#but how every fucking piece of media

[theclam-beforethestorm]

Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker being treated like they’re two different people, my beloathed.

[isdisorigionalenoughforyou]

yknow sometimes i think about how mr seawatt gaming parkourcivilization only got to where he was by leveraging his knowledge of obscure rules and mechanics and keeping all his cards close to his heart. how he clearly only got to where he originally was in the 1st movie by making himself useful with amethyst blocks and brewing stand jumps. and how it all crumbled because evbo 360-ed all over his carefully laid plans but really, his undoing was his own hubris.

and he's shit at parkour

[phansterdam]

Nimona (2023) - dir. Nick Bruno & Troy Quane

[crimeronan]

i think there's something really beautiful about carpenter distancing herself from the trawler man every chance she gets and still getting showered by miracles while faulker, oh he of strong convictions, gets to bring the miracle of the trawler man to everyone around him but never quite gets to ascend to glory himself. i just love that they're both perfectly poised to stare at each other and each think "your goals are backwards and your methodology is dumb and possibly sacrilegious" and then still end up as something close to friends

also let's talk about how, despite these dynamics, at the end of the day, the trawler man is really just trying to give each of them what they want from him.

MMM YEAH. carpenter being beloved by multiple gods despite being such an ornery bitch who wants NOTHING to do with their sacrificial bullshit..... it really gets me. as does faulkner's ongoing crisis of faith and spiral into Faithless Cult Leader (TM). SO GOOD.

perhaps only tangentially related, but.

i've been thinking a lot about faulkner killing roemont lately. i was surprised that roemont's death ended up Breaking My Fucking Heart -- a real testament to his voice actor!! the whole pathetic old man losing everything he's worked for really.... Got To Me. ough. "don't you recognize me?" OUGH.

but i've been thinking about it in the context of faulkner's crisis of faith, too. because like. faulkner Knows that roemont is faithful. he considers roemont a heretic for trying to legalize the worship of the trawler-man, but it's like....

i feel like. killing roemont was a test of the trawler-man that faulkner devised on purpose. because if roemont dies due to the prayer marks that faulkner scrawled, then there are two possibilities:

1. the trawler-man really IS furious that the high katabasians want to legitimize the faith; the trawler-man really IS on faulkner's side; this schism really IS necessary to keep the faith "pure," and faulkner has never done anything wrong;

OR

2. the trawler-man really IS nothing but a mouth. this isn't a god with a plan or with sentience or with feelings, this is just a living river that chews things up and spits them out, and it doesn't care for its followers at all. and if that's the case, then faulkner is betraying nothing by being a faithless cult leader lying repeatedly to his people.

faulkner is devastatingly clever and constantly being underestimated. but he's also completely alone in the world. and he's Desperate for any sign that the choices he's making are the right ones. and he can't find that sign in anybody close to him, because he keeps destroying the lives of those close to him. so he has to devise his own trials....

hrugh. my boy. my boy my boy my boy.

[ear-motif]

fuckin. i still wish will didnt actually have encephalitis and had a mental illness bc the way s1 frames the possibility of him having a mental illness as the Worst Possible Outcome is so infuriating. i have no idea how one would write diagnosed psychotic will graham to be not offensive and also keeping in line with the message of the show but god will being psychotic is actually not as bad as dying from brain inflammation believe it or not

[todolist-nothing07]

I need season two, stat!

[steakout-05]

*clenched fists, head on the table, white knuckled, seething, hyperventilating, visible veins showing, sweating, about to burst into tears, shaking violently, going to explode*

it's.... spelled........ JON.............. arbuckle........

[trans-xianxian]

very ironic that there have been several story beats throughout fontaine like "the melusines are often infantalized by people but they are fully autonomous beings who deserve respect" and then half of the fan base is like awe cute little melusine baby who is like a child and a kid and a baby who needs to be taken care of by other characters because they're like a human toddler 🥺. die.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

[cws: starvation/food insecurity, fantasy racism, psychiatric abuse, ableism, and Upsetting Pictures.]

-

one thing that fucks me up immensely about pericles before and after the asylum is how fucking skinny he is.

like. as much as obviously the two designs are Very Inconsistent in general which annoys me, look at him pre-timeskip. look at how he's shaped.

his head and face are way smoother and rounder, both in front and back, and the space between his cheekbones and his eyebrow ridge is filled in; his body is rounder in general and his belly is noticeably between his thighs when he's standing up; he has kind of a chubby butt; his chin and neck are softer and wider around, which you can really see with the width of the scarf compared to his shoulders and the angle where it meets his head. it comes up in front of his face more because there's not as much of an angle with his chin to hold it down.

now. compare all those things to this.

christ.

and like, you could argue some of these design differences are tiny things to zero in on in a show that's as loose with its models as sdmi is. but present-day pericles' design is pretty obviously supposed to be unsettling because he's physically built to be a Cute Roumb Little Mascot Creature--so much so that the framework has managed to stick around a little in spite of everything--and has become gaunt and haggard anyway. and you could also argue that the body type changes are just thanks to aging twenty years (and i don't doubt that's contributed).

except. he spent those twenty years in an asylum where the other inmates we see look like this.

christ.

(fun little fact that @thecottageinthedark pointed out also: remember how he literally got caught at one point because he couldn't stop eating sunflower seeds, even during a heist? a high-fat, high-calorie snack for birds? you know, exactly the kind of thing a starving person who finally has proper access to food would be wolfing down?)

(yeah.)

did i mention that this happened in a (fantasy) racially segregated prison, which is technically an asylum so the inmates can be kept there indefinitely, because in an actual prison you're required to have a sentence? did i mention that none of the human characters we see in human prison look any less healthy during or afterward, and on top of that are allowed to move around and socialize? did i mention the absolutely horrific treatment of the asylum inmates is implied to be despite the fact that the (physically abusive!) guard is playing up how dangerous and malicious they are? (you know. except for pericles 🙃)

did i mention the man who got pericles imprisoned--who he had not only done nothing to beforehand, but had helped--says he was there to 'live out the rest of his miserable parrot life in a cage, where he belonged,' and not only do none of the characters we're supposed to side with have anything to say about that, but the audience is clearly supposed to agree with him too?

(did i mention said man--who was in on the crime, singular, that pericles went to prison for!--spends those twenty years living a life of luxury in power while abusing the child he kidnapped as a baby and held hostage his entire life, and when we see him in prison he is not only chilling out and helping the authorities but reading a newspaper?)

did i mention the part where by the time we meet pericles he hasn't spoken in years?

like. man the 'ooooo scary evil abused asylum crazies' trope is bad enough, even when they pretend to lampshade it for a minute before playing it straight; i don't know how they added in All That and made him emaciated and expected no one to find it heartbreaking or even sympathetic. i don't care how bad he was before the asylum (and dear god was he ever), that is horrifying and no one deserves it. god damn.

[adustoflove]

Sometimes I suspect autism and then I immediately push it down into the gutter and forget that I could ever have it. Like why was I so shy my kindergarten teacher who was 70 at the time and had been doing it for about 40-50 years suspected something was wrong with how shy I was and only when my sibling came during parent teacher conferences did she think this kid is a Little Normal because at least I played with them 😭 why do I walk on my toes and pace around listening to the same song on repeat for 4 hours. Why do I SUCK at making conversation irl and freeze up and feel stuck like I can't do anything when people are watching me. What is wrong with my brain other than the fact that I'm mentally a little unwell

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

[kiisaes]

mha is like an estranged awkward father to me. i try not to make my connection to it obvious but i secretly care a lot about it (sometimes against what i desire) and when ppl talk serious shit about it i get defensive. like yea i understand that it's not the best series writing-wise, it's got a good amount of problems and that its mere connection to me makes me cringefail ... but i'll always find some sort of unexplainable comfort in its arms despite its flaws bc there's still a good amount of it to genuinely enjoy without a constantly ironic state of mind that all media must be critiqued with nowadays and i don't expect anyone to understand this odd relationship but myself

[hecksupremechips]

Time for me to be completely changed as a person! *just watched falsettos*

[bookmark-extraordinaire]

Something I had to get off my chest. I know the people supposed to read this will never do since I’ve already blocked them all but you know.

I get not liking AUs and being upset that the majority of fandoms have turned into shipping and AUs so divorced from the source material it makes you wonder if they even like the source material to begin with but MAN for every AU out there there’s like ten more people liking the thing in the “right” way. Go follow them.

If in the year of our Lord 2024 if you still don’t know how to avoid shit you don’t like on the internet then it’s a skill issue my guy. Fuck you.

[angelmelon]

time to talk about well written female characters we cant be negative all the time

sorry account stalkers it is Not a leasebound character none of those characters are well written

its her <3

MY FAVORITE EVIL BUTCH LESBIAN

people take notes This is Taco. She is a Taco In season 1 she was the stupid random character. Sorta like Rocky BFDI?? Already this is great allowing your woman character to be gross and random and annoying this is one thing I love about object shows the character archetypes are pretty gender neutral

in the trailer for season 1, she befriends Pickle. They remain friends for much of the season. Pickle defends Taco, seems to understand her random phrases, and bonds deeply with her. There's hints throughout the season that there is something suspicious going on, though. For example, she injures his eye seemingly on purpose in the episode "Aquatic Conflict", after she reveals that she had arms the whole time, which she'd been hiding for most of the season.

Yeah uh turns out later on in the finale we learn that Taco was pretending to be stupid to further herself in the competition, and to be able to steal the million dollar prize. Her true personality is revealed to be a sort of fancy evil rich spy archetype. I love this so much. She also says here that she was never actually friends with Pickle. As we venture into season 2 though, this is shown to be a lie. Taco deeply regrets using Pickle, obsessively sending letters to him in apology. He never forgives her from any of these letters, as is his right. During season 2, Taco takes notice of someone else. Taco is not competing in the season, but she keeps her eye on the competition. She takes particular notice of Microphone, who feels alone compared to other contestants, being very loud and outgoing but never heard, and considered annoying by others. She sees someone she can "befriend"... in her own way, of course. She finds Mic, shows herself, and makes a deal with her to help her in the competition, for a split of the million if Mic wins.

Mic agrees to this, reluctant until she gets good results in the next episode. Taco has upheld her promise to help !ic in the game. Mic believes she has a good friend, though, the difference between Mic and Pickle is that Mic is much more quickly skeptical. At the same time, though, Mic does much worse things for Taco than Pickle has for her in the past. Her feelings on the matter are complex. On one hand, she wants to listen to Taco, because Taco has tangibly helped her and been a source of kindness and support, and, yes, for selfish reasons too. On the other hand, she clearly does not like many of Taco's tactics. While in our world, you could say that’s. Kind of bare minimum?? Like she doesn’t like Taco commiting crimes okay. In the object show world that’s oddly fucking moral 😭😭 since there’s some means of recovery in all object shows there’s at least Some Guys who think it’s ethical and partake in it like an average Friday activity. Anywho

In the episode "Alternate Reality Show", we get hints of Taco wanting to change. When the time machine portal opens and takes Lightbulb and Test Tube, Taco is shown to reach for the portal, looking very disappointed when it closes. Mic obviously wonders what the fuck that was about, but Mic dodges the question. She probably will never get the answer to this, honestly, and that KILLS me

Mic becomes worried soon that Knife is onto her and Taco. Though, Taco has history with Knife in season 1. Back then, he was a simple bully archetype. But, she hasn't watched hard enough, because he has changed. He still does things for himself, is still violent, and still self identifies as a jerk, but he isn't stupid. in the same episode as the time machine, his suspicions are confirmed as he follows Mic to one of her secret conversations with Taco.

The episode after this is one of my favorites; I love seeing both Mic and Taco just acting completely in their own self interest. They're so bad for each other I love it. Episode 13, "Mine Your Own Business", Mic and Taco try to recruit Knife now that he knows about them. Its pretty obvious he wasn't going to agree to this, though. "did my 'huh' make me sound interested??" Mic and Taco, throughout this whole thing, save Knife a couple of times in the danger of the cave they're in for the challenge, even securing his safety for him in the challenge. Rather than ally with them, he simply agrees not to tell anyone that Mic is working with Taco, though, this isn't for Taco at all.

Knife sees what is going on, and he doesn't like it. Another situation with Pickle, who he was close with just like Taco, but more legitimately, obviously. I think about this SO MUCH. In spite of the fact they were both acting out of selfishness, Knife is able to see what is happening and, rather than acting in his own interest and spilling the secret, he keeps it to himself to protect Mic, someone he doesn't interact positively with much before episode 11. I LOVE MY GIRL. MY SILLY SCHOOLYARD BULLY BUTCH LESBIAN. I LOVE YOU KNIFE. Anyway so Taco isn't exactly happy still. Episode 14 is gonna show her being fucking CRAZY. Taco is gonna become desperate to keep Mic on her side, and keep their coup safe.

The challenge derails into saving Fan from abduction by an alien ship, one that MePhone and most of the cast think is driven by the main antagonist, Steve Cobs, rather than the alien species, the Prime Shimmer, who was actually genocided by Cobs in the past, and trying to get one of their youth back from Earth, which Fan was unknowingly in possession of. Taco forms a horribly violent strategy, but repeatedly reassures Mic its going to be for the greater good. However, it results in her knocking out Fan, killing Test Tube, and in Mic bringing Fan down from the ship, pretending to have saved him. The contestants who were once annoyed by her cheer for her, but when Test Tube is recovered, she is rightfully angry, but nobody believes her. Taco’s words to Mic through her gain in this reflect her subconscious selfishness.

“See? This is why you listen to me, Mic. Delectable, isn’t it? Finally, a chance for some recognition, finally, I can finally—“

Microphone interrupts

“is that what you said to Pickle??”

I LOVE TACO’S WORDS HERE SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA. THERES SO MUCH DOUBLE MEANING HERE?? We don’t know what “I can finally” means in this context… I can finally win?? I can finally be noticed?? I can finally have a friend?? THE LINE DELIVERY TOO. LIKE. FUUUUCK SHE SOUNDS SO DESPERATE??

Top 10 saddest anime breakups

SMALL ASIDE I love the amount of characters in ii and other object shows who in spite of their gender are voiced by another gender, with minimal editing. I LOVE THE GENDER AMBIGUITY OF OBJECT SHOWS. Y’all I’m so close to going off the deep end and adopting an object kin label.

ANYWAY.

MIC’S SIDE OF THIS SAYS SO MUCH TOO??

“I thought I gained a friend. Turns out, I gained nothing.”

THE FUCKING. SYMBOLISM WITH THE GAIN. HOW ITS BOTH SYMBOLISM AND A SHITTY DUMB ASS PUN YALL THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING EVER.

AND. AND!!! THE FACT THAT THE GAIN JUST FUCKING SHOWED UP IN EPISODE 10. KNOWING WHAT WE KNOW NOW??? OOOOOOUGH HOLY SHITFUCK

THE GAIN IS LIKE. BOTH THE TOOL MIC IS HURT THROUGH AND THE MEANS SHE HAS TO FACILITATE THAT PAIN. PEOPLE SKIM OVER II2 13 TOO MUCH IN THIS FANDOM. TACOMIC BEING MUTUALLY HORRIBLE HURTS SO GOOD.

Anyway I’ve been typing this post in drafts on and off for 5 fucking days ii 15 and ii 16 analysis coming soon

[thawthebeez]

me watching the 254th haikyuu tiktok skit on my fyp today