a mirage is an illusion or a trick of the light, usually it's used to refer to the fake pools of water seen on a hot road (those are caused by a very cool physics thing but i digress).

anyways there are several ways we can approach an analysis of mirage's name.

if we go with the common association of "fake pool of water", then mirage's name represents her personal beliefs. following mirage's line of reasoning, a person in the desert wants to believe that the water is there, much like how people regularly need to distract themselves from the idea of meaninglessness and/or people regularly try to believe that there is hope in the world. in this interpretation, having a purpose or a hope for life is the mirage. one must remove their idealistic view of the world and come to terms with their life's meaning being negated by the size/scale of the universe. probably the most pessimistic possibility of the bunch, but truthful to what mirage herself tells us about how she sees the world.

in a very literal interpretation, mirage herself is illusory. this is kind of a surface level approach, but it's not wrong. the entire 2-S level itself is basically a joke that's transformed into a more serious message. mirage is an "annoyed schoolgirl who ACTUALLY MIGHT FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU?!?!????" stereotype at first, and it's pretty cool to see that subverted with a genuine message about living one's life freely. ultimately, though, when interpreting mirage's name as literally meaning "she is not real", the message of her level loses a lot of its value because its says something like "you only succeeded at helping someone away from the cliff face of complete despair because this is a video game". this interpretation says that mirage's character and meaning are illusions and that neither matter, this is just a game

however! it's possible to argue that, by interpreting mirage as not real and therefore not having value as a character, you transfer the meaningfulness of mirage's story to the author and audience instead. perhaps mirage is not real, but you are. you played her story and you chose those dialogue options. this is a video game and mirage is a character inside of a screen, but you live in the real world and it matters more that *you* thrive and live your life the way you want. so this interpretation might ALSO say that mirage's character doesn't matter, but its effect on players does.

i think one of the more hopeful and perhaps true-to-story interpretations of "what is the *actual* mirage here?" is that nihilism and hopelessness are illusory when faced with the real world. mirage as a character basically lives a life under several kinds of illusions: the idea that life is meaningless and has no purpose, the idea that she has to continue conforming to the status quo, and the idea that she is alone. but here I'll just talk about the first one because it's most relevant.

mirage is basically depressed, or at least having a very bad time if nothing else. it's very clear from her dialogue that she is quite a smart person (robot? whatever) and that she likes to think logically - she gives us examples of a very specific extinct species (irish elk), she has a quick wit when it comes to insults (giving her skirt a "decorative dirt coating"), she uses academic language in her explanations (describing events of life as "temporary fluctation[s]"), etc.

however this reliance on thinking of things in a constant "direct cause -> one effect" way has lead mirage to convince herself that there is nothing of value in life. mirage goes about her days believing in something that the player character eventually disproves, so in this example the true mirage is nihilism, nihilism which prevents mirage from living well like a veil over her face. with this interpretation, it's implied that the character mirage needs to clear this illusion of meaninglessness from her life in order to be truly happy

anyways i care deeply about this character and her complexities i could talk all damn day about her

[rouge-fauna]

I’m sorry I swear I was planning on moving on but then I had a conversation with my friend last night and now I’m triggered again… I don’t mind if people disagree but damn it was really frustrating, for a few reasons, one of them being that even if I’m biased I still think I’m a better source of information and opinion after having watched 12 hours of streams versus some reaction channel videos. Like sure I like Dream and relate to both c and ccDream but I’m not heartless or unreasonable. I’m not saying, ‘oh my poor autistic dweam can do no wrong.’ I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m here for the facts and truth and what it says and what is reasonable based on that. I’ve dropped plenty of other YouTubers for doing messed up things, and Dream would be no different if he actually did cross a serious line. But honestly I don’t think he’s really done worse than plenty of other creators and at least he has apologized which is more than you can say for most others. So by all mean hate him for whatever reason, there are plenty of YouTubers I dislike, but don’t do so because you think he’s a creep or because of things that just aren’t true, and give me a little more credit that I’d not just support anyone or use autism to justify anything.

The reason I’ve talked a lot about the autism and ADHD is because I feel like it is very important. But my friend (who is also autistic), last night was giving me a lot of shit for it, noting how autism doesn’t excuse behavior and is beside the point. The thing is though, this situation is not like how people are saying Elon doing the salute is an autistic oopsie, no I’m literally just pointing out actual statements and points the content creators have said about why they dislike Dream, which are literally characteristics of his neurodivergence. Look no further for an example than what Jack says in the podcast, “I genuinely think he lacks the ability to read social queues.” That’s literally just autism 101, I’m not making excuses for behavior, I’m just pointing out the why a behavior is happening to say it’s not because he’s some evil bad manipulative guy. Tubbo is the one who noted that Dream’s behavior was weird and inappropriate and how he didn’t seem to understand the social rules and stuff. Those are actually things that have been talked about here. People have actually commented on how Dream’s over explanation and stuttering and repeating himself and such is manipulative and all I’m saying is no it’s literally just AuDHD. I’m not making stretches for behavior here, I’m not extrapolating here on what Dream did, if anything I’m focused more on the actual comments of the opposing side.

Autism isn’t relevant to the situation because of the meme. It’s no longer about whether or not he is allowed to use the r word because he is autistic, it’s about this inherent loathing people have where a lot of their listed reasons are typical ADHD and autism characteristics. All I’m doing is looking at what they themselves said, I don’t even have to theorize, Jack straight up just said he thinks Dream lacks social queues as part of his discussion on why he dislikes Dream. What do you mean his neurodivergence isn’t relevant, when the reasons people are currently bashing him are neurodivergent traits. That’s like saying, well her blue hair is irrelevant to the conversation - well then why do you hate her? - because I don’t like how she always dyes her hair. Heh? It is relevant because the things the hate him for connect directly to autism and ADHD, it is relevant because the internet is making fun of him after that stream with Tubbo for how he speaks because of his neurodivergence. It’s relevant because the reason people believe these rumors or spread rumors in the first place is because of the inherent dislike of autistic people they are literally describing on air.

[akindredskillet]

Making a Home 🌻

I’ve been thinking about this ever since I put this caption together, so why not! Omori queer analysis time.

Now, most analysis of Omori subtext comes from the Headspace sections, and understandably so! Since it takes place in Sunny’s mind, nearly anything can be read into, because everything must serve some function within the world. Within Faraway Town — not so much! Sunny doesn’t seem to have much agency.

Except… That’s not exactly true, is it? There are over twenty sidequests, and therefore at least twenty ways Sunny makes a difference in Faraway Town before moving away, to lesser or greater extents. This can be seen most readily in Universally Loved runs, when he wakes up in his hospital room brimming with flowers from those he’s helped along the way:

Today I want to talk about the Picking Paint and Cooking sidequests. The detail that first brought this to my attention was the wallpaper selection.

It begins on 3 Days Left in Fix-It, where a newly-wed couple is struggling to choose a paint color for their new house, insisting the other one choose. It’s very cutesy and over-the-top, with custom animations showing them blowing kisses to each other.

Eventually, Sean & Karen ask Sunny to choose a paint swatch randomly, and he does so with his eyes closed, but ends up accidentally choosing a floral wallpaper sample instead.

When you visit them later, they actually have the wallpaper up throughout the entirety of the house, which is in the pink swatch, one of two on showcase in Fix-it. The other is… you guessed it! The wallpaper from Basil’s house.

If you go outside into the garden area directly after this, you’ll also be able to see Basil as a memory vision, as well as the flower Sean & Karen gift to Sunny should we finish this sidequest.

(Note: Despite my best efforts, I couldn't determine exactly what kind of flower this was meant to depict, if anything specific).

As you may guess, my proposal here is that even with his eyes closed, Sunny has an instinctual draw to Basil, and things Basil likes. I don’t mean this in a literal psychic sense, but in more of a symbolic way — perhaps even implying that Sunny understands his feelings better on a subconscious level, when he’s not actively looking at them.

Now this is somewhat shoddy evidence on its own, so let’s keep digging.

The reason this stuck out to me is because flowers are usually mentioned in Omori in tandem with Basil. So much so Basil & Flowers might as well be synonymous (and according to the names of the beta characters, once were!)

Obviously, Basil is associated with his flower garden in Headspace, and particularly Stranger's line comparing Sunny to white tulips on the path to Basil's house is often interpreted as having romantic undertones. There's even other official art based off of this line, where if you look very closely at the base of the tulip, it reads: "143. I love you, I love you, I love you".

But even within the main cast's dialogue, flowers are mentioned about 50 times, with 65% of these mentions being spoken by or related to Basil in some way. Many of Mari’s are about the flower puzzle sidequest – which is arguably also related to Basil, as it is initiated by a character named Daisy, and the only Headspace sidequest you can activate while Basil is in your party (not my original observation: read more about that here!)

The majority of Hero’s mentions are about buying flowers for his mother in the main plot. Disregarding these exceptions, it brings the Basil-flower correlation up to 95%!

Sean & Karen then invite us to their housewarming party. They explain they have recently moved in together, but that both of them are from Faraway Town.

We know this to be true, because this pair actually has Headspace counterparts, implying Sunny would have known them from years before.

Enter: Shawn & Ren!

Similar to Daisy, you can find these two at the playground, and they’re some of the only Headspace NPCs you can interact with while Basil is still in your party.

Throughout the game, they are always found next to each other, and they are even some of the only characters in the game to have a shared dialogue box. It’s not just Shawn and Ren, it’s Shawn and Ren.

Clearly, these two have always been close enough in real life for Sunny to make this observation and consider them a matching pair, even though they’re only now moving in together nearly four years later. In my interpretation, I consider them childhood sweethearts.

Coincidentally, they also give Omori the Observe skill. This skill is granted after laying down to stargaze with them. Recently, an acquaintance of mine mentioned they thought these two had similarities to the legend of Tanabata, or Star Festival. The story of Tanabata is about a pair of star-crossed lovers — a Weaver Princess and a Cow Herder.

Ren doesn’t seem to have much in common physically with the Weaver Princess, other than wearing a Japanese-inspired outfit similar to Mari’s, but Shawn distinctly has horns and ears attached to the sides of his head. While the wiki lists these as goat features, I think they’re much more reminiscent of a cow, with horns that grow out in a crescent shape rather than curving straight up and back.

There’s not much else to go off of, but considering Omori notably uses other Japanese folklore as inspiration for Headspace characters, it’s also not an impossible stretch. We don’t know why Shawn and Ren might have been considered star-crossed (or perhaps that’s a romantic daydream Sunny came up with himself!), but there are very notable reasons Sunny & Basil might be, including being the same sex in a small town in the 1990’s, and the complexities of their history together.

Shawn & Ren can also be found in the lobby area of the Last Resort. They’re noticeably on screen during the sequence in which Aubrey and Kel create the Bad Drawing of Basil in an attempt to continue the search for him.

That’s the last of Shawn & Ren’s appearances in the final release of Omori, but it’s also worth noting that these characters existed even in the early concept art of Headspace:

This shows to me that they have significance beyond the "random NPC made to fill out Headspace". In the 2018 Demo, there also existed sprites of Shawn & Ren that didn’t make it into the final game:

Notably, they’re depicted holding a jump rope between them. Presumably, this was removed to censor certain allusions to The Truth too early, similar to the Noose Room being removed, or the first half of Basil’s VHS tape, etc. The jump rope here is purple, like all of the jump ropes in the final game, probably to not stick out against the Headspace landscape. However, the jump rope in early Omori art was bright red:

We know that Sunny & Basil are described as being “tied together by a string of fate”. Of course, the true “string”, or I should say “rope”, that ties them together is The Truth, as they are the only two who know, and are irreparably changed because of it.

The “red string of fate” comes from Chinese mythology and typically describes soulmates. I’m certainly not the first to make the connection between the jump rope and the red string of fate, as lots of popular fanart can attest to.

But wait — are they star-crossed lovers then, or are they soulmates? Aren’t these two concepts opposites? One describes a couple who is destined to be true to each other for eternity, and one describes a couple whose future together has been impeded by the stars themselves.

Well, I submit my theory: Sunny & Basil are star-crossed soulmates. They can’t exist without each other, because they’re the only two in the world who truly understand each other, but they can’t exist together, because of the traumatic and delicate nature of their history.

Finally, we come back to Faraway Town and the second sidequest involving Sean & Karen. We show up to their homecoming party a little earlier than invited on One Day Left, and now we have Hero and Aubrey tagging along. (I definitely recommend this sidequest if you haven’t done it yourself already, as it is very heartfelt!)

In the cooking portion, the four of them all divvy up tasks like they presumably used to when they were friends — except one of the group is missing. Well… two actually. And seeing them all back together like this, Basil’s absence is even more apparent:

Later in the evening, we return for the party, and Karen welcomes us in:

It’s a housewarming party, so her dialogue requesting we “make ourselves at home” only makes sense here… but there’s someone else who has said this to us before...

In fact, there's someone else who is repeatedly associated with the word “home” in Omori...

The last one even explicitly refers to Basil’s “flowers back at home”, bringing us full circle.

Sean & Karen bought a house together, but until they added the final, floral touch (with Sunny’s help!), it wasn’t a home.

Sunny’s home is wherever Basil is.

In conclusion: Sunny choosing floral wallpaper is an intentional thematic choice, and Sean & Karen’s relationship not only embodies the typical childhood sweethearts love story to contrast Sunny & Basil’s more complex relationship, but also represents the overwhelming affection for Basil that Sunny doesn’t know how to express or even acknowledge.

And also they definitely move in together post-canon.

( visuals from the omori wiki, dialogue dump, & the omori let's play by reallyqueerchristmas )

Hey, you! Could you help us out for a second? Please come here and pick a color sample...

You picked up a floral wallpaper sample 🌸🌻

[beigetiger]

Cannot stop thinking about how Skulduggery has sort of peaked in his abilities. He’s four hundred, the Death Bringer, and one of the most powerful Elementals ever. That’s quite a lot to his name.

I’m also thinking of how Valkyrie is just getting started. She’s BABY to the other sorcerers, and yet she’s already practically on his level. I’m obsessed with the idea that she’ll just…keep going. Godhood is inevitable for her, she’ll just keep losing more and more of her humanity until she’s no longer even a sorcerer. She’ll outgrow the world some day. And Skulduggery will love her anyway.

There’s a lot to be said about the religious aspect of this series and I find it all extremely fascinating, both how the sorcerers view religion and how it’s wrapped up with the characters and their arcs. Valkyrie already has a religion dedicated to one of her aspects and Skulduggery is kind of the Death Bringer, and yet neither of them view each other in an explicitly religious way (although there could be an argument made for them worshiping each other in less of a generally religious and more of a mutual adoration sense).

Not much analysis going on here, I’m just thinking about them. Might write more on this later when I’m slightly more coherent and have fewer other things to do.

[cto10121]

Book Fiyero: *immediately recognizes Elphaba and stations himself at the backdoor to prevent her from evading him, stalks her halfway across town to her aerie (even though at that point in time she was only a college friend he hadn’t seen in five years), insists on seeing her again, instinctively goes to comfort her when she first cries, gets sucked into increasingly deep and fraught conversations with her about collateral damage and freedom fighter terrorism, calls her the “most individual, the most separate, the most real” DURING AN ARGUMENT, says he adores Elphaba’s looks IN THAT SAME ARGUMENT, doesn’t understand Elphaba’s “being born with a talent or an inclination for goodness is the aberration” comment because (implied) he sincerely believes Elphaba isn’t evil, changes his mind about the plight of the Animals all by himself but doesn’t mention it to Elphaba because he is afraid she would distance himself from him, buys scarves for both his wife and Elphaba even though only Elphaba likes scarves, is so concerned for Elphaba and her dangerous Lurlinemas Eve mission that he stalks her instead of staying at his club or just leaving town altogether, and is so worried about her that he returns to the aerie just to see her*

Also Book Fiyero: Am I in love with Elphaba?

[fabled-lady-twilla]

How it feels being a ShigaDeku shipper in this fandom. Why is everyone so mean? 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[maybe-boys-do-love]

The juicy symbolism of Jojo shows!!! I think it also might be valuable to take into consideration Kant’s name in reference to the Protestant philosopher, Immanuel Kant, who argued for an ethical understanding based in rationality as opposed to being a ‘slave to passions’—cuz Bison clearly lets his passions run the show lol. And in line with Protestant beliefs about idolatry, maybe Kant in THK has associations with text (the quote on his back, Babe and his books) along with the tattoos of abstracted designs and nature. The tension between Catholics and Protestants was such a central part of Shakespeare’s works, so it might be relevant. The issues of idols are also tensions between different sects of Buddhism, too.

Idk as much about Style and Fadel’s relationship to religious symbolism. The name Style immediately calls to mind surface appearances and consumer practices, though. And we’ve gotten multiple references to his desire for clothes and cars now. The fact that we get him in a Boston shirt next week adds to that connection because the GMMTV writer/directors know which country to point towards if we’re gonna reference consumer capital lol. Then those connections make me want to see the contrast with Fadel and hear the homophonic possibilities of his name with Fidel (I wouldn’t be a very good Shakespeare fan if I didn’t enjoy a possible homophone). The most famous Fidel I know, a pretty well-known Cuban, stands in stark contrast to consumer capitalism. So then I start to wonder if I should be looking at Fadel through this lens? Are there things about his austerity, his resistance to emotion and passion, or other aspects, that might line up with that old-school communist approach? I’m literally just typing this up as it occurs to me and I haven’t been watching closely, so idk.

Shakespeare valued negative capability, holding multiple view points at once, raising questions without needing an answer, letting tension simply exist without finality. Thai culture also prioritizes the ability to maintain relationships (interpersonal and international) through understanding and compromise rather than domination, and Jojo has said that directly in an interview he did as an out party-planner before he was directing, although he stated his thoughts about that philosophy’s limits. Very interested to see how THK ends with all this in mind! No answers here, just connections I’ll be thinking about with the series.

for a while now, i've been trying to figure out why the religious symbolism in thk feels so one sided, so to speak. like, if you've read any of my (or lauren's) analysis posts about the religious imagery, you'll notice that it all ties back to bison in one way or another. even the use of lilly as lilith, mother of demons and captain christ being the figure for the good side can tie back to bison by way of bison being one of the "demons" and kant specifically getting close to bison in order to help christ - christ is even often plastered on bison's back through his jesus shirts in way of showing how ever-present christ is in their relationship.

at first, i thought that it was because bison is, for the most part, the jesus figure of the story. he wears the shirts, he has crosses in his room, he "dies" and his beloved finds the empty tomb, kant is essentially baptized in order to redeem himself for bison. if bison is jesus, then of course the religious elements center around him for the most part. however, it just never sat right with me that fadel and style seemed to have so little to do with any of it and fadel's instances were only ever in line with bison.

however, i think this post that lauren @sunsetsover made pointing out all the religious figures in bison's parents's house kind of explains it all. the religious aspect of the story revolves around bison not because he's the jesus, but because it's essentially his motif. it ties back to him because he's the one sewing the seeds of it, essentially.

bison views himself as jesus, and makes kant into judas the betrayer AND john the beloved. but he also betrays fadel, making himself judas the betrayer and fadel (the one born on christmas) into jesus. he also makes himself into lucifer by being lilly's "favorite" and going against what she wants, by being the one to bring down their operation by getting involved with kant. even with christ, he's the one wearing the jesus shirts that signify the way christ hangs over him and kant.

basically, the reason the religious symbolism exists in the show in the first place is because of bison's own interest in christianity/judaism - it's a direct reference to bison and the way he views things.

[captain-space-kin]

”Skybound ruined Jaya for me” Skill issue.

[sieglinde-freud]

oh im obsessed with this actually… who ever wrote this one i am kissing u on the forehead and hugging you real tight… inigo is such a loverboy im kkkhhhhhhijnsdnfng

[katyspersonal]

Lrb dear god, this reminded me of that time when Alfred-chan got sooooo mad at my post explaining why fans should respect bisexual headcanons for Maria and Malenia instead of pretending like they're canonically lesbians and that they get oppressed and erased by mxf ships with them. They kept vagueing that post for like a MONTH in their blog including in tags under reblogs of Maria fanart, passively-aggressively changed their url to character+sexuality to "spite" me and then even made a sockpuppet account to start shit with me in the comments.

They deactivated when me and Val completely obliterated their "you cultivate lesbiphobic following by telling people why they should respect all sexuality headcanons instead of acting cultish or assuming their experiences and stereotypes equal canon confirmation" garbage with actual facts and logic tho but I screenshotted everything fjthfgfj (I learned to document everything the hard way after they've changed the she/they pronouns to they/they pronouns ONLY to accuse me of misgendering, so thank you for making me wiser I guess 😎). Even more vile, as they, a white person, larped as an Arab in that sockpuppet to hold even MORE "privilege" against me in discussion gjtjfh Because for them race, gender or sexuality are just badges of honor and dishonor, they don't see these as traits of actual human beings. And Dr Eugene X, who worked with them and weaponized her race to accuse everyone who disagreed with her of racism, didn't bat an eye at such a terrible act too?? As usual, rules are not for their friends, lol

It is not even the worst thing Alfred did, and yet all of this just, just, JUST because I wrote a point on why bisexual headcanon people did nothing wrong and there is no ground to claim something is canon when it isn't. 🤦‍♂️ Like, they were soooo convinced that I hated lesbian headcanons and that I'd feel angry if they called Lady Maria a lesbian, when what I was angry at is this exact toxic behavior in the fandom. No matter how much you like a headcanon, don't be a bitch about it. Maria doesn't """belong""" to any gender or sexuality, she belongs to anyone who likes her and is invested in her complexity as a character!!!

Yet, apparently, common Malenia simps / Finlay shippers are no better than common Maria simps / Mariadeline shippers. Just, wild how after shit like this, many people have the guts to claim that it is "sexist redditbros" who are the biggest problem of creators in the fandom. 🤦‍♂️ They'd actually blush if they encountered what such self-proclaimed "feminists" do to their own (!!!) over headcanons. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[adhd-merlin]

Christian iconography? in my Merlin??

[girlwiththegreenhat]

Why the fuck are people on Twitter upset about nonbinary robots. Transformers are aliens, why would they follow another species gender binary based on reproduction when they don't even reproduce sexually. If anything, ALL the robots should use they/them.