#centaurworld analysis

[spicyicymeloncat]

Okay okay obsessed with wammawink actually and her in this song.

Wammawink’s whole character arc is that, she was the sole survivor of her herd after the war and now that she’s made a new adoptive family (who also came from broken pasts and tragedy), her greatest fear is losing them again, leading her to be overprotective and filled with insecurities.

In the beginning of the series she carries a lot of survivors guilt and helplessness, and quickly gives up in the face of adversity great or small, such as when she quit Waterbaby’s shaman training, because of her trauma. Her most iconic spell is her barrier bubble in which she uses to keep her herd and more importantly herself safe, keeping out all dangers and also serving as a metaphor for her own mentality of rejecting new experiences and keeping out bad feelings.

This song is really cool because the visuals draw a comparison between wammawink and the woman. Throughout the song, the visuals focus on wammawink more than the rest of the herd (except for when Glendale stole the key) and it seems that the woman is directly telling wammawink about what will happen to her (even if she is in fact talking of herself).

Wammawink and the Woman both use the barrier spell (and even their magic is near in hue), and the lyrics “keep it locked up, keep it sealed tight” are really applicable to wammawink. They both went through a huge ordeal in the war, losing the ones they loved (additionally the elktaur and horse also have parallels in being said loved ones who lost or nearly lost themselves to their own self hatred) and having to navigate a strange world on their own. Their trauma leads to themselves sealing themselves away, and in turn limiting themselves and ruling themselves with fear.

But the difference and a true testament to wammawink’s character development, is that she grew to be confident again and grew to prioritise her love over her fear. Wammawink realised that she has control and she now has the ability to defend herself and her herd and they have her back too. She was so afraid to go out into the world but in the end she’s willing to put herself on a battlefield to protect her happiness and safety.

And we see this when she steps of Waterbaby’s barrier, in front the prospect of harm and dark memories, and says to think of the fragile things. She turns the song Fragile Things’ meaning on its head and rather than avoiding the fight to overprotect others, she wants to keep fighting for her hope. She’s driven by her faith that she can be okay whilst the woman is driven by her fear of it not being.

I think both of them are justified in their actions of course because of how grey the circumstances of the plot are but I am so emotional over wammawink getting over her fears and finding the strength to do what she wants, to protect her herd

[lionblaze03-2]

Ok so it’s no secret that Glendale is my beloved skrunkly and absolutely my favorite so why don’t we finally talk about her?? There’s not much to analyze here unfortunately, which is why I do so much horseposting(I love you my tied second place <3), BUT there is one thing.

‘My Portal Tummy and Me.’

Well, for one this song implies that she ATE HER PARENTS, later confirmed by series creator Megan Nicole Dong, so uh, hello??? While that’s just hilariously dark though, and could be brushed off as a joke by those who don’t know of the confirmation... look at some of these lyrics.

‘But I’m never on my own, there’s someone always with me, and she says she must assist me, so I don’t freak out no more! She tells me everything and everyone must go inside, when my portal tummy’s hungry, there’s nowhere you can hide’.

Just... think about this for a second. Based on literally what the lyrics imply, she has a voice in her head that began when she first developed the portal that demand she put everything and EVERYONE she sees inside it. And judging by the fact that her parents are confirmed in there, she fucking listened!!! That’s absolutely terrifying!!! Also the fact that it promised to assist her in her anxiety but she then immediately follows with ‘I get nervous when I steal’. It doesn’t help the anxiety, it makes it worse! At least at first! What I’m saying is, Glendale hun you okay? Sweetie?? Buddy???

[quicksilverlightning]

So I binged Centaurworld and have spent the last week processing and need to get it out of my system because I havent seen anyone else with this take -

I find it weird that the crimes of the General and Elk are laid at the feet of the Elktaur. After the split, the Elktaur no longer existed; the Elk and General may have each encompassed a half of who he was, but became separate entities by splitting.

The Elk and General were of the Elktaur, but weren't themselves the Elktaur. It's entirely possible I'm digging too deep into what was meant to be a Y7 kids show, but it really bugged me because intention, potential, and action aren't the same things. The Elktaur may have always had the potential to become what the Elk and General did, but he didn't commit any of the actions. Because he no longer existed. We can argue about intentions all day long without getting anywhere; partly because the show never really got into that aspect, but mostly because, in the end, what matters is action. You can intend to cause hurt without ever actually doing so - intention and potential do not make one evil/ a criminal/ etc.

Like, if I clone myself and that clone goes on to become an interdimensional war criminal, am I supposed to be punished as well? Of course not - the copy was me, until it wasn't.

This is a classic Mind-Body Problem and fits the scenario around the Elktaur - can his two component parts really be considered to be a single entity? But if they actually were a single entity, none of this would be happening at all. If we brought a whole version of the Elktaur to stand before his components, would he also be considered part of that conglomerate?

Is one not the sum of their experiences? How then, can two beings with very different experiences be said to be the same? Isn't that why, post-unification, the Elktaur has two voices?

Just to be clear, I'm totally on board with the actual events of the ending - I think killing the guy was a mercy, but that's a different discussion - but I find the reasoning to be questionable. I blame Netflix and thier pattern of canceling shows too early for the writing team not being able to delve further into some really interesting philosophical conundrums surrounding the plot. I did enjoy the show overall, but the Elktaur and his pieces were by far the most interesting thing going on. I totally understand that the juxtaposition of wacky and serious was 100% the point, but that plot thread was simply too good - it made everything else feel like a distraction 😂

[pancake-breakfast]

After I finished watching Centaurworld, I came up with a handful of essay questions one could apply to the show.

Posting them here for posterity. (They are spoiler-free. Feel free to answer one (or more) if you'd like.)

1. In the last episode, Elk claims he and Horse are the same. What evidence is there to support his claim? What evidence is there to refute it?

2. Do you think the final choice the Woman made at the end was the right one? Why or why not?

3. Discuss the various elements of modern culture and/or society, both good and bad, as reflected by least one of the following centaur groups: Bird-taurs, Centaurs (TM), Mole-taurs, Cat-taurs, Cold-taurs.

4. Use at least three of the characters listed below to discuss ways people try to attain comfortableness. Be sure to address the effectiveness of their technique. Characters: Ched, Comfortable Doug, Elk, Gebbrey, General, Glendale, Horse, Sunfish Merguy, Tree Shamans, Wamawink, Whale Shaman, Zulius

5. How might an adult utilize a show like Centaurworld to discuss one or more of the following topics with an audience under the age of 12? Be sure to reference specific scenes from the show. Topics: Depression, Suicide, Trauma, Loss, Self-Acceptance, Conflict Avoidance, Conflict-Seeking Behavior, Unhealthy Internalization of External Expectations, Boundaries, Recognizing and Respecting the Struggles Others Have While Still Respecting Yourself

Extra Credit: Why are you smudging up your answers with tears?

[jkl-fff]

Centaurworld and Mental Illnesses

Has it struck anyone else that each member of the Herd could represent a major spectrum of mental illness? The notion has been buzzing around my brain since finishing the series last night. While normally I would take more time to organize my ideas, I figure it’s better to put them all down here and now before I can forget to share them.

(Please feel free to comment, by the way, if you’ve got any thoughts on the matter. A bit of input or dialogue could certainly help refine this little literary theory of mine, perhaps to more cogently articulate it later.)

Anyway, this isn’t to say each member of the Herd is meant to perfectly personify a specific diagnosis. To be clear, I’m not giving one, either, it’s more that I’m trying to identify some broad symptoms and maybe a broad spectrum of kind of of illness (since symptoms often overlap a lot with different specific diagnoses). Nor am I saying that the show is, overall, an allegory for dealing with mental illness. It’s more an observation about another way the show is deeper and more symbolic than it first appears (with its kids’ show antics and its overabundance of dumb fart jokes). Sorta how in a lot of other shows, main characters really typify one of the Seven Deadly Sins or a major philosophy or whatever.

First, there’s Horse.

Chronic Depression (McFreakin’ Episode 8, plus all her other frequent bouts of melancholy and self-doubt).

Second, Wammawink.

PTSD with bouts of Manic Activity (especially related to recreating the family she lost, to protecting and nurturing the family she’s found).

Next is Glendale.

Anxiety, no question. Even her kleptomania is frequently pointed out to be a coping mechanism for how anxious she is.

Then Zulius.

Who would be something having to do with Self-Absorption or even Narcissism.

Followed by Ched.

He has problems with Anger Management, most frequently directed at Horse.

And finally Durpleton.

Who, I freely admit, feels like the weakest link in this theory. But given how frequently he seems to not be paying attention or to not respond in a seemingly appropriate way emotionally, would by Disassociation.

[gritsandbrits]

Am I the only one who likes that Mystery doesn't have a *open* backstory. All we know is that she was the princess who married Elktaur's human half for a decade, then found out about his lies & spent many more years exiled in Centaurworld.

We also know she was so engrossed with CW's magic her hair turned purple, but her appearance was still very realistic. It was until after decades of living in centaurworld her face became a little cartoony but not too much because of her cynicism. I feel like that gives us the audience a chance to create our own interpretations of what she was up to during that time. We're given just enough important details to piece together the story but also room to develop our own conclusions.

That said I think it was cool for the show allowing her to kill Elktaur. As much as I love the Elktaur Lives AUs, he was too far gone to be saved. But also Mystery needed her revenge/justice and wasn't punished by the story doing so. After feeling guilt & regret for so long she finally had enough and say "no this is YOUR fault and YOUR FAULT ALONE". She took back her agency from the abusive love triangle she didn't ask for, and I think that's such a wonderful lesson for everyone.

[sciartherp]

Why does nobody talk about how even if the Elktaur confessed his love to the Princess, he wouldn’t’ve been able to love and accept his cebtaurhood. It’s likely he would’ve tried to split himself even if he knew he was accepted by the Princess because his dysphoria weren’t caused by falling in love with her, only amplified. He was destined to fall down this path no matter what.

This smelly bastard is a walking trans allegory and I will die on this hill.

It’s 1am I’ll make a full analysis sometime I just needed to get this out there

[sneakerdoodle]

new essay dropped!!! it's a big big break-down of some of the show's themes of trauma and recovery and how the latter is redefined within the narrative : 33 give it a read!!!

[ghastmaskzombie]

thinking about how centaurworld is just so much about how love can go wrong. like wammawink’s overbearing hyper-protectiveness, durpleton’s desire to please the parents who were never going to love him, the whole birdtaur fandom, and i don’t even know where to start on the beartaur’s war obsession. everyone in that show cares about someone or something else in the wrongest way. i mean, horse and rider probably have the healthiest friendship in the whole series, and even they had becky apples. and sure, i noticed the pattern as i was watching it the first time, but i never would have thought to look at it as, like, a deliberate narrative theme if it weren’t for that one line that blew me away. “he doesn’t love you. that is not what love looks like.”

[jewishdainix]

I have no words to explain it properly but the abseloute irony and tragedy of Woman and General's wedding vows being "once shattered now whole, once whole now united".

It started with how Elktaur fell inlove with Woman but felt like he couldnt be with her due to them being from different worlds. Due to him not being human. So he used magic to seperate himself from his beastly side.

So he's shattered. He has shattered himself so he can live Woman. And certinetly his human side, General, has gotten to marry woman. By marriying her as a shatter of the whole that he was he is casting out elk, and proclaiming that Woman is his "whole", and not his actuall self. By making those his wedding vows he is representing the lie of how he is "whole" as human.

But its still a lie, and he is still shattered. Woman's wedsing vows are "love is a spark, love is an ever groing blaze" because she truley wanted to love him.

Her reprise of it, which was thr first time we heard it reflects how betrayed she is. She truley wanted love, and while Elktaur wanted love at first, after shattering into Elk and General, he sought that love as a way to continue feelling whole. Dooming a part of him to forever be shattered, without his love, and belong no where.

[eemoo1o]

..Adam vs The Nowhere King character analysis, anyone? •3•

[cyphyree]

hi i like anime, stickers and doodling stuff. *slaps em together*

aka tiffanyseng / tiffanyseng_art

EU and UK: please check out through Etsy Shop links: https://cyphyree.carrd.co/

My art tag: #cyphyree art

Rambles tags (for media analysis, sometimes just silly text posts): #jojo thoughts, #utena thoughts, #kill la kill thoughts, #madoka thoughts

Watch This Thing Template (for Movie/Show/Whatevs recommendation)

Reposts on other social media are ok with credit and watermark

Please reblog on Tumblr tho thx!

Open to be yelled at about:

Revolutionary Girl Utena broke me fellas

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 1-5

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Kill La Kill

Cybersix (animated)

Over the Garden Wall

(More stuff and watchlist after "Keep Reading")

Other stuff I love and caught up on, feel free to yell at me about it -

Promare

Bee and Puppycat

Edgerunners

Arcane

Centaurworld

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Deltarune

Over the Garden Wall

Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro

Studio Ghibli (most of em)

Coraline

The Adventure Zone Balance, Dust, Amnesty

Cartoon Saloon films

Kaiba

Gundam Witch From Mercury

Kageku Shojo Curtain Rises (manga)

To-watch list (and where I'm at):

Princess Tutu

Glass Onion

Cat Soup

The Wind Rises

Del Toro's Pinocchio

Super Mario Movie

Angel's Egg

Glass Labyrinth

Pastoral

Throw Away Your Books

Charlie Chapman stuff

Buster Keaton stuff

Alfred Hitchcock stuff

Aftersun

QSMP, but like, only Jaiden's streams, sporadically

Spiderverse 2 Electric Boogaloo

Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust

Cowboy Bebop (ep 3)

Space Dandy

Trigun (ep 1)

Trigun Stampede

Paranoia Agent

Night is Short Walk on Girl

Mob Psycho 100 (ep 4)

Perfect Blue

Paprika

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

Penguindrum

Kino's Journey

To-read list (and where I'm at) :

Witch Hat Atelier

Nausicaa Valley of the Wind, manga

Cybersix, comics?

The Girl From The Other Side

House of Leaves

Revolutionary Girl Utena Manga (vol 5)

Land of the Lustrous

To-play list:

Night in the Woods

Omori

Yuppie Psycho

Sayonara Wild Heart

Used to be cypher6er until I decided I wanted a better username ajajdjdk

[pipermca]

I am accepting @altraviolet's challenge (from the post here) for the fic writer questionnaire. This looks like fun! *cracks knuckles*

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

90

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,133,042 (holy shit)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mostly write for Transformers these days. I do have a little short story cooking for Centaurworld; maybe I'll get that jotted down some day.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I can definitely see how writing for a popular ship will skew your stats on your fics, and smut gives bonus points. 😅

Frag the Police. Jazz/Prowl, NSFW

Claim Rejected. MegOP, SFW

Peer Review. Starscream/Wheeljack, NSFW

Anamnesis. Jazz/Prowl, SFWish (has plug-n-play interfacing)

Public Indecency. Jazz/Prowl, NSFW

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I love comments and I want to pass on that appreciation. 💗

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm. Even my darker stories usually have a bit of light in the end, since I am a sucker for happy (if possibly bittersweet) endings. But the story Atrocity (please mind the tags on that one) leaves Bluestreak in a bad place at the end, and nothing is really resolved.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I have lots of fics with really happy endings! But in terms of having no hanging ends, I think The Renegade and the Hound might be the happiest. 🤗 The last chapter of that fic is all warm fuzzies for the characters.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet. 😄 I've gotten some vaguely critical comments sometimes but I wouldn't call that hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Ooooh yeah. I write it all. I'll even write the weird stuff there's no terms for. Give me that weird-ass smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I tend to write fusions rather than traditional crossovers, but the weirdest one was very recent: The Spark and the Lightning, which is the War for Cybertron game crossed/fused with Dune.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! The fic Becoming has been translated into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of? A friend and I tossed little bits of a story back and forth several years ago, each of us building on what the other had just written. I have the bits all collected, but I'm not sure if it'll ever see the light of day.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Bluestreak/Hound. 💗

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

It's in the Alt Modes and Alchemy AU. Basically it's the events of the climax of The Renegade and the Hound and a period immedately afterwards, but from Perceptor's POV. It's written as a half diary/half academic paper. The title is:

On the Restoration of Cybertron: An Analysis and Personal Account, or A Treatise on the Effects of the Destruction of the Matrix of Leadership on Cybertron and its Inhabitants from an Alchemical Perspective, and a Personal Account of said Event as Recalled by Perceptor of Iacon, Head Alchemist of Optimus Prime.

It's hella fun, and I'd love to finish it, but it keeps moving out of my "currently working on" stack into the "shelved" stack. :/

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at worldbuilding and writing those juicy emotional scenes.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing stuff. 😅 But seriously, I have a tendency to go back and rework stuff I've written (but not yet posted) instead of working forward on getting more words down. I love editing too much I think. >.<

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

It's fine? It should be clear to the reader what the dialogue says without them having to Google Translate it. Anything that stops a reader and takes them out of the flow of the story is a Bad Thing imo.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Hahaha! I think the first actual fanfic I wrote was in the Time Quintet series (specifically after reading A Swiftly Tilting Planet) by Madeleine L'Engle. I think I was about 8 or 9.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmm. My favourite long fic is Mind, Body, and Soul (which was long and self-indulgent and I said everything I wanted to say about the Big Themes of the story). My favourite short fic is probably Datastream, mostly because I dipped into Cybertronian brains and weird sci-fi elements, mixed with formatting to help tell the story. :)

That was fun! Consider yourself tagged if you want to play along.

[quasarkisses]

It's fine if you never watched Centaurworld on Netflix (or otherwise), however, that means you also never experienced the beautiful (Adventure Time-flavored) dichotomy of goofy fun happy laughs and the dark horrible memories of war and nightmares that will never leave you.

The main character (a horse named Horse who single-mindedly seeks a way back to her rider, a human named Rider) is suddenly whisked away from a world of brutal warfare to a fanciful land of magic and earworm sing-alongs, resenting every moment of it and somehow being changed against her will by the compassion thrust upon her by her silly, overly-affectionate new companions.

More than a year post-watch, Centaurworld still leaves me processing. Somehow this story felt like a hundred tales of queer identity; like leaving my conservative, rural upbringing for queer friends in college, tackling some deep-seated fear of vulnerability hidden within me, in a strange dance between fun and happiness vs. serious intellectualism.

Why does this story still haunt me?

Why does it cling to me like the fear of being shunned, and like the answer to a scream I don't remember giving voice to?

Is it neurodivergence? Queerness? Isolation? Theatre? Art? A desperate attachment to analysis as a means of connection? I need to know. I need answers.

[weaselbeaselpants]

If it isn't obvious, I'm trying to both articulate and come to my own conclusions about how I feel about the Owl House finale and Belos' defeat. I have so many emotions about it and find myself agreeing and yet also disagreeing with every post I see about it. So for now, here's all I can say:

Nowhere King/Elktaur had a better, more satisfying end, relative to his arc, than Belos. Yeah, comparing Centaurworld to The Owl House isn't peek/real critical analysis...but that's all I got at the moment for sure.

[sneakerdoodle]

new Centaurworld essay! analysing the relationship dynamics between Horse and Rider, Wammawink and Horse, The Elktaur and The Mysterious Woman, and how identity is lost, compromised or re-discovered within those; also talking about how co-dependency is not what you might think it is